Development and Usability of a Location-based Game.

Faraz Badali Naghadeh and Kursat Cagiltay
pp.  62 – 89, download
(https://doi.org/10.55612/s-5002-065-002)

Abstract

Location-based games (LBG) incorporate players’ location as their main game element. Therefore, they are played in the physical world by turning every place into a playground. Due to the pervasive nature of LBGs, usability evaluation can differ from the other game genres. This study aims to develop an LBG based on a university campus by implementing a criteria-based method to populate the map and distribute points of interest. Ten participants tested the developed game, and a qualitative analysis was conducted via holding interviews with each participant to evaluate the game’s usability and identify usability issues specific to the developed LBG and LBGs in general. The findings show that participants showed a positive attitude towards the game; however, multiple issues were identified regarding the LBGs. These usability issues are the inaccuracy of the map in representing the points, the radius of interaction, and location update delay.

Keywords: Location-Based Games, Usability Testing, Human-Computer Interaction.

References

1. de Souza e Silva A., Hjorth L.: Playful Urban Spaces Simul Gaming, 40, pp. 602–625 (2009) https://doi.org/10.1177/1046878109333723
2. Montola M.: A ludological view on the pervasive mixed-reality game research paradigm Pers Ubiquitous Comput, 15, pp. 3–12 (2011) https://doi.org/10.1007/s00779-010-0307-7
3. Viinikkala L., Yli-Seppala L., Heimo O.I., Helle S., Harkanen L., Jokela S., Jarvenpaa L., Korkalainen T., Latvala J., Paakyla J., Seppala K., Makila T., Lehtonen T.: Reforming the representation of the reformation: Mixed reality narratives in communicating tangible and intangible heritage of the protestant reformation in Finland 2016 22nd International Conference on Virtual System & Multimedia (VSMM). pp. 1–9. IEEE (2016) https://doi.org/10.1109/VSMM.2016.7863203
4. de Souza e Silva A., Delacruz G.C.: Hybrid Reality Games Reframed Games Cult, 1, pp. 231–251 (2006) https://doi.org/10.1177/1555412006290443
5. Avouris N., Sintoris C., Yiannoutsou N.: Design guidelines for location-based mobile games for learning Proceedings of the 17th ACM Conference on Interaction Design and Children. pp. 741–744. ACM, New York, NY, USA (2018) https://doi.org/10.1145/3202185.3205871
6. Colley A., Thebault-Spieker J., Lin A.Y., Degraen D., Fischman B., Häkkilä J., Kuehl K., Nisi V., Nunes N.J., Wenig N., Wenig D., Hecht B., Schöning J.: The Geography of Pokémon GO Proceedings of the 2017 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. pp. 1179–1192. ACM, New York, NY, USA (2017) https://doi.org/10.1145/3025453.3025495
7. Lammes S., Wilmott C.: The map as playground: Location-based games as cartographical practices Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, 24, pp. 648–665 (2018) https://doi.org/10.1177/1354856516679596
8. Spallazzo D., Mariani I.: LBMG in a Nutshell Presented at the (2018) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75256-3_2
9. Laato S., Pietarinen T., Rauti S., Laine T.H.: Analysis of the Quality of Points of Interest in the Most Popular Location-based Games Proceedings of the 20th International Conference on Computer Systems and Technologies. pp. 153–160. ACM, New York, NY, USA (2019) https://doi.org/10.1145/3345252.3345286
10. Johan Huizinga: Homo Ludens, Beacon Press, (1971)
11. Katie Salen Tekinbas and Eric Zimmerman: Rules of Play, MIT Press, (2003)
12. OpenStreetMap: OpenStreetMap, https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=6/39.03/35.25
13. Leorke D.: Location-Based Gaming, Springer Singapore, Singapore, (2019) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-0683-9
14. de Souza e Silva A., Sutko D.M.: Playing Life and Living Play: How Hybrid Reality Games Reframe Space, Play, and the Ordinary Crit Stud Media Commun, 25, pp. 447–465 (2008) https://doi.org/10.1080/15295030802468081
15. Milgram P., Takemura H., Utsumi A., Kishino F.: <title>Augmented reality: a class of displays on the reality-virtuality continuum</title> Presented at the December 21 (1995) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.197321
16. Montola M., Stenros J., Waern A.: Pervasive Games, CRC Press, (2009) https://doi.org/10.1201/9780080889795
17. Norman D.A.: Affordance, conventions, and design Interactions, 6, pp. 38–43 (1999) https://doi.org/10.1145/301153.301168
18. Laato S., Pietarinen T., Rauti S., Paloheimo M., Inaba N., Sutinen E.: A Review of Location-based Games: Do They All Support Exercise, Social Interaction and Cartographical Training? Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Computer Supported Education. pp. 616–627. SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications (2019) https://doi.org/10.5220/0007801206160627
19. Shaker N., Togelius J., Nelson M.J.: Procedural Content Generation in Games, Springer International Publishing, Cham, (2016) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-42716-4
