tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/pokemon-go-29173/articlesPokemon Go – The Conversation2021-07-22T12:27:39Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1638512021-07-22T12:27:39Z2021-07-22T12:27:39ZScreentime can make you feel sick – here are ways to manage cybersickness<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411955/original/file-20210719-15-1jltvrb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=11%2C5%2C3982%2C3988&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Your devices can trigger symptoms similar to motion sickness.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/illustration/man-and-modern-technology-communication-royalty-free-illustration/1063800132">Bakal/Stock via Getty Images Plus</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Do you ever feel like the light of your computer screen is burrowing into your eyes and making your head pulse? Or feel dizzy or nauseous after looking at your phone? While you might think these sensations are just <a href="https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjophth-2018-000146">eye strain</a> or fatigue from looking at your screen for too long, they’re actually symptoms of a condition called <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F107118139704100292">cybersickness</a>.</p>
<p>These issues may seem like a necessary evil with the rise of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10664-021-09945-9">work from home</a>, remote learning and days spent endlessly scrolling online. But I can assure you as a <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Angelica-Jasper">researcher in human computer interaction specializing in cybersickness</a> that there are ways to anticipate and avoid feeling sick from your screens.</p>
<h2>What is cybersickness?</h2>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F107118139704100292">Cybersickness</a> refers to a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327108ijap0303_3">cluster of symptoms</a> that occur in the absence of physical motion, similar to motion sickness. These symptoms fall into three categories: nausea, <a href="https://www.nature.com/subjects/oculomotor-system">oculomotor</a> issues and general disorientation. Oculomotor symptoms, like eye strain, fatigue and headaches, involve overworking the nerve that controls eye movement. Disorientation can manifest as dizziness and vertigo. And several cybersickness symptoms, such as difficulty concentrating and blurred vision, overlap categories. These issues can persist for hours and affect sleep quality. </p>
<p>People can experience symptoms of cybersickness through everyday devices like computers, phones and TV. For instance, Apple released a <a href="https://www.macworld.com/article/221315/inside-the-technology-behind-ios-7s-parallax-effect.html">parallax effect on iPhone lock screens</a> in 2013 that made the background image seem like it floated or shifted when a user moved their phone around, which many people found extremely uncomfortable. As it turns out, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1101/488817">this was because it triggered cybersickness symptoms</a>. <a href="https://xd.adobe.com/ideas/principles/web-design/best-practices-for-parallax-websites/">Parallax scrolling</a> on websites, where a background image remains static while foreground content moves as you scroll, can also elicit these symptoms. </p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/uTIzW5fZn_4?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The parallax effect, commonly deployed in many websites and games to give an illusion of depth, can lead to cybersickness symptoms.</span></figcaption>
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<p>There isn’t total agreement among researchers about why people experience cybersickness. One prevailing idea, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-59342-1">sensory conflict theory</a>, hypothesizes that it’s from a mismatch of information perceived by the parts of the body that regulate vision and balance. Your eyes receive information that tells them you’re moving even though your body isn’t. Everyday technology design can trigger this conflict between visual perception and physical experience.</p>
<h2>Cybersickness in virtual and augmented reality</h2>
<p>Cybersickness symptoms tend to be more intense with <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/wired-guide-to-virtual-reality/">virtual reality</a> and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-augmented-reality">augmented reality</a>.</p>
<p>VR refers to technology that entirely blocks your view of the real world and replaces it with an immersive, artificial environment. It’s widely commercially available through popular gaming platforms like Facebook’s Oculus devices and Sony PlayStation VR. VR can result in <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2020.00096">severe levels of nausea</a> that increase with duration of use. This can make certain applications and games unusable for many individuals. </p>
<p>AR, on the other hand, overlays a simulated environment onto the real world. These could include head-mounted devices that still allow you to see what’s in front of you or something like <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2020/5/26/21269862/niantic-pokemon-go-reality-blending-ar-features-release-update">Pokémon Go</a> on your phone or tablet. AR tends toward <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/frvir.2020.602954">more severe oculomotor strain</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411946/original/file-20210719-13-ykmglo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Hand holding up phone playing Pokémon Go" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411946/original/file-20210719-13-ykmglo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411946/original/file-20210719-13-ykmglo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411946/original/file-20210719-13-ykmglo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411946/original/file-20210719-13-ykmglo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411946/original/file-20210719-13-ykmglo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411946/original/file-20210719-13-ykmglo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411946/original/file-20210719-13-ykmglo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">AR games, like Pokémon Go, can cause oculomotor symptoms like eye strain, fatigue and headaches.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/Am1io6KusFM">David Grandmougin/Unsplash</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Even if you haven’t used VR or AR devices before, chances are you will <a href="https://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/5240209/extended-reality-xr-market-by-component">within the next 10 years</a>. A rise in the popularity of AR and VR use will likely trigger a rise in cybersickness symptoms. Market research firm Research and Markets estimates that adoption of these technologies for work, education and entertainment may <a href="https://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/5240209/extended-reality-xr-market-by-component">grow over 60% and reach over US$900 billion by 2027</a>.</p>
<h2>Cybersickness symptoms could be dangerous</h2>
<p>While cybersickness symptoms may initially appear benign, they can have enduring effects <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0018720811428734">lasting up to 24 hours after device use</a>. This may not seem like a big deal at first. But these lingering symptoms could affect your ability to function in ways that could prove dangerous.</p>
<p>For instance, symptoms like severe headache, eye strain or dizziness could affect your coordination and attention. If these side effects persist while you’re operating a vehicle, it could lead to a car accident. It’s unclear whether the user, software company or some other party would be <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2017/03/31/tort-lawsuits-against-vrar-companies-when-users-physically-injure-outsiders/">responsible</a> for <a href="https://www.lawtechnologytoday.org/2021/01/what-are-the-harmful-effects-of-virtual-reality/">injuries</a> potentially caused by device use and <a href="https://pipself.blogs.pace.edu/2017/02/25/foreseeable-lawsuits-for-virtual-reality/">cybersickness symptoms</a>.</p>
<p>Not much is currently known about how chronic cybersickness affects daily life. Just as there is extreme variability on who is more prone to motion sickness, with some up to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-014-4008-8">10,000 times more at risk</a>, some people may be more prone to cybersickness than others. Evidence suggests that <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/frvir.2020.582108">women</a>, those who <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/frvir.2020.582108">don’t play video games often</a> and people with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1097/00005537-200403000-00036">poor balance</a> may experience more severe cybersickness.</p>
<h2>Dealing with cybersickness symptoms</h2>
<p>If you are struggling with cybersickness symptoms because you’re using your computer or phone for longer periods, there are ways to help relieve the discomfort. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-079X.2006.00332.x">Blue light glasses</a> are designed to block out some of the blue light waves emitted by your device screen that can lead to eye strain and sleep irregularities. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/cxo.12798">Zooming in on a screen or using larger font sizes</a> may also help reduce eye strain and make daily work more sustainable. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411962/original/file-20210719-19-1cf3jll.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Person wearing extended reality headset in a library." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411962/original/file-20210719-19-1cf3jll.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/411962/original/file-20210719-19-1cf3jll.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411962/original/file-20210719-19-1cf3jll.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411962/original/file-20210719-19-1cf3jll.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411962/original/file-20210719-19-1cf3jll.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411962/original/file-20210719-19-1cf3jll.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/411962/original/file-20210719-19-1cf3jll.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">More people may begin to experience cybersickness symptoms as VR and AR devices become more common in everyday use.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/AplbmIMHwAE">stem.T4L/Unsplash</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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<p>If you’re interested in trying VR and AR applications but are prone to motion sickness, warning indicators, like <a href="https://developer.oculus.com/policy/store-policies/">Oculus Comfort Ratings</a>, can help you know what to expect. Always make sure to <a href="https://www.automate.org/tech-papers/enabling-display-measurement-within-augmented-and-virtual-reality-headsets">visually calibrate devices</a> so your eyes are as comfortable as possible, and use devices only in <a href="https://www.classvr.com/health-and-safety/">open spaces</a> to minimize the risk of injury if you get dizzy and lose your balance. <a href="https://www.classvr.com/health-and-safety/">Take breaks</a> if you start to feel any discomfort.</p>
<h2>Using new technology safely</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10664-021-09945-9">work-from-home movement</a> has grown as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many people have replaced 9-to-5’s and commutes with sweatpants, bedhead and Zoom meetings. Though the convenience is undeniable, it has also come with an increasing awareness of how difficult it can be to stare at a screen for 40-plus hours a week.</p>
<p>But don’t let cybersickness get you down. As researchers continue to find ways to mitigate and prevent cybersickness across all devices, people may one day be able to enjoy advancements in innovative technologies without feeling dizzy.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/163851/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Angelica Jasper works for Design Interactive, Inc. as a Research Associate. </span></em></p>If you ever felt nauseous, fatigued or disoriented after using your phone or computer, you may be experiencing a condition similar to motion sickness.Angelica Jasper, PhD, PhD Candidate in Human Computer Interaction, Iowa State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1417132020-06-30T15:11:40Z2020-06-30T15:11:40ZPunchdrunk: new venture with Pokemon Go designer offers hope for post-pandemic theatre<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/344778/original/file-20200630-103661-1lmvnzt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3866%2C2585&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Punchdrunk's production of The Masque of the Red Death. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photography by Stephen Dobbie</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Pubs and cinemas may be opening in the UK, but the performing arts sector remains languishing under lockdown and live performance continues to be prohibited. The government’s roadmap, published at the end of June, has <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-53182634">failed to excite</a>, offering nothing in the way of certainty or, more importantly, money. </p>
<p>But, at the same time, some news has given the sector a vision of one alternative future. Punchdrunk, the pioneering immersive theatre company, is to form a partnership with Niantic – the technology innovators behind the global success of Pokemon Go. This collaboration has the potential to deliver intimate immersive experiences on a hitherto unrealised or unobtainable global scale.</p>
<p>The UK leads the way in immersive theatre – Punchdrunk has already developed an international brand with sell-out New York performances of its Macbeth adaptation, <a href="https://www.punchdrunk.org.uk/project/sleep-no-more/">Sleep No More</a>. The show has also been adapted for the Chinese market and has played to packed theatres that have so far exceeded <a href="https://www.theatre-news.com/news/UK/43017/New-production-of-Punchdrunk-s-Sleep-No-More-opens-in-Shanghai">all other national theatre box office records</a>.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/344780/original/file-20200630-103661-8mberg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/344780/original/file-20200630-103661-8mberg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/344780/original/file-20200630-103661-8mberg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344780/original/file-20200630-103661-8mberg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344780/original/file-20200630-103661-8mberg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344780/original/file-20200630-103661-8mberg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344780/original/file-20200630-103661-8mberg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344780/original/file-20200630-103661-8mberg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sleep No More Shanghai.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Yuan Studio</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>This is a UK/US partnership that will pique some considerable financial interest across the sector. The San Francisco-based augmented reality app design company Niantic is one of the pre-eminent players in its field with a valuation of <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/dbloom/2019/01/17/niantic-valuation-245-million-series-c-4-billion-pokemon-go/#c47ec549fd67">US$4 billion in January 2019</a> (£3.2 billion) – up from US$150 million (£120 million) in 2016. Along with the hugely successful Pokemon Go, its portfolio of games includes a Harry Potter game – <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/76a8ae4c-75b6-11ea-90ce-5fb6c07a27f2">Wizards Unite</a>.</p>
<h2>New theatre experiences</h2>
<p>Alongside the potential economic value of this partnership, the new modes of performance and experience design that may emerge are of considerable interest – and may change the way theatre is consumed forever in the wake of the pandemic.</p>
<p>The UK is a recognised leader in the emergent immersive sector. This is a sector that includes games, music, immersive theatre, live cinema, virtual reality and a very wide range of other products and services that are formed through the intersection of new technologies that support audience participation and engagement. </p>
<p>The sector was designated as a top priority for investment and development in 2018 when the the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/creative-industries-sector-deal-launched">government announced £150m in funding</a> to stimulate innovation in the creative industries.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/secret-immersive-cinema-is-likely-to-change-the-future-of-film-50034">Secret, immersive cinema is likely to change the future of film</a>
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<p>The key ambition in this investment is to generate new high-value, globally appealing content that will support the UK’s creative sector through the uncertainties of Brexit. </p>
<p>Punchdrunk creates cinematic immersive theatrical performances that take place in specific physical locations. These are spaces that the audience can explore and feel but they are nonetheless physical bounded spaces.</p>
<p>The details of the new venture are yet to be revealed but partnering with AR specialists Niantic ignites the possibility of recreating the intensity of these performances in urban space. Or, as befits a post-pandemic world – we might witness these performances from the safety of our own homes, physically distant but intimately connected to both the performers, the performance and the community of participants.</p>
<h2>Innovative collaborations</h2>
<p>Over the past five years there have been <a href="https://refractory-journal.com/30-atkinson-kennedy/">numerous cross-sector collaborations</a> where technology companies have partnered with theatre and performance arts institutions to create next-generation performance experiences.</p>
<p>Take the <a href="https://www.rsc.org.uk/press/releases/rsc-joins-forces-with-intel-and-the-imaginarium-studios#:%7E:text=Today%20the%20Royal%20Shakespeare%20Company,capture%20company%2C%20The%20Imaginarium%20Studios.">landmark collaboration</a> in 2016 between the Royal Shakespeare Company, Intel and The Imaginarium Studios (a performance capture studio set up by actor Andy Serkis). They collaborated on Shakespeare’s The Tempest to create the world’s first live motion-capture performance.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/344782/original/file-20200630-103668-1epahir.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/344782/original/file-20200630-103668-1epahir.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344782/original/file-20200630-103668-1epahir.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344782/original/file-20200630-103668-1epahir.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344782/original/file-20200630-103668-1epahir.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344782/original/file-20200630-103668-1epahir.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344782/original/file-20200630-103668-1epahir.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mark Quartley and Simon Russell Beale, recounting Ariel’s imprisonment in The Royal Shakespeare production of The Tempest.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photograph by Topher McGrillis</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>By taking real-time information from a motion-capture suit and then mapping it onto a digital avatar of the character of Ariel, audiences experienced a <a href="https://www.rsc.org.uk/the-tempest/gregory-doran-2016-production">magical on-stage holographic projection</a>. The technology was developed using Epic Games’ Unreal Engine.</p>
<p>In the same year, <a href="https://www.ballet.org.uk/blog-detail/introducing-new-virtual-reality-film-inspired-akram-khans-giselle/">Giselle VR</a>, a short <a href="http://vision3.tv/vr-ar/giselle">360-degree film</a>, accessible via the Sky VR app was made through a partnership between Factory 42, English National Ballet and Sky VR. It presented an aesthetic convergence of dance, film and VFX, and an entirely new way for audiences to experience ballet as the performance takes place around them.</p>
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<p>Both projects sought to engage and expand their audiences in new ways using emergent technologies. They also inadvertently speak to our current context in their delivery of a performance both remotely and literally anywhere while carefully at a distance. </p>
<p>There is huge potential for these technologies to be adopted in a post COVID reality. The new partnership between Punchdrunk and Niantic takes this potential a step further. Combining the imaginative creativity and theatrical talents of Punchdrunk with the pervasive and affordable mobile technologies upon which Pokemon Go depends offers an incredibly exciting potential for post-COVID experience. </p>
<p>We can imagine a future where audiences are individually distanced while intimately immersed in intensive performances and simultaneously connected to one another on a global scale.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/141713/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Helen W. Kennedy has received funding from AHRC/EPSRC, Innovate UK, Arts Council England , Creative Europe and SSHRCC</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sarah Atkinson has received funding from AHRC/EPSRC, Innovate UK and SSHRC.</span></em></p>The performing arts sector will need to change after the pandemic. This new venture is a glimpse of how it might look.Helen W. Kennedy, Professor of Creative and Cultural Industries, University of NottinghamSarah Atkinson, Professor of Screen Media, King's College LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1406362020-06-17T05:07:48Z2020-06-17T05:07:48ZPokémon Go wants to make 3D scans of the whole world for ‘planet-scale augmented reality experiences’. Is that good?<p>In 2016, the mobile game Pokémon Go sent hundreds of millions of players wandering the streets in search of virtual monsters. In the process it helped popularise augmented reality (AR) technology, which overlays computer-generated imagery on real-world environments.</p>
<p>Now Pokémon Go is set to take AR to a new level. A new feature within the game will encourage players to create and upload 3D scans of real-world locations. </p>
<p>The game’s developer Niantic also just acquired the AR maps start-up 6D.ai for an undisclosed sum. Chief executive Jon Hanke <a href="https://nianticlabs.com/blog/6d/">announced</a> the companies’ ambitions:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Together, we’re building a dynamic, 3D map of the world so we can enable new kinds of planet-scale AR experiences.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>And it’s not just Niantic. In February, Facebook <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2020/02/08/scapebook/">acquired Scape Technologies</a>, an AR start-up that was creating a 3D map of the entire world, and Microsoft’s Minecraft Earth AR mobile game touts the same kind of planet-scale AR play.</p>
<p>These scans, and this type of data collection, will likely affect all of us in the near future.</p>
<h2>Turning data collection into a game</h2>
<p>One reason for Niantic’s huge success has been how it uses digital games to collect data about the world. </p>
<p>Niantic was initially formed as <a href="https://www.kotaku.com.au/2019/12/the-creators-of-pokemon-go-mapped-the-world-now-theyre-mapping-you/">Keyhole Inc by John Hanke</a> in 2001 with backing from the CIA’s tech venture capital firm, In-Q-Tel. The company developed mapping technologies used by the US military in the early 2000s. </p>
<p>Keyhole Inc was acquired by Google in 2004, and was instrumental the development of Google Maps. In 2010, Keyhole was rebranded as Niantic and focused on games. It stayed part of Google until 2015, when it became an independent company again.</p>
<p>In 2012 Niantic launched a game called Ingress, which saw players photograph and upload millions of locations of interest that became “portals” within the game.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/342077/original/file-20200616-23221-14g3s0x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/342077/original/file-20200616-23221-14g3s0x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=302&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/342077/original/file-20200616-23221-14g3s0x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=302&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/342077/original/file-20200616-23221-14g3s0x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=302&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/342077/original/file-20200616-23221-14g3s0x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=379&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/342077/original/file-20200616-23221-14g3s0x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=379&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/342077/original/file-20200616-23221-14g3s0x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=379&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Screenshots of the Ingress Portal Scan Feature, via Niantic.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Brian/Niantic</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These portals became the underlying infrastructure that powers Pokémon Go and other games, but just as valuable was the data collected about how players moved around the world while playing. </p>
<p>Niantic’s latest game, Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, collects each player’s location <a href="https://www.kotaku.com.au/2019/12/the-creators-of-pokemon-go-mapped-the-world-now-theyre-mapping-you/">every five seconds or so</a>, which is often enough to recognise individual behaviour patterns and detect intimate details of their life. </p>
<p>Tech companies and investors think this kind of data is immensely valuable. In December 2019, Niantic raised funds at a valuation of <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/01/04/pokemon-go-maker-niantic-raises-190-million.html">USD$3.9 billion</a>.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-surveillance-capitalism-and-how-does-it-shape-our-economy-119158">Explainer: what is surveillance capitalism and how does it shape our economy?</a>
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<h2>The future of reality is augmented</h2>
<p>The 3D scans Pokémon Go players are collecting are intended to create new possibilities in the game, but they will also give Niantic’s platform for AR developers <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2020/05/26/niantic-to-begin-collecting-3d-visual-data-from-pokemon-go-players/">an advantage over competitors</a>.</p>
<p>Having a system that can recognise 3D environments around the world makes it easier for developers to make shared AR experiences and environments that “exist” even when the user logs off. </p>
<p>Apple, Facebook, Microsoft and Google are all developing AR products that are likely to depend on a technique called <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simultaneous_localization_and_mapping">simultaneous localisation and mapping or SLAM</a> to continuously scan – and collect data about – the users’s physical environment.</p>
<p>The next iPhone is <a href="https://www.tomsguide.com/news/iphone-12-lidar-camera-leaked-but-theres-a-catch">rumored</a> to have a powerful LiDAR scanner to create more detailed 3D scans, and better support Apple’s AR ecosystem.</p>
<p>Facebook acquired the virtual reality (VR) company Oculus in 2014 for USD$2.3 billion, and Mark Zuckerberg frames success with VR as being key to the company’s AR ambitions.</p>
<p>This is well exemplified in LiveMaps, a technology demonstrated by Facebook’s Andrew Bosworth at the 2016 Oculus Connect developer conference.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/JTa8zn0RNVM?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Facebook’s LiveMaps tech demo depicts the types of experiences that could be possible with ubiquitous AR, but also hints at the amount of data technology companies will need to hold about our homes and lives to function.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Any system like LiveMaps will demand constant collection of finely detailed data about the users’ home and everything in it: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>AR glasses will scan the surroundings to create a live dynamic index amplified by crowd-sourced data, allowing the maps to recognise when things have changed and update automatically.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>The implications of augmented reality</h2>
