Mobile Games 2010 By Nokia
chupachappy
16,644 views
43 slides
Jan 30, 2008
Slide 1 of 43
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
About This Presentation
1.1.2007
Slide Content
Abstract:
The Mobile Games 2010 report looks at how mobile gaming could be like in year 2010 from three points of view: games and players, technology, and business. The study
was done by interviewing about 20 mobile game publishers, developers, operators, and inviting experts to write articles on the topic. The invited articles are attached in
the end. The report reflects the opinions of the interviewees and authors of the articles - not Nokia’s game strategy or future product releases.
Index Terms:
Mobile
Game
2010
Research Center
NRC-TR-2007-011
Mobile Games 2010
Elina Koivisto
Nokia Research Center Finland
http://research.nokia.com
1.1.2007
NRC-TR-2007-011 Copyright © 2007 Nokia
The Mobile Games 2010 report looks at how mobile gaming could be like in year 2010 from three points of view: games and players, technology, and business. The study
was done by interviewing about 20 mobile game publishers, developers, operators, and inviting experts to write articles on the topic. The invited articles are attached in
the end. The report reflects the opinions of the interviewees and authors of the articles - not Nokia’s game strategy or future product releases.
Index Terms:
Mobile
Game
2010
Research Center
NRC-TR-2007-011
Mobile Games 2010
Elina Koivisto
Nokia Research Center Finland
http://research.nokia.com
1.1.2007
NRC-TR-2007-011 Copyright © 2007 Nokia
Mobile Games 2010
Elina Koivisto
Elina Koivisto
2
Layout and cover art:
Jouka Mattila
Nokia Research Center, Finland
Special Acknowledgements:
The IPerG (Integrated Project on Pervasive Gaming) project for funding part of this work
Teemu Jalava
Nokia Research Center, Finland
Jyri Salomaa
Nokia Research Center, China
For initiating and structuring the project, co-authoring the initial sets of questions and invitations,
rewiewing and selecting the articles.
Layout and cover art:
Jouka Mattila
Nokia Research Center, Finland
Special Acknowledgements:
The IPerG (Integrated Project on Pervasive Gaming) project for funding part of this work
Teemu Jalava
Nokia Research Center, Finland
Jyri Salomaa
Nokia Research Center, China
For initiating and structuring the project, co-authoring the initial sets of questions and invitations,
rewiewing and selecting the articles.
The Mobile Games 2010 study (MG2010) was initi-
ated by Nokia Research Center (NRC) at the end of
year 2005 to get insight on how the mobile games
and gaming will be like within a few years time. We
started the study by organizing an expert workshop
with 13 game experts in Nokia. With the data that
was gathered in the workshop, we created an inter-
view structure and interviewed 20 mobile game de-
velopers, publishers, operators and other researchers
(see the list of contributors in the end). The inter-
views were done either in face-to-face situations
(majority) or via phone, and email. The interviews
were semi-structured (1) .
Additionally, we invited experts to contribute to the
study by writing short articles related to the topic.
These articles are compiled in an appendix that ac-
companies this report. The journal includes articles
on mobile game security (Steven Davis) [12], tech-
nology road mapping for future mobile games (Son-
ja Kangas) [32], proximity gaming (Tom Söderlund)
[51], virtual asset trade (Steven Davis) [13], cross-
medial access (Vicky Wu) [54], architecture for con-
nected mobile gaming (Frank Fitzek) [18], and fu-
ture of mobile games (John Paul Bichard) [6].
Please note that this report does not reflect
Nokia roadmaps or future product releases. This
report is a collection of opinions of the people
who contributed in this study.
The study looks at mobile gaming from three points
of view: Users and games, Technologies, and Busi-
ness. We focus on Europe, however, our contribu-
tors come also from other regions. Differences in
different markets can be rather large [19]. The study
concentrates more on the future than today. Excel-
lent sources exist about the today’s situation, and
some of them are freely available, such as the IGDA
Mobile Games White Paper [27]. One of the articles
in the article collection also gives a brief summary
of the History of the Mobile Games (starting with
the first commercial Mobile Game, Nokia’s Snakes,
in year 1997) [40].
The report is divided in three parts: Section 2. Users
and Games, Section 3. Technologies, and Section 4.
Business. Conclusions are drawn in the end of the
document and the referred materials are listed. The
contributors for the report are listed in the begin-
ning of the document. Most of the contributors were
interviewed for the report, some of them reviewed
the report and came up with useful comments, and
some did both.
(1) The interviews involved a list of interview topics that were
followed in the each interview. However, the interviewees
were freely allowed to talk about the topics that they consid-
ered important themselves.
3
Chapter 1:
Introduction
ated by Nokia Research Center (NRC) at the end of
year 2005 to get insight on how the mobile games
and gaming will be like within a few years time. We
started the study by organizing an expert workshop
with 13 game experts in Nokia. With the data that
was gathered in the workshop, we created an inter-
view structure and interviewed 20 mobile game de-
velopers, publishers, operators and other researchers
(see the list of contributors in the end). The inter-
views were done either in face-to-face situations
(majority) or via phone, and email. The interviews
were semi-structured (1) .
Additionally, we invited experts to contribute to the
study by writing short articles related to the topic.
These articles are compiled in an appendix that ac-
companies this report. The journal includes articles
on mobile game security (Steven Davis) [12], tech-
nology road mapping for future mobile games (Son-
ja Kangas) [32], proximity gaming (Tom Söderlund)
[51], virtual asset trade (Steven Davis) [13], cross-
medial access (Vicky Wu) [54], architecture for con-
nected mobile gaming (Frank Fitzek) [18], and fu-
ture of mobile games (John Paul Bichard) [6].
Please note that this report does not reflect
Nokia roadmaps or future product releases. This
report is a collection of opinions of the people
who contributed in this study.
The study looks at mobile gaming from three points
of view: Users and games, Technologies, and Busi-
ness. We focus on Europe, however, our contribu-
tors come also from other regions. Differences in
different markets can be rather large [19]. The study
concentrates more on the future than today. Excel-
lent sources exist about the today’s situation, and
some of them are freely available, such as the IGDA
Mobile Games White Paper [27]. One of the articles
in the article collection also gives a brief summary
of the History of the Mobile Games (starting with
the first commercial Mobile Game, Nokia’s Snakes,
in year 1997) [40].
The report is divided in three parts: Section 2. Users
and Games, Section 3. Technologies, and Section 4.
Business. Conclusions are drawn in the end of the
document and the referred materials are listed. The
contributors for the report are listed in the begin-
ning of the document. Most of the contributors were
interviewed for the report, some of them reviewed
the report and came up with useful comments, and
some did both.
(1) The interviews involved a list of interview topics that were
followed in the each interview. However, the interviewees
were freely allowed to talk about the topics that they consid-
ered important themselves.
3
Chapter 1:
Introduction
4
Chapter 2:
Users and Games
In this section, we look at who will be the mobile
game players and what kind of games are predicted
to be popular in year 2010.
Partly this can be due to what kinds of games ex-
ist for the platforms, but also it must be noted, that
in the case of PC, you already have the device and
you just need to buy the game. The same applies to
the mobile platform and this may be one of the rea-
sons why mobile games can become popular among
women(3).
It is commonly said that mobile game players are
mostly casual gamers who play the games for a
few minutes when waiting for something or being
bored. However, a study done by Sorrent and U30
[27] found that many core or hard core gamers (for
a definition see e.g. [28]) play mobile games. The
study was rather large-scale, more than 700 mo-
bile game players participated the study. They also
found that 80% of them had a gaming console at
home, more than 60% of them played mobile games
at home, many of them played frequently (more than
60% played mobile games more than once per day),
and they played for long periods of time on average
(15-20 minutes). In another study(4) [19], which was
commissioned by Nokia, the average play session
length was found to be 28 minutes. In our studies in
Nokia Research Center, we have field tested com-
mercial mobile games, and found that particularly
the players of online games spend a lot of time play-
ing one play session. The most enthusiastic mobile
game players can even spend several hours playing
a mobile game. The typical places that are reported
in our studies for places where the games are played
include home and work. It seems to be common to
play mobile games in places like bed before going to
sleep, or playing on the couch while watching TV.
The users and how they play
There is quite a lot of research conducted on the
mobile game player demographics, but the results
vary a lot depending on the group who participated
the studies. Typically, the studies show that a con-
siderable partition of the mobile game players are
female. One example is the free mobile game por-
tal GameJump’s study [9] among its users (50 000
players were involved in the study) where it was
reported that in the US 59% of the players were
male, and 41 female. The male/female ratio was
more geared towards men among the international
players (79/21)(2). Juniper Research’s [39]report es-
timates that mobile games business will grow from
$3 billion in 2006 to $10.5 billion in 2009 and that
growth will be driven by the casual and female play-
ers. One comment from our interviews was that in
the non-mobile gaming field, more women play PC
Figure 1 An example of a mobile game that is
targeted to women. WatAGame’s GoSupermodel
game
(2) Could be because the game site is not welknown outside
the US
(3) Also, according to the author’s own experiences and ob-
servations, women who already have families are often quite
busy and cannot necessarily afford to spend several hours in
front of computers. There are always distractions in the real
life. The mobile gameplay that is not fixed in one location and
often supports short playsessions may fit better in that kind of
lifestyle.
(4) 1800 users participated in the study in six countries
Chapter 2:
Users and Games
In this section, we look at who will be the mobile
game players and what kind of games are predicted
to be popular in year 2010.
Partly this can be due to what kinds of games ex-
ist for the platforms, but also it must be noted, that
in the case of PC, you already have the device and
you just need to buy the game. The same applies to
the mobile platform and this may be one of the rea-
sons why mobile games can become popular among
women(3).
It is commonly said that mobile game players are
mostly casual gamers who play the games for a
few minutes when waiting for something or being
bored. However, a study done by Sorrent and U30
[27] found that many core or hard core gamers (for
a definition see e.g. [28]) play mobile games. The
study was rather large-scale, more than 700 mo-
bile game players participated the study. They also
found that 80% of them had a gaming console at
home, more than 60% of them played mobile games
at home, many of them played frequently (more than
60% played mobile games more than once per day),
and they played for long periods of time on average
(15-20 minutes). In another study(4) [19], which was
commissioned by Nokia, the average play session
length was found to be 28 minutes. In our studies in
Nokia Research Center, we have field tested com-
mercial mobile games, and found that particularly
the players of online games spend a lot of time play-
ing one play session. The most enthusiastic mobile
game players can even spend several hours playing
a mobile game. The typical places that are reported
in our studies for places where the games are played
include home and work. It seems to be common to
play mobile games in places like bed before going to
sleep, or playing on the couch while watching TV.
The users and how they play
There is quite a lot of research conducted on the
mobile game player demographics, but the results
vary a lot depending on the group who participated
the studies. Typically, the studies show that a con-
siderable partition of the mobile game players are
female. One example is the free mobile game por-
tal GameJump’s study [9] among its users (50 000
players were involved in the study) where it was
reported that in the US 59% of the players were
male, and 41 female. The male/female ratio was
more geared towards men among the international
players (79/21)(2). Juniper Research’s [39]report es-
timates that mobile games business will grow from
$3 billion in 2006 to $10.5 billion in 2009 and that
growth will be driven by the casual and female play-
ers. One comment from our interviews was that in
the non-mobile gaming field, more women play PC
Figure 1 An example of a mobile game that is
targeted to women. WatAGame’s GoSupermodel
game
(2) Could be because the game site is not welknown outside
the US
(3) Also, according to the author’s own experiences and ob-
servations, women who already have families are often quite
busy and cannot necessarily afford to spend several hours in
front of computers. There are always distractions in the real
life. The mobile gameplay that is not fixed in one location and
often supports short playsessions may fit better in that kind of
lifestyle.
(4) 1800 users participated in the study in six countries
5 Chapter 2
Users and Games
In 2010, more people will play mobile games. As
mentioned earlier, and also noted a few times in our
interviews, women will be important for driving this
growth. Recently, there have been signs that some
companies particularly aim to target their mobile
games to young women (see e.g. Gameloft’s com-
ment about targeting women players [29]). One
example is Danish game development company
WatAGame’s goSupermodel (Figure 1), where the
players battle it out in the catwalk. We can expect to
see more mobile games that are targeted to women in
the future. The number of hard-core gamers will also
get bigger in the mobile platform when the quality
of the games is getting better and the mobile phone
as a game development platform will offer more
possibilities for creating games that both look good
and lots of “deep” content. One of our developer in-
terviewees noted that the company is addressing the
needs of hardcore gamers by providing games that
have hard-core theme and content but casual game
mechanics that are better in the mobile game play
situations. One good example of this is the Doom
[15] mobile game.
In the year 2010, more people than today have been
using a mobile phone for their entire life. In Fin-
land, a typical age to get a mobile phone is when
children go to school at the age of seven. These kids
who have grown up with mobile phones will have
a different, more pervasive(5) relationship with the
mobile phone. One example of this is using the mo-
bile phone as a tool in everyday playing. A Finnish
tabloid recently reported children playing hide-and-
seek with using mobile phone as a tool in this game
[30](6) . There were also some spontaneous positive
given by our interviewees about the players of real-
life games using mobile phone as a tool.
Figure 2 Future players of mobile games. The mobile phone can be used as a tool in play.
(5) The word ”pervasive” is used here in the sense that the
mobile phone is an important part of every day activities.
(6) The children used the mobile phone in a special Finn-
ish variation of the hide-and-seek game for collaboration
amongst the hidden players, informing the lost players, and
revealing someone’s location by calling his or her mobile
Users and Games
In 2010, more people will play mobile games. As
mentioned earlier, and also noted a few times in our
interviews, women will be important for driving this
growth. Recently, there have been signs that some
companies particularly aim to target their mobile
games to young women (see e.g. Gameloft’s com-
ment about targeting women players [29]). One
example is Danish game development company
WatAGame’s goSupermodel (Figure 1), where the
players battle it out in the catwalk. We can expect to
see more mobile games that are targeted to women in
the future. The number of hard-core gamers will also
get bigger in the mobile platform when the quality
of the games is getting better and the mobile phone
as a game development platform will offer more
possibilities for creating games that both look good
and lots of “deep” content. One of our developer in-
terviewees noted that the company is addressing the
needs of hardcore gamers by providing games that
have hard-core theme and content but casual game
mechanics that are better in the mobile game play
situations. One good example of this is the Doom
[15] mobile game.
In the year 2010, more people than today have been
using a mobile phone for their entire life. In Fin-
land, a typical age to get a mobile phone is when
children go to school at the age of seven. These kids
who have grown up with mobile phones will have
a different, more pervasive(5) relationship with the
mobile phone. One example of this is using the mo-
bile phone as a tool in everyday playing. A Finnish
tabloid recently reported children playing hide-and-
seek with using mobile phone as a tool in this game
[30](6) . There were also some spontaneous positive
given by our interviewees about the players of real-
life games using mobile phone as a tool.
Figure 2 Future players of mobile games. The mobile phone can be used as a tool in play.
(5) The word ”pervasive” is used here in the sense that the
mobile phone is an important part of every day activities.
(6) The children used the mobile phone in a special Finn-
ish variation of the hide-and-seek game for collaboration
amongst the hidden players, informing the lost players, and
revealing someone’s location by calling his or her mobile
6 Chapter 2
Users and Games
The games that will be popular
Currently, the most popular mobile games are quite
casual and many of them are versions of game titles
that are developed for PC. For instance, Tetris ap-
pears frequently in the list of top ten most sold mo-
bile games [16]. These “snack games” will definitely
not vanish from the market, but they are more likely
to have optional multi-player functionality. What
will change is that there will be more diversity.
Like mentioned in the previous section, games that
offer deeper gameplay and good graphics will get
more common. Some of the experts who we inter-
viewed believed in similar games getting popular in
the mobile platform are as popular now in the PC
platform. However, the majority of the experts be-
lieved that the successful mobile games would be
something different, specifically designed for the
mobile platform(7). These games could utilize the
specific features of the mobile phone: 1. connectiv-
ity, 2 “always-with-you”, and 3. the context of the
player. At the same time, the games need to be de-
signed around the limitations in the mobile environ-
ment. The biggest limitations for the game design
include today: small screen size and keypad, net-
work latency and traffic pricing, file size limitations,
and platform fragmentation (see Section 3)(8). The
use situations of the mobile games are also often
different than when playing a PC or console game,
even if – as noted earlier – mobile games are often
played at home as well.
We have listed the following game styles that will be
few emerging game styles that may or may not be
more popular in year 2010 or later.
“Snack games”
Snack games are small simple games that are typi-
cally played just for a while when the player is bored
or waiting for something and then set aside. These
games are typically small puzzle games or simple
arcade games(9).
Most of the today’s mobile games can be described
as snack games. Even if there will be a lot more di-
versity in the future, there are no signs that snack
gaming would vanish anywhere. This was confirmed
in our interviews. Snack games will be there and
they may even drive the industry [39]. The mobile
phone fits very nicely for snack gaming since it is
always available and many players do not care about
deeper gaming experiences (and do not even con-
sider themselves as “gamers”). Instead, they are sat-
isfied with more casual gaming experiences. Also,
innovation can happen in mobile puzzle games as
well. One good example of this is Fathammer’s SiL
game [49] where the player has to rotate 3D objects
to fit into a silhouette.
(7) One of our invited articles defines the first category as “port-
able games” and the second as “mobile games” [6]
(8) The battery life and processing power can be also problems,
however, these issues do not usually need to be considered
when designing the game.
(9) However, it must be noted that a snack game like Tetris can
be played by another player like a snack game and by some
other player fanatically. In this paper, we refer to a common
playing style
Figure 3 Fitting a 3D object into an silhouette in
Fathammer’s SiL game.
Users and Games
The games that will be popular
Currently, the most popular mobile games are quite
casual and many of them are versions of game titles
that are developed for PC. For instance, Tetris ap-
pears frequently in the list of top ten most sold mo-
bile games [16]. These “snack games” will definitely
not vanish from the market, but they are more likely
to have optional multi-player functionality. What
will change is that there will be more diversity.
Like mentioned in the previous section, games that
offer deeper gameplay and good graphics will get
more common. Some of the experts who we inter-
viewed believed in similar games getting popular in
the mobile platform are as popular now in the PC
platform. However, the majority of the experts be-
lieved that the successful mobile games would be
something different, specifically designed for the
mobile platform(7). These games could utilize the
specific features of the mobile phone: 1. connectiv-
ity, 2 “always-with-you”, and 3. the context of the
player. At the same time, the games need to be de-
signed around the limitations in the mobile environ-
ment. The biggest limitations for the game design
include today: small screen size and keypad, net-
work latency and traffic pricing, file size limitations,
and platform fragmentation (see Section 3)(8). The
use situations of the mobile games are also often
different than when playing a PC or console game,
even if – as noted earlier – mobile games are often
played at home as well.
We have listed the following game styles that will be
few emerging game styles that may or may not be
more popular in year 2010 or later.
“Snack games”
Snack games are small simple games that are typi-
cally played just for a while when the player is bored
or waiting for something and then set aside. These
games are typically small puzzle games or simple
arcade games(9).
Most of the today’s mobile games can be described
as snack games. Even if there will be a lot more di-
versity in the future, there are no signs that snack
gaming would vanish anywhere. This was confirmed
in our interviews. Snack games will be there and
they may even drive the industry [39]. The mobile
phone fits very nicely for snack gaming since it is
always available and many players do not care about
deeper gaming experiences (and do not even con-
sider themselves as “gamers”). Instead, they are sat-
isfied with more casual gaming experiences. Also,
innovation can happen in mobile puzzle games as
well. One good example of this is Fathammer’s SiL
game [49] where the player has to rotate 3D objects
to fit into a silhouette.
(7) One of our invited articles defines the first category as “port-
able games” and the second as “mobile games” [6]
(8) The battery life and processing power can be also problems,
however, these issues do not usually need to be considered
when designing the game.
(9) However, it must be noted that a snack game like Tetris can
be played by another player like a snack game and by some
other player fanatically. In this paper, we refer to a common
playing style
Figure 3 Fitting a 3D object into an silhouette in
Fathammer’s SiL game.
7 Chapter 2
Users and Games
Cross-platform
Cross-platform games and entertainment (or poly-
morphic content) was a big theme in our interviews.
One of our invited papers also concentrated in this
issue [54]. There are different kinds of cross-plat-
form games. The “mildest” form of a cross-platform
game is that the games in different platforms just
share the same game license, but the gameplay in
different platforms does not have any connection.
We can already see these kinds of games utilizing
popular game licenses, such as The Sims. These
games can have similar stories or gameplay, or they
can be complementary. One example of this could
be a console game or a movie that is complemented
with a mobile game where a small part of the whole
story is revealed. For instance, the mobile game
could explain something about the main character’s
past that was never told in the movie.
The next step in cross-platform is allowing the play-
ers to use two or more platform to access the same
game. The ways to play the game with the different
platforms are symmetrical (similar) or asymmetri-
cal (different). There are already games that can be
played in different platforms, such as an MMORPG
“A Tale in the Desert” [4]. However, having the mo-
bile phone as part of the cross-platform functional-
ity is not common yet. Hinterwars is probably the
first commercial cross-platform MMOG (Massively
Multi-Player Game) [25] including the mobile com-
ponent. In Hinterwars, the gameplay in the PC and
mobile platform are symmetrical (see Figure 4).
If the gameplay of a cross-platform game title is
asymmetrical in different platforms and the mobile
phone is one of the platforms, most of the game-
play can happen in the mobile platform, the other
platform(s), or equally in all the platforms. A typical
example of a game where the mobile phone would
be the main platform could be a game where some
content for the mobile game is created in other plat-
form, for instance, in a web page. Mobile games can
also benefit from allowing the players to use the most
feasible available platform for communicating with
each other, e.g. for writing messages in a game fo-
rum. A good example of a game where the PC game
could be the main game, and the mobile phone
Figure 3 Fitting a 3D object into an silhouette in Fathammer’s SiL game.
could be used as “a remote control”, is an MMOR-
PG (Massively Multi-Player Online Role-Playing
Game) where the players can use mobile phone for
doing small tasks in the game.
Nokia Research Center has conducted two quali-
tative studies together with SonyNetservices and
Gotland University on what kinds of cross-plat-
form access methods could be popular among the
current MMORPG players [34][35]. In these stud-
ies, 28 players participated in in-depth interviews.
It was found that the MMORPG players were very
interested in using mobile features that allow them
to connect to the communication
Users and Games
Cross-platform
Cross-platform games and entertainment (or poly-
morphic content) was a big theme in our interviews.
One of our invited papers also concentrated in this
issue [54]. There are different kinds of cross-plat-
form games. The “mildest” form of a cross-platform
game is that the games in different platforms just
share the same game license, but the gameplay in
different platforms does not have any connection.
We can already see these kinds of games utilizing
popular game licenses, such as The Sims. These
games can have similar stories or gameplay, or they
can be complementary. One example of this could
be a console game or a movie that is complemented
with a mobile game where a small part of the whole
story is revealed. For instance, the mobile game
could explain something about the main character’s
past that was never told in the movie.
The next step in cross-platform is allowing the play-
ers to use two or more platform to access the same
game. The ways to play the game with the different
platforms are symmetrical (similar) or asymmetri-
cal (different). There are already games that can be
played in different platforms, such as an MMORPG
“A Tale in the Desert” [4]. However, having the mo-
bile phone as part of the cross-platform functional-
ity is not common yet. Hinterwars is probably the
first commercial cross-platform MMOG (Massively
Multi-Player Game) [25] including the mobile com-
ponent. In Hinterwars, the gameplay in the PC and
mobile platform are symmetrical (see Figure 4).
