Location-Based Mobile Games

Physical space has become intertwined with digital information with the escalatory development of information and communication technologies such as ubiquitous computing, mobile and wearable devices, GPS technology, wireless networks, smart city applications and augmented reality. The relationship between urban space and location-based technology has transformed everyday life practices; and one of these life practices is playing game. Location based mobile games (LBMGs) are being played on streets and provide interaction with urban environments. Mobile devices become the interface between the player and urban space, and players experience the urban through the game narrative. Nowadays, the most popular LBMGs are Ingress and Pokémon Go. Although the both games were created by the same company and configured on the same map, they arouse different effects. LBMGs have a great potential to shape gaming experiences thus researching different effects of Ingress and Pokémon Go hold an academic importance. The difference between these two games can only be revealed by participating in game communities and conducting a qualitative research. Because of that, this study is built on an ethnographic research about Ingress and Pokémon Go; and the results of the research revealed the importance of sociability. In this study, firstly, LBMGs are defined and the influences of these games on everyday life are discussed. Secondly, the differences and similarities are examined between Ingress and Pokémon Go according to the analysis obtained from participant observation and in-depth interviews. Finally, the importance of sociability is emphasized and foresights are provided in the light of research results to contribute to the game studies.

Publikacja o charakterze instruktażowym dla nauczycieli oraz edukatorów chcących zorganizować grę miejską z wykorzystaniem kodów QR. Materiał powstał w oparciu o własne doświadczenia przy organizacji trzech edycji Turnieju Wiedzy Historycznej o Puławach „Bitwa o Puławy”,  z których dwie otrzymały dofinansowanie ze środków Muzeum Historii Polski w ramach programu „Patriotyzm Jutra”.

Publikacja dostępna pierwotnie na stronie internetowej: www.domchemika.pl/bitwa

Tytuł: Bitwa o Puławy 2017. Poradnik dla nauczycieli i edukatorów
Autor: Mariusz Karolak
Wydawca: Puławski Ośrodek Kultury "Dom Chemika"
Język: polski
Redakcja: Joanna Krauze
Projekt graficzny: Andrzej Łukasiewicz
Zdjęcia: Ewa Borowska
Licencja CC BY-SA 4.0 PL

This paper reports on the design and evaluation of player experiences related to a Location-Based Game. Location-based games (or LBGs) seek to move gamified play into the " real world " of cities, parks and other locations. These games are played in everyday places, where game information is tied to specific locations (Magerkurth et al. 2005). This connection to real-world physicality makes the game experience multidimensional and fun for players of different ages. Yet, to be able to envision and create an urban gamescape means that a set of criteria is met. The unique challenge of creating and orchestrating location-based game experiences requires a certain sensitivity of its designers to multiple factors that must be considered. These may include but are not limited to factors such as the city infrastructure, flows of urban traffic, maintenance of recreational areas and human-related factors such as cooperation with the city administration. The game introduced in the paper represents an urban game adventure built upon the platform of geocaching. We approach the game with a focus on its potential learning affordances. We ask how the pitfalls in creating opportunities for learning through location-based games could be avoided, especially when designing pedagogic aims into an urban gaming experience fit for school-aged children.

In this dissertation, it is explored which prerequisites are necessary in location-based games (LBGs) to make meaningful the meeting between players and spatiality with an emphasis on physical locations. Throughout the dissertation, it has been shown that LBGs affect players’ perception of and behavior in everyday spaces, as the games reside on the boundaries between the continuums of play and ordinary, authentic and fictional, and as they merge physical and digital media. These are termed the six dimensions of LBGs. LBGs let the player explore the boundaries between these dimensions and the dimensions are related through play. The LBG acts as a mediator for the meeting between the player and locations through the boundaries between these six dimensions. The motivation of the dissertation is to push the development of and research in LBGs toward actualizing the potential for expanding LBGs’ spatial aspect even further and to contribute with a cohesive framework on LBGs.

This dissertation consists of a review of previous research and existing LBGs, and a theoretical discussion of the elements of LBGs encompassing: 1) Spatiality: space and place, digital space, mediated spaces (physical and digital), locations as play-spaces. 2) Structure: rules, frames, fiction and authenticity, and uncertainty and ambiguity. 3) Interface: Location-aware devices, seams, and objects and players. 4) Player experience: Motivation, mobility, meaning, and finally, a discussion of flow, immersion or incorporation. The combination of these elements is used to conceptualize LBGs.

