Publish at March 26 2018 Updated August 05 2025
The video game industry is over thirty years old and has undergone immense evolution. Like the computer industry, the transformations have been major. Graphically, we've gone from pixels to near photo-realism in some games. The way we play games has also changed with the times. We've gone from consoles or computers well connected to screens to portable consoles. In fact, in 2017, Nintendo offered the first hybrid console with its Switch, which can be both a home console and a handheld. Phones, meanwhile, have become small consoles in their own right.
Yet in recent years, two approaches are changing what gamers call gameplay. Firstly, virtual reality headsets, of course, but also pervasive gaming. These games are breaking Johan Huizinga's "magic circle", that space of gameplay well defined by the relationship to the controls and the screen. The best example of pervasive gaming is Pokémon Go, which made its mark on the zeitgeist in the summer of 2016. Suddenly, the Pokémon experience, until then constrained by the console, required players to walk around their city, to wander around in order to acquire beasts and items. It forced players to move around, and had two sides to its augmented reality filter. And if virtual reality is gradually taking over serious games, pervasive gaming is doing so even more.
The reality of pervasive games is that they are much more flexible and can have many more functions. They can be simple play experiences in a city with geocaching, for example. But they can also be an artistic showcase or a different approach to urban culture. In fact, the cultural world is increasingly interested in them.
With audiences looking for more and more interactivity everywhere, pervasive cultural gaming is an ideal mediation tool. It can be a means of participation in a time-limited event, or an uchronic experience that puts a given historical site into perspective. And these are just two examples. The possible uses are so varied that some people are working on a taxonomy of these games so as to be able to classify them and help in their design.
In fact, a pervasive game might even be more informative than playful. An insurance company or a government could use it to raise awareness of a problem via various augmented reality experiences. Consequently, this type of game seems predisposed to educational approaches.
This example of a Greek pervasive game experience aimed at primary school children gives an idea of the potential. They could have their first contact with archaeology by playing with mobile devices. Wandering around a classroom or part of the school grounds, they could unearth virtual artifacts. Then they'd return to their base camp, where they could play various mini-games to learn more about the finds and the archaeology profession.
In 2017, however, one of the interesting pervasive gaming in education projects was set up in Europe. Beaconing is a project that aims to introduce play modules that can be played both inside and outside the classroom. Middle and high school students(http://www.seriousgame.news/pervasive-games/) can walk around their city and access mini-games where they can learn about different sciences. They become agents who gain experience.
Teachers can create their own itinerary and propose it to their students or others. They can also consult the work of colleagues and suggest personalized sequences for their classes. The project is still in its early stages. 15 European cities are involved, as well as Singapore. We'll have to see how the project develops over the long term, but it's the seed of a clever use of pervasive educational gaming.
Illustration : Nikki Pugh on Foter.com / CC BY-NC-SA
References
Auneau, Laurent. "Pervasive Games Adapt To Serious Game Functions." Serious Game News. Last updated February 26, 2018. http://www.seriousgame.news/pervasive-games/.
Beaconing. Accessed March 23, 2018. http://beaconing.eu/.
De Waal, Martijn. "Some Notes on the Design of Pervasive Games." The Mobile City. Last updated May 20, 2010. http://themobilecity.nl/2010/05/20/some-notes-on-the-design-of-pervasive-games/.
Dufort, Diane. "Semantic Tools to Aid the Design of Pervasive Games for Cultural Mediation." Information and Communication Sciences - University of Franche-Comté. Last updated 2016. https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-01538605/document.
Dufort, Diane, Federico Tajariol, and Ioan Roxin. "Jeux Pervasifs Culturels : Conception D'un Outil Descriptif Et Taxonomique." Cairn.info. Last updated 2015. https://www.cairn.info/revue-questions-de-communication-2015-2-page-19.htm.
Georgiadi, Natalia, Eleni Kokkoli Papadopoulou, Giorgos Kordatos, Konstantinos Partheniadis, Manolis Sparakis, Panayiotis Koutsabasis, et al. "A Pervasive Role-Playing Game for Introducing Elementary School Students to Archaeology." ResearchGate. Last updated September 5, 2016. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/307628908_A_Pervasive_Role-Playing_Game_for_Introducing_Elementary_School_Students_to_Archaeology.
Schmizzi, Ugo. "The Body, Transitional Area Of Experience At The Heart Of Pervasive Games." Influencia. Last updated August 30, 2016. http://www.influencia.net/fr/actualites/art-culture,tendances,corps-aire-transitionnelle-experience-jeux-pervasifs,6597.html.
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