Thoughts about the theory of Pervasive Gaming

Bo Kampmann Walther

Center for Media Studies

University of Southern Denmark

walther@litcul.sdu.dk

www.sdu.dk/hum/bkw/

Agenda

1. A short ambition/topography of PG research

2. Portable, mobile, pervasive, and intelligent

3. Time, space, and presence 4. Four axes 5. Rules, entities, and mechanics 6. Is something new also something big?

Ambition To create a framework and provide categories and concepts for

a LUDOLOGY OF PERVASIVE GAMING To understand and reflect on the ’basics’ of pervasive gaming -

as an underlying source of design, method, and analysis To locate and discuss the philosophical consequences of mixing

virtual and physical space To specify and reflect on the relation between ficticious game

world and the situated, physical setting of the PG game world To identify and reflect on potential new rule structures in

expanded game universes To identify and speculate about the components of PG

mechanics To discuss constraints and potentials within the PG space

paradigm

1. Clouds of stuff to do ... PG topography

Wifi-technology

PG methodology

technology

ludology

Game studies

PG applications

design

theory

From simple to complex ... Traditional computer games - hardware fixated in

space

Portability

Mobility

Pervasivity

2. From simple to complex ... Portable

Bring the game with you (Sony, cell-phones, GameBoy, etc.) Mobile

Use cell-phones as gadgets within a physical gameworld Pervasive

Surroundings + personal interfaces = extended gaming space (calibration, GPS + PDA’s = PG)

Pervasive Intelligence Gaming environment, gameworld may change configuration

as part of player interaction: gameworld and game mechanics as complex adaptive system

3. Time, space, and presence ’Pervasiveness’ - what does it relate to? Time

Omni-temporality: the game is always on (e.g. MMORPG’s)

Space Mix of physical and virtual space/interface (from the

extended use of game ’props’ to the deliberate mix of two ontologies)

Immersion The psychological factor: the game always has a

’totalitarian’ impact

4. Four PG Axes

Distribution Play everywhere

Mobility Equip all players

Persistence And play all the time

Transmediality Across a variety of media

The PG Possibility Space Combining the four PG axes results in the

PG possibility space - of technological development and cultural significance - that embraces Networking (the connected world) Freedom of device (the world of gadgets) Non-closure (the world of open narratives and

game worlds) And circular storytelling (the world of media

convergence)

5. Rules, entities, and mechanics Traditional computer game: absolute rules Pervasive gaming rules

absolute rules + dynamic rules, i.e. rules that change relative to the variable relation

between fixed game rules parameters and open physical encounters within the game world

The PG rule set-up: fixed rules + contingent rules However, distinguish between

The algorithmic strsucture of a game (fixed) The I/O engine (handling of interaction during gameplay)

5. PG Entities

The triadic object structure

An object within a pervasive game can be:

Game object Human agent Physical object

5. PG Mechanics Any part of the rule system of a game that covers

one, and only one, possible kind of interaction that takes place during the game

Physically embedded game mechanics In screen based computer games virtual physics

simulation represents real physics In PG virtual simulation is physics

Input-output engine with a dual purpose Maintaining the contingency of interaction with

real-life objects; And controlling the set of actions embedded in

the state rules

6. New and big?

Next generation PG?

Wifi + mobile technology + adaptronics = mobile-context location-intelligent-adaptive games

6. Well, perhaps not so big ... Players still want the ’limited experience’? Gamers have an instinct for simulations,

not real-life features? Physics is physics because it is not physics

... Why carry around clumsy equipment (look

ma, no headset ...!) The social scene of tomorrow’s gaming?

... and what about rules ...? Or, are we rule breakers ?

They limit and restrict player action. Thus they tell what can be done with the objects associated with the game (and the gameplay)

hey are unambiguous and explicit (which is why they are easily incorporated in computer algorithms)

All players of a game must share them Rules are fixed, i.e. unchangeable (if they do

change, we refer rather to ‘local’ or ‘house’ rules) They are binding, i.e. non-negotiable They can be repeated, that is, they are portable

and work independent of e.g. technology platform or fictional representation.