Physical space has become intertwined with digital information with the escalatory development of information and communication technologies such as ubiquitous computing, mobile and wearable devices, GPS technology, wireless networks, smart city applications and augmented reality. The relationship between urban space and location-based technology has transformed everyday life practices; and one of these life practices is playing game. Location based mobile games (LBMGs) are being played on streets and provide interaction with urban environments. Mobile devices become the interface between the player and urban space, and players experience the urban through the game narrative. Nowadays, the most popular LBMGs are Ingress and Pokémon Go. Although the both games were created by the same company and configured on the same map, they arouse different effects. LBMGs have a great potential to shape gaming experiences thus researching different effects of Ingress and Pokémon Go hold an academic importance. The difference between these two games can only be revealed by participating in game communities and conducting a qualitative research. Because of that, this study is built on an ethnographic research about Ingress and Pokémon Go; and the results of the research revealed the importance of sociability. In this study, firstly, LBMGs are defined and the influences of these games on everyday life are discussed. Secondly, the differences and similarities are examined between Ingress and Pokémon Go according to the analysis obtained from participant observation and in-depth interviews. Finally, the importance of sociability is emphasized and foresights are provided in the light of research results to contribute to the game studies.

In the heady discourse following the launch of Pokémon Go, many of the game’s influences, histories and precursors were forgotten or over-looked. Against the newness in which Pokémon Go is often framed, this article re-contextualises its history examining comparable practices and recalling the games evolution from earlier locative applications developed by Google to the experimental games of the modernist Avant Garde to which it has been compared. Central to this paper is discussion of the opportunities in the pervasive game development process for encoding and recoding the city by balancing ingame content with the nuances of the urban landscape in which it is played. While Pokémon Go has been revelatory in bringing awareness of pervasive gaming into the mainstream, this discussion of location-based games, public art projects, and playful approaches to urban exploration aims to fill gaps in the history of the field, and offer new possibilities for future game design and analysis.

A series of co-design activities were carried out in response to a 'real world design problem' initiated by the Sussex Wildlife Trust. Investigations were focussed on how technological interventions could encourage outdoor play for older children (aged 8-12) who were less inclined to attend holiday clubs in the countryside than younger children. Studies have shown that spending time outdoors during formative years will encourage visits during adulthood and promote environmental awareness. The focus for the work was on developing participatory techniques for this age group that improve communication with adult partners and encourage creative thinking. In particular the use of character and story design activities facilitated open discussions about their preferences and opinions and avoided the constraints of a real design problem. Methods for this age group were adapted for the 'Say', 'Do', 'Make' method of triangulating data . The children helped to co-create a series of Location Based Games that provided a useful design template for further development of the concept.

As an interface encompassing various converging platforms and contexts, mobile media devices such as the iPad, iPhone, PlayStation Portable (PSP), Nintendo DS and 3DS, Android phones, and increasing array of tablets are clearly becoming important spaces for gaming and playful social activities more broadly. With the increasing ubiquity of Web-capable smartphones and tablets, app-based ecologies and trends towards gamification-that is, the use of games and playful apps to boost consumption of products and services-mobile games are now an intrinsic part of twenty-first century popular culture. Seventy-five percent of all mobile phone downloads are games, and the mobile gaming industry is now valued at US$50 billion, 1 with some predicting that the mobile device will become the "primary screen" for games by 2016. While not all mobile games have enjoyed the success of Angry Birds, 3 mobile gaming has provided many designers and programmers-and, consequently, players-with more flexibility and innovation around game genres, gameplay, and the aesthetics and affordances of game environments. Across the expanding variety of platforms, media, contexts, and modes of presence, mobile games are being played by a growing number of people in a range of contexts: young and old, male and female, individuals, families, and social groups, at home, on the move, at work. Not only have we witnessed an increase in the popularity of casual games across Web-based media, the spectrum of gaming has also shifted to include playful social media and location-based "apps." In what Jesper Juul defines as a "casual revolution," 4 games and other forms of playful media now both reflect and modify the complex practices and relationships that constitute contemporary life. In this context, and cutting across cultures, generations, and media interfaces, mobile games can no longer be considered as trivial; similarly, players can no longer be simplistically typecast as "casual" or "hardcore."

