BY: MATT L

Ever played a game, but it didn't feel like you were playing a game at all? That's the point of PMOG. It's not luring you in with beautifully rendered polygons or an interesting story, it's luring you in by being as hands-free as possible.

Still confused? PMOG stands for Passively Multiplayer Online Game. It's a browser extension that hangs out at the bottom of your computer screen, tracking your progress as you wander the internet. Any website you view will give you datapoints, the in-game currency of this sans-play game. Datapoints can then be used to purchase items and armor - called tools - for your World Wide Web Warrior. The items include mines, portals, lightposts, and crates, allowing you to destroy datapoints, link to other websites, create missions, and store loot respectively. You can place any item at any location. Typing google.com in your address bar bombards you with an unrelenting amount of quests and items.

Akin to geocaching or pirate treasure, you can go to specified or unspecified locations and find loot stashed in crates by players. How you play determines your class. If you place a lot of crates full of goodies you'll be a Benefactor; if creating missions is more your style, you'll be a Pathmaker; if you like to plant mines you'll find yourself labeled Destroyer.

As you grow in experience, you'll be limited to what items you can buy, encouraging trade between players. Missions play out like an interactive social bookmarking site. You follow a site of like-minded links to learn about a subject or person, and unravel the occasional puzzle, then rate the mission and comment on it. If you're a fan of StumbleUpon you'll enjoy the missions a lot.

The most rewarding feature is the badges; sort of like XBox 360 achievements, they reward based on certain criteria. One badge is Indie, which you'll be awarded if you don't use Google for a 24-hour period, and Science, it works bitches which is awarded for reading XKCD once a week for four straight weeks.

The game is created by GameLayers, Inc. and is currently in Beta at PMOG.com. You can join the game by giving your email at the site and waiting for a reply, or asking someone already involved in the game for an invite.