<p>What will pervasive augmented reality mean? Beyond relatively benign possibilities such as more targeted advertisements, we need to think critically about the consequences of technologies like these before they are firmly entrenched.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/YJg02ivYzSs?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Keiichi Matsuda’s short film Hyper-Reality envisions an augmented reality future.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As the Australian futurist Mark Pesce has <a href="https://meanjin.com.au/essays/the-last-days-of-reality/">argued</a>;</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“by virtue of the way they operate, augmented reality systems must simultaneously act as very sophisticated surveillance systems”.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Ever-growing unregulated collection of spatial data across the globe has the potential to create powerful systems of surveillance, control, and influence. We have examined this potential in detail in a recent report on the <a href="https://ses.library.usyd.edu.au/handle/2123/22485">ethical implications of emerging mixed reality technologies</a>. </p>
<h2>Better to prevent than to cure</h2>
<p>Like technologies such as facial recognition, granular spatial data might be used in order to dominate, oppress and discipline populations, and particularly the most marginalised in society. As awareness grows of the problems with facial recognition, companies such as IBM and Amazon have recently begun to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/06/11/ibm-facial-recognition/">distance</a> themselves from the technology.</p>
<p>We are also already seeing the rapid growth of an AR industry which doesn’t (at least solely) sell to the commercial market, instead selling to workplaces, law enforcement, security agencies and the military. </p>
<p>As the <a href="https://theconversation.com/we-need-to-talk-about-the-data-we-give-freely-of-ourselves-online-and-why-its-useful-93734">Cambridge Analytica scandal showed</a>, the dangerous impact of emerging technologies is often only realised once they have done some damage.</p>
<p>If what we share on social media can be used to influence elections, what might the data about the contents of our home be used for? Or everything we encounter in a given day? </p>
<p>Let’s take these technologies for what they really are: not just for entertainment, but apparatuses for extracting data and accumulating power and profit.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-need-to-talk-about-the-data-we-give-freely-of-ourselves-online-and-why-its-useful-93734">We need to talk about the data we give freely of ourselves online and why it's useful</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/140636/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Tech companies have big plans for augmented reality, but all of them involve huge amounts of surveillance of our everyday lives.Marcus Carter, Senior Lecturer in Digital Cultures, SOAR Fellow., University of SydneyBen Egliston, Research associate in Media and Communications, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1204662019-12-09T14:53:18Z2019-12-09T14:53:18ZWhy freemium video games should embrace players who want to play for free<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/305841/original/file-20191209-90592-16865zz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">'Die! Die! Die!'</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/close-asian-young-woman-play-game-1565288152?src=09cb7ab4-f272-406a-988b-b478d623f6d3-1-3&studio=1">Asylsun</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The video games industry <a href="https://lpesports.com/e-sports-news/the-video-games-industry-is-bigger-than-hollywood">is worth</a> more than movies and music combined, with more than <a href="https://www.wepc.com/news/video-game-statistics/">2.5 billion players</a> around the world. Freemium games have driven much of the success, ever since titles like <a href="https://www.angrybirds.com/">Angry Birds</a>, <a href="https://www.zynga.com/games/farmville/">Farmville</a> and <a href="https://king.com/game/candycrush">Candy Crush</a> emerged in the late 2000s and early 2010s. </p>
<p>Many of us will be familiar with the freemium business model: free but restricted access to games that are often simple, or “casual” as they are <a href="https://www.canyon-news.com/why-casual-gaming-has-taken-hold-worldwide/83563">sometimes known</a>. A minority of players pay for things like speeding up their progression, altering a character’s appearance or often just to remove adverts; while the majority just play for free. </p>
<p>Titles like <a href="https://www.pokemongo.com/en-gb/">Pokémon GO</a>, <a href="https://www.epicgames.com/fortnite/en-US/home">Fortnite</a> and <a href="https://www.ea.com/games/apex-legends">Apex Legends</a> have all been huge freemium successes in recent years, monetising their player base to an impressive scale. Freemium and advertising-funded games <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2019/01/18/free-to-play-games-rule-the-entertainment-world-with-88-billion-in-revenue/">reportedly generated</a> US$88 billion (£67 billion) of the whole gaming industry’s US$110 billion in 2018, with more than half coming from Asia. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/305846/original/file-20191209-90588-xh4441.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/305846/original/file-20191209-90588-xh4441.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/305846/original/file-20191209-90588-xh4441.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/305846/original/file-20191209-90588-xh4441.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/305846/original/file-20191209-90588-xh4441.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/305846/original/file-20191209-90588-xh4441.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/305846/original/file-20191209-90588-xh4441.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/305846/original/file-20191209-90588-xh4441.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">‘Gotta catch 'em all.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/montreal-canada-july-14-pokemon-go-452863348">dennizn</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Yet for every legendary success in this market, many others disappear without trace. Players often move on to new games quickly, perhaps due to these games’ simplicity; or perhaps because they feel little commitment from never having paid in the first place. Freemium games usually need to make their money fast: the average title <a href="https://www.androidauthority.com/freemium-games-make-70-percent-revenue-first-48-hours-681770/">generates</a> 75% of revenues in its first three days. </p>
<p>Developers design games to keep people playing for as long as possible, and to maximise the numbers who switch from playing for free – “conversion rates” in the industry jargon. This has contributed to <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-49661870">fears that</a> games are addictive, leading experts to coin the phrase “<a href="https://theconversation.com/could-playing-fortnite-lead-to-video-game-addiction-the-world-health-organisation-says-yes-but-others-disagree-98458">gaming disorder</a>”. The UK <a href="https://www.england.nhs.uk/2019/10/children-treated-for-computer-gaming-addiction-under-nhs-long-term-plan/">has just opened</a> its first clinic for children with gaming addictions, for instance. </p>
<p>Freemium games have a sufficiently bad name that some commentators are <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2019/3/27/18284404/apple-arcade-free-to-play-games-paid-premium-subscription-comparison">eagerly anticipating</a> their demise at the hands of <a href="https://www.apple.com/uk/apple-arcade/">Apple Arcade</a> and <a href="https://store.google.com/gb/product/stadia">Google Stadia</a>, new Netflix-style subscription services where you can play premium games without a console. Unquestionably these services are a new challenge for freemium games. One possible response is for more developers to move away from the quick-buck approach towards creating games to attract communities for the long term. This has been the subject of our research – and it has produced some unexpected results. </p>
<h2>Danish dice</h2>
<p>We <a href="https://research.aston.ac.uk/en/publications/overcoming-the-monetization-challenge-in-freemium-online-games">researched</a> a games community in Denmark devoted to traditional card and dice games that had kept tens of thousands of players active for over a decade. Almost all players were playing for free, while a minority paid for additional features like VIP access to enable them to organise tournaments, among other things. Originally owned by a Danish television channel, the platform had been acquired by an online software developer that wanted to make more money from the community, for instance with games where people paid to play for cash prizes. </p>
<p>We interviewed gamers in the community and found a clear distinction between “social players” and “achievers”. Social players were mainly interested in maintaining friendships and friendly rivalries within the community. The achievers were more interested in competition and gaining recognition. Other researchers have made a <a href="http://mud.co.uk/richard/hcds.htm">similar distinction</a> in this area. In general, social players may pay for certain services within a freemium game, but <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0957417410015058">less so</a> than achievers. </p>
<p>In our Danish gaming community, social players <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/275960080_Why_Can't_We_All_Get_Along_A_Study_of_Hygge_and_Janteloven_in_a_Danish_Social-Casual_Games_Community">would often</a> use the platform to discuss things happening to them in the real world, and would even meet up offline for events where they would wear badges with their in-game names. They didn’t like attempts by the new owner to monetise their participation. </p>
<p>Achievers contributed less to the social environment, but still valued the community, since they saw their achievement as more meaningful when it felt like they were defeating real people, or reaching the top of a more competitive leader board. They played more, and were even motivated to pay more, when they felt a strong connection with the player community. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, the platform owner did not recognise this distinction between different types of players. It tried to make more money from everyone, and when it was clear that many players were not willing, it closed the platform down. Had the owner sought instead to only make more money from the achievers, and recognised the value of the free players in facilitating this, the platform would probably have remained viable. </p>
<h2>Lessons to learn</h2>
<p>Unlike business models that rely on every customer paying a small amount, freemium game revenues usually come from <a href="https://www.swrve.com/weblog/its-here-the-swrve-monetization-report-2019">a fraction</a> of players. Players can be <a href="https://www.gamesbrief.com/2011/11/whales-dolphins-and-minnows-the-beating-heart-of-a-free-to-play-game/">divided</a> into whales, dolphins and minnows. Whales usually represent less than 10% of players, but contribute more than 50% of revenue. Minnows make up more than 50% of players, but spend little or nothing, while dolphins sit somewhere in between.</p>
<p>While it is natural for a business to focus on the whales, our conclusion is that minnows and dolphins can make an equally important contribution. You will probably attract more whales and keep them engaged for longer if you aim to maximise your dolphins and minnows. They’re often the social players who will make others feel welcome, while performing other useful roles like moderating chatrooms to monitor troublemakers. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/305847/original/file-20191209-90574-16anj4p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/305847/original/file-20191209-90574-16anj4p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/305847/original/file-20191209-90574-16anj4p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=474&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/305847/original/file-20191209-90574-16anj4p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=474&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/305847/original/file-20191209-90574-16anj4p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=474&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/305847/original/file-20191209-90574-16anj4p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=595&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/305847/original/file-20191209-90574-16anj4p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=595&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/305847/original/file-20191209-90574-16anj4p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=595&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Fish-mash.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/montreal-canada-july-14-pokemon-go-452863348">dandesign86</a></span>
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<p>Though we were looking at a freemium game designed for the long term, these insights may be transferable to games with a shorter turnaround. At the very least, if developers avoid annoying free players by trying too hard to convert them into paying players, it might help build the critical mass to make the game more attractive to achievers. </p>
<p>The task for a freemium games provider should be to recognise and reward the efforts of non-monetary contributors, while identifying those “achievers” who benefit and are also willing to pay. That could be the route to generating revenues year after year, building a freemium model that will be sustainable when all those “quick-buck” games have become ancient history.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/120466/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ahmad Beltagui received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration under Grant Agreement No. 251383. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marina Candi received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration under Grant Agreement No. 251383. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Thomas Schmidt received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration under Grant Agreement No. 251383</span></em></p>Apple Arcade and Google Stadia may threaten a sector that spawned the likes of Farmville and Angry Birds. Developers can build better communities in response.Ahmad Beltagui, Lecturer in Project and Operations Managment, Aston UniversityMarina Candi, Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, The University of EdinburghThomas Schmidt, Assistant Professor, Centre for Health Informatics and Technology, University of Southern DenmarkLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1193892019-07-01T19:38:46Z2019-07-01T19:38:46ZMeet Sofia: a 67-year-old widow who uses Pokémon Go to reconnect with her city<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281313/original/file-20190626-76743-otm06a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=13%2C20%2C4587%2C3042&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Social workers recommend Pokémon Go in Spain to enhance exercise and social inclusion.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Over the first weeks of July 2016, a strange phenomenon started to unfold in many parts of the world. A mobile game went viral. Streets in Barcelona, Melbourne, Singapore and New York began to fill with hordes digital wayfaring as part of the augmented reality (AR) game, Pokémon Go. </p>
<p>The game popularised the digital overlay technique of AR, in which real-time wayfaring could be converged with digital play.</p>
<p>In its hey-day, Pokémon Go searches <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/pokemon-go-porn-pornography-google-netherlands-uk-canada-a7134136.html">surpassed porn</a> on the internet. Then, it became mundane media – and this is when it became really interesting.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/pokemon-go-is-not-dead-it-has-5m-loyal-players-and-its-changing-peoples-lives-104095">Pokémon Go is not dead, it has 5m loyal players and it's changing people's lives</a>
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<p>Meet the 67-year-old nurse Sofia, who lives in Badalona in Spain. After losing her husband to cancer a decade ago, Sofia initially found it hard to fight the grief and depression. Her daughters and grandchildren helped her in this transition. </p>
<p>Sofia is especially close to her seven-year-old grandson, Diego. They do many activities together, constantly sharing intergenerational skills. It was Diego who first introduced Sofia to Pokémon Go.</p>
<p>As they wandered the streets of Badalona together, Diego would show her the digital overlays of Pokémon Go that reinvented Sofia’s everyday experiences of mundane spaces. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281318/original/file-20190626-76713-16mk5i4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281318/original/file-20190626-76713-16mk5i4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281318/original/file-20190626-76713-16mk5i4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281318/original/file-20190626-76713-16mk5i4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281318/original/file-20190626-76713-16mk5i4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281318/original/file-20190626-76713-16mk5i4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281318/original/file-20190626-76713-16mk5i4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281318/original/file-20190626-76713-16mk5i4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Gotta catch ‘em all! Who knows what can be found in mundane spaces?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Diego taught Sofia how to flick the touch screen to capture Pokemon. And he taught Sofia digital wayfaring – that is, how the digital is entangled with the body’s movement.</p>
<p>Pokémon Go allowed Sofia to learn some of the multiple ways her familiar city could be reinvented. Eventually, Sofia opened her own Pokémon Go account. </p>
<p>She would sometimes find herself briskly walking the streets in search of Pokémon. Mundane trips to the market or shops became Pokémon Go adventures in which she would reinvent the routes to capture more Pokémon. </p>
<p>The city became a complex overlay of digital, material, environmental and social cartographies. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/pokecology-people-will-never-put-down-their-phones-but-games-can-get-them-focused-on-nature-63105">Pokécology: people will never put down their phones, but games can get them focused on nature</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The game also made Sofia feel fit and socially engaged in her community. And she became an outstandingly super-cool grandmother in the eyes of her grandson, Diego.</p>
<p>The “old media” of Pokémon Go enriched Sofia’s life: it reinvented the city she has lived in for all her life; it allowed her playful ways to further develop her relationship with her grandson; and it afforded her new ways to connect with other generations. </p>
<p>But Sofia’s story is not an exception.</p>
<p>In fact, her story is one example of an increasingly common way “old” mundane technologies are being playfully deployed for digital health solutions, one that brings <a href="https://www.uoc.edu/portal/en/news/actualitat/2018/291-gamers.html">older generations</a> closer to their urban communities. </p>
<h2>Social workers recommend Pokémon Go in Badalona</h2>
<p>Badalona <a href="https://urbact.eu/building-age-friendly-city">is renowned</a> for its innovative and integrated healthcare system, centralised through the city council. </p>
<p>There, social workers are recommending Pokémon Go to clients to boost two key dimensions of ageing well: exercise and social inclusion. Part of the game play involves cooperation, for example, to win in a raid, players need to organise to meet up and battle together. </p>
<p>Our yet-to-be-published research uses data from a meet-up bot we built on the messenger program Telegram, to help people organise Pokémon Go raid boss battles. </p>
<p>Over 6,000 battles were fought throughout 2018, with almost 29,000 individuals meeting and establishing social connections and relationships in Badalona.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/playing-games-its-a-serious-way-to-win-community-backing-for-change-116171">Playing games? It's a serious way to win community backing for change</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>What’s more, there is much to learn from the lived experiences of Sofia that requires us to change how we think about play and digital health. For instance, the haptic sensibility of the game (the perception of objects through the sense of touch) privileges motion awareness, so it’s more attuned to Sofia’s fading eye sight.</p>
<p>Badalona is a great example of how intergenerational play can redefine a city by allowing users to navigate through multiple senses – touch, sound and sight – that digital play stimulates.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281706/original/file-20190628-76730-12534mr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281706/original/file-20190628-76730-12534mr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281706/original/file-20190628-76730-12534mr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=385&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281706/original/file-20190628-76730-12534mr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=385&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281706/original/file-20190628-76730-12534mr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=385&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281706/original/file-20190628-76730-12534mr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281706/original/file-20190628-76730-12534mr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281706/original/file-20190628-76730-12534mr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Pokemon Go encouraged physical exercise and social inclusion as part of its strategic game play.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Play can expose bias in a city</h2>
<p>When we spoke to Sofia for our research, we were able to reflect on how games like Pokémon Go highlight the paradoxes of a city that’s datafied to an app.</p>
<p>While Pokémon Go encouraged physical exercise and social inclusion as part of its strategic game play, it also exposed how inherent social, cultural and economic biases in cities become embedded in every day movement.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/some-places-should-be-off-limits-for-games-such-as-pokemon-go-62341">Some places should be off limits for games such as Pokémon GO</a>
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</em>
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<hr>
<p>For example, Pokémon Go’s game engine drew on algorithms of Badalona which had inherent biases in the form of redlining. In other words, peripheral neighbourhoods had fewer Poke stops.</p>
<p>This includes areas or zones of the city with a high concentration of socially excluded people, and the places that are physically further away from the centre of the city.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281319/original/file-20190626-76697-ioezwu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281319/original/file-20190626-76697-ioezwu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/281319/original/file-20190626-76697-ioezwu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=340&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281319/original/file-20190626-76697-ioezwu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=340&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281319/original/file-20190626-76697-ioezwu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=340&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281319/original/file-20190626-76697-ioezwu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281319/original/file-20190626-76697-ioezwu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/281319/original/file-20190626-76697-ioezwu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Spanish city of Badalona is dubbed the ‘silver city’ for its innovative healthcare system.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Play prioritises the human experience</h2>
<p>There are many things we can learn from Badalona’s strategies for ageing well, which centres on lived experience. Rather than inventing new apps for the cartographies of the city, they playfully reinvent the mundane. We should look towards civic urban play for innovation.</p>
<p>Play is an interdisciplinary concept linking culturally specific ideas of creativity with expression. And it allows for different forms of social innovation across digital, material and social worlds. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/bringing-back-an-old-idea-for-smart-cities-playing-on-the-street-85756">Bringing back an old idea for smart cities – playing on the street</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Play can also teach us how to think about the intersection of technology and health in different ways that prioritise human experience.</p>
<p>And in terms of ageing societies, play might hold the key to developing human-centred approaches for the future.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/119389/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Larissa Hjorth conducted this collaborative research as part of an Australian Research Council Discovery project called "Games of Being Mobile".</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jordi Piera Jimenez does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The digital overlays of Pokémon Go reinvented Sofia’s everyday experiences of mundane spaces. And she became an outstandingly super-cool grandmother in the eyes of her grandson, Diego.Larissa Hjorth, Professor of Mobile Media and Games, RMIT UniversityJordi Piera Jimenez, Professor collaborator, UOC - Universitat Oberta de CatalunyaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1040952018-10-22T13:01:07Z2018-10-22T13:01:07ZPokémon Go is not dead, it has 5m loyal players and it’s changing people’s lives<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/241427/original/file-20181019-105779-1phsr6y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=6%2C6%2C4515%2C3003&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/bangkok-thailand-july-22-2016-charmander-456596296?src=MbU7-UIEnyRuPP9eoKXA_Q-1-6">Wachiwit/Shutterstock. </a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Augmented reality game Pokémon Go has been downloaded <a href="https://variety.com/2018/gaming/news/pokemon-go-downloads-1202825268/">more than 800m times</a>, making it one of the most successful examples of location-based media to date. Although its popularity <a href="https://theconversation.com/pokemon-go-no-longer-has-the-hype-of-2016-but-a-loyal-fanbase-remains-80438">peaked and then plummeted in 2016</a>, it’s still being played by <a href="https://moneyish.com/ish/yes-im-one-of-the-5-million-people-still-playing-pokemon-go-every-day/">roughly 5m people</a> all over the world on a daily basis – and <a href="https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa43486">our research</a> shows it’s making a real difference to their lives. </p>
<p>The game blends physical space with digital information, turning players’ smart phone screens into a portal through which they can find and capture Pokémon, train them at gyms and visit PokéStops – all within their everyday environment. </p>
<p>Older forms of location-based media, such as the 2004 game <a href="http://we-make-money-not-art.com/preview_of_mogi_a_socially_con/">Mogi</a> (where GPS tracking enabled players to collect virtual objects scattered around the streets) failed to withstand the test of time. But Pokémon Go is different. Its visually stimulating and innovative interface gives players a more immersive experience – and this kept them coming back. </p>
<p>We wanted to understand how the game continues to affect these players lives: in particular, we wanted to know whether playing Pokémon Go pushes people to spend more time outside, experiment with different routes through their surroundings or interact socially with other players.</p>
<p>So, between May and July 2017, we set up a 30-minute online survey. It was completed by 375 Pokémon Go users across the globe, primarily from the UK and US but also from Europe, Australia, the Middle East and Canada. In the context of 5m daily players, 375 may sound like a small sample. But the depth and richness of the data provided by these players, and the recurring themes we found across the sample, mean that we were able to extract an accurate set of findings about the motivations and behaviours of people who still play the game.</p>
<h2>Get moving</h2>
<p>We found that playing Pokémon Go had made a wide range of players more physically active. The game became a part of players’ daily routine, and made them want to spend more time outside exploring to find more Pokémon to catch, and new gyms to compete at. A number of players with physical disabilities reported that playing Pokémon Go helped them to overcome previously entrenched sedentary behaviours.</p>
