Methodological issues in studying player experiences of location aware games

Abstract

In the wake of ubiquitous computing and boosted by the proliferation of the Global Positioning System (GPS), a new genre of games emerged during the last 10 years, which combined two traditions of game play mutually exclusive till then, outdoor and digital games. Such games come under various names including but not limited to mobile, pervasive, ubiquitous, augmented reality or location aware games. What makes all of them location aware is that the player physically navigates within a game world, which blends the real world and virtual dimensions. This combination significantly changes what players, designers and developers have until now understood about digital games. Furthermore, as the GPS phone market grows, and the number of start-ups developing these games increases, proven concepts and appropriate play tests methods are required to guide the development and counterbalance the risks. This has all given rise to the need for researchers to not only focus on prototypes and demonstrate the technology but also aim for a comprehensive understanding of player experiences in location aware games. In pursuing this goal, however, researchers encounter unprecedented theoretical and methodological challenges that question traditional models, theories and methods of game research and human–computer interaction. Location aware games are not separated anymore from the everyday life. Situated in the real world, the borders of the playground of these games become permeable from the influences of everyday life. The issue of the unforeseeable context of play, which more or less could be ignored before, now has come to the fore. Every time a game is played, the game is played differently [cf. 1, p. 340]. What are the consequences for the designer, the player, or the researcher of location aware games? Is it possible to study such play experiences in a scientific manner and if so how is this possible? This special issue of Personal and Ubiquitous Computing focuses on methodological issues in studying player experiences of location aware games. It has been inspired by the interest in the first workshop on this topic, which was organized in conjunction with HCI2008 ‘‘Evaluating Player Experiences in Location Aware Games’’. The papers selected cover a range of topics in the field. Three papers argue directly at the empirical level. They report results of empirical studies representing different methodological approaches. There is a quasi-experimental study on location, play action and emotion in location aware games (Baillie et al.), and there is a quantitative study of players’ feeling present in an augmented reality game using additionally some qualitative observations (McCall et al.). There is also a study of social interaction in location aware games by means of a complementary approach, combining quantitative and qualitative methods (Diamantaki et al.). Two further papers argue directly at the B. M. Gruter (&) Hochschule Bremen, Neustadtswall 30, 28199 Bremen, Germany e-mail: Barbara.grueter@hs-bremen.de