Could rfid silicone wristband turn festivals into games?
This summer, Cheshire's Bluedot festival is celebrating the innovation behind the first lunar landings 50 years ago. But its organisers are hoping to make their own giant leap, taking contactless technology on its first tentative steps into the creative world.To get more news about rfid silicone wristband, you can visit bestrfidcard official website.
Festival director Ben Robinson says it will allow visitors to check-in at stages, talks and stalls, creating a "mission log" they will be sent after the event, listing what they saw and giving further information.
Ultimately, he hopes to turn festivals into immersive gaming sites - something akin to Pokemon Go - where, alongside enjoying the festival site, visitors can unlock exclusive rewards. This might include entry to a restricted area for visiting a number of check-in points or free dishes if enough food is purchased.
Acts and artists can investigate creative uses, linking the wristbands to interactive apps and existing technologies, such as augmented reality, to give attendees something beyond the usual festival experience.The technology, which is also used in contactless bank card payments, has been widely adopted at festivals in the US and Europe, but several medium-sized UK events have also now embraced the idea, using it to eliminate cash and cards from their sites.
Steve Jenner, managing director of Playpass, which makes the wristbands, said: "Rewards could include bonus credit to be spent in the event, merchandise, access to a restricted area or the right to camp in a premium location the following year."So what do music fans make of the use of the rfid silicone wristband? Dan Salter, editor of music magazine website Echoes and Dust, regularly attends festivals and says he broadly supports the idea, providing it does not start to interfere with the whole point of a music festival - the acts on stage.
"The danger is that you get analysis that tells you 80% of your audience went to see Band X so you should book loads of bands that sound like Band X," he says."Much like the Spotify algorithm that serves you a never-ending stream of stuff it thinks you will like, data can stop exposing you to that thrill of hearing something new and different."
He also says that, while not using cash at festivals is "an inherently good idea", he has "rfid silicone wristband" about preloading wristbands with funds, because of something called "breakage"."That is where people load money on that they never end up redeeming. Most retailers view this as an excellent stream of effectively free money... but it is scamming the punters who are already paying an on-site premium."