If the gameplay of a cross-platform game title is
asymmetrical in different platforms and the mobile
phone is one of the platforms, most of the game-
play can happen in the mobile platform, the other
platform(s), or equally in all the platforms. A typical
example of a game where the mobile phone would
be the main platform could be a game where some
content for the mobile game is created in other plat-
form, for instance, in a web page. Mobile games can
also benefit from allowing the players to use the most
feasible available platform for communicating with
each other, e.g. for writing messages in a game fo-
rum. A good example of a game where the PC game
could be the main game, and the mobile phone
Figure 3 Fitting a 3D object into an silhouette in Fathammer’s SiL game.
could be used as “a remote control”, is an MMOR-
PG (Massively Multi-Player Online Role-Playing
Game) where the players can use mobile phone for
doing small tasks in the game.
Nokia Research Center has conducted two quali-
tative studies together with SonyNetservices and
Gotland University on what kinds of cross-plat-
form access methods could be popular among the
current MMORPG players [34][35]. In these stud-
ies, 28 players participated in in-depth interviews.
It was found that the MMORPG players were very
interested in using mobile features that allow them
to connect to the communication
8 Chapter 2
Users and Games
channels of their favorite PC-based MMORPG.
Also, using small features that would not affect too
much the gameplay in the main platform and would
not require too fast interaction were popular, such
as trading items or crafting. Features that involved
getting notifications from the MMORPG received a
mixed feedback. They were considered useful, how-
ever, sometimes players were worried about “being
borderline gaming all the time” and getting too in-
volved in and addicted to playing. We also studied
using the mobile phone to play an MMORPG in a
location-based mode. According to our study, these
kinds of games would not be popular – unless they
would be specifically designed to be location-based
in the beginning. It is unlikely for the location-based
MMORPG mobile game extensions will be popular
in year 2010. What is very likely is that some more
subtle features, like accessing the communication
channels or trading with mobile, will be commonly
used with some MMORPGs.
The first PC or console games that will use mobile
phone to support the game will simply connect to
the communication channels of the game. We have
seen already a few examples of this, for instance,
Habbo Hotel [23], a virtual world created by Su-
lake, has included a mobile chat client that was used
for sending messages in the game. Later Sulake re-
moved this feature from the game since it was not
used much. The reason for this was probably that the
typical players did not yet have advanced-enough
phones to use the feature and the pricing for data
traffic was very high in the mobile networks. The
time was too early for the feature and now both of
these issues are changing.
Mixed-reality games [26] often use several platforms
to create the playing experience. Various platforms
can be used for informing about the game, entering
the game, playing the game, or observing the game.
These games often allow various levels of participa-
tion from active players to observers or even non-
players (who do not necessarily even know that they
are part of the game). These kinds of games have this
far been mostly successful as promotional games. A
good example of that kind of game is Nokia Game
that has ran from year 1999 as a promotional game
event for Nokia [44].
Location-based games (LBGs)
Location-based games have not been a major com-
mercial success this far. A few commercial location-
based games have been launched, such as Botfight-
ers [7] and Mogi Mogi [37]. Geocaching [22], which
is a real-world GPS assisted treasure hunt game, is
also an example of a location-based playful appli-
cation that has gained some popularity and rather
much publicity. However, the location-based genre
is a niche. In our interviews, the response for ques-
tions related with the near-future success of loca-
tion-based games ranged from skepticism to slight
optimism. It was also noted that maybe the location-
based games have been too often very goal oriented
games and that the popular location-based applica-
tions could be more playful. One example of a loca-
tion-based (proximity based) application is Nokia’s
Sensor application [47]. The users of the Sensor ap-
plication can browse other users of the same applica-
tion who are in the vicinity (i.e. within the Bluetooth
range), and see if they can find someone
interesting, share files, and more.
One enabler for the location-based games to become
more popular is the increasing amount of location-
technology that is available for the consumers with
relatively low price. For instance in Finland the pric-
es of GPS modules (such as Navicore) have come
down rapidly within the last two years. The compa-
nies who are providing just maps today will start to
consider what other kinds of applications they could
provide for the consumers. One sign of this is Navi-
core’s map application that gives the driver of the
car instructions. In addition, the driver can choose
which voice he wants to use from several options
(among which are some celebrities).
However, there are still many problems with the loca-
tion technologies. For instance, GPS is very suitable
for using in a car since being outdoors all the time
makes seeing the satellite easier. However, gaming
and traffic can be a tricky combination and using a
GPS device constantly when walking around in a
city can be cumbersome (especially in rough weath-
er conditions, such as heavy rain). Some problems
with using GPS for location information have been
reported as well, for instance in the vicinity of very
high buildings [5]. Other technologies for location
tracking exist, but utilizing them is not necessarily
that easy either. The mobile operators offer tracking
services which are not as accurate as GPS. Using a
location service by operator may be expensive and
require going through a lot of bureaucracy [36]. One
option is to use the CELL-ID for obtaining a rough
knowledge of the whereabouts of the player. How-
ever, this information is sometimes seen to be
Users and Games
channels of their favorite PC-based MMORPG.
Also, using small features that would not affect too
much the gameplay in the main platform and would
not require too fast interaction were popular, such
as trading items or crafting. Features that involved
getting notifications from the MMORPG received a
mixed feedback. They were considered useful, how-
ever, sometimes players were worried about “being
borderline gaming all the time” and getting too in-
volved in and addicted to playing. We also studied
using the mobile phone to play an MMORPG in a
location-based mode. According to our study, these
kinds of games would not be popular – unless they
would be specifically designed to be location-based
in the beginning. It is unlikely for the location-based
MMORPG mobile game extensions will be popular
in year 2010. What is very likely is that some more
subtle features, like accessing the communication
channels or trading with mobile, will be commonly
used with some MMORPGs.
The first PC or console games that will use mobile
phone to support the game will simply connect to
the communication channels of the game. We have
seen already a few examples of this, for instance,
Habbo Hotel [23], a virtual world created by Su-
lake, has included a mobile chat client that was used
for sending messages in the game. Later Sulake re-
moved this feature from the game since it was not
used much. The reason for this was probably that the
typical players did not yet have advanced-enough
phones to use the feature and the pricing for data
traffic was very high in the mobile networks. The
time was too early for the feature and now both of
these issues are changing.
Mixed-reality games [26] often use several platforms
to create the playing experience. Various platforms
can be used for informing about the game, entering
the game, playing the game, or observing the game.
These games often allow various levels of participa-
tion from active players to observers or even non-
players (who do not necessarily even know that they
are part of the game). These kinds of games have this
far been mostly successful as promotional games. A
good example of that kind of game is Nokia Game
that has ran from year 1999 as a promotional game
event for Nokia [44].
Location-based games (LBGs)
Location-based games have not been a major com-
mercial success this far. A few commercial location-
based games have been launched, such as Botfight-
ers [7] and Mogi Mogi [37]. Geocaching [22], which
is a real-world GPS assisted treasure hunt game, is
also an example of a location-based playful appli-
cation that has gained some popularity and rather
much publicity. However, the location-based genre
is a niche. In our interviews, the response for ques-
tions related with the near-future success of loca-
tion-based games ranged from skepticism to slight
optimism. It was also noted that maybe the location-
based games have been too often very goal oriented
games and that the popular location-based applica-
tions could be more playful. One example of a loca-
tion-based (proximity based) application is Nokia’s
Sensor application [47]. The users of the Sensor ap-
plication can browse other users of the same applica-
tion who are in the vicinity (i.e. within the Bluetooth
range), and see if they can find someone
interesting, share files, and more.
One enabler for the location-based games to become
more popular is the increasing amount of location-
technology that is available for the consumers with
relatively low price. For instance in Finland the pric-
es of GPS modules (such as Navicore) have come
down rapidly within the last two years. The compa-
nies who are providing just maps today will start to
consider what other kinds of applications they could
provide for the consumers. One sign of this is Navi-
core’s map application that gives the driver of the
car instructions. In addition, the driver can choose
which voice he wants to use from several options
(among which are some celebrities).
However, there are still many problems with the loca-
tion technologies. For instance, GPS is very suitable
for using in a car since being outdoors all the time
makes seeing the satellite easier. However, gaming
and traffic can be a tricky combination and using a
GPS device constantly when walking around in a
city can be cumbersome (especially in rough weath-
er conditions, such as heavy rain). Some problems
with using GPS for location information have been
reported as well, for instance in the vicinity of very
high buildings [5]. Other technologies for location
tracking exist, but utilizing them is not necessarily
that easy either. The mobile operators offer tracking
services which are not as accurate as GPS. Using a
location service by operator may be expensive and
require going through a lot of bureaucracy [36]. One
option is to use the CELL-ID for obtaining a rough
knowledge of the whereabouts of the player. How-
ever, this information is sometimes seen to be
9 Chapter 2
Users and Games
owned by the mobile operator which may cause
problems in commercial applications. Proximity
gaming can be a more suitable way for locating
players of the same game at the moment, since the
technology for doing this is already widely avail-
able. Some commercial applications already exist
(such as Nokia Sensor that was mentioned earlier).
Those who are interested in proximity gaming can
read more about it in Tom Söderlund’s article in the
article appendix of this report [51].
When talking about LBGs, concentrating on accura-
cy can be a red herring. Accuracy may not be impor-
tant, and sometimes using exact location informa-
tion in a game can be even threatening for players
who do not want to let the other players to know
about their whereabouts. There is always potential
for stalking if a very accurate location technology
is used. Sometimes it might be interesting for the
player just to know that the other player is in the
same neighborhood. Some mobile games may be lo-
cation-based even without the players realizing that
they are playing a location-based game. The players
may just play a game in a certain location. One ex-
ample of this could be a mobile-assisted bar quiz.
One big problem with commercializing location-
based games is the amount of resources that is needed
for customizing the games or applications to differ-
ent locations. A few solutions exist and the solutions
may also show direction to where the location-based
games or playful applications will go in the near fu-
ture. The location can be relative, the location may
be not mapped directly to the real world, and the
game may utilize existing maps and services
and user-created content (see Figure 5).
Figure 5 An example of a research prototype
called Constellations where content is automati-
cally generated to fit new locations. More in www.
mupe.net
The Location-based games will probably still stay
as a niche in year 2010. However, we will see more
location-based games than today.
Mixing the virtual and real – pervasive gaming
According to the definition that is used in the Inte-
grated Project on Pervasive Gaming (IPerG ) [31]
pervasive games are “game experiences that are in-
terwoven with our everyday lives”. This means that
pervasive games mix with our everyday activities.
In the extreme cases this could mean games that are
more like a life style than just a game. Pervasive
gaming can - but does not necessarily need to mean
– location-based gaming. Location-based games are
a subset of pervasive games.
One good example of mixing virtual and real is a
game event organized by Nokia Research Center
and a collaborative project Sensor Planet [48] is
Manhattan Story-Mash Up event (Figure 6) in the
Urban Games festival in New York. In this game
event, the players were taking pictures of real-life
objects in the street and other players were guessing
what these objects represent. The second mode of
play was web-based, where the players wrote stories
around the content. Earlier examples of these kinds
of games exist, too, such as, Can You See Me Now,
Uncle Roy All Around You, Pac Manhattan, Human
Pacman etc. These kinds of games can be particu-
larly successful as promotional game events, for in-
stance, Nokia has used a mixed-reality game “Nokia
game” already for years for promoting its phones.
Users and Games
owned by the mobile operator which may cause
problems in commercial applications. Proximity
gaming can be a more suitable way for locating
players of the same game at the moment, since the
technology for doing this is already widely avail-
able. Some commercial applications already exist
(such as Nokia Sensor that was mentioned earlier).
Those who are interested in proximity gaming can
read more about it in Tom Söderlund’s article in the
article appendix of this report [51].
When talking about LBGs, concentrating on accura-
cy can be a red herring. Accuracy may not be impor-
tant, and sometimes using exact location informa-
tion in a game can be even threatening for players
who do not want to let the other players to know
about their whereabouts. There is always potential
for stalking if a very accurate location technology
is used. Sometimes it might be interesting for the
player just to know that the other player is in the
same neighborhood. Some mobile games may be lo-
cation-based even without the players realizing that
they are playing a location-based game. The players
may just play a game in a certain location. One ex-
ample of this could be a mobile-assisted bar quiz.
One big problem with commercializing location-
based games is the amount of resources that is needed
for customizing the games or applications to differ-
ent locations. A few solutions exist and the solutions
may also show direction to where the location-based
games or playful applications will go in the near fu-
ture. The location can be relative, the location may
be not mapped directly to the real world, and the
game may utilize existing maps and services
and user-created content (see Figure 5).
Figure 5 An example of a research prototype
called Constellations where content is automati-
cally generated to fit new locations. More in www.
mupe.net
The Location-based games will probably still stay
as a niche in year 2010. However, we will see more
location-based games than today.
Mixing the virtual and real – pervasive gaming
According to the definition that is used in the Inte-
grated Project on Pervasive Gaming (IPerG ) [31]
pervasive games are “game experiences that are in-
terwoven with our everyday lives”. This means that
pervasive games mix with our everyday activities.
In the extreme cases this could mean games that are
more like a life style than just a game. Pervasive
gaming can - but does not necessarily need to mean
– location-based gaming. Location-based games are
a subset of pervasive games.
One good example of mixing virtual and real is a
game event organized by Nokia Research Center
and a collaborative project Sensor Planet [48] is
Manhattan Story-Mash Up event (Figure 6) in the
Urban Games festival in New York. In this game
event, the players were taking pictures of real-life
objects in the street and other players were guessing
what these objects represent. The second mode of
play was web-based, where the players wrote stories
around the content. Earlier examples of these kinds
of games exist, too, such as, Can You See Me Now,
Uncle Roy All Around You, Pac Manhattan, Human
Pacman etc. These kinds of games can be particu-
larly successful as promotional game events, for in-
stance, Nokia has used a mixed-reality game “Nokia
game” already for years for promoting its phones.
10 Chapter 2
Users and Games
Our interviews gave some indication that the bor-
ders between the digital entertainment and gaming,
and also virtual and real may blur more in the near
future. An example of this already happening is the
alternate reality game connected with the Lost TV
series.
Connected games (or online games)
Connected (online) mobile games have been com-
ing to the market already for several years. Howev-
er, most of the mobile games are still offline games,
even if some of the mobile games use short-range
communication technologies, such as Bluetooth or
infrared to facilitate locally multi-player games. In
Nokia study [19], 45% of the mobile game players
reported that they play multi-player mobile games at
least once per month.
Figure 6 Manhattan Story Mash-Up event in New
York. The pictures taken in the game were posted
in a wide-screen in Manhattan.
There are a few reasons for connected gaming not
being more popular today. In the earlier days, there
were big usability problems with connected gaming.
Most of the users had no idea how to even set up
network settings. Nowadays this is not a big prob-
lem anymore as many mobile phones come with
pre-set network settings or the operators send the
settings automatically when the user inserts a new
SIM card in his or her phone. However, there are
still many problems. One of the biggest one is the
pricing of data traffic in mobile networks, as also
occasionally cited in our interviews. Most of the op-
erators charge the data transfer by kilobytes, which
makes it very difficult for a normal user to estimate
how much money is spent when playing. This will
change in the future when operators offer more
multi-player friendly pricing models (see section 4).
In the case of server-based online games, it can be
also rather expensive to set up and maintain serv-
ers. Latency in the mobile networks is a problem in
the games that require fast player-to-player interac-
tion [20]. 3G networks help this a bit, but there will
still be latency and disconnections from the network
(particularly if the players are moving, e.g. sitting
on a train). Even if the network technologies would
not advance fast enough to offer a smooth real-time
multi-player gaming experience in the mobile net-
works, there are many ways to design multi-player
games that are latency resistant [20].
A good example of a successful connected mobile
game is Pathway to Glory (Figure 7), which is a
strategy game where the players guide their troops
to solve missions in Second World War.
The game received particularly good reviews and
good publicity (see e.g. [44]).
Figure 7 A good example of a contemporary mul-
ti-player online mobile game that has received
good reviews: Pathway to Glory.
Community
The community is often seen as a very important part
of the game, particularly in the case of multi-player
games. Human as a species has a strong need for so-
cializing and communities have existed probably as
long as the human kind. In Massively Multi-Player
Online Game (MMOG) industry, there is a saying
“they come for the game but stay for the commu-
nity” which is very much true. Plenty of literature
exists describing the benefits of a game having an
active player community (see e.g. [40]).
Users and Games
Our interviews gave some indication that the bor-
ders between the digital entertainment and gaming,
and also virtual and real may blur more in the near
future. An example of this already happening is the
alternate reality game connected with the Lost TV
series.
Connected games (or online games)
Connected (online) mobile games have been com-
ing to the market already for several years. Howev-
er, most of the mobile games are still offline games,
even if some of the mobile games use short-range
communication technologies, such as Bluetooth or
infrared to facilitate locally multi-player games. In
Nokia study [19], 45% of the mobile game players
reported that they play multi-player mobile games at
least once per month.
Figure 6 Manhattan Story Mash-Up event in New
York. The pictures taken in the game were posted
in a wide-screen in Manhattan.
There are a few reasons for connected gaming not
being more popular today. In the earlier days, there
were big usability problems with connected gaming.
Most of the users had no idea how to even set up
network settings. Nowadays this is not a big prob-
lem anymore as many mobile phones come with
pre-set network settings or the operators send the
settings automatically when the user inserts a new
SIM card in his or her phone. However, there are
still many problems. One of the biggest one is the
pricing of data traffic in mobile networks, as also
occasionally cited in our interviews. Most of the op-
erators charge the data transfer by kilobytes, which
makes it very difficult for a normal user to estimate
how much money is spent when playing. This will
change in the future when operators offer more
multi-player friendly pricing models (see section 4).
In the case of server-based online games, it can be
also rather expensive to set up and maintain serv-
ers. Latency in the mobile networks is a problem in
the games that require fast player-to-player interac-
tion [20]. 3G networks help this a bit, but there will
still be latency and disconnections from the network
(particularly if the players are moving, e.g. sitting
on a train). Even if the network technologies would
not advance fast enough to offer a smooth real-time
multi-player gaming experience in the mobile net-
works, there are many ways to design multi-player
games that are latency resistant [20].
A good example of a successful connected mobile
game is Pathway to Glory (Figure 7), which is a
strategy game where the players guide their troops
to solve missions in Second World War.
The game received particularly good reviews and
good publicity (see e.g. [44]).
Figure 7 A good example of a contemporary mul-
ti-player online mobile game that has received
good reviews: Pathway to Glory.
Community
The community is often seen as a very important part
of the game, particularly in the case of multi-player
games. Human as a species has a strong need for so-
cializing and communities have existed probably as
long as the human kind. In Massively Multi-Player
Online Game (MMOG) industry, there is a saying
“they come for the game but stay for the commu-
nity” which is very much true. Plenty of literature
exists describing the benefits of a game having an
active player community (see e.g. [40]).
In mobile games, community aspects are impor-
tant as well. Our interviews revealed three different
kinds of opinions:
1. The communities will be a central part of
mobile games. The mobile phone is a social device
used for communicating.
2. The communities will be important but it is
not clear where the mobile game communities will
reside. One very potential candidate is the Internet
(e.g. a mobile game that is accompanied with a web
page(10) ). Some interviewees also suggested that lo-
cal communities may become important for mobile
applications.
3. Communities may not be an important part
of mobile games in 2010. The mobile phone has its
limitations (e.g. the keypad, screen size, and the ma-
turity of connected gaming) and the success of on-
line mobile games has been still moderate.
The opinions that reflected mobile game communi-
ties already being important part of mobile gaming
already in year 2010 were more common. A few
skeptical responses existed.
One good example of a community-focused mo-
bile commercial game is Digital Chocolate’s MLSN
sports league [37], which is an entirely community-
based game where the players manage their sports
leagues to compete with others. In the academic do-
main, a good example of a game that is based on the
player community is COUP [11]. In this game, the
players compete with each other to climb up in a
social hierarchy.
Joining the game happens by invitation of another
player of the game.
Another example of a commercial community-fo-
cused approach in today’s mobile gaming already is
the N-Gage gaming platform [43], which has an ac-
tive player community around it. As the publisher’s
role becomes stronger in mobile games industry, it
is likely that communities form around certain popu-
lar publisher’s game titles. Also, as connected gam-
ing and even massively multi-player online gaming
(MMOG) becomes more common in the mobile
platform, it is very likely that the role of commu-
nities grows as well since it has been very central
in the PC or console-based MMOGs and connected
games. Figure 8 Sea O’Fortune is a good example of a
mobile-based MMOG game world
The skeptical responses were based on the limita-
tions of the mobile phone and networks. It was also
mentioned that the more casual and older players not
being necessarily interested in using a lot of time in
order to get involved in game communities. Howev-
er, often different roles are possible in communities
ranging from active participants to observers.
(10) However, some of the mobile phone are already more like
multi-media computer and web pages can be browsed equally
both with mobile phones and desktop computers.
11 Chapter 2
Users and Games
tant as well. Our interviews revealed three different
kinds of opinions:
1. The communities will be a central part of
mobile games. The mobile phone is a social device
used for communicating.
2. The communities will be important but it is
not clear where the mobile game communities will
reside. One very potential candidate is the Internet
(e.g. a mobile game that is accompanied with a web
page(10) ). Some interviewees also suggested that lo-
cal communities may become important for mobile
applications.
3. Communities may not be an important part
of mobile games in 2010. The mobile phone has its
limitations (e.g. the keypad, screen size, and the ma-
turity of connected gaming) and the success of on-
line mobile games has been still moderate.
The opinions that reflected mobile game communi-
ties already being important part of mobile gaming
already in year 2010 were more common. A few
skeptical responses existed.
One good example of a community-focused mo-
bile commercial game is Digital Chocolate’s MLSN
sports league [37], which is an entirely community-
based game where the players manage their sports
leagues to compete with others. In the academic do-
main, a good example of a game that is based on the
player community is COUP [11]. In this game, the
players compete with each other to climb up in a
social hierarchy.
Joining the game happens by invitation of another
player of the game.
Another example of a commercial community-fo-
cused approach in today’s mobile gaming already is
the N-Gage gaming platform [43], which has an ac-
tive player community around it. As the publisher’s
role becomes stronger in mobile games industry, it
is likely that communities form around certain popu-
lar publisher’s game titles. Also, as connected gam-
ing and even massively multi-player online gaming
(MMOG) becomes more common in the mobile
platform, it is very likely that the role of commu-
nities grows as well since it has been very central
in the PC or console-based MMOGs and connected
games. Figure 8 Sea O’Fortune is a good example of a
mobile-based MMOG game world
The skeptical responses were based on the limita-
tions of the mobile phone and networks. It was also
mentioned that the more casual and older players not
being necessarily interested in using a lot of time in
order to get involved in game communities. Howev-
er, often different roles are possible in communities
ranging from active participants to observers.
(10) However, some of the mobile phone are already more like
multi-media computer and web pages can be browsed equally
both with mobile phones and desktop computers.
11 Chapter 2
Users and Games
Prosumerism
In other media than only the games a common trend
seems to be the more active role of the consumer.
We call this prosumerism, which means that the user
takes a role of a content creator or a hobbyist pro-
ducer in a service or application. This trend certainly
also affects the mobile gaming. However, the mobile
phone offers quite limited screen real-estate and in-
put methods for creating content. Some of the con-
tent-creation or publishing tools may reside in other
platforms. One example could be a game where the
player can customize the game character in detail in
a web site but plays the game with mobile phone.
One very potential mobile technology for creating
or publishing content is the mobile phone camera.
Use of voice has potential too, however, the use of
voice has not been utilized much in mobile games
today. Also, we have noticed in when playtesting
mobile games that quite often the players prefer to
play the mobile games without the sound.
