Mobilising Monopoly:game design, place and social values

Location based games have seen the translation of popular boardgames into mixed reality settings through the integration of mobile phone technologies. This paper explores modifying the game of Monopoly from a boardgame to a locative mobile phone based game utilising NFC and QR code technologies to engage players with real world places. In doing so, the mechanics, rules and motivations for playing the game shifted in the prototyping of the game concept. Here, we outline the initial game design process, problems and possibilities in modifying such a well-known game to the city streets. We also detail how the mechanics of the game were updated to provide some solutions to ideas surrounding property values, social media values and player location in the new game design

Mobilising Monopoly:game design, place and social values

Location based games have seen the translation of popular boardgames into mixed reality settings through the integration of mobile phone technologies. This paper explores modifying the game of Monopoly from a boardgame to a locative mobile phone based game utilising NFC and QR code technologies to engage players with real world places. In doing so, the mechanics, rules and motivations for playing the game shifted in the prototyping of the game concept. Here, we outline the initial game design process, problems and possibilities in modifying such a well-known game to the city streets. We also detail how the mechanics of the game were updated to provide some solutions to ideas surrounding property values, social media values and player location in the new game design

NFC-Teknologiaan Pohjautuvan Älyilmoitustaulun Konseptin Suunnittelu ja Toteutus

Tampere railway station area is going through a renovation in following decades and thus it is a relevant time to research possibilities to improve the area with smart city technologies. KÄPÄLÄ project which is a collaboration of Tampere University and Tampere University of Technology focusing on smart city technologies initiated a research towards innovative service concepts on railway station area. This thesis describes planning, deployment and evaluation of prototype system titled Smart Bulletin Board which is an electronic Bulletin board with motion detection and NFC interaction which was concluded to be suitable topic of research. The aim for this thesis was to test the SBB concept’s user experience and appeal, map possibilities and problems encountered in the deployment of public display system utilizing motion detection and NFC interaction. The goal is also to explore if the NFC technology is suitable and novel technology to act as a data transfer bridge between public display and personal smartphone. This thesis consists of literary review, description of design and implementation phases and two user evaluation studies. The results of the research suggest that there is promise for the SBB concept as user experience for the system was prominently positive. The user evaluations uncovered multiple interesting usability problems related to combination of public display system, NFC and motion detection interaction which could be researched further. The results of this thesis could be used by parties planning to implement a public display system or parties involved with NFC or motion detection controls to gain insight on issues related to their usage on public setting

"CheckinDJ" using check-ins to crowdsource music preferences

The paper introduces a novel approach for crowd curation of ambient music played in venues using physical Near Field Communication (NFC) enabled check-ins. The CheckinDJ jukebox system uses NFC enabled objects that are linked to individuals social network accounts. CheckinDJ can thus be regarded as a crowdsourced DJ that curates an evolving music playlist based on the musical preferences of those present at a location at any given time. In this paper we present the design and operation of the currently deployed system along with highlights of the promising potential of this novel concept

The Gamification of Crowdsourcing Systems: Empirical Investigations and Design

Recent developments in modern information and communication technologies have spawned two rising phenomena, gamification and crowdsourcing, which are increasingly being combined into gamified crowdsourcing systems. While a growing number of organizations employ crowdsourcing as a way to outsource tasks related to the inventing, producing, funding, or distributing of their products and services to the crowd – a large group of people reachable via the internet – crowdsourcing initiatives become enriched with design features from games to motivate the crowd to participate in these efforts. From a practical perspective, this combination seems intuitively appealing, since using gamification in crowdsourcing systems promises to increase motivations, participation and output quality, as well as to replace traditionally used financial incentives. However, people in large groups all have individual interests and motivations, which makes it complex to design gamification approaches for crowds. Further, crowdsourcing systems exist in various forms and are used for various tasks and problems, thus requiring different incentive mechanisms for different crowdsourcing types. The lack of a coherent understanding of the different facets of gamified crowdsourcing systems and the lack of knowledge about the motivational and behavioral effects of applying various types of gamification features in different crowdsourcing systems inhibit us from designing solutions that harness gamification’s full potential. Further, previous research canonically uses competitive gamification, although crowdsourcing systems often strive to produce cooperative outcomes. However, the potentially relevant field of cooperative gamification has to date barely been explored. With a specific focus on these shortcomings, this dissertation presents several studies to advance the understanding of using gamification in crowdsourcing systems

Designing digital and physical interactions for the Digital Public Space

Over the course of the last decade there has been a perceivable shift in the way interactions occur with digital systems with a clear preference towards touchscreen based interactions. This move can be attributed in part to the Apple’s iPhone, first introduced in 2007, and whilst not the first touchscreen product, it was the first to lead to widespread adoption and use. This thesis seeks to develop new design interaction methods that recognise that we are moving away from a dominance of digital interactions with screens to one where interactions are supported by everyday things. These devices allow greater perspectives to be gained than when purely interacting by touchscreen. This is presented as an exploration of interaction methods surrounding intermediary objects that are both physical and digital in nature - phygital. Affordances are an important part of how people interact with devices in their everyday life; it is these affordances that let us understand how to use things around us. Affordances are also present in the digital world and are an important part of how the work presented in this thesis analysed the design of the phygital objects and interactions they enabled. This thesis draws on six case studies from a diverse range of projects undertaken as part of The Creative Exchange research project. Beginning with an exploration of current touchscreen interaction methods then moving towards identifying and suggesting new interaction models. Throughout this research, key ideas will be extracted, rationalised and presented individually for each Creative Exchange project, in such a way that allows conclusions to be drawn about physical and digital interactions in the Digital Public Space. Finally, this body of work concludes with a design manifesto which, provides a route away from strict screen interactions to one where more physical Natural User Interfaces that interact with the world. The manifesto will also serve prospective phygital interaction designers in the production of new interactions by identifying key findings such as matching affordances to the phygital objects