scholarly journals Exploring Features of the Pervasive Game Pokémon GO That Enable Behavior Change: Qualitative Study

10.2196/15967 ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. e15967 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonne Arjoranta ◽  
Tuomas Kari ◽  
Markus Salo
Keyword(s):  
Critical Incident ◽  
Positive Emotions ◽  
Digital Games ◽  
Behavior Changes ◽  
Scientific Software ◽  
Physical Location ◽  
Special Events ◽  
Game Features ◽  
Pervasive Game ◽  
Pokémon Go

Background Digital gaming is one of the most popular forms of entertainment in the world. While prior literature concluded that digital games can enable changes in players’ behaviors, there is limited knowledge about different types of behavior changes and the game features driving them. Understanding behavior changes and the game features behind them is important because digital games can motivate players to change their behavior for the better (or worse). Objective This study investigates the types of behavior changes and their underlying game features within the context of the popular pervasive game Pokémon GO. Methods We collected data from 262 respondents with a critical incident technique (CIT) questionnaire. We analyzed the responses with applied thematic analysis with ATLAS.ti (ATLAS.ti Scientific Software Development GmbH) software. Results We discovered 8 types of behavior changes and 13 game features relevant to those behavior changes. The behavior changes included added activity in life, enhancing routines, exploration, increased physical activity, strengthening social bonds, lowering social barriers, increased positive emotional expression and self-treatment. The game features included reaching a higher level, catching new Pokémon, evolving new Pokémon, visiting PokéStops, exploring PokéStops, hatching eggs, fighting in gyms, collaborative fighting, exploiting special events, finding specific Pokémon, using items, Pokémon theme, and game location tied to physical location. The behavior changes were connected to specific game features, with game location tied to physical location and catching new Pokémon being the most common and connected to all behavior changes. Conclusions Our findings indicate that the surveyed players changed their behaviors while or after playing Pokémon GO. The respondents reported being more social, expressed more positive emotions, found more meaningfulness in their routines, and had increased motivation to explore their surroundings.

scholarly journals Exploring Features of the Pervasive Game Pokémon GO That Enable Behavior Change: Qualitative Study (Preprint)

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonne Arjoranta ◽  
Tuomas Kari ◽  
Markus Salo
Keyword(s):  
Critical Incident ◽  
Positive Emotions ◽  
Digital Games ◽  
Behavior Changes ◽  
Scientific Software ◽  
Physical Location ◽  
Special Events ◽  
Game Features ◽  
Pervasive Game ◽  
Pokémon Go

BACKGROUND Digital gaming is one of the most popular forms of entertainment in the world. While prior literature concluded that digital games can enable changes in players’ behaviors, there is limited knowledge about different types of behavior changes and the game features driving them. Understanding behavior changes and the game features behind them is important because digital games can motivate players to change their behavior for the better (or worse). OBJECTIVE This study investigates the types of behavior changes and their underlying game features within the context of the popular pervasive game Pokémon GO. METHODS We collected data from 262 respondents with a critical incident technique (CIT) questionnaire. We analyzed the responses with applied thematic analysis with ATLAS.ti (ATLAS.ti Scientific Software Development GmbH) software. RESULTS We discovered 8 types of behavior changes and 13 game features relevant to those behavior changes. The behavior changes included added activity in life, enhancing routines, exploration, increased physical activity, strengthening social bonds, lowering social barriers, increased positive emotional expression and self-treatment. The game features included reaching a higher level, catching new Pokémon, evolving new Pokémon, visiting PokéStops, exploring PokéStops, hatching eggs, fighting in gyms, collaborative fighting, exploiting special events, finding specific Pokémon, using items, Pokémon theme, and game location tied to physical location. The behavior changes were connected to specific game features, with game location tied to physical location and catching new Pokémon being the most common and connected to all behavior changes. CONCLUSIONS Our findings indicate that the surveyed players changed their behaviors while or after playing Pokémon GO. The respondents reported being more social, expressed more positive emotions, found more meaningfulness in their routines, and had increased motivation to explore their surroundings.