We will see more games where the players can pro-
duce or create content (11) . However, these kinds of
games will not dominate the market in year 2010.
The technology is still a barrier in this area.
Serious games
Serious games can be defined as games that, in ad-
dition to being fun, serve some useful purpose, such
as education or staying healthy. All games can be
said to be educational or to influence the player to
some extent – the very core of gameplay is to learn
to master to play the game.
12 Chapter 2
Users and Games
Serious games typically need to make the educa-
tional purpose very visible for either the founder of
the game or the player. The serious games have been
often criticized for not being fun. However, it could
be the definition of a serious game that makes it so
(it needs to be something serious, If it is fun, it is not
serious!). The more fun games that can have edu-
cational or health benefits are often seen as games
that are played just for fun (e.g. dancing or singing
games).
The mobile phone is a good platform for serious
games. The phone is almost always with the user
and it is very accessible and can be aware of its
context. The user can always access the phone and
engage in learning when he or she has time. In ad-
dition, the learning can happen in the right context,
for instance, the players could get some additional
information about the real locations where they are
currently in. In health games the context becomes
even more important. A good example of a success-
ful serious game in a portable gaming console is
Nintendo DS Brainage [8]. Even this success alone
is likely to encourage some of the mobile developers
to experiment more in the field of serious gaming.
Seriuos games are related to the bigger topic of per-
suasive games. Advergames (games that advertise
something) are another form of persuasive games
and they are briefly discussed in the Section 4.
Gambling
Mobile gambling will gain popularity. The players
can gamble with the mobile phone simultaneously
when participating events. This is already possible
because the mobile users can browse Internet gam-
bling sites with their mobile devices. Many of the
first mobile gambling games will resemble the ones
that are played today in the Internet or at Kiosks.
However, some mobile gambling concepts will uti-
lize the “live” aspect. Sometimes the mobile gam-
bling games can be part of a bigger concept where
the game is played on different platforms.
(11) Lincoln Wallen defined the player created and published
content nicely in Nokia’s NERD conference in year 2006. He
referred to player created content as something where the play-
er creates things from the scratch and player published content
where the player uses content provided by the game developer
to create content. In the latter case, the content has already
value as itself. A good example of this is podcasting (user-pub-
lished content) and users composing songs themselves (user-
created content).
In other media than only the games a common trend
seems to be the more active role of the consumer.
We call this prosumerism, which means that the user
takes a role of a content creator or a hobbyist pro-
ducer in a service or application. This trend certainly
also affects the mobile gaming. However, the mobile
phone offers quite limited screen real-estate and in-
put methods for creating content. Some of the con-
tent-creation or publishing tools may reside in other
platforms. One example could be a game where the
player can customize the game character in detail in
a web site but plays the game with mobile phone.
One very potential mobile technology for creating
or publishing content is the mobile phone camera.
Use of voice has potential too, however, the use of
voice has not been utilized much in mobile games
today. Also, we have noticed in when playtesting
mobile games that quite often the players prefer to
play the mobile games without the sound.
We will see more games where the players can pro-
duce or create content (11) . However, these kinds of
games will not dominate the market in year 2010.
The technology is still a barrier in this area.
Serious games
Serious games can be defined as games that, in ad-
dition to being fun, serve some useful purpose, such
as education or staying healthy. All games can be
said to be educational or to influence the player to
some extent – the very core of gameplay is to learn
to master to play the game.
12 Chapter 2
Users and Games
Serious games typically need to make the educa-
tional purpose very visible for either the founder of
the game or the player. The serious games have been
often criticized for not being fun. However, it could
be the definition of a serious game that makes it so
(it needs to be something serious, If it is fun, it is not
serious!). The more fun games that can have edu-
cational or health benefits are often seen as games
that are played just for fun (e.g. dancing or singing
games).
The mobile phone is a good platform for serious
games. The phone is almost always with the user
and it is very accessible and can be aware of its
context. The user can always access the phone and
engage in learning when he or she has time. In ad-
dition, the learning can happen in the right context,
for instance, the players could get some additional
information about the real locations where they are
currently in. In health games the context becomes
even more important. A good example of a success-
ful serious game in a portable gaming console is
Nintendo DS Brainage [8]. Even this success alone
is likely to encourage some of the mobile developers
to experiment more in the field of serious gaming.
Seriuos games are related to the bigger topic of per-
suasive games. Advergames (games that advertise
something) are another form of persuasive games
and they are briefly discussed in the Section 4.
Gambling
Mobile gambling will gain popularity. The players
can gamble with the mobile phone simultaneously
when participating events. This is already possible
because the mobile users can browse Internet gam-
bling sites with their mobile devices. Many of the
first mobile gambling games will resemble the ones
that are played today in the Internet or at Kiosks.
However, some mobile gambling concepts will uti-
lize the “live” aspect. Sometimes the mobile gam-
bling games can be part of a bigger concept where
the game is played on different platforms.
(11) Lincoln Wallen defined the player created and published
content nicely in Nokia’s NERD conference in year 2006. He
referred to player created content as something where the play-
er creates things from the scratch and player published content
where the player uses content provided by the game developer
to create content. In the latter case, the content has already
value as itself. A good example of this is podcasting (user-pub-
lished content) and users composing songs themselves (user-
created content).
13
Chapter 3:
Technology
In the following, we have listed the technology
trends that were found in our workshop and inter-
views. It must be noted again that the new technolo-
gies listed in this report do not refer to Nokia road
mapping but only to the interview data that was col-
lected in this study.
Platform fragmentation
The platform fragmentation is one of the biggest
technological issues in mobile game development.
The different platform manufacturer’s phones vary
a lot, most importantly, in software development en-
vironments, screen sizes and keypads. The mobile
phones developed by the same platform manufac-
turer vary as well. Porting a mobile game to sev-
eral platforms can be as expensive as developing the
game itself.
The platform fragmentation, according to our inter-
views, does not go anywhere by year 2010. Some
improvements will happen, particularly among the
same platform manufacturer’s phones – the big-
ger manufacturers like Nokia know that this is a
real problem for the developers and are working on
making their life easier. The bigger game publishers
may also able to agree about some standards in the
future.
A big driver for the fragmentation is the fact that
new devices come frequently in the market and that
may even increase the fragmentation in the future.
For the bigger mobile game developers the platform
fragmentation can also been seen as an asset since it
is a huge barrier to entry for the smaller ones.
In this section we discuss the technological trends
that are related to mobile games. The focus is more
in the platform issues, not as much in the mobile
network technologies, but it must be noted that both
are important.
The technological trends are particularly interesting
since when a particular technology gets common
and accessible via APIs (Application Programming
Interfaces) in mobile phones, it can enable new
commercially viable mobile gaming styles. A very
good example of this is the mobile phone camera,
which is becoming almost like a standard feature in
the more advanced mobile phones. Not that many
commercial applications exist yet, however, the use
of mobile phone camera is very popular in research
projects. In these research projects, the camera is
typically used for creating content, interacting with
the game or other players, and creating augmented
reality. One of our invited papers roadmaps the fu-
ture mobile technologies (Sonja Kangas, VTT: The
Technology Centre of Finland) [32]. Another in-
vited paper by Frank Fitzek of Aalborg University
describes a new kind of network architecture that
could be used in mobile games [18].
The bigger developers typically have their automat-
ed testing platforms for testing mobile games.
Camera
The mobile-phone camera was already mentioned
as an existing technology that will affect what kinds
of games will be popular already in the near future.
The mobile phone camera is mainly used for three
purposes: 1. creating content, 2. interaction, and 3.
creating augmented reality. The examples that we
give are here are from our research projects, how-
ever, it is likely that we will see commercial mobile
games using the camera in similar ways already in
year 2010. A good example of a current commercial
mobile game where the camera is used for game in-
teraction is Final Fantasy: Before Chrisis [17].
Many MUPE [41] games use the mobile phone cam-
era for content creation. One example of this is the
Superstar game where the players try to take pic-
tures of the other players without them noticing it.
Another example of this a game prototype where the
mobile-phone camera was used to create race tracks
in a rally game. The mobile-phone camera has been
used for interaction in a few research projects. A
good example of this is the AR tennis game [24],
where the player uses the mobile phone camera to
play tennis with another player. A classical example
of an augmented-reality game that uses the mobile
phone camera is the mosquito game, where mosqui-
toes (or viruses in another version) are augmented
on top of a real world view.
Chapter 3:
Technology
In the following, we have listed the technology
trends that were found in our workshop and inter-
views. It must be noted again that the new technolo-
gies listed in this report do not refer to Nokia road
mapping but only to the interview data that was col-
lected in this study.
Platform fragmentation
The platform fragmentation is one of the biggest
technological issues in mobile game development.
The different platform manufacturer’s phones vary
a lot, most importantly, in software development en-
vironments, screen sizes and keypads. The mobile
phones developed by the same platform manufac-
turer vary as well. Porting a mobile game to sev-
eral platforms can be as expensive as developing the
game itself.
The platform fragmentation, according to our inter-
views, does not go anywhere by year 2010. Some
improvements will happen, particularly among the
same platform manufacturer’s phones – the big-
ger manufacturers like Nokia know that this is a
real problem for the developers and are working on
making their life easier. The bigger game publishers
may also able to agree about some standards in the
future.
A big driver for the fragmentation is the fact that
new devices come frequently in the market and that
may even increase the fragmentation in the future.
For the bigger mobile game developers the platform
fragmentation can also been seen as an asset since it
is a huge barrier to entry for the smaller ones.
In this section we discuss the technological trends
that are related to mobile games. The focus is more
in the platform issues, not as much in the mobile
network technologies, but it must be noted that both
are important.
The technological trends are particularly interesting
since when a particular technology gets common
and accessible via APIs (Application Programming
Interfaces) in mobile phones, it can enable new
commercially viable mobile gaming styles. A very
good example of this is the mobile phone camera,
which is becoming almost like a standard feature in
the more advanced mobile phones. Not that many
commercial applications exist yet, however, the use
of mobile phone camera is very popular in research
projects. In these research projects, the camera is
typically used for creating content, interacting with
the game or other players, and creating augmented
reality. One of our invited papers roadmaps the fu-
ture mobile technologies (Sonja Kangas, VTT: The
Technology Centre of Finland) [32]. Another in-
vited paper by Frank Fitzek of Aalborg University
describes a new kind of network architecture that
could be used in mobile games [18].
The bigger developers typically have their automat-
ed testing platforms for testing mobile games.
Camera
The mobile-phone camera was already mentioned
as an existing technology that will affect what kinds
of games will be popular already in the near future.
The mobile phone camera is mainly used for three
purposes: 1. creating content, 2. interaction, and 3.
creating augmented reality. The examples that we
give are here are from our research projects, how-
ever, it is likely that we will see commercial mobile
games using the camera in similar ways already in
year 2010. A good example of a current commercial
mobile game where the camera is used for game in-
teraction is Final Fantasy: Before Chrisis [17].
Many MUPE [41] games use the mobile phone cam-
era for content creation. One example of this is the
Superstar game where the players try to take pic-
tures of the other players without them noticing it.
Another example of this a game prototype where the
mobile-phone camera was used to create race tracks
in a rally game. The mobile-phone camera has been
used for interaction in a few research projects. A
good example of this is the AR tennis game [24],
where the player uses the mobile phone camera to
play tennis with another player. A classical example
of an augmented-reality game that uses the mobile
phone camera is the mosquito game, where mosqui-
toes (or viruses in another version) are augmented
on top of a real world view.
14 Chapter 3
Technology
networks include GPS, operator-provided location
tracking, proximity technologies, such as Bluetooth,
Wi-Fi, and identifying the CELL-ID. Since the lo-
cation-based games were already discussed earlier
in this document we will not go further in detail in
here.
Connectivity
The mobile phones will have more options for con-
necting to the mobile internet and the access will
be more ubiquitous. The high-end mobile phones
already have Wi-Fi connectivity, and it is likely to
become more common in low-end mobile phones as
well. The ideal situation from the users point of view
would be that the mobile phone could automatically
choose the most efficient network available (e.g.
fastest or cheapest) seamlessly. We got indication in
our interviews that some multi-player online games
may use streaming technology for gameplay.
The mobile network technologies are evolving, like
in the past and we can expect the speed and the ca-
pacity to grow in the future as well. Currently, in the
2G networks the latencies are still rather high, typi-
cally ranging from 300ms to one second. There can
be also occasionally high latency peaks or the users
may disconnect from the mobile network (particu-
larly when commuting). GPRS and EDGE are the
most deployed 2G technologies.
3G UMTS networks improve data rates greatly but
latency increases are marginal. In the 3GPP Rel-5,
HSDPA promises low latency times using IP based
network infrastructure combined with enhanced
Figure 9 A player using the mobile phone camera
as a controller when playing tennis against an-
other player
Other new interaction technologies
Some mobile phones already incorporate 3D motion
sensors that can be used for a new kind of game in-
teraction. Technologies that make controlling mobile
games easier may gain popularity since that seems
to be a problem currently.
Location technologies
Location-technologies are becoming more common
and accessible in mobile phones. Location-based
games were already discussed earlier in this report.
Examples of such technologies in mobile phones or
radio access protocols. In late 2005 and early 2006
during the initial real-world deployments of HSD-
PA, data throughput rates for individual terminals
ranged from 1 to 3 Mbit/s with latency times be-
tween 100 and 300. UMTS networks deployed with
HSDPA are particularly attractive to operators due to
the continued cost savings and projected subscriber
models which are associated. According to the 3G
America’s website; UMTS users have grown to 81
million subscribers globally in less than one year,
with projections of more than ten times that amount
by 2011 [1].
4G network technologies are already in planning but
will not probably affect that much the market yet
in year 2010. These networks can potentially offer
100Mbps data transfer over IP compliant networks.
4G networks may also be compiliant with Wi-Fi and
WiMax and reduce operator costs.
The operator interoperability can be sometimes a
problem. This could be the case when a game would
use the operator’s presence service to see if quests
can be sent to a player who is not currently actively
playing a game (to see if he or she is for instance
working).
Bluetooth is one of the most commonly used tech-
nologies currently for connecting multi-player mo-
bile gamers. Tom Söderlund’s article [51] in our ar-
ticle appendix discusses proximity gaming.
Technology
networks include GPS, operator-provided location
tracking, proximity technologies, such as Bluetooth,
Wi-Fi, and identifying the CELL-ID. Since the lo-
cation-based games were already discussed earlier
in this document we will not go further in detail in
here.
Connectivity
The mobile phones will have more options for con-
necting to the mobile internet and the access will
be more ubiquitous. The high-end mobile phones
already have Wi-Fi connectivity, and it is likely to
become more common in low-end mobile phones as
well. The ideal situation from the users point of view
would be that the mobile phone could automatically
choose the most efficient network available (e.g.
fastest or cheapest) seamlessly. We got indication in
our interviews that some multi-player online games
may use streaming technology for gameplay.
The mobile network technologies are evolving, like
in the past and we can expect the speed and the ca-
pacity to grow in the future as well. Currently, in the
2G networks the latencies are still rather high, typi-
cally ranging from 300ms to one second. There can
be also occasionally high latency peaks or the users
may disconnect from the mobile network (particu-
larly when commuting). GPRS and EDGE are the
most deployed 2G technologies.
3G UMTS networks improve data rates greatly but
latency increases are marginal. In the 3GPP Rel-5,
HSDPA promises low latency times using IP based
network infrastructure combined with enhanced
Figure 9 A player using the mobile phone camera
as a controller when playing tennis against an-
other player
Other new interaction technologies
Some mobile phones already incorporate 3D motion
sensors that can be used for a new kind of game in-
teraction. Technologies that make controlling mobile
games easier may gain popularity since that seems
to be a problem currently.
Location technologies
Location-technologies are becoming more common
and accessible in mobile phones. Location-based
games were already discussed earlier in this report.
Examples of such technologies in mobile phones or
radio access protocols. In late 2005 and early 2006
during the initial real-world deployments of HSD-
PA, data throughput rates for individual terminals
ranged from 1 to 3 Mbit/s with latency times be-
tween 100 and 300. UMTS networks deployed with
HSDPA are particularly attractive to operators due to
the continued cost savings and projected subscriber
models which are associated. According to the 3G
America’s website; UMTS users have grown to 81
million subscribers globally in less than one year,
with projections of more than ten times that amount
by 2011 [1].
4G network technologies are already in planning but
will not probably affect that much the market yet
in year 2010. These networks can potentially offer
100Mbps data transfer over IP compliant networks.
4G networks may also be compiliant with Wi-Fi and
WiMax and reduce operator costs.
The operator interoperability can be sometimes a
problem. This could be the case when a game would
use the operator’s presence service to see if quests
can be sent to a player who is not currently actively
playing a game (to see if he or she is for instance
working).
Bluetooth is one of the most commonly used tech-
nologies currently for connecting multi-player mo-
bile gamers. Tom Söderlund’s article [51] in our ar-
ticle appendix discusses proximity gaming.
15 Chapter 3
Technology
Communication between the applications
Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) enables flexible
game interaction functionality (see e.g. [50]). SIP
protocol can be used for handling online game ses-
sions, presence, and messaging in text or even data
stream. Every player can be identified with a unique
SIP address. The players can, for instance, invite
other players who are not logged in the game to play
with them. Using SIP may become more common in
the future since it seems to solve some of the prob-
lems that are related with online gaming and it is al-
ready commonly supported in the mobile networks.
VoIP while playing
Some of the online mobile games are likely to use
voice chat simultaneously with gameplay already in
year 2010. This is due to the small size keypad that
needs currently not only to be used for communica-
tion but also for controlling the game. Voice com-
munication with mobile is very natural, and as soon
as this is technically (and commercially) feasible,
some of the online mobile games will utilize it.
Today we can already see some signs about going
to that direction, even if voice communication while
playing online mobile game is difficult to implement
at the moment. In Pathway to Glory [46] mobile
game, the players can communicate with each other
with recorded short voice messages. The quality of
the voice messages sent over GPRS cannot compete
with the quality of making voice calls.
However, the game design nicely involves this and
uses the field radio as a metaphor for sending the
messages in order not to break the immersion.
Graphics performance
The graphics power of the mobile phones has in-
creased a lot – the high-end mobile phones like No-
kia N93 already have hardware accelerated graphics
and are capable of showing equivalent graphics as
the PlayStation2 gaming console. This will make
developing 3D games for mobile more feasible,
however, the usability issues for playing 3D games
with small displays must be taken into account.
Many mobile game developers and publishers seem
to favor 3D games, which showed also in our inter-
views. For instance, Gameloft has announced that
the company’s goal is to eventually launch all of its
game titles in 3D [2].
The developers gain access to the new graphics fea-
tures through the use of standardized graphics pro-
gramming APIs. An industry collaboration known
as the Khronos Group has been very successful
in specifying high quality APIs with wide accept-
ance. Examples of these include the OpenVG API
for hardware accelerated 2D vector graphics and the
OpenGL ES for 3D graphics. All major manufac-
turers have either already implemented or are plan-
ning to implement these APIs in their handsets. An-
other example of a Khronos group’s standard is the
OpenKODE initiative for native gaming [33].
On the Java side, the Java Community Process (JCP)
has been equally active, with examples like
the JSR-118/MIDP 2.0 for 2D graphics, JSR-184/
M3G for 3D graphics, JSR-239 offering Java bind-
ings for OpenGL ES, and the upcoming JSR-297/
M3G 2.0 which adds support for advanced features,
such as programmable shading.
All of these standards will have an impact on the
mobile games that will be developed in the near fu-
ture.
Software platforms
The software platforms for developing mobile
games that exist today will be still strong in year
2010. The most popular one currently is Java. Brew
is also popular, particularly in the Northern Amer-
ica. Some developers choose to use Symbian for
creating a richer gaming experience. In the native
side, Windows Mobile is an upcoming competitor,
but not that many games for Windows Mobile exist
yet.
A very promising new software platform for mobile
game development is Flash Lite. When Flash Lite
becomes more common we will see a lot of porting
of old simple web games. In the research, Python
has been quite popular. A good Python compiler ex-
ists for the S60 Nokia phones and it is used in many
research projects.
Technology
Communication between the applications
Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) enables flexible
game interaction functionality (see e.g. [50]). SIP
protocol can be used for handling online game ses-
sions, presence, and messaging in text or even data
stream. Every player can be identified with a unique
SIP address. The players can, for instance, invite
other players who are not logged in the game to play
with them. Using SIP may become more common in
the future since it seems to solve some of the prob-
lems that are related with online gaming and it is al-
ready commonly supported in the mobile networks.
VoIP while playing
Some of the online mobile games are likely to use
voice chat simultaneously with gameplay already in
year 2010. This is due to the small size keypad that
needs currently not only to be used for communica-
tion but also for controlling the game. Voice com-
munication with mobile is very natural, and as soon
as this is technically (and commercially) feasible,
some of the online mobile games will utilize it.
Today we can already see some signs about going
to that direction, even if voice communication while
playing online mobile game is difficult to implement
at the moment. In Pathway to Glory [46] mobile
game, the players can communicate with each other
with recorded short voice messages. The quality of
the voice messages sent over GPRS cannot compete
with the quality of making voice calls.
However, the game design nicely involves this and
uses the field radio as a metaphor for sending the
messages in order not to break the immersion.
Graphics performance
The graphics power of the mobile phones has in-
creased a lot – the high-end mobile phones like No-
kia N93 already have hardware accelerated graphics
and are capable of showing equivalent graphics as
the PlayStation2 gaming console. This will make
developing 3D games for mobile more feasible,
however, the usability issues for playing 3D games
with small displays must be taken into account.
Many mobile game developers and publishers seem
to favor 3D games, which showed also in our inter-
views. For instance, Gameloft has announced that
the company’s goal is to eventually launch all of its
game titles in 3D [2].
The developers gain access to the new graphics fea-
tures through the use of standardized graphics pro-
gramming APIs. An industry collaboration known
as the Khronos Group has been very successful
in specifying high quality APIs with wide accept-
ance. Examples of these include the OpenVG API
for hardware accelerated 2D vector graphics and the
OpenGL ES for 3D graphics. All major manufac-
turers have either already implemented or are plan-
ning to implement these APIs in their handsets. An-
other example of a Khronos group’s standard is the
OpenKODE initiative for native gaming [33].
On the Java side, the Java Community Process (JCP)
has been equally active, with examples like
the JSR-118/MIDP 2.0 for 2D graphics, JSR-184/
M3G for 3D graphics, JSR-239 offering Java bind-
ings for OpenGL ES, and the upcoming JSR-297/
M3G 2.0 which adds support for advanced features,
such as programmable shading.
All of these standards will have an impact on the
mobile games that will be developed in the near fu-
ture.
Software platforms
The software platforms for developing mobile
games that exist today will be still strong in year
2010. The most popular one currently is Java. Brew
is also popular, particularly in the Northern Amer-
ica. Some developers choose to use Symbian for
creating a richer gaming experience. In the native
side, Windows Mobile is an upcoming competitor,
but not that many games for Windows Mobile exist
yet.
A very promising new software platform for mobile
game development is Flash Lite. When Flash Lite
becomes more common we will see a lot of porting
of old simple web games. In the research, Python
has been quite popular. A good Python compiler ex-
ists for the S60 Nokia phones and it is used in many
research projects.
16 Chapter 3
Technology
Convergence
Convergence of the mobile phone technologies is
a strong trend. A good example of convergence is
the mobile phone and camera. The high-end mobile
phones are becoming more and more like mini com-
puters that can handle various tasks. When more
mobile phones enable easy web browinsg, playing
browser-based games with a mobile phone will be-
come common. In some cases, the development of
accessories and peripherals for the mobile phones
may also increase divergence.