<p>According to players in our study, Pokémon Go also affected how they approached public and private transportation. In some cases, this meant that players decided to walk to work, instead of taking the bus. In others, players would vary their routes by catching different trains to and from work. These decisions were often made with a view to extending travel, rather than reducing it. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/241431/original/file-20181019-105782-z1z3rg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/241431/original/file-20181019-105782-z1z3rg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/241431/original/file-20181019-105782-z1z3rg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/241431/original/file-20181019-105782-z1z3rg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/241431/original/file-20181019-105782-z1z3rg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/241431/original/file-20181019-105782-z1z3rg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/241431/original/file-20181019-105782-z1z3rg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Enlivening the walk to work.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/front-view-fashion-girl-walking-texting-735150175?src=2-CGqrHhGInkqUOCZ2IFnQ-1-57">Shutterstock.</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Playing Pokémon Go also led people to find themselves in unexpected places. This resonates with older forms of location-based media, such as Foursquare, which could recommend new venues for users to visit, based on their previous history. Yet for the most part, this app led people to established places, such as bars and restaurants. In contrast, Pokémon Go players often found themselves in environments that really were out of their way, like the back of a restaurant, or a disused building site as Pokémon appear in unexpected and random environments.</p>
<h2>A family affair</h2>
<p>Our study also found that players didn’t always decide to play Pokémon Go because they had a personal interest in the game per se. A number of our respondents said that they started playing because their children wanted to, but were too young to own a smartphone themselves, or to play the game alone. </p>
<p>Here, parents used the experience of playing Pokémon Go to bond with their children, extend their familial relationships, explore their surrounding environment and monitor their childrens’ screen time. For them, Pokémon Go provided a new kind of joint media engagement, which differs from older forms of location-based media by providing space for parents and children to play and learn together.</p>
<p>Our research suggests that Pokémon Go has created a new kind of experience, which builds on previous forms of location-based media. Whereas the likes of Foursquare soon became unpopular when the novelty wore off, Pokémon Go has managed to create a seemingly more enduring experience – and one that its players seem to value for getting them out of the house, exploring and spending time with family.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/104095/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>It’s withstood the test of time, and it’s leading people to get out of the house, travel around and spend more time with their families.Michael Saker, Lecturer in Media and Communications, City, University of LondonLeighton Evans, Senior Lecturer in Media and Communications, Swansea UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/883182018-01-01T22:37:29Z2018-01-01T22:37:29ZThe five most anticipated digital games of 2018<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/199825/original/file-20171219-27544-1a7nd05.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Next year’s must-have games include a number of sequels to popular franchises.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/young-gamer-playing-video-game-wearing-634861250">from www.shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>It’s been an interesting year for digital games. </p>
<p><a href="https://playbattlegrounds.com/main.pu">PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds</a> became the most played PC game on the digital distribution platform Steam, with its battle-royale, scavenge and survive 100 player gameplay shaking up the first-person shooter genre. </p>
<p>Nintendo’s new console, <a href="https://www.kotaku.com.au/2017/03/nintendo-switch-the-kotaku-review/">the Switch</a>, blew us away with the latest games in the <a href="http://www.zelda.com/breath-of-the-wild/">Zelda</a> and <a href="http://www.nintendo.com.au/catalogue/super-mario-odyssey">Mario</a> franchises.</p>
<p>And the cathartic nazi-Killing of <em>Wolfenstein II</em> was <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/call-of-duty-wolfenstein-and-the-joy-of-killing-virtual-nazis">particularly timely</a>, given the recent resurgence of white supremacy in the political sphere.</p>
<p>Gaming also proved <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com.au/best-selling-products-on-amazon-australia-2017-12">hugely popular</a> with Amazon Australia customers in the first week after its launch on December 5, accounting for six of the the top 10 purchases.</p>
<p>So what are the biggest releases of 2018 shaping up to be? </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-rise-of-the-pro-player-as-australia-hosts-its-richest-computer-gaming-event-76865">The rise of the pro-player as Australia hosts its richest computer gaming event</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Harry Potter: Wizards Unite</h2>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/197698/original/file-20171205-23002-3x37t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/197698/original/file-20171205-23002-3x37t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/197698/original/file-20171205-23002-3x37t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/197698/original/file-20171205-23002-3x37t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/197698/original/file-20171205-23002-3x37t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/197698/original/file-20171205-23002-3x37t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/197698/original/file-20171205-23002-3x37t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Harry Potter Wizards Unite.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">from https://nianticlabs.com/press/2017/wizardsunite/</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Off the back of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-pokemon-go-craze-sees-gamers-hit-the-streets-but-it-comes-with-a-warning-62278">phenomenal success of Pokemon Go</a>, <a href="https://nianticlabs.com/blog/wizardsunite/">Harry Potter: Wizards Unite</a> seeks to combine location-based play, augmented reality and our pining nostalgia for the <em>Harry Potter</em> universe into another global game.</p>
<p>It’s likely to recreate the same viral, flavour-of-the-week success as <em>Pokemon Go</em>, with players eager to see what changes in gameplay augmented reality platform Niantic has introduced in its bid to convert fleeting players into lifelong fans.</p>
<p>Despite the calamitous reactions to its <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-went-wrong-with-pokemon-go-three-lessons-from-its-plummeting-player-numbers-67135">plummeting player numbers</a>, <em>Pokemon Go</em> is estimated to still be making between <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2017/02/01/report-pokemon-go-has-now-crossed-1-billion-in-revenue/">AUD$1.9 - $3.2 million dollars per day</a> from micro-transactions. </p>
<h2>Red Dead Redemption 2</h2>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/197701/original/file-20171205-22996-1pb3z0y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/197701/original/file-20171205-22996-1pb3z0y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/197701/original/file-20171205-22996-1pb3z0y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/197701/original/file-20171205-22996-1pb3z0y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/197701/original/file-20171205-22996-1pb3z0y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/197701/original/file-20171205-22996-1pb3z0y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/197701/original/file-20171205-22996-1pb3z0y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Red Dead Redemption 2.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">from Rockstar Games</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The prequel to 2010’s <em>Red Dead Redemption</em> will almost certainly be one of the largest games of 2018, with a marketing budget likely to rival a Marvel Movie. </p>
<p>The first <em>RDR</em> combined the cinematic experience of the Western movie genre with a rich, immersive and dynamic environment, and was celebrated as having one of the <a href="http://au.ign.com/articles/2010/05/17/red-dead-redemption-review">best single player campaign stories of all time</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F63h3v9QV7w">Red Dead Redemption 2’s stunning trailer</a> hints at how the game has stayed close to the rich world of the 2010 title, so players should expect something reassuringly familiar. </p>
<p>Don’t pre-order it yet though, as maker Rockstar Games has been widely criticised for the focus on micro-transactions in its Grand Theft Auto series, and a <a href="https://www.kotaku.com.au/2017/05/top-video-game-companies-wont-stop-talking-about-games-as-a-service/">transition to a “games as a service” business model</a>. It’s possible that the focus of RDR2 will be the same kind of aggressively profitable online multiplayer model, and not the immersive story and world building that RDR is celebrated for. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/loot-boxes-and-pay-to-win-features-in-digital-games-look-a-lot-like-gambling-88010">'Loot boxes' and pay-to-win features in digital games look a lot like gambling</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Far Cry 5</h2>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Kdaoe4hbMso?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Far Cry 5: Official Announcement Trailer.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The latest instalment in the celebrated first-person, open world <em>Far Cry</em> series takes the game away from remote islands or African savannah to the apparently far more dangerous <a href="http://comicbook.com/gaming/2017/12/02/far-cry-5-more-political-than-intended/">rural America</a>. </p>
<p><em>Far Cry 5</em> is also the first in the series to allow players to <a href="http://www.pcgamer.com/far-cry-5-will-let-you-customize-your-character-and-everything-else-we-know-so-far/">create their own character</a>. You can choose the gender and race of your avatar, and <a href="http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-10-31-how-co-op-works-in-far-cry-5">the entire campaign can be played in cooperative play</a>. </p>
<p>All the games in the <em>Far Cry</em> series have been <a href="http://www.metacritic.com/search/all/Far%20Cry/results">extremely well reviewed</a>, and it’s likely this fifth instalment will continue to propel the open world, role-play genre forward. </p>
<h2>Mount and Blade: Bannerlord</h2>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/197707/original/file-20171205-22986-66ni1s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/197707/original/file-20171205-22986-66ni1s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/197707/original/file-20171205-22986-66ni1s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/197707/original/file-20171205-22986-66ni1s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/197707/original/file-20171205-22986-66ni1s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/197707/original/file-20171205-22986-66ni1s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/197707/original/file-20171205-22986-66ni1s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Mount and Blade Bannerlord.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">From Taleworlds</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>From the tiny Turkish developer TaleWorlds, the <em>Mount and Blade</em> series combines one of the best medieval combat simulators with open world role-play. Players start alone, but via quests, trade, battles and political strategy, they can eventually command huge armies from horseback.</p>
<p>Despite not releasing a new title since 2011, <em>Mount and Blade</em> has built up a huge fan base thanks to the game’s active “modding” community, who build new functions not originally included in the game. Unusually, TaleWorlds even worked with one modding team to release <a href="https://attackofthefanboy.com/reviews/mount-blade-warband-viking-conquest-review/">Mount and Blade: Viking Conquest</a> as a paid “mod” (short for modification).</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/curious-kids-why-do-adults-think-video-games-are-bad-76699">Curious Kids: Why do adults think video games are bad?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p><a href="https://www.taleworlds.com/en/Games/Bannerlord">Bannerlord</a> is the newest game in the series. It promises updated graphics, an expanded siege mode and more missions in the game’s story mode, where players can aspire to ascend to the throne of one of the game’s major kingdoms. </p>
<p>Don’t pre-order it yet though, TaleWorlds still has not confirmed the release date for the game (originally expected in 2017) and the small studio has shared very few details about it.</p>
<h2>The Last of Us Part 2</h2>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/W2Wnvvj33Wo?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The Last of Us Part II Reveal Trailer.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em>The Last of Us</em> was released in 2013 to nearly universal critical acclaim. The post-apocalyptic survival game was praised for basically everything – its story, characters, combat, immersive world and aesthetic. </p>
<p>The 2018 sequel is hotly anticipated. </p>
<p>Although very little is known about the game so far, <em>The Last of Us Part 2</em> <a href="http://www.gamesradar.com/the-last-of-us-part-2-review/">sees the return of an adult Ellie</a>, who the player protected as a child in the first game. The <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXUPpxA32Og">teaser trailer</a> hints that the new game has retained the same graphic – <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2017/10/31/that-new-last-of-us-2-trailer-made-me-sick-to-my-stomach/#7c3b6d3523a7">and controversial</a> – depictions of violence as the original.</p>
<p><em>The Last Of Us</em> was unusually effective at balancing the violence alongside a deep – <a href="https://www.gamespot.com/articles/the-last-of-us-and-grading-on-the-gender-curve/1100-6411051/">but criticised</a> – story of relationships and companionship. If you haven’t played the earlier title, it definitely stands up against many more recent releases.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/88318/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marcus Carter is the President of the Digital Games Research Association of Australia.</span></em></p>From Harry Potter: Wizards Unite to The Last of Us Part 2, the new year promises some exciting releases in the world of gaming.Marcus Carter, Lecturer in Digital Cultures, SOAR Fellow., University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/880102017-11-27T03:17:04Z2017-11-27T03:17:04Z‘Loot boxes’ and pay-to-win features in digital games look a lot like gambling<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/196423/original/file-20171127-2025-ui1h7x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=792%2C19%2C2831%2C1863&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Kids love Angry Birds. But features in the latest version of the game allow exchange of cash for game progress. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/children-surrounded-by-stuffed-toys-602171666?src=RzLs6342imQG_UqUjTcxyw-1-43">from www.shutterstock.com </a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Do you play Angry Birds? Candy Crush? Pokémon Go? </p>
<p>You’re part of a huge and growing global digital games industry. </p>
<p>And even if you pay nothing to download the app in the first instance, features such as cosmetic upgrades, pay-to-win features and “loot boxes” might tempt you to commit real dollars to progress through stages or levels for success. </p>
<p>Concern is growing in Australia and other countries that such features are normalising gambling behaviours for game users, including children. </p>
<p>The Victorian Commission for Gambling and Liquor Regulation has <a href="http://www.pcgamer.com/australian-gambling-analyst-says-loot-boxes-constitute-gambling-by-legal-definition/">reportedly</a> confirmed that it is “aware of the issue of loot boxes” and is in the process of assessing their legal status and the potential dangers they pose. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-business-of-addiction-how-the-video-gaming-industry-is-evolving-to-be-like-the-casino-industry-83361">The business of addiction: how the video gaming industry is evolving to be like the casino industry</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Developers and publishers of mobile games are making serious money. Pokémon Go is estimated to make <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2017/02/01/report-pokemon-go-has-now-crossed-1-billion-in-revenue/">between US$1.5 and US$2.5 million per day</a>, and the average spend per player for 11 of the most popular mobile games <a href="https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/269618/The_average_US_paying_mobile_game_player_spent_87_on_F2P_IAP_last_year.php">is more than US$100</a>. </p>
<p>Mobiles and tablets now provide <a href="https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/the-global-games-market-will-reach-108-9-billion-in-2017-with-mobile-taking-42/">42% of the revenue in the global games market</a>, and are estimated to exceed 50% by 2020. </p>
<h2>Star Wars Battlefront</h2>
<p>Discussions about micro-transactions in games recently came to a head with the <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-41997252">consumer uproar</a> about features in <a href="https://www.ea.com/en-au/games/starwars/battlefront/battlefront-2">Star Wars Battlefront II</a>, developed and published by Electronic Arts. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/196241/original/file-20171124-21844-1o879j3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/196241/original/file-20171124-21844-1o879j3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/196241/original/file-20171124-21844-1o879j3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/196241/original/file-20171124-21844-1o879j3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/196241/original/file-20171124-21844-1o879j3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/196241/original/file-20171124-21844-1o879j3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/196241/original/file-20171124-21844-1o879j3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/196241/original/file-20171124-21844-1o879j3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Star Wars Battlefront II has been described as ‘a Star Wars themed online casino, designed to lure kids into spending money’.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Star Wars Battlefront II Press kit</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Despite costing A$99.95 in Australia, Battlefront II also uses micro-transactions that allow players to pay real money for in-game “crystals”. These can then be traded for advantages in the game’s competitive multiplayer network. </p>
<p>Early estimates based on the pre-release trial period suggested that if a player does not want to spend money on these micro-transactions, it could take close to 40 hours of playing to unlock and play as a hero character like Luke Skywalker.</p>
<p>Unlocking all the game’s heroes with crystals would <a href="https://www.kotaku.com.au/2017/11/players-are-trying-to-calculate-how-long-it-takes-to-unlock-heroes-in-star-wars-battlefront-ii/">cost as much as $955</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-were-building-a-climate-change-game-for-12-year-olds-85983">Why we're building a climate change game for 12-year-olds</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Of particular focus in this uproar has been the “loot box” mechanism. In exchange for paid crystals or for credits earned during game play, players can buy “crates” that randomly grant advantages. Fans calculated that it would require almost <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/StarWarsBattlefront/comments/7c6bjm/it_takes_40_hours_to_unlock_a_hero_spreadsheet/">three hours of gameplay to earn a basic crate</a>.</p>
<p>Hawaiian State Legislator Chris Lee <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_akwfRuL4os">referred to Battlefront</a> as </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“a Star Wars-themed online casino, designed to lure kids into spending money.”</p>
</blockquote>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_akwfRuL4os?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Pressure is mounting to regulate digital games for children.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Gamer and writer Heather Alexander wrote an <a href="https://www.kotaku.com.au/2017/10/loot-boxes-are-designed-to-exploit-us/">honest reflection</a> on her own gaming experiences with loot boxes and other features, saying </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I have a gambling problem. I didn’t find this out at a casino. I found this out playing games.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>She <a href="https://www.kotaku.com.au/2017/11/star-wars-battlefront-2-lets-you-pay-real-money-for-multiplayer-advantages/">describes</a> loot boxes as “predatory in design” and “made to dazzle, delight, and encourage repeat purchases”. </p>
<p>In response to growing attention, Electronic Arts announced that it has <a href="https://www.ea.com/en-gb/games/starwars/battlefront/battlefront-2/news/pre-launch-update">removed the micro transactions feature from Battlefront II</a>.</p>
<h2>Ubiquitous in mobile games</h2>
<p>But it’s in mobile games where gambling mechanisms like loot boxes are nearly ubiquitous, often overlooked, and potentially most problematic.</p>
<p>Consider the changes made in the <a href="https://www.angrybirds.com/">Angry Birds</a> sequel, Angry Birds 2. </p>
<p>The first Angry Birds could be purchased for as little as $0.99, and involved simple skill-based play to destroy structures using birds in a slingshot. The game was later made available for free, but with in-app purchases. </p>
<p>This model saw Angry Birds established as one of <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/09e7790c-9204-11e7-bdfa-eda243196c2c">the biggest video game brands in the world</a>. </p>
<p><img width="100%" src="https://media.giphy.com/media/l41Ymmj8z5tLzEDvi/giphy.gif"></p>
<p>In comparison, Angry Birds 2 features <a href="https://www.deconstructoroffun.com/blog/2017/6/11/how-angry-birds-2-multiplied-quadrupled-revenue-in-a-year">seven core monetisation mechanics</a> that revolve around “gems” bought with real money. The exchange rate on these gems improves if you buy in bulk, up to A$32.99 in one go. These can then be spent on loot boxes (or “chests”), in the game’s daily double-or-nothing game (so you still win, even if you lose), as well as on other in-game upgrades.</p>
<p>Even with these features, the Apple app store advertises Angry Birds 2 as <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/angry-birds-2/id880047117?mt=8">suitable for ages 4+</a>. </p>
<h2>A serious problem</h2>
<p>The <a href="http://www.igea.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Digital-Australia-2018-DA18-Final-1.pdf">2018 Digital Australia report</a> reported that 90% of Australian children aged between 5 and 14 play digital games. </p>
<p>We need to consider whether the presence of gambling mechanics like loot boxes and virtual currencies in games may be normalising gambling behaviour in young people. </p>
<p>Earlier this year, Christopher Hunt from the University of Sydney’s Gambling Clinic <a href="https://theconversation.com/wide-ranging-ban-on-gambling-ads-during-sport-broadcasts-is-needed-to-tackle-problem-gambling-74687">reported in The Conversation</a> that,</p>
<blockquote>
<p>the numbers of 18-to-25-year-old men with problems related to sports betting doubled between 2012 and 2015.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>While Hunt suggests gambling ads could be to blame for this rise, future research should examine the role that gambling in games is having on these increases in problem gambling with young people. </p>
<p>These trends also present a serious problem for the video game industry at large. While they are successful at increasing revenue in the short term, low-quality, pay-to-win games was one of the causes of the <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/excavating-the-video-game-industrys-past">1983 North American video game industry collapse</a> as consumers turned away from digital games.</p>
<p>It is unsurprising then that the most vocal opponents of loot boxes in Star Wars Battlefront II are the series’ most passionate fans.</p>
<h2>A possible solution</h2>
<p>In response to the Battlefront II controversy, various gambling regulators and legislators in <a href="https://www.kotaku.com.au/2017/11/victorias-gambling-regulator-loot-boxes-constitute-gambling/">Australia</a>, <a href="https://www.gamespot.com/articles/star-wars-battlefront-2-french-senator-writes-lett/1100-6455112/">France</a>, <a href="http://www.pcgamer.com/belgium-says-loot-boxes-are-gambling-wants-them-banned-in-europe/">Belgium</a> and <a href="https://www.gamespot.com/articles/us-state-representative-says-star-wars-battlefront/1100-6455147/">the United States</a> are calling for action to reverse this trend.</p>
<p>In Australia, this may be a role for the Australian Classification Board, which <a href="https://www.kotaku.com.au/2017/11/victorias-gambling-regulator-loot-boxes-constitute-gambling/">could ensure that games that feature predatory gambling mechanics receive an R18+ rating</a>.</p>
<p>Alternatively, Australia might want to look to China, which has taken a lead in regulating loot boxes. Since May 1, digital game publishers have to <a href="http://www.pcgamer.com/blizzard-reveals-overwatch-loot-box-drop-rates-in-china/">reveal the win rates of loot boxes</a> to give players more knowledge about what they are really paying for. </p>
<p>In either case, further research is needed to understand the impact that gambling mechanics in games - as well as <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/2050157913506423">gambling-play</a> more broadly - have on young people’s beliefs about gambling, as there is not yet a demonstrated link between gaming and gambling.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/88010/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marcus Carter is the President of the Digital Games Research Association of Australia. </span></em></p>In-app purchases and ‘loot boxes’ in mobile games deliver easy cash for developers and publishers of digital games - and kids are easily sucked in.Marcus Carter, Lecturer in Digital Cultures, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/804382017-07-05T09:40:54Z2017-07-05T09:40:54ZPokémon Go no longer has the hype of 2016, but a loyal fanbase remains<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176747/original/file-20170704-808-189iaz7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption"></span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>A summer spent hunting through local neighbourhoods, parks and shops for virtual monsters is now just a hazy memory to most people who downloaded Pokémon Go. <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidthier/2016/09/13/pokemon-go-has-lost-79-of-its-paying-players-since-launch-but-thats-fine/#787f46be7b4b">Four out of five users</a> have long since given up trying to “catch ‘em all”, having stopped playing the mobile video game just two months after <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-37176782">it peaked</a>.</p>
<p>One year on from the game’s release, its developer, Niantic, is now trying to renew some users’ excitement with new features, new monsters to catch and live events to encourage more people to get out and log on. But even if this fails to significantly revive the game’s wider popularity, Pokémon Go actually retains a surprisingly large loyal fan base that could sustain the game for a long time to come.</p>
<p>Despite <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2017/02/01/report-pokemon-go-has-now-crossed-1-billion-in-revenue/">reaching US$1 billion in revenue</a> faster than any other mobile game, the <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-niantic-didnt-need-marketing-to-make-pokemon-go-viral-63159">initial hype</a> around Pokémon Go rapidly gave way to a significant decline in mainstream popularity for several reasons. First, <a href="heavy.com/games/2016/08/cant-log-in-to-pokemon-go-how-to-fix-humbled-server-error-pokemongo-login-stuck-broken/">software issues and network availability</a> problems deterred casual players. Getting booted out of the game, or failing to log in at all, turned it from a fun distraction to an irritating chore.</p>
<p>Second, as players began to catch more of the 150 original Pokémon but struggled to <a href="uk.businessinsider.com/pokemon-go-what-happens-when-you-hit-level-20-2016-7?r=US&IR=T">find the elusive final creatures</a>, the incentive to play decreased. The routine of catching, evolving and battling the same monsters became just that, routine.</p>
