Tea + Shooting + Second Life

Three events recently came together to give an idea.

I was reading Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time . It's an incredible story about an American, who against all odds, managed to build over 60 schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan. The events and barriers he had to overcome could seriously be made into a thriller movie. For example, imagine being detained by a community that is known to be violent and not know any of the language. Later on, two fatwahs were issued to get him out of Pakistan!

The other thing is, I watched my friend play a first person shooter game for the first time in my life. I have to admit, it was pretty exciting. Although I got lost in all the jargon regarding gun swapping, it was entertaining to watch. Now I finally understand a bit more why some people are addicted.

The last thing is my friend showed me a video about Second Life on TED. I knew about second life, but it made me rethink about how it could be used.

So..what if these stories of real heroes like Greg in Three Cups of Tea could be made into video games or Second Life characters so that other people can get to know them in a more fun and interactive medium? I love reading books, but not all my friends do. Why not turn these amazing stories into as many mediums as possible so that it can spread? It took two years to write the book...I'm sure it would take just about the same time to make it into a video game.

P.S. did you know over 300 universities world wide are using Second Life as their platform for distance education courses? (source: wikipedia)