Academic literature on the topic 'Location-based serious game'

Exergames, i.e. games which aim to increase player’s physical activity, are a prominent sub-category of serious games (SGs). Recently, location-based games (LBGs) similar to Pokémon GO have gained the attention of exergame designers as they have been able to reach people who would otherwise not be motivated to exercise. Multiple studies have been conducted on Pokémon GO alone, identifying positive outcomes related to, for example, exercise and social well-being. However, with substantial findings derived from a single game, it is unclear whether the identified benefits of playing Pokémon GO are present in other similar games. In order to broaden the understanding of LBGs as exergames, this study investigates the gameplay features and initial reactions of early adopters to a game called Harry Potter: Wizards Unite (HPWU) which was launched in summer 2019. A questionnaire (N=346) was sent to HPWU players to measure the effects playing the game has on their physical activity. During the first week of play, an increase in mild physical activity was recorded among HPWU players, similar to what has been reported with Pokémon GO. Also almost half of respondents (46,82%) reported to play the game socially, showcasing how LBGs can generally have a positive impactalso on players’ social well-being.

Location-based games have become popular in recent years, with Pokémon Go and Ingress being two very prominent examples. Some location-based games, known as Serious Games, go beyond entertainment and serve additional purposes such as data collection. Such games are also found in the OpenStreetMap context and playfully enrich the project’s geodatabase. Examples include Kort and StreetComplete. This article examines the role of spatially structured scoring systems as a motivational element. It is analysed how spatial structure in scoring systems is correlated with changes observed in the game behaviour. For this purpose, our study included two groups of subjects who played a modified game based on StreetComplete in a real urban environment. One group played the game with a spatially structured scoring system and the other with a spatially random scoring system. We evaluated different indicators and analysed the players’ GPS trajectories. In addition, the players filled out questionnaires to investigate whether they had become aware of the scoring system they were playing. The results obtained show that players who are confronted with a spatially structured scoring system are more likely to be in areas with high scores, have a longer playing time, walk longer distances and are more willing to take detours. Furthermore, discrepancies between the perception of a possible system in the scoring system and corresponding actions were revealed. The results are informative for game design, but also for a better understanding of how players interact with their geographical context during location-based games.

The overwhelming growth and popularity of mobile devices and games have motivated initiatives to explore mobile and augmented reality to bring the physical and virtual together. While several domains have been the recipient of such focus, particular importance has been placed on the cultural heritage (CH) field, with examples demonstrating the promise of location-based games (LBGs) at enhancing the CH experience aimed at promoting awareness. Games like Pokémon GO have exacerbated the appeal of LBGs, showing that they can be as popular as blockbuster video games. However, as much potential as LBGs have in raising CH awareness, they can be challenging to build because, unlike their commercial counterparts, their primary aim is learning, emphasizing the cultural significance of the real-world location rather than augmented assets. With limited research that explicitly identifies elements in creating these games in CH contexts, this work aimed to identify design practices and considerations in the design of LBGs. This work is intended for educators, researchers, instructional designers, game developers, and those in the CH field interested in exploring creative ways to embody a deeper understanding of and appreciation for CH.

AbstractMobile applications have garnered a lot of attention in the last years. The computational capabilities of mobile devices are the mainstay to develop completely new application types. The provision of augmented reality experiences on mobile devices paves one alley in this field. For example, in the automotive domain, augmented reality applications are used to experience, inter alia, the interior of a car by moving a mobile device around. The device’s camera then detects interior parts and shows additional information to the customer within the camera view. Another application type that is increasingly utilized is related to the combination of serious games with mobile augmented reality functions. Although the latter combination is promising for many scenarios, technically, it is a complex endeavor. In the AREA (Augmented Reality Engine Application) project, a kernel was implemented that enables location-based mobile augmented reality applications. Importantly, this kernel provides a flexible architecture that fosters the development of individual location-based mobile augmented reality applications. The work at hand shows the flexibility of AREA based on a developed serious game. Furthermore, the algorithm framework and major features of it are presented. As the conclusion of this paper, it is shown that mobile augmented reality applications require high development efforts. Therefore, flexible frameworks like AREA are crucial to develop respective applications in a reasonable time.