Peripherals
Development of peripherals can be an opportunity
for the mobile phone to provide opportunities for a
richer audio-visual game experience and better in-
teraction. The other way to go is developing ways
to connect mobile phones to already available other
devices. A good example of this is TV-out connec-
tion that already exists in some mobile phones (for
instance, in Nokia’s N93 phone). These kinds of
connections also enable the users to use generic pe-
ripherals for the mobile phone, e.g. data glasses that
support external signal input. It should be also noted,
however, that the content often needs to be designed
to support the new output and input formats.
The success of peripherals for the mobile phone,
particularly dedicated ones, is not certain. One very
important thing that separates the mobile phone from
other portable gaming devices the mobile phone is
always with the user, even when the he or she would
not be planning to play games. It is not certain if the
them in addition to a mobile phone. Then on the oth-
er hand, if the mobile phone ends up to be the play-
er’s only gaming device, then getting sometimes an
enhanced gaming experience is desirable.
In the following, we have listed a few development
paths that could make mobile game peripherals suc-
cessful already in year 2010:
- The peripherals are multi-purpose devices
- Some of the users play games only with
their mobile
- Content that support the use of peripherals
exists
- The usability, coolness-factor, and pricing
of peripherals are acceptable
Security
The security issues have not had a very big role so
far in mobile gaming. The sellers have been natural-
ly interested that when a user buys a game he cannot
copy it to other devices. On the other hand, this is a
problem for those who change mobile phones and
would like to play a mobile game with their new
device. However, this problem has not necessarily
seen as a big one since a new phone model would
need typically a new game version anyway. Also,
many of the story-oriented current mobile games
do not include that much content and are quickly
played trough.
However, as quality of mobile games increases and
the gaming experiences become more connected, the
security issues become more and more important.
The combination of connected gaming and increas-
ing popularity will create a need for enhanced secu-
rity both in a technical sense and when considering
cheating and other typical problems in online games.
Another issue that will make security even more im-
portant is gambling or trading game items for real
money [13]. Such games have not yet been seen in
the mobile phones, but this may change in the near
future. Steven Davis’ paper on mobile game security
in our collection of invited articles describes these
issues in detail [12]. Protection of the content will
become more important as its value gets bigger.
Technology
Convergence
Convergence of the mobile phone technologies is
a strong trend. A good example of convergence is
the mobile phone and camera. The high-end mobile
phones are becoming more and more like mini com-
puters that can handle various tasks. When more
mobile phones enable easy web browinsg, playing
browser-based games with a mobile phone will be-
come common. In some cases, the development of
accessories and peripherals for the mobile phones
may also increase divergence.
Peripherals
Development of peripherals can be an opportunity
for the mobile phone to provide opportunities for a
richer audio-visual game experience and better in-
teraction. The other way to go is developing ways
to connect mobile phones to already available other
devices. A good example of this is TV-out connec-
tion that already exists in some mobile phones (for
instance, in Nokia’s N93 phone). These kinds of
connections also enable the users to use generic pe-
ripherals for the mobile phone, e.g. data glasses that
support external signal input. It should be also noted,
however, that the content often needs to be designed
to support the new output and input formats.
The success of peripherals for the mobile phone,
particularly dedicated ones, is not certain. One very
important thing that separates the mobile phone from
other portable gaming devices the mobile phone is
always with the user, even when the he or she would
not be planning to play games. It is not certain if the
them in addition to a mobile phone. Then on the oth-
er hand, if the mobile phone ends up to be the play-
er’s only gaming device, then getting sometimes an
enhanced gaming experience is desirable.
In the following, we have listed a few development
paths that could make mobile game peripherals suc-
cessful already in year 2010:
- The peripherals are multi-purpose devices
- Some of the users play games only with
their mobile
- Content that support the use of peripherals
exists
- The usability, coolness-factor, and pricing
of peripherals are acceptable
Security
The security issues have not had a very big role so
far in mobile gaming. The sellers have been natural-
ly interested that when a user buys a game he cannot
copy it to other devices. On the other hand, this is a
problem for those who change mobile phones and
would like to play a mobile game with their new
device. However, this problem has not necessarily
seen as a big one since a new phone model would
need typically a new game version anyway. Also,
many of the story-oriented current mobile games
do not include that much content and are quickly
played trough.
However, as quality of mobile games increases and
the gaming experiences become more connected, the
security issues become more and more important.
The combination of connected gaming and increas-
ing popularity will create a need for enhanced secu-
rity both in a technical sense and when considering
cheating and other typical problems in online games.
Another issue that will make security even more im-
portant is gambling or trading game items for real
money [13]. Such games have not yet been seen in
the mobile phones, but this may change in the near
future. Steven Davis’ paper on mobile game security
in our collection of invited articles describes these
issues in detail [12]. Protection of the content will
become more important as its value gets bigger.
17
Chapter 4:
Business
customer, and the best billing mechanism that exists
for mobile games.
We got indications in our interviews that the times
will be hard for small mobile game developers in the
near future. The solution for this is to team up with
a bigger publisher or aggregator. The operators are
typically not interested in discussing with the small
players since they have established relationships
with the bigger ones already. When the interoper-
ability increases, the times will become easier for
the smaller developers publishers again, but this will
probably happen after 2010.
The companies who understand the mobile platform
as a unique media will probably have an advantage
over to those who attempt to publish material that is
familiar from other platforms in the mobile. A good
comparison made by one of our interviewees was
that the traditional publishers of TV content are typ-
ically not as successful in the Internet as new play-
ers like Google or Yahoo.
Revenue Models
The existing revenue model for mobile games is very
much based on the players paying for a single game.
The subscription-based model is gaining popularity
also in Europe and has been a strong model in Asia
already for years. The other revenue models that will
become more common include promotional games,
game renting, paying for content, and gifting. Ex-
amples of promotional mobile games exist already
(e.g. TibiaME [52] launched by T-Mobile). Flash
Lite will probably increase the amount of mobile
Value Nets
Our group of interviewees was quite biased in the
developer side with only a few operator respond-
ents. On basis of the interviews it was very clear that
the game developers in general think that the opera-
tors are currently taking too big role in the value net
and are actively looking for ways to go around them.
There was some confirmation for this in the operator
side as well. However, the operators continue to be
typical provider to offer a starting point for finding
the games and often take care of billing the custom-
ers.
In our interviews, the mobile game publishers pre-
dicted that their role will be stronger in the value net.
We got some indication about that from the operator
side as well. In the near future, there will be opera-
tor channels that the publishers can control rather
independently. Some publishers will have their own,
operator independent, portals for selling games. The
publishers who collaborate with the operators can
take the responsibility of transferring the game to the
player directly and then just let the operator know
for what the customer needs to be billed. The op-
erators will not vanish anywhere from the value net
within the next few years since they have a strong
role currently, a trust relationship with the
advergames. The alternate- or mixed-reality games
also often tend to use a promotional revenue mod-
els.
The mobile game players will be more often able
to try out the games before buying them. A study
[53] commissioned by Nokia revealed that “Try be-
fore you buy” is very important for the mobile game
player. One comment in our interviews was, though,
that “try before you buy” may be problematic if the
games are very short anyway.
In-game advertisements will provide a revenue
stream for some games. This is something that is
already emerging in the non-mobile space. A good
example of a game where the in-game advertise-
ments play a big role is Funcom’s Anarchy Online
[3]. Advertising more in games makes sense partic-
ularly when considering that young people tend to
use as much or even more time playing games than
watching TV.
Paying for content may become more common in
mobile games. For instance, episodic content fits
quite nicely for the mobile platform where the play
sessions are supposed to be shorter than with a PC
or console. Virtual asset trade and real money trans-
actions in games have been an emerging trend in the
PC gaming recently. This will also probably have
some effect in the mobile gaming, one of our invited
papers discusses these issues [13].
Chapter 4:
Business
customer, and the best billing mechanism that exists
for mobile games.
We got indications in our interviews that the times
will be hard for small mobile game developers in the
near future. The solution for this is to team up with
a bigger publisher or aggregator. The operators are
typically not interested in discussing with the small
players since they have established relationships
with the bigger ones already. When the interoper-
ability increases, the times will become easier for
the smaller developers publishers again, but this will
probably happen after 2010.
The companies who understand the mobile platform
as a unique media will probably have an advantage
over to those who attempt to publish material that is
familiar from other platforms in the mobile. A good
comparison made by one of our interviewees was
that the traditional publishers of TV content are typ-
ically not as successful in the Internet as new play-
ers like Google or Yahoo.
Revenue Models
The existing revenue model for mobile games is very
much based on the players paying for a single game.
The subscription-based model is gaining popularity
also in Europe and has been a strong model in Asia
already for years. The other revenue models that will
become more common include promotional games,
game renting, paying for content, and gifting. Ex-
amples of promotional mobile games exist already
(e.g. TibiaME [52] launched by T-Mobile). Flash
Lite will probably increase the amount of mobile
Value Nets
Our group of interviewees was quite biased in the
developer side with only a few operator respond-
ents. On basis of the interviews it was very clear that
the game developers in general think that the opera-
tors are currently taking too big role in the value net
and are actively looking for ways to go around them.
There was some confirmation for this in the operator
side as well. However, the operators continue to be
typical provider to offer a starting point for finding
the games and often take care of billing the custom-
ers.
In our interviews, the mobile game publishers pre-
dicted that their role will be stronger in the value net.
We got some indication about that from the operator
side as well. In the near future, there will be opera-
tor channels that the publishers can control rather
independently. Some publishers will have their own,
operator independent, portals for selling games. The
publishers who collaborate with the operators can
take the responsibility of transferring the game to the
player directly and then just let the operator know
for what the customer needs to be billed. The op-
erators will not vanish anywhere from the value net
within the next few years since they have a strong
role currently, a trust relationship with the
advergames. The alternate- or mixed-reality games
also often tend to use a promotional revenue mod-
els.
The mobile game players will be more often able
to try out the games before buying them. A study
[53] commissioned by Nokia revealed that “Try be-
fore you buy” is very important for the mobile game
player. One comment in our interviews was, though,
that “try before you buy” may be problematic if the
games are very short anyway.
In-game advertisements will provide a revenue
stream for some games. This is something that is
already emerging in the non-mobile space. A good
example of a game where the in-game advertise-
ments play a big role is Funcom’s Anarchy Online
[3]. Advertising more in games makes sense partic-
ularly when considering that young people tend to
use as much or even more time playing games than
watching TV.
Paying for content may become more common in
mobile games. For instance, episodic content fits
quite nicely for the mobile platform where the play
sessions are supposed to be shorter than with a PC
or console. Virtual asset trade and real money trans-
actions in games have been an emerging trend in the
PC gaming recently. This will also probably have
some effect in the mobile gaming, one of our invited
papers discusses these issues [13].
18 Chapter 4
Business
Distribution
Even if a user would be interested in playing a mo-
bile game, it may be difficult to find where to buy
the game or the user is not even aware of the games
that he or she might be interested in playing. This is
one of the biggest problems at the moment in distri-
bution. The situation may become even more con-
fusing for the users when there will be more portals
that are selling mobile games. At the same time, the
increased advertising and reviews around mobile
games will probably help the users to find the good
portals for buying the games that they want to play.
Most of the mobile games today are distributed over
the air (OTA) and this will not change by the year
2010. OTA seems to be a more successful mod-
el than selling games in retail for mobile. A study
[19] shows that mobile game players are currently
interested in downloading games over the Internet
(OTI) as well (the popularity of OTI was 35% and
OTA 45%). However, this may reflect the high pric-
ing for data transfer currently. When the prices for
data transfer go down and the reliability and speed
up, the popularity of OTA will increase. Currently
OTI usually means downloading games to a PC
and transferring them to a mobile phone, however,
OTA and OTI will also converge when the mobile
phones can be also used as Internet browsers that
use Wi-Fi for data transfer (and the more advanced
ones already can). Also, the traditional console and
PC games business is moving towards OTI. An arti-
cle in Gamasutra shows that in future games may be
distributed more often in the Internet [21]. The issue
of who will provide the distribution channels was
discussed already earlier.
Billing
One barrier for new revenue models is the billing
models that the operators are providing. According
to our interviews, the operators will provide more
billing models in the near future. For instance, the
users can form groups and the billing can be done
for the group instead of an individual.
The more flexible billing models will also enable
models where the players pay for virtual assets or
even trade them with each other. One of our invited
articles considers real money transactions (RMT) in
games [13].
Billing for the content may happen in a different
place where getting the content does. For instance,
the mobile game could be bought with a console
game in a box but then the content downloaded over
the air with, for instance, an access code.
Cost
The cost for developing mobile games will grow
while the quality requirements(12) for mobile games
increase. We got some indication in our interviews
that the cost versus revenue rate is not well-balanced.
The development cost of mobile games is going up
but the revenues are not increasing as quickly.
The cost for data-transfer has been a big barrier for
mobile online gaming. In the future, many operators
will offer flat data transfer fees. Sometimes, the data
transfer fees can be included in the service. This is,
for instance, how the mobile TV operates currently
in Finland.
Marketing and brands
Advertising in the print media becomes more com-
mon. The new phenomena will be easier to get into
the knowledge of the audience faster. A good exam-
ple of this is Jamba’s Crazy Frog.
Some of the bigger mobile game developers are
building their own, mobile-originated game brands.
Brand building can also get easier when the game
publishers will have their own distribution chan-
nels. According to our interviews, the operators are
not always that interested in new brands since they
like to play safe. This seems to depend on the opera-
tor since not all of them are interested in branded
games. While the bigger players from the console
and PC games field are entering the business, we
will see more familiar brands from there to emerge
in the mobile space. Some of the interviewees who
were acquiring content said that they are not particu-
larly interested in big licenses. One trend that also
emerged in the interviews was that the social net-
works are used for marketing games.
The players will have more awareness of the mobile
game publishers and if they are usually publishing
good games or not. Some players will choose the
games that they buy based on the publisher.
(12) This refers to the users expecting better graphics etc.
Business
Distribution
Even if a user would be interested in playing a mo-
bile game, it may be difficult to find where to buy
the game or the user is not even aware of the games
that he or she might be interested in playing. This is
one of the biggest problems at the moment in distri-
bution. The situation may become even more con-
fusing for the users when there will be more portals
that are selling mobile games. At the same time, the
increased advertising and reviews around mobile
games will probably help the users to find the good
portals for buying the games that they want to play.
Most of the mobile games today are distributed over
the air (OTA) and this will not change by the year
2010. OTA seems to be a more successful mod-
el than selling games in retail for mobile. A study
[19] shows that mobile game players are currently
interested in downloading games over the Internet
(OTI) as well (the popularity of OTI was 35% and
OTA 45%). However, this may reflect the high pric-
ing for data transfer currently. When the prices for
data transfer go down and the reliability and speed
up, the popularity of OTA will increase. Currently
OTI usually means downloading games to a PC
and transferring them to a mobile phone, however,
OTA and OTI will also converge when the mobile
phones can be also used as Internet browsers that
use Wi-Fi for data transfer (and the more advanced
ones already can). Also, the traditional console and
PC games business is moving towards OTI. An arti-
cle in Gamasutra shows that in future games may be
distributed more often in the Internet [21]. The issue
of who will provide the distribution channels was
discussed already earlier.
Billing
One barrier for new revenue models is the billing
models that the operators are providing. According
to our interviews, the operators will provide more
billing models in the near future. For instance, the
users can form groups and the billing can be done
for the group instead of an individual.
The more flexible billing models will also enable
models where the players pay for virtual assets or
even trade them with each other. One of our invited
articles considers real money transactions (RMT) in
games [13].
Billing for the content may happen in a different
place where getting the content does. For instance,
the mobile game could be bought with a console
game in a box but then the content downloaded over
the air with, for instance, an access code.
Cost
The cost for developing mobile games will grow
while the quality requirements(12) for mobile games
increase. We got some indication in our interviews
that the cost versus revenue rate is not well-balanced.
The development cost of mobile games is going up
but the revenues are not increasing as quickly.
The cost for data-transfer has been a big barrier for
mobile online gaming. In the future, many operators
will offer flat data transfer fees. Sometimes, the data
transfer fees can be included in the service. This is,
for instance, how the mobile TV operates currently
in Finland.
Marketing and brands
Advertising in the print media becomes more com-
mon. The new phenomena will be easier to get into
the knowledge of the audience faster. A good exam-
ple of this is Jamba’s Crazy Frog.
Some of the bigger mobile game developers are
building their own, mobile-originated game brands.
Brand building can also get easier when the game
publishers will have their own distribution chan-
nels. According to our interviews, the operators are
not always that interested in new brands since they
like to play safe. This seems to depend on the opera-
tor since not all of them are interested in branded
games. While the bigger players from the console
and PC games field are entering the business, we
will see more familiar brands from there to emerge
in the mobile space. Some of the interviewees who
were acquiring content said that they are not particu-
larly interested in big licenses. One trend that also
emerged in the interviews was that the social net-
works are used for marketing games.
The players will have more awareness of the mobile
game publishers and if they are usually publishing
good games or not. Some players will choose the
games that they buy based on the publisher.
(12) This refers to the users expecting better graphics etc.
19
Recommendations by friends and trials sent by
friends seem to be currently very important for the
mobile game players [19]. It is very likely that these
kinds of features will be used more frequently in
selling the future mobile games
Chapter 5:
Conclusions
We are not expecting the mobile gaming to change
radically from today to year 2010. The mobile games
will have a lot more publicity and the players will be
more aware of mobile games. An increasing number
of people who consider themselves as gamers will
be playing mobile games, sometimes this will be a
cross-platform experience where the player can ac-
cess the same game from various platforms includ-
ing mobile. “Snack” or casual games will be still
very important part of the business. Currently these
kinds of games generate most of the revenue in mo-
bile games industry. The partition of games that are
geared towards more hard-core gaming experiences
will grow but not radically. Online gaming will be
more popular when the technological and commer-
cial barriers get smaller.
The technological advancements in the mobile
phone, such as hardware accelerated 3D graphics,
will drive the increasing quality of the mobile games.
Some technologies that will become more common
in mobile games, such as the mobile phone
camera, will also encourage developing games with
new interaction styles and possibly even new mo-
bile game genres.
When considering the software platforms for mo-
bile game development, the existing ones will be
strong (Java, Brew, and Symbian in Europe), and
Flash Lite will gain popularity. The users will have
more possibilities for connected gaming as the mo-
bile phones will offer possibilities for using various
technologies for data transfer (3G and the next gen-
eration, Wi-Fi, etc).
The distribution of mobile games is currently a huge
problem. This will change at least somewhat by
2010. Utilizing viral distribution and “try before you
buy” will be successful. There will be more portals
for buying games, provided by the operators, big
games publishers, and platform manufacturers. The
portals will have better usability and provide more
information about the games for the players. The
players will have also more knowledge about the
portals, games, and mobile game publishers. Some
of the players will trust certain publishers to create
good-quality mobile games.
The publisher’s role in the value net becomes strong-
er, however, the operators will also still be strong in
the value net. The roles in the value net get clearer
and publishers may take over some of the tasks that
have belonged to the operator, such as transferring
the game files directly to the player. Some of the
publishers will have their own distribution channels
and some will work together with operators taking
more independently care of their own “channels”
inside the operators’ portals. Times will be hard for
the smaller publishers or developers who don’t have
their own portals or relationships with the operators
or bigger publishers.
Recommendations by friends and trials sent by
friends seem to be currently very important for the
mobile game players [19]. It is very likely that these
kinds of features will be used more frequently in
selling the future mobile games
Chapter 5:
Conclusions
We are not expecting the mobile gaming to change
radically from today to year 2010. The mobile games
will have a lot more publicity and the players will be
more aware of mobile games. An increasing number
of people who consider themselves as gamers will
be playing mobile games, sometimes this will be a
cross-platform experience where the player can ac-
cess the same game from various platforms includ-
ing mobile. “Snack” or casual games will be still
very important part of the business. Currently these
kinds of games generate most of the revenue in mo-
bile games industry. The partition of games that are
geared towards more hard-core gaming experiences
will grow but not radically. Online gaming will be
more popular when the technological and commer-
cial barriers get smaller.
The technological advancements in the mobile
phone, such as hardware accelerated 3D graphics,
will drive the increasing quality of the mobile games.
Some technologies that will become more common
in mobile games, such as the mobile phone
camera, will also encourage developing games with
new interaction styles and possibly even new mo-
bile game genres.
When considering the software platforms for mo-
bile game development, the existing ones will be
strong (Java, Brew, and Symbian in Europe), and
Flash Lite will gain popularity. The users will have
more possibilities for connected gaming as the mo-
bile phones will offer possibilities for using various
technologies for data transfer (3G and the next gen-
eration, Wi-Fi, etc).
The distribution of mobile games is currently a huge
problem. This will change at least somewhat by
2010. Utilizing viral distribution and “try before you
buy” will be successful. There will be more portals
for buying games, provided by the operators, big
games publishers, and platform manufacturers. The
portals will have better usability and provide more
information about the games for the players. The
players will have also more knowledge about the
portals, games, and mobile game publishers. Some
of the players will trust certain publishers to create
good-quality mobile games.
The publisher’s role in the value net becomes strong-
er, however, the operators will also still be strong in
the value net. The roles in the value net get clearer
and publishers may take over some of the tasks that
have belonged to the operator, such as transferring
the game files directly to the player. Some of the
publishers will have their own distribution channels
and some will work together with operators taking
more independently care of their own “channels”
inside the operators’ portals. Times will be hard for
the smaller publishers or developers who don’t have
their own portals or relationships with the operators
or bigger publishers.