Digital Games and Independent Learning

2013 ◽  
Vol 333-335 ◽  
pp. 2183-2186
Author(s):  
Bo Yang Xie ◽  
De Cai Zhao
Keyword(s):  
Positive Emotions ◽  
Digital Games ◽  
Independent Study ◽  
Independent Learning ◽  
Digital Game ◽  
Self Confidence ◽  
Experimental Teaching ◽  
Integration Of Learning ◽  
Favorable Conditions ◽  
The Impact

[Objective] The research of digital games characteristics and connotations are to explorecreating favorable conditions of independent study; to analyze the learning motivation, learningactivities and process, self-confidence, aesthetic ability of students during the activities of thedigital game, to learn the impact of creativity.[Methods] Simulation, experimental teaching, thecomparison of experimental and traditional teaching methods are used. [Results] The experimentsshow that the vast majority of learners on the digital game for learners to create learning conditionsand elements, as well as to develop learners' abilities and have made a positive evaluation (M= 4.059, SD = 0.732). Endorsement or in favor of digital games very much are to improve theircapacity for cooperation and autonomy which accounted for 93.6% and 78.2% respectively;endorsement or in favor of such an environment favorable to learning accounted for 78.4%; that thelearning environment for students to learn positive emotions accounted for 95.8%; 87.1% of the testthat the environment to cultivate their sense of learning. [Conclusion] Digital game provides theindependent study of effective resources, environment, elements, activities and processes, but alsocontains the self-motivation to learn; digital game activities contributed to enhancing learners'self-confidence, aesthetic skills, creativity, help to lead to a research study of the learners; aneffective way of learning is the integration of learning and entertainment.

scholarly journals The territoriality of teams: Assembling power through the playing of Pokémon Go

2020 ◽  
pp. 205015792096886
Author(s):  
Orlando Woods
Keyword(s):  
Everyday Life ◽  
Qualitative Data ◽  
Public Spaces ◽  
Game Features ◽  
Game Players ◽  
Pokémon Go ◽  
And Control ◽  
Digital Assets

This paper explores how the playing of Pokémon Go can cause power to be assembled, and team-based expressions of territoriality to manifest. By playing the game, players become embedded within digital assemblages of power, which they reproduce through their interactions with other players, game features, and public spaces. When digital assets—such as gyms—are indexed to public spaces, players work together in teams to compete for digital ownership, and control, of these assets. In turn, this leads to the forging of a team-based sense of territoriality that is pervasive, and maximized by consolidating the power of the assemblage. Qualitative data are presented to empirically explore how playing Pokémon Go in Singapore can encourage players to forge a team-based sense of territoriality, which in turn results in the (dis)assembling of power. To conclude, I call for closer consideration of the implications of digital assemblages of power for everyday life.

The Fall of the Fourth Wall

2021 ◽  
pp. 307-324
Author(s):  
Samantha Stahlke ◽  
James Robb ◽  
Pejman Mirza-Babaei
Keyword(s):  
Digital Games ◽  
Design Guidelines ◽  
Live Streaming ◽  
Voting Systems ◽  
Design Considerations ◽  
The Past ◽  
Active Audience ◽  
Special Events ◽  
Game Developers ◽  
Viewing Experience

Over the past several years, the live-streaming of digital games has experienced a vast increase in popularity, coinciding with the rise of eSports as an entertainment medium. For a rapidly growing audience, streamed content provides material from an ever-increasing roster of games, tournaments, and special events. Recently, streaming platforms, game developers, and professional players have experimented with the inclusion of viewer interaction through mechanisms such as chat, broadcast messages, donations, and voting systems. With the advent of these mechanisms, the concept of game viewership has entered a transitory period; while still largely focused on consumption, for many spectators, the viewing experience is no longer an entirely passive act. The idea of interactive spectatorship (the authors refer to it as Spectator-players) carries the potential for audience members to engage with content at a much deeper level, participating actively in a novel form of entertainment and contributing to an enriched gaming community. This novel form of gaming interaction poses interesting challenges for game designers, as it requires design considerations to meet the needs of players, passive viewers, and active audience members alike. In this paper, the authors examine the opportunities and challenges presented by the design of interactive spectator experiences. Ultimately, they propose a series of design guidelines aimed at the exploration of development in the area of interactive spectator experiences.

