tag

i ran across this in the stairwell at my office many months ago and have since imagined its role in all sorts of fantastic scenarios.  the general premise that underlay these fantasies was a half-baked amalgamation of technology headlines that i adopted.  i assigned this poker-chip sized world tag to the geeky, recreational hobby of geocaching and deigned it a step in a cyber-scavenger hunt of some sort.  

our office building houses a couple of technology companies and, though i'd be shocked to see any of their exceptionally elevator-reliant, millennial employees climb the stairs to our upper levels simply for a game; i did imagine that one of those hipsters was to blame for the placing of this mysterious device.  i imagined that upon further scrutiny i would find a number or a QR code or some other identifier that a knowledgeable player of the game would then follow to their next tag, for another clue.  and so on, until at some point, they discovered the treasure chest at the end of their quest.  

every time i stepped into the stairwell to make a private phone call or visit another floor i checked to make sure the clue was still intact.  i wondered if i was the only person in my company to notice it or if there were many poker-chip-scavenger-hunters all around me, and i was simply out of the loop.  (sort of like the ping-pong table in our sixth floor break room that's literally in constant use, though i imagined it sitting idle day in and day out.)  i have even shown it to a couple of my friends at work, look at this thing!  as if i had personally unearthed the holy grail.  

then today, for some reason, my curiosity got the best of me.  i decided that it was time i step up to the inherent responsibility that comes with pioneering and answer the call of the tag.  i deliberately entered the stairwell, confirmed it still in place, and dropped to my knees in order to transcribe the secret code and then join the ranks of those searching for these tiny disks of discovery.  

but umm, i didn't find a code.  instead it was just a plastic disk, presumably with a small bit of information encoded via RFID.  i made note of all potentially identifiable markings and obviously photographed it, then returned to my desk, and consulted trusty google.  

this is where i made my mistake though.  for it turns out that the stories i created in my mind of treasure yet to be discovered and my critical role in said quest were simply myth.  likely this mysterious world tag is placed in the stairwell on the 10th floor to ensure that the security guards make full circuits of the building on their patrols.  or perhaps it's playing big brother to the housekeeping staff, verifying their passage every night after hours.  

i had hoped to be the next IT in a secret game of World Tag. 

i had hoped to have the honor of selecting another unlikely, but hidden in plain sight, placement for the tag. 

i had hoped to be part of something entirely connected to a wholly invisible community, and have an impact.   

  

and then i had an idea.  

d:  will you play tag with me? 

b:  this unlikely, hidden in plain sight, placement

g:  dbg-tag: endless treasures waiting to be claimed