April 9th, 2011 Museums and the Web- Games Session -

PLUGPLay Ubiquitous Games… and play more

A ubiquitous Mobile Edutainment Application For Learning Science Through Play

April 9th, 2011 Museums and the Web- Games Session -

Who?• The French National Museum of Industrial Arts and Crafts (Musée des arts et métiers)

• Research laboratories:

• Industrials:

• Role players outdoor game-design association:

April 9th, 2011 Museums and the Web- Games Session -

Why?

• Investigate the research domain ofpervasive games within museumor cultural heritage context

• Push further the concept ofedutainment in museums

• Approach a new type of publics

April 9th, 2011 Museums and the Web- Games Session -

Game Theories: Magic Circle

April 9th, 2011 Museums and the Web- Games Session -

Game Theories: Theory of flow

April 9th, 2011 Museums and the Web- Games Session -

Concretely?

Plug - Secrets of the Museum (PSM) Plug - Paris Overnight University (PPOU)

April 9th, 2011 Museums and the Web- Games Session -

> kids and teenagers

PSM: audience

April 9th, 2011 Museums and the Web- Games Session -

PSM: choice of game-design> Happy Families game

April 9th, 2011 Museums and the Web- Games Session -

PSM: collecting cards

• 4 families of museum objects

• Virtual cards figuring real objects

• Virtual cards figured by RFID tags set on kiosks

April 9th, 2011 Museums and the Web- Games Session -

PSM: trading cards

• Technology:

• Ways of trading:

April 9th, 2011 Museums and the Web- Games Session -

PSM: virtual universe

• Animated cards

April 9th, 2011 Museums and the Web- Games Session -

PSM: game logic

The winner is the player/team who gets the highest score within 55 minutes

April 9th, 2011 Museums and the Web- Games Session -

PSM: point management system• Develop our researcher potential:

=> Different possible playing strategies vs players’ skills

April 9th, 2011 Museums and the Web- Games Session -

PSM: educational features• Choice of the objects :

• Elaboration of the families :

April 9th, 2011 Museums and the Web- Games Session -

PSM: return on experience• Numbers of players: 160 (French annual Fête de la science 2008) to 750

• Sociological aspects (140 questionnaires, 40 interviews of 1 hour)

⇒ Great teaser for the museum

⇒ New goal for the Plug’s project team: more education, less play !

April 9th, 2011 Museums and the Web- Games Session -

Plug Paris Overnight University (PPOU)

April 9th, 2011 Museums and the Web- Games Session -

PPOU: new targets> New audience

> New kind of events

April 9th, 2011 Museums and the Web- Games Session -

PPOU: a new concept• New game-design: pervasive infiltration game => To avoid boredom and discouragement of the players

• New features:

• New technical architecture

April 9th, 2011 Museums and the Web- Games Session -

PPOU: scenarioTo study museum artifacts and bring them again to life to provide new inventionsand innovations

• Narration:

• End of the game:

April 9th, 2011 Museums and the Web- Games Session -

PPOU: game design• Core of the new game design: scavenger hunt patterns

• Game-play : 4 progressive phases

1/ Room localisation 2/ Artifact localisation 3/ Artifact comprehension 4/ Validation

April 9th, 2011 Museums and the Web- Games Session -

PPOU: competitive rules• Exhibits charades: competition where two teams mime the exhibits

• Hacking:

• Role of the game master:- he decides when the teams face each other depending of theirprogress into the game

- he arbitrates the competition (Dean of the University for thenarrative narrative universe)

players wearing sensors have to follow the heart rate of other players

April 9th, 2011 Museums and the Web- Games Session -

PPOU: Return on experience• 2010 : 4 test sessions, 60 players

• Players’ feedback :- They look the selected artifacts and objects all around- 80% could explain the relationships between linked objects- The adaptation mechanism was very appreciated- Charades & hacking helped to revamp the game

⇒ The PPOU game-design was more balanced⇒ Immersion was a key of success⇒ Adaptability was key to fine tuning the balance between learning vs playing

April 9th, 2011 Museums and the Web- Games Session -

Plug & the two Games Theories

- Closed universe- Defined playground- Objectives- Challenges & constraints- Limited time- Competitive environment

-> Magic Circle

- Immediate feedback- Interconnection reality/virtuality- Involvement (under control)- Dynamic adaptative- Immersion (narrative universe)- Adaptability

-> Flow Theory

=> Game within a museum = Combination of the two theories

April 9th, 2011 Museums and the Web- Games Session -

Thank you

Coline AunisWeb and multimedia projects managerMusée des arts et métiers | Paris | France@Lilmountcoline.aunis@cnam.fr