An essential part of location-based games is the physical space where players perform gameplay. The players navigate in the city, their game world, and use the 2d map in their smartphone to inform their gameplay decisions and to show them the next point of interest (POI). This research aims to use space syntax, the city configuration, the way someone moves based on the geometry of the spaces to define new rules and a new logic of placing objects in the environment of location-based games. The visual field from the location of the player in the game environment can determine the decisions the player makes when navigating in the city. In the real environment, the game designer cannot change the geometry of the space, but he can use the visibility and spatiality of the existing space for different purposes and functions. First, this paper investigates existing location-based games and analyzes their distribution and logic. Specifically, the location-based games, Pokémon Go, and Ingress are discussed, which use a landmark-based logic. The main focus of this research is on selected areas in the central part of London. Initial findings indicated that a high percentage of POI in Ingress is placed in small spaces, spaces with low connectivity values, and spaces where the visual field is blocked by obstacles. Through these observations, new placements of POI are suggested, based on theories of spatial analysis, gaming, and existing literature. Space syntax measures offer a starting point to consider certain locations within the game environment over others. These possible placements developed, are evaluated by comparison with the logic of the selected games. Through visibility and street network analysis, a new way of placing objects in the real environment is created, taking account the player’s position and visibility in the play location and the surroundings. Another logic is also proposed, a combination of space syntax and landmarks, and it is discussed if it can add additional values, that the existing approach is lacking.

Anlatı, insanın kendisini ve çevresini, anlamak ve anlatmak için ihtiyacı olan imgelerin taşıyıcısıdır. Yazılı, sözlü, görsel ya da dijital medyanın her biri anlatıya farklı etkiler katarken, bir anlatının birden fazla medya aracılığıyla aktarılması anlatının etki alanını genişletmek için çokça izlenen bir yoldur. Bir anlatının her bir versiyonunun kendi içinde bir bütünlüğü olmakla birlikte bir araya geldiğinde daha büyük bir bütün oluşturduğu, kuşatıcı anlatılar transmedya anlatılarıdır. Her bir parça temel anlatının karakter, olay, zaman, mekân gibi unsurlarından birinin derinine inerek bütüne katkı sağlamaktadır. Pokémon, anime, manga ve oyunlarıyla on yıllardır süregelen bir transmedya örneğidir. Pokémon’un dünyada oldukça ün kazanan son versiyonu da Konum Tabanlı Mobil Oyun  ya da Artırılmış Gerçeklik Oyunu olarak adlandırılan Pokémon Go!’dur. Pokémon anlatısının, mobil cihazların, fiziksel mekânın ve kolektif eylemin buluşmasıyla oluşan Pokémon Go, mevcut Pokémon anlatısının fiziksel mekânla ve gündelik yaşamla ilişkisini derinleştirmektedir. Pokémon Go’nun çift katmanlı anlatısının birinci katmanı bilinen Pokémon anlatısı üzerinden oyun tasarımcılarının tasarladığı Pokémon Go anlatısı iken; ikinci katman tamamen oyuncuların kent sokaklarında oyunu oynarken kolektif olarak yarattıkları dinamik anlatıdır. Sokaklarda pokémonların bulunduğu yerlere giden, gündelik yaşamda rotasını buna göre tayin eden, Pokéstop’lara dönüşen kent öğeleri üzerinden kimlik ve sahiplik geliştiren oyuncu, tüm bu etkileşimler sonucunda farklı bir kent deneyimi ve kent imgesi geliştirmektedir. Bu çalışmada, konum tabanlı mobil oyunlar aracılığıyla ortaya çıkan kent deneyimlerinin kolektif transmedya anlatısındaki yerini ortaya koymak amaçlanmıştır. Pokémon Go üzerine katılımcı gözlem ve derinlemesine görüşme yapılarak transmedya anlatılarına kentin eklemlenişi tartışılmıştır.