<p>Third, the game became a race for status instead of being about exploring your neighbourhood. Many players used <a href="https://pgbot.org/">automated accounts</a> to reach the highest levels of the game, making the point of putting in hours of game time to beat your friends redundant.</p>
<p>This last point highlights Niantic’s biggest problem in continuing to develop Pokémon Go: establishing exactly what its players ultimately hope to achieve. And <a href="http://www.express.co.uk/entertainment/gaming/801707/Pokemon-Go-news-update-grass-event-end-time-Niantic-Shiny-grass-type">critics claim</a> Niantic has done little to develop the game in any meaningful way.</p>
<h2>Returning players</h2>
<p>But the company has been able to bolster usage and entice some old players back through game updates, social media and live events. A second generation of Pokémon to catch was released in February 2017, leading to <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2017/02/28/gen-2-caused-a-huge-spike-in-pokemon-go-play-but-its-fading-fast/#3450adfb193d">a brief spike in players</a> and helping the game reach <a href="tech.firstpost.com/news-analysis/pokemon-go-crosses-750-million-downloads-381827.html">750m downloads</a>.</p>
<p>Fulfilling its original promise to get people exploring and mixing with others, Niantic has sponsored and organised <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2017/05/04/pokemon-go-is-about-to-start-throwing-officially-sponsored-block-parties/#657226a64150">special events</a> that have seen <a href="http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2017/03/03/national/pokemon-go-deploys-snorlax-quake-hit-kyushu/#.WUeq0ev1Dcs">thousands take to the streets</a> to catch rare Pokémon.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176748/original/file-20170704-5302-1wf5jiz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176748/original/file-20170704-5302-1wf5jiz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176748/original/file-20170704-5302-1wf5jiz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176748/original/file-20170704-5302-1wf5jiz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176748/original/file-20170704-5302-1wf5jiz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176748/original/file-20170704-5302-1wf5jiz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176748/original/file-20170704-5302-1wf5jiz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Thousands take to the streets.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/31029865@N06/32128154404/in/photolist-QX4bYC-L39XzP-JVzehn-9Nhwdo-8DQU1c-btq4ZE-mDMqLB-zQNs7d-5eSAVK-Kf8Ap4-TA7d2N-M2i8aX-J3YaBD-dvE7jX-51CXng-JiGYKD-JSPTdx-o3zW2g-Ky4GNg-L9TMfx-P3u9sw-JPaUvq-PKUqqW-P6iUcZ-Pcv1Xs-L73wCY-Kdwrok-Nzes8e-L9TPHZ-QjSX38-P3u6mw-NoUMh1-MFcq7H-PKUp9Y-MxGsn4-KDT7x3-LHB9LJ-LHB9Hh-Lmqva9-L7XTp1-MLasaf-Mmzg9w-MxGs7V-Me6oTs-NobveB-KZZtDo-Kvf2E7-Sw4N6w-MNNMeF-MTb2MY">Dick Thomas Johnson/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>Now, to celebrate the game’s first birthday, <a href="http://www.trustedreviews.com/news/pokemon-go-news-when-is-next-update-best-new-features-trading">Niantic plans</a> to enable users to catch the missing “legendary” Pokémon and introduce new ways for friends to work together in battles. The developers are clearly trying to reassert the game’s founding ideology: get out, explore and interact with people and places.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.straitstimes.com/tech/games-apps/review-pokemon-gos-new-gym-system-and-raid-battles-inject-new-life-into-game-but">Initial reviews</a> of the new battle system suggest changes have somewhat levelled the playing field because players receive more rewards for battling and working in teams. While gameplay has not fundamentally changed – for example, you can’t battle your friends outside of the structured gym system – the greater emphasis on teaming up to defeat opponents I think will entice returning players.</p>
<h2>Enduring fandom</h2>
<p>Yet perhaps more important than the new features is the surprising extent to which fans have already made the game part of their lives. A devoted community of <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2017/04/05/believe-it-or-not-pokemon-go-has-65-million-monthly-active-players/#35320c81121d">around 65m</a> monthly users has played Pokémon Go from the outset and eagerly anticipate the proposed updates. Initial fervour may have dissipated, yet arguably neither the cultural significance nor the core popularity (once the hype was over) of the game has waned. </p>
<p>Fans continue to congregate online to discuss the game on tribute sites such as <a href="https://thesilphroad.com/">The Silph Road</a>. The online forum Reddit continues to act as a <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/TheSilphRoad/comments/5kqn06/catching_farfetchd_japan_or_hk/">tourist guide</a> for fans on holiday who want to catch elusive Pokémon. And loyal fans go to extreme lengths to progress in the game. One man <a href="https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2016/07/pokemon-go-player-sponsored-by-marriott.html">circumnavigated the globe</a> to catch those unavailable in his home country.</p>
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<p>Such instances of global exploration show how the game continues to inspire fans. They constitute an international community that uses Pokémon Go as a means to interact with their environment, socialise online, and travel. Fandom is about participation, being part of something that extends beyond the individual. Pokémon Go fans represent a lively and evolving participatory culture.</p>
<p>With the legendary Pokémon imminent, new generations of monsters still pending and increasingly interactive elements of gameplay, Niantic is slowly turning 2016’s hype into a lasting fan experience. The game may not get the media coverage it did but that matters little to fans whose routine still includes a walk around their neighbourhood to increase their stats, talking online with others, or whose holiday destination is influenced by the whereabouts of exclusive Pokémon. Just as the Pokémon franchise has lasted for <a href="https://www.polygon.com/pokemon/2016/2/26/11120098/pokemon-games-list-history-timeline-release-dates">over 20 years</a>, Pokémon Go endures as a communal and interactive platform.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/80438/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lincoln Geraghty does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>One year on from the launch of Pokémon Go, its mainstream decline has left behind a thriving scene.Lincoln Geraghty, Reader in Popular Media Cultures, University of PortsmouthLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/779762017-05-19T14:26:02Z2017-05-19T14:26:02ZWhy augmented reality is triggering cultural conflict and religious controversy<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/170104/original/file-20170519-12221-1i4tox4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">nednapa/Shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>A Russian man was recently given a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/may/11/pokemon-go-russian-youtuber-convicted-playing-church-ruslan-sokolovsky">three-and-a-half year suspended sentence</a> for inciting religious hatred. His crime? Playing the popular augmented reality (AR) game Pokémon Go on his smartphone in a church.</p>
<p>Sacred spaces and games have long had an uneasy relationship. In 2002, a setting resembling Amritsar’s Golden Temple appeared in the violent video game Hitman 2. <a href="http://www.sikhtimes.com/news_122402a.html">Controversy ensued</a>. But more than digitally recreating sacred places, we now have games that physically encroach on those spaces, incorporating them into location-based AR systems. Inside Gujarati temples where eggs are forbidden, were found some of Pokémon Go’s “virtual eggs”. <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-37294286">Controversy ensued, again</a>.</p>
<p>AR is a simple idea with endlessly complicated implications – look around using special glasses or a smartphone camera, add software with location awareness, and the software can overlay information on a scene or even <a href="http://sndrv.nl/ARflashmob/">make things appear to be located “in” physical space</a>. AR turns physical sites into raw materials for the creation of new media, producing hybrids that are simultaneously everyday places and digital wonderlands.</p>
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<p>As its popularity increases AR comes up against established norms and interests. Legal systems have to try to get to grips with new technology, there is cultural confusion about “virtual” items located in physical spaces and questions are raised as to who should have control when public or private or holy places meet digital culture.</p>
<p>Much is heard nowadays about the “cultural appropriation” of styles and images, but here we have software that bypasses that kind of appropriation by making use of physical sites as part of a game. Owing something to traditions of <a href="http://www.appropriationart.ca/">appropriation art</a>, AR borrows and recontextualises what it finds in its path.</p>
<p>This brings to the physical world something nearer the slippery aesthetics of video games: a meeting of creators’ intent and players’ freedom, where environments are hybrids of artwork and playground. The design of physical sites conveys intent already, from statues telling us about notable people to walls obliging us to keep out – but AR adds an extra, optional, transformational layer, and it makes changing the meaning of that layer merely a matter of switching between apps.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/170106/original/file-20170519-12221-7xhe7x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/170106/original/file-20170519-12221-7xhe7x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170106/original/file-20170519-12221-7xhe7x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170106/original/file-20170519-12221-7xhe7x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170106/original/file-20170519-12221-7xhe7x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170106/original/file-20170519-12221-7xhe7x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170106/original/file-20170519-12221-7xhe7x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Augmented reality.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/sndrv/4635764320/">sndrv/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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<h2>Hacking culture</h2>
<p>Think that statues in public places are too seldom of notable women? <a href="http://creativity-online.com/work/yr-new-york-the-whole-story-project/51687">Augment your reality to change that</a>. Sickened by the pervasive commercialism of adverts on the subway? <a href="https://theconversation.com/do-we-want-an-augmented-reality-or-a-transformed-reality-31642">Use an AR app on your phone</a> to see artworks in their place. Feel that a mark of acceptance of homosexuality would look nice in the (notoriously intolerant) Westboro Baptist Church? <a href="http://kotaku.com/pokemon-go-fan-trolls-westboro-baptist-church-church-f-1783449276">It’s been done</a>.</p>
<p>This too evokes older practices in gaming culture, especially the parts of it that alter games with hacks and mods. Using AR to erect statues of women has a similar motive to hacking Donkey Kong to <a href="https://www.wired.com/2013/03/donkey-kong-pauline-hack/">switch the hero with the damsel</a>. AR quietly enables people to edit their environments – on a personal, virtual level, without the intrusive downsides of <a href="https://www.psfk.com/2014/01/augmented-reality-graffiti.html">normal graffiti</a>. But nothing remains personal for long in the age of sharing apps and social media. Something that might initially be a personal virtual world can quickly go viral. </p>
<p>Previous debates concerning culture and virtual or augmented reality have involved <a href="https://theconversation.com/museums-are-using-virtual-reality-to-preserve-the-past-before-its-too-late-44600">what museums and other institutions might do</a> with the technology – and what it can do for preservation and public access to artefacts. Mass adoption of technology brings mass culture with it and grassroots cultural transformations emerge.</p>
<h2>Contested culture</h2>
<p>The legal disputes show that this is not always a simple, happy tale of technology empowering individuals and subcultures. Neither is controversy confined to arguments about what is done in sacred spaces. In Milwaukee another legal case <a href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/milwaukee-wisconsin-sued-requiring-permits-augmented-reality-games-996320">is being fought</a> after unauthorised AR was banned from public parks following damage by hordes of Pokémon hunters. The makers of an AR poker game called Texas Rope ’Em have objected to the restriction on free speech grounds. </p>
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<p>Those in charge of Milwaukee’s public parks can point to the literal grass roots in their care. For Russian churches and Gujarati temples, something subtler seems to be at stake – not physical damage or pollution, but an unease with the implications when holy ground becomes enmeshed in the profane geography of an AR game, even when nothing is visible to those not choosing to play. Religion, after all, is a part of life particularly well attuned to the thought that there can be important realities which we cannot normally perceive.</p>
<p>Cultural controversies are often struggles for control and a sense of ownership – sometimes of physical sites or artefacts, but often of subtler trappings of identity. Technology has frequently brought with it the end of traditional ways of life. In augmented reality all three come together: the use of connected technologies to blend the physical and digital worlds in ways still weakly understood.</p>
<p>If you like this era of guerrilla statuary and ad-blocking on the subway, enjoy it while it lasts. AR has its commercial dimension, as the Pokémon Go craze has proved, and has been touted for some time as virgin territory for the advertising industry.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/77976/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robert Seddon does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Who owns culture in the real-virtual world of augmented reality?Robert Seddon, Honorary Fellow (Philosophy), Durham UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/671352016-10-18T19:13:37Z2016-10-18T19:13:37ZWhat went wrong with Pokémon Go? Three lessons from its plummeting player numbers<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/141936/original/image-20161017-14868-32kw5c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Pokémon Go's developers may have moved the goalposts too many times.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wachiwit/Shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Pokémon Go is in rapid decline. Since <a href="http://pokemongo.nianticlabs.com/en/post/launch/">launching in July</a> and soaring in popularity, it had <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-08-22/these-charts-show-that-pokemon-go-is-already-in-decline">lost at least a third of its daily users</a> by the middle of August. By <a href="https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/analysis-pokemon-go/">mid-September</a>, daily revenues had fallen from US$16m per day to US$2m (excluding the 30% app store fee) and daily downloads had declined from a peak of 27 million to 700,000. </p>
<p>Of course, many mobile games – especially ones that trigger a worldwide craze – suffer declines in usage over time. Pokémon Go still <a href="https://www.wired.com/2016/09/pokemon-go-just-fine-without/">generates significant revenues</a>. But its precipitous decline has seen it labelled a <a href="http://cw39.com/2016/10/04/looking-back-at-the-fad-that-defined-summer-2016-pokemon-go/">fad</a> and nicknamed “<a href="http://www.techradar.com/news/gaming/pokemon-gone-how-pokemon-go-can-bring-back-lapsed-trainers-1329696">Pokémon Gone</a>”.</p>
<p>This raises the question of why usage has dropped so steeply, and what other game companies might do differently to retain users. In my opinion, Pokémon Go’s creators <a href="https://www.nianticlabs.com/">Niantic</a> have made several significant missteps. Here are the lessons that other companies can learn.</p>
<h2>Have a clear avenue to capitalise quickly</h2>
<p>Pokémon Go launched with relatively little actual “game”, and by the end of July was still arguably <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidthier/2016/07/26/nearby-tracking-is-still-broken-in-pokemon-go-and-might-be-for-a-while/#a797a8f28a43">missing a lot of features</a>. </p>
<p>The launch version enabled players to collect Pokémon characters while out roaming in the real world. But it featured shallower gameplay than its siblings on Nintendo’s gaming platforms. For example, the mechanisms for battling Pokémon were relatively simplistic, with arbitrary-seeming controls. Furthermore, there was no way for people to interact in real time in the game. This is not a problem if the aim is to get as many players to sign up as possible, but it is an issue when trying to keep them interested.</p>
<p>The developers did not introduce new elements quickly enough to stop players getting bored. So far there has been little in the way of new gameplay aspects, with the most significant addition being in the form of hardware: a Pokémon Go <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/paullamkin/2016/09/09/pokemon-go-plus-wearable-on-sale-16th-september/#32aa02b9644c">wearable device released last month</a>. </p>
<p>The developers have <a href="http://pokemongolive.com/en/post/ver-update-091016/">added a new feature</a> that allows players to choose a “buddy Pokémon” to accompany them in-game, which has had a relatively minor impact on in-game mechanics. But by waiting so long after the game’s launch, the developers have missed an opportunity to capitalise on their existing player base.</p>
<p>The obvious lesson for developers is to have a roadmap to enhance the game and keep players interested, especially when the core game itself is not very deep.</p>
<h2>Do not remove popular features</h2>
<p>Besides failing to introduce new features, Pokémon Go also removed popular ones. This is likely to alienate players, especially if done with little explanation – some commentators have branded the game “<a href="http://www.gamespot.com/articles/pokemon-go-is-broken-without-tracking/1100-6442282/">broken</a>”.</p>
<p>In Pokémon Go’s case, the feature in question was “Pokémon tracking”. A core aspect of the game is that it creates a virtual representation of the player’s real-world location, which is then populated with Pokémon characters for players to collect by walking around. But to catch Pokémon, players need to know where they are – and without Pokémon tracking, players are left wandering aimlessly and relying on luck to find them.</p>
<p>Pokémon tracking was relatively rudimentary in the game itself, and <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidthier/2016/07/26/nearby-tracking-is-still-broken-in-pokemon-go-and-might-be-for-a-while/#3dbb03ba28a4">arguably did not work at all</a>. This led several <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/gaming/pokemon-go-update-niantic-facebook-3-step-tool-tracker-map-a7167951.html">third parties</a> to create their own Pokémon tracking apps that became <a href="https://www.cnet.com/au/news/pokemon-go-transparency-niantic-needs-to-communicate-editorial/">crucial</a> to dedicated players. In other words, players accepted the original broken feature because third-party apps let them circumvent it.</p>
<p>However, the developer, Niantic, subsequently disabled these apps by cutting off their data access and <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2016/08/01/third-party-pokemon-go-tracking-services-get-shut-down/">sending them “cease and desist” orders</a>. This effectively removed a feature that many players regarded as essential.</p>
<p>The developers have arguably repeated this gaffe by <a href="http://www.androidpolice.com/2016/09/11/guide-play-pokemon-go-0-37-rooted-android-magisk/">disabling</a> the game for players with “rooted” android devices – a relatively common hack that lets phone users change their administrative settings or bypass restrictions imposed by telecommunications providers. </p>
<p>Pokémon Go has banned rooted devices so as to prevent “geo-spoofing”, whereby players cheat the game by using software to fake their location. But while the goal is valid, the implementation clearly has ramifications for many legitimate users.</p>
<p>The clear lesson is that a company should not remove features without first considering how essential they are to the user experience, and without offering an adequate replacement. This lesson applies not just to gaming but to the wider consumer industry; companies should always know what their customers regard as essential, and should never undermine it without putting in place a clear workaround (or ideally, improvement).</p>
<h2>Talk to your customers</h2>
<p>Pokémon Go’s decline has been characterised by a consistent lack of communication. The catalyst was arguably the removal of Pokémon tracking. While far from ideal, this could have been managed with better communication, but instead some players were left so disillusioned that they <a href="http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2016-08-02-after-a-flood-of-negative-feedback-pokemon-gos-developer-is-finally-ready-to-talk">requested refunds</a>. </p>
<p>The developers did not forewarn of major (potentially negative) changes, and did not communicate afterwards, leading to the claim that “<a href="https://www.cnet.com/au/news/pokemon-go-transparency-niantic-needs-to-communicate-editorial/">silence is killing Pokemon Go</a>”.</p>
<p>This has not been an isolated incident; the developers <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2016/07/21/niantic-and-nintendos-lack-of-communication-about-pokemon-go-issues-is-inexcusable/#75ed0ace2e83">communicated only intermittently</a> about server outages, offering very little information about why they had happened, how long the disruption was expected to last, or whether it was the work of hackers.</p>
<p>The final lesson is here is that communicating with your customers is paramount, particularly when things go wrong. Otherwise, you risk losing their confidence that you care about them and know how to fix the problem. If you have to make unpopular decisions, at least communicate the reason for those decisions and present a plan to assuage consumers’ concerns.</p>
<h2>Where to from here for Pokémon Go?</h2>
<p>This all begs the question: how might Pokémon Go attempt to bounce back? This might be challenging, as Pokémon Go would both need to implement new features and make lapsed (and new) users aware of them. One potential <a href="http://www.slashgear.com/3-pokemon-go-updates-thatll-suck-me-back-in-29458136/">option</a> is to increase social events, perhaps involving rare Pokémon placed in a given area. This might also generate more positive word of mouth, increase user engagement, and drive interest. </p>
<p>Pokémon Go could also expand into other markets, potentially rectifying the aforementioned issues when doing so. This includes a possible <a href="http://www.mobilenapps.com/articles/18659/20160916/pok%C3%A9mon-go-release-date-update-niantic-finally-acknowledges-india-generation.htm">expansion</a> into China and India. This would be most effective if additional in-game <a href="http://www.slashgear.com/3-pokemon-go-updates-thatll-suck-me-back-in-29458136/">features</a>, such as in game battling, were implemented. In this case, the game could start from a fresh base in new markets, while improving the game in existing markets.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>This article was amended on October 19, 2016, to note that the Buddy Pokémon feature is already live, and not forthcoming as the article originally stated.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/67135/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mark Humphery-Jenner does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Since spawning a global craze, Pokémon Go has shed a third of its players, while downloads have dried up. What did the developers do wrong, and what can others learn about keeping gamers happy?Mark Humphery-Jenner, Associate Professor of Finance, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/646412016-09-11T14:29:24Z2016-09-11T14:29:24ZVirtual reality will change the world. Here’s what parents need to know<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136717/original/image-20160906-6127-iigted.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">When it comes to children and virtual reality, proceed with caution.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ralph Orlowski/Reuters</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>I’ve always been a nerd who loves technology and games. So when it emerged that virtual reality (VR) tech was becoming available to gamers, I was ecstatic.</p>
<p>Then something happened that gave me pause. A gamer and YouTuber named Mark Fishbach, aka <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/markiplierGAME">Markiplier</a>, shared his experience of playing an unfinished VR demo game. VR is a technology that creates a virtual environment. It is presented to our senses so you feel like you’re actually there. A host of technologies are used to account for cognition and perception. A VR headset takes over and re-represents visual surroundings – similar to what headphones do with audio. </p>
<p>Despite the game’s terrible graphics and unrealistic scenery, Markiplier got so scared playing it that he started crying and wanted to stop at various points.</p>
<p>Everything changed for me in that moment. If a 27-year-old man who plays horror games for a living can be terrified by an unrealistic game, VR may hold very real risks for its users - especially younger ones. </p>
<p>There is no doubt that VR is the next big thing: it will <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQaCv52DSnY">change the world</a>. As it becomes more common and cheaper, it will be incorporated into everything from education, military training and research to criminal justice, and even <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2016/01/06/virtual-reality-therapy-treating-the-global-mental-health-crisis/">therapy</a>. </p>
<p>But for families with young children, it may be wiser to wait a little before leaping headlong into this new reality.</p>
<h2>What is VR?</h2>
<p>VR isn’t exactly new. There were attempts in the 1990s to make it mainstream. These failed because of technological drawbacks and enormous expense. But technology <a href="http://www.vrs.org.uk/news/2016-the-year-of-vr">has evolved</a>, making VR steadily more affordable and accessible.</p>
<p>VR’s power lies in the fact that the subconscious cannot differentiate between reality and the simulated environment you’re seeing. Your conscious mind might be aware that you’re just playing a game, but your subconscious re-calibrates itself to accept the new surroundings as real. It will initiate fight or flight and other psychological and physiological reactions in response to a perceived threat. This is why a VR user might duck at something that’s thrown at him in the game.</p>
<p>This description might alarm parents. But there’s no need to start burning VR headsets in the streets. VR and its near-neighbour augmented reality hold incredible promise.</p>
<p>Research has indicated that they might <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3125918/">fight child obesity</a>, <a href="http://www.vrs.org.uk/virtual-reality-healthcare/autism-treatment.html">autism</a>, and even improve <a href="http://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/how-can-schools-use-virtual-reality-180957974/?no-ist">school grades</a>. </p>
<p>But there’s a flip side. VR often draws comparisons with regular gaming. So, many of the concerns that have been raised historically against the gaming industry may warrant a second look in the context of VR.</p>
<h2>Desensitisation</h2>
<p>Some experts are worried that VR <a href="http://www.vrs.org.uk/virtual-reality/ethical-issues.html">desensitises users</a>. This could be through violent games, or through exercises for military personnel in which soldiers train in simulated combat scenarios.</p>
<p>It could mean that a person is no longer as affected by extreme acts of behaviour, like violence. They may fail to show appropriate empathy or compassion. <a href="http://www.vrs.org.uk/virtual-reality/ethical-issues.html">Some experts</a> even claim that in some situations a desensitised user may actively seek out violent scenarios for a sense of power and for the adrenaline rush. This has been particularly noticed in those who play highly immersive games involving VR or take the form of <a href="https://www.techopedia.com/definition/241/first-person-shooter-fps">first person shooter games</a>.</p>