The Effect of Home Computer Use on Jordanian Children: A Parental Perspective

2008 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 267-284 ◽  
Author(s):  
Omar M. Khasawneh ◽  
Hamed M. Al-Awidi
Keyword(s):  
Personal Computer ◽  
Computer Technology ◽  
Computer Use ◽  
Digital Games ◽  
Behavior Changes ◽  
Home Computer ◽  
Children's Behavior ◽  
E Mail

The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of computer technology on Jordanian children from the perspectives of their parents. The sample of the study consisted of 127 participants. Each participant is a parent of a child or children who owned a personal computer. Our findings revealed some of the positive as well as negative changes that have been manifested as a result of using computers. The study showed that children's behavior changes as a result of computer use. For example, children became less active as they spend time on the computer and less time devoted to exercising and playing. The most essential finding of this study was that a large number of parents reported that their children familiarized themselves with computer functions and parts and technological and computer concepts, such as chatting, e-mail, and digital games.

scholarly journals Productive play: The shift from responsible consumption to responsible production

2021 ◽  
pp. 146954052199392
Author(s):  
Jennifer Whitson ◽  
Martin French
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Digital Games ◽  
Multiple Streams ◽  
Responsible Consumption ◽  
Data Flows ◽  
Daily Fantasy Sports ◽  
Pokémon Go ◽  
Moral Justifications ◽  
Regulatory Landscape

Regulatory approaches to games are organized by boundaries between game/not-game, game/gambling game, skilled/unskilled play, consumption/production. Perhaps more importantly, moral justifications for regulating gambling (and condemning digital games) are rooted in the idea that they consume our time and wages but give little in return. This article uses two case studies to show how these boundaries and justifications are now perforated and reconfigured by digital mediation. The case study of Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) illustrates a contemporary challenge to rigid dichotomies between game/not game, skilled/unskilled play, and game/gambling game, demonstrating how regulation becomes deterritorialized as gambling moves out of state-regulated physical casinos and takes the form of networked, digital games. Our second case study of Pokémon Go approaches regulation from a different direction, complicating the rigid dichotomy between production/consumption in online networked play. We show how play is increasingly realized as productive in economic, social, physical, subjective and analytic registers, while at the same time, it is driven by gambling design imperatives, such as extending time-on-device. Pokémon Go exemplifies analytic productivity, a term we use to refer to the production of data flows that can be leveraged for a wide variety of purposes, including to predict, shape, and channel the behaviour of player populations, thereby generating multiple streams of revenue. Ultimately, both cases illustrate how digital games and gambling increasingly blur into each other, complicating the regulatory landscape.

Learning by Pervasive Gaming

2009 ◽  
pp. 60-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Kittl ◽  
Francika Edegger ◽  
Otto Petrovic
Keyword(s):  
Mobile Phones ◽  
Positive Emotions ◽  
Learning Activities ◽  
Transfer Of Knowledge ◽  
Mobile Games ◽  
Study Approach ◽  
Learning Game ◽  
Pervasive Game

This chapter investigates how mobile games can be used for an efficient transfer of knowledge in learning processes that connect between the real world and the virtual world. In this chapter, the pervasive game concept is implemented on mobile phones as a means of enabling interaction and communication to support learning activities. The chapter presents the design of a new pervasive learning game, which was compared with a conventional pedagogical approach in terms of long-term learning results and learning efficiency. The empirical results revealed that the pervasive game led to higher energetic activation, more positive emotions and attitudes towards learning activities, and more efficient knowledge transfer than the conventional case-study approach.

scholarly journals MEnDiGa: A Minimal Engine for Digital Games

2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 ◽  
pp. 1-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Filipe M. B. Boaventura ◽  
Victor T. Sarinho
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Digital Games ◽  
Feature Modeling ◽  
Proof Of Concept ◽  
Game Logic ◽  
Casual Games ◽  
Game Features ◽  
Game Engines ◽  
Implementation Resources ◽  
Game Elements

Game engines generate high dependence of developed games on provided implementation resources. Feature modeling is a technique that captures commonalities and variabilities results of domain analysis to provide a basis for automated configuration of concrete products. This paper presents the Minimal Engine for Digital Games (MEnDiGa), a simplified collection of game assets based on game features capable of building small and casual games regardless of their implementation resources. It presents minimal features in a representative hierarchy of spatial and game elements along with basic behaviors and event support related to game logic features. It also presents modules of code to represent, interpret, and adapt game features to provide the execution of configured games in multiple game platforms. As a proof of concept, a clone of the Doodle Jump game was developed using MEnDiGa assets and compared with original game version. As a result, a new G-factor based approach for game construction is provided, which is able to separate the core of game elements from the implementation itself in an independent, reusable, and large-scale way.

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