20
Acknowledgements
The following people were invaluable in the many
forms of contributions to this report. They helped
with participating interviews, commenting and re-
viewing the reports, and writing articles. The con-
tributors and the company where they were em-
ployed at the time of the contribution are listed
below in alphabeitical order
Juha Arrasvuori
Nokia Research Center, Finland
Tomi Aarnio
Nokia Research Center, Finland
Raimo Backstrom
Nokia Networks, Finland
John Paul Bichard
Idea Milk, Sweden
Greg Costikyan
Manifesto Games, USA
Steven Davis
GlobalSecure Inc, USA
Frank Fitzek
Aalborg University, Denmark
Anton Gauffin
Gamelion, Finland
Tim Greenhalgh
Galaxylife, UK
Tim Harrison
Vodafone, UK
Mikko-Pekka Hanski
Idean Resarch, Finland
Fernando Herrera
Rovio, Finland
Jussi Holopainen
Nokia Resarch Center, Finland
Teemu Jalava
Nokia Research Center, Finland
Aki Järvinen
Veikkaus (the Finnish National Lottery
Company), Finland
Sonja Kangas
VTT (The Technical Research Center of
Finland), Finland
Sampo Karjalainen
Sulake, Finland
Praveen Karoshi
Nokia Technology Platforms, India
Jani Karlsson
Nokia Multimedia, Finland
Jaakko Kievari
Nokia Multimedia, Finland
Vesa-Pekka Kirsi
Nokia Multimedia, Finland
Jani Kärhämä
Fathammer, Finland
Panu Mustonen
Satama Interactive, Finland
Ning Yang Nibble
Nokia Research Center, China
Mark Ollila
Telcogames, UK(13)
Seth Pfeiffer
Nokia Networks, USA
Markus Ramark
Nokia Multimedia, Finland
Adolfo Rosas
Telefonica, Spain
Juha Ruskola
Mr Goodliving, Finland
Mattias Svahn
Swedish Inistitute of Information Science,
Sweden
Tom Söderlund
Blaze, Sweden
Mika Tammenkoski
Digital Chocolate, Finland
Jyrki Usva
Sonera, Finland
Lincoln Wallen
EA Mobile Games, UK
Vicky Wu
Froghop, USA
Serguei Zhitinski
Mobos, Russia
If you have contributed but your name was not in the
list, please contact [email protected]
(13) Since Novermber 2006 Nokia Multimedia in Finland
Acknowledgements
The following people were invaluable in the many
forms of contributions to this report. They helped
with participating interviews, commenting and re-
viewing the reports, and writing articles. The con-
tributors and the company where they were em-
ployed at the time of the contribution are listed
below in alphabeitical order
Juha Arrasvuori
Nokia Research Center, Finland
Tomi Aarnio
Nokia Research Center, Finland
Raimo Backstrom
Nokia Networks, Finland
John Paul Bichard
Idea Milk, Sweden
Greg Costikyan
Manifesto Games, USA
Steven Davis
GlobalSecure Inc, USA
Frank Fitzek
Aalborg University, Denmark
Anton Gauffin
Gamelion, Finland
Tim Greenhalgh
Galaxylife, UK
Tim Harrison
Vodafone, UK
Mikko-Pekka Hanski
Idean Resarch, Finland
Fernando Herrera
Rovio, Finland
Jussi Holopainen
Nokia Resarch Center, Finland
Teemu Jalava
Nokia Research Center, Finland
Aki Järvinen
Veikkaus (the Finnish National Lottery
Company), Finland
Sonja Kangas
VTT (The Technical Research Center of
Finland), Finland
Sampo Karjalainen
Sulake, Finland
Praveen Karoshi
Nokia Technology Platforms, India
Jani Karlsson
Nokia Multimedia, Finland
Jaakko Kievari
Nokia Multimedia, Finland
Vesa-Pekka Kirsi
Nokia Multimedia, Finland
Jani Kärhämä
Fathammer, Finland
Panu Mustonen
Satama Interactive, Finland
Ning Yang Nibble
Nokia Research Center, China
Mark Ollila
Telcogames, UK(13)
Seth Pfeiffer
Nokia Networks, USA
Markus Ramark
Nokia Multimedia, Finland
Adolfo Rosas
Telefonica, Spain
Juha Ruskola
Mr Goodliving, Finland
Mattias Svahn
Swedish Inistitute of Information Science,
Sweden
Tom Söderlund
Blaze, Sweden
Mika Tammenkoski
Digital Chocolate, Finland
Jyrki Usva
Sonera, Finland
Lincoln Wallen
EA Mobile Games, UK
Vicky Wu
Froghop, USA
Serguei Zhitinski
Mobos, Russia
If you have contributed but your name was not in the
list, please contact [email protected]
(13) Since Novermber 2006 Nokia Multimedia in Finland
REFERENCES
[1] 3G Americas: http://www.3gamericas.org/English
Statistics/#deployments
[2] AFX Internatilan Focus: “Gameloft to launch 20 2D
games in 2007”. 9.1.2007.
[3] Anarchy Online, Funcom, 2001, Norway. http://
www.anarchy-online.com
[4] A Tale in The Desert, eGenesis, USA, 2003. http://
www.atitd.com/
[5] Benford, S., Crabtree, A, Flintham, M. Drotz, A,
Anastasi, R, and Paxton, M. “Can You See Me
Now?” In ACM Transactions on Computer-Human
Interaction, Vol. 13, No 1, March 2006. Pp. 100-133
[6] Bichard, John Paul: “Going Out to Play – The fu
ture of the gaming in Fluid Environment.” Mobile
Games 2010 Report Articles, 2007.
[7] Botfighters, It’s Alive, Sweden, 2001.
[8] Brainage, Nintendo, Japan, 2006. http://www.brain
age.com
[9] Business Wire: “Free Mobile Game Downloads
Gaining Traction in North America and Europe as
Reported in Greystripe’s GameJump.com Mobile
Game Consumer Insights”. 24.10.2006.
[10] Business Wire: “Mobile Gaming Sees Initial Success
in Asia, But Future Growth Uncertain According to
In-Stat”. 21.11.2006. Available at “http://home.busi-
nesswire.com/”
[11] COUP: A research prototype game developed in year
2006 in IPerG project: www.coupgame.org
[12] Davis, Steven security: “Security Issues in Online
Game Design.” Mobile Games 2010 Report Articles,
2007.
[13] Davis Steven: “Virtual Worlds, Real Money.” Mo-
bile Games 2010 Report Articles, 2007.
[14] Digital Chocolate: http://www.digitalchocolate.com
[15] Doom RPG. Jamdat, 2005.http://www.eamobile.com
[16] ELSPA mobile game download charts: http://www.
elspa.com/?c=/charts/mobile.jsp
[17] Final Fantasy, Before Chrisis. Square Enix. Japan
2004.
[18] Fitzek, Frank. Co-operative Mobile Gaming. Mobile
Games 2010 Report Articles 2007.
[19] Forum Nokia: “Evolution of Mobile Gaming”. Avail
able at http://www.forum.nokia.com/info/sw.nokia.
com/id/c52ab94e-e29d-498a-a36a-e80296e4184a/
Evolution_Of_Mobile_Gaming_1_0_en.pdf.html
[20] Forum Nokia. “Overview of Multiplayer Game De-
sign.” Available at http://www.forum.nokia.com
[21] Gamasutra: “Question of the Week Responses: Dig
ital Game Distribution”. June 2005. Available at
http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20050620/
hong_01.shtml
[22] Geogaching, 2001. See e.g. www.geocaching.com
[23] Habbo Hotel, Sulake, Finland, 2000.
[24] Henrysson, A., Billinghurts, M., and Ollila, M. AR
Tennis. ACM SIGGRAPH 2006, Boston, USA.
[25] Hinterwars, Nokia, Singapore, 2007. http://www.
hinterwars.com
[26] IGDA Alternate Reality Games White Paper. http://
www.igda.org/arg/whitepaper/
[27] IGDA Mobile Games White Paper. http://www.igda.
org/online/IGDA_Mobile_Whitepaper_2005.pdf
[28] IGDA Online Games White Paper. http:// www.
igda.org/online/IGDA_Online_Games_Whitepaper_
2003.pdf
[29] IGDA Online Games Quarterly: “The Demograph-
ics of Gameloft“ http://www.igda.org/online/quarter
ly/1_2/gameloft.php
[30] Iltalehti. “Haloo… tuu pois piilos’.” 16.6.2006, Fin
land.
[31] IPerG, Integrated Project on Pervasive Gaming.
www.pervasive-gaming.org
[32] Kangas, Sonja. Mobile and Other Gamers. Mobile
Games 2010 Report Articles, 2007.
[33] Khronos press release: “Khronos Announces New
OpenKODE Initiative to Define a Mobile Media Ap-
plication Development Environment.” http://www.
khronos.org/news/press/releases/rel51.html.
[34] Koivisto, Elina M.I., and Eladhari, Mirjam: User
Evaluation of a Pervasive Game Concept. Proceed
ings of DIME-arts 2006, Bangkok, Thailand, 2006.
[35] Koivisto, Elina M.I, and Wenninger, Christian: En
hancing Player Experience in MMORPGs with Mo-
bile Features. Proceedings of DIGRA conference,
Vancouver, Canada, 2005.
[36] Koivisto, Elina M.I., and Ollila, Mark: How to Fail:
Mobile Game Design in Research Projects Involv-
ing Software Prototype Development. Proceedings
of Game Design and Technology Workshop, Liver-
pool, UK, 2006.
[37] Mogi Mogi: http://www.mogimogi.com
[38] MLNS Sports League, Digital Chocolate, 2006.
[39] Mobile Industry.biz: “Female and casual gam
ers to push revenues over $10bn by 2009”.
5.10.2006. Available at http://www.mobileindustry.
biz/article.php?article_id=1935
[40] Mulligan, J. and Patrovsky, B. Developing Online
Games. New Riders, Indiana, 2003.
[41] MUPE. http://www.mupe.net
[42] Mustonen, Panu. “From History Greed to Tomor
row’s Need”. Mobile Games 2010 Report Articles,
2007.
[43] N-Gage. http://www.n-gage.com
[44] N-Gage press releases: “N-Gage Titles Continue To
Succeed – Pathway To Glory Wins MEF Mobile
Games Award 2005.” Available at http://www.n-
gage.com/en-R1/press/Press+releases/press_release_
210605.htm
[45] Nokia Game. www.nokiagame.com
[46] Pathway to Glory, Nokia, 2005.
[47] Sensor application. www.nokia.com/sensor
[48] Sensor Planet: http://research.nokia.com/research/
projects/sensorplanet/
[49] SiL, Fathammer, 2006. http://www.fathammer.com
[50] SIP forum. http://www.sipforum.org/
[51] Söderlund, Tom: “Proximity Gaming: New Forms of
Wireless Netowork Gaming”. Mobile Games 2010
Report Articles, 2007.
[52] TibiaME, http://www.tibiame.com
[53] http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/061127/ukm003.html?.
v=85.
[54] Wu, Vicky. Mobile Devices and the “Traditional”
Gamer. Mobile Games 2010 Report Articles, 2007.
21
[1] 3G Americas: http://www.3gamericas.org/English
Statistics/#deployments
[2] AFX Internatilan Focus: “Gameloft to launch 20 2D
games in 2007”. 9.1.2007.
[3] Anarchy Online, Funcom, 2001, Norway. http://
www.anarchy-online.com
[4] A Tale in The Desert, eGenesis, USA, 2003. http://
www.atitd.com/
[5] Benford, S., Crabtree, A, Flintham, M. Drotz, A,
Anastasi, R, and Paxton, M. “Can You See Me
Now?” In ACM Transactions on Computer-Human
Interaction, Vol. 13, No 1, March 2006. Pp. 100-133
[6] Bichard, John Paul: “Going Out to Play – The fu
ture of the gaming in Fluid Environment.” Mobile
Games 2010 Report Articles, 2007.
[7] Botfighters, It’s Alive, Sweden, 2001.
[8] Brainage, Nintendo, Japan, 2006. http://www.brain
age.com
[9] Business Wire: “Free Mobile Game Downloads
Gaining Traction in North America and Europe as
Reported in Greystripe’s GameJump.com Mobile
Game Consumer Insights”. 24.10.2006.
[10] Business Wire: “Mobile Gaming Sees Initial Success
in Asia, But Future Growth Uncertain According to
In-Stat”. 21.11.2006. Available at “http://home.busi-
nesswire.com/”
[11] COUP: A research prototype game developed in year
2006 in IPerG project: www.coupgame.org
[12] Davis, Steven security: “Security Issues in Online
Game Design.” Mobile Games 2010 Report Articles,
2007.
[13] Davis Steven: “Virtual Worlds, Real Money.” Mo-
bile Games 2010 Report Articles, 2007.
[14] Digital Chocolate: http://www.digitalchocolate.com
[15] Doom RPG. Jamdat, 2005.http://www.eamobile.com
[16] ELSPA mobile game download charts: http://www.
elspa.com/?c=/charts/mobile.jsp
[17] Final Fantasy, Before Chrisis. Square Enix. Japan
2004.
[18] Fitzek, Frank. Co-operative Mobile Gaming. Mobile
Games 2010 Report Articles 2007.
[19] Forum Nokia: “Evolution of Mobile Gaming”. Avail
able at http://www.forum.nokia.com/info/sw.nokia.
com/id/c52ab94e-e29d-498a-a36a-e80296e4184a/
Evolution_Of_Mobile_Gaming_1_0_en.pdf.html
[20] Forum Nokia. “Overview of Multiplayer Game De-
sign.” Available at http://www.forum.nokia.com
[21] Gamasutra: “Question of the Week Responses: Dig
ital Game Distribution”. June 2005. Available at
http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20050620/
hong_01.shtml
[22] Geogaching, 2001. See e.g. www.geocaching.com
[23] Habbo Hotel, Sulake, Finland, 2000.
[24] Henrysson, A., Billinghurts, M., and Ollila, M. AR
Tennis. ACM SIGGRAPH 2006, Boston, USA.
[25] Hinterwars, Nokia, Singapore, 2007. http://www.
hinterwars.com
[26] IGDA Alternate Reality Games White Paper. http://
www.igda.org/arg/whitepaper/
[27] IGDA Mobile Games White Paper. http://www.igda.
org/online/IGDA_Mobile_Whitepaper_2005.pdf
[28] IGDA Online Games White Paper. http:// www.
igda.org/online/IGDA_Online_Games_Whitepaper_
2003.pdf
[29] IGDA Online Games Quarterly: “The Demograph-
ics of Gameloft“ http://www.igda.org/online/quarter
ly/1_2/gameloft.php
[30] Iltalehti. “Haloo… tuu pois piilos’.” 16.6.2006, Fin
land.
[31] IPerG, Integrated Project on Pervasive Gaming.
www.pervasive-gaming.org
[32] Kangas, Sonja. Mobile and Other Gamers. Mobile
Games 2010 Report Articles, 2007.
[33] Khronos press release: “Khronos Announces New
OpenKODE Initiative to Define a Mobile Media Ap-
plication Development Environment.” http://www.
khronos.org/news/press/releases/rel51.html.
[34] Koivisto, Elina M.I., and Eladhari, Mirjam: User
Evaluation of a Pervasive Game Concept. Proceed
ings of DIME-arts 2006, Bangkok, Thailand, 2006.
[35] Koivisto, Elina M.I, and Wenninger, Christian: En
hancing Player Experience in MMORPGs with Mo-
bile Features. Proceedings of DIGRA conference,
Vancouver, Canada, 2005.
[36] Koivisto, Elina M.I., and Ollila, Mark: How to Fail:
Mobile Game Design in Research Projects Involv-
ing Software Prototype Development. Proceedings
of Game Design and Technology Workshop, Liver-
pool, UK, 2006.
[37] Mogi Mogi: http://www.mogimogi.com
[38] MLNS Sports League, Digital Chocolate, 2006.
[39] Mobile Industry.biz: “Female and casual gam
ers to push revenues over $10bn by 2009”.
5.10.2006. Available at http://www.mobileindustry.
biz/article.php?article_id=1935
[40] Mulligan, J. and Patrovsky, B. Developing Online
Games. New Riders, Indiana, 2003.
[41] MUPE. http://www.mupe.net
[42] Mustonen, Panu. “From History Greed to Tomor
row’s Need”. Mobile Games 2010 Report Articles,
2007.
[43] N-Gage. http://www.n-gage.com
[44] N-Gage press releases: “N-Gage Titles Continue To
Succeed – Pathway To Glory Wins MEF Mobile
Games Award 2005.” Available at http://www.n-
gage.com/en-R1/press/Press+releases/press_release_
210605.htm
[45] Nokia Game. www.nokiagame.com
[46] Pathway to Glory, Nokia, 2005.
[47] Sensor application. www.nokia.com/sensor
[48] Sensor Planet: http://research.nokia.com/research/
projects/sensorplanet/
[49] SiL, Fathammer, 2006. http://www.fathammer.com
[50] SIP forum. http://www.sipforum.org/
[51] Söderlund, Tom: “Proximity Gaming: New Forms of
Wireless Netowork Gaming”. Mobile Games 2010
Report Articles, 2007.
[52] TibiaME, http://www.tibiame.com
[53] http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/061127/ukm003.html?.
v=85.
[54] Wu, Vicky. Mobile Devices and the “Traditional”
Gamer. Mobile Games 2010 Report Articles, 2007.
21
Appendix for the Mobile Games 2010 re-
port, the invited articles
Introduction
This Appendix consists of the invited articles
for the Mobile Games 2010 report. The arti-
cles look at future mobile games from various
points of view, ranging from the early history
to design and technical aspects. The articles
are each authors’ opinions on their topics and
do not reflect Nokia’s road mapping or future
product releases in any way. Some of the arti-
cles may even contradict each other or the Mo-
bile Games 2010 report; however, since pre-
dicting the future is a difficult task, we wanted
to show different points of view for the readers.
In the first article of this Appendix, Panu
Mustonen describes how mobile gaming has
evolved from past and predicts what will
change in the future. The second article is
written by Sonja Kangas, and she looks at
the trends in the digital media and how mo-
bile gaming will be like in the future. Kangas
also looks at the future technologies in the hy-
brid media. In the third article, Jean Paul Bi-
chard defines how portable and mobile games
are different and looks at what is required
to create true mobile games. The fourth and
fifth articles are written by Steven Davis. In
his first article, he discusses the real money
transaction phenomena and the second one
concerns the security issues in online games.
In the sixth article, written by Tom Söderlund
,concerns proximity gaming. The article is
written from the design point of view but also
lists technologies that can be used and gives
an example of the design, implementation,
and testing of a proximity game prototype.
The seventh article by Vicky Wu discusses
transmedial access, what kinds of strategies
can be used in implementing games with
transmedial access, and how transmedial ac-
cess can benefit game developers. (Please
note that in the Mobile Games 2010 report
the terms “cross-platform access” and “cross-
platform games” are used instead of this less
commonly used term.) The last article by
Frank Fitzek describes a potential architec-
ture for future mobile multi-player games.
Panu Mustonen
Satama - Finland
Mobile Games and Data Traffic
Creation
From History Greed to Future
Need
WAP
When mobile gaming started to come to the
wish list of handset manufacturers and opera-
tors the only possibility was through WAP-
based games (excluding mini-scale business
around Communicators, Palms and of course
the legendary Snake-game). Starting 1999
there was quite buzz around mobile games
and companies getting ready to do those
mysterious games. There were no WAP-
phones and the only devices having a WML-
browser were some PDAs from PSION. This
and the lack of proven business models did
not prevent venture capitalists investing in
new mobile game companies (this was how
companies like Springtoys and Riot-E were
founded in Finland). At the same time a lot
of companies were founded or grown around
“mobile internet” – so it was not just games.
The common denominator behind all these
companies and their products was to create
data traffic on the new WAP-enabled handsets.
In the calculations of those days there were
two main sources for greed. The first source
was that the WAP-games and content had to
use circuit switched data over GSM. The data
call rates for the early users were very high,
and it was assumed that GSM operators would
be willing to share the data traffic income with
game companies. The other source was the es-
timates of data-usage growth as well as the
estimated roadmap for new networks and new
phones capable of color and real-time gaming.
When designing early WAP-games, the data
traffic creation was almost automatic. The
networks and phones were slow, so what ever
game you designed, it consumed a lot of time
(and thus circuit switched data time because
always connected). Optimization of data traf-
fic was also thought to be nonsense because
the real customers in 2000 were seen to be
mobile operators. However, the revenue mod-
els based on data revenue share were not in
existence – the operators were not ready to
give away revenue that they thought was the
backbone of their business. Earmarking in-
come from certain games was very difficult
– and looking back to those times, it was also
quite disturbing for the operators to give away
data traffic figures which saying the least were
not always very convincing (or at least they
were not in the scope of “hockey stick” fig-
ures of all the future estimations). In any case,
the WAP-games were bought and licensed to
their services because they are always an easy
way to show the end-customers what new
technology can mean to them. The mobile
game companies kept on doing mobile games
because there were not many alternatives and
of course everybody hoped that some day op-
erators would open up their data revenues.
J2ME ENTERING TO THE STAGE
In no way were the WAP-games a mistake for
the companies or for the mobile games indus-
try. Even though the full monetary potential
of them was not achieved, they taught the
game companies to make server-based games
from the beginning as well as thinking about
optimizing time need of the game – either to-
wards the operators needs or then to the actual
game experience. When J2ME started to raise
its head in 2000 it was again time to think
what kind of revenue models were needed in
22
port, the invited articles
Introduction
This Appendix consists of the invited articles
for the Mobile Games 2010 report. The arti-
cles look at future mobile games from various
points of view, ranging from the early history
to design and technical aspects. The articles
are each authors’ opinions on their topics and
do not reflect Nokia’s road mapping or future
product releases in any way. Some of the arti-
cles may even contradict each other or the Mo-
bile Games 2010 report; however, since pre-
dicting the future is a difficult task, we wanted
to show different points of view for the readers.
In the first article of this Appendix, Panu
Mustonen describes how mobile gaming has
evolved from past and predicts what will
change in the future. The second article is
written by Sonja Kangas, and she looks at
the trends in the digital media and how mo-
bile gaming will be like in the future. Kangas
also looks at the future technologies in the hy-
brid media. In the third article, Jean Paul Bi-
chard defines how portable and mobile games
are different and looks at what is required
to create true mobile games. The fourth and
fifth articles are written by Steven Davis. In
his first article, he discusses the real money
transaction phenomena and the second one
concerns the security issues in online games.
In the sixth article, written by Tom Söderlund
,concerns proximity gaming. The article is
written from the design point of view but also
lists technologies that can be used and gives
an example of the design, implementation,
and testing of a proximity game prototype.
The seventh article by Vicky Wu discusses
transmedial access, what kinds of strategies
can be used in implementing games with
transmedial access, and how transmedial ac-
cess can benefit game developers. (Please
note that in the Mobile Games 2010 report
the terms “cross-platform access” and “cross-
platform games” are used instead of this less
commonly used term.) The last article by
Frank Fitzek describes a potential architec-
ture for future mobile multi-player games.
Panu Mustonen
Satama - Finland
Mobile Games and Data Traffic
Creation
From History Greed to Future
Need
WAP
When mobile gaming started to come to the
wish list of handset manufacturers and opera-
tors the only possibility was through WAP-
based games (excluding mini-scale business
around Communicators, Palms and of course
the legendary Snake-game). Starting 1999
there was quite buzz around mobile games
and companies getting ready to do those
mysterious games. There were no WAP-
phones and the only devices having a WML-
browser were some PDAs from PSION. This
and the lack of proven business models did
not prevent venture capitalists investing in
new mobile game companies (this was how
companies like Springtoys and Riot-E were
founded in Finland). At the same time a lot
of companies were founded or grown around
“mobile internet” – so it was not just games.
The common denominator behind all these
companies and their products was to create
data traffic on the new WAP-enabled handsets.
In the calculations of those days there were
two main sources for greed. The first source
was that the WAP-games and content had to
use circuit switched data over GSM. The data
call rates for the early users were very high,
and it was assumed that GSM operators would
be willing to share the data traffic income with
game companies. The other source was the es-
timates of data-usage growth as well as the
estimated roadmap for new networks and new
phones capable of color and real-time gaming.
When designing early WAP-games, the data
traffic creation was almost automatic. The
networks and phones were slow, so what ever
game you designed, it consumed a lot of time
(and thus circuit switched data time because
always connected). Optimization of data traf-
fic was also thought to be nonsense because
the real customers in 2000 were seen to be
mobile operators. However, the revenue mod-
els based on data revenue share were not in
existence – the operators were not ready to
give away revenue that they thought was the
backbone of their business. Earmarking in-
come from certain games was very difficult
– and looking back to those times, it was also
quite disturbing for the operators to give away
data traffic figures which saying the least were
not always very convincing (or at least they
were not in the scope of “hockey stick” fig-
ures of all the future estimations). In any case,
the WAP-games were bought and licensed to
their services because they are always an easy
way to show the end-customers what new
technology can mean to them. The mobile
game companies kept on doing mobile games
because there were not many alternatives and
of course everybody hoped that some day op-
erators would open up their data revenues.
J2ME ENTERING TO THE STAGE
In no way were the WAP-games a mistake for
the companies or for the mobile games indus-
try. Even though the full monetary potential
of them was not achieved, they taught the
game companies to make server-based games
from the beginning as well as thinking about
optimizing time need of the game – either to-
wards the operators needs or then to the actual
game experience. When J2ME started to raise
its head in 2000 it was again time to think
what kind of revenue models were needed in
22
these games. It was understood that the games
needed to be very small (40k) to get through
the WAP-gateways, and also very simple. The
success of ring tones had proven the business
of Premium SMS (PSMS) and value-added
services, so that was definitely on the other
side of income calculations. In the year 2000,
operators normally still had their own teams
for buying and even contracting games and
this fact transferred the data traffic dilemma
into the downloadable games. What kind of
J2ME games would bring operator data-traf-
fic and thus get the upper hand when fighting
on the position on operators’ game portfo-
lio and a good visibility on their marketing?
