View source for Geospatial Game Widgets

[[Category:Patterns]]
[[Category:Game Element Patterns]]
[[Category:Information Patterns]]
[[Category:Needs revision]]
[[Category:Patterns created on the Wiki]]
''Game elements that are located in the diegetic world but are not diegetically present.''

Not all game elements shown in relation to the game world of a game are actually part of that game world. They may instead be information about the game state but for various reasons placed in relation to things in the game world. Such game elements are called [[Geospatial Game Widgets]].

=== Examples ===
Games that include racing portions or modes, e.g. the [[Grand Theft Auto series]] and [[Mirror's Edge]], use [[Geospatial Game Widgets]] for the way points that players need to pass in order to follow the assign routes. [[Heavy Rain]] gives players game interface placed in the environment to show which parts of it can be examined for clues, while [[Dead Space]] points out the present of items that can be picked up by showing information about them as diegetic holograms in the items' immediate vicinity. While these can only be seen if the actual items can be seen, the [[Left 4 Dead Series]] puts glowing outlines around players' avatars and important items in the environment that can be seen through solid object so they can be located even if they are not directly in a player's line of sight. [[Portal 2]] does the same for the ''portals'' that player can place in the game.

[[Splinter Cell: Conviction]] in the [[Splinter Cell series]] projects information about the current mission a player has on walls in the game world, but does so without diegetically explain why.

The computer-based [[Civilization (video game) series|Civilization series]] can show how much food, gold, and productivity each area produces it worked.

[[World of Warcraft]] use mobile [[Geospatial Game Widgets]] to presents the name of players as free floating text above their avatars that follow the avatars as they move. The games also shows the health of various entities are bars floating above characters and monster; the [[Warcraft series]] and the [[Command and Conquer series]] do the same.  The two latter also use [[Geospatial Game Widgets]] in the form of circles or outlines to show which units have been selected, and the [[Sims series]] and [[Zombie Lane]] does the same to show which character is controlled. Besides the [[Geospatial Game Widgets]] already mentioned, [[World of Warcraft]] lets players places a set of different marker on enemies to coordinate their actions (see Bennerstedt 2008<ref name="Bennerstedt"/> for a detailed study of how players do this).

[[Geospatial Game Widgets]] can exist in [[:Category:Board Games|Board Games]] as well. Examples of games that make use of these to show goal destinations include [[Ricochet Robots]] and [[RoboRally]]. The [[:Category:Wargames|Wargame]] [[Advanced Squad Leader]] uses many token that are place on top of units to show specific statuses they may have, including being pinned down, stunned, demoralized, or having prepared for firing or having first fire advantage.

== Using the pattern ==
[[Geospatial Game Widgets]] are used to provide information to players at specific locations in [[Game Worlds]] and [[Levels]], so using them consist of choosing what information is to be shown and where to show it.

Showing [[Territories]] or where [[Goal Points]] exist are common examples of what [[Geospatial Game Widgets]] are used for, this since there may not be plausible ways to include this in the game's diegesis. Also common are using them to provide [[Traces]] such as check point in [[:Category:Racing Games|Racing Games]], which really can be seen as series of [[Goal Points]]. [[Clues]] may also make use of them to ensure that they are unlikely to be missed, potentially modifying games using a [[Detective Structure]].

[[Geospatial Game Widgets]] do not have to be their own independent game elements but can be closely tied to other game elements. One such example is to show the [[Health]] of [[Units]] directly above them or, as [[World of Warcraft]] does, show players' [[Handles]] hovering above their [[Avatars]]. The [[Left 4 Dead series]] has another version of tying [[Geospatial Game Widgets]] to [[Avatars]] - in these games the outlines of [[Avatars]] become glowing so that survivor players can notice each other through walls and other solid objects. More generally, [[Geospatial Game Widgets]] can show information related to the abstract attributes of [[Characters]] in direct proximity to [[Avatars]]. A common use of [[Geospatial Game Widgets]] in games with [[Units]] is to have an indicator that indicates which [[Units|Unit]] the player is currently controlling, i.e. indicate where the player's [[Focus Loci]] is located; examples of this can be found in the marker used in the [[Sims series]] (and [[Zombie Lane]]) and in the outlines used to indicate selects [[Units]] in real-time strategy games such as the [[Warcraft series]] and the [[Command and Conquer series]]. Besides [[Avatars]] and [[Units]], [[Pick-Ups]] and [[Power-Ups]] are likely candidates to be augmented with [[Geospatial Game Widgets]] (shown for example in [[Dead Space]]) to lessen the risk that players miss noticing their locations. In fact, given that [[Power-Ups]] are only weakly present in [[Game Worlds]] and that they may not fit in the diegesis, [[Geospatial Game Widgets]] can instantiate [[Power-Ups]].