<p>Recent research denies this, suggesting that <a href="https://consumer.healthday.com/mental-health-information-25/behavior-health-news-56/violent-video-games-don-t-influence-kids-behavior-study-698040.html">violent video games don’t influence kids’ behaviour</a>. Still, it’s important to remember that children under the age of 12 are experiencing significant psychological development. Games that are not age appropriate or take hours (more than three a day) to complete can <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/jordanshapiro/2014/08/27/a-surprising-new-study-on-how-video-games-impact-children/#33e472f349f9">have negative effects on them</a>.</p>
<h2>Virtual addiction</h2>
<p>As VR tech becomes more readily available and starts spreading into other industries, there may be a rise in virtual reality addiction, that mirror <a href="http://www.psychguides.com/guides/video-game-addiction-symptoms-causes-and-effects/">video gaming addiction</a>, but is potentially even more enticing.</p>
<p>These people will begin to blur the boundaries between real, augmented and virtual reality. Their real world life may suffer as a result.</p>
<p>PokemonGo is a good example. This can be considered an augmented reality game; it enhances reality rather than replacing it with a completely fabricated environment. It places things in reality that aren’t really there but can be perceived through the game. The hype around the game was immense - and was quickly followed by reports of people walking into traffic, getting fired or mugged, and even abandoning their children to chase Pokemons.</p>
<p>In this augmented world they neglected their real world surroundings and responsibilities. </p>
<p>The key to addressing this is similar to addressing any potential addiction: self-control. It’s vital to limit the hours spent playing, particularly when children are the gamers. Parents can treat the device as a reward for good behaviour. They can also restrict access if children go over the time limit or behave badly.</p>
<h2>Virtual misrepresentation</h2>
<p>Many people behave totally differently in a virtual world. Researchers studied <a href="https://vhil.stanford.edu/mm/2007/yee-proteus-effect.pdf">the effects</a> of playing an avatar – a figure representing a person in a computer game – that has traits the user doesn’t. These might include height, weight, attractiveness and age. They found that people would behave in a manner associated with that trait. Other users would respond to an avatar with a specific trait similarly as they would in reality.</p>
<p>This could become an issue where VR avatars make users more inclined to be rude, crude, or even bully others. Children are especially vulnerable, with <a href="http://www.marketwatch.com/story/these-people-are-more-likely-to-bully-your-kids-online-2016-08-30">cyberbullying among teens on the rise</a>. </p>
<h2>How to manage kids and VR</h2>
<p>Some experts have <a href="http://www.digitaltrends.com/virtual-reality/is-vr-safe-for-kids-we-asked-the-experts/">pointed out</a> that it’s far too soon to suggest VR devices are harming children. </p>
<p>This isn’t surprising. VR is still too new for any of its long term effects, whether negative or positive, to be understood. For now, how can the parents of young gaming enthusiasts ensure that their children are playing it safe in the VR world?</p>
<p>Until we know more, parents should heed the age <a href="https://www.vrfocus.com/2015/06/oculus-rift-age-limit/">limits</a> on VR devices. It’s also a good idea to limit playing time and to monitor what games your children are playing. Use the device as a tool to teach kids self-restraint and discipline – and keep an eye on the VR scene for any new developments.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/64641/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Melissa Meyer does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>There is no doubt that virtual reality is the next big thing. But for families with young children, it may be wiser to wait a little before leaping headlong into this new reality.Melissa Meyer, PhD Candidate at the Centre of Criminology, UCT, University of Cape TownLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/650942016-09-08T05:09:20Z2016-09-08T05:09:20ZApple is losing the innovation game, it can’t trap users anymore<p>Not only is Apple suffering from a major lack of hardware innovation but it’s also being outdone in software and online, where apps reign supreme. It quite possibly signals the company’s eventual demise.</p>
<p>The recent launch of Apple’s iPhone 7 was a quiet affair compared to the launch of the first iPhone a little more than nine years ago. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGoM_wVrwng">January 2, 2007</a>, was a revolutionary day for world telecommunications as the ailing Steve Jobs held aloft the new iPhone device to the cheers of adoring techies.</p>
<p>Fast-forward almost a decade and not much has changed about the iPhone. The same cannot be said for the applications that iPhones and other phones run – here innovation is fast and furious. </p>
<p>The popular <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/business/world-business/pokemon-go-is-in-decline--these-charts-tell-the-story-20160822-gqyo61.html">Pokémon Go</a> is an example of this. This software was enabled by the iPhone and its competitors, but really used very little of the phone’s processing capacity. The real innovation was in the game itself and the game is a virtual thing, run by some distant server far away.</p>
<p>This is the essential challenge for the likes of Apple and its competitors – the speed of innovation for their physical products is much slower than the speed of innovation of the software and application developers that use their products as a conduit to consumers. Following this trajectory means a future where what users want is a simple and reliable device that will seamlessly connect them with cloud-based applications of increasing diversity and value. </p>
<p>This future device will have a great display, good battery life and probably a nice camera. However, as that’s really all it needs to have, it will probably be cheap.</p>
<p>It’s <a href="http://www.innovationmanagement.se/2012/01/12/how-to-break-out-of-the-commodity-trap-a-lesson-from-mickey-mouse/">this trap</a> that will lead to the inevitable decline in Apple’s sales and profits. Its share of smart phone sales has been falling for some time at the expense of Android developers like <a href="http://www.lg.com/au/mobile">LG</a>, <a href="http://www.samsung.com/au/consumer/mobile-phone/mobile-phone/">Samsung</a> and a bevy of low-cost Chinese manufacturers. </p>
<p>The relatively recent success of the likes of China’s <a href="http://blogs.forrester.com/richard_fichera/14-05-28-decoding_huawei_emergence_as_a_major_it_player_looms">Huawei</a> and HTC provide evidence for the anticipated downward spiral of super-normal profits in the sector in the near future. The emergence of major markets in developing nations like India, where mobile company <a href="http://gadgets.ndtv.com/telecom/features/reliance-jio-4g-plans-kick-off-mobile-price-wars-1455433">Reliance Jio</a> is rolling out a low-cost 4G network, will create massive demand and will mean firms will develop cheap but functional devices.</p>
<p>Ironically, the next big innovation anticipated for the sector will probably accelerate this decline. A major improvement in battery technology will lead to longer ownership and less turnover of phones. Slower sales, cheaper products, more competitors: it is a strategist’s worst nightmare.</p>
<p>For users, however, the future is bright – at least for users who aspire to be online all the time and everywhere. At least it will be cheap.</p>
<h2>The good old days of the first iPhone</h2>
<p>When the first iPhone was launched, Nokia still dominated the global mobile phone market. Its <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia_5200">5200</a> was a big seller – but it looked silly compared to the sleekness of the new iPhone. </p>
<p>With the rapid advent of Apple as a seller of smart phones, Nokia’s market share plummeted. Today, the Finnish firm has <a href="http://www.pcworld.com/article/3109697/phones/windows-phone-sales-collapse-as-microsoft-ravages-nokia-remnants.html">all but disappeared</a>. Nokia simply hadn’t kept up with the paradigmatic changes around the user interface (the way users enter information into the phone) and also failed to see the power of how Apple shared innovation in the app developer community.</p>
<p>Apple led in both areas. It also cleverly assembled barriers to entry for competitors wishing to access its apps. Apple made hundreds of billions in profit over the next few years as consumers bought up not just the iPhone but the whole ecosystem assembled around the device – iTunes, the app store and later its iPads. </p>
<p>Apple was very successful, for a time, at assembling a dominant operating system that locked up users and app developers into its own business model. That success, however, was transitory. There are few apps not now released in duplicate – for Apple’s iOS and the much more open and increasingly dominant Android.</p>
<p>Apple phones are now 4G rather than the older <a href="http://www.gsma.com/aboutus/gsm-technology/gsm">Global System for Mobile Communications</a> (GSM), with better data speeds. The batteries last longer and they have a better camera. </p>
<p>But the essential aspects of what they do for most users remain. It’s mostly a simple device to make and receive calls, although <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/neilhowe/2015/07/15/why-millennials-are-texting-more-and-talking-less/#3dc5bd1d5576">texting</a> is a much more common means of communication and a portal for web services through apps rather than through an integrated browser.</p>
<p>We are witnessing the uncoupling of the Apple business model that has served the company well. Its ability to keep customers confined to its proprietary ecosystem cannot be sustained as more mobile content is developed online that can be seamlessly accessed through multiple different devices. It could well signal the beginning of the end of Apple as we know it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/65094/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Rice is a member of the NTEU.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nigel Martin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Apple business model is failing. Its ability to keep customers confined to the company’s ecosystem cannot be sustained because of the rise of apps and other online platforms.John Rice, Professor of Management, University of New EnglandNigel Martin, Lecturer, College of Business and Economics, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/637662016-08-14T20:15:54Z2016-08-14T20:15:54ZGaming in the classroom: what we can learn from Pokémon Go technology<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/133719/original/image-20160810-18037-pnth9h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Despite the negative press, Pokémon Go should be approached with an open mind when it comes to student education.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://one.aap.com.au/#/search/pokemon%20go?q=%7B%22pageSize%22:25,%22pageNumber%22:6%7D">AAP Image/David Moir</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Pokémon Go has already had over <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2016/08/01/pokemon-go-passed-100-million-installs-over-the-weekend/">100 million downloads</a> since it launched in July. </p>
<p>Despite its popularity, it has received significant negative media attention, with reports of people <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2016/07/15/health/pokemon-go-players-fall-down-cliff/">falling off cliffs</a>, <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-07-20/pokemon-go-player-crashes-into-parked-police-car-in-baltimore/7645166">crashing cars</a> and <a href="http://www.news.com.au/technology/home-entertainment/gaming/man-suing-makers-of-pokemon-go-for-allegedly-prompting-players-to-trespass-on-private-property/news-story/9d5b67587f29a0fc80ca3e98e67c96ac">trespassing</a>. The game has even <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dawn-q-landau/pokemon-go_b_11199526.html">been attacked</a> for turning users into anti-social zombies. </p>
<p>Yet there could be more positive aspects to the phenomenon if we look past its entertainment value and the moral panic some have attached to it. For instance, how could we potentially harness this app, and the technology associated with it, to support education?</p>
<p>Pokémon Go is not the first augmented reality (AR) app, but it is by far the most popular. </p>
<p>Unlike virtual reality, which replaces or simulates reality, AR takes reality and adds something to it. </p>
<p>Bar codes, QR codes, Viewa - which allows readers to watch videos related to magazine content by scanning the page with their phones – and sound-recognition apps such as Shazam are all examples of AR that have been embraced by society. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/133722/original/image-20160811-9203-u1dliu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/133722/original/image-20160811-9203-u1dliu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/133722/original/image-20160811-9203-u1dliu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=612&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133722/original/image-20160811-9203-u1dliu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=612&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133722/original/image-20160811-9203-u1dliu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=612&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133722/original/image-20160811-9203-u1dliu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=769&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133722/original/image-20160811-9203-u1dliu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=769&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133722/original/image-20160811-9203-u1dliu.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=769&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">QR codes are an example of augmented reality that has been embraced by society.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Barcode#/media/File:QRCode.png">www.wikimedia.com</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In education, AR has already been employed to make otherwise difficult concepts, such as the structure of DNA or the inner workings of the heart, more accessible.</p>
<p>We know that effective teaching is more than a teacher in front of a whiteboard disseminating information. Learning occurs through problem-solving, enquiry and by working collaboratively with teachers and peers in a student-centred approach. </p>
<p>Experiential learning pedagogy advocates involving all the senses in hands-on, practical education, integrating aspects of more than one discipline in the task and ensuring the learning incorporates student interest as well as developing skills such as creativity, communication and digital competence. </p>
<p>All these factors help students see the relevance of their education and keep them engaged and motivated. Apps like Pokémon Go could be used to advance this agenda.</p>
<p>Playing computer games can be seen as an opportunity to improve students’ academic performance, with <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/technology/sci-tech/computer-gamers-have-an-edge-in-the-classroom-study-20160808-gqnbhc.html">studies reporting</a> an increase in maths and science scores among regular players.</p>
<h2>Gaming in the classroom</h2>
<p>Game-based learning is another way popular digital games can be harnessed to teach 21st-century or <a href="http://www.fya.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/The-New-Basics_Web_Final.pdf">enterprise skills</a> in classrooms; even decisions about in-app purchases address financial literacy. </p>
<p>Minecraft, for example, has and continues to be <a href="http://education.minecraft.net/">used in classrooms</a> to teach concepts such as deforestation, sustainability, communication, problem-solving and teamwork. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/133723/original/image-20160811-13397-1fu7c1i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/133723/original/image-20160811-13397-1fu7c1i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/133723/original/image-20160811-13397-1fu7c1i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133723/original/image-20160811-13397-1fu7c1i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133723/original/image-20160811-13397-1fu7c1i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133723/original/image-20160811-13397-1fu7c1i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133723/original/image-20160811-13397-1fu7c1i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133723/original/image-20160811-13397-1fu7c1i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Popular video game Minecraft has been used in classrooms to teach concepts such as deforestation, sustainability, communication, problem-solving and teamwork.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/30478819@N08/14951724561">Marco Verch/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Pokémon Go makes game-based learning even more accessible as it harnesses technology that the majority of people <a href="http://newmediaresearch.educ.monash.edu.au/lnm/pokemon-go-shallow-time-wasting-phone-game-or-killer-app/">already have in their pockets</a>.</p>
<p>Pokémon Go has a big fan base among school students and it is clearly keeping them engaged. It can be used as a stimulus for a wide variety of topics over a number of year levels. Pokémon Go is a pedometer, GPS, data collection and journalling tool, and requires maths skills to play. These features can be employed to link playing the game with student learning and the curriculum.</p>
<p>Some of the potential curriculum links are:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>whole-class discussions of how the <a href="http://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2016-07-28/aust-latitude-longitude-coordinates-out-by-1-5m-scientists/7666858">movement of tectonic plates</a> has affected GPS readings in Australia (science, geography, English)</p></li>
<li><p>photographing both real insects and virtual Pokémon and then writing up Pokédex entries for the insects they have collected (science, media studies, ICT, English, art)</p></li>
<li><p>designing classification flowcharts for Pokémon as a lead-up to classification of animals (science, English, maths)</p></li>
<li><p>assigning students the job of Pokéstop tour guide (Pokéstops are often positioned in front of historical locations), requiring them to research and report on the history of the area (history, art, English)</p></li>
<li><p>framing maths problems around the data available for each Pokémon such as height, weight and strength. For example, if I have 3,700 stardust, what combination of Pokémon can I power up that will use up all my stardust? Or Asha’s house is 600m from school. The only time she plays Pokémon Go is as she walks to and from school every day. How many days will it take her to hatch a 5.0km egg?</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Despite media reports to the contrary, there are many positive outcomes for Pokémon Go users. As a direct result of their involvement with the game, they are exercising and often engaging with others, discussing where to find rare Pokémon and co-ordinate lures. </p>
<p>While critics show photos of groups of people each staring at their own devices, anyone who has encountered a “Poképatch” (a group of players standing around a Pokéstop) will know that a lot of communication is taking place, with even “Pokédates” becoming a thing.</p>
<p>Looking at the Australian curriculum, the general capability priorities such as critical and creative thinking, personal and social capability and, of course, ICT, could also be taught using Pokémon Go as students manage their school and social lives, build relationships with others, work effectively in teams and make responsible decisions. </p>
<p>As this game is not played from behind closed doors, it even encourages conversations about personal safety. Discussions about the intersection between <a href="http://www.fastcompany.com/3061784/what-pokemon-go-means-for-women">reality and the virtual world</a> and digital etiquette are easy to imagine.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/133729/original/image-20160811-20932-16b02qj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/133729/original/image-20160811-20932-16b02qj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/133729/original/image-20160811-20932-16b02qj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133729/original/image-20160811-20932-16b02qj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133729/original/image-20160811-20932-16b02qj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133729/original/image-20160811-20932-16b02qj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133729/original/image-20160811-20932-16b02qj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133729/original/image-20160811-20932-16b02qj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Blippar allows users to scan their environment, providing webpages and information when it recognises objects.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/epredator/6325013035/in/photolist-aCVm1T-qtXqQQ-pxg3Yt-aEikU9-qtR6zB-qrJNaf-qczgdk-qu1ZUH-px2yss-qcAVFP-qrJMrG-qcAVNn-qcsmUo-qtR6JV-px2yo9-qtR6y4-dCywiA-4KovBJ-qczfxx-chgGyo-chgG4A-chgGmd-ciKARY-EHCsiL-chgFP1-cm36d5-cm2CrY-cm2CBW-cm37rw-BgjBBK-ASqjiM-BgjAMD-BEft33-BnGM8u-ASqjC4-ASjnYW-BEftEf-BPQC9k-BMwP9A-BGxWek-ASjpdQ-BMwNQ9-ASqjg2-BGxXcH-BMwPVq-BMwNVj-BPQB7v-ASqjDr-BgjB5n-ASqjb2">Ian Hughes/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There are already apps such as <a href="https://blippar.com/en/">Blippar</a> that allow people to use phones to scan their environment. The app recognises objects (such as your shoe, a phone, the Eiffel Tower) and instantly finds webpages that can provide more information (such as where you can buy it, how it works or its history). </p>
<p>Add that to existing technology such as Google Glass and you can imagine a world where students visit the zoo on a school excursion and have been asked to research an animal of their choice for a class presentation. </p>
<p>As Mia approaches the elephant enclosure, information about what she sees appears before her eyes. She looks at some carrots and data about how much food an elephant eats in a day appears. She turns her gaze to the elephant’s tusks, and a video about poaching plays. As she pulls her focus out to see the whole elephant, an interactive hologram of the animal floats before her eyes, allowing the student to explore features such as the elephant’s DNA or digestive system. </p>
<p>Content becomes immediate and relevant to students as they take charge of their own learning.</p>
<p>Apps, games and technologies such as Pokémon Go should be approached with an open mind as they offer many potential avenues to employ an engaging, student-centred approach to education.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/63766/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Apps, games and technologies like Pokémon Go should be approached with an open mind as they offer many potential avenues to employ an engaging, student-centred approach to education.Amber McLeod, Lecturer in Education, Monash UniversityKelly Carabott, Assistant Lecturer, Faculty of Education, Monash University., Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/636882016-08-12T12:54:13Z2016-08-12T12:54:13ZNerve: a flawed but insightful film about the perils of social media<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/133925/original/image-20160812-16339-bxlpz2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lionsgate</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>“Truth or Dare but without the Truth.” This scary tagline sums up Nerve, a social media game that drives the film of the same name. We follow 17-year-old Vee’s immersion in the game, where “players” earn money for completing dares to kiss strangers or shoplift $4,000 dresses. As you’d expect, the dares quickly escalate with the vicarious demands of the “watchers” (gamers who pay for the privilege of watching rather than taking part) – riding a motorcycle blindfolded at 60mph, for example. What emerges is a series of somewhat trite, but nonetheless pertinent, observations on social media and the politics of celebrity and voyeurism.</p>
<p>Nerve is the latest offering from Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman – and, like their earlier <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/dec/16/catfish-review">Catfish</a> (2010), it explores the ways in which the internet doesn’t always promote the best in human behaviour.</p>
<p>Games impinging on real life is an idea that seems all-too appropriate given the current Pokémon Go craze, the augmented reality game that has people walking around the country staring at their mobile devices trying to catch imaginary beasts. And, accordingly, Nerve has been variously been described as “<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2016/07/28/us/ap-us-film-nerve.html?_r=0">a dark thriller for the Pokémon Go generation</a>”, “<a href="http://www.therecord.com/whatson-story/6787674-nerve-a-technothriller-for-pokemon-go-generation/">a technothriller for Pokémon Go generation</a>”, and as a “<a href="http://www.cityam.com/247216/nerve-film-review-emma-roberts-and-dave-franco-star-ya">YA thriller about what happens when Pokémon Go turns evil</a>”. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2PR9MOPTI7g?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>But this comparison raises some interesting issues. Such headlines seem to assume a few things, primarily that Pokémon Go has a “generation”. Given Nerve’s 15 rating, this presupposes that such a “generation” is comprised of 15-18 year-olds, when part of the appeal of Pokémon Go appears to be that anyone can play it, from pre-teens up to 20-something fans of the initial Pokémon series and beyond. In fact, Nerve is more akin to an <a href="http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/alternate-reality-games-could-still-take-over-the-world-and-your-life">alternate reality game</a> than an augmented reality game, in the sense that the game invades and manipulates your life – indeed, is your life – rather than transposing digital images over the real world. </p>
<p>Nerve feels like a cross between something like the <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0264263/">Jackass</a> series and movies, in which people who should know better do stupid things for the amusement of the viewing public; <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113243/?ref_=nv_sr_1">Hackers</a> (1995), in which a group of teenagers get embroiled in a cyber-virus plot; and the awful remake of Dangerous Liaisons, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0139134/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Cruel Intentions</a> (1999), in which teenagers screw each other over for fun (you could easily see shades of <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086567/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Wargames</a> (1983) and the Brat Pack movies of the 1980s in the film too). </p>
<p>From these parallels, it should be obvious that Nerve is an unashamedly teen movie – and the film suffers from the usual problems of the genre: coming-of-age story plus boy-meets-girl plus teens know everything and adults are clueless plus implausible plot.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/133928/original/image-20160812-16333-mjprfd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/133928/original/image-20160812-16333-mjprfd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133928/original/image-20160812-16333-mjprfd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133928/original/image-20160812-16333-mjprfd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133928/original/image-20160812-16333-mjprfd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133928/original/image-20160812-16333-mjprfd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133928/original/image-20160812-16333-mjprfd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Gameworld.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lionsgate</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Despite this, Nerve foregrounds some issues around technology in a far more relatable way than some other recent films that engage with similar themes. <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0986263/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Surrogates</a> (2009) imagined a world in which people use surrogate bodies, leading to a loss of human interaction. <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1034032/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Gamer</a> (2009) had people’s bodies being puppeted by players in violent shoot-‘em-up games and nightmarish day-glo social media worlds. <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120907/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">eXistenZ</a> (1999) asked questions about how virtual reality games blur the boundary between real and fiction. <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093894/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">The Running Man</a> (1987) and <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0452608/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Death Race</a> (2008) imagine death and destruction as part of public entertainment.</p>