20. Tregel T., Raymann L., Göbel S., Steinmetz R.: Geodata Classification for Automatic Content Creation in Location-Based Games Presented at the (2017) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70111-0_20
21. Abt, Clark C. Serious Games. New York: Viking, 1970, 176 pp., $5.95, L.C. 79-83234 American Behavioral Scientist, 14, pp. 129 (1970) https://doi.org/10.1177/000276427001400113
22. Michael D., Chen S.: Serious Games: Games That Educate, Train, and Inform (2006)
23. Oleksy T., Wnuk A.: Catch them all and increase your place attachment! The role of location-based augmented reality games in changing people – place relations Comput Human Behav, 76, pp. 3–8 (2017) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2017.06.008
24. Karpashevich P., Hornecker E., Dankwa N.K., Hanafy M., Fietkau J.: Blurring boundaries between everyday life and pervasive gaming Proceedings of the 15th International Conference on Mobile and Ubiquitous Multimedia. pp. 217–228. ACM, New York, NY, USA (2016) https://doi.org/10.1145/3012709.3012716
25. Serino M., Cordrey K., McLaughlin L., Milanaik R.L.: Pokémon Go and augmented virtual reality games: a cautionary commentary for parents and pediatricians Curr Opin Pediatr, 28, pp. 673–677 (2016) https://doi.org/10.1097/MOP.0000000000000409
26. Ergonomic requirements for office work with visual display terminals (vdts); part 1: general introduction., , Geneva, (1992)
27. Jørgensen A.H.: Marrying HCI/Usability and computer games Proceedings of the third Nordic conference on Human-computer interaction. pp. 393–396. ACM, New York, NY, USA (2004) https://doi.org/10.1145/1028014.1028078
28. Mylly S., Rajanen M., Iivari N.: The Quest for Usable Usability Heuristics for Game Developers Presented at the (2020) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-49644-9_10
29. Federoff M.A.: Heuristics and usability guidelines for the creation and evaluation of fun in video games, (2002)
30. Laitinen S.: Do usability expert evaluation and test provide novel and useful data for game development? J. Usability Studies, 1, pp. 64–75 (2006)
31. Febretti A., Garzotto F.: Usability, playability, and long-term engagement in computer games CHI ’09 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems. pp. 4063–4068. ACM, New York, NY, USA (2009) https://doi.org/10.1145/1520340.1520618
32. Gielkens C., Wetzel R.: A Framework for Usability Evaluation of Mobile Mixed Reality Games Presented at the (2012) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-33542-6_38
33. Twycross A.: Research design: qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods approachesResearch design: qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods approaches Creswell John W Sage 320 £29 0761924426 0761924426 Nurse Res, 12, pp. 82–83 (2004) https://doi.org/10.7748/nr.12.1.82.s2
34. Smed J., Hakonen H.: Algorithms and Networking for Computer Games, Wiley, (2006) https://doi.org/10.1002/0470029757
35. Unity Technologies: Unity Technologies, https://unity.com/, (2022)
36. itinero: OSM data model, https://docs.itinero.tech/docs/osmsharp/osm.html
37. Unity Asset Store: Unity Asset Store – The Best Assets for Game Making, https://assetstore.unity.com/, (2022)
38. Google Firebase: Google Firebase, https://firebase.google.com/, (2022)
39. Taherdoost H.: Sampling Methods in Research Methodology; How to Choose a Sampling Technique for Research SSRN Electronic Journal, (2016) https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3205035
40. Pagulayan R.J., Keeker K., Fuller T., Wixon D., Romero R.L., Gunn D. V.: User-Centered Design in Games The Human–Computer Interaction Handbook. pp. 795–821. CRC Press (2012) https://doi.org/10.1201/b11963-ch-34
41. Xanthopoulos S., Xinogalos S.: A Review on Location Based Services for Mobile Games Proceedings of the 20th Pan-Hellenic Conference on Informatics. pp. 1–6. ACM, New York, NY, USA (2016) https://doi.org/10.1145/3003733.3003770
42. Laato S., Inaba N., Hamari J.: Convergence between the real and the augmented: Experiences and perceptions in location-based games Telematics and Informatics, 65, pp. 101716 (2021) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tele.2021.101716
43. Alha K., Koskinen E., Paavilainen J., Hamari J.: Why do people play location-based augmented reality games: A study on Pokémon GO Comput Human Behav, 93, pp. 114–122 (2019) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2018.12.008
44. Juhász L., Hochmair H.H.: Where to catch ‘em all? – a geographic analysis of Pokémon Go locations Geo-spatial Information Science, 20, pp. 241–251 (2017) https://doi.org/10.1080/10095020.2017.1368200
45. Zielstra D., Zipf A.: A Comparative Study of Proprietary Geodata and Volunteered Geographic Information for Germany (2010)
46. Sifonis C.M.: Examining Game Transfer Phenomena in the Hybrid Reality Game, Ingress Int J Hum Comput Interact, 35, pp. 1557–1568 (2019) https://doi.org/10.1080/10447318.2018.1555735
47. Söbke H., Baalsrud Hauge J., Stefan I.A.: Prime Example Ingress Reframing the Pervasive Game Design Framework (PGDF) International Journal of Serious Games, 4, (2017) https://doi.org/10.17083/ijsg.v4i2.182

back to Table of Contents