Pervasive game

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A pervasive game is one where the gaming experience is extended out into the real world, [1] or where the fictional world in which the game takes place blends with the physical world. [2] The "It's Alive" mobile games company described pervasive games as "games that surround you," [3] while Montola, Stenros, and Waern's book Pervasive Games defines them as having "one or more salient features that expand the contractual magic circle of play spatially, temporally, or socially." [4] The concept of a "magic circle" draws from the work of Johan Huizinga, who describes the boundaries of play. [5]

Contents

The origins of pervasive gaming are related to the concepts of pervasive computing, ubiquitous computing, and ubiquitous gaming. [2]

Definitions

The first definition of a pervasive game was as "a LARP (Live action role-playing game) game that is augmented with computing and communication technology in a way that combines the physical and digital space together". [6] Since then the term has become ambiguous, taking on the following definitions: [2]

These definitions can be generalized as being from two perspectives: "a technological one that focuses on computing technology as a tool to enable the game to come into being" (i.e., the first two meanings on the list above) and "a cultural one that focuses on the game itself and, subsequently, on the way the game world can be related to the everyday world" (i.e., the eight remaining meanings above). In definitive work by Markus Montola, [4] pervasive games are summarily defined as having "one or more salient features that expand the contractual magic circle of play spatially, temporally, or socially", in other words "expand the boundaries of play". [5]

From the user experience perspective, Arango-López et al. [7] propose a new definition, taking into account the given basis by Montola and their own experience in the game's development. They define that: "A pervasive game delivers to the player an enriched experience of the game through an evolvement of the dynamics of the game, expanding the space of the game according to the context where it is played. This allows breaking the boundaries of the game world, making reality part of it and that the elements in that really have an influence during the game". They delved in the special features and added a component diagram of the pervasive games, it is based on the pervasive narrative of videogames.

History

The first time the word "pervasive" was applied to gaming is around March or April 2001, by Jennica Falk, in an article referring to the environment of the game, rather than the game itself. That same year Jay Schneider and Gerd Kortuem coined the term "pervasive gaming", admitting that they derived the term from pervasive computing. [6] Although the origins of ubiquitous computing and pervasive computing differ, they are often used interchangeably and both are the basis for pervasive gaming. Specifically, it is the technological perspective of pervasive games that borrows from both the cultural and the technological perspectives of pervasive computing. And, because ubiquitous computing and pervasive computing have been intermingled in the past, they both influence pervasive games. [2]

At the Computer Science Lab at Xerox PARC in 1988, Mark Weiser set up a "ubiquitous computing" research program to "conceive a new way of thinking about computers in the world, one that takes into account the natural human environment and allows the computers themselves to vanish into the background". [8] The program was designed such that computers were to cater to the wishes of the user, being of various sizes, aware of their location and easy to use. In 1998, Mark Bregman at IBM introduced "pervasive computing" as a commercial aspect where people have quick access to services anytime and anywhere. [9] Initially, the concepts of ubiquitous computing and pervasive computing were from different perspectives, but the two concepts were continuously redefined and related to other terms and concepts, leading to confusion and ambiguity. [2]

Staging a pervasive game

The staging of a pervasive game can be divided into three temporal phases: "pre-production", "run-time", and "post-production", but because we are dealing with games these phases can also be referred to as "pre-game", "in-game" and "post-game", leaving the word "run-time" to mean that the game is running, but players are not necessarily playing. [10] Because pervasive games make use of technology, the technology is started during or at the end of the pre-game phase and left running throughout the in-game phase. The pre-game phase is usually used to reconfigure or author the game to a particular context, for example a location. Reconfiguration of the game can extend into the in-game phase. The post-game phase is often used to debrief players and perform analysis of the game for further stagings. [10]

While players are playing in the in-game phase, the game can be continuously altered through the use of game mastering. Because pervasive games take place in the physical world, another responsibility of the game master is to keep players safe in the highly variable, possibly dangerous conditions of the physical world. A drawback of game mastering being that it can require a significant amount of human resources. [11] In order to support game mastering, tools can be used to automate the process. Such tools, among other things, can help process the potentially massive amounts of event information game masters must deal with. Two ways a gamemaster can influence the flow of the game: by directly altering information in the technology guiding the game, or by communicating directly with the players. [10]