The narrative contains the cognitive images that people needs for understanting themselves and their environments. Each media, written, visual or digital, have different effects on the narrative. Nevertheless, the presentation a narrative through multiple media platforms expands the influence of the narrative. Each version of the basic narrative is a whole in itself and, when all the pieces come together, they form a larger whole. These immersive narratives are named as transmedia narratives. Each piece contributes to the whole narrative by deepining one of the story elements such as characters, place, time or event. Pokémon is a famous transmedia example that has been going on for decades with anime, manga, games and cards.  The latest version of the Pokémon narrative is “Pokémon Go!” which is called location based mobile games or augmented reality game. Pokémon Go that takes place in the intersection of Pokémon narrative, mobile devices, physical space and collective action, deepens the relationship between Pokémon narrative and urban spaces. The first layer of the double-layered Pokémon Go narrative is the location based mobile game narrative designed by game designers; the second layer is a dynamic and collective narrative that players create together while playing in the streets. The players catch the pokémons, go to Pokéstops for collecting items and constructs a player identity through urban elements, so they evolve new everyday life experiences and sense of urban place. In this study, it is aimed to reveal the influence of urban experiences emerged through location based mobile games on collective tranmedia narratives. In the light of participant observation and in-depth interviews on Pokémon Go, the integration of urban space on transmedia narratives is discussed.

Location-based mobile games (LBMGs) are emerging as a new genre in the field of computer-mediated games. LBMGs introduce elements of everyday life in the game world, thereby producing a hybrid spatial context and bringing the rules of play into the public sphere of the urban environment. Gaming is one of the most significant forms of interaction and an essential element of everyday social life (Huizinga, 1955; Stephenson, 1967). According to Juul (2003), play is a transcultural, transpatial, transtemporal, and transmedial phenomenon; there is no single game medium, but a number of game media, each with its own particular characteristics. This means that the same games can be played with the support of different media and different media may generate different games. What remains more or less constant throughout the broader ecology of games and game-related media is the internal logic and the infrastructure of gaming as such. Based on this understanding, we suggest that an investigation of a particular game medium, such as LBMGs, may be seen as a two-step process involving (1) the identification of the general, transmedial characteristics of gaming and (2) the examination of how these characteristics are manifested in other digital media. This chapter examines traditional game theories from the perspective of social interaction and applies them to the investigation of LBMGs through a particular location-based system, LOCUNET.

This paper describes a mobile game called xChase, which embeds physical objects, augments them with additional information and lets them be part of the game quest. The main idea is to create a mobile, augmented reality version of the classic board game Scotland Yard. Similar to the board game, Mr. X is chased by several cooperating agents. The game is mainly designed to be played on fairs where many people come together on a small area. The players interact with physical fairground maps to find out the last known positions of other players and especially of Mr. X. In addition to the major task of catching Mr. X, the agents can solve supplemental quests. Here other environmental objects (e.g. advertisements or observation cameras) are involved to gather more information about Mr. X appearance. Because of its architecture, the game can easily be adapted to different environments, for example to public transport networks.

Effective and efficient approaches are required in order to develop and maintain cultural heritage applications and services that meet user requirements and expectations. This is particularly relevant to cultural heritage mobile applications which support interaction experiences among a variety of stakeholders and diverse contexts of use. In this context, a promising approach is to allow non-technical users to creatively participate in creating mobile experiences for cultural heritage. To this end, a plethora of authoring tools exist which drive end user development by geo-locating digital cultural heritage assets within locative interactive experiences. The purpose of this paper is to categorize some of these approaches and to conclude with promising directions for future research in this area.

Large numbers of children and adolescents in Canada, UK and USA are not getting their recommended daily dose of moderate to vigorous physical activity, and are thus more prone to obesity and its ill health effects. Exergames (video games that require physical activity to play) are rapidly gaining user acceptance, and may have the potential to increase physical activity levels among young people. Mobile exergames for GPS (global positioning system)enabled smartphones and mini-tablets take players outdoors, in the open air, unlike console exergames, e.g., Xbox 360 Kinect exergames, which limit players to playing indoors in front of a TV set. In this paper and its companion 'Additional file 1', we review different examples of GPS exergames and of gamified geosocial apps and gadgets (mobile, location-aware apps and devices with social and gamification features), and briefly discuss some of the issues surrounding their use. Further research is needed to document best practices in this area, quantify the exact health and fitness benefits of GPS exergames and apps (under different settings and scenarios), and find out what is needed to improve them and the best ways to promote their adoption by the public.

