Discovering the invisible city: Location-based games for learning in smart cities

In this paper we discuss how location-based mobile games can be designed for learning in modern technology enhanced public spaces. We start with the description of the design process and we identify the main challenges faced. We elaborate the case of the game Invisible City: Rebels vs. Spies, a game to be played in a city centre using mobile devices. Through this case we highlight the adaptation of an original party game into a mobile form, the issues we faced and the key aspects conductive to learning in a smart city. It is claimed that creating mobile city games for learning is a new challenge, as our city landscapes are augmented with an increasing number of layers of digital information in which a new generation of city games are played.

[1]  Nikoleta Yiannoutsou,et al.  A Review of Mobile Location-based Games for Learning across Physical and Virtual Spaces , 2012, J. Univers. Comput. Sci..

[2]  Benjamin S. Bloom,et al.  Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: The Classification of Educational Goals. , 1957 .

[3]  Isabelle M. Demeure,et al.  Gaming on the move: urban experience as a new paradigm for mobile pervasive game design , 2010, Multimedia Systems.

[4]  Elina M. I. Koivisto,et al.  Playability heuristics for mobile multi-player games , 2007, DIMEA.

[5]  B. Bloom,et al.  Taxonomy of Educational Objectives. Handbook I: Cognitive Domain , 1966 .

[6]  Karen Schrier.  Using augmented reality games to teach 21st century skills , 2006, SIGGRAPH '06.

[7]  Annika Waern,et al.  Studying the Elusive Experience in Pervasive Games , 2012 .

[8]  Wilfried Admiraal,et al.  Mobile game-based learning in secondary education: engagement, motivation and learning in a mobile city game , 2009, J. Comput. Assist. Learn..

[9]  Steve Benford,et al.  Bridging the physical and digital in pervasive gaming , 2005, CACM.

[10]  Katie Salen,et al.  Rules of play: game design fundamentals , 2003 .

[11]  Adriana de Souza e Silva,et al.  Hybrid Reality Games Reframed , 2006, Games Cult..

[12]  Annika Waern,et al.  Pervasive Games: Theory and Design , 2009 .

[13]  Antonella De Angeli,et al.  Explore! possibilities and challenges of mobile learning , 2008, CHI.

[14]  Stephen Viller,et al.  Street Computing: Towards an Integrated Open Data Application Programming Interface (API) for Cities , 2012 .

[15]  Harry Hochheiser,et al.  Research Methods for Human-Computer Interaction , 2008 .

[16]  Nikoleta Yiannoutsou,et al.  REFLECTIONS ON USE OF LOCATION-BASED PLAYFUL NARRATIVES FOR LEARNING , 2010 .

[17]  Christos Sintoris,et al.  Designing Pervasive Games for Learning , 2011, HCI.

[18]  Robert Zubek,et al.  MDA : A Formal Approach to Game Design and Game Research , 2004 .

[19]  Carsten Röcker,et al.  Classifying Pervasive Games: On Pervasive Computing and Mixed Reality , 2007 .

[20]  Gregory D. Abowd,et al.  Charting past, present, and future research in ubiquitous computing , 2000, TCHI.

[21]  Marija Brajčić,et al.  Learning at the Museum , 2013 .

[22]  Marcelo Milrad,et al.  Mobile learning: small devices, big issues , 2009 .