The intelligence of environments 163
informational isomorphism between what they encounter in-world and what they
encounter in real life, but it is often not sufficiently clear to what extent and with
respect to which domains an isomorphism is supposed to hold, and whether it is
expected to hold in the same way by other residents. In some cases, for example
when SL identity is expected to match RL identity, informational convergence
will be expected by some residents instead of partial isomorphism.
Even the relevance of the information picked up in SL is ambiguous: one’s perceptions, interactions and so forth, when they fail, will fail only within the context
of SL (unless, of course, relationships that started in SL are carried over into RL),
but the perceived graveness of misunderstandings or failures will depend on the
residents’ overall interpretation of the relevance of what they do and encounter
in SL, which, again, may vary widely and actually contribute to further misunderstandings and failures. At the same instance, an interplay has been claimed to
occur between resident’s real life and SL self-perception, which may account for
some of the blurring of identities in the games of impersonation played in SL (Yee
et al. 2007). It is the very virtuality of the SL environment, and of the identities
and behaviours played out in that arena, that remain contested among its residents.
SL is an informational environment whose domains and relevant variables are
subject to continuous, open-ended negotiation.
Mixed Reality Games
A markedly hybrid gaming environment that combines real-world environments
and virtual elements is to be found in the field of Mixed Reality Games or, in
allusion to the previously introduced concept of MMORPGs, Mobile Massively
Multiplayer Online Games (MMMOGs).
7
After a number of earlier attempts that
remained confined to prototype or niche product status, this type of mobile game
has finally reached a broad audience and significant media attention in 2016 with
Pokémon Go. These games are designed to transform everyday environments into
playing fields that integrate physical modes of interaction and virtual elements in
a manner clearly distinct from console or conventional online or mobile games.
Using GPS-equipped mobile devices, mostly smartphones, the cues for interaction between players, other persons and features of their common surroundings
are purposefully modified in Mixed Reality Games – and hence, if only within
the context of the game, the players’ informational environments. I will now give
some detailed consideration to one such game, named GeoBashing in playful allusion to Geocaching, a similarly location-based game that, however, lacks some of
the mobile and all of the virtual aspects of what is proposed by the developers of
the game under discussion here (a first outline of the GeoBashing concept is to be
found in Dieber et al. 2010). This game, at the time of this writing, has remained
in prototype status but it already incorporates key features of what would appear
in the immensely popular Pokémon Go five years later.
GeoBashing offers two distinct gaming modes, which can be combined: “challenges” and “fights” (with further modes considered for addition at a later stage),
which are designed to create a “virtual overlay to the real world”. That virtual
informational isomorphism between what they encounter in-world and what they
encounter in real life, but it is often not sufficiently clear to what extent and with
respect to which domains an isomorphism is supposed to hold, and whether it is
expected to hold in the same way by other residents. In some cases, for example
when SL identity is expected to match RL identity, informational convergence
will be expected by some residents instead of partial isomorphism.
Even the relevance of the information picked up in SL is ambiguous: one’s perceptions, interactions and so forth, when they fail, will fail only within the context
of SL (unless, of course, relationships that started in SL are carried over into RL),
but the perceived graveness of misunderstandings or failures will depend on the
residents’ overall interpretation of the relevance of what they do and encounter
in SL, which, again, may vary widely and actually contribute to further misunderstandings and failures. At the same instance, an interplay has been claimed to
occur between resident’s real life and SL self-perception, which may account for
some of the blurring of identities in the games of impersonation played in SL (Yee
et al. 2007). It is the very virtuality of the SL environment, and of the identities
and behaviours played out in that arena, that remain contested among its residents.
SL is an informational environment whose domains and relevant variables are
subject to continuous, open-ended negotiation.
Mixed Reality Games
A markedly hybrid gaming environment that combines real-world environments
and virtual elements is to be found in the field of Mixed Reality Games or, in
allusion to the previously introduced concept of MMORPGs, Mobile Massively
Multiplayer Online Games (MMMOGs).
7
After a number of earlier attempts that
remained confined to prototype or niche product status, this type of mobile game
has finally reached a broad audience and significant media attention in 2016 with
Pokémon Go. These games are designed to transform everyday environments into
playing fields that integrate physical modes of interaction and virtual elements in
a manner clearly distinct from console or conventional online or mobile games.
Using GPS-equipped mobile devices, mostly smartphones, the cues for interaction between players, other persons and features of their common surroundings
are purposefully modified in Mixed Reality Games – and hence, if only within
the context of the game, the players’ informational environments. I will now give
some detailed consideration to one such game, named GeoBashing in playful allusion to Geocaching, a similarly location-based game that, however, lacks some of
the mobile and all of the virtual aspects of what is proposed by the developers of
the game under discussion here (a first outline of the GeoBashing concept is to be
found in Dieber et al. 2010). This game, at the time of this writing, has remained
in prototype status but it already incorporates key features of what would appear
in the immensely popular Pokémon Go five years later.
GeoBashing offers two distinct gaming modes, which can be combined: “challenges” and “fights” (with further modes considered for addition at a later stage),
which are designed to create a “virtual overlay to the real world”. That virtual