panOULU conqueror: pervasive location-aware multiplayer game for city-wide wireless network

Abstract

We present the design, implementation and evaluation of a novel pervasive location-aware multiplayer game. In the game teams of players try to score points by conquering the real-world access points of a large municipal wireless network. The game is implemented as a web service so that playing the game does not require any dedicated game software or hardware, but a general purpose WLAN device such as a laptop or a smart phone equipped with a web browser is sufficient. The game was empirically evaluated with a four-week long tournament involving 96 players in 31 teams. The players found pervasiveness, location-awareness, social interaction and addictivity as the best parts of the game. The main finding of our study is that location-awareness combined with a rather modest level of pervasiveness can go a long way in creating engaging gaming experiences.