William Goddard
Jayden Garner
Mads Moller Jensen
ABSTRACT
In this paper we explore how mobile devices and co-location in mobile contexts contribute social play in game design, addressing the limited understanding of social interactivity in mobile games. Using the Mechanics-Dynamics-Aesthetics (MDA) framework, we code four games illustrating effective use of mobile, social, and co-located elements. Subsequently, we analyse and discuss this data to identify generalisability in these games. In our discussion we identify how these findings address game design problems of designing collaborative games. Furthermore, we contribute to theory of designing for social play from the perspectives of co-located mobile contexts in game design by identifying how mobility: (1) affords co-locating with other players in public spaces, (2) supports physical interactions using spatial context and players bodies, extending games beyond their formal system, (3) supports asymmetric design with information and interaction. Finally we contribute the concept of a pocket magic circle, a particular magic circle, to support a focus on game design leveraging these intersecting properties.
- J. Ackermann. Playing computer games as social interaction: An analysis of lan parties. In Computer Games and New Media Cultures, pages 465--476. Springer, 2012.Google Scholar
Cross Ref
- L. Barkhuus, M. Chalmers, P. Tennent, M. Hall, M. Bell, S. Sherwood, and B. Brown. Picking pockets on the lawn: the development of tactics and strategies in a mobile game. In UbiComp 2005: Ubiquitous Computing, pages 358--374. Springer, 2005. Google ScholarDigital Library
- M. Benovoy, M. Zadel, R. Absar, M. Wozniewski, and J. R. Cooperstock. Towards immersive multimodal gameplay. GAMEON-NA, Montreal, QC, Canada, 2008.Google Scholar
- D. Benyon. Presence in blended spaces. Interacting with Computers, 24(4):219--226, 2012. Google ScholarDigital Library
- K. Bergström, S. Björk, and S. Lundgren. Exploring aesthetical gameplay design patterns: camaraderie in four games. In Proceedings of the 14th International Academic MindTrek Conference: Envisioning Future Media Environments, pages 17--24. ACM, 2010. Google ScholarDigital Library
- T. Carrigy, K. Naliuka, N. Paterson, and M. Haahr. Design and evaluation of player experience of a location-based mobile game. In Proceedings of the 6th Nordic Conference on Human-Computer Interaction: Extending Boundaries, pages 92--101. ACM, 2010. Google ScholarDigital Library
- M. G. Chen. Communication, coordination, and camaraderie in world of warcraft. Games and Culture, 4(1):47--73, 2009.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Y. A. De Kort and W. A. Ijsselsteijn. People, places, and play: player experience in a socio-spatial context. Computers in Entertainment (CIE), 6(2):18, 2008. Google ScholarDigital Library
- P. Dourish. Where the action is: the foundations of embodied interaction. MIT press, 2004.Google Scholar
- N. Ducheneaut and R. J. Moore. The social side of gaming: a study of interaction patterns in a massively multiplayer online game. In Proceedings of the 2004 ACM conference on Computer supported cooperative work, pages 360--369. ACM, 2004. Google ScholarDigital Library
- L. Ermi and F. Mäyrä. Challenges for pervasive mobile game design: examining players' emotional responses. In Proceedings of the 2005 ACM SIGCHI International Conference on Advances in computer entertainment technology, pages 371--372. ACM, 2005. Google ScholarDigital Library
- M. H. Fogtmann, J. Fritsch, and K. J. Kortbek. Kinesthetic interaction: revealing the bodily potential in interaction design. In Proceedings of the 20th Australasian Conference on Computer-Human Interaction: Designing for Habitus and Habitat, pages 89--96. ACM, 2008. Google ScholarDigital Library
- B. Gajadhar, Y. de Kort, and W. IJsselsteijn. Influence of social setting on player experience of digital games. In CHI'08 extended abstracts on Human factors in computing systems, pages 3099--3104. ACM, 2008. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Game Oven. Fingle, 2011. http://fingleforipad.com/.Google Scholar
- Game Oven. Bounden, 2014. http://playbounden.com/.Google Scholar
- J. Garner, G. Wood, S. Pijnappel, M. Murer, and F. Mueller. Combining moving bodies with digital elements: Design space between players and screens. In Proceedings of The 9th Australasian Conference on Interactive Entertainment: Matters of Life and Death, IE '13, pages 17:1--17:10, New York, NY, USA, 2013. ACM. Google ScholarDigital Library
- J. Garner, G. Wood, S. Pijnappel, M. Murer, and F. Mueller. I-dentity: Innominate movement representation as engaging game element. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI '14, pages 2181--2190, New York, NY, USA, 2014. ACM. Google ScholarDigital Library
