The Gilmorehill Mystery: A Location-based Game for Campus Exploration

Swedlund, K. and Barr, M. (2021) The Gilmorehill Mystery: A Location-based Game for Campus Exploration. In: 20th IFIP International Conference on Entertainment Computing, Coimbra, Portugal, 02-05 Nov 2021, pp. 236-251. ISBN 9783030893934 (doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-89394-1_18)

Abstract

The University of Glasgow accommodates a large number of new students every year. Arriving at a new campus can seem daunting at first, as it is always a challenge to navigate a university’s many buildings and pathways. Although in-person and self-guided online campus tours are currently offered by the University, in-person tours require advance booking and online tours do not provide the same level of immersion. As a solution, this paper describes the design, development and evaluation of an alternative: a location-based game for campus exploration. The prototype was evaluated remotely by eight participants in two stages, revealing technical issues that were subsequently addressed. A final, on-campus evaluation was carried out by a single participant using the final version of the game, with positive results. By utilizing player location tracking, this game successfully integrates a classic murder-mystery style story into a real-life setting–the University’s campus–to provide an alternative means for new students to become familiar with their surroundings.

• Item Type: Conference Proceedings
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Barr, Dr Matthew
• Authors: Swedlund, K., and Barr, M.
• Subjects: L Education > LB Theory and practice of education > LB2300 Higher Education; Q Science > QA Mathematics > QA76 Computer software
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Computing Science
• ISSN: 0302-9743
• ISBN: 9783030893934
• Published Online: 22 October 2021
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2021 IFIP International Federation for Information Processing
• First Published: First published in Entertainment Computing – ICEC 2021: 20th IFIP TC 14 International Conference, ICEC 2021, Coimbra, Portugal, November 2–5, 2021, Proceedings: 236-251
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License

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