At this point, communities were one of the so-
lutions brought in. Even high-score-list send-
ing was thought to be a community function.
Other possibilities were new level and equip-
ment downloads (and thus bringing extra rev-
enue source from micro payments) and the
mother lode of mobile gaming – Multi-player
games. At the same time with the downloada-
ble games entering to the mobile entertainment
markets, the networks also changed to packed
switched data with GPRS which of course
brought new operator business models to the
field. Now it was not anymore about how long
people played, but how to keep them to trans-
fer data in the mobile networks. The sad thing
from the games perspective was that even
though now the networks were packet based,
the data transfer was not real-time, far from
it. Latency was a big problem and real-time
multi-player games had to wait for 3G. Simple
round-based games were brought in 2001 and
2002 to anticipate to the need of multi-player
games as well as many multiplayer-platform
development companies were founded. The
price of game development went up espe-
cially when it was compared to the slow in-
take of J2ME capable handsets in the markets.
From the end of 2001 there was also a very
important change in the operators’ attitude to-
wards mobile entertainment and games. The
operators started to run down their own content
teams and started to use content aggregators.
This changed the rules of the data-traffic game
at the same time. The operators understood that
their business was in enabling PSMS or WAP-
based micro payments (game downloads).
Now the game developers were out of the
data-traffic revenue game – this time for good.
From player exploitation to player satisfac-
tion -
Connected Games in 2010
Now in 2006 we are in the situation of 3G net-
works being launched around the world and
with those networks (and of course with total-
ly new handset generations), the mobile game
industry is entering to the actual mobile Inter-
net era. Streaming content has bypassed the
games as mobile contents weapon of choice
for data-traffic generation, so the mobile game
industry does not have to think about revenues
(or more importantly operators’ revenues)
from data. What is the situation of connected
mobile games right now? Not very good I think
– there are just too little good multi-player
games in the mobile field and community func-
tions tends to still be just sending high-score
lists. Now it would be perfect time to start to
think data-traffic with mobile games; not be-
cause it is possible money creator but more
because it gives more possibilities for mobile
games to fight in today’s games environment.
In the “normal” gaming world connectivity
has brought a whole new genres and it has
also raised certain game titles to huge success.
MMOGs and networked multiplayer games
like Counter-Strike have created a generation of
gamers who think that networked multi-play-
er gaming is part of normal game experience.
At the same time Xbox Live, N-Gage Arena,
numerous Counter-Strike servers and simi-
lar services have highlighted the importance
of community in gaming. The mobile phone
is all about communication and as such also
about communities – this is also something
that mobile game developers have been saying
for ages. On the other hand, the console game
publishers have been dreaming about combin-
ing mobile and console gaming by some other
way than just by selling title licenses (many
times creating games that are quite horrible
compared to the original “big screen” title).
When combining these different factors, in
2010 we should see at least 5 kinds of con-
nected mobile games:
1. Those with a logical connectivity to
the console- or pc-games. This is not just in the
technology level but also in the game design
and game experience level. Mobile games of
this type will not be just smaller screen ver-
sions but they will bring in extra elements to
the game as whole. For example you can prac-
tice some difficult move in an extreme sports
game in you mobile and when you are skilled
at it enough the mobile sends that data to the
server or to the console directly so players
character has also up-graded skills in console
version.
2. Game communities through mobile
phones. Mobile IM, IVR and other normal
mobile communications technologies will
be used by people to contact each other by
just knowing for example each others avatar
names from the game.
3. Mobile phones as remote controls to
the massive multiplayer games.
4. Network connected games that take
into account for example players position in
physical world.
5. Connected snack games. For exam-
ple racing over Bluetooth or 4G networks.
Will this mean that the role of the operator
is more to be data-pipeline because the big
publishers will always charm the gamers with
their favorite game titles? No, because on the
other hand, the operators know communica-
tion and how their customers like to commu-
nicate. Bringing in that expertise to the mobile
game business will bring them to be “player”
again in the game.
23
needed to be very small (40k) to get through
the WAP-gateways, and also very simple. The
success of ring tones had proven the business
of Premium SMS (PSMS) and value-added
services, so that was definitely on the other
side of income calculations. In the year 2000,
operators normally still had their own teams
for buying and even contracting games and
this fact transferred the data traffic dilemma
into the downloadable games. What kind of
J2ME games would bring operator data-traf-
fic and thus get the upper hand when fighting
on the position on operators’ game portfo-
lio and a good visibility on their marketing?
At this point, communities were one of the so-
lutions brought in. Even high-score-list send-
ing was thought to be a community function.
Other possibilities were new level and equip-
ment downloads (and thus bringing extra rev-
enue source from micro payments) and the
mother lode of mobile gaming – Multi-player
games. At the same time with the downloada-
ble games entering to the mobile entertainment
markets, the networks also changed to packed
switched data with GPRS which of course
brought new operator business models to the
field. Now it was not anymore about how long
people played, but how to keep them to trans-
fer data in the mobile networks. The sad thing
from the games perspective was that even
though now the networks were packet based,
the data transfer was not real-time, far from
it. Latency was a big problem and real-time
multi-player games had to wait for 3G. Simple
round-based games were brought in 2001 and
2002 to anticipate to the need of multi-player
games as well as many multiplayer-platform
development companies were founded. The
price of game development went up espe-
cially when it was compared to the slow in-
take of J2ME capable handsets in the markets.
From the end of 2001 there was also a very
important change in the operators’ attitude to-
wards mobile entertainment and games. The
operators started to run down their own content
teams and started to use content aggregators.
This changed the rules of the data-traffic game
at the same time. The operators understood that
their business was in enabling PSMS or WAP-
based micro payments (game downloads).
Now the game developers were out of the
data-traffic revenue game – this time for good.
From player exploitation to player satisfac-
tion -
Connected Games in 2010
Now in 2006 we are in the situation of 3G net-
works being launched around the world and
with those networks (and of course with total-
ly new handset generations), the mobile game
industry is entering to the actual mobile Inter-
net era. Streaming content has bypassed the
games as mobile contents weapon of choice
for data-traffic generation, so the mobile game
industry does not have to think about revenues
(or more importantly operators’ revenues)
from data. What is the situation of connected
mobile games right now? Not very good I think
– there are just too little good multi-player
games in the mobile field and community func-
tions tends to still be just sending high-score
lists. Now it would be perfect time to start to
think data-traffic with mobile games; not be-
cause it is possible money creator but more
because it gives more possibilities for mobile
games to fight in today’s games environment.
In the “normal” gaming world connectivity
has brought a whole new genres and it has
also raised certain game titles to huge success.
MMOGs and networked multiplayer games
like Counter-Strike have created a generation of
gamers who think that networked multi-play-
er gaming is part of normal game experience.
At the same time Xbox Live, N-Gage Arena,
numerous Counter-Strike servers and simi-
lar services have highlighted the importance
of community in gaming. The mobile phone
is all about communication and as such also
about communities – this is also something
that mobile game developers have been saying
for ages. On the other hand, the console game
publishers have been dreaming about combin-
ing mobile and console gaming by some other
way than just by selling title licenses (many
times creating games that are quite horrible
compared to the original “big screen” title).
When combining these different factors, in
2010 we should see at least 5 kinds of con-
nected mobile games:
1. Those with a logical connectivity to
the console- or pc-games. This is not just in the
technology level but also in the game design
and game experience level. Mobile games of
this type will not be just smaller screen ver-
sions but they will bring in extra elements to
the game as whole. For example you can prac-
tice some difficult move in an extreme sports
game in you mobile and when you are skilled
at it enough the mobile sends that data to the
server or to the console directly so players
character has also up-graded skills in console
version.
2. Game communities through mobile
phones. Mobile IM, IVR and other normal
mobile communications technologies will
be used by people to contact each other by
just knowing for example each others avatar
names from the game.
3. Mobile phones as remote controls to
the massive multiplayer games.
4. Network connected games that take
into account for example players position in
physical world.
5. Connected snack games. For exam-
ple racing over Bluetooth or 4G networks.
Will this mean that the role of the operator
is more to be data-pipeline because the big
publishers will always charm the gamers with
their favorite game titles? No, because on the
other hand, the operators know communica-
tion and how their customers like to commu-
nicate. Bringing in that expertise to the mobile
game business will bring them to be “player”
again in the game.
23
Consumers are spending more time with dig-
ital media than ever before. In 2005, the use of
television increased and online use continued
to rival television as the most-used medium.
Video games, containing everything from
mobile and wireless to networked console
and pc games, have established their role as a
merchandising category with cross licensing
between movies and video games providing
a major source of revenue for movie studios
and others.
The first defining factor of the current digital
media is that the consumption of digital con-
tent is channeled through given devices: from
iPods to mobile phones and PCs according to
the appropriateness of users’ needs. Currently,
the digital device with its brand and image is a
part of the total experience, as Nintendo, Sony
and Apple have shown. This also has effects
on content. For example Nintendo games can
only be played on Nintendo devices and in the
spirit of Buzz and EyeToy party games, Sony
is integrating more beneficial content, e.g.
advertisements, information and music, into
video games. This development will have an
effect on the entertainment market as well as
total gaming experiences in the future.
The other defining factor is demographic data
(age, location and gender). The assumption
that gender would play a central role in the
markets for video games has struck a strong
chord with game developers. Before the evo-
lution of more social or physical video game
types, the generalization of the Internet has
partly changed the situation with various on-
line games and chatting communities, and
faded out the differences between girls and
Sonja Kangas
VTT- Finland
boys when looking at the frequency and diver-
sity of use. As a result of social media trend
consumers are becoming multi-taskers utiliz-
ing several mobile and online channels simul-
taneously and communication acrobats with
their variety of communications devices.
Three interesting aspects about current con-
sumer behavior are: 1) leaving traces, 2)
media acrobatics’ multi-tasking culture and
3) pleasure orientation. It is increasingly rel-
evant to leave its own mark (tags, comments,
modifications, patches) to the networked me-
dia communities and interlinking with mobile
with online communities. Multitasking refers
to a way of using several channels, devices
and services simultaneously to link with other
products and related themes. Media acrobatics
refers to the fast reception ability of new tech-
nologies, devices and services, as well as an
open-minded experimentation mentality and
misuse (also known as “creative hackerism”).
As a general effect of these, one can say that
media use is in transition points. The change
affects mobile games and the expansion and
creation of new active consumer groups.
By the year 2010, mobile media will have de-
veloped into an integral part of a total gaming
experience. The experience environment will
no longer be device-specific but will cross dif-
ferent devices as well as social and physical
contexts of use changing the experience into
a continuum ”everywhere – all the time – by
any device”. This development will boost
the development of more fragmented games
where users can take the game with them on
a mobile phone and continue playing on any
screen (public screen, at an Internet café, on
a cruise ship or in a shopping mall), as well
as having a clear role in supplementing and
modifying the game content. Toolboxes will
be widely available to users.
Mobile devices will have become the control-
ling device for the total experience as well as
acting as a payment channel.
Mobile users will use their wallet, wearable
or jewel kind of mobile terminals when glid-
ing from one network to another without even
acknowledging it. Mobile users will get both
selected and edited television and online con-
tent on their mobile devices when requested,
according to their context and social profiles.
The issues taking a strong foothold in the de-
velopment of novel types of mobile games
are: 1) agile methods in project and technol-
ogy development, 2) utilizing context infor-
mation in mobile solutions, 3) brand devel-
opment through co-modification possibilities
provided for various fan communities, tool-
boxes and modification tools, 4) tagging and
marker technologies created by both profes-
sionals and enthusiasts that enable the social
intelligence of the environment. Adaptability
and modularity will be key issues when shap-
ing future game experiences.
The device, the user, the context of use and
the content are mobile. This enables more and
more possibilities for users to act as co-crea-
tors of content. Web2.0 trends with mash-up
from the Internet will quickly become com-
mon in the mobile world at the same time
when cross media solutions evolve and dif-
ferent media are not considered as separate
contexts of use but as one complex entity of
different devices and channels. Hybrid media
(combining printed with digital media) will
be key solutions for flexible marketing of ad
hoc and long-lasting games through different
channels and various user groups.
.
24
ital media than ever before. In 2005, the use of
television increased and online use continued
to rival television as the most-used medium.
Video games, containing everything from
mobile and wireless to networked console
and pc games, have established their role as a
merchandising category with cross licensing
between movies and video games providing
a major source of revenue for movie studios
and others.
The first defining factor of the current digital
media is that the consumption of digital con-
tent is channeled through given devices: from
iPods to mobile phones and PCs according to
the appropriateness of users’ needs. Currently,
the digital device with its brand and image is a
part of the total experience, as Nintendo, Sony
and Apple have shown. This also has effects
on content. For example Nintendo games can
only be played on Nintendo devices and in the
spirit of Buzz and EyeToy party games, Sony
is integrating more beneficial content, e.g.
advertisements, information and music, into
video games. This development will have an
effect on the entertainment market as well as
total gaming experiences in the future.
The other defining factor is demographic data
(age, location and gender). The assumption
that gender would play a central role in the
markets for video games has struck a strong
chord with game developers. Before the evo-
lution of more social or physical video game
types, the generalization of the Internet has
partly changed the situation with various on-
line games and chatting communities, and
faded out the differences between girls and
Sonja Kangas
VTT- Finland
boys when looking at the frequency and diver-
sity of use. As a result of social media trend
consumers are becoming multi-taskers utiliz-
ing several mobile and online channels simul-
taneously and communication acrobats with
their variety of communications devices.
Three interesting aspects about current con-
sumer behavior are: 1) leaving traces, 2)
media acrobatics’ multi-tasking culture and
3) pleasure orientation. It is increasingly rel-
evant to leave its own mark (tags, comments,
modifications, patches) to the networked me-
dia communities and interlinking with mobile
with online communities. Multitasking refers
to a way of using several channels, devices
and services simultaneously to link with other
products and related themes. Media acrobatics
refers to the fast reception ability of new tech-
nologies, devices and services, as well as an
open-minded experimentation mentality and
misuse (also known as “creative hackerism”).
As a general effect of these, one can say that
media use is in transition points. The change
affects mobile games and the expansion and
creation of new active consumer groups.
By the year 2010, mobile media will have de-
veloped into an integral part of a total gaming
experience. The experience environment will
no longer be device-specific but will cross dif-
ferent devices as well as social and physical
contexts of use changing the experience into
a continuum ”everywhere – all the time – by
any device”. This development will boost
the development of more fragmented games
where users can take the game with them on
a mobile phone and continue playing on any
screen (public screen, at an Internet café, on
a cruise ship or in a shopping mall), as well
as having a clear role in supplementing and
modifying the game content. Toolboxes will
be widely available to users.
Mobile devices will have become the control-
ling device for the total experience as well as
acting as a payment channel.
Mobile users will use their wallet, wearable
or jewel kind of mobile terminals when glid-
ing from one network to another without even
acknowledging it. Mobile users will get both
selected and edited television and online con-
tent on their mobile devices when requested,
according to their context and social profiles.
The issues taking a strong foothold in the de-
velopment of novel types of mobile games
are: 1) agile methods in project and technol-
ogy development, 2) utilizing context infor-
mation in mobile solutions, 3) brand devel-
opment through co-modification possibilities
provided for various fan communities, tool-
boxes and modification tools, 4) tagging and
marker technologies created by both profes-
sionals and enthusiasts that enable the social
intelligence of the environment. Adaptability
and modularity will be key issues when shap-
ing future game experiences.
The device, the user, the context of use and
the content are mobile. This enables more and
more possibilities for users to act as co-crea-
tors of content. Web2.0 trends with mash-up
from the Internet will quickly become com-
mon in the mobile world at the same time
when cross media solutions evolve and dif-
ferent media are not considered as separate
contexts of use but as one complex entity of
different devices and channels. Hybrid media
(combining printed with digital media) will
be key solutions for flexible marketing of ad
hoc and long-lasting games through different
channels and various user groups.
.
24
Technology roadmap: Critical paths for networks.
25
25
John Paul Bichard
– IdeaMilk Sweden
February 2006
What will the mobile games be like in 2010?
In looking to the near future of mobile gam-
ing, two thoughts spring to mind: firstly that
a ‘game ready’ lightweight personal mobile
space has already evolved, seemingly unno-
ticed; secondly, that the term ‘mobile game’
should be re-considered. The term has be-
come generic, referring to any game that can
be played on a mobile device, but mobile
games could be divided into two categories:
the Portable Games and the Mobile Games:
Portable Games refer to screen-centric
games that are playable on mobile devices
but which have not been designed to utilise
or engage the characteristics of digital de-
vices in a mobile environment. The port-
able games typically demand a high degree
of player attention. They include: ported ar-
cade, quiz and puzzle games, lightweight or
‘mobile’ versions of game licences and lo-fi
extensions to existing console or PC-based
games. Whilst the portable games are success-
ful from a commercial point of view they do
not typically engage the properties particular
to casual and periodic mobile device usage.
Mobile Games, as distinct from Portable Games,
refer to games that are designed to take into
account the player’s fluid mobile environment.
Going Out to Play...
The future of gaming in the fluid
mobile environment
These games are designed to coexist with the
functions and environments that the player
encounters in their everyday life: entertain-
ment channels such as video and music, and
functional technologies such as way finding
and communication channels. In this envi-
ronment, the mobile games will take into
account shifting attention and player focus,
the intimate qualities of the mobile space as
well as social aspects of mobile device us-
age in public spaces. Games that fit into this
category include: pervasive, location-based,
augmented-reality, generative and adap-
tive games that take into account the play-
ers physical, emotional and psychological
presence in a mobile place. At the time of
writing there are arguably no games that ef-
fectively engage this personal mobile space.
A New Type of Mobile Environment
Within their everyday environment, the mo-
bile user is able to move fluidly between
several connected but different augmented
places: consider a typical mobile user, walk-
ing or on a bus, listening to mp3’s on their
phone, immersed in a sensory soundscape.
A phone call comes in, the person holds a
conversation, still aware of their surround-
ings but co-existing in a conversational place.
The call ends and the music space continues.
At most, there is a click of one button on the
user’s lightweight headset chord during the
whole switch from music space to conver-
sational space and back again. There is no
sign of a mobile ‘brick’, no visual interface,
no complex GUI (Graphical User Interface),
no demanding tactile interaction, no graphi-
cal window into another world. The interac-
tion is shallow, the engagement deep, and the
hardware awareness practically non-existent.
Now consider someone sitting on the bus play-
ing a portable game: hands gripping the device,
thumbs flicking around, eyes focused on the
screen, the user connected directly to a con-
stantly changing, compelling visual window.
The engagement is high, the interaction high,
focus high and awareness of surroundings low.
The difference between the two is significant.
Mobile games can benefit from the transpar-
ency typified by audio/phone use compared to
the demands of portable game play. The ease
of use, the lightness that allows multi-tasking
whilst delivering an engaging experience is
typified by this switch from music enhanced
everyday life to conversation and back again.
Should mobile games of the future drop the
visuals in favour of the audio-only interac-
tion? Of course not, but dialogue- or audio-
based games that seamlessly drop in and out of
the players mobile life offer an elegant alter-
native approach. As phones become increas-
ingly loaded with functionality, embedded
devices and services, the most effective and
fundamental functions of the phone are still
the circuitry and interfaces that enable con-
versation. This is overlooked in portable game
design. The mobile phone is, by default, very
efficient at enabling conversation, at storing
and processing sound files and streaming data.
Audio-centric mobile games would appear to
be an effective model which is yet to be fully
explored. Over the next 5 years, remote-serv-
er-based systems that generate and stream lo-
cation aware content, respond to shallow and
erratic player interaction and allow verbal or
audio communication to merge with other eve-
ryday activities, will be realised. Such games
will blend seamlessly with the players other
tasks and functions: opening up their perceived
personal boundaries and adding new depths.
and immersive experiences to their mobile life.
What about visuals? There are distinct issues
with screen-centric devices in the personal
mobile context. Engaging or deep visual and
tactile interaction as typified by portable game
devices (PSP, Gameboy) demands single-fo-
cus activity in an environment that requires
multiple levels of awareness. Try finishing a
racing game on a PSP whilst crossing a busy
road - good luck! Visual interaction can only
be effective in the fluid mobile environment
once graphic content and GUIs can be seam-
lessly overlaid on the user’s visual field, ei-
ther via heads up displays or through more
invasive biological methods. This form of
augmentation can be seen as a complimentary
or additive visual enhancement rather than a
distracting or exclusive visual engagement.
Whether effective technologies can be de-
veloped to enable this over the next 5 years
remains uncertain. Video projection glasses
are becoming less cumbersome, the jury is
still out as to whether consumers will want
to use direct retinal projection devices and
there will be ethical concerns over biological
solutions such as implanted feeds that inter-
rupt or augment the flow of information to the
visual cortex directly. These functions will
require refined models for visually enhancing
their environment, situating gameplay in the
everyday and building forms of interaction
that allow users to fade visual assets in and
out of their surrounding experience at will.
.
26
– IdeaMilk Sweden
February 2006
What will the mobile games be like in 2010?
In looking to the near future of mobile gam-
ing, two thoughts spring to mind: firstly that
a ‘game ready’ lightweight personal mobile
space has already evolved, seemingly unno-
ticed; secondly, that the term ‘mobile game’
should be re-considered. The term has be-
come generic, referring to any game that can
be played on a mobile device, but mobile
games could be divided into two categories:
the Portable Games and the Mobile Games:
Portable Games refer to screen-centric
games that are playable on mobile devices
but which have not been designed to utilise
or engage the characteristics of digital de-
vices in a mobile environment. The port-
able games typically demand a high degree
of player attention. They include: ported ar-
cade, quiz and puzzle games, lightweight or
‘mobile’ versions of game licences and lo-fi
extensions to existing console or PC-based
games. Whilst the portable games are success-
ful from a commercial point of view they do
not typically engage the properties particular
to casual and periodic mobile device usage.
Mobile Games, as distinct from Portable Games,
refer to games that are designed to take into
account the player’s fluid mobile environment.
Going Out to Play...
The future of gaming in the fluid
mobile environment
These games are designed to coexist with the
functions and environments that the player
encounters in their everyday life: entertain-
ment channels such as video and music, and
functional technologies such as way finding
and communication channels. In this envi-
ronment, the mobile games will take into
account shifting attention and player focus,
the intimate qualities of the mobile space as
well as social aspects of mobile device us-
age in public spaces. Games that fit into this
category include: pervasive, location-based,
augmented-reality, generative and adap-
tive games that take into account the play-
ers physical, emotional and psychological
presence in a mobile place. At the time of
writing there are arguably no games that ef-
fectively engage this personal mobile space.
A New Type of Mobile Environment
Within their everyday environment, the mo-
bile user is able to move fluidly between
several connected but different augmented
places: consider a typical mobile user, walk-
ing or on a bus, listening to mp3’s on their
phone, immersed in a sensory soundscape.
A phone call comes in, the person holds a
conversation, still aware of their surround-
ings but co-existing in a conversational place.
The call ends and the music space continues.
At most, there is a click of one button on the
user’s lightweight headset chord during the
whole switch from music space to conver-
sational space and back again. There is no
sign of a mobile ‘brick’, no visual interface,
no complex GUI (Graphical User Interface),
no demanding tactile interaction, no graphi-
cal window into another world. The interac-
tion is shallow, the engagement deep, and the
hardware awareness practically non-existent.
Now consider someone sitting on the bus play-
ing a portable game: hands gripping the device,
thumbs flicking around, eyes focused on the
screen, the user connected directly to a con-
stantly changing, compelling visual window.
The engagement is high, the interaction high,
focus high and awareness of surroundings low.
The difference between the two is significant.