With the increased use of smart phones and advanced positioning technology; location based social media applications brought the ability to share location information for online users. Previous research has investigated the drivers of location sharing behavior in online social networks on social-driven location sharing domain. Impression management and privacy concerns of users are listed as predictors of the likelihood to share location. The successful business model of “Foursquare” introduced an additional design factor “gaming” that is found impactful on location sharing of the online social network’s users. This research provides a more comprehensive framework of analysis for location sharing via complementing the gaming factor. Building on the existing literature on social-driven location sharing; a conceptual model is proposed based on the individual drivers impression management and privacy concern, and the design factor game element. The direct impacts of the drivers are investigated in addition to the moderator role of gaming on individual factors. An experiment is designed to test the predictors and multiple regression analysis is conducted to examine the data collected. The main effects of impression management, privacy concern and gaming on location sharing in online social networks are validated. In addition to the main effects, a significant interaction effect of gaming on privacy concern is found. Impression management is further confirmed to be a central driver in location sharing behavior; thus no moderator role of gaming is observed on this factor. The findings of this research contribute to literature in location sharing behavior; privacy concern, impression management and gaming in online social networks. Findings further extend the possible application areas for gamification.


Keywords: social-driven location sharing, gamification, impression management, privacy concern, location based services

Konumsal medya, ağ, mobil cihazlar, konum verisi ve kenti biraraya getiren yapısıyla iletişim, kent sosyolojisi ve çevre psikolojisinin kesişim alanında yer alan disiplinlerarası bir araştırma konusudur. Fiziksel mekân ile dijital enformasyonu bir araya getirmekte, kullanıcı ile kent arasında arayüz işlevi görmektedir. Mekânı görme biçimlerini değiştiren konum tabanlı sosyal ağlar ve konum tabanlı mobil oyunların yarattığı hibrit mekân deneyimi, fiziksel mekân ile siber mekânı bir araya getirerek mekânsal dönüşümün son halkasını oluşturmaktadır. Konum tabanlı mobil oyunlar, kent sokaklarında oynanan ve gerçek kent öğeleriyle etkileşimli oyunlardır. Bu çalışma konum tabanlı mobil oyunların kent imgesi üzerindeki etkisini konu edinmektedir. Ingress adlı mobil oyun üzerine yapılan etnografik araştırmayla, konum tabanlı mobil oyunların, gündelik yaşam-oyun ilişkisi, mekân imgesinin oluşumu, mevcut kent imgesinin yeniden üretilmesi ve mekân kimliğinin sunumu üzerindeki etkilerini ortaya koymak amaçlanmıştır.

Passing On was created during “TOTEM Summer School Mobile Mixed Reality Game Jam Hackathon 2012”. Passing On is a lightweight competitive multi-player game using GPS-tracking between players. Three teams are assembled, each team competing with each other to be the first to open and cross ‘a portal to the other side’. Each team is comprised of two par-ties, the Ghost party and the Paranormal Investigator party. The game has been designed with deliberate limitations in the communication system, where players have to work together to figure out ways around the obstacles to communicate with each other. In doing so, the game aims at prompting a feeling of fellowship between the players, and to foster a sense of agency in their experience.

Large numbers of children and adolescents in Canada, UK and USA are not getting their recommended daily dose of moderate to vigorous physical activity, and are thus more prone to obesity and its ill health effects. Exergames (video games that require physical activity to play) are rapidly gaining user acceptance, and may have the potential to increase physical activity levels among young people. Mobile exergames for GPS (global positioning system)-enabled smartphones and mini-tablets take players outdoors, in the open air, unlike console exergames, e.g., Xbox 360 Kinect exergames, which limit players to playing indoors in front of a TV set. In this paper and its companion 'Additional file 1', we review different examples of GPS exergames and of gamified geosocial apps and gadgets (mobile, location-aware apps and devices with social and gamification features), and briefly discuss some of the issues surrounding their use. Further research is needed to document best practices in this area, quantify the exact health and fitness benefits of GPS exergames and apps (under different settings and scenarios), and find out what is needed to improve them and the best ways to promote their adoption by the public.

