CSCW2012: Mixed Reality Games Workshop

During the past decade, we have seen an explosion of interest in technology-mediated games that build on everyday experiences. Collaborative mixed reality games manifest in multiple forms, with game-world interfaces that can be placed along a continuum from “augmented reality” to “real environment”. Though definitions of these emerging game genres are yet to be formalized, we view mixed reality games as goal-directed, structured play experiences that are not fully contained by virtual or physical worlds. They transform existing technologies, relationships, and places into a platform for gameplay. Because they play with the boundaries of more traditional game spaces, they hold unique potential to extend or blend game mechanics into our everyday experiences.

Examining mixed reality games as a group allows us to better understand the game mechanics, technologies, and social engagement strategies that work well across the mixed reality game genres. Game mechanics are the underlying rule-based systems of games that define patterns of player behavior, for example, when a player makes a goal-oriented choice and the game provides a meaningful outcome. How do core game mechanics like capturing territory, collecting, or even talking change in mixed reality contexts? Likewise, How can existing relationships be leveraged to attract new players and support new types of gameplay? What new CSCW tools are needed to support mixed reality games and how can existing systems incorporate game elements? This workshop will address such questions and explore how these game mechanics, technologies, and social engagement strategies can be blended to produce novel game experiences.

Game Genres	Examples (Platforms)	Collaborative Elements	Real-world Elements	Technology-mediated Elements
Context Aware	Biblion (iPad) iSpy (iOS devices, Facebook)	Automates some elements of mixed reality game play, so that they do not have to be input explicitly by players, recognizing, for example, the co-locatedness of players.	Uses location-based data to personalize knowledge and learning experience Offers opportunities for playful learning in context, in collaboration with physical environment Expands upon or rethinks the form of existing physical institutions and knowledge structures	Sensors translate reality to be “machine-understandable”.
Alternate Reality	Evoke I Love Bees The Lost Experience	Multiple players combine gathered information to form a coherent story. Peer-rated performance and feedback.	Use of everyday social media tools (wikis, forums) In-Game characters represented by real people with whom players interact	Players required to collaborate with each other, typically via social media, to solve game challenges
Social Network	DropIn (LinkedIn) Oregon Trail (Facebook) Spent (Facebook)	Game mechanics invoke existing social ties between players for collaborative accomplishments	Players’ social network of friends, family, co-workers	Rely on social networking sites like Facebook to share invitations & game status notifications Social network contacts act as resources during game play (e.g., friends to help your farm)
Augmented Reality	Magic: Eye of Judgment (PS3) Face Raiders (Nintendo 3DS) Parallel Kingdom (iPhone)	Can incorporate shared experiences of the layered virtual world; opportunities for exchange of resources	Use of game as lens for viewing reality: integrates either action or image within physical space with virtual play	Sensors translate reality to be “machine-understandable” and augment perception of reality with virtual elements.