There are some more specific types of [[Geospatial Game Widgets]]. [[Ghosts]] are [[Geospatial Game Widgets]] that show the gameplay of players in earlier game sessions while for [[:Category:Board Games|Board Games]], [[Bookkeeping Tokens]] can easily be used simply by placing them on the board. [[Warp Zones]] that are not [[Installations]] but rather ways for players to navigate [[Game Worlds]] are also examples of [[Geospatial Game Widgets]]. [[Reward Widgets]] are [[Geospatial Game Widgets]] created by making [[Rewards]] located in [[Game Worlds]] or [[Levels]] but without making them diegetically present.

=== Diegetic Aspects ===
[[Diegetic Consistency|Diegetic]] and [[Thematic Consistency]] is impossible to fully maintain in games with [[Geospatial Game Widgets]] since these are non-diegetic in their nature. This is especially true when they are no occluded by diegetic elements, as is the case for the outlines of [[Avatars]] and specific [[Pick-Ups]] in the [[Left 4 Dead Series]]. They can in some cases be diegetically explained if this includes explaining their insubstantiality, [[Dead Space]] does this by explaining the [[Geospatial Game Widgets]] are holograms.

=== Interface Aspects ===
As information providers, [[Geospatial Game Widgets]] are interface components. As such they are sometimes added as elements in conjunction to [[Props]] to allow a limited amount of interaction with these.

== Consequences ==
[[Geospatial Game Widgets]] are [[Game State Indicators]] that, as mentioned above, break both [[Diegetic Consistency|Diegetic]] and [[Thematic Consistency]] in games by introducing non-diegetic elements into [[Game Worlds]] or [[Levels]]. They can provide [[Spatial Engrossment]] better compared to other ways of providing information to players, e.g. [[HUD Interfaces]] and [[Secondary Interface Screens]], since locating the information in the [[Game Worlds]] does make players shift between spatial thinking and non-spatial thinking. Since they do provide players with information that can make gameplay easier, they can be considered working against [[Challenging Gameplay]] - games can easily become more challenging by removing the [[Geospatial Game Widgets]].

[[Geospatial Game Widgets]] are [[Landmarks]]. By being this, [[Geospatial Game Widgets]] can support [[Coordination]] in games with [[Cooperation]], especially when they bluntly ignore [[Diegetic Consistency]] to be visible through diegetic elements.

== Relations ==
=== Can Instantiate ===
[[Clues]], 
[[Game State Indicators]], 
[[Landmarks]], 
[[Power-Ups]], 
[[Spatial Engrossment]], 
[[Traces]]

==== with [[Cooperation]] ====
[[Coordination]]

==== with [[Rewards]] ====
[[Reward Widgets]]

=== Can Modulate ===
[[Avatars]], 
[[Characters]], 
[[Detective Structure]], 
[[Focus Loci]], 
[[Game Worlds]], 
[[Goal Points]], 
[[Handles]], 
[[Health]], 
[[Levels]], 
[[Pick-Ups]], 
[[Power-Ups]],
[[Props]], 
[[Territories]], 
[[Units]]

=== Can Be Instantiated By ===
[[Bookkeeping Tokens]], 
[[Ghosts]],
[[Reward Widgets]], 
[[Warp Zones]]


=== Can Be Modulated By ===
-

=== Possible Closure Effects ===
-

=== Potentially Conflicting With ===
[[Challenging Gameplay]], 
[[Diegetic Consistency]], 
[[Thematic Consistency]]

== History ==
New pattern created in this wiki, based on the concept of ''Geometric elements'' in Fagerholt & Lorentzon<ref name="Fagerholt"/>.

== References ==
<references>
<ref name="Fagerholt">Fagerholt, E. & Lorentzon, M. (2009). ''Beyond the HUD - User Interfaces for Increased Player Immersion in FPS Games''. Master of Science Thesis, Department of Computer Science and Engineering
Division of Interaction Design, Chalmers University of Technology.</ref>
<ref name="Bennerstedt">Bennerstedt, U. (2008). ''Sheeping, sapping and avatars-in-action: An in-screen perspective on online gameplay''. Proceedings of The [Player] Conference (pp. 28-52). Denmark, Copenhagen.</ref>
</references>

== Acknowledgements ==
Erik Fagerholt, Magnus Lorentzon