Ubiquitous Gameplay
Gameplay which is possible at most times and in most locations and without requiring significant adjustments to these locations.
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Contents
Examples
Computer Games can support Ubiquitous Gameplay if the devices are small enough to carry around easily. Among the first such devices were the Game & Watch games and these have been followed by many other types, e.g. the Nintendo GameBoy series, the Nintendo DS series, and the PlayStation Portable series, and most modern mobile phone (e.g. the iPhone) are gaming platforms with large ranges of games available. It should however be noted that not all, and even very few games actually, support Ubiquitous Gameplay since they require constant attention on what is happening on the game screens or do not allow game pauses. The games that do start to support Ubiquitous Gameplay when placed on mobile gaming platforms therefore tend to be Puzzle Games such as Angry Birds and Sokoban or Turn-Based Games such as the Advance Wars series.
20 questions
Assassin
Dancing Dervishes
Using the pattern
There are two main issues to making it possible to take part of the gameplay of a game without limiting it to specific locations or setups. One concerns how to handle the presence or lack of presences of other players and the other concerns how to handle the need for technological platforms.
While the easiest way to
One is to avoid the use of technology and the other is to make use of mobile technology to enable this.
Another trichotomy, based on designers' intent to create games for exploratory, disruptive or commercial purposes, divide these games into ubicomp games, pervasive games, and ubiquitous games[1]). As this other trichotomy shows, Ubiquitous Gameplay shared and has overlapping characteristics with other classifications of gameplay, e.g. Alternate Reality Gameplay and Pervasive Gameplay, and game designers using one may benefit from consulting all of these.
Extra-Game Input
Extra-Game Consequences
Diegetic Aspects
Interface Aspects
Narrative Aspects
Consequences
Although not all Ubiquitous Gameplay is intended to be casual, games including the pattern do help meet the requirement of Casual Gameplay since they make lower the thresholds for beginning to play.
Even if Ubiquitous Gameplay can be based around Extra-Game Input and Consequences, it can be more or less impossible to avoid unexpected types of Extra-Game Input and Consequences. This means that games with Ubiquitous Gameplay should be treated as instantiating these patterns in addition to being able to be modified by them.
Relations
Can Instantiate
Casual Gameplay, Extra-Game Consequences, Extra-Game Input, Real World Gameplay Spaces
Can Modulate
Can Be Instantiated By
Can Be Modulated By
Extra-Game Consequences, Extra-Game Input
Possible Closure Effects
Potentially Conflicting With
History
New pattern created in this wiki.
References
- ↑ McGonigal, J. (2006). This Might Be a Game: Ubiquitous Play and Performance at the Turn of the Twenty-First Century. PhD thesis in performance studies, University of California.
Acknowledgements
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