In recent years, there have been some discussions in the scholarly literature about using Consumption Value Model (CVM) for explaining the adoption and usage of hedonic information technologies. As CVM is a relatively new theoretical lens, limited empirical evaluation of this model has so far been reported. In this article, we thus report an empirical evaluation of CVM for games downloading by students on their mobile phones context. We observe partial support for the applicability of CVM as only two value dimensions of CVM (performance/quality value and emotional value) are related to students' intentions to download games. We further find mixed influence of students' demographic characteristics on their value perceptions. The implications of these findings are discussed.

An essential part of location-based games is the physical space where players perform gameplay. The players navigate in the city, their game world, and use the 2d map in their smartphone to inform their gameplay decisions and to show them the next point of interest (POI). This research aims to use space syntax, the city configuration, the way someone moves based on the geometry of the spaces to define new rules and a new logic of placing objects in the environment of location-based games. The visual field from the location of the player in the game environment can determine the decisions the player makes when navigating in the city. In the real environment, the game designer cannot change the geometry of the space, but he can use the visibility and spatiality of the existing space for different purposes and functions. First, this paper investigates existing location-based games and analyzes their distribution and logic. Specifically, the location-based games, Pokémon Go, and Ingress are discussed, which use a landmark-based logic. The main focus of this research is on selected areas in the central part of London. Initial findings indicated that a high percentage of POI in Ingress is placed in small spaces, spaces with low connectivity values, and spaces where the visual field is blocked by obstacles. Through these observations, new placements of POI are suggested, based on theories of spatial analysis, gaming, and existing literature. Space syntax measures offer a starting point to consider certain locations within the game environment over others. These possible placements developed, are evaluated by comparison with the logic of the selected games. Through visibility and street network analysis, a new way of placing objects in the real environment is created, taking account the player’s position and visibility in the play location and the surroundings. Another logic is also proposed, a combination of space syntax and landmarks, and it is discussed if it can add additional values, that the existing approach is lacking.

This study aims to demonstrate the commercial exploitation of play- bour in location-based mobile games (LBMGs) that merge digital information and physical spaces. The ethnographic method has been applied in this research, and the data were collected through partici- pant observation technique by participating in Ingress (Prime) and Pokémon GO! game communities. The research findings, which show the playbour uses of game companies and advertisers, are grouped under two topics. The first one is the commoditization of playbour by positioning the players as data and content producer and the target of location-based advertising. The second one is to produce economic capital indirectly through social capital that is produced in the game community, shapes everyday life and reproduces urban space.

Engaging museum visitors through game playing is an approach that has been used extensively by many museums and cultural institutions. Location based games are facilitated by mobile technologies and have been implemented in various kinds of museums, like archaeological, historical, cultural, science, art galleries, etc. However a particularly hard case to implement playful activities and measure learning outcome is that of museums of contemporary art. In this paper we describe Taggling, a game designed for a Contemporary Art Museum, focusing in particular in the learning patterns observed in visitors of the museum when playing the game. Taggling is like a card sorting game where players are engaged in untangling a set of tags that describe different artworks so as each tag to be placed in the corresponding artwork. Based on two limited evaluation sessions, Taggling shows the potential to successfully engaging the players with the artworks. We consider this an important achievement, since contemporary art is more challenging than traditional art.

