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The Frame of the Game: Blurring the Boundary between Fiction and Reality in Mobile Experiences

Research output: Contribution in Book/Report/Proceedings - With ISBN/ISSNConference contribution/Paperpeer-review

Published
  • Steve Benford
  • Andy Crabtree
  • Stuart Reeves
  • Jennifer Sheridan
  • Alan Dix
  • Martin Flintham
  • Adam Drozd
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Publication date2006
Host publicationProceeding CHI '06 Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human Factors in computing systems
EditorsRebecca Grinter, Thomas Rodden, Paul Aoki, Ed Cutrell, Robin Jeffries, Gary Olson
Place of PublicationNew York
PublisherACM
Pages427-436
Number of pages10
ISBN (print)1-59593-372-7
<mark>Original language</mark>English

Abstract

Mobile experiences that take place in public settings such as on city streets create new opportunities for interweaving the fictional world of a performance or game with the everyday physical world. A study of a touring performance reveals how designers generated excitement and dramatic tension by implicating bystanders and encouraging the (apparent) crossing of normal boundaries of behaviour. The study also shows how designers dealt with associated risks through a process of careful orchestration. Consequently, we extend an existing framework for designing spectator interfaces with the concept of performance frames, enabling us to distinguish audience from bystanders. We conclude that using ambiguity to blur the frame can be a powerful design tactic, empowering players to willingly suspend disbelief, so long as a safety-net of orchestration ensures that they do not stray into genuine difficulty.