Emerging Uses of Multiplayer Location-Aware Games

Equipped Mobilities in an “Upgraded” Japan and “Screen Encounters”
By Christian Licoppe, Yoriko Inada
English

This paper studies the uses of a multi-player location-aware game on mobile terminals in Japan, where players collect virtual objects as they move about in Tokyo. The game, available commercially, is an in vivo laboratory for studying the development of location-aware collective behaviours. The authors analyse forms of mobility adjusted to the “augmented” city that the players experience via their terminal (how does one live in an “augmented” urban public space, in a game context?), and the interactional behaviours that develop in a location-aware community where the members’ positions are public data.

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