You know how every year there is one word or phrase that just makes you go insane with rage because the media will not shut up about it? I predict this year that phrase will be:

the game layer

The concept is that there is an aspect to modern life that mirrors game-play: collecting points or airmiles, 4square check-ins, bumping iPhones… to get a better idea, you can spend 12 minutes listening to this guy, Seth Priebatsch. I found him simultaneously interesting and so annoying I wanted to slap him:

You may want to punch him harder by the end of the year if SCVNGR* takes off. It’s been around for two years but I’m confident it’s about to catch fire in the mainstream media because there are people playing with it in Victoria (one of my co-workers asked me about it because her son was having such fun with it). As far as I can figure it’s like 4square and Gowalla and all the other check-in apps except that there are added “challenges” at each check-in point.

I don’t do “check-ins” — I resent the active tracking — so I can’t say whether this is a hit or a miss. Do you play SCVNGR? Tell me what you think.

*If I had known we’d be living without vowels in the 21st century, I’d have saved some from the 80s!