<p>Nerve brings all these various threads together, highlighting the potential dangers of social media. It queries whether anonymity can absolve you of responsibility (no); whether you should do reckless or dangerous things in order to be popular, in response to peer-pressure, or for money (no); whether you should allow an app complete access to your digital footprint and banking details (no).</p>
<p>As such, Nerve seems concerned about the ways in which people who believe that they are playing a game fail to think about consequences and the ramifications of what happens if games and social media infiltrate society to the point that we all become merely avatars and anonymous usernames. </p>
<p>At one point, the male love interest declares that there is a third way of engaging with the game, beyond the initial option to be a player or a watcher — that of “prisoner”. As the film astutely demonstrates, neither players nor watchers are active – but passive, both controlled by the game. In this way, everyone who plays the game is a “prisoner” in actuality, encouraged to conform to the rules of the game and the systemic logic it propagates. </p>
<p>The only way to really beat a game is not to play, otherwise the game is the only thing that wins: the film argues that stepping outside the game is what takes real nerve. Nerve, for all its faults, is a timely reminder of the perils of social conformity in an increasingly online world.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/63688/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Will Slocombe does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>What happens when games and social media infiltrate society to the point that we all become avatars and anonymous usernames?Will Slocombe, Lecturer in American Literature, University of LiverpoolLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/637812016-08-11T13:04:05Z2016-08-11T13:04:05ZHow Pokemon Go turned couch potatoes into fitness fanatics without them even realising it<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/133798/original/image-20160811-9203-3klnv7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Gotta catch 'em all.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-458010427/stock-photo-pokemon-go-ios-and-android-smartphone-game-with-augmented-reality-with-drowzee-and-biker-sofia-bulgaria-july-25-2016.html?src=BjqvayU6q2605KN59LoBPg-2-3">Stoyan Yotov / Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Pokemon Go is taking the world by storm. Within days of its US release, its number of daily active users caught up with longstanding apps <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/pokmon-gobigger-than-tinder-overtake-twitter-similarweb-data-stock-price-nintendo-niantic-2016-7">Twitter</a>, <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/pokemon-go-nearly-as-many-daily-users-snapchat-google-maps-more-than-twitter-surveymonkey-2016-7">Snapchat and Google Maps</a>, and it became the <a href="https://www.surveymonkey.com/business/intelligence//pokemon-go-usage-statistics/">biggest mobile game</a> in US history. Since then, the game has been launched worldwide, creating a user base which spends more time playing Pokemon Go than the <a href="http://gearnuke.com/pokemon-go-now-users-facebook-snapchat/">average Facebook user</a> spends on site.</p>
<p>The app is supposedly generating upwards of <a href="https://www.appannie.com/insights/mobile-strategy/pokemon-go-an-opportunity-not-a-threat/">$10m a day in revenue</a> from the sale of PokeCoins, and is so engaging that people <a href="http://www.cnet.com/news/gotta-soak-em-all-pokemon-go-hunter-falls-in-pond-while-playing/">have walked into lakes</a> and <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/pokemon-go-men-fall-off-cliff-san-diego-android-ios-app-a7136986.html">fallen off cliffs</a> while playing. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/133822/original/image-20160811-28149-sfgjtq.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/133822/original/image-20160811-28149-sfgjtq.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1067&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133822/original/image-20160811-28149-sfgjtq.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1067&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133822/original/image-20160811-28149-sfgjtq.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1067&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133822/original/image-20160811-28149-sfgjtq.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1341&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133822/original/image-20160811-28149-sfgjtq.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1341&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133822/original/image-20160811-28149-sfgjtq.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1341&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Pokemon appear anywhere there is a mobile data signal.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This latest version of the Pokemon game has also been hailed for increasing physical activity in a group of individuals that have traditionally been seen as <a href="http://www.dailydot.com/debug/pokemon-go-workout-exercise-perk/">couch potatoes</a>. Since 1980, <a href="http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs311/en/">worldwide obesity has doubled</a>. Likewise, people are spending <a href="http://doi.org/10.4065/mcp.2010.0444">more time sitting down</a>. Pokemon Go is undoubtedly a great tool for boosting <a href="http://metro.co.uk/2016/08/10/playing-pokemon-go-is-really-good-for-your-health-6058376/">physical</a> and <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/programs/hack/turns-out-pokemon-go-is-unexpectedly-great-for-mental-health/7622740">mental health</a>, and could probably claim to be the most successful health app on the market without even trying to be. But why is it so motivating for some, and how can we harness this power to change other behaviours?</p>
<h2>Mind the gap</h2>
<p>Each of us possesses an intention-action gap (IAG). This is the discrepancy between our ideal self – what our values and intentions are – and our real self, that is what our actions actually are, what we actually achieve. The bigger the gap, the worse it is for us: if our intention is to spend 30 minutes a day being active and yet only do this maybe once a week, then we will be frustrated with ourselves and <a href="http://selfdeterminationtheory.org/domains/psychological-health-and-well-being-domain/">have poorer health outcomes</a>. </p>
<p>The IAG concept has been studied extensively in the context of saving the planet. We might all say we want to behave responsibly and reduce climate change, but how many of us actually do things that are consistent with this, such as recycling, buying sustainable produce or reducing air miles? The theory <a href="http://www.backofbeyond.co.uk/?page_id=27">applies equally to health behaviours</a> too. So how do we close this gap?</p>
<p>The world is becoming bipolar between those that embrace exercise and those that do not. While obesity accelerates, so does the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-23928730">popularity of triathlons</a> and many other sports. For some, exercising is intrinsically motivating and we need not worry about them, but the rest need a different approach.</p>
<p>We know from the history of behaviour change that people don’t like being <a href="http://www.sicotests.com/psyarticle.asp?id=65">told what to do</a>. So for those who are not motivated to exercise we need to find an alternative way. <a href="http://selfdeterminationtheory.org">Self-determination theory</a> argues that we will work energetically to satisfy three core psychological needs: autonomy, competence and relatedness. </p>
<p>A person will engage in exercise if they choose to do so (autonomy), feel they are gaining valuable skills or achieving a goal (competence), or enjoying social interactions (relatedness). And that’s where Pokemon Go comes in: it motivates users because it provides a pure form of these core needs. You can choose when to go Pokemon hunting and which Pokemon to hunt. By catching and training Pokemon you gain levels and status, and walking up to 10km can hatch rare Pokemon eggs that you have found. Additionally, you can hunt in packs or with one or two close allies, or share augmented reality snaps over social media.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/133799/original/image-20160811-18023-1g8pxpo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/133799/original/image-20160811-18023-1g8pxpo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133799/original/image-20160811-18023-1g8pxpo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133799/original/image-20160811-18023-1g8pxpo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133799/original/image-20160811-18023-1g8pxpo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133799/original/image-20160811-18023-1g8pxpo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133799/original/image-20160811-18023-1g8pxpo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Still behind a screen but gamers are getting out and about thanks to Pokemon Go.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-457427182/stock-photo-bangkok-thailand-july-22-2016-pokemon-go-is-a-new-augmented-reality-game-which-lets-you-walk-in-the-real-world-to-catch-the-pokemon.html?src=07-ujxJxQlec1G1BOKUGXA-1-7">Wachiwit / Shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The game harnesses our vulnerability to a phenomenon known as <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/291128717_Positive_emotions_and_reward_Appetitive_systems_-_Amygdala_and_striatum">stimulus-bound behaviour</a>. Because the world is so complex and we have limited processing power, our brains automatise much of our behaviour, developing habits. These operate by identifying stimuli in the environment that we have specific automatic responses to, like braking at a red light. This stimulus control is incredibly powerful in controlling behaviour. In Pokemon Go it is harnessed by tracking specific Pokemon, PokeStops, and PokeGyms. Essentially we relinquish control over goals and actions to these stimuli, but while they can support bad habits – encouraging some to smoke, or buy that sugary coffee they don’t really need – they can also help us achieve our chosen goals.</p>
<h2>Being the very best</h2>
<p>There are few health apps that also happen to be fun for those who are not intrinsically motivated to exercise. Pokemon Go’s global release is a success story that we cannot ignore going forward: its impact on getting players up and moving is probably one of the greatest technological advances of the last few years. </p>
<p>Going forward, we need investment in research to help understand complex behaviour change and how we can use it to get the world’s population to be more active. Alongside this, it is clear that we need to invest in augmented reality, and explore how it can be used in mobile games. Pokemon was already an outright success before the app was released but there are many other brands and digital universes that could harness a similar approach to their future releases. Imagine competing in a 100 metre Olympic-style event against <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NfanLvgjfE">Nintendo characters augmented in real life</a>, or hunting out rupees and other treasures to use in <a href="http://www.zelda.com/">The Legend of Zelda’s Hyrule</a>.</p>
<p>By using gamified augmented reality, we can close the intention-action gap at an individual level and promote sustainable healthy behaviour – without anyone even realising it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/63781/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John A Parkinson has received funding from the Wales European Funding Office to carry out applied research into behaviour change. </span></em></p>The minds of Pokemon trainers have been manipulated using basic behavioural science.John A Parkinson, Professor in Behavioural Neuroscience, Bangor UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/631592016-07-29T10:25:27Z2016-07-29T10:25:27ZWhy Niantic didn’t need marketing to make Pokémon Go viral<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/132342/original/image-20160728-12097-dp7c51.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Gotta catch 'em all</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/cyberbird/14259367088/">Nicole Ciaramella</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>It’s not hard to see why Pokémon Go has become so popular. Its <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-pokemon-go-became-an-instant-phenomenon-62412">simple gameplay and social element</a> have made the augmented reality game an instant hit, eclipsing the <a href="https://www.similarweb.com/blog/pokemon-go">daily active user figures</a> of giants such as Candy Crush Saga and Tinder. Yet the company behind Pokémon Go, Niantic, has done very little to promote the game since it launched. Beyond a handful of release notifications from the <a href="https://twitter.com/PokemonGoApp">official Pokémon Go Twitter account</a>, no TV commercials have been commissioned and in-app advertising is minimal. </p>
<p>Niantic has instead relied on word-of-mouth to promote its take on Pokémon, particularly in the form of unofficial viral pictures, videos and social media posts shared online (internet memes) that reference or parody the game. This user-generated content ensures the title is on the lips of the masses, even if many of them haven’t even played it yet.</p>
<p>The term “meme”, coined by biologist Richard Dawkins in his book <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-selfish-gene-9780198788607?q=selfish%20gene&lang=en&cc=gb">The Selfish Gene</a>, refers to an idea, behaviour or style that propagates across culture, just as a successful gene spreads through a population. <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/1304.1712">Internet memes</a> pervade the web in a similar way. Carried via text, images or videos, the idea (often a quip or funny observation) is replicated by being shared and reposted, transforming over time to spawn hundreds of thematic variants. </p>
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<p>Memes are a staple of social media, loved by some, but a nuisance to others. Log into Facebook, and you’ll likely find people sharing images of <a href="http://www.celebuzz.com/2016-04-29/20-views-album-covers-more-canadian/">“Drake sitting on things”</a> or video remixes of <a href="http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/sad-affleck">“Sad” Ben Affleck</a> silently contemplating lukewarm reviews of Batman vs Superman. Occasionally, meme replication hits a critical mass. Borrowing again from biological terminology, they go “viral”. </p>
<p>Internet memes can certainly be entertaining. Yet these snapshots of pop culture have a deeper use. They provide the kind of pervasive promotion that can catapult films, games, and literature into craze status. Today we see this phenomenon in play with Pokémon Go, and not just with memes that celebrate the franchise. Social media sites are awash with comedic posts that poke fun at the game, and its players, from all angles.</p>
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<p>The marketing force behind Pokémon Go understand that the franchise’s consumers are their biggest, and most active marketing tool. Video parodies and image macros (pictures with humorous captions) targeting Pokémon have been circling the web <a href="http://www.memecenter.com/search/pokemon">for years</a>. Pokémon is a well established cultural icon, and this kind of user-generated content ensures it remains visible even without the addition of a popular new game to the franchise. Appreciating this, Niantic side-stepped any major marketing blitz for Pokémon Go, safe in the knowledge that nostalgia would amply feed the meme. </p>
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<p>The profile-raising power of the Internet meme is significant. Memes such as “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHg5SJYRHA0">Rick-rolling</a>” (where seemingly unrelated weblinks point users to a video of 80s pop star Rick Astley) demonstrate how user-generated content can revitalise bygone stars, and in some cases breathe life into commercial flops. Take the film Vampire’s Kiss, which grossed only <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098577/">32% of its $2m budget</a> in 1989. Nicolas Cage’s unrestrained (and borderline frantic) performance fuelled the highly popular “You Don’t Say” meme, sparking renewed interest in the title. Vampire’s Kiss is now considered by some to be a <a href="http://www.thesaint-online.com/2013/10/cult-film-of-the-week-vampires-kiss/">cult film.</a></p>
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<p>The viral potential of memes is naturally attractive in marketing, but their unpredictability is problematic. Who knew that a fist-pumping baby (<a href="http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/success-kid-i-hate-sandcastles">Success Kid</a>) or ivory-tinkling feline (<a href="http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/keyboard-cat">Keyboard Cat</a>) would make such an impact on social media?</p>
<p>To negate risk, brands tend to piggyback off trending memes. This approach, called “memejacking”, is bold and brash, but can work wonders – as Sesame Street marketers will tell you. The TV show surfed a wave of parodies of Carly Rae Jepsen’s 2011 single, Call Me Maybe, with its own video featuring the Cookie Monster sharing treats with office workers. The parody, “Share It Maybe”, proved very popular for the franchise, racking up over 20m views to date on its official YouTube Channel. </p>
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<p>To a network of ardent Pokémon fans, add one (rather aggrandising) game trailer. Throw then into the mix the screen capture capabilities of smartphone and tablet devices, and you have all the fuel needed to get the meme-train rolling. </p>
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<p>And rolling it is. Two weeks after US release, Pokemon Go regularly secures the number 1 slot in Know Your Meme’s <a href="http://knowyourmeme.com/photos/trending">“top image gallery” chart</a> and parody versions of the game pervade social media. The nuances of Pokemon Go – from the “seek and collect” gameplay mechanic, through <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jul/16/pokemon-go-server-crash-niantic-europe-us">endless server crashes</a> to Pokemon hunting placing <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3688528/How-Pokemon-ruining-relationships.html">strain on relationships</a> – continue to infect YouTube, Twitter and Facebook, replicating and mutating into new (and largely funny) media content each passing day.</p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lee Scott does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The spontaneous success of Pokémon Go shows how powerful internet memes can be.Lee Scott, Subject Leader in Creative Computing, Bath Spa UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/631052016-07-27T05:09:25Z2016-07-27T05:09:25ZPokécology: people will never put down their phones, but games can get them focused on nature<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/132108/original/image-20160727-7051-hx91gu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Catch them all - and maybe spare a thought for the trees.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Matthew Corley/Shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Anyone who has been outdoors in a populated area in the past month will be aware of the massive success of <a href="https://theconversation.com/pokemon-go-gets-people-out-and-about-and-thats-a-good-thing-62343">Pokémon GO</a>, which has <a href="http://time.com/4400791/pokemon-go-iphone-android-nintendo/">rocketed to the top of the gaming charts</a>. </p>
<p>People have been avidly collecting Pokémon creatures in various media formats for two decades, so it was a logical move to use smartphone technology to turn the franchise into a “<a href="https://theconversation.com/do-we-want-an-augmented-reality-or-a-transformed-reality-31642">mobile augmented reality</a>” (MAR) gaming app. </p>
<p>It has proved to be an economic as well as a social phenomenon, sending the market value of its owner Nintendo <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/articles/nintendo-now-worth-more-than-sony-following-pokemo/1100-6441985/">soaring to US$39.9 billion</a>. But the game was not actually developed by Nintendo; it was created by Google spin-off <a href="https://www.nianticlabs.com/">Niantic</a>, which also built Pokémon GO’s popular MAR predecessor, <a href="https://theconversation.com/turf-war-pick-your-side-and-get-outside-with-googles-ingress-11006">Ingress</a>. </p>
<p>Similar to Pokémon GO, Ingress is a reality-embedded sci-fi game in which players interact with real-world objects that are overlaid (using smartphone cameras) by a veneer of simulated characteristics.</p>
<p>In a <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/rec.12387/abstract">new paper published in the journal Restoration Ecology</a>, we argue that MAR games such as these can be a force for good in ecology and conservation, rather than being a cause for concern, as [others have argued](contrary to what <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-nature-conservationists-should-be-worried-about-pokemon-go-62869">others have written</a>. </p>
<p>The key is not to lament or rail against the popularity of gaming or augmented reality, but rather to embrace what makes them a success. They tap into people’s sense of fun and competitiveness, and they get people into the great outdoors – and this is all stuff that can encourage people to embrace nature.</p>
<h2>The problem</h2>
<p>The growth of our modern civilisation, spurred on by technological innovations, has been underpinned by the exploitation of the natural environment. Today, a large fraction of the Earth, once swathed in wilderness, is now monopolised by humans. Populations of plants and animals have declined, leading to <a href="https://theconversation.com/earths-sixth-mass-extinction-has-begun-new-study-confirms-43432">local losses and global extinctions</a>, as a result of habitat destruction, harvesting, invasive species, and pollution.</p>
<p>Yet although the direct causes of wildlife loss are clear enough, what’s less obvious is why many people seemingly don’t care. The environmental writer George Monbiot has ascribed society’s ongoing destruction of the environment to the fact that <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/georgemonbiot/2014/may/09/why-we-couldnt-care-less-about-the-natural-world">not enough people value nature and wilderness</a> any more. </p>
<p>This “eco-detachment” has been described as a symptom of our modernised, urbanised world, in which new technology both dominates peoples’ interests and simultaneously <a href="https://theconversation.com/population-is-only-part-of-the-environmental-impact-equation-4009">increases society’s ability to damage the environment</a>.</p>
<p>But what if augmented reality – from MAR apps on smartphones to <a href="https://theconversation.com/with-hololens-the-future-of-reality-is-augmented-37104">HoloLenses</a> – could be harnessed in a positive and proactive way, to reconnect the wider public to nature and so unlock their inherent <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/biophilia-hypothesis">biophilia</a>? </p>
<p>What if a smartphone game was created that focused not on features of the cityscape, but rather on “gamifying” nature, wildlife, and human interactions with the natural environment? </p>
<p>Such a game would lead its players to actively choose to experience nature. They would connect to it, and protect it (as an in-game reward), and thus understand its value.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/132107/original/image-20160727-12749-1fqewku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/132107/original/image-20160727-12749-1fqewku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/132107/original/image-20160727-12749-1fqewku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/132107/original/image-20160727-12749-1fqewku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/132107/original/image-20160727-12749-1fqewku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/132107/original/image-20160727-12749-1fqewku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/132107/original/image-20160727-12749-1fqewku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/132107/original/image-20160727-12749-1fqewku.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Ingress enthusiasts. Hey, at least they’re outdoors, right?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3APlayersKrakowInteritusAnomaly2014.jpg">R4ph4ell-pl/Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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<p>Getting more of society to connect with nature has long been an elusive dream of environmentalists. More than a decade ago, a group of leading conservation biologists <a href="http://science.sciencemag.org/content/295/5564/2367.2">famously found</a> children were far more expert at recognising Pokémon characters than they were at identifying common wildlife groups. The problem isn’t with spotting “species” <em>per se</em> – it’s that they were mainly exposed to the electronic ones and not the real ones.</p>
<p>This issue of where people invest their attention is crucial. Ingress now has more than 7 million active players, and has been downloaded by 12 million people since its release in 2012. The fact that the game requires you to get out and about means it encourages players to locate, recognise, and identify with an array of cultural icons they might otherwise ignore.</p>
<h2>Egress!</h2>
<p>So here’s the challenge: to create a new version of Ingress (let’s call it “Egress”), that is educational and positive, as well as popular. It might also use augmented reality to visualise environmental changes, either good (restoration) or bad (damage), in people’s local landscapes. To be a hit, it would need to both capture an audience and to foster a community. And it could even generate data for <a href="https://theconversation.com/addictive-online-games-make-citizen-science-a-hit-30552">citizen science</a> projects.</p>
<p>There are lots of possibilities for how an app such as this could work. Perhaps it might involve using smartphones to photograph, locate, and automatically “tag” species within a landscape; or to identify rare plants or insects; or detect signs of animal activity (diggings, droppings, and so on). The crucial point is that although its focus would be on ecology and nature, it needs to also incorporate a fun gaming element – sort of like a high-tech version of those old birdwatching handbooks, but one that offers more kudos for spotting rarer species.</p>
<p>A recent <a href="http://www.nature.com/news/gotta-name-them-all-how-pok%C3%A9mon-can-transform-taxonomy-1.20275">editorial in Nature</a> highlighted some of the potential uses of Pokémon GO, Ingress and others, suggesting that MAR games might even be used to discover and describe new species.</p>
<p>Who doesn’t want a new animal or plant to be named after them? Such citizen science activities would strengthen links between research, conservation, and the community.</p>
<p>What Ingress and Pokémon GO have shown is that it is possible to get millions of tech-savvy people out of their living rooms and basements and actively engaging with the wider world. While it’s impossible to guarantee that any project will go viral, this recent experience with MAR shows that people really can be persuaded, in large numbers, to get outside and explore. </p>
<p>That’s surely the first and most necessary step towards getting people to reconnect with, and care about, nature in the digital age.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/63105/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Barry W. Brook receives funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jessie C. Buettel does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>You might worry that people care more about what’s on their smartphone than what’s in their local wildlife park. But what if we could get them to care about both at the same time?Jessie C. Buettel, Postgraduate (P.h.D) student, University of TasmaniaBarry W. Brook, ARC Australian Laureate Professor, University of TasmaniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/626912016-07-25T19:45:31Z2016-07-25T19:45:31ZThe power of rewards and why we seek them out<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/131716/original/image-20160725-31178-tvvwb2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Games like Pokémon GO cleverly exploit our psychology in the way they dole our rewards to keep players hooked.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Any dog owner will tell you that we can use a food reward as a motivation to change a dog’s behaviour. But humans are just as susceptible to rewards too. </p>
<p>When we get a reward, special pathways in our brain become activated. Not only does this feel good, but the activation also leads us to seek out more rewarding stimuli.</p>
