Location-based games emerged in the early 2000s following the commercialisation of GPS and artistic experimentation with ‘locative media’ technologies. Location-based games are played in everyday public spaces using GPS and networked, mobile technologies to track their players’ location. This book traces the evolution of location-based gaming, from its emergence as a marginal practice to its recent popularisation through smartphone apps like Pokémon Go and its incorporation into ‘smart city’ strategies. Drawing on this history and an analysis of the scholarly and mainstream literature on location-based games, Leorke unpacks the key claims made about them. These claims position location-based games as alternately enriching or diminishing their players’ engagement with the people and places they encounter through the game. Through rich case studies and interviews with location-based game designers and players, Leorke tests out and challenges these celebratory and pessimistic discourses. He argues for a more grounded approach to researching location-based games and their impact on public space that reflects the ideologies, lived experiences, and institutional imperatives that circulate around their design and performance. By situating location-based games within broader debates about the role of play and digitisation in public life, Location-Based Gaming offers an original and timely account of location-based gaming and its growing prominence.

Geography Education in the Digital World draws on theory and practice to provide a critical exploration of the role and practice of geography education within the digital world. It considers how living within a digital world influences teacher identity and professionalism and is changing young people’s lives. The book moves beyond the applied perspective of educational technology to engage with wider social and ethical issues of technology implementation and use of digital data within geography education. Situated at the intersection between research and practice, chapters draw on a wide range of theory to consider the role, adoption and potential challenges of a range of digital technologies in furthering geographical education for future generations. Bringing together academics from the fields of geography, geography education and teacher education, the book engages with four key themes within the digital world: Professional practice and personal identities. Geographical sources and connections. Geospatial technologies. Geographical fieldwork. This is a crucial read for geographers, geography educators and geography teacher educators, as well as those engaging with existing and new technologies to support geographical learning in the dynamic context of the digital world. It will also be of interest to any students, academics and policymakers wanting to better understand the impact of digital media on education.

This book constitutes revised selected papers from the 50th International Simulation and Gaming Association Conference, ISAGA 2019, which took place in Warsaw, Poland, during August 26–30, 2019.The 38 papers presented in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 72 submissions. They were organized in topical sections named: simulation gaming in the science space; simulation gaming design and implementation; simulation games for current challenges; simulation games and gamification; and board perspective on simulation gaming.

This book brings together contributions from researchers, GIS professionals and game designers to provide a first overview of this highly interdisciplinary field. Its scope ranges from fundamentals about games and play, geographic information technologies, game design and culture, to current examples and forward looking analysis. Of interest to anyone interested in creating and using Geogames, this volume serves as a channel for sharing early experiences, discussing technological challenges and solutions, and outlines a future research agenda. Games and play are part of human life, and in many game activities, place, space and geography plays a central role in determining the rules and interactions that are characteristic of each game. Recent developments and widespread access to mobile information, communication, and geospatial technologies have spurred a flurry of developments, including many variations of gaming activities that are situated in, or otherwise connected to the real world.

This is the first of two comprehensive volumes that provide a thorough and multi-faceted research into the emerging field of augmented reality games and consider a wide range of its major issues. These first ever research monographs on augmented reality games have been written by a team of 70 leading researchers, practitioners and artists from 20 countries. In Volume I, the phenomenon of the Pokémon GO game is analysed in theoretical, cultural and conceptual contexts, with emphasis on its nature and the educational use of the game in children and adolescents. Game transfer phenomena, motives for playing Pokémon GO, players’ experiences and memorable moments, social interaction, long-term engagement, health implications and many other issues raised by the Pokémon GO game are systematically examined and discussed. Augmented Reality Games I is essential reading not only for researchers, practitioners, game developers and artists, but also for students (graduates and undergraduates) and all those interested in the rapidly developing area of augmented reality games.

Harness the power of games to create extraordinary customer engagement with Game-Based Marketing. Gamification is revolutionizing the web and mobile apps. Innovative startups like Foursquare and Swoopo, growth companies like Gilt and Groupon and established brands like United Airlines and Nike all agree: the most powerful way to create and engage a vibrant community is with game mechanics. By leveraging points, levels, badges, challenges, rewards and leaderboards – these innovators are dramatically lowering their customer acquisition costs, increasing engagement and building sustainable, viral communities. Game-Based Marketing unlocks the design secrets of mega-successful games like Zynga’s Farmville, World of Warcraft, Bejeweled and Project Runway to give you the power to create winning game-like experiences on your site/apps. Avoid obvious pitfalls and learn from the masters with key insights, such as: Why good leaderboards shouldn’t feature the Top 10 players. Most games are played as an excuse to socialize, not to achieve. Status is worth 10x more than cash to most consumers. Badges are not enough: but they are important. You don’t need to offer real-world prizing to run a blockbuster sweepstakes. And learn even more: How to architect a point system that works Designing the funware loop: the basics of points, badges, levels, leaderboards and challenges Maximizing the value and impact of badges Future-proofing your design Challenging users without distraction Based on the groundbreaking work of game expert and successful entrepreneur Gabe Zichermann, Game-Based Marketing brings together the game mechanics expertise of a decade’s worth of research. Driven equally by big companies, startups, 40-year-old men and tween girls, the world is becoming increasingly more fun. Are you ready to play?