Abstract-Realistic 3D city models are gaining popularity and becoming increasingly available. Correspondingly, pervasive games such as Pokemon GO are becoming widely popular. The use of realistic virtual environments in serious applications has been studied from the point of view of spatial memorability, yet the use of realistic virtual environments in the context of pervasive location based games is still unexplored. We assess the impact of spatial realism on the memorability of virtual environments in pervasive gameplay with a pervasive role-playing game City Knights. We conducted a field trial with 13 participants involving virtual environments in three conditions, where the spatial similarity to the access points of the virtual environments varied. Our findings indicate that spatial similarity is one of the qualities affecting the memorability of virtual environments. We suggest that this knowledge can be exploited in designing smoother transitions between virtual and physical environments in pervasive games.
Realistic 3D virtual environments, such as existing city models, have the potential to be used in pervasive games as a passageway between physical and virtual. Smooth attention displacement and transitions between these two realities are largely unexplored in the context of pervasive gameplay. We conducted two field trials using a pervasive live action role playing game to study the effect moving between the virtual and the physical has on co-presence and memorability. Although differences in co-presence during gameplay were small, they highlight the subtleties in the social structuring of pervasive gameplay. Spatial similarity between the physical and virtual environments made the 3D virtual environments more memorable. We identify two important issues to consider in embedding virtual environments into pervasive games: structuring of social interactions and the spatial realism of the VEs.
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