Unexceptional.net

Abstract

This paper describes the pervasive game unexceptional.net. Unexceptional.net is a unique pervasive game that is story-driven where the story evolves through multiple media channels interacting with the player. The game interacts with the user on a cellphone and a PC, and the game provides unique gaming experience by introducing gameplay elements through comics, web hacks, Blogs, a 3D-client, a database transaction visualizer, a cellphone client and an Applet client. The game is an example of pervasive game that integrates gaming, the web, fine art and social critique. The paper describes the process of building this game through integrating various open source software and running multiple student projects. Further, the paper reveals challenges in building multichannel pervasive games and identifies how this was solved in the unexceptional.net project. The contribution of this paper is the description of a novel pervasive game and the experiences from designing and implementing this game.