Educating Adults with a Location-Based Augmented Reality Game: A Content Analysis Approach

Abstract

With the exception of Pokémon Go, relatively little is known about other Mobile Augmented Reality (MAR) games, and the attitudes of middle-aged and elderly adults towards them are hitherto poorly examined. The aim of this research is to examine the opinions of young, middle-aged, and elderly adults about the location-based MAR game Ingress. The responses to questions related to Ingress were collected from 24 adult players aged 20–60 from Greece and subsequently were analyzed by means of content analysis, both qualitatively and quantitatively, using the Jaccard index of similarity. Our findings showed that opinions of young people (20–35) agree more with those of elderly adults (>52) than with those of the intermediate age group of 36–51. It was also revealed that knowledge of geography facilitates the ability to play the game better, the game’s scenario is very interesting to adults, and the feeling of playing locally in a global game is also appreciated by all age groups. Along with these findings, with this research, it was shown that (a) content analysis is a valuable method for exploring opinions and attitudes of adult users towards MAR games and (b) Jaccard indices can be used to quantitatively explore themes emerging from content analysis.

Network Analysis for Learners’ Concept Maps While Using Mobile Augmented Reality Gaming

“…However, the negativity of elder generations toward such games that has been identified in other research [46] may progressively disappear once they become more familiar with these games [47,48]. This lack of negativity in attitudes of elder adults (52+) was also observed in previous research with Ingress [49,50].…”

“…By applying content analysis and concept maps as techniques of qualitative research in order to measure the users' responses to questions related to Ingress, it was found through central concepts that the space was part of themselves; by playing Ingress, they left their personal mark in the space, while the educational use of augmented reality was also emphasized. It was also found that there was a differentiation of the answers in question 1 between age groups with age groups agreeing in pairs, the first two (20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29)(30) and (30)(31)(32)(33)(34)(35)(36)(37)(38)(39)(40) with the last two (40)(41)(42)(43)(44)(45)(46)(47)(48)(49)(50) and (50-60), while in question 2, there was an overlap in the responses of participants among age groups. In addition, methodologically, it is shown that content analysis and concept maps present the educational researcher with several advantages as they help to better visualize the links and subfields that emerge from interviews and participants' responses.…”

Dimensions of Interactive Pervasive Game Design: Systematic Review

“…Two games now dominate the pervasive games market: Pokémon GO and Ingress [9]. Ingress has a rather simple core loop and low polish, but its dynamics seem to be tailored to enforce team socializing and collaboration [10]. After the successor to Ingress, Pokémon GO offers a more complicated primary gameplay loop.…”