Pervasive Games: Theory and Design

by Montola, Markus

• ISBN13: 9780123748539
• ISBN10: 0123748534
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-06-12
• Publisher: CRC Press

Summary

Quickly emerging from the fast-paced growth of mobile communications and wireless technologies, pervasive games take gaming away from the computer screen and back to the three-dimensional world. Now games can be designed to be played in public spaces like shopping malls, conferences, museums and other non-traditional game venues. Game designers need to understand how to use the world as a gamespace-and both the challenges and advantages of doing so. This book shows how to change the face of play-who plays, when and where they play and what that play means to all involved. The authors explore aspects of pervasive games that concern game designers: what makes these games compelling, what makes them possible today and how they are made. For game researchers, it provides a solid theoretical, philosophical and aesthetic understanding of the genre. Pervasive Games covers everything from theory and design to history and marketing. designers, so that they can learn how to engage players' real-time experiences beyond the mobile phone or computer screen. -Thirteen case studies with illustrative and inspiring examples make the entire pervasive games design space tangible. -Provides practical design tips, potential pitfalls, design problems from real games, and inspiration from some of the most interesting pervasive game designers in the world, including Matt Adams, Frank Lantz, and others.

Table of Contents

The book is divided in three parts

Theory, looks at the concepts and history of pervasive gaming

Design, is a practical part giving guidance for practical work with pervasive games

Society, looks beyond pervasive games, discussing their cultural and societal relevance in a larger context

Foreword: written by a KEY person within game research community and industry

Possible contributors include Eric Zimmerman, Sean Stewart, Tracy Fullerton

Introduction: Explanation why pervasive games are interesting

Our position as ludologists

Basic terminology

Instructions on how to use the book

Theory Case Study A: Killer: The Game of Assassination By Markus Montola & Jaakko Stenros

Killer is an extremely simple and compelling pervasive game that has spread to countless campuses since the 60?s

It is discussed as the first case example, since the simple game demonstrates pervasive gameplay in an understandable fashion

Killer displays all forms of pervasivity discussed in Chapter 1, including spatial, temporal and social expansions

Games and Pervasive Games: There have been many definitions for pervasive games, and many names for this style of gaming

In this book we use a model based on magic circle discussed by Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman; they discuss invasive games that penetrate the boundary of artificiality surrounding games

A model of three expansions is presented for analyzin the ways spatial, temporal and social boundaries of gameplay can be blurred

Pervasive games bring pleasure of game to everyday life and spice the game with unmitigated tangibility of the ordinary world

Case Study B: The Beast: The boom of alternate reality gaming started from an advertising campaign promoting Spielberg?s A.I

the movie, that also tried to build a larger franchise around the world portrayed in the movie

The central aesthetics of the game included a ?

Rabbit hole invitation?

Leading unsuspecting people to participate and?

This is not a game?

Aesthetic meaning that the game strongly denied its ludic nature

The gameplay centered around puzzle solving that was done by thousands of collaborating players

Pervasive Game Genres If pervasive gaming is seen as games that blur the boundaries of game and ordinary life, it is obviously a broad category of games

Subgenres of pervasive games share many properties and aesthetics, but are also unique and very different

As these games are relatively new, genres are just emerging, but at least treasure hunts, alternate reality games, urban larps and assassination games seem to have become stable genres

We also construct a categorization for future genres, such as the smart street sports, playful urban performances, urban adventure games and reality games

Case Study C: Shelby Logan?s Run: Shelby Logan?s Run represents ?The Game? tradition of extremely ambitious treasure hunts created by hobby communities for themselves

Inspired by the 1980 movie Midnight Madness, a group of Stanford students developed their own way of combining high-tech puzzles with physical challenges and a road rally

In addition to quick wits and top-notch tools, the success in Shelby Logan?s Run required exploring an abandoned mine, solving a puzzle hidden inside a living rat, getting on an island with no means provided and getting a pierced at a tattoo parlor

The author, Joe Belfiore, has been a central designer and player in The Game scene for its entire history

Historical Influences on Pervasive Games: Roots of pervasive gaming are manifold

In many ways the precursor of pervasive gaming is Killer, but other roots exist as well

In terms of carnivalism and public space, pervasive games have been influenced by flash mobs, student hoaxes, street sports and campus cultures

In literature and the arts, pervasive games have been inspired by variou

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