The convergence of smartphones, GPS, the Internet, and social networks has given rise to a playful, educational, and social media known as location-based and hybrid reality games. The essays in this book investigate this new phenomenon and provide a broad overview of the emerging field of location-aware mobile games, highlighting critical, social scientific, and design approaches to these types of games, and drawing attention to the social and cultural implications of mobile technologies in contemporary society. With a comprehensive approach that includes theory, design, and education, this edited volume is one of the first scholarly works to engage the emerging area of multi-user location-based mobile games and hybrid reality games. It is appropriate for undergraduate and graduate courses covering mobile phone or gaming culture, media history and educational technology, as well as researchers and the general public.
Featuring: Matt Adams, Wilfried Admiraal, Sanne Akkerman, Eva L. Baker, Shaun Cashman, Dimitris Charitos, Gregory K. W. K. Chung, Deanna P. Dannels, Girlie C. Delacruz, Michiel de Lange, Katerina Diamantaki, Fabien Girardin, Eric Gordon, Larissa Hjorth, Jantina Huizenga, Yoriko Inada, Maiko Kamata, Peter Kiefer, Petri Lankoski, Christian Licoppe, John Martin, Christian Matyas, Sebastian Matyas, Frans Mäyrä Hiroko Mitarai, Nicolas Nova, Ryan Patton, Christin Gulick Phelps, Rabindra Ratan, Charalampos Rizopoulos, Hannamari Saarenpää, Christoph Schlieder, Tom Söderlund, Robert Sweeny, Nikos Tsianos, Dmitri Williams, Li Xiong, and Henk van Zeijts.