- E. T. Hall and E. T. Hall. The hidden dimension, volume 1990. Anchor Books New York, 1969.Google Scholar
- R. Hunicke, M. LeBlanc, and R. Zubek. MDA: A formal approach to game design and game research. In Proceedings of the AAAI Workshop on Challenges in Game AI, volume 4, 2004.Google Scholar
- J. Jansz and L. Martens. Gaming at a lan event: the social context of playing video games. New media & society, 7(3):333--355, 2005.Google Scholar
- R. L. Mandryk and K. M. Inkpen. Physiological indicators for the evaluation of co-located collaborative play. In Proceedings of the 2004 ACM conference on Computer supported cooperative work, pages 102--111. ACM, 2004. Google ScholarDigital Library
- T. Manninen. Towards communicative, collaborative and constructive multi-player games. In CGDC Conf., 2002.Google Scholar
- H. M. Mentis, K. Höök, F. Mueller, K. Isbister, G. P. Khut, and T. Robertson. Designing for the experiential body. In Proceedings of the extended abstracts of the 32nd annual ACM conference on Human factors in computing systems, pages 1069--1074. ACM, 2014. Google ScholarDigital Library
- H. M. Mentis, J. Laaksolahti, and K. Höök. My self and you: Tension in bodily sharing of experience. ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction (TOCHI), 21(4):20, 2014. Google ScholarDigital Library
- M. Montola. Exploring the edge of the magic circle: Defining pervasive games. In Proceedings of DAC, volume 1966, page 103, 2005.Google Scholar
- F. Mueller, M. Gibbs, F. Vetere, S. Agamanolis, and D. Edge. Designing mediated combat play. In Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Tangible, Embedded and Embodied Interaction, pages 149--156. ACM, 2014. Google ScholarDigital Library
- F. Mueller, S. Stellmach, S. Greenberg, A. Dippon, S. Boll, J. Garner, R. Khot, A. Naseem, and D. Altimira. Proxemics play: understanding proxemics for designing digital play experiences. In Proceedings of the 2014 conference on Designing interactive systems, pages 533--542. ACM, 2014. Google ScholarDigital Library
- K. Salen and E. Zimmerman. Rules of play: Game design fundamentals. MIT press, 2004. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Sleeping Beast Games. Spaceteam, 2012. http://www.sleepingbeastgames.com/spaceteam/.Google Scholar
- J. Stenros. In defence of a magic circle: the social, mental and cultural boundaries of play. Transactions of the Digital Games Research Association, 1(2), 2014.Google ScholarCross Ref
- B. Suits. The grasshopper: Games, life and utopia. Broadview Press, 2014.Google Scholar
- T. Taylor and E. Witkowski. This is how we play it: what a mega-lan can teach us about games. In Proceedings of the fifth international conference on the foundations of digital games, pages 195--202. ACM, 2010. Google ScholarDigital Library
- D. Y. Wohn, C. Lampe, R. Wash, N. Ellison, and J. Vitak. The" s" in social network games: Initiating, maintaining, and enhancing relationships. In System Sciences (HICSS), 2011 44th Hawaii International Conference on, pages 1--10. IEEE, 2011. Google ScholarDigital Library
- J. P. Zagal, J. Rick, and I. Hsi. Collaborative games: Lessons learned from board games. Simulation & Gaming, 37(1):24--40, 2006. Google ScholarDigital Library
- J. Zimmerman, J. Forlizzi, and S. Evenson. Research through design as a method for interaction design research in hci. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems, pages 493--502. ACM, 2007. Google ScholarDigital Library
Index Terms
- Designing for social play in co-located mobile games
Recommendations
The Impact of Game Patterns on Player Experience and Social Interaction in Co-Located Multiplayer Games
CHI PLAY '17: Proceedings of the Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in PlayOutstanding multiplayer games engage players by providing rich social interactions. Yet, it is still not clear how to purposefully design these interactions. Our paper tackles this issue by establishing a research model for social player interaction ...
Social Affordances at Play: Game Design Toward Socio-Technical Innovation
CHI '18: Proceedings of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing SystemsIn this paper we propose that game design strategies and theories can be useful tools for supporting the design of innovative socio-technical systems aimed at supporting social co-presence. We support this proposal with an annotated portfolio of a ...
The many faces of sociability and social play in games
MindTrek '09: Proceedings of the 13th International MindTrek Conference: Everyday Life in the Ubiquitous EraIn the past, social interaction has been discussed mostly in the context of multiplayer games, ignoring the implicit forms of sociability in single player games. This paper distinguishes between the sociability around the playing of a game and the ...
Comments