This paper presents the current state of the gaming industry, which provides an important background for an effective serious game implementation in mobile crowdsensing. An overview of existing solutions, scientific studies and market research highlights the current trends and the potential applications for citizen-centric platforms in the context of Cyber–Physical–Social systems. The proposed solution focuses on serious games applied in urban water management from the perspective of mobile crowdsensing, with a reward-driven mechanism defined for the crowdsensing tasks. The serious game is designed to provide entertainment value by means of gamified interaction with the environment, while the crowdsensing component involves a set of roles for finding, solving and validating water-related issues. The mathematical model of distance-constrained multi-depot vehicle routing problem with heterogeneous fleet capacity is evaluated in the context of the proposed scenario, with random initial conditions given by the location of players, while the Vickrey–Clarke–Groves auction model provides an alternative to the centralized task allocation strategy, subject to the same evaluation method. A blockchain component based on the Hyperledger Fabric architecture provides the level of trust required for achieving overall platform utility for different stakeholders in mobile crowdsensing.

This study explores the added value of co-design in addition to other innovation research methods in the process of developing a serious game design document for a road safety game. The sessions aimed at exploring 4 aspects of a location-based game experience: themes, game mechanics, mobile phone applications and locations for mini-games. In total, 72 adolescents between 15 and 18 years participated in five co-design sessions lead by a researcher and a professional game designer. The sessions provided useful input regarding the aspects the authors wished to explore. The sessions were especially useful in gathering input on scoring systems, ways to give instructions about next tasks and organizing level systems. In sum, their study indicates that co-design can be a source of additional ideas on top of other research methods such as state of the art analysis and expert consultation and thus lead to more effective interactive content creation.

Creating an augmented reality (AR) urban tourism application presents several interactivity challenges on how to convey an engaging multimedia experience on-site. This article describes a methodology for fast prototyping of multimedia mobile applications dedicated to urban tourism storytelling with special focus on AR techniques. Following the lessons learned in previous applications the systematic creation of location-based augmented reality (LBAR) applications is explored in this article. The goal is to create serious games for tourism that follow a main narrative but where the story can automatically adapt itself to the current location of the player, assimilate possible detours and allow posterior out-of-location playback. Adaptable stories can use dynamic information from map sources such as points of interest (POI), elevation or virtual buildings. The article discusses and presents solutions for media acquisition, interactive storytelling, game-design interface and multi-disciplinary coordination for mobile app development.

<p><strong>Abstract.</strong> Some actual research teams in Education Science go toward the development of educative serious games on mobile devices for letting elementary school pupils (i.e. primary school students) playing outdoor to learn geographic facts, concepts, and patterns. The challenge is about improving their geographic literacy and fluency, or ‘geoliteracy’, and their map-reading competencies, called ‘cartology’, before their adolescence as critical development ‘threshold’.</p><p> The aspects one has to work on consider the ways to learn, use, and comprehend maps as geospatial representations, both concrete display of a terrain on the paper sheet or on a digital screen and, on another hand, cognitive configuration in the mind that structures, interprets, and recalls on demand geospatial information on location or orientation at geographical scales. The fundamental interest of cartographic abilities to make and read a map is that it creates information value, structures memory about places and events, and enhances mobility.</p><p> In fact, there is a societal concern that a majority of adult population is not geographically literate neither efficient in reading and using maps in real-life context, even for just path finding. The main concern to address early at school is still “why” and “how to repair that situation”? If their geospatial cognitive development was weak at school, then that impedes them to comprehend geospatial concepts, structures, and information, later as adults. If a student does not succeed to pass over a kind of learning threshold, even the few abilities feebly acquired may vanish without significant usage neither interest in them. Later, it will be very hard to restart learning of that same matter without the necessary mental frames to organize geographical concepts and relations into an actionable knowledge.</p><p> Facing this geoliteracy challenge, the geographical map appears as the best, powerful, and necessary support or instrument of geospatial knowledge representation. One may define geoliteracy as a set of stabilized and adaptive cognitive abilities and functional competencies to handle, by self, geographical realities and cartographical representations. According to Edelson (2012), the three components of achieved geoliteracy are to develop consciousness of geographical <i>interactions</i> (understanding of human and natural systems in space), <i>interconnections</i> (geographic reasoning), and <i>implications</i> (systematic decision-making).</p><p> Thus in detail, a geoliterate adult should develop abilities in geospatial thinking and possess a complete (but rarely exhaustive) set of skills that are necessarily useful in normal autonomous life to:</p> <ul><li>read, use, and even detect errors on maps and other carto-geographic representations (at any format, support,and scale or zoom level);</li><li>locate places and situations occurring here and there, find new ways in space (at any scales); </li><li>understand and interpret geospatial concepts, signs, and structures on a critical, reasoned, and wise fashion,while discarding misconceptions; </li><li>determine, delimit, plan, and select best places to install activities; </li><li>recall modes and patterns of geospatial (not only geometrical neither topological) representation, even withoutmaps at hand (not just from mental images, capital cities, touristic metaphors, or evocative pictures to comeout from memory, which is necessary, of course, but not sufficient); </li><li>enhance own geographic culture, multiscale perspective, and useful geospatial awareness; </li><li>elaborate an opinion or explanation regarding daily geospatial situations or circumstances.</li></ul><p> What a troubling concern is the multiple evidences that the majority of adult population is not literate neither efficient in just reading and using maps, i.e. cannot perform most of the precedent list of geospatial abilities and competencies.</p><p> A research team joined with elementary schoolteachers, within a small community of practice, in order to identify pedagogic needs and test some game components as exercises in class context; then emerged the project <i>Géolittératie</i> (2015-2017). The pedagogic goal in designing an educative serious game on mobile device is to apply conceptual and applied methods for both learning and teaching geospatial competencies accordingly to the official school curriculum. That requires theoretical and methodological considerations about educative <i>serious game</i> (Kaufman &amp; Sauvé, 2010), cartographical <i>semiology</i> (Bertin, 1967, 1983), the four <i>cognitive development</i> stages for geospatial representation by children (Piaget, 1967), and the <i>experiential learning cycle</i> model (Kolb, 1978, 1984). This kind of cycle supports Piaget’s learning phases, from topologic perception to spatial conceptualisation, as well as the three main cartographic processes of map-making, reflexive visualization, and map-reading, which sustain any geographical reasoning.</p><p> A methodological framework of a mobile serious game was designed didactically with maps and other components following an increasing complexity, step by step of play. The teacher has to prepare a sequence of tasks to perform in a progressive game according to the different learning styles, for exposing practically the pupils to the <i>cartographical process</i> of making a plan, then a <i>map</i> to use thereafter. Students should like going outdoor on the terrain to gather data in order to answer a question on a <i>theme</i> of investigation related to a curriculum matter. They will consider a designed <i>scenario</i> of typical steps (or “rounds”), within a geospatial environment, that tells a progressive plot and the rules of the game. Thus, they will choice and follow different types of geometrical and geospatial <i>trajectories</i>, that lead the story toward the goal of the game, while taking field-notes on their way as answering questions of the scenario. Then, they draw their collected data on a plan or map and explain in conclusion what happened to the story (and what they learn) due to the spatial organisation of the site or area.</p><p> Progress in complexity levels of <i>scenario</i> may start with choosing between right or left to reach the next point of interest, to trying to plan both the shortest and the more pleasant paths to visit the spots where to settle a youth club in the neighbourhood. Types of <i>trajectories</i> going from place to place, in increasing complexity as the rounds of game advance, are based on geometrical primitives: point, succession of points, line, side of line, polyline, polygon, network, open surface, limited surface.</p><p> The pedagogic result encompasses both concrete display of a terrain (on paper or on a screen) and learned cognitive configurations in the mind. Only such mental or cognitive representations allow structuring, interpreting, and recalling on demand from memory geospatial information on location, distance, or orientation, within a situation that occurs at geographical scales. Therefore, for these pupils, the fundamental question in geography shall no more be “where” but “how and why is this situation there?”</p><p> At that point, only the first half of the experiential learning cycle is accomplished and the cognitive development process be achieved just at the phase associated to a threshold of operational comprehension. Now, the students know how to describe a spatial situation and to make a map, good but not enough. The challenge remains to learn from this quite technical knowledge how to deeply read a map, any map, and to get dense information from it; it is a reflexive, analytical, abstract new phase called visualization.</p><p> That phase engages a second process along the second half of the experiential learning cycle, which mirror or complement the cartographic one: a <i>cartological process</i>. A definition for cartology could say “to make the map talking”, even for telling a new story. Since player students now know the characteristics of a map, its cartographic “alphabet” composed of dimensions, scale, extent, and semiological symbols, the way is open to ask question by self to the map. They can read on it information that even the map-maker did not know neither put on it, project the map over the place represented and make a wise decision for planning or travelling. One can organize the steps of the cartologic process into another mobile game with scenarios and trajectories for gaining a better understanding of the power of maps for the cognitive structuration of geographical space and learn more efficiently about a specified theme that, for instance, composes historical thought and geographical reasoning about that place. A good theme to begin with is about the meaning of the toponymy in the neighbourhood.</p><p> A prototype mixes these mobile serious game components (map, theme, scenario, and trajectory) into a scheme of about fifteen successive rounds of play, then engaging the abilities relative to the three main cartographic processes, along a complete <i>experiential cycle</i>. Part of this method for developing geoliteracy by combination of both cartography and cartology within a serious game was tested recently with undergraduate students in didactic course. Practical experiments must continue strengthen the theoretical and methodological frame and ease the schoolteacher’s work in the best usage of maps to structure the geographical comprehension of home place and the World.</p>