Resumen El aporte de este trabajo es explorar cómo abordar experiencias de co-diseño in-situ de Juegos Móviles basados en posicionamiento en espacios cerrados (por ejemplo, un edificio), describiendo las lecciones aprendidas sobre esta temática. En este trabajo se presenta un framework conceptual para el co-diseño in-situ de Juegos Móviles basados en posicionamiento para espacios cerrados con el objetivo de ayudar a los facilitadores a abordar este tipo de ex-periencias con recursos útiles (por ejemplo, recursos de Design Thinking). Usando este framework, se presenta una experiencia de co-diseño in-situ de un Juego Móvil basado en posicionamiento en un espacio cerrado; para algunas etapas se utilizó una herramienta de autor que permite co-diseñar in-situ cuáles son los lugares relevantes para una aplicación. A partir de esta experiencia, se extendió la herramienta de autor para poder crear un tipo particular de Jue-go Móvil basado en posicionamiento. En este trabajo se presenta esta extensión junto con una prueba de conceptos que muestra cómo un juego co-diseñado in-situ con esta extensión fue usado por usuarios finales. Palabras clave Co-diseño In-situ; Juegos Móviles basados en Posicionamiento; Herramientas de Autor. Abstract The contribution of this paper is to explore how in-situ co-design of indoor spaces (e.g. building) of Location-based Mobile Games could be handle, by describing the learned lessons on this topic. This paper presents a conceptual framework for in-situ co-design of indoor spaces on Location-based Mobile Games to assist to carry out this kind of experience using useful resources (as Design Thinking's resources). An experience of in-situ co-design for an indoor space on a Location-based Mobile Game is presented using this framework; for some phases an authoring tool was used which allows in-situ co-design of relevant locations for an application. Based on this experience, the authoring tool was extended to create a specific kind of Location-based Mobile Game. This paper presents this extension along with a proof of concept that shows how an in-situ co-designed game created by this extension was used by end-users.

STRESZCZENIE
Artykuł prezentuje media mobilna znajdujące zastosowanie w przestrzeni miejskiej: media i gry lokacyjne, mobilne sieci społecznościowe, mobilne lokacyjne sieci społecznościowe itp. Koncentruje się na komunikacji za pośrednictwem smartfonów i tabletów umożliwiających zainstalowanie odpowiednich aplikacji, głównie o charakterze informacyjnym, rozrywkowym i komercyjnym. Uzasadnia rosnącą rolę aplikacji, wyłanianiu się nowego ekosystemu medialnego kształtowanemu przez aplikacje mobilne oraz ich wpływu na pozostałe nowe media i media tradycyjne. Wstępna analiza typologiczna służy charakterystyce zjawisk towarzyszących mobilnej komunikacji miejskiej: dyslokacji i relokacji. Zaprezentowane zostają społeczne konsekwencje rozwoju i oddziaływania mobilnych mediów miejskich, m.in. znaczenie kontekstualizacji i personalizacji oraz mobilnej medialnej kultury afektywnej i ekonomii efektywnej. Znaczenie mobilnych mediów miejskich dla innych mediów mobilnych i mediów tradycyjnych zostaje określone z zastosowaniem pojęcia medialnych afordancji oraz z wykorzystaniem McLuhanowskiej tetrady.

ABSTRACT
The aim of the article is to present mobile media used in urban spaces: locative media and locative gaming, mobile social networks and mobile locative social networks etc. The analysis is concentrated on communication mediated by smartphones as well as tablets equipped with applications, mainly informational, entertaining and commercial. Justified is the growing importance of applications and the emergence of a new media ecosystem of mobile applications as well as their influence on other new and traditional media. The preliminary analysis of the typological issues introduces the background for describing issues connected with mobile urban communication: dislocation and relocation. The social consequences of mobile media development and its influence are presented, e.i. the role of the contextualization and personalization, mobile media affective culture and the mobile media effective economy, are presented. The significance of mobile urban media for other new and traditional media is described by the concept of media affordances and McLuhan’s tetrad of media effects.

Mobile Learning is far more than simply shifting traditional eLearning materials onto mobile platforms.  Mobile Learning can generate a rich interplay of authentic activity with the use of relatively ubiquitous technologies.  This workshop will seek to demonstrate, in practice, the possibilities of rich, meaningful mobile learning activities and demonstrate some examples of how a range of technologies can combine to support a student-centred, inquiry-driven and collaborative model of learning.

This paper presents the TOTEM framework for supporting the content creation and structuring for location-based games. Shapes (templates), Marbles (instances) and Pebbles (raw data) build the conceptual background while two integrated tools support the overall workflow: TOTEM.Designer, a web-application that allows for desktop-based authoring and TOTEM.Scout, a mobile app that allows for in-situ authoring. The TOTEM framework supports different user roles and allows inexperienced users to collect and create content. All data can be exported and easily added to external games.

