This document summarizes research into using pervasive games to encourage lecture attendance. The researchers designed a game where students had to visit a lecture hall to feed a virtual pet and keep it alive. Most students utilized the essential lecture hall location, showing games can direct movement. However, some students lacked an empathetic connection to the pet or felt limited social interaction. The researchers concluded pervasive games show promise for influencing behavior but require more development to fully engage players.

1. Can pervasive games encourage
engagement with important
locations?
Dr Brett Wilkinson
Presenting the work of:
Mr Patrick Armstrong and Dr Brett Wilkinson

2. Video Game Players
• The idea that video games are for children
is incorrect
• Over the last decade:
– Gamer average age is 32
– Evenly split between male and female
• Extensively investigated as motivational
tools in education
• New types of game style for new
generation of mobile, location aware
devices like smart phones and tablets

3. Pervasive Gaming
• Incorporate real world elements into the
game world
• Pervasive games feature:
– Persistent game play
– Quick short play periods rather than single
long sessions
– Use location services, augmented reality,

4. Improve lecture attendance

5. A focus on lecture attendance
• Lecture attendance has a direct positive impact
on student grades
• Absence dynamics can be divided into three
groups:
– High motivation: Injury, sickness, emergency’s
– Medium motivation: Conflict of priorities
– Low motivation: Non-essential, non-academic
• Over 60% of absences fall into low motivation

6. Experiment Aim
• Use the motivational benefits of games to
direct user movement
• Reward through game play for being at a
physical location within a specified window
• Conduct a preliminary investigation into
use persistent gaming concepts to achieve
this goal.

7. Pervasive Games
• Deeper involvement with the game world than
just using GPS location.
• Look to extend the game experience into the
physical environment
• Seek to incorporate
– Anywhere / Anytime idea. Short play sessions
over extended interaction
– Player location matters and is relevant
– Persistent gameplay that continues even when not
being directly controlled
– Connects and communicates game state changes
– Social gameplay aspects

8. Game Design
• Resource collection
and Virtual pet
management.
• Resources planted in
the real world tracked
by GPS and
harvested after a
germination period to
feed pet.
• Game play area
focused on Flinders
University campus
• Augmented Reality
used to increase the
game world / real
world connection
Pet Interaction screen Resource
Management screen

9. Use of an Essential Location
• Gameplay is
unwinnable by itself
• Participants must,
without instruction,
utilize a large
resource node at an
essential location
• Failure to use the
essential location
makes pet survival
impossible
Essential Location: Lecture Theatre South 3

10. Results
• All participants were familiar with mobile
devices and nearly all played video games
regularly
• All participants found the game easy to play
and understand, suggesting game failure was
not due to misunderstanding
• Users raised issues with the empathic
relationship with the pet, 40% of users felt
limited connection with the virtual pet.

11. Results
• Users had three key issues with the game
style:
– Insufficient communication from pet
– Underdeveloped feedback cycle between pet
and player
– Lack of a social component
• All but two participants utilized the
essential location and kept their pet alive,
using varied movement patterns per user.

12. Results
• One pet death was the result of the player
rushing to the essential location and ignoring
other resources
• One participant failed to make use of the
essential location
• This manifested in the:
– Least amount of time played
– Lowest number of resources planted per minute,
before pet death, during gameplay
• This player also showed one of the two lowest
empathic relationships to the pet

13. Results – Possible Influences
• Movement logs
showed anomalous
movement possible
due to the
topography of
Flinders University
Flinders University topography looking
down from the essential location

14. Conclusions
• Results suggest pervasive game
techniques can be used to direct player
movement
• Suggested improvements by players in
line with pervasive game play ideals

15. Future Work
• Introduce fixed time frame resources to
accurately simulate lecture start times
• Additional effort to ensure empathic relationship
with virtual pet is effective and engaging
• Open ended testing.
• Remove topographical concerns as possible
influences