Mobile games can benefit from the transpar-
ency typified by audio/phone use compared to
the demands of portable game play. The ease
of use, the lightness that allows multi-tasking
whilst delivering an engaging experience is
typified by this switch from music enhanced
everyday life to conversation and back again.
Should mobile games of the future drop the
visuals in favour of the audio-only interac-
tion? Of course not, but dialogue- or audio-
based games that seamlessly drop in and out of
the players mobile life offer an elegant alter-
native approach. As phones become increas-
ingly loaded with functionality, embedded
devices and services, the most effective and
fundamental functions of the phone are still
the circuitry and interfaces that enable con-
versation. This is overlooked in portable game
design. The mobile phone is, by default, very
efficient at enabling conversation, at storing
and processing sound files and streaming data.
Audio-centric mobile games would appear to
be an effective model which is yet to be fully
explored. Over the next 5 years, remote-serv-
er-based systems that generate and stream lo-
cation aware content, respond to shallow and
erratic player interaction and allow verbal or
audio communication to merge with other eve-
ryday activities, will be realised. Such games
will blend seamlessly with the players other
tasks and functions: opening up their perceived
personal boundaries and adding new depths.
and immersive experiences to their mobile life.
What about visuals? There are distinct issues
with screen-centric devices in the personal
mobile context. Engaging or deep visual and
tactile interaction as typified by portable game
devices (PSP, Gameboy) demands single-fo-
cus activity in an environment that requires
multiple levels of awareness. Try finishing a
racing game on a PSP whilst crossing a busy
road - good luck! Visual interaction can only
be effective in the fluid mobile environment
once graphic content and GUIs can be seam-
lessly overlaid on the user’s visual field, ei-
ther via heads up displays or through more
invasive biological methods. This form of
augmentation can be seen as a complimentary
or additive visual enhancement rather than a
distracting or exclusive visual engagement.
Whether effective technologies can be de-
veloped to enable this over the next 5 years
remains uncertain. Video projection glasses
are becoming less cumbersome, the jury is
still out as to whether consumers will want
to use direct retinal projection devices and
there will be ethical concerns over biological
solutions such as implanted feeds that inter-
rupt or augment the flow of information to the
visual cortex directly. These functions will
require refined models for visually enhancing
their environment, situating gameplay in the
everyday and building forms of interaction
that allow users to fade visual assets in and
out of their surrounding experience at will.
.
26
The Future... Tomorrow!
How are these games to be developed? How
is the fluid mobile environment to be fully uti-
lised? Current research and art initiatives into
pervasive and mobile gaming are establishing
a strong lead. The current EU-funded IPerG
pervasive game project is taking the lead in
exploring both augmented reality and mobile
gaming spaces with results expected over
the next two years. Other initiatives, such as
the cross-disciplinary Backseat Playground
project at the Interactive Institute in Sweden,
look to lightweight but immersive interaction
through an audio centric model, linking game
events to everyday objects. However, in or-
der to fully realise the potential of this sector,
relevant design, development and distribution
models need to be established. Just as budget
airlines have established their own niche in
the airline sector, independent films in the
film industry and graphic novels in the pub-
lishing industry, so mobile games need their
own discrete sector. A new sector will require
strong commercial and organisational models
and an overhaul of game development prac-
tices and creative processes. These changes
include but are not limited to: new types of
mobile games and their associated design and
development, heterogeneous creative teams,
new models of distribution, realistic end-user
cost models and mobile-sensitive forms of in-
teraction. In order to co-exist with the portable
and traditional digital game sectors, the mo-
bile game industry needs to (re-)invent itself:
drawing on the best aspects of existing game
development, design and research whilst es-
tablishing new, purposed and distinct prac-
tices of its own. Only then, will we see games
that can truly be termed ‘Mobile Games’.
Steven B. Davis,
CEO,
IT GlobalSecure Inc.
Virtual Worlds, Real Money
One of the most controversial and interest-
ing phenomena in online gaming is the rise of
Real Money Transaction (RMT). RMT sit at
the intersection of the real world and online
games. Game players use real money to ac-
quire virtual game assets – often in defiance
of a game’s Terms of Service. Game players
handle these transactions through informal
peer-to-peer exchanges, traditional open auc-
tions and classified ad services, or through
dedicated game auction & currency exchange
services.
Game players want these assets because they
make the game more fun for them: rare &
powerful items or highly advanced characters
or even large amounts of game currency. Basi-
cally, these players want these items because
they do not have the time or the skill or the
patience to acquire these assets through tradi-
tional game play. There is a common quota-
tion about playing World of Warcraft “begins
at level 60” that reflects this situation. There is
a legitimate argument that RMT’s popularity
is more a reflection of poor game design than
an indication of the criminality of players.
Some game companies and members of the
industry have argued rather vehemently that
RMT is an abomination that ruins games. To
date, RMT has not been shown to be the cause
of loss of players or destruction of a game’s
economy. Game companies do have
an underlying concern related to the recogni-
tion of real value for virtual assets. They may
be concerned about security and reliability is-
sues related to these virtual assets. After all, if
the assets have a real, financial value and there
is a loss (due to a natural incident like a fire
or a hacker), the game operator may be held
accountable. This could force additional costs
on the game developer to ensure that the game
is more secure and reliable than the developer
had planned. Stopping hacking and cheat-
ing would be more important to ensure that
the integrity of the game and player’s assets
within it. The concern about liability for the
integrity of a game’s data may be the single
largest factor driving game companies fight
against legitimization of RMT. This argument
is on shaky ground as recent cases in China
have accepted the “real money value” of vir-
tual assets (“More attention paid to virtual
property protection”, Xinhua, 6 April, 2006)
If virtual assets in games have real value, there
may also be tax implications (for gains on
sales). Also, criminals could use game assets
and asset transfers to launder money. Finally,
game developers need to be very careful to
ensure that they are not construed as operat-
ing a casino. Gambling consists of three ele-
ments: something that is put at risk (the wager
or bet), an element of risk (since these game’s
typically include a random element in the ap-
pearance of different treasures, combat, and
encounters), and something that can be won
(where denying the value of virtual assets
becomes clear). Game operators have tried
to avoid these risks by declaring the worth-
lessness of virtual assets and claiming full
ownership for them in their terms of service.
The problem for these game develop-
ers and their supporters is that players
do value their virtual assets. So much so
that they steal them from each other and will
pay real money to short cut the game by buy-
ing virtual assets or characters. These games
typically do give players a direct mechanism
to exchange goods via simply giving them to
each other or trading them in-game with other
players or with game operated stores. Game
developers also encourage the in-game econo-
my by having skills in-game for crafting (mak-
ing virtual items), operating a virtual economy
with virtual currency, rewarding players for
the completion of missions or quests with vir-
tual cash or assets, and by imposing scarcity
on different goods. Money is a good moti-
vator in games as well as in the real world.
The very same factors that the games use to
reward long-term play (rare items and pow-
erful characters) also create the incentive to
pay to take short cuts. Players may not have
the time or inclination to work as hard as
the game developers would like them to in
order to achieve these exotic items and sen-
ior skills. Thus, RMT arises. Players trade
in goods and currency through external
markets including auctions, like eBay, and
dedicated services, like IGE. Players also
sell characters that they have developed.
While this began as an amateur effort by
players, it has turned into a business. It start-
ed with anecdotes about college students
quitting school to make a living by play-
ing Everquest and has grown into organized
companies “gold farming” – playing a game
professionally to earn an income – and “out-
sourced play” where players hire other play-
ers, mostly in third world countries, to play
their characters for them while they sleep
to accelerate their seniority in the game.
27
How are these games to be developed? How
is the fluid mobile environment to be fully uti-
lised? Current research and art initiatives into
pervasive and mobile gaming are establishing
a strong lead. The current EU-funded IPerG
pervasive game project is taking the lead in
exploring both augmented reality and mobile
gaming spaces with results expected over
the next two years. Other initiatives, such as
the cross-disciplinary Backseat Playground
project at the Interactive Institute in Sweden,
look to lightweight but immersive interaction
through an audio centric model, linking game
events to everyday objects. However, in or-
der to fully realise the potential of this sector,
relevant design, development and distribution
models need to be established. Just as budget
airlines have established their own niche in
the airline sector, independent films in the
film industry and graphic novels in the pub-
lishing industry, so mobile games need their
own discrete sector. A new sector will require
strong commercial and organisational models
and an overhaul of game development prac-
tices and creative processes. These changes
include but are not limited to: new types of
mobile games and their associated design and
development, heterogeneous creative teams,
new models of distribution, realistic end-user
cost models and mobile-sensitive forms of in-
teraction. In order to co-exist with the portable
and traditional digital game sectors, the mo-
bile game industry needs to (re-)invent itself:
drawing on the best aspects of existing game
development, design and research whilst es-
tablishing new, purposed and distinct prac-
tices of its own. Only then, will we see games
that can truly be termed ‘Mobile Games’.
Steven B. Davis,
CEO,
IT GlobalSecure Inc.
Virtual Worlds, Real Money
One of the most controversial and interest-
ing phenomena in online gaming is the rise of
Real Money Transaction (RMT). RMT sit at
the intersection of the real world and online
games. Game players use real money to ac-
quire virtual game assets – often in defiance
of a game’s Terms of Service. Game players
handle these transactions through informal
peer-to-peer exchanges, traditional open auc-
tions and classified ad services, or through
dedicated game auction & currency exchange
services.
Game players want these assets because they
make the game more fun for them: rare &
powerful items or highly advanced characters
or even large amounts of game currency. Basi-
cally, these players want these items because
they do not have the time or the skill or the
patience to acquire these assets through tradi-
tional game play. There is a common quota-
tion about playing World of Warcraft “begins
at level 60” that reflects this situation. There is
a legitimate argument that RMT’s popularity
is more a reflection of poor game design than
an indication of the criminality of players.
Some game companies and members of the
industry have argued rather vehemently that
RMT is an abomination that ruins games. To
date, RMT has not been shown to be the cause
of loss of players or destruction of a game’s
economy. Game companies do have
an underlying concern related to the recogni-
tion of real value for virtual assets. They may
be concerned about security and reliability is-
sues related to these virtual assets. After all, if
the assets have a real, financial value and there
is a loss (due to a natural incident like a fire
or a hacker), the game operator may be held
accountable. This could force additional costs
on the game developer to ensure that the game
is more secure and reliable than the developer
had planned. Stopping hacking and cheat-
ing would be more important to ensure that
the integrity of the game and player’s assets
within it. The concern about liability for the
integrity of a game’s data may be the single
largest factor driving game companies fight
against legitimization of RMT. This argument
is on shaky ground as recent cases in China
have accepted the “real money value” of vir-
tual assets (“More attention paid to virtual
property protection”, Xinhua, 6 April, 2006)
If virtual assets in games have real value, there
may also be tax implications (for gains on
sales). Also, criminals could use game assets
and asset transfers to launder money. Finally,
game developers need to be very careful to
ensure that they are not construed as operat-
ing a casino. Gambling consists of three ele-
ments: something that is put at risk (the wager
or bet), an element of risk (since these game’s
typically include a random element in the ap-
pearance of different treasures, combat, and
encounters), and something that can be won
(where denying the value of virtual assets
becomes clear). Game operators have tried
to avoid these risks by declaring the worth-
lessness of virtual assets and claiming full
ownership for them in their terms of service.
The problem for these game develop-
ers and their supporters is that players
do value their virtual assets. So much so
that they steal them from each other and will
pay real money to short cut the game by buy-
ing virtual assets or characters. These games
typically do give players a direct mechanism
to exchange goods via simply giving them to
each other or trading them in-game with other
players or with game operated stores. Game
developers also encourage the in-game econo-
my by having skills in-game for crafting (mak-
ing virtual items), operating a virtual economy
with virtual currency, rewarding players for
the completion of missions or quests with vir-
tual cash or assets, and by imposing scarcity
on different goods. Money is a good moti-
vator in games as well as in the real world.
The very same factors that the games use to
reward long-term play (rare items and pow-
erful characters) also create the incentive to
pay to take short cuts. Players may not have
the time or inclination to work as hard as
the game developers would like them to in
order to achieve these exotic items and sen-
ior skills. Thus, RMT arises. Players trade
in goods and currency through external
markets including auctions, like eBay, and
dedicated services, like IGE. Players also
sell characters that they have developed.
While this began as an amateur effort by
players, it has turned into a business. It start-
ed with anecdotes about college students
quitting school to make a living by play-
ing Everquest and has grown into organized
companies “gold farming” – playing a game
professionally to earn an income – and “out-
sourced play” where players hire other play-
ers, mostly in third world countries, to play
their characters for them while they sleep
to accelerate their seniority in the game.
27
RMT and the “grey market” in game assets
may have spawned major, and potentially or-
ganized criminal activity. In Korea, over 1 mil-
lion National ID numbers were compromised
and more than 170,000 of these IDs were used
to set up fake accounts for NCSoft’s Line-
age game as intermediary accounts for gold
farmers (“China Lock out 170,000 Lineage
Accounts”, Korea IT News, 14 March 2006).
NCSoft is considering using mobile phones
as part of an improved authentication scheme
to protect against fraud. In Asia, most players
play their online games at Internet cafés. From
a security perspective, these public terminals
are an invitation to attackers. By moving play-
er authentication to an individual’s mobile
phone, and perhaps using identification, au-
thentication, and payment services through the
handset, game operators will be able to battle
these forms of identity fraud (It is worth noting
that while Korea is moving away from the use
of its National ID numbers for online transac-
tions, China has taken the opposite view to en-
sure parental protection and fight game addic-
tion.) Moving the games themselves to mobile
phones may also be appealing. Casual games
are the most rapidly growing segment of the
market and, given identification and payment
concerns, mobile platforms may be increas-
ingly appealing to developers and operations.
Going Forward
In the US and Europe, online gaming business
models are dominated by subscription-based
gaming. In Asia a free-to-play, pay-for-virtual
assets models is growing rapidly in popularity.
Interestingly, this Asian model doesn’t have
the same issue with RMT because the game
itself is based on actual sales of items by the
game operator. Since there is no supply limit
and the assets are available at a fixed price to
anyone, the secondary RMT market disap-
pears.
While the RMT black market continues for
most online games, several have embraced
this market. Sony has set up a RMT server for
Everquest 2 and several smaller games have
fairly open policies towards these exchanges.
Through these services, players can exchange
in-game assets and characters for cash. The
total market value of this secondary market is
currently estimated to be $800 Million Dollars
(US) annually.
The fact that the secondary market in online
games may be as much as 20% of the size of
the total online gaming market raises an inter-
esting question – what is the real potential for
these virtual businesses and how should game
developers exploit them?
By legitimizing the interchange between
game assets and the real economy, they can
tap an additional revenue stream. By taking a
modest commission, the game company could
directly grow their revenues – and they are in
the best position to provide the integrity and
security needed to foster these efforts. Also,
by consciously incorporating support for
player businesses, games may increase their
popularity and open up new forms of game
play. Today, “gold farmers” are considered
a nuisance at best, and disruptive to a game,
at worst. Game designers can make it more
profitable for commercially minded players to
carry out activities that increase other player’s
satisfaction with the game or reduce the cost
to operate the game developer’s entertainment
service. No one questions paying someone to
wear a Mickey Mouse costume at Disneyland
or waiters at a restaurant or even Game
Masters helping smooth game play.
The concern over RMT does not reflect a sub-
stantial problem for the online games industry.
It mainly is a sign of the industry’s immaturity.
This cultural disagreement can be addressed
through game mechanisms that eliminate the
value of RMT or embracing RMT as another
layer of interactive entertainment.
Virtual worlds provide entertainment through
a combination of virtual products and serv-
ices. The cost of building, maintaining, and
operating these systems is growing rapidly,
just as the costs of computer games are grow-
ing. Online game developers have the oppor-
tunity to explore new strategies to work with
their customers to expand this entertainment
medium in ways that are only beginning to be
understood.
Steven B. Davis,
CEO,
IT GlobalSecure Inc.
Security Issues in Online Game
Design
While the growth of online gaming on PCs,
consoles, and handsets is widely seen to be the
future of the industry, if not its savior, there is
a rapidly growing dark-side of piracy, cheat-
ing, and griefing. While there are security
tools that can help, and in many cases, help
a lot, part of the issue is the basic environ-
ment – these are games played on networks
facilitated by computers. This may seem obvi-
ous, but it is a given circumstance that is ig-
nored surprisingly often by game developers.
The problem is seen clearly when problems
arise – trivia games are inherently vulnerable
to being cataloged; twitch-based games, to
macros and automation; skill-based games,
to strategy assistants; and poker and other
multi-player competitive games, to collusion.
Several categories of traditional games never
made it to computers – basic word & spell-
ing games and math puzzles fell by the way-
side due to their obvious vulnerabilities – they
simply were not suitable for the medium ex-
cept in limited “solitaire” style games. Now
that computer gaming has moved online,
several styles of play that were successful
in single-player and face-to-face computer
gaming, are probably impractical for serious,
commercial game projects. This is not due to
a “fun” factor, but rather the nature of most
online play. Players are widely distributed
around the world, relatively anonymous, and
28
may have spawned major, and potentially or-
ganized criminal activity. In Korea, over 1 mil-
lion National ID numbers were compromised
and more than 170,000 of these IDs were used
to set up fake accounts for NCSoft’s Line-
age game as intermediary accounts for gold
farmers (“China Lock out 170,000 Lineage
Accounts”, Korea IT News, 14 March 2006).
NCSoft is considering using mobile phones
as part of an improved authentication scheme
to protect against fraud. In Asia, most players
play their online games at Internet cafés. From
a security perspective, these public terminals
are an invitation to attackers. By moving play-
er authentication to an individual’s mobile
phone, and perhaps using identification, au-
thentication, and payment services through the
handset, game operators will be able to battle
these forms of identity fraud (It is worth noting
that while Korea is moving away from the use
of its National ID numbers for online transac-
tions, China has taken the opposite view to en-
sure parental protection and fight game addic-
tion.) Moving the games themselves to mobile
phones may also be appealing. Casual games
are the most rapidly growing segment of the
market and, given identification and payment
concerns, mobile platforms may be increas-
ingly appealing to developers and operations.
Going Forward
In the US and Europe, online gaming business
models are dominated by subscription-based
gaming. In Asia a free-to-play, pay-for-virtual
assets models is growing rapidly in popularity.
Interestingly, this Asian model doesn’t have
the same issue with RMT because the game
itself is based on actual sales of items by the
game operator. Since there is no supply limit
and the assets are available at a fixed price to
anyone, the secondary RMT market disap-
pears.
While the RMT black market continues for
most online games, several have embraced
this market. Sony has set up a RMT server for
Everquest 2 and several smaller games have
fairly open policies towards these exchanges.
Through these services, players can exchange
in-game assets and characters for cash. The
total market value of this secondary market is
currently estimated to be $800 Million Dollars
(US) annually.
The fact that the secondary market in online
games may be as much as 20% of the size of
the total online gaming market raises an inter-
esting question – what is the real potential for
these virtual businesses and how should game
developers exploit them?
By legitimizing the interchange between
game assets and the real economy, they can
tap an additional revenue stream. By taking a
modest commission, the game company could
directly grow their revenues – and they are in
the best position to provide the integrity and
security needed to foster these efforts. Also,
by consciously incorporating support for
player businesses, games may increase their
popularity and open up new forms of game
play. Today, “gold farmers” are considered
a nuisance at best, and disruptive to a game,
at worst. Game designers can make it more
profitable for commercially minded players to
carry out activities that increase other player’s
satisfaction with the game or reduce the cost
to operate the game developer’s entertainment
service. No one questions paying someone to
wear a Mickey Mouse costume at Disneyland
or waiters at a restaurant or even Game
Masters helping smooth game play.
The concern over RMT does not reflect a sub-
stantial problem for the online games industry.
It mainly is a sign of the industry’s immaturity.
This cultural disagreement can be addressed
through game mechanisms that eliminate the
value of RMT or embracing RMT as another
layer of interactive entertainment.
Virtual worlds provide entertainment through
a combination of virtual products and serv-
ices. The cost of building, maintaining, and
operating these systems is growing rapidly,
just as the costs of computer games are grow-
ing. Online game developers have the oppor-
tunity to explore new strategies to work with
their customers to expand this entertainment
medium in ways that are only beginning to be
understood.
Steven B. Davis,
CEO,
IT GlobalSecure Inc.
Security Issues in Online Game
Design
While the growth of online gaming on PCs,
consoles, and handsets is widely seen to be the
future of the industry, if not its savior, there is
a rapidly growing dark-side of piracy, cheat-
ing, and griefing. While there are security
tools that can help, and in many cases, help
a lot, part of the issue is the basic environ-
ment – these are games played on networks
facilitated by computers. This may seem obvi-
ous, but it is a given circumstance that is ig-
nored surprisingly often by game developers.
The problem is seen clearly when problems
arise – trivia games are inherently vulnerable
to being cataloged; twitch-based games, to
macros and automation; skill-based games,
to strategy assistants; and poker and other
multi-player competitive games, to collusion.
Several categories of traditional games never
made it to computers – basic word & spell-
ing games and math puzzles fell by the way-
side due to their obvious vulnerabilities – they
simply were not suitable for the medium ex-
cept in limited “solitaire” style games. Now
that computer gaming has moved online,
several styles of play that were successful
in single-player and face-to-face computer
gaming, are probably impractical for serious,
commercial game projects. This is not due to
a “fun” factor, but rather the nature of most
online play. Players are widely distributed
around the world, relatively anonymous, and
28
have access to powerful computing tools
and control over the gaming platform. Game
businesses are also changing. They are no
longer making money by simply selling
and distributing games, but rather by of-
fering game services by subscription; pro-
moting products with community, contests,
and promotions; and even by gambling.
Mobile gaming is particularly vulnerable
– the phones are growing in power quickly,
but security of the wide range of platforms is
problematic. Even 3G networks do not offer
the speed and responsiveness needed to sup-
port server-based gaming – a situation fur-
ther aggravated by metered billing models.
Pricing for data traffic and latency consid-
erations make moving as much of the game
play to the player’s platform as possible.
The state of the art in attacking games is grave.
Malware is a major issue of traditional PCs
and will move onto mobile devices as they be-
come more powerful and viable gaming plat-
forms. What is worse, while most malicious
applications are being installed in spite of their
owner’s wishes, “game malware” or cheating
software is desired by the platform owner. Vi-
ruses and worms, the other familiar forms of
malicious code are not wanted by the compu-
ter’s user and inadvertently installed via mail
or other application or self-installing through
weaknesses in operating system security. They
are there to either damage the machine, steal
valuable data, or launch attacks on other user’s
computers. Game malware, on the other hand,
is carefully installed by the platform user, him-
self. Because the user is the one who wants this
code available to give him an advantage, all
of the traditional security measures are irrel-
evant. After all, the computer tends to trust the
user to install applications.
While anti-virus and anti-intrusion appli-
cations attempt to warn a user that they are
doing something foolish, an anti-game mal-
ware program must stop a player from doing
something to a platform that he himself, owns.
This radically changes the way that these
malicious applications are fought and makes
the security task much more difficult. Vir-
tualization tools and rootkits, both of which
get “underneath” the operating system,
mean that defensive software will be run-
ning at an even greater disadvantage. It is
worth noting that within a week of the pub-
lic announcement of the Sony-BMG Root-
kit in the fall of 2005, hackers had used its
design to hide their programs from World
of Warcraft’s Warden Security application.
Game security is a fairly unique problem
– malicious game players want to partici-
pate in the game, but cheat and circumvent
the game’s security. The “Insider Problem”
has always been one of the greatest security
challenges. Standard security tools simply
don’t work in this environment. Encryption
and digital signatures, even if applicable, as-
sume that the data being encrypted or signed
is legitimate – something that cannot be guar-
anteed with a malevolent player consciously
using malicious code. Anti-virus type tools
are also substantially weakened when the plat-
form owner wants the malicious code to work.
