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International Conference on Software Business

ICSOB 2020: Software Business pp 134–142Cite as

Towards Ethical Guidelines of Location-Based Games: Challenges in the Urban Gaming World

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Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing ((LNBIP,volume 407))

Abstract

Location-based games—urban games which are played in real life locations—are growing their share in the mobile gaming markets. While these kinds of games have been present since the growing popularity of so-called feature phones, they gained remarkable momentum through the popularity of Niantic Inc.’s Pokémon Go, Ingress and later Harry Potter: Wizards Unite. As modern location-based games are gathering hundred of millions dollars monthly revenue, also related social, economical, and even juridical questions have raised; however, the ethical questions embodied into the location-based games or augmented reality games have not been completely unveiled. As the mobile game industry is growing its importance in the software industry, also business ethics questions should be taken into account during the design and development of game products and services. This paper seeks to understand the relevant ethical concerns of location-based games by using the viewpoints of individual, community and business.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Sam Desatoff. “Pokemon Go surpasses $3.6 billion in lifetime revenue”. GameDaily.biz. July 6, 2020. https://gamedaily.biz/article/1795/pokemon-go-surpasses-36-billion-in-lifetime-revenue.

  2. 2.

    Christopher Huffaker. “There are fewer Pokemon Go locations in black neighborhoods, but why?". Miami Herald. July 14, 2016. https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/national/article89562297.html.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Software Engineering, LUT University, Lahti, Finland

    Sonja M. Hyrynsalmi & Sami Hyrynsalmi

  2. Turku School of Economics, University of Turku, Turku, Finland

    Minna M. Rantanen

Authors
  1. Sonja M. Hyrynsalmi
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  2. Minna M. Rantanen
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  3. Sami Hyrynsalmi
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sonja M. Hyrynsalmi .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Blekinge Institute of Technology, Karlskrona, Sweden

    Eriks Klotins

  2. Blekinge Institute of Technology, Karlskrona, Sweden

    Krzysztof Wnuk

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Hyrynsalmi, S.M., Rantanen, M.M., Hyrynsalmi, S. (2021). Towards Ethical Guidelines of Location-Based Games: Challenges in the Urban Gaming World. In: Klotins, E., Wnuk, K. (eds) Software Business. ICSOB 2020. Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing, vol 407. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-67292-8_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-67292-8_10

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-67292-8

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