IntroductionDistal radius fractures are among the most prevalent traumatic injuries worldwide. These injuries are associated with high healthcare-related and socioeconomic costs, mainly resulting from loss of productivity. To optimise recovery and return to work, wrist exercises are recommended. However, adherence to standard exercise regimens is low. Serious games provide a treatment platform for standardised postoperative care, uniting meaningful recovery with entertainment. Also, mobile serious games, for example, smartphone or tablet applications, are able to send practice reminders believed to improve self-efficacy.Methods and analysisTo test the effectiveness of a mobile serious game for distal radius fracture rehabilitation compared with standard care, a multicentre, randomised controlled clinical trial was designed. Primary outcome will be the Patient-Rated Wrist Evaluation (PRWE) score after 6 weeks of treatment. Secondary outcomes are range of motion, grip strength, pain scores, and self-reported treatment adherence after 2, 6 and 12 weeks of treatment.Adult patients with any type of closed distal radius fracture are included directly after non-operative or operative fracture treatment. Patients are recruited in the outpatient clinics of four teaching hospitals. The intended sample size is 92 patients, based on the minimal clinically important difference of the PRWE score at 6 weeks, using a superiority model.Patients are randomised between using the wearable-controlled mobile serious game ReValidate! (intervention group) and standard care consisting of unsupervised exercises and a referral for physiotherapy or exercise therapy upon request or recommendation by the treating clinician (control group).Ethics and disseminationThe protocol has been approved by the Medical Ethical Review Board of the Amsterdam University Medical Centres, location Academic Medical Centre in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Results will be made available to involved healthcare providers, funders, and to the general public including patients via peer-reviewed academic journals and international conferences.Trial registration numberDutch Trial Registry (NTR), NL6140, protocol V.2.