Classification

Pervasive games have been associated with ubiquitous games, augmented and mixed reality games, mobile games, alternate reality games, (enhanced) live action role playing, affective gaming, virtual reality games, smart toys, location-based or location-aware games, crossmedia games and augmented tabletop games. [2] The book Digital Cityscapes categorizes "playful activities that use mobile technologies as interfaces and the physical space as the game board" into four categories; pervasive games is said to be the most general, with urban games, location-based mobile games and hybrid reality games being successively more specific. [12]

Another subclassification of pervasive games is based on to what degree technology is utilized in the game. A pervasive game is said to be "technology-sustained", if the game relies on computer simulation, in other words, "the computer maintains the game state through monitoring and reacting to player activities". [4] In contrast, "technology-supported" pervasive games use technology, but it is not required for all game activities. Hybrids are possible, where part of the game is technology-sustained, but others are not. [4]

Not a straightforward classification, Valente et al. [13] propose a method to determine pervasive qualities applicable to mobile games, i.e. what makes a mobile game pervasive? The results of their method is a quality report containing a Quality spreadsheet and a Quality vector summarizing each game. They provide a taxonomy of pervasive qualities consisting of the following first-level qualities: Spatiality, Permanence, Communicability, Accessibility, Context awareness, Resilience and Sociality. Each of these first-level qualities has been divided into one or more second-level qualities.

Examples

Examples of pervasive games include Pokémon Go , [14] Négone , [15] The Killer , The Beast , Shelby Logan's Run , BotFighters , Pac-Manhattan , Uncle Roy All Around You , Amazing Race . [4]

Pervasive game examples built on the EQUIP 2 software architecture, used in Equator and thereafter in IPerG, include Can You See Me Now? , Rider Spoke , Day of the Figurines , and Love City . [16] Niantic, Inc. launched Ingress in 2012, with about 500,000 players globally, and Pokémon Go in 2016. The more recent example of a popular pervasive game is Haunted Candy Hunt - an AR mobile game inspired by Ghostbusters (franchise) and developed by Trigger. [17] [18]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Live action role-playing game</span> Form of role-playing game where participants act out the roles

A live action role-playing game (LARP) is a form of role-playing game where the participants physically portray their characters. The players pursue goals within a fictional setting represented by real-world environments while interacting with each other in character. The outcome of player actions may be mediated by game rules or determined by consensus among players. Event arrangers called gamemasters decide the setting and rules to be used and facilitate play.

Ubiquitous computing is a concept in software engineering, hardware engineering and computer science where computing is made to appear anytime and everywhere. In contrast to desktop computing, ubiquitous computing can occur using any device, in any location, and in any format. A user interacts with the computer, which can exist in many different forms, including laptop computers, tablets, smart phones and terminals in everyday objects such as a refrigerator or a pair of glasses. The underlying technologies to support ubiquitous computing include Internet, advanced middleware, operating system, mobile code, sensors, microprocessors, new I/O and user interfaces, computer networks, mobile protocols, location and positioning, and new materials.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Augmented reality</span> View of the real world with computer-generated supplementary features

Augmented reality (AR) is an interactive experience that combines the real world and computer-generated content. The content can span multiple sensory modalities, including visual, auditory, haptic, somatosensory and olfactory. AR can be defined as a system that incorporates three basic features: a combination of real and virtual worlds, real-time interaction, and accurate 3D registration of virtual and real objects. The overlaid sensory information can be constructive, or destructive. As such, it is one of the key technologies in the reality-virtuality continuum.

Computer-supported cooperative work (CSCW) is the study of how people utilize technology collaboratively, often towards a shared goal. CSCW addresses how computer systems can support collaborative activity and coordination. More specifically, the field of CSCW seeks to analyze and draw connections between currently understood human psychological and social behaviors and available collaborative tools, or groupware. Often the goal of CSCW is to help promote and utilize technology in a collaborative way, and help create new tools to succeed in that goal. These parallels allow CSCW research to inform future design patterns or assist in the development of entirely new tools.

Context awareness refers, in information and communication technologies, to a capability to take into account the situation of entities, which may be users or devices, but are not limited to those. Location is only the most obvious element of this situation. Narrowly defined for mobile devices, context awareness does thus generalize location awareness. Whereas location may determine how certain processes around a contributing device operate, context may be applied more flexibly with mobile users, especially with users of smart phones. Context awareness originated as a term from ubiquitous computing or as so-called pervasive computing which sought to deal with linking changes in the environment with computer systems, which are otherwise static. The term has also been applied to business theory in relation to contextual application design and business process management issues.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Computer-mediated reality</span> Ability to manipulate ones perception of reality through the use of a computer

Computer-mediated reality refers to the ability to add to, subtract information from, or otherwise manipulate one's perception of reality through the use of a wearable computer or hand-held device such as a smartphone.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mixed reality</span> Merging of real and virtual worlds to produce new environments

Mixed reality (MR) is a term used to describe the merging of a real-world environment and a computer-generated one. Physical and virtual objects may co-exist in mixed reality environments and interact in real time.

