Pervasive games

Thanks to the technological evolution we’ve been observing the past few years, there are an unending number of new possibilities in every area of entertainment, including games. While we observe many advancements in the computer game industry (PC and consoles) that make them more and more realistic, new kinds of games emerge that don’t limit themselves by looking real, but merge themselves with reality itself. We are creating a new definition of games that are called “Pervasive Games”. Like all novelty kinds of genre (like Alternate Reality Games) it’s dificult to pinpoint an unique definition, since several people have the need to ajust the definition so they can get the credits for it. So i will give you my own definition based on what i have been reading (then, if it sticks, maybe i’ll be rich).

Pervasive Games – Games that use technologic equipments to merge digitally created elements with reality.

I think this definition defines well enough all the existing Pervasive Games.

One kind of equipment often used to connect the real world and the digital one, in this kind of games, are location detection devices. Devices like GPS, to less precise ones like cell phones (with location based services by antenna triangulation) and even bluetooth devices (for the detection of proximity to other players of map bluetooth beacons).

If you create a virtual map inside the computer that is compatible with the real life game location, thanks to GPSs you can pinpoint the players in that map and create interaction capabilities between them not possible in real life.

You can use other kinds of devices like virtual reality glasses that merges computer generated images with the real life ones so you can create virtual entities or give game informations to the players.

The only boundaries are the current technology and the game creator imagination.

A good example of a Pervasive Game is the Pac-Manhattan (http://www.pacmanhattan.com).

In this game there are two important technological devices: cell phones and a computer.

The computer takes care of the game state and the cell phones are used to connect the real world with that game state.

A part of a city is considered a game board of Pac-Man. This map is recreated in the computer virtually like a Pac-Man level (with the “dots” and fruits and walls). The you dress people (with the hability to look crazy) in order to look like Pac-Man and the ghosts that are trying to catch him. When a player gets to a corner of the map he has to inform the game controller (by cellphone). The game controller is someone on the game headquarters that updates the position of the player on the game virtual board. After this update the software verifies if any “dots” of fruits were caught. The ghost controllers give information about the position of the pac-man so they can try and catch him (when they catch him it’s up to them if they beat him up).

A game like this can have several definitions, like: pervasive game, location based game, urban game, etc.

In this case it’s also pervasive because it merges a virtual board game with a real map creating game mechanisms not existent in real life.