From the Editors Huseyin Uzunboylu, Cigdem Hursen Dear Colleagues It is a great honour for us to welcome you as Editors of Cypriot Journal of Educational Sciences which has accepted publications indexed in qualified databases since 2006. Our main aim is to increase the quality of the journal day by day. We are ready to publish the new issue of Cypriot Journal of Educational Sciences which has 5 articles written by authors from Cyprus, Portugal and Turkey. The aim of this issue is to give the researchers an opportunity to share their academic studies. First of all, I would like to thank all authors who have contributed to this issue. There are different focuses in the articles. For example, Sibel Ersel Kaymakamoğlu aimed to explore the English language learning beliefs of the students studying in the Guidance and Counseling Department at one of the Universities in Northern Cyprus. It also explored if the participants’ perceptions about English language learning showed differences according to gender and age. The findings revealed significant differences between the male and female participants’ perceptions about English language learning beliefs. On the other hand, İshak Kozikoğlu aim of this research is to analyze the studies concerning challenges faced by novice teachers in terms of various aspects and compare challenges according to location of the studies conducted in Turkey and abroad. Another study conducted by Fernando Almeida. They describe the experience of using a serious game in the entrepreneurship field in the context of the classroom. For that, they adopt a quantitative research technique based on a survey research to measure the different characteristics experienced by higher education students when using serious games in the classroom to learn entrepreneurship. The students have multidisciplinary competences, coming from courses with strong emphasis in the area of management and technology. The use of the serious game allowed students to develop skills mainly in terms of innovation, leadership, strategic thinking, problem solving, business launch and risk management. Also, Belkıs Tekmen aim of this study is to review and discuss some of these components of preschool teacher education in the Turkish context such as the student selection policy, faculty development, recruitment policies and competencies of the graduates. Finally, Huseyin Bicen and Senay Kocakoyun aimed to determine the opinions of students who participated in the development and application process of an Android application named NEU-CEIT about the mobile learning environment, educational and sharing structure of the developed application. According to the results, it was revealed that outcomes related with the usage structure of the developed application were positive, educational structure of the application is appropriate to follow the curriculum, it is rich in terms of materials and it might be one of the applications that students can use for communication. I would like to express my thanks to all authors preferring Cypriot Journal of Educational Sciences to publish their articles, and also all reviewers working seriously in this process. Best regards, Editor-in-Chief Prof. Dr. Huseyin Uzunboylu Executive Editor Assoc. Prof. Dr. Cigdem Hursen

L’essor des périphériques mobiles (ex. tablettes, smartphones) ainsi que leurs applications pédagogiques et ludiques ont contribué à la naissance des Jeux Éducatifs Mobiles (JEM). De nombreux chercheurs ont prouvé les effets positifs de ces JEM sur la motivation des apprenants et même sur certains apprentissages. Cependant, l’utilisation de JEM en contexte scolaire reste très limitée. En effet, les JEM existants, parfois assez coûteux, sont souvent conçus pour un domaine très spécifique, et n’offrent donc pas de possibilités de réutilisation. De plus, les outils auteur existants sont, soit riches en fonctionnalités mais nécessitent un investissement important des enseignants pour être pris en main, soit simples à utiliser mais ne permettent pas de concevoir des JEM qui répondent aux besoins pédagogiques. Pour s’attaquer à ces problématiques, nous proposons JEM iNVENTOR, un outil auteur de JEM, fondé sur une approche de conception gigogne, destiné aux enseignants, conservateurs de musée, ou toute personne non-informaticienne, qui souhaitent scénariser leurs propres JEM et les déployer sur les systèmes mobiles.Le modèle de conception gigogne a été validé par une série d’expérimentations auprès d’une vingtaine d’enseignants ayant des niveaux d’expertises et des domaines d’enseignement très variés. Nous avons également mené des expérimentations de terrain, auprès d’environ 1500 étudiants et élèves, afin d’évaluer la qualité des JEM créés avec JEM iNVENTOR ainsi que leur impact sur les apprenants
The rise of mobile devices (e.g. tablets, smartphones) and their educational and recreational applications have contributed to the emergence of Mobile Learning Games (MLGs). Indeed, MLGs show great potential for increasing engagement, creativity and authentic learning. Yet, despite their great potential for education, the use of MLGs by teachers, remains very limited. This is partly due to the fact that MLGs are often designed to match a specific learning context, and thus cannot be directly reusable for other contexts. In addition, existing authoring tools are either feature-rich but require a significant investment by teachers to be used, or simple to use but do not offer enough features for the design of MLGs that meet pedagogical needs. To tackle these problems, we propose JEM iNVENTOR, a MLG authoring tool, based on a nested design approach, intended for teachers, museum curators, or any person without computer skills, wishing to script their own MLG and deploy them on mobile systems.The nested design model was approved through a series of experimentations with some twenty teachers from a wide range of expertise levels and teaching fields. We also conducted field experimentations with about 1500 students and pupils in order to evaluate the quality of MLGs created with JEM iNVENTOR as well as their impact on learners

