Interweaving Mobile Games With Everyday Life

1. Interweaving Mobile Games With Everyday Life • Marek Bell, Matthew Chalmers, Louise Barkhuus, • Barry Brown, Malcolm Hall, • Scott Sherwood, Paul Tennent • University of Glasgow, UK • Duncan Rowland • University of Lincoln, UK • Steve Benford, Alistair Hampshire, Mauricio Capra • University of Nottingham, UK

2. Focus • Weaving ubicomp into ‘the fabric of everyday life’ • Seamful design

3. Weaving ubicomp into‘the fabric of everyday life’ • Use over a long time and a large area • Fitting into patterns of work, leisure and home life

4. Seams and seamful design • Treasure game at Ubicomp 2005 • Seams • Gaps and ‘losses in translation’ in digital media • Seamful design • Taking advantage of limits and variations in technology

5. WiFi has seams • WiFi varies in position, range and access controls • Gaps, overlaps, passwords, fees, legal constraints... seams • Design to reveal and exploit this variation… seamful design

6. A game exploiting seamful design • Implemented on PDAs • Carried everywhere, always available, any time • Easy to pick up and play • Based on wireless communications • Natural fit for seamful design

7. “Feeding Yoshi” • A Yoshi is a critter that eats fruit • Players feed Yoshis for points

8. Plantations Players can sew seeds at empty plantations Fruits grow in plantations Players can pick fruit

9. Yoshi’s world Yoshis and plantations are scattered across the city Players carry fruit from plantations to Yoshis

10. Yoshis and plantations are 802.11 access points Yoshis are secure APs Plantations are open APs Players physically move between access points to play the game Back in the real world

11. Lots of WiFi

12. How to play • Players get more points for feeding Yoshis multiple fruits • Players can swap fruits with other players • Game play can take weeks or months…

13. Technicalities • Implemented on HP iPAQs with 802.11 • Points submitted to game web site via ‘codes’ • Game web site showed a leader board • Game uses p2p ad hoc networks

14. Feeding Yoshi’s research goals • Understand a seamful environment • …Yoshi is a seamful game • Playable over a long time, weeks or months • Playable at any location

15. Studying Yoshi • Study • Four teams of four people for seven days based in three cities • Derby, Nottingham and two in Glasgow • Evaluations • Diaries, interviews, system logs...

17. Overall, an enjoyable game • Fun to play, engaging, worth taking time out for • “The game is highly addictive when a good spot is found!” • “I think we might have got into trouble at work...”

18. Results • Patterns of play • Commuting and travelling • Impact of location • Friendship and collaboration • Spontaneous user interaction • Learning about coverage

19. Patterns of play Team scores and cumulative times • Derby: 58060 • Glasgow1: 45190 • Glasgow2: 11250 • Nottingham: 8190 1 6 0 1 2 0 Derby Minutes 8 0 Glasgow1 Glasgow2 4 0 Nottingham 0 Friday Sunday Monday Tuesday Thursday Saturday Wednesday The maximum time a player of each team spent playing in one session, per day

20. Patterns of play (2) • Fitting with patterns of everyday life • Many short sessions to fit game into daily routines 12 8 Derby Game sessions Glasgow1 Glasgow2 4 Nottingham 0 Friday Sunday Monday Saturday Thursday Wednesday

21. 200 120.00% 180 100.00% 160 140 80.00% 120 Frequency Frequency of game sessions 100 60.00% Cumulative % 80 40.00% 60 40 20.00% 20 0 .00% 60 90 10 40 50 20 30 70 80 200 100 More Session length (minutes) 50% of sessions were less than 20 minutes

22. Commuting and travelling • Journeys were often good for play • Building understanding of Yoshis and plantations on routes • Carrying seeds to plant in good places, or to trade with others • Varying routes: I’d take slightly different street routes than I’d normally take; initially to see what was there. Once I realised there was good stuff there then I would adjust my route. • ‘Drive-by Yoshi’ • Work as resource/constraint • Using work’s WiFi • Ability to take breaks, be late, slip out... • Time at work was not a good predictor of points

23. The impact of location • Practical understanding of the distribution of game objects • Interpretation of urban character – Yoshi-rich areas • “I saw that there were offices in the area”, “The house had a BMW outside” • Conversation and collaboration with other players • Play easiest in areas mixing Yoshis and plantations • But exploring new areas could be fun and productive

24. The impact of location (2) • Crowded streets • “… I kept walking into folk!” • Distinctive patterns of movement • Shuttling back and forth between Yoshis and Plantations • Standing outside or drifting by suburban homes • Discomfort in industrial and business districts • “The industrial area over the road from my house... Lots of Yoshis and plantations but too many cameras and security guards” • Some areas too dangerous to play in • “Why do you think we have this little red button under the dashboard in our van?”

25. Friendship and collaboration • Social setting affects coordination and collaboration • With other players, and with colleagues, partners, relatives... • Something to talk about • Potentially a barrier • The more time spent together, the more points • Trading fruit and information... and sharing the experience • Play as pairs was common within three teams • Play that bridged teams...

26. Interaction between strangers • I was playing away and then this box popped up saying ‘Norman would like to trade’ and I thought ‘I don’t have a Norman on my team!’. Then I saw this guy with a PDA and he was looking around, and then we caught up with each other and we thought ‘hmmm… not the same team’. But he walked over and he said that he was from [Team C] and could he trade? And well, I was in my prime playing spot so I had all the fruit I needed, so I just thought, okay I would trade with him.

27. Learning about coverage • “It got to the stage here where we’d played it that much that we knew exactly who lived where. Kelly lives by the door of the block. We’ve got Laurence down the bottom. There’s Lamar, who’s out here somewhere [pointing]. He’s always a nightmare to pick up. He’ll always want a load of fruit, so you go get a load of fruit thinking ‘big score’…. It’s all part of the game really. He was the one you could never find when you wanted him.”

28. Game design reflections • Should players be forced to move out of rich areas? • Encourage mobility • Were some locations ‘too good’? • Game is inherently not fair • Should we support play ‘at speed’? • Increase ubiquity

29. Future work • Seams in software • Castles at Pervasive 2006 • eHealth project • Phones and sensors to monitor and share health info

30. Conclusion • First study of a long term mobile game • Quality of play was flexible with everyday life • Augmenting existing routines and establishing new ones • Play in a local area, but benefits of wider exploration • Opportunistic play as well as strategic planning • Adding to experience of seamful design • “The unit of design should be social people, in their environment, plus your device” – Mark Weiser

31. Thanks • Malcolm Hall: mh@dcs.gla.ac.uk • My site: www.malcolmhall.com • Public Yoshi: www.yoshigame.com • Equator: www.equator.ac.uk