A persistent world or persistent state world (PSW) is a virtual world which, by the definition by Richard Bartle, "continues to exist and develop internally even when there are no people interacting with it". The first virtual worlds were text-based and often called MUDs, but the term is frequently used in relation to massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) and pervasive games. Examples of persistent worlds that exist in video games include Battle Dawn, EVE Online, and Realms of Trinity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mahadev Satyanarayanan</span> Indian experimental computer scientist

Mahadev "Satya" Satyanarayanan is an Indian experimental computer scientist, an ACM and IEEE fellow, and the Carnegie Group Professor of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU).

Locative media or location-based media (LBM) is a virtual medium of communication functionally bound to a location. The physical implementation of locative media, however, is not bound to the same location to which the content refers.

Context-aware computing refers to a general class of mobile systems that can sense their physical environment, and adapt their behavior accordingly.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Immersion (virtual reality)</span> Perception of being physically present in a non-physical world

Immersion into virtual reality (VR) is the perception of being physically present in a non-physical world. The perception is created by surrounding the user of the VR system in images, sound or other stimuli that provide an engrossing total environment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Virtual graffiti</span> Graffiti only visible through augmented reality software

Virtual graffiti consists of virtual or digital media applied to public locations, landmarks or surfaces. Virtual graffiti applications utilize augmented reality and ubiquitous computing to anchor virtual graffiti to physical landmarks or objects in the real world. The virtual content can then be viewed through digital devices. Virtual graffiti is aimed at delivering messaging and social multimedia content to mobile applications and devices based on the identity, location, and community of the user.

<i>BotFighters</i> 2001 video game

BotFighters is a location-based mobile game and a pervasive game, developed by It's Alive Mobile Games AB! designed to be a MMORPG played in an urban environment. It was possibly the world's first commercial location-based game. It was first released in Sweden on 14 March 2001, and later in Russia, Finland, Ireland and China.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mobile interaction</span>

Mobile interaction is the study of interaction between mobile users and computers. Mobile interaction is an aspect of human–computer interaction that emerged when computers became small enough to enable mobile usage, around the 1990s.

Urban computing is an interdisciplinary field which pertains to the study and application of computing technology in urban areas. This involves the application of wireless networks, sensors, computational power, and data to improve the quality of densely populated areas. Urban computing is the technological framework for smart cities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Location-based game</span> Game which reacts to the players location

A location-based game is a type of game in which the gameplay evolves and progresses via a player's location. Location-based games must provide some mechanism to allow the player to report their location, usually with GPS. Many location-based games are video games that run on a mobile phone with GPS capability, known as location-based video games.

Uncle Roy All Around You (URAY) is a pervasive game made by Blast Theory. URAY was built in the Equator project on the EQUIP architecture. "The defining characteristic of this game is the way it mixes preprogrammed game content with live performance that takes place on the city streets." Players "on the street" set out on a journey to find a fictional character called Uncle Roy. Simultaneously players online journeyed through a parallel 3D world, all the while guiding or misleading street players. The game was staged in May/June 2003 in central London. Players on the street were given a mobile device to use to navigate through the city and keep contact with game operators and online players. In URAY, self-reported positioning was used instead of location tracking. Street players were presented with a map that they could pan around and subsequently mark their location upon. The mobile device allowed street players to record and send short audio clips to the online players. The notable end of the game is when the street players find Uncle Roy's office where it is possible for the online to meet the street players through webcam. The street players are asked if they are willing to "commit to help a stranger for the next year and if so, whether they are prepared to release their personal contact details". Later the street players are invited into a limousine, where they are asked the same question. Players are paired up to meet if they both committed to the agreement.

A transreality game, sometimes written as trans-reality game, describes a type of video game or a mode of gameplay that combines playing a game in a virtual environment with game-related, physical experiences in the real world and vice versa. In this approach a player evolves and moves seamlessly through various physical and virtual stages, brought together in one unified game space. Alongside the rising trend of gamification, the application of game mechanics to tasks that are not traditionally associated with play, a transreality approach to gaming incorporates mechanics that extend over time and space, effectively playing through a players day-to-day interactions.