An essential part of location-based games is the physical space where players perform gameplay. The players navigate in the city, their game world, and use the 2d map in their smartphone to inform their gameplay decisions and to show them the next point of interest (POI). This research aims to use space syntax, the city configuration, the way someone moves based on the geometry of the spaces to define new rules and a new logic of placing objects in the environment of location-based games. The visual field from the location of the player in the game environment can determine the decisions the player makes when navigating in the city. In the real environment, the game designer cannot change the geometry of the space, but he can use the visibility and spatiality of the existing space for different purposes and functions. First, this paper investigates existing location-based games and analyzes their distribution and logic. Specifically, the location-based games, Pokémon Go, and Ingress are discussed, which use a landmark-based logic. The main focus of this research is on selected areas in the central part of London. Initial findings indicated that a high percentage of POI in Ingress is placed in small spaces, spaces with low connectivity values, and spaces where the visual field is blocked by obstacles. Through these observations, new placements of POI are suggested, based on theories of spatial analysis, gaming, and existing literature. Space syntax measures offer a starting point to consider certain locations within the game environment over others. These possible placements developed, are evaluated by comparison with the logic of the selected games. Through visibility and street network analysis, a new way of placing objects in the real environment is created, taking account the player’s position and visibility in the play location and the surroundings. Another logic is also proposed, a combination of space syntax and landmarks, and it is discussed if it can add additional values, that the existing approach is lacking.

This paper aims at exploring the nature of the spatial experience that emerges when actively pursuing the goals of a Hybrid Reality Game (HRG). HRGs engage the player in intense and rich activities that spill out of the screen of their technological medium into the real world. This work investigates the concept of the city as a playground through the analysis of the spatial characteristics of a wide variety of HRGs. The research is informed by the perspective of geographical notions of space and place and works towards evaluating the hypothesis that HRGs constitute spatial practices and placemaking processes.

This article documents the planning, creation, and user testing of a situated mobile story using the ARIS platform. The game, " Getting a Job at Nikki's Place, " focuses on a neighborhood restaurant in Orlando, Florida and the life of its current owner, Nick Aiken. Our team used the historical and community aspects of soul food to connect Aiken's story to the broader story of urban revitalization in the Parramore neighborhood. This article illustrates the knowledge our team gained from the experience of mobile storytelling and articulates it into a call for educators to create digital stories with their own students.

Foursquare is a location-based social network (LBSN) that combines gaming elements with features conventionally associated with social networking sites (SNSs). Following two qualitative studies, this article sets out to explore what impact this overlaying of physical environments with play has on everyday life and experiences of space and place. Drawing on early understandings of play, alongside the flâneur and ‘phoneur’ as respective methods for conceptualizing play in the context of mobility and urbanity, this article examines whether the suggested division between play and ordinary life is challenged by Foursquare, and if so, how this reframing of play is experienced. Second, this article investigates what effect this LBSN has on mobility choices and spatial relationships. Finally, the novel concept of the ‘phoneur’ is posited as a way of understanding how pervasive play through LBSNs acts as a mediating influence on the experience of space and place.

The article suggests to interpret the gaming activity within the location- based mobile game Ingress the Game as a technically mediated gaming encounter (E. Goffman). This means that players significantly determinate the situation of encounter due to the selective elimination of irrelevant circumstances of external context beyond the game world. Through technical and digital means (primarily due to a mobile phone / tablet and access to the Internet) players carry out assembling scattered game and non-game fragments in a gaming reality that allows continuously to maintain a potential entanglement in gaming activity. In turn, continuity of the gaming activity causes loss of significance of opening and closing markers in gaming encounter. Endless, competitive and without a winner, Ingress the Game experiences tension associated with the interpretation of its rules by players. Foremost this fact is linked with that the players do not start to arrange the futility of the three-year confrontation between the two factions which receives no expression in the promotion of the game narrative and determining the winner. In this connection, different game logics arise within the Ingress application that go beyond setting originally pledged by developers. We offer an analytical opposition «game — puerilism» as a theoretical framework for the consideration of the following extensions of game logic. Unlike the gamification project it allows to describe game activity «inside» in terms of the game itself.