The contribution aims at corroborating location-based mobile games as models for the integration of digital technologies in the educational field. They demonstrated to be valid alternatives to formal education in the applied research project: Play Design!, which addressed to high school students, interested in design-related matters, and intends to valorise the Italian design culture, transforming Milan into the stage of a double-sided story. Design is here highlighted both as a cultural heritage and a discipline, inducing the development of two different games sharing a common didactic aim: D.Hunt and D.Learn. The first one is a mobile treasure hunt illustrating the excellences of the creative production of the country, and the renowned protagonists and places of Italy- and Milan-based design: a cultural background to be preserved and valorised. The second one, instead, is a role-play, cooperative and competitive game which depicts the city as a hub for schools and universities, where design is considered a subject for didactic courses, a combination of theories and practices to be transmitted and implemented. Then, the two mobile, location-based serious games exploit this copious and multifaceted material for evident learning purposes, joining the examples of informal education to increasingly follow in future technology developments.

User motivation and engagement while playing serious games remains challenging. Advances location-based technology has brought new opportunities for game-based, context-regulated experiences. Much effort has been made to model and manage the user context data, devices, and pervasive spaces, in order to enhance user experience. Research indicates that avatars have potential beyond representing the player on screen and interacting with the digital world. The interaction between an avatar and a player contributes to higher user engagement and a more pervasive experience. This article will look at how Simulation Games used for educational purposes can profit from avatars. The article is outlined as followed: it first analyses the potential avatars have on increasing player motivation and game enjoyment as well as on the player behaviour within different game genres. In a second step, we analyse and identify different types of simulation games, which mostly do not integrate an avatar. Based upon the outcome of the first part, we transfer the gained knowledge about avatars in avatar-focused games to simulation-based games with an educational focus on engineering, in order to increase player engagement towards learning games.

Research argues that digital educational games have the potential to make learning more interesting and more effective, creating unmatched learner engagement. However, creating captivating game-based learning experiences remains challenging. Designing and developing games to support learning is still a costly and time-consuming experience that require a multitude of skills. An easy-to-play game does not equate with an easy-to-create design and development process. Creating game-based experiences is more complex than designing a linear lecture or a static online learning module. Moreover, game customization remains limited, making it difficult for teachers to adapt a game to specific learner needs and subjects. To address these challenges, the authors present the game authoring pipeline of the Beaconing Platform that enables the construction of location-based metagames by non-programmers. In the context of this work, a metagame is defined as the component that provides the overarching narrative experience for players. The paper describes the construction and implementation of two such metagames for two different cities - Targoviste, Romania and Coventry, UK. The location of the device is used to enhance the user experience and to customize the content that is made available to the learners. The metagames integrate quizzes into location-based challenges to create more flexible and more engaging learning experiences that blend virtual and real worlds. In these metagames, participants have to find a real world Point of Interest (POI), defined through GPS coordinates, or a series of them, through indirect clues and complete an activity (e.g. Minigame) there to further the narrative (or unlock the next clue/POI).