Alice Jane Brush is an American computer scientist known for her research in human-computer interaction, ubiquitous computing and computer supported collaborative work (CSCW). She is particularly known for her research studying and building technology for homes as well as expertise conducting field studies of technology. She is the co-chair of CRA-W from 2014 to 2017.

References

  1. ↑ Benford, Steve; Magerkurth, Carsten; Ljungstrand, Peter (2005), Bridging the physical and digital in pervasive gaming (PDF), Communications of the ACM, ACM, pp. 54–57, archived from the original (PDF) on 11 November 2014
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Nieuwdorp, E. (2007). "The pervasive discourse". Computers in Entertainment. 5 (2): 13. doi:10.1145/1279540.1279553. S2CID   17759896.
  3. ↑ "What is Pervasive Gaming?". It's Alive Mobile Games AB. Archived from the original on 24 February 2005. Retrieved 2013-10-18.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Montola, Markus; Stenros, Jaakko; Waern, Annika (2009). Pervasive Games. Theory and Design. Experiences on the Boundary Between Life and Play. Morgan Kaufmann Publishers.
  5. 1 2 Oppermann, Leif (2009), "Facilitating the development of location-based experiences", eprints.nottingham.ac.uk, University of Nottingham, EThOS   uk.bl.ethos.508291 Lock-green.svg
  6. 1 2 Schneider, Jay; Kortuem, Gerd (2001). "How to Host a Pervasive Game: Supporting Face-to-Face Interactions in Live-Action Roleplaying". Designing Ubiquitous Computing Games Workshop at UbiComp (position paper). Atlanta, Georgia, USA. pp. 1–6.
  7. ↑ Arango-López, Jeferson; Gallardo, Jesús; Gutiérrez, Francisco L.; Cerezo, Eva; Amengual, Esperança; Valera, Ramón (2017). "Pervasive games". Proceedings of the XVIII International Conference on Human Computer Interaction. Interacción '17. New York, NY, USA: ACM. pp. 9:1–9:4. doi:10.1145/3123818.3123832. ISBN   9781450352291. S2CID   13978255.
  8. ↑ Weiser, Mark (1991). "The Computer for the 21st Century". ACM Sigmobile Mobile Computing and Communications Review. 3 (3): 3–11. doi:10.1145/329124.329126. S2CID   61730407 . Retrieved 2012-12-19.
  9. ↑ Davidsson, Ola; Peitz, Johan; Björk, Staffan (2004), Game design patterns for mobile games, Finland: Nokia Research Center
  10. 1 2 3 Nevelsteen, Kim JL (2015). A Survey of Characteristic Engine Features for Technology-Sustained Pervasive Games. SpringerBriefs in Computer Science. Springer International Publishing. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-17632-1. ISBN   978-3-319-17631-4. S2CID   19479793.
  11. ↑ Broll, W.; Ohlenburg, J.; Lindt, I.; Herbst, I.; Braun, A. K. (2006). "Meeting technology challenges of pervasive augmented reality games". Proceedings of 5th ACM SIGCOMM workshop on Network and system support for games - NetGames '06. p. 28. doi:10.1145/1230040.1230097. ISBN   978-1595935892. S2CID   15130951.
  12. ↑ de Souza e Silva, Adriana; Sutko, Daniel M. (2009). Digital Cityscapes: merging digital and urban playspaces. New York: Peter Lang Publishing, Inc.
  13. ↑ Valente, Luis; Feijó, Bruno; Leite, Julio Cesar Sampaio do Prado; Clua, Esteban (2017). "A method to assess pervasive qualities in mobile games". Personal and Ubiquitous Computing. 22 (4). London: Springer: 647–670. doi:10.1007/s00779-017-1107-0. S2CID   44755035.
  14. ↑ "Why is Pokemon Go such a hit?". Persona. 2016-07-16. Retrieved 2017-09-25.
  15. ↑ "Let's get physical". the Guardian. 17 November 2005. Retrieved 31 March 2020.
  16. ↑ Greenhalgh, Chris. "Chris Greenhalgh's Home Page" . Retrieved 2013-10-17. collaborations with performance artists Blast Theory (Rider Spoke, Day of the Figurines) and Active Ingredient (Love City, Exploding Places)
  17. ↑ Sussman, Hillary (25 September 2020). "Ghostbusters Celebrates Halloween With AR Ghost-Hunting Game". Comic Book Resources . Retrieved 30 November 2020.
  18. ↑ Adeleon, John (23 September 2020). "Trigger Haunted Candy Hunt Web AR Game". Nothing But Geek. Retrieved 30 November 2020.
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