<p>Humans show these neurological responses to many types of rewards, including <a href="http://www.oxcns.org/papers/558%20Rolls%202016%20Reward%20systems%20in%20the%20brain%20and%20nutrition.pdf">food</a>, <a href="http://www.nature.com/nrn/journal/v17/n4/full/nrn.2016.26.html">social contact</a>, <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364661314002538">music</a> and even <a href="http://pss.sagepub.com/content/27/4/455">self-affirmation</a>. </p>
<p>But there is more to reward than physiology: differences in how often and when we get rewarded can also have a big impact on our experience of reward. In turn, this influences the likelihood that we will engage in that activity again. Psychologists describe these as schedules of reinforcement. </p>
<h2>It’s not (just) what you do, it’s when you do it</h2>
<p>The simplest type of reinforcement is continuous reinforcement, where a behaviour is rewarded every time it occurs. Continuous reinforcement is a particularly good way to train a new behaviour.</p>
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<p>But intermittent reinforcement is the strongest way to maintain a behaviour. In intermittent reinforcement, the reward is delivered after some of the behaviours, but not all of the behaviours.</p>
<p>There are four main intermittent <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1284863/pdf/12083682.pdf">schedules of reinforcement</a>, and some of these are more powerful than others.</p>
<h3>Fixed Ratio</h3>
<p>In the Fixed Ratio schedule of reinforcement, a specific number of actions must occur before the behaviour is rewarded. For example, your local coffee shop tells you that after you stamp your card nine times, your tenth drink is free. </p>
<h3>Fixed Interval</h3>
<p>Similarly, in the Fixed Interval schedule, a specific time must pass before the behaviour is rewarded. It is easy to think about this schedule in terms of work paid on an hourly basis – you are rewarded with money for every 60 minutes of work you complete.</p>
<h3>Variable Ratio</h3>
<p>For the Variable Ratio schedule, rewards are given after a varying number of behaviours – sometimes after four, sometimes five and other times 20 – making the reward more unpredictable.</p>
<p>This principle can be seen in poker (slot) machine gambling. The machine has an average win ratio, but that doesn’t guarantee a consistent rate of reward, so players continue in the hope that the next press of the button is the one that pays off. </p>
<h3>Variable Interval</h3>
<p>The Variable Interval schedule works on the same unpredictable principle, but in terms of time. So rewards are given after varying intervals of time – sometimes five minutes, sometimes 30 and sometimes after a longer period. So at work, when your boss drops in at random points of the day, your hard work is reinforced.</p>
<p>It is easy to see that rewards given on a variable ratio would reinforce behaviours far more effectively – if you don’t know when you will be rewarded, you continue to act, just in case!</p>
<p>Psychologists describe this persistent behaviour as a <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Timothy_Wells3/publication/221774874_High-frequency_gamblers_show_increased_resistance_to_extinction_following_partial_reinforcement/links/00b7d52e65715ee96f000000.pdf">resistance to extinction</a>. Even after the reward is completely taken away, the behaviour will remain for a while because you aren’t sure if this is just a longer interval before the reward than usual.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/131556/original/image-20160722-21890-bp1ldc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/131556/original/image-20160722-21890-bp1ldc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/131556/original/image-20160722-21890-bp1ldc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131556/original/image-20160722-21890-bp1ldc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131556/original/image-20160722-21890-bp1ldc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131556/original/image-20160722-21890-bp1ldc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=582&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131556/original/image-20160722-21890-bp1ldc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=582&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131556/original/image-20160722-21890-bp1ldc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=582&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">We all respond to rewards, but only if they are rewarding enough.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/elwillo/8383106148/">Keith Williamson/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Do rewards have a ‘dark side’?</h2>
<p>You can certainly use these principles to shape someone’s behaviour. Loyalty cards for supermarkets, airlines, and restaurants all increase the likelihood of our continued use of those services.</p>
<p>Marketers can also use reward to their advantage. If you can make someone feel anxious because they don’t own a particular product – maybe the latest or greatest version of something they already have – when the person buys the new product, the reward comes from the reduction in anxiety.</p>
<p>Want more help around the house? Start off with praising your partner/kids every time they do the desired behaviour, and once they are doing it regularly, slip into a comfortable variable ratio mode.</p>
<p>And of course, sometimes rewards can result in addiction.</p>
<p>Addiction used to be seen in the context of substance use, and there is indeed substantial evidence for the role of reward pathways in <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/acer.12884/full">alcohol and other drug</a> addiction. </p>
<p>Obviously, the nature of addiction is complex. But more recently, there is evidence of addiction that can be based on behaviour, rather than ingesting a substance. </p>
<p>For example, people show addiction-like behaviours related to their <a href="http://www.uclep.be/wp-content/uploads/pdf/Pub/Billieux_CPR_2012.pdf">mobile phone use</a>, <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02791072.2012.660110">shopping</a> and even <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4861725/">love relationships</a>. </p>
<h2>Pokémon GO rewards</h2>
<p>Recently the world has watched the introduction of the mobile game Pokémon GO. Cleverly, this game employs multiple schedules of reinforcement which ensure users continue to feel the need to “catch ‘em all”. </p>
<p>On the fixed ratio schedule, users know that if they catch enough Pokemon they will level up, or possess enough candy to evolve. The hatching of eggs also follows a fixed interval, in this case it’s distance walked.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/131524/original/image-20160721-32610-12g8sy0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/131524/original/image-20160721-32610-12g8sy0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/131524/original/image-20160721-32610-12g8sy0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1010&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131524/original/image-20160721-32610-12g8sy0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1010&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131524/original/image-20160721-32610-12g8sy0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1010&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131524/original/image-20160721-32610-12g8sy0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1269&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131524/original/image-20160721-32610-12g8sy0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1269&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131524/original/image-20160721-32610-12g8sy0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1269&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Discovering a rare Pokémon can keep players hooked.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But on the variable ratio and interval schedules, users never know how far they need to wander before they will find a new Pokemon, or how long it will be before something other than a wild Pidgey appears!</p>
<p>So they continue to check the app regularly throughout the day. No wonder Pokemon GO is so addictive.</p>
<p>But it’s not just Pokemon masters who fall prey to online reward schedules.</p>
<p>Checking our emails at various points of the day is reinforced when there is something in our inbox – a variable interval schedule. This makes us more likely to check for emails again.</p>
<p>Our social media posts are reinforced with “likes” on an variable ratio schedule. You may be rewarded with likes on most posts (continuous reinforcement), but occasionally (and importantly, unpredictably) a post will be rewarded with much more attention than other posts, which encourages more posting in the future. </p>
<p>Now, if you will excuse us, we just need to click “refresh” on our inbox. Again.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/62691/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Pokemon GO craze has tapped in to our desire to seek out rewards. But there different types of rewards in life, each designed to capture our attention, even train our behaviour.Rachel Grieve, Senior Lecturer in Psychology, University of TasmaniaEmily Lowe-Calverley, PhD Candidate in Cyberpsychology, University of TasmaniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/628692016-07-24T20:02:29Z2016-07-24T20:02:29ZWhy nature conservationists should be worried about ‘Pokémon Go’<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/131574/original/image-20160722-26835-1f80b4p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Nature conservationists should be asking if chasing Pokémon creatures means anything for species in the real world.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>“<a href="http://www.pokemongo.com/">Pokémon Go</a>” is a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jul/12/pokemon-go-becomes-global-phenomenon-as-number-of-us-users-overtakes-twitter">cultural phenomenon</a>. It’s an augmented reality game that’s drawing players out of their homes and sending them racing around town in search of imaginary creatures – guided by their smartphones.</p>
<p>At first blush it seems as though “Pokémon Go” will have good knock-on effects for nature conservation. After all, players have to <a href="https://theconversation.com/pokemon-go-gets-people-out-and-about-and-thats-a-good-thing-62343">go outside</a> to play the game. So in a sense the game does value <a href="https://www.cbd.int/2010/biodiversity/">biodiversity</a> – albeit imaginary biodiversity. But nature conservationists should be asking if chasing make-believe creatures means anything for species in the real world.</p>
<p>Part of the fun is encountering all the <a href="http://www.ibtimes.co.in/pokemon-go-guide-full-list-all-151-pokemon-found-game-686629">different kinds of Pokémon</a>. Each of these has unique characteristics that determine where they occur. This is rather similar to the associations between real-world species and their habitats.</p>
<p>This all suggests that playing the game cultivates an unspoken intuition for ecological concepts and fosters an appreciation of variety, for variety’s sake. But can any of this anecdotal speculation be bolstered by hard scientific data?</p>
<h2>Scientists have asked these questions before</h2>
<p>Fortunately, the question of whether Pokémon affects nature conservation is <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/07/13/what-wildlife-scientists-and-nature-lovers-can-learn-from-pokemon-go/">not new to scientists</a>. “Pokémon Go” is just the latest form of the gaming franchise, which originated back in the 1990s as <a href="http://www.pokemon.com/us/pokemon-video-games/all-pokemon-games/">black-and-white pixels</a> on the Nintendo Game Boy. Since then, the franchise has split off into a <a href="http://www.pokemon.com/us/pokemon-tcg/">trading-card game</a>, a <a href="http://www.pokemon.com/us/pokemon-episodes/pokemon-tv-seasons/">television series</a> and several <a href="http://www.pokemon.com/us/pokemon-episodes/pokemon-movies/">movies</a>.</p>
<p>Back in 2002, <a href="http://www.zoo.cam.ac.uk/directory/andrew-balmford">Andrew Balmford</a>, the renowned conservation scientist from Cambridge University, devised <a href="http://science.sciencemag.org/content/295/5564/2367.2">a small experiment</a> published in the journal <em>Science</em>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/131573/original/image-20160722-26814-1ayxy1w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/131573/original/image-20160722-26814-1ayxy1w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/131573/original/image-20160722-26814-1ayxy1w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=378&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131573/original/image-20160722-26814-1ayxy1w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=378&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131573/original/image-20160722-26814-1ayxy1w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=378&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131573/original/image-20160722-26814-1ayxy1w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=475&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131573/original/image-20160722-26814-1ayxy1w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=475&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131573/original/image-20160722-26814-1ayxy1w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=475&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Children are more likely to know more about Pokémon characters than actual animals.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/141316223@N06/26202045526/in/photolist-FVokgC-EMgGt-8N21Xp-6whdPZ-dScXrQ-8N22pp-8LGt6e-4F8CJJ-4b8rJA-7QkQvB-QRaPh-7A5J4E-4RzHnV-2zxanq-9ycNiD-dLJiFG-qexm6R-8CuokB-5qD4Md-b4sdaD-6BKD8V-amKeUJ-7TnRNu-4Vu23-4Vu3P-8N51oy-2AnyQC-7zibzw-516QGy-fG3C19-9pX4Zb-7xnfSr-8p2xQo-aQ715c-5LWpst-gA7v9k-4Vu4N-aX8UbT-pXipf6-9oJoJ9-4HQEpX-4VtZs-gvvdA2-4Vu62-53mm3B-pXgX3a-e9TjuA-a4S8Fz-4Vu79-8N54Ew">Noah Cloud/Flickr</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The aim was to see whether schoolchildren knew more about fictional Pokémon creatures than real British plants, birds and insects. He found that eight-year-olds could identify 78% of Pokémon but just 53% of real species. Even more telling was that he only found a 31% association between a child’s familiarity of Pokémon and their knowledge of real species.</p>
<p>Balmford’s experiment showed that an appreciation for Pokémon does not necessarily translate into an appreciation for real species.</p>
<h2>It can go either way</h2>
<p>Another piece of evidence is the freely-available card game, “<a href="http://phylogame.org/">Phylo</a>”. It was modelled on the Pokémon card game, but differs in that it uses real species rather than imaginary ones. Despite these beautifully illustrated cards being free to download online, “Phylo” has yet to reach the popularity of its fictional forefather. It seems that real creatures just cannot capture the public’s attention in the way that Pokémon can.</p>
<p>“Pokémon Go” is unlikely to benefit nature conservation. But this is not the same as saying that the game is bad for conservation. Scientists should not disregard this as a possibility. It might be that the game is replacing, rather than enhancing, people’s love for nature.</p>
<p>If someone playing “Pokémon Go” notices that the battery of her smartphone is flat, will she lie back and enjoy nature around her or will she run inside to find the nearest power outlet? This is an important question to answer. In the worst-case scenario, the game could be creating a generation of children who cannot appreciate the outdoors without the comfortable glow of their phones.</p>
<p>Augmenting reality to make people go outside implies that the outdoors are not worth visiting for their own sake. The “Pokémon Go” craze will eventually subside and nature conservationists should be concerned about the long-term effects of this. If people can be bored by creatures created to maximise marketability, what is stopping them from growing bored of pigeons, bumblebees or tadpoles?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/62869/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Falko Buschke is a founder member of the South African Chapter of the Society for Conservation Biology </span></em></p>‘Pokémon Go’ has the ability to make people wander around nature looking for fantasy creatures – but will this translate into people exploring real-life nature?Falko Buschke, Macroecologist and Conservation Biologist, University of the Free StateLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/626702016-07-20T11:29:19Z2016-07-20T11:29:19ZPokémon Go has revealed a new battleground for virtual privacy<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/131228/original/image-20160720-31151-t73qc6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>People have been lingering outside Boon Sheridan’s house <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/stephaniemcneal/pokemon-go-house?utm_term=.lfMOnDEpb#.euBP1x9yq">all through the night</a>. The designer lives in an old church in Massachusetts that has been designated a “gym” in the new smartphone game <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-pokemon-go-became-an-instant-phenomenon-62412">Pokémon Go</a>. Because the game requires players to visit places in the real world, Sheridan now has to put up with people regularly stopping outside his building to play.</p>
<p>It has got to the point where he has started wondering if there is anything the law can do in situations like this. He wrote on Twitter: “Do I even have rights when it comes to a virtual location imposed on me? Businesses have expectations, but this is my home.” This problem of virtual activities impinging on physical spaces in only likely to grow with the increasing popularity of the augmented reality used in games such as Pokémon Go to overlay digital landscapes on real ones. But there may be a way to deal with this before it becomes a serious legal problem for more people.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"751983397363445760"}"></div></p>
<p>Pokémon Go encourages players to <a href="https://theconversation.com/pokemon-go-gets-people-out-and-about-and-thats-a-good-thing-62343">interact with their actual environment</a> by using realistic maps of their surroundings as part of the game. Certain landmarks, monuments and public buildings are tagged as “stops”, where players can collect items, and some <a href="https://theconversation.com/some-places-should-be-off-limits-for-games-such-as-pokemon-go-62341">public spaces</a> including churches, parks and businesses are tagged as “gyms”, where users can battle each other.</p>
<p>It is the tagging element that has prompted a few <a href="https://theconversation.com/pokemon-go-puts-pressure-on-when-technology-meets-the-law-62489">interesting legal questions</a> about the role of augmented reality. The game’s developer, Niantic, is using a combination of data from Google Maps and user-generated tags collected from an <a href="https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21628936-200-why-googles-ingress-game-is-a-data-gold-mine/">earlier game called Ingress</a>. This data is used to identify real-life spots as either a stop or a gym. But what happens when the data mistakenly identifies a house as a public space, as happened to Sheridan?</p>
<p>As it turns out, Niantic <a href="https://support.pokemongo.nianticlabs.com/hc/en-us/requests/new?ticket_form_id=319928">offers people the chance</a> to highlight problems with a location. And in the grand scheme of things, whether a person’s house is mis-tagged in a game does not seem like something worthy of new laws, particularly when the developer offers to correct any errors. But Pokémon Go is just the beginning. The game has proven the potential of augmented reality to appeal to a very large audience, so we can expect many other applications of the technology to come our way.</p>
<p>The wild success of location-based gaming may bring about a horde of imitators, so expect a new generation of augmented reality gaming to hit the app stores soon. And the technology’s potential also goes beyond gaming so we can expect more mainstream applications of geo-tagging and location-based interaction, especially with the growth of wearable technology such as fitness trackers. You can imagine that soon we will have a world in which ever house, every car, even every person could come with an <a href="https://journalofbigdata.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s40537-015-0031-2">added virtual tag full of data</a>. The potential for innovation in this area is staggering. </p>
<p>But what if your house is tagged in a global database without your permission and you value your privacy so do not want any passersby to know that you live there? Or what if a commercially-sensitive database identifies your business with incorrect data and you cannot reach the developer or they refuse to amend it? People looking for businesses in your area may miss you and go to a competitor that is correctly listed. Even more worrying, what if your house was previously occupied by a sex offender and is tagged in an outdated database with that information? </p>
<p>The problems would go far beyond what is happening with Sheridan’s house. These cases could have real negative effects on people’s lives, privacy, or business prospects. </p>
<p>The potential for trouble will be worse with the launch of apps that allow users to tag public or private buildings themselves. Why will abusers and trolls bother spray-painting a house, when they can geo-tag it maliciously? Paint washes away, but data may be more difficult to erase.</p>
<p>My proposal is to extend <a href="https://www.gov.uk/data-protection/the-data-protection-act">data protection legislation</a> to virtual spaces. At the moment, data protection is strictly personal as it relates to any information about a specific person, known as a data subject. The data subject has a variety of rights, such as having the right to access their data and rectify and erase anything that is inaccurate or excessive.</p>
<h2>Protecting objects</h2>
<p>Under my proposal, the data subject’s rights would remain as they are, but the law would contain a new definition, that of the data object. This relates to data about a specific location. The rights of data objects would be considerably more limited than those of a data subject. But classifying them like this would take advantage of the data-protection mechanisms that already exist for when someone is intrinsically linked to a location.</p>
<p>In other words, just tagging a location on an augmented reality database wouldn’t violate the data protection. But mis-tagging a location as a public space in a way that could impinge on people’s enjoyment of that location could trigger action by the regulator to have the tag amended, removed or even erased. This would be especially useful for private spaces such as Sheridan’s house. If the app developer fails to make a change to the data, the property owner could make a request to the data protection authority, who would then force developers to change the data – or face fines. </p>
<p>There are limits to this proposal. Such a regime would only apply to companies based in the same country as the data protection regulator. So, for example, European countries wouldn’t be able to force Niantic to make changes to Pokémon Go’s tags, because the company is based in the US. There would also need to be strict restrictions on exactly what counts a data object and what is worth amending or deleting, otherwise the system could be abused. </p>
<p>But one thing is already certain: Pokémon Go is just the beginning of a new world of location-based data applications, and we need to find better ways to protect our digital rights in that space.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/62670/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andres Guadamuz does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>What if someone made your house a site for Pokémon battles?Andres Guadamuz, Senior Lecturer in Intellectual Property Law, University of SussexLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/617882016-07-20T10:09:17Z2016-07-20T10:09:17ZEthically, must game designers respond to all player requests?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/131156/original/image-20160719-7906-1fe7uba.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">One ethical consideration: How customizable should avatars be? </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-298240898/stock-vector-vector-set-of-different-cartoon-characters-isolated.html">Character image via shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Video games are supposed to be fun. Maybe when you’re grinding your way to max level it doesn’t always feel that way, but on the whole we play games because we enjoy them.</p>
<p>But what exactly does enjoyment mean? If you’re a game designer, what issues should you care about? If you’re a player, do you have to worry only about whether you are having fun? Or do you have some kind of ethical responsibility to make sure other players are having fun too?</p>
<p>As a philosopher who focuses on <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/305220809_Video_Games_Power_and_Social_Responsibility">ethical issues</a> <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/305220974_The_Ethics_of_Choice_in_Single-Player_Video_Games">surrounding video games</a>, I’ve discovered that fun is a complicated business. Players, designers and the broader gamer community all have different sorts of power in relation to video games, which lead to quite different ethical responsibilities. Designers’ power is perhaps the most pervasive – they are, after all, creating the world the players will inhabit and deciding how the players will interact with that world.</p>
<p>A key element of enjoyment, it turns out, is the ability to fully experience a game. This isn’t as easy as it might seem. From time to time the issue of a game’s playability by all potential players becomes an issue of public concern. Recently, some players of Pokemon Go who have various physical disabilities – such as limited dexterity or low vision – have <a href="http://www.polygon.com/2016/7/18/12214664/pokemon-go-players-with-physical-disabilities-want-better">complained the game does not make enough accommodations</a> for them to be able to completely engage with the game. What ethical obligations do game designers have to respond to concerns like this?</p>
<h2>Ethical obligations</h2>
<p>In general, game designers have ethical obligations toward both current players and potential players. While these duties can arise from a variety of sources, the most basic ones are those we have toward other people simply because they are people. That’s why you can’t ethically just walk up and hit someone, even if you don’t like him and believe it would be fun to make him suffer. As a person he has a right to be <a href="http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/kant-moral/#HumFor">treated as having intrinsic worth</a>; he isn’t there simply to be used by other people. </p>
<p>Similarly, a game player cannot ethically be seen simply as a source of revenue, because that would be using a player as a tool to create money. Instead, designers must appreciate that players have their own objectives when buying a game (like having fun); the designers can pursue their own goals but have to respect the players’ desires as well.</p>
<p>One way of doing this is to consider feedback and ideas from potential players – but not every opinion matters. It’s completely ethical for a game designer to pick a genre of game and make design decisions appropriate for that approach. That may include ignoring an idea from someone who wants to play a different type of game; when designing a real-time strategy game such as <a href="http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/">Starcraft II</a>, it’s fine to ignore the desires of someone who wishes to play a first-person shooter such as <a href="https://www.callofduty.com/">Call of Duty</a>. These are allowed to be different games with different target audiences. </p>
<h2>Unnecessary exclusions</h2>
<p>Where things get sticky, ethically speaking, is when designers start excluding potential players unnecessarily. As an example, consider adventure games like <a href="http://cyan.com/games/myst/">Myst</a>. These generally consist of a series of puzzles that are held together by some sort of plot; solving the puzzles is necessary to progress in the game. </p>
