Location Based Gaming

Location based gaming is any game of which involves the players location in order to play the game. Many location-based games involve GPS to know exactly where you are located. Most location based games require a smart phone to play, since they are programmed a specific way and need to use a smart phone interface, although there are still some where you can just use a normal GPS device. There are a countless number of location-based games already created, but some of the popular and interesting ones would be geocaching, tourality, blackbeards treasure, and pac-manhattan.

Geocaching is somewhat of a treasure hunting game that only requires a GPS device. Geocaches are user made and usually consist of a tiny box or container with a pen, logbook, and sometimes other little trinkets. After creating a geocache, one simply goes online to a geocaching site, (geocaching.com) and posts the GPS coordinates of the place they decided to hide their geocache. You can also look and see where other people have placed their geocaches and go find different ones. Some of the main rules with geocaching are to always sign the log book, and if you are going to take something out of it, make sure you put something else back in. Not all geocaches have a physical box or container, but some are just meant to remember some type of event or create awareness of information about an area.

Tourality is a real life scavenger hunt which requires the use of a smartphone with GPS. In this game, the goal is to reach different spots by running, biking, driving, bussing, or any means of transportation, before others have reached the spot. This game requires user-generated content in order to play, so points of interest for the game can easily be set using Google Maps. In this game, after reaching a point of interest, you are rewarded gold, which can be traded for gadgets to use within the game. There are also locations in the game galled “goodie spots”, which can have things at them like gold and other power-ups, or there could be a thief waiting there to steal all the gold you’ve collected so far in the game.

Blackbeard’s treasure is another type of location-based game that requires GPS and a smart phone. This is a treasure hunting game, but you are searching for virtual treasure. In the game, there are different level treasure chests, and you must be the level the chest requires to open it. Users in the game place chests on a map, each chest containing sometimes keys to open other chests and other treasures. As you find more treasure, open the chests, and bury more treasure, your experience rises, possibly advancing you to the next level. The treasures you find in the chest eventually allow you to complete quests, as well as battle other Blackbeard players in real time.

Pac-Manhattan is a location-based game that was developed by NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications graduate program, to play in Manhattan, New York. This game uses the cities grid to recreate a game of pac-man. In game play, this game starts with one person dressed as pac-man, who will run around Manhattan while trying to eat all the virtual “food” that are placed along the streets. Four other players are dressed as the ghosts, who try to catch pac-man before he collects all the virtual “food”. This game uses cell-phone contact, Wi-Fi Internet, and custom software to track the pac-man game, which is broadcasted over the internet for viewers all over the world.

In conclusion, after researching a variety of different location-based games, it’s interesting how different games use locations differently. Some games require a smart phone, while some like geocaching, do not. Some require a real-time meet up place and a large group of people. Other games have you trying to reach a goal and play against other people you’ve never even met. It’s interesting to see how diverse location-based gaming can be, and see how it evolves over time as technology gets better and better.

Sources:

-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_gaming

-http://www.tourality.com/what-is-tourality/

-http://www.appbackr.com/app/blackbeard-s-treasure

-http://pacmanhattan.com/about.php