Paper for the Cybergames 2007 Conference, 10th-11th September 2007 at the Manchester Metropolitan University, United Kingdom:
Entering an age of playfulness where persistent, pervasive ambient games create moods and modify behaviour (Adobe Acrobat .pdf file, 459KB)
Look at the 'slides' page for the presentation slides that go with this paper.
Abstract:
A novel way of playing games called ambient gaming is defined and described. Growing out of ideas in ambient music, ambient gaming is defined as 'ignorable as it is interesting'. (Eno, 1978) Ambient gaming is set in the context of existing gaming systems, including computer games, Live Action Role Playing, augmented reality and pervasive gaming. Further, ambient games are set in a technological context, showing that the technology enabling their development is now becoming available. The specification and implementation of an ambient game prototype, Ambient Quest, is described. Finally future directions for research and application of ambient games are given.
Ambient role playing games: towards a grammar of endlessness
Paper for the Women in Games Conference 2007:
Ambient role playing games: towards a grammar of endlessness (Adobe Acrobat .pdf file, 856KB)
Look at the 'slides' page for the presentation slides that go with this paper.
Abstract:
If the seminal 1976 ambient music album Music for Airports (Eno, 1978) became a 21st century ambient role playing game, what would it play like? What technologies would be required? What would we need to know for this to happen? Who would be the target audience? This paper sets out to define ambient role playing games. A computer role playing game definition is suggested; the evolution of ambient technologies is outlined and a prototyped ambient game is described.
The heart of ambient gaming is embodied in Brian Eno's description of ambient music as being 'ignorable as it is interesting' (Eno, 1978). This is compared and contrasted with pervasive gaming (Waern, 2006), alternate reality gaming (Borland, 2005) and augmented reality gaming (such as ARQuake (Thomas, 2002)). There are many computer role playing games and a description of this genre is developed.
The roots and history of role playing games from Gilgamesh, Kriegspiel (Michael, 2005) and Lord of the Rings to Dungeons and Dragons (Hallford, 2001) and more recently World of Warcraft (Blizzard, 2006) give a route to one possible genre definition and a list of role playing game play mechanisms. Case studies are then used to relate the gameplay mechanisms to computer role playing games and differentiate the role playing game genre. This definition and these properties are then combined with ideas of ambience to give a prescription for an ambient role playing game. The technology required for true ambient gaming is described by looking at the history of ubiquitous computing (Weiser, 1996) and showing how this is leading to an ambient intelligence technology that features transparent, intelligent interfaces (Aarts, Harwig, Schuurmans, & Denning, 2001). Finally the development and deployment of an ambient role playing game prototype is described and future audiences and applications of this technology are suggested, with particular reference to possible requirements of ambient gaming women.