<p>While there are many different kinds of puzzles, one popular sort involves music. Usually a player will have to recreate a particular sequence of notes on a musical instrument, based on an obscure clue left at another location. For instance, the first episode of <a href="http://www.foreverlostgame.com/">Forever Lost</a> requires people to play a particular sequence of notes on a xylophone in order to progress. The hard part is finding the clue that will reveal the sequence. Fun, right?</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/130755/original/image-20160715-2150-klullc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/130755/original/image-20160715-2150-klullc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=225&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130755/original/image-20160715-2150-klullc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=225&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130755/original/image-20160715-2150-klullc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=225&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130755/original/image-20160715-2150-klullc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=283&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130755/original/image-20160715-2150-klullc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=283&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130755/original/image-20160715-2150-klullc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=283&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The xylophone puzzle and the radio that gives the clue to solve it, from Forever Lost.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For a lot of players, the answer is yes. But unfortunately, the only way to discover the correct sequence is by listening to a radio elsewhere in the game. As a result, this game is not solvable for deaf players on their own. Instead, they must seek outside assistance, either from another player or an <a href="http://www.appunwrapper.com/2012/10/01/forever-lost-episode-1-walkthrough/">online walk-through</a> that provides the sequence for them. Yet the ability to hear is not a key aspect of this game: It emerges only in a single puzzle. The puzzle’s design means its author has created an unnecessary barrier to potential players of this game.</p>
<p>A lot of game designers have realized this and provide visual clues in addition to or instead of aural clues. In the above example, since the xylophone keys are different colors, the designer could have provided a color pattern clue in addition to the sounds. Similarly, in <a href="http://lonewolfgames.com/games/the-lost-treasure">The Hunt for the Lost Treasure</a>, while players must enter a musical sequence on a piano, the piano keys have patterns on them; the clue is available in terms of patterns, not just sounds.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/130757/original/image-20160715-2141-1mp5zy9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/130757/original/image-20160715-2141-1mp5zy9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130757/original/image-20160715-2141-1mp5zy9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130757/original/image-20160715-2141-1mp5zy9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130757/original/image-20160715-2141-1mp5zy9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130757/original/image-20160715-2141-1mp5zy9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130757/original/image-20160715-2141-1mp5zy9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The piano puzzle – with patterns on the keys – from The Hunt for the Lost Treasure.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These simple adaptations are helpful not only for people who are hearing-impaired; they also help those fans who like to play games on our tablets late at night without disturbing their spouses.</p>
<h2>Designing a character avatar</h2>
<p>Similarly, a lot of games allow players to customize an avatar that they use to represent themselves in the game’s world. While these are typically cosmetic choices that do not affect gameplay, they have a huge impact on player enjoyment. Part of a game’s appeal for many players is the ability to customize these characters; video game enjoyment is <a href="http://opendl.ifip-tc6.org/db/conf/iwec/icec2007/HefnerKV07.pdf">tied to identification with the player character</a>, which is in turn <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.4018/ijgcms.2014010101">tied to the ability to customize that character</a>. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, many games give only a passing nod to being able to create a nonwhite character; <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/soin.12001">research has shown</a> that while many games will allow a player to darken the skin tone of their avatar, even many games with large budgets (what the industry calls “<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AAA_(video_game_industry)">AAA games</a>”) don’t provide different facial features or hair types that would be necessary to make a character with a truly nonwhite appearance. This isn’t necessarily difficult: Given that many of these games contain nonhuman races, clearly the designers are capable of creating a wide variety of facial features and hair – they just choose not to do so for human avatars.</p>
<p>A lot of people like making avatars who are idealized versions of themselves. Limiting how representative in-game avatars can be may result in excluding people who might like to play the game, but are essentially discouraged for cosmetic reasons. (For another example of how much players care about avatar choices, look at the fuss over <a href="http://gamerant.com/ubisoft-excuses-for-no-females-in-assassins-creed-unity/">Ubisoft’s decision to only release a male avatar</a> for the cooperative mode of Assassin’s Creed Unity in 2014.) </p>
<p>At the end of the day, we all want to have fun. While designers don’t have an obligation to ensure that people <em>actually</em> have fun playing their games, they do have an obligation to ensure that everyone is in a relatively equal position to <em>try</em> to have fun. After that, it’s up to the players.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/61788/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Erica Neely is a member of the American Philosophical Association, the International Association for Computing and Philosophy, the International Society for Ethics and Information Technology, and the North American Society for Social Philosophy.</span></em></p>A key element of enjoyment, it turns out, is the ability to fully experience a game. What ethical obligations do game designers have to ensure this?Erica Neely, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Ohio Northern UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/626832016-07-19T20:07:33Z2016-07-19T20:07:33ZFor lovers of graffiti, Pokémon Go is old hat<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/131017/original/image-20160719-13843-1kw56yf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Pokemon Go demonstrates how graffiti has grown into a new form of social media.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Koppenbadger/flickr</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>For those of us who practice or follow graffiti and street art, the Pokémon Go craze doesn’t seem that new – and not just because street art and graffiti feature so prominently in the game play.</p>
<p>Rather, graffiti and street art provide a prior model for the Pokémon Go brand of mobile, collective urban gaming. We have seen the frenzied, phone-wielding crowds of urban hunters before. When the world’s best-known street artist Banksy staged an informal residency in New York in 2013, for instance, he installed 31 artworks across the city, leaving clues to their whereabouts. </p>
<p>The documentary <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3995006/">Banksy Does New York</a> (2014) shows the crowds of New Yorkers who raced across the city to capture the works before they were removed or destroyed, just like the crowds reportedly flocking this week to a rare Pokémon site in Central Park.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/131018/original/image-20160719-13840-130pns3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/131018/original/image-20160719-13840-130pns3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/131018/original/image-20160719-13840-130pns3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131018/original/image-20160719-13840-130pns3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131018/original/image-20160719-13840-130pns3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131018/original/image-20160719-13840-130pns3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131018/original/image-20160719-13840-130pns3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131018/original/image-20160719-13840-130pns3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Graffiti art featured in Banksy Does New York (2014)</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">HBO</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I tried Pokémon Go on Friday in Fitzroy, and was surprised how many sites within the game were actual pieces of street art – both commissioned murals and illegal graffiti bombing. </p>
<p>Even though the game claims to use traditional public art forms such as “monuments and sculptures” as the sites where players can congregate to collect equipment (Pokéstops) or catch Pokémon (Gyms), in practice the architecture of the game “recognises” a much wider array of art forms. </p>
<p>It even displayed clunky names for artworks, such as “Scary Halloween mural” for a graffiti piece in Northcote that includes a few random demon characters. </p>
<p>In my brief test run in Fitzroy, about half of the Pokéstops were spray-painted examples of street art or graffiti. Others were public artworks that I rarely notice, such as Giuseppe Raneri’s Sun sculpture on Brunswick St. </p>
<p>Yes, it’s dizzying to see small critters dancing on the lap of the tram passenger opposite you, but maybe even more confusing to be invited by a phone app to run across Smith St to the Wominjeka Wurundjeri Bik artwork to grab a handful of Pokéballs.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/131019/original/image-20160719-13871-1ea0zxy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/131019/original/image-20160719-13871-1ea0zxy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/131019/original/image-20160719-13871-1ea0zxy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131019/original/image-20160719-13871-1ea0zxy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131019/original/image-20160719-13871-1ea0zxy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131019/original/image-20160719-13871-1ea0zxy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131019/original/image-20160719-13871-1ea0zxy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131019/original/image-20160719-13871-1ea0zxy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Street art in Fitzroy, Melbourne - another Pokestop?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Charlievdb/flickr</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Where is this data coming from? In part the Pokémon sites are repurposed from Ingress, a previous game by the same makers. Ingress used similar reality augmentation to Pokémon Go to create “portals” throughout cities, combining crowd-sourcing and publicly available data, like Google Street View. </p>
<p>This world of game data is generating a new and more open taxonomy of public art.</p>
<p>In the world of crowd-sourced data, no distinctions are made between an indigenous meeting place, architectural details, street furniture, commissioned murals and illegal street art. </p>
<p>And while Pokémon Go is designed around physically stable sites such as sculptures and monuments, many of the street art sites are also artworks that have been erased or painted over, just one of many glitches in the game.</p>
<p>However, my broader argument is that graffiti and street art are not just a backdrop for the game but rather a template for it and and how to navigate urban space. </p>
<p>Pokémon Go reflects contemporary confusions about being in public and the imperfect overlaps between public institutions, public conduct and public access. </p>
<p>Glitches in the game reflect existing glitches in public space, ones already navigated by street artists and graffiti writers and familiar to followers of these art forms.</p>
<p>The Melbourne-based street artist <a href="https://www.instagram.com/lushsux/?hl=en">Lush</a> has been quick to take to the Pokémon craze, creating sexualised body paintings of lewd Pokémon characters and morphed combinations of US Presidential candidates on the streets.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/131043/original/image-20160719-13849-1n778qm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/131043/original/image-20160719-13849-1n778qm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/131043/original/image-20160719-13849-1n778qm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131043/original/image-20160719-13849-1n778qm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131043/original/image-20160719-13849-1n778qm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131043/original/image-20160719-13849-1n778qm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=559&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131043/original/image-20160719-13849-1n778qm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=559&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/131043/original/image-20160719-13849-1n778qm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=559&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lushsux/Instagram</span></span>
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<p>Like Banksy, Lush had already seen crowds of hunters searching for his artworks, such as his series of murals of <a href="http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/celebrity-life/celebrity-selfies/theres-a-giant-mural-of-a-nude-kim-kardashian-in-melbourne/news-story/7d0215be8d7020f912345f8c9f96d811">Kim Kardashian selfies</a> or his sequence of of face-swapping Snapchat portraits – all prefiguring the Pokémon gameplay.</p>
<p>Maybe Pokémon Go isn’t as new as it appears and the frequent appearance of street art in the game is less of a coincidence. </p>
<p>The Pokémon craze shows us how graffiti and street art are already forms of social media, their own kind of massive, multi-player game, with their own sites and rewards hidden across the city.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/62683/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lachlan MacDowall has previously received funding from the City of Melbourne and the City of Stonnington to undertake research into graffiti and street art.</span></em></p>Graffiti and street art are not just a backdrop in Pokémon Go but also a template for how to navigate urban space. Indeed lovers of street art have long played their own kind of multi-player game, with sites and rewards hidden across the city.Lachlan MacDowall, Head, Centre for Cultural Partnerships Faculty of the VCA and MCM, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/626492016-07-18T16:40:01Z2016-07-18T16:40:01ZPokémon Go: the app that leads you places other apps don’t<p>The launch of augmented reality game Pokémon Go has been a resounding success for Nintendo and app developer Niantic. Reports suggest it to be the most <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/2016/07/13/pokemon-go-now-the-biggest-mobile-game-in-us-history.html">popular mobile game in US history</a>, with the number of daily active users at times <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/gaming/2016/07/12/chart-more-time-spent-pokmon-go-than-instagram-snapchat/86982096/">surpassing Twitter, Facebook, and Tinder</a>. But one of its most interesting features is not within the game onscreen at all.</p>
<p>Based on the 20-year-old Nintendo franchise, the aim of the game is to walk around real-world locations in order to capture “in the wild” Pokémon generated in the game. Using a smartphone’s camera, the augmented reality app allows players to find the Pokémon superimposed onto real spaces, with the aim to catch all the Pokémon in predefined geographical locations. Additional bonuses come through checking in at “Pokéstops” – smaller geographical landmarks that the game defines as significant. A visit to a café, pub, or bakery for example could see you rewarded with a number of items to make it easier to “catch them all”.</p>
<p>Playing Pokémon Go myself I have been fascinated by the element of urban exploration the game encourages, particularly around those familiar places now marked as Pokéstops. Wendy Joy Darby, in her book Landscape and Identity, <a href="http://www.bloomsbury.com/us/landscape-and-identity-9781859734254/">argues that</a> “place is indubitably bound up in personal experience”. I’ve lived in Norwich all my life, for example, and I’d like to think my personal experience means I know the city quite well. Yet even I have found myself surprised at some of the locations the app has identified as culturally or socially significant in some way.</p>
<p>Walking around and viewing Norwich through the game’s augmented reality, I’ve found myself discovering the city anew. I’ve stopped at things I’ve seen before but never really considered: paving slabs <a href="https://outgress.com/portals/james-freeman-bakers.406627">decorated with cakes</a>, <a href="https://outgress.com/portals/sea-form-atlantic.383464/">sculptures I’ve often walked past</a> but never really looked at. And some things I’d never laid eyes on, such as <a href="https://outgress.com/portals/amelia-opie-1769.383444/">plaques celebrating remarkable people</a> or <a href="https://outgress.com/portals/hospital-chapel.461194/">interesting architecture</a> that I’d encountered only by being led on detours by my quest for Pokémon.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"754419748708855810"}"></div></p>
<p>The significance of these places <a href="http://www.gamesradar.com/why-your-local-church-and-water-towers-are-pokemon-go-gyms-and-pokestops/">is determined by developer Niantic</a>. Once part of Google, Niantic previously developed <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/jun/04/ingress-the-game-that-reveals-googles-secret-war-to-control-london/">Ingress</a>, another augmented reality geolocation game that required players to travel to specific real-world locations to capture “portals”. </p>
<p>Initially these locations were chosen by Niantic based on historical or cultural significance, yet as the game evolved more locations were included based on geo-tagged locations from Google or from suggestions from players. The same technology is in Pokémon Go, and some businesses have gone with the trend and paid to attract Pokémon to their businesses in order to cash in on a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jul/14/pokemon-go-sponsored-locations-restaurants-business">Pokémon-activated commercial windfall</a>.</p>
<p>Whatever in-game rewards these Pokéstops offer, they also offer up the opportunity to <a href="https://uk.sagepub.com/en-gb/eur/the-tourist-gaze-30/book234297">view my city with the eyes of a tourist once more</a>, allowing me to see places I know well but from a fresh perspective.</p>
<p>Writing in 1977, humanistic geographer Yi-Fu Tuan argued that “what begins as undifferentiated space <a href="https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/space-and-place">becomes place as we get to know it better</a> and endow it with value”. What seems to be happening now is that Pokémon Go is becoming a tool with which its users can instantaneously assign value to places. Transforming mere space into a definite place, the game <a href="http://eprints.kingston.ac.uk/77/">imbues familiar and everyday places with an exotic aura</a>. A mundane cityscape now has potential to house rare Pokémon, and so becomes a site of pilgrimage for dedicated players. </p>
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</figure>
<p>On launching, the app reminds players to remain alert and stay aware of their surroundings at all times. While ostensibly a reminder to keep safety in mind and not walk out in front of traffic or otherwise <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/pokemon-go-men-fall-off-cliff-san-diego-android-ios-app-a7136986.html">get injured while playing</a>, it reads also as a reminder to take a moment to appreciate, not just the augmented reality of the game, but the places in the real world behind it with new eyes. </p>
<p>The Pokéstop passed on a daily commute could hold the key to capturing an elusive <a href="http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Charizard_(Pok%C3%A9mon)">Charizard</a>, but perhaps it can also become a place we get to know better in the real world.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/62649/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tom Phillips does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>What if the most interesting thing the Pokémon Go phenomenon offered was where it leads you?Tom Phillips, Lecturer in Humanities, University of East AngliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/624892016-07-18T00:29:31Z2016-07-18T00:29:31ZPokémon Go puts pressure on when technology meets the law<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/130641/original/image-20160715-2150-66hnmm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Pokemon Go has been a worldwide phenomenon, but it is not welcome in NSW law courts.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Frances Mao</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>There are two PokéStops and a Gym within range of my desk at work. <a href="http://www.pokemongo.com/en-us/">Pokémon Go</a> presents a real threat to my productivity. Apparently, it also presents a threat to justice in Australia.</p>
<p>Last Monday, the New South Wales Department of Justice issued a warning through its Facebook page:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>GOING TO COURT IS NOT A GAME: POKEMON GO TRAINERS SHOULD LOOK ELSEWHERE FOR DIGITAL CRITTERS.</p>
<p>Attention budding Pokémon trainers: you do not need to step inside a courthouse to find Pokémon.</p>
<p>A reminder that the use of recording devices in NSW courts is prohibited under the Court Security Act 2005 - Section 9 - and carries a $22,000 fine or imprisonment for 12 months (or both).</p>
<p>Stay safe and catch ‘em all!</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/130625/original/image-20160715-2144-18ki2k4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/130625/original/image-20160715-2144-18ki2k4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130625/original/image-20160715-2144-18ki2k4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130625/original/image-20160715-2144-18ki2k4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130625/original/image-20160715-2144-18ki2k4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=632&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130625/original/image-20160715-2144-18ki2k4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=632&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/130625/original/image-20160715-2144-18ki2k4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=632&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">NSW Department of Justice</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>So why can’t you use a recording device in court?</p>
<p>The post identifies <a href="http://www.legislation.nsw.gov.au/#/view/act/2005/1/part2/sec9">NSW legislation</a> prohibiting the use of recording devices to record sound or images in courts. However, unless you are taking a screenshot of a wild Pokémon in court premises, it is unlikely that you would contravene the relevant provision. Other Australian states do not have equivalent legislation, but their courts can still <a href="http://www.lawreform.justice.nsw.gov.au/Documents/report_39.pdf">prohibit recording inside the courtroom</a>. </p>
<p>There is a tension between these powers and the “principle of open justice”.</p>
<h2>The principle of open justice</h2>
<p>“<a href="https://www.alrc.gov.au/publications/open-justice">Open justice</a>” is an essential attribute of our legal system. It means that court proceedings are normally open to the public, which builds public confidence in the administration of justice.</p>
<p>Open justice plays an important role in our democracy because it ensures that courts are kept accountable – judges’ work is on public display. This is a very old idea. Philosopher and jurist Jeremy Bentham <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/UTasLawRw/1984/3.html">made the point well</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Publicity is the very soul of justice … It keeps the judge himself, while trying, under trial.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>We may have a right to attend court proceedings, but most of us do not exercise that right on a regular basis. Journalists often do. Through court reporting, the media has become the “<a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/nsw/NSWSC/2009/781.html">eyes and the ears of the public</a>”. Even so, journalists do not have a right to record what goes on inside the courtroom <a href="http://www.legislation.nsw.gov.au/#/view/act/1970/52/part9a/sec128">without permission</a>.</p>
<h2>Recording in the courtroom</h2>
<p>Judges differ on whether the recording of court proceedings is desirable. Some express a wariness of audio-visual coverage. For example, an application to film the sentencing of the late gangland figure Carl Williams was rejected out of <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/vic/VSC/2007/139.html">concerns that coverage</a> would not “present an accurate, impartial and balanced [account] of the proceedings”.</p>
<p>A recent case lends credibility to that type of concern. The baby Gammy case attracted international media coverage, which included false reports that baby Gammy was abandoned <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/baby-gammy-decision-media-law-farnell-chanbua-2016-fcwa-douglas?trk=prof-post">because he had Down syndrome</a>. The Family Court of Western Australia later attached strict conditions <a href="http://www.familycourt.wa.gov.au/_files/Publications/2016FCWA17anon.pdf">on the reporting of the case</a>, and only permitted the use of file footage in media publications.</p>
<p>Dodgy media practices, and our “<a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/FedJSchol/2006/3.html">abhorrence of tabloid television journalism</a>”, go some way to explaining why we can’t catch pocket monsters on our iPhones in Sydney courthouses. </p>
<p>More broadly, this event illustrates how generally conservative legal institutions are taking a cautious approach to accommodating rapid changes in technology and society.</p>
<h2>What changing technology means for justice</h2>
<p>Judges have recognised that the increasing ease of access to information presents a <a href="http://www.unswlawjournal.unsw.edu.au/sites/default/files/19_spigelman_2006.pdf">challenge for the administration of justice</a>. For criminal law matters, changing technology threatens the jury system itself: trials have been miscarried because jurors <a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/nsw/NSWCCA/2003/406.html">accessed information about the accused</a> on the internet.</p>
<p>On the other hand, changing technology also presents opportunities. Technology can provide the public with better access to the inside of the courtroom, and so can expand open justice. </p>
<p>In some quarters, this is already happening. Since 2013, the High Court of Australia has published audio-visual recordings of its proceedings; recordings of Full Court hearings are <a href="http://www.hcourt.gov.au/cases/recent-av-recordings">available on its website</a>. This follows practice of the UK Supreme Court, which has <a href="https://www.supremecourt.uk/live/court-02.html">broadcast proceedings for some years</a>. A number of judges around Australia, including the chief justice of Western Australia, have been strong advocates for enhancing open justice <a href="http://www.supremecourt.wa.gov.au/_files/Improving_Access_to_Justice20091015.pdf">through the use of technology</a>.</p>
<p>In recent years, judges have also had to grapple with the place of <a href="http://www.aija.org.au/Quick%20Links/Judges%20and%20Social%20Media%202014.pdf">social media in the courts</a>. In 2010, a Federal Court judge allowed the proceedings of a notorious copyright case to be “<a href="http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/cth/FCA/2010/24.html">twittered or tweeted</a>”. </p>
<p>Since then, some Australian jurisdictions, including <a href="http://www.courts.sa.gov.au/Lists/Court%20Rules/Attachments/190/Supreme%20Court%20Civil%20Rules%202006.pdf">South Australia</a>, <a href="http://www.supremecourt.wa.gov.au/_files/Consolidated_Practice_Directions.pdf">Western Australia</a> and <a href="http://assets.justice.vic.gov.au//supreme/resources/6ebfaf77-d0b8-4c35-bb9c-a78f0699d3bc/media+policies+and+practices+supreme+court+september+2015.pdf">Victoria</a>, have allowed certain members of the media to communicate during proceedings via media like Twitter. This is a positive step, which brings court practices toward societal expectations in a controlled and reasonable way.</p>
<p>Changing technologies have made information more accessible than ever before. Generally, this is a good thing. But it presents a challenge to older ways of doing things. Military operations have historically depended on keeping secrets; defence forces <a href="https://www.ted.com/talks/stanley_mcchrystal_the_military_case_for_sharing_knowledge">have had to adapt</a>.</p>
<p>Historically, courts have been open – but not to the extent that modern technology allows for, and not to the extent that we are coming to expect. Eventually, the legal system will also adapt. In the meantime: don’t go looking for Pokémon in courts.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/62489/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael Douglas does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Technology’s burgeoning possibilities have put pressure on our law courts when it comes to the principle of ‘open justice’.Michael Douglas, Lecturer in Law, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.