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Where is the answer?: the importance of curiosity in pervasive mobile games

Published: 14 November 2007 Publication History

Abstract

Today games are increasingly recognized not only for their entertainment value, but also for their positive impact on social interaction, educational potential, technical interests, publicity and economical power. A new game genre of pervasive games extends a virtual game world into the real world environment, allowing players to move seamlessly from one to the other. Our research is focused on identifying the elements that are important in a pervasive playful application that can trigger the interest of different individuals towards the reflection and understanding of the knowledge surrounding them. Our findings suggest that stimulating the curiosity of players is one of these key elements, and that it should be considered in the design of serious mobile games with pervasive characteristics, while looking to enrich the informal learning. In addition, mobile phones are well accepted as play tools. These results are based on the feedback given by 45 players of our game entitled SciMyst, which is a mobile adventure game with pervasive and multiplayer characteristics. In SciMyst the player has to solve different types of enigmas, which are based on the information from the real world. The player is required to become familiar with the surroundings in order to succeed, and at the same time s/he is learning from the environment in a playful manner. The game was in action and the data collection took place during SciFest 2007, a science festival in Joensuu, Finland, in March 2007.

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Cited By

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  • (2024)From thrill seekers to social creatures: dimensions of curiosity differentially predict video game preferences and behavioursBehaviour & Information Technology10.1080/0144929X.2024.2376869(1-13)Online publication date: 12-Jul-2024
  • (2023)Towards Understanding the Role of Curiosity in Puzzle DesignCompanion Proceedings of the Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play10.1145/3573382.3616070(17-21)Online publication date: 6-Oct-2023
  • (2022)Developing a Clearer Understanding of Genre and Mobile GameplayResearch Anthology on Game Design, Development, Usage, and Social Impact10.4018/978-1-6684-7589-8.ch050(1055-1084)Online publication date: 7-Oct-2022
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cover image ACM Other conferences
Future Play '07: Proceedings of the 2007 conference on Future Play
November 2007
279 pages
ISBN:9781595939432
DOI:10.1145/1328202
Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

Sponsors

  • Province of Ontario, Ministry of Economic Development and Trade
  • Arcademy Games Awards Festival Arcadia
  • Microsoft User Research Group
  • Government of Canada, FedNor
  • Sault Ste. Marie Innovation Centre
  • Garage Games
  • Visualization Design Institute, Sheridan Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning
  • Algoma University College
  • University of Ontario Institute of Technology
  • Bug-Tracker.Com
  • SchoolFinder

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Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 14 November 2007

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Author Tags

  1. environment and player
  2. mobile games
  3. mobile learning
  4. pervasive games
  5. pervasive learning
  6. playful learning

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Futureplay2007
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Futureplay2007: Futureplay 2007
November 14 - 17, 2007
Toronto, Canada

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Cited By

View all
  • (2024)From thrill seekers to social creatures: dimensions of curiosity differentially predict video game preferences and behavioursBehaviour & Information Technology10.1080/0144929X.2024.2376869(1-13)Online publication date: 12-Jul-2024
  • (2023)Towards Understanding the Role of Curiosity in Puzzle DesignCompanion Proceedings of the Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play10.1145/3573382.3616070(17-21)Online publication date: 6-Oct-2023
  • (2022)Developing a Clearer Understanding of Genre and Mobile GameplayResearch Anthology on Game Design, Development, Usage, and Social Impact10.4018/978-1-6684-7589-8.ch050(1055-1084)Online publication date: 7-Oct-2022
  • (2021)When ignorance is bliss: The role of curiosity in online games adoptionEntertainment Computing10.1016/j.entcom.2020.10039837(100398)Online publication date: Mar-2021
  • (2019)Mobile Game-Based LearningAdvanced Methodologies and Technologies in Modern Education Delivery10.4018/978-1-5225-7365-4.ch063(809-824)Online publication date: 2019
  • (2019)Developing a Clearer Understanding of Genre and Mobile GameplayHandbook of Research on Immersive Digital Games in Educational Environments10.4018/978-1-5225-5790-6.ch008(201-231)Online publication date: 2019
  • (2019)Diagram Safari: A Visualization Literacy Game for Young ChildrenExtended Abstracts of the Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play Companion Extended Abstracts10.1145/3341215.3356283(389-396)Online publication date: 17-Oct-2019
  • (2018)Mobile Game-Based LearningEncyclopedia of Information Science and Technology, Fourth Edition10.4018/978-1-5225-2255-3.ch553(6361-6375)Online publication date: 2018
  • (2018)Using pervasive games as learning tools in educational contextsInternational Journal of Learning Technology10.1504/IJLT.2018.09209413:2(93-114)Online publication date: 1-Jan-2018
  • (2017)Curiously MotivatedProceedings of the Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play10.1145/3116595.3116603(143-156)Online publication date: 15-Oct-2017
  • Show More Cited By

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