Phenomenology, Pokémon Go, and Other Augmented Reality Games

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to analyse the effects on the everyday world of actual Augmented Reality games which introduce digital objects in our surroundings from a phenomenological point of view. Augmented Reality is a new technology aiming to merge digital and real objects, and it is becoming pervasively used thanks to the application for mobile devices Pokémon Go by Niantic. We will study this game and other similar applications to shed light on their possible effects on our lives and on our everyday world from a phenomenological perspective. In the first part, we will show how these digital objects are visualised as merged in the surroundings. We will point out that even if they are visualised as part of the everyday world, they are not part of it because they are still related to the fictional world generated by the game. In the second part, we will show how the existence of these objects in their fictional world has effects on the everyday world where everybody lives. The goal of Augmented Reality is not reached yet because these objects are not part of the everyday world, but it already makes our lives embedded with digital elements. We will show if these new objects have effects on our world and on how we live our lives.

Location-based Games as Exergames - From Pokémon To The Wizarding World

“…HPWU is a location-based augmented reality (AR) game [9,11] based on the Harry Potter franchise [46]. The game was co-developed by Niantic and Warner Brothers Games San Francisco [47] on top of Niantic's planet-scale real-world AR platform [48], which provides, for example, a peer reviewed global database of PoIs [49].…”

“…[9,10]) among others. It can be argued that LBGs are automatically AR-games, as they augment a virtual world on top of the paramount reality [11]. Therefore, in this study we simply use the LBG term.…”

Disappearing boundaries? Reality, virtuality and the possibility of “pure” mixed reality (MR)

“…This is where, on one extreme, you have "pure reality", namely the perceptual, real world without any mediation through digital screens or similar devices; and on the other side you have "pure virtuality", namely a wholly digital experience where perception has been fully bracketed and blocked out, as is the case when one puts on a VR headset and fully engages with the game or programme. Between these two extremes are mixtures of reality and digital virtuality, which is indeed what many (for instance, Boland & McGill, 2015;Liberati, 2018) refer to as "MR", "mixed reality". In this in-between land, there are two general categories (Boland & McGill, 2015;Chalmers, 2017;Flavián et al, 2019): "augmented virtuality" (AV) is a predominantly digital, virtual environment with a few real, perceptual objects called in and overlain when required (for example, a keyboard while gaming -see Boland & McGill, 2015); and AR is when the opposite occurs, namely an image of the real and perceptual world that, however, also has a few digital and virtual objects projected or integrated into it.…”

“…Pokémon Go (2016; see also Liberati, 2018) is one of the betterknown instances of AR: you search, through your phone and its camera, the real, actual world for digital, virtual characters which are superimposed and projected into this very same world through your phone. On top of this, I would propose instances that are already quite prevalent outside gaming.…”

Pokémon Go as palimpsest

“…Due to the public and communal aspects of the game, Pokémon Go has the potential to have social and physical impacts that extend beyond the game world and the players that engage with it (Liberati, 2018;Mizer & Miracle, 2016). The game's capacity to influence how players occupy space can have consequences on not just the space itself but on others occupying or passing through that space.…”