Skip to main content

Gaming Tourism: Lessons from Evaluating REXplorer, a Pervasive Game for Tourists

  • Conference paper
Pervasive Computing (Pervasive 2008)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNISA,volume 5013))

Included in the following conference series:

Abstract

REXplorer is a mobile, pervasive spell-casting game designed for tourists of Regensburg, Germany. The game creates player encounters with spirits (historical figures) that are associated with significant buildings in an urban setting. A novel mobile interaction mechanism of “casting a spell” (making a gesture by waving a mobile phone through the air) allows the player to awaken and communicate with a spirit to continue playing the game. The game is designed to inform visitors about history in a fun manner. The results of a formative evaluation are explored to inform the design of future serious pervasive games.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. Abowd, G.D., Atkeson, C.G., Hong, J., Long, S., Kooper, R., Pinkerton, M.: Cyberguide: a mobile context-aware tour guide. Wireless Networks 3(5), 421–433 (1997)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Ballagas, R., Rohs, M., Sheridan, J.G., Borchers, J.: Sweep and Point & Shoot: Phonecam-based interactions for large public displays. In: CHI 2005: Extended Abstracts of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pp. 1200–1203. ACM Press, New York (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  3. Ballagas, R., Walz, S.: REXplorer: Using Iterative Design Techniques for Pervasive Games. In: Magerkurth, C., Röcker, C. (eds.) Pervasive Games, Springer, Heidelberg (2007)

    Google Scholar 

  4. Bamford, W., Coulton, P., Edwards, R.: Space-time travel blogging using a mobile phone. In: Proceedings of the International Conference on Advances in Computer Entertainment Technology, pp. 1–8 (2007)

    Google Scholar 

  5. Benford, S., Magerkurth, C., Ljungstrand, P.: Bridging the physical and digital in pervasive gaming. Commun. ACM 48(3), 54–57 (2005)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Bentley, F.R., Metcalf, C.J.: Sharing motion information with close family and friends. In: CHI 2007: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pp. 1361–1370. ACM Press, New York (2007)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  7. Beyer, H., Holtzblatt, K.: Contextual Design: Defining Customer-centered Systems. Morgan Kaufmann, San Francisco (1998)

    Google Scholar 

  8. Brown, B., Chalmers, M., Bell, M., MacColl, I., Hall, M., Rudman, P.: Sharing the Square: Collaborative Leisure in the City Streets. In: ECSCW 2005: Proceedings of the European Conference on Computer Supported Co-opertative Work, pp. 427–429. Springer, Heidelberg (2005)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  9. Brown, B., Laurier, E.: Designing Electronic Maps: an Ethnographic Approach. In: Map Design for Mobile Applications, Springer, Heidelberg (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  10. Cheverst, K., Davies, N., Mitchell, K., Friday, A., Efstratiou, C.: Developing a context-aware electronic tourist guide: some issues and experiences. In: CHI 2000: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pp. 17–24. ACM Press, New York (2000)

    Google Scholar 

  11. de Souza e Silva, A., Delacruz, G.C.: Hybrid Reality Games Reframed. Potential Uses in Educational Contexts. Games and Culture 1(3), 231–251 (2006)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Dix, A., Finley, J., Abowd, G., Beale, R.: Human-Computer Interaction. Prentice-Hall, Inc., Upper Saddle River (2004)

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  13. Dow, S., Lee, J., Oezbek, C., Maclntyre, B., Bolter, J.D., Gandy, M.: Exploring spatial narratives and mixed reality experiences in Oakland Cemetery. In: ACE 2005: Proceedings of the 2005 ACM SIGCHI International Conference on Advances in Computer Entertainment Technology, pp. 51–60. ACM Press, New York (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  14. Epstein, M., Vergani, S.: Mobile Technologies and Creative Tourism. In: AMICS 2006: Proceedings of the 12th Americas Conference on Information Systems, Association for Information Systems (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  15. Glaser, B.: Basics of grounded theory analysis: emergence vs forcing. Sociology Press (1992)

    Google Scholar 

  16. Klopfer, E., Squire, K.: Environmental Detectives—The Development of an Augmented Reality Platform for Environmental Simulations. Educational Technology Research and Development (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  17. Lee, Y.S., Smith-Jackson, T.L., Nussbaum, M.A., Tomioka, K., Bhatkhande, Y.: Use of product-interactive focus groups for requirement capture and usability assessment. In: Proceedings of the 48th Annual Human Factors and Ergonomics Conference. Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, New Orleans, LA, pp. 2461–2465 (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  18. Norrie, M., Signer, B.: Overlaying Paper Maps with Digital Information Services for Tourists. In: Proc. ENTER 2005 Conference on Travel and Tourism Technology, pp. 23–33. Springer, Heidelberg (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  19. Sawyer, B.: Serious Games: Improving Public Policy through Game-Based Learning and Simulation. In: Foresight and Governance Project, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars Publication 1 (2002)

    Google Scholar 

  20. Scupin, R.: The KJ method: A technique for analyzing data derived from Japanese ethnology. Human Organization 56(2), 233–237 (1997)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Thomas, S.: Pervasive learning games: Explorations of hybrid educational gamescapes. Simulation & Gaming 37(1), 41 (2006)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Vlahakis, V., Karigiannis, J., Tsotros, M., Gounaris, M., Almeida, L., Stricker, D., Gleue, T., Christou, I.T., Carlucci, R., Ioannidis, N.: Archeoguide: first results of an augmented reality, mobile computing system in cultural heritage sites. In: VAST 2001: Proceedings of the 2001 Conference on Virtual Reality, Archeology, and Cultural Heritage, pp. 131–140. ACM Press, New York (2001)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  23. Walz, S.P.: A spatio-ludic rhetoric: Serious pervasive game design for sentient architectures. In: Game set and match II. Proc. of the 2006 International Conference on Computer Games, Advances Geometries and Digital Technologies. Episode Publishers, Rotterdam, NL (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  24. Walz, S.P.: Pervasive Persuasive Play: Rhetorical Game Design for the Ubicomp World. In: Fogg, B.J., Eckles, D. (eds.) Mobile Persuasion: 20 Perspectives on the Future of Behavior Change, Stanford Captology Media, Palo Alto (2007)

    Google Scholar 

  25. Wang, J., Zhai, S., Canny, J.: Camera phone based motion sensing: interaction techniques, applications and performance study. In: UIST 2006: Proceedings of the 19th annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology, pp. 101–110. ACM Press, New York (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  26. Winer, D.: RFC: MetaWeblog API (2003), http://www.xmlrpc.com/metaWeblogApi

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

Jadwiga Indulska Donald J. Patterson Tom Rodden Max Ott

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2008 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this paper

Cite this paper

Ballagas, R., Kuntze, A., Walz, S.P. (2008). Gaming Tourism: Lessons from Evaluating REXplorer, a Pervasive Game for Tourists. In: Indulska, J., Patterson, D.J., Rodden, T., Ott, M. (eds) Pervasive Computing. Pervasive 2008. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 5013. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-79576-6_15

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-79576-6_15

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-79575-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-79576-6

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics