From Buddyspace to CitiTag: Large-scale Symbolic Presence for Community Building and Spontaneous Play

In this paper we discuss the conceptual framework and principles that guide our work in the design of large-scale informal environments for collaborative work, learning and play, aiming to foster social bonds and to provide an exciting testbed for emergent social behaviours. We present three different applications we have developed: Buddyspace, an Instant Messaging environment for community building, BumperCars, an online presence-based multiplayer game and CitiTag, an experimental wireless mixed reality game

Designing multiplayer games to facilitate emergent social behaviours online

This paper discusses an exploratory case study of the design of games that facilitate spontaneous social interaction and group behaviours among distributed individuals, based largely on symbolic presence 'state' changes. We present the principles guiding the design of our game environment: presence as a symbolic phenomenon, the importance of good visualization and the potential for spontaneous self-organization among groups of people. Our game environment, comprising a family of multiplayer 'bumper-car' style games, is described, followed by a discussion of lessons learned from observing users of the environment. Finally, we reconsider and extend our design principles in light of our observations

Design for emergence: collaborative social play with online and location-based media

This 192 page book investigates spontaneous, unpredictable uses of technology that are driven by social contexts and collaborative processes. The book proposes a research process of design for emergence, focusing on emergent phenomena as part of an iterative design process. This book is a published PhD thesis which presents early studies with multiple simultaneous users experimenting with location-based media in the real world and is unique in focusing on emergent user interaction, the role of the social and physical environment and how these can inform the design of new technologies. The thesis concludes with a positive vision of ubiquitous and social computing, in which the virtual world becomes a 'first class citizen' rather than a substitute for the real world, creating new situations and engaging experiences in the setting of our daily life that were not possible before

CASE STUDY Designing Multiplayer Games to Facilitate Emergent Social Behaviours Online

This paper discusses an exploratory case study of the design of games that facilitate spontaneous social interaction and group behaviours among distributed individuals, based largely on symbolic presence ‘state ’ changes. We present the principles guiding the design of our game environment: presence as a symbolic phenomenon, the importance of good visualization and the potential for spontaneous self-organization among groups of people. Our game environment, comprising a family of multiplayer ‘bumper-car ’ style games, is described, followed by a discussion of lessons learned from observing users of the environment. Finally, we reconsider and extend our design principles in light of our observations

SOCIAL PRESENCE

In this paper we discuss the conceptual framework and principles that guide our work in the design of large-scale informal environments for collaborative work, learning and play, aiming to foster social bonds and to provide an exciting testbed for emergent social behaviours. We present three different applications we have developed: Buddyspace, an Instant Messaging environment for community building, BumperCars, an online presence-based multiplayer game and CitiTag, an experimental wireless mixed reality game. Categories and Subject Descriptors H.5.3 [Information Interfaces and Presentation]: Group and Organisation Interfaces---synchronous interaction, collaborativ