"Tell me, Really!, is The Big Hack real or is it a scam?"

This is the question I keep getting over and over again. Let me assure you that The Big Hack is simply a new type of immersive interactive fiction experience. Think of it as The Sims Online, for geeks. Many of the idea expressed in the story are theoretically possible and logically plausible. But, that is the basic nature of any good science fiction story.

Where did the idea come from?

Well I have been a dedicated geek and part time hacker for decades. This has allowed me to meet many different people in the scene. About a year ago, I popped into one of the larger cons to see some old friends.

I was in the process of starting HackBack Media at that time. I had been experimenting with some interesting interactive fiction techniques and was planning to publish some IF stories for palm top devices. Something people could play/read at lunch and on the train.

Well as often happens, I got swapping stories with another geek. He was working on an update of the multi-user dungeon concept. I was hitting him up to publish it for him... Yadda yadda yadda, we're obviously making way too much noise... When a fairly well known Hacker, who I didn't know personally at the time, interrupted.

He started talking to me about this new concept for an immersive multi-player experience. He had a SciFi story worked out already. It was about hackers of course. As it was that kind of con. He had a pretty good idea of the tech he wanted to feature. I didn't press him on the details at the time, but at face value it seem plausible yet "out there". Each a mark of good SciFi.

What hooked me, really, was the tech needed to produce the story. There was no long development cycle needed. Most was off the shelf tech. Because it was multi-player interactive, there was no time consuming AI logic to write. The main thread of the story would be guided by "actor" characters who worked to keep the story on track.

What was even better was, he had already been shopping this idea to his buddies. It turns out he already had the main actors signed up. All he needed was a publisher/investor to help get the thing rolling. Problem was he had no idea how to make money from the project.

I tossed out some interesting ideas and values propositions... A little retooling of the HackBack Media business model, and, POOF! Here we are.