Online game developers need to wake up
to this truth. It is not that all of the players
are trying to cheat or subvert their game,
but some are. These malicious players are
anonymous and difficult to hold account-
able. The few cheaters and hackers can dev-
astate a game for the many honest players
and cause real damage to a game business.
Virtually every game with an online compo-
nent has had public problems with cheaters
and hackers. This is even true for many sin-
gle-player online games, not just multi-player
games. Even something as simple as high score
rankings can be a target for cheaters seeking
to spoof their status as a game player. The
breakdown of these basic community serv-
ices can damage even the simplest of online
gaming experiences. The security problem is
not simply an issue for “the security guy”, but
needs to be a central part of a game’s design.
The default solution, server-based gaming,
is far from perfect. While it does address a
number of problems, it has several limitations.
The biggest challenge is that it is so easy…
by moving all of the state and game play to a
server, all kinds of security problems appar-
ently disappear. The key problem is “appar-
ently”. First, for performance and convenience
reasons, many games wind up storing more
game state and doing more processing on the
client-side than they initially thought. This
opens up these systems to all of the hacking
attacks and other problems that they thought
they were avoiding by using a server-based
design. Second, because many server-based
designs are actually implemented as a single-
player game with remote players, they do in-
sufficient validation of inputs from the remote
clients. This can come in two major forms: lack
of data validation – where the client provides
input actions that are not legitimate under the
game and time validation – where the client
provides input actions at invalid times, usu-
ally too many actions too fast. Finally, as these
games become more serious business and there
are economic concerns of the player involved
(everything from real-money transactions to
contests and gambling); players do not trust the
game provider to be fair. This is an issue that
this design approach does not address at all.
There are several popular game design arche-
types that are not really suitable for widely
distributed online play: reflex games, games
with optimal strategies, and puzzle games.
Reflex/Speed-based Games – Many action
games that have migrated from PCs or con-
soles are closely tied to the actual physical
performance of the player. Acting faster in
real-life is reflected in superior game per-
formance. Unfortunately, these games are
ripe for automation. Bots, macros, and ex-
ternal applications can enhance performance
through the game client and it is also possible
to bypass the game client with an independ-
ent application to talk to the server directly.
Optimal Strategy Games – This scenario is
really a variant on the first case. If an auto-
mated application can reliably choose a strat-
egy that is better than most human players and
do it faster, the game has a serious problem.
Games like Chess or Poker as well as many
computer games are vulnerable to this de-
sign weakness. Note, this is a design problem
– if the game has optimal or superior strategic
choices that can be determined independent
of the actions of other players, then most de-
signers would consider this a flawed design.
Puzzle Games – Solitaire card games, jigsaw
puzzles, and most recently, Sudoku, are all
games that work fine as single player expe-
riences. This is also true of many computer
games that have the weaknesses noted above.
Once the game is online, linked by a commu-
nity with high scores or multi-player play, the
vulnerability of these games becomes appar-
ent. Most can be analyzed off-line to determine
an optimal strategy that can “beat the clock”.
Trivia games are a closely related category..
29
and control over the gaming platform. Game
businesses are also changing. They are no
longer making money by simply selling
and distributing games, but rather by of-
fering game services by subscription; pro-
moting products with community, contests,
and promotions; and even by gambling.
Mobile gaming is particularly vulnerable
– the phones are growing in power quickly,
but security of the wide range of platforms is
problematic. Even 3G networks do not offer
the speed and responsiveness needed to sup-
port server-based gaming – a situation fur-
ther aggravated by metered billing models.
Pricing for data traffic and latency consid-
erations make moving as much of the game
play to the player’s platform as possible.
The state of the art in attacking games is grave.
Malware is a major issue of traditional PCs
and will move onto mobile devices as they be-
come more powerful and viable gaming plat-
forms. What is worse, while most malicious
applications are being installed in spite of their
owner’s wishes, “game malware” or cheating
software is desired by the platform owner. Vi-
ruses and worms, the other familiar forms of
malicious code are not wanted by the compu-
ter’s user and inadvertently installed via mail
or other application or self-installing through
weaknesses in operating system security. They
are there to either damage the machine, steal
valuable data, or launch attacks on other user’s
computers. Game malware, on the other hand,
is carefully installed by the platform user, him-
self. Because the user is the one who wants this
code available to give him an advantage, all
of the traditional security measures are irrel-
evant. After all, the computer tends to trust the
user to install applications.
While anti-virus and anti-intrusion appli-
cations attempt to warn a user that they are
doing something foolish, an anti-game mal-
ware program must stop a player from doing
something to a platform that he himself, owns.
This radically changes the way that these
malicious applications are fought and makes
the security task much more difficult. Vir-
tualization tools and rootkits, both of which
get “underneath” the operating system,
mean that defensive software will be run-
ning at an even greater disadvantage. It is
worth noting that within a week of the pub-
lic announcement of the Sony-BMG Root-
kit in the fall of 2005, hackers had used its
design to hide their programs from World
of Warcraft’s Warden Security application.
Game security is a fairly unique problem
– malicious game players want to partici-
pate in the game, but cheat and circumvent
the game’s security. The “Insider Problem”
has always been one of the greatest security
challenges. Standard security tools simply
don’t work in this environment. Encryption
and digital signatures, even if applicable, as-
sume that the data being encrypted or signed
is legitimate – something that cannot be guar-
anteed with a malevolent player consciously
using malicious code. Anti-virus type tools
are also substantially weakened when the plat-
form owner wants the malicious code to work.
Online game developers need to wake up
to this truth. It is not that all of the players
are trying to cheat or subvert their game,
but some are. These malicious players are
anonymous and difficult to hold account-
able. The few cheaters and hackers can dev-
astate a game for the many honest players
and cause real damage to a game business.
Virtually every game with an online compo-
nent has had public problems with cheaters
and hackers. This is even true for many sin-
gle-player online games, not just multi-player
games. Even something as simple as high score
rankings can be a target for cheaters seeking
to spoof their status as a game player. The
breakdown of these basic community serv-
ices can damage even the simplest of online
gaming experiences. The security problem is
not simply an issue for “the security guy”, but
needs to be a central part of a game’s design.
The default solution, server-based gaming,
is far from perfect. While it does address a
number of problems, it has several limitations.
The biggest challenge is that it is so easy…
by moving all of the state and game play to a
server, all kinds of security problems appar-
ently disappear. The key problem is “appar-
ently”. First, for performance and convenience
reasons, many games wind up storing more
game state and doing more processing on the
client-side than they initially thought. This
opens up these systems to all of the hacking
attacks and other problems that they thought
they were avoiding by using a server-based
design. Second, because many server-based
designs are actually implemented as a single-
player game with remote players, they do in-
sufficient validation of inputs from the remote
clients. This can come in two major forms: lack
of data validation – where the client provides
input actions that are not legitimate under the
game and time validation – where the client
provides input actions at invalid times, usu-
ally too many actions too fast. Finally, as these
games become more serious business and there
are economic concerns of the player involved
(everything from real-money transactions to
contests and gambling); players do not trust the
game provider to be fair. This is an issue that
this design approach does not address at all.
There are several popular game design arche-
types that are not really suitable for widely
distributed online play: reflex games, games
with optimal strategies, and puzzle games.
Reflex/Speed-based Games – Many action
games that have migrated from PCs or con-
soles are closely tied to the actual physical
performance of the player. Acting faster in
real-life is reflected in superior game per-
formance. Unfortunately, these games are
ripe for automation. Bots, macros, and ex-
ternal applications can enhance performance
through the game client and it is also possible
to bypass the game client with an independ-
ent application to talk to the server directly.
Optimal Strategy Games – This scenario is
really a variant on the first case. If an auto-
mated application can reliably choose a strat-
egy that is better than most human players and
do it faster, the game has a serious problem.
Games like Chess or Poker as well as many
computer games are vulnerable to this de-
sign weakness. Note, this is a design problem
– if the game has optimal or superior strategic
choices that can be determined independent
of the actions of other players, then most de-
signers would consider this a flawed design.
Puzzle Games – Solitaire card games, jigsaw
puzzles, and most recently, Sudoku, are all
games that work fine as single player expe-
riences. This is also true of many computer
games that have the weaknesses noted above.
Once the game is online, linked by a commu-
nity with high scores or multi-player play, the
vulnerability of these games becomes appar-
ent. Most can be analyzed off-line to determine
an optimal strategy that can “beat the clock”.
Trivia games are a closely related category..
29
A motivated player or group of players can at-
tack the game in two ways: they can cooperate
to rapidly research and determine answers to
unknown questions and they can build a catalog
of question/answer pairs. Such a strategy can
rapidly deplete even a large question set mak-
ing the game either prohibitively expensive to
maintain (basically growing the question set
faster than players can attack it) or rapidly
collapse under collusion and online research.
Solutions
What is left for game designers in the face of
these problems? Gratifyingly, the social ele-
ment that makes online gaming so exciting
and popular can provide tools to thwart many
attacks.
Games without Optimal Strategies – Rock-
Paper-Scissors – Games that are designed so
that every choice has a counter-choice and
every tactic, a viable response, are likely to
be resistant to machine based strategies. With
careful design, a game creator can build game
mechanics that do not have clear biases to-
wards a limited set of strategic choices. Au-
tomated tools can play no better than humans
and, hopefully, there is no effective algorithm
to “psychologize” an opponent.
Collusion Resistant Games – Game designers
for online games need to consider collusion as
a serious concern. Today, it is virtually trivial
to establish an outside, undetectable commu-
nication channel with a partner. A traditional
solution is to rapidly change sets of players so
that partners have few opportunities to work
together. Other options include designing
games so that collusion / collaborative play is
a feature and supported by the game mechan-
ics or remove it from the game entirely.
An example of this would be to change online
poker so that players draw their private cards
from separate decks so that knowledge of
other players’ hidden cards would not pro-
vide an advantage.
Rich Inter-player Interaction – Diplomacy
Games – simple game mechanics can be
combined with inter-player interaction to de-
liver a game play experience that is hard to
automate. The most famous such game would
be the old Avalon Hill game, Diplomacy.
The inter-player negotiations and possibili-
ties for deception make for a game that will
likely be secure against automation until ar-
tificial intelligence gets much, much better.
High Variability Games – card games and
collectible card games – One of the advan-
tages of card games as a game mechanic is
that the situation can vary greatly from game
to game and play to play. The same set of
cards can be wonderful or worthless. This
degree of variability can make these games
resistant to easy automation. Game designers
do need to proceed with caution as the appar-
ent complexity of the game system may hide
underlying optimal or dominant strategies.
Wireless game developers often act like con-
sole developers who have put their trust in
hardware security provided by the platform.
Unfortunately, virtually every hardware se-
curity system has been defeated – including
game consoles. While early wireless platforms
were so limited that it was impractical to at-
tack them, the same power that makes these
handheld devices promising gaming systems
also makes them credible targets for attack.
Online game designers should not solely consid-
er security as the driving factor in their design.
It is an important consideration and a con-
straint that needs to be addressed consciously.
Clever combinations of game systems and
business models can be used to obviate what
would otherwise be a serious security weak-
ness. Secure game mechanisms do not have
to look like “Rock-Paper-Scissors”. Graphics
have gotten so powerful, that game design-
ers have had to return to good game design
to deliver a successful game. Online gaming
is only in its infancy. While security chal-
lenges are new and important, hopefully, they
will server to unlock the creation of new and
exciting forms of game play that truly exploit
the power of network and social gaming.
Tom Söderlund,
Blaze - Sweden
Proximity Gaming - New forms of
wireless network gaming
Proximity gaming, i.e. close-range wireless
network gaming, is coming fast and hard with
new devices such as mobile phones, the Sony
PSP, and the Nintendo DS. This opens up new
gaming possibilities, and the combination of
proximity gaming and mobility is particularly
exciting. Imagine the kind of ad hoc multi-
player games where people suddenly enter
each other’s games simply because they’re in
range. This article discusses proximity gam-
ing from a game design perspective, including
new types of network games, pseudo-persistent
game worlds, and electronic rumors. The tech-
nology will just be mentioned briefly, societal
and privacy issues will get little or no attention.
Introduction
Definition
The definition of proximity gaming used in
this document is close-range wireless network
gaming. The word “proximity” implies close-
ness to something, which excludes online
multiplayer gaming such as massively multi-
player games (MMOGs).
Proximity gaming is not the same as location-
based gaming, since location-based requires
that the game is aware of the player’s absolute
or relative position, while proximity gaming
only requires knowing that something is close,
and possibly the distance. The proximity of
what is an interesting question, and as this ar-
ticle will reveal, this could include other
30
tack the game in two ways: they can cooperate
to rapidly research and determine answers to
unknown questions and they can build a catalog
of question/answer pairs. Such a strategy can
rapidly deplete even a large question set mak-
ing the game either prohibitively expensive to
maintain (basically growing the question set
faster than players can attack it) or rapidly
collapse under collusion and online research.
Solutions
What is left for game designers in the face of
these problems? Gratifyingly, the social ele-
ment that makes online gaming so exciting
and popular can provide tools to thwart many
attacks.
Games without Optimal Strategies – Rock-
Paper-Scissors – Games that are designed so
that every choice has a counter-choice and
every tactic, a viable response, are likely to
be resistant to machine based strategies. With
careful design, a game creator can build game
mechanics that do not have clear biases to-
wards a limited set of strategic choices. Au-
tomated tools can play no better than humans
and, hopefully, there is no effective algorithm
to “psychologize” an opponent.
Collusion Resistant Games – Game designers
for online games need to consider collusion as
a serious concern. Today, it is virtually trivial
to establish an outside, undetectable commu-
nication channel with a partner. A traditional
solution is to rapidly change sets of players so
that partners have few opportunities to work
together. Other options include designing
games so that collusion / collaborative play is
a feature and supported by the game mechan-
ics or remove it from the game entirely.
An example of this would be to change online
poker so that players draw their private cards
from separate decks so that knowledge of
other players’ hidden cards would not pro-
vide an advantage.
Rich Inter-player Interaction – Diplomacy
Games – simple game mechanics can be
combined with inter-player interaction to de-
liver a game play experience that is hard to
automate. The most famous such game would
be the old Avalon Hill game, Diplomacy.
The inter-player negotiations and possibili-
ties for deception make for a game that will
likely be secure against automation until ar-
tificial intelligence gets much, much better.
High Variability Games – card games and
collectible card games – One of the advan-
tages of card games as a game mechanic is
that the situation can vary greatly from game
to game and play to play. The same set of
cards can be wonderful or worthless. This
degree of variability can make these games
resistant to easy automation. Game designers
do need to proceed with caution as the appar-
ent complexity of the game system may hide
underlying optimal or dominant strategies.
Wireless game developers often act like con-
sole developers who have put their trust in
hardware security provided by the platform.
Unfortunately, virtually every hardware se-
curity system has been defeated – including
game consoles. While early wireless platforms
were so limited that it was impractical to at-
tack them, the same power that makes these
handheld devices promising gaming systems
also makes them credible targets for attack.
Online game designers should not solely consid-
er security as the driving factor in their design.
It is an important consideration and a con-
straint that needs to be addressed consciously.
Clever combinations of game systems and
business models can be used to obviate what
would otherwise be a serious security weak-
ness. Secure game mechanisms do not have
to look like “Rock-Paper-Scissors”. Graphics
have gotten so powerful, that game design-
ers have had to return to good game design
to deliver a successful game. Online gaming
is only in its infancy. While security chal-
lenges are new and important, hopefully, they
will server to unlock the creation of new and
exciting forms of game play that truly exploit
the power of network and social gaming.
Tom Söderlund,
Blaze - Sweden
Proximity Gaming - New forms of
wireless network gaming
Proximity gaming, i.e. close-range wireless
network gaming, is coming fast and hard with
new devices such as mobile phones, the Sony
PSP, and the Nintendo DS. This opens up new
gaming possibilities, and the combination of
proximity gaming and mobility is particularly
exciting. Imagine the kind of ad hoc multi-
player games where people suddenly enter
each other’s games simply because they’re in
range. This article discusses proximity gam-
ing from a game design perspective, including
new types of network games, pseudo-persistent
game worlds, and electronic rumors. The tech-
nology will just be mentioned briefly, societal
and privacy issues will get little or no attention.
Introduction
Definition
The definition of proximity gaming used in
this document is close-range wireless network
gaming. The word “proximity” implies close-
ness to something, which excludes online
multiplayer gaming such as massively multi-
player games (MMOGs).
Proximity gaming is not the same as location-
based gaming, since location-based requires
that the game is aware of the player’s absolute
or relative position, while proximity gaming
only requires knowing that something is close,
and possibly the distance. The proximity of
what is an interesting question, and as this ar-
ticle will reveal, this could include other
30
players of a certain game, a device, or a per-
son not actively participating in the game.
Simpler close-range multiplayer games that
utilizes Bluetooth or Wireless LAN is in-
cluded in the proximity gaming definition,
but such games use the wireless communi-
cation just as a replacement to a fixed con-
nection or network. Instead, this article fo-
cuses on innovative design concepts based
on wireless communication, concepts that
cannot be implemented in a fixed network.
A wireless network is assumed, not because
it would be the only way to incorporate
proximity into a game, but because wire-
less communication technology is becoming
widespread and thus the most feasible way
of implementing it. One could imagine prox-
imity gaming using different kinds of sen-
sor devices, but that requires exotic technol-
ogy and therefore lose its commercial appeal.
Why proximity gaming is interesting
Entering a multiplayer game is normally a for-
mal procedure. The player defines her charac-
ter, selects which game server to join (or sets
up a new game), decides who to play with
etc before entering the game. The wirelesses
of proximity gaming allows for ad hoc mul-
tiplayer games, where people suddenly enter
each other’s games simply because they’re in
range. The Japanese Lovegety was a simple
yet powerful demonstration of a proximity
service: a device that beeps when a potential
partner was nearby, based on a set of prefer-
ences (Iwatani, 1998).
The ad hoc-ness in turn unleashes several in-
teresting game design aspects, for example
that clusters of proximity gaming devices
create the illusion of a persistent world
game, or viral aspects such as “electronic ru-
mors” that are transmitted to nearby players.
Proximity gaming is also considered an inter-
esting area for the latest handheld game de-
vices. When Sony presented the PlayStation
Portable (PSP) during Game Developers Con-
ference (GDC) 2004 (Ackerman, 2004), prox-
imity gaming was mentioned as an interesting
field of next-generation multiplayer gaming.
Technology
Proximity gaming is not tied to a specific tech-
nology, but can be implemented an different
styles on different devices.
Wireless networking technologies
Bluetooth
Bluetooth is an open specification that enables
short-range wireless connections between
telephones, computers and other devices and
thereby simplifies communication and syn-
chronization between devices. Bluetooth wire-
less technology uses a globally available fre-
quency band (2.4GHz) and can transmit data up
to 2.1 Mbit/s on distances from 10-100 meter.
(Apple.com, 2005, and Ericsson.com, 2005).
Compared to wireless LAN, Bluetooth offers
lower bandwidth but is a cheaper technology
and consumes little energy. Bluetooth had a
slow start but can now be found in most mid-
and high-end mobile phones, and is also used in
three handheld gaming systems: the Gizmon-
do, the Nokia N-Gage, and Tapwave Zodiac.
Wireless LAN (802.11)
802.11, also called ”Wi-Fi”, is a set of stand-
ards for wireless local area networks de-
veloped by the Institute of Electrical and
Electronics Engineers (IEEE). The 802.11
family contains several protocols where the
most popular one is 802.11b, which fea-
tures a maximum data rate of 11 Mbit/s, a
range of up to 100 meters, and operates in
the 2.4 GHz band. (Wikipedia.org, 2005)
Wireless LAN offers high bandwidth, but
consumes a lot of energy. Wireless LAN is to-
day a common technology in PCs, but is also
becoming popular in PDAs. Wireless LAN is
also used in two powerful handheld gaming
systems: the Sony PSP and the Nintendo DS.
Cell ID positioning
Cell ID positioning can also be used to ac-
complish proximity gaming, but is differ-
ent from Bluetooth and wireless LAN since
it’s not a communication technology. In-
stead, it’s a rather crude method of locating
people, and can be used to find out wheth-
er people are in proximity of each other.
A mobile network consists of thousands of an-
tennas, or cells, and a mobile phone (device)
is always connected to one of these cells.
Both the mobile network and the device are
always aware of the ID number of the cell the
phone is currently in. By matching devices
that are reporting the same cell ID, you find
devices that are in proximity of one another.
In practice, this is slightly trickier. Acquir-
ing this information from the mobile net-
work requires a relationship with a mobile
carrier, or preferably several if the game is
supposed to work across multiple networks.
From the device, the cell ID can only be ex-
tracted with low-level software, such as na-
tive C++ code on a Nokia 7650 Symbian
phone (the miniGPS application from Psi-
loc does just that) (Psiloc.com, 2005). Just
having the cell ID locally on the device is
no good for a proximity service, so it must
be paired with other player’s cell ID using
an online service of some kind, transmit-
ting the data over a GPRS or 3G network.
RFID
Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is
a method of retrieving ID codes over short-
range radio. An RFID tag is a small ob-
ject, such as an adhesive sticker, that can
be attached to or incorporated into a prod-
uct. RFID tags contain antennas to enable
them to receive and respond to radio-fre-
quency queries from an RFID transceiver.
Because of its static, passive nature, it’s difficult
to use RFID as the basis for a multiplayer game.
Instead, RFID could be used for incorporating
items or passive players into a proximity game.
Other wireless networking technologies
Some devices have used their own proprietary
wireless communication system. The Cybiko
device used its own radio technology, and so
does the new Nintendo DS (although the latter
also features wireless LAN communication).
31
son not actively participating in the game.
Simpler close-range multiplayer games that
utilizes Bluetooth or Wireless LAN is in-
cluded in the proximity gaming definition,
but such games use the wireless communi-
cation just as a replacement to a fixed con-
nection or network. Instead, this article fo-
cuses on innovative design concepts based
on wireless communication, concepts that
cannot be implemented in a fixed network.
A wireless network is assumed, not because
it would be the only way to incorporate
proximity into a game, but because wire-
less communication technology is becoming
widespread and thus the most feasible way
of implementing it. One could imagine prox-
imity gaming using different kinds of sen-
sor devices, but that requires exotic technol-
ogy and therefore lose its commercial appeal.
Why proximity gaming is interesting
Entering a multiplayer game is normally a for-
mal procedure. The player defines her charac-
ter, selects which game server to join (or sets
up a new game), decides who to play with
etc before entering the game. The wirelesses
of proximity gaming allows for ad hoc mul-
tiplayer games, where people suddenly enter
each other’s games simply because they’re in
range. The Japanese Lovegety was a simple
yet powerful demonstration of a proximity
service: a device that beeps when a potential
partner was nearby, based on a set of prefer-
ences (Iwatani, 1998).
The ad hoc-ness in turn unleashes several in-
teresting game design aspects, for example
that clusters of proximity gaming devices
create the illusion of a persistent world
game, or viral aspects such as “electronic ru-
mors” that are transmitted to nearby players.
Proximity gaming is also considered an inter-
esting area for the latest handheld game de-
vices. When Sony presented the PlayStation
Portable (PSP) during Game Developers Con-
ference (GDC) 2004 (Ackerman, 2004), prox-
imity gaming was mentioned as an interesting
field of next-generation multiplayer gaming.
Technology
Proximity gaming is not tied to a specific tech-
nology, but can be implemented an different
styles on different devices.
Wireless networking technologies
Bluetooth
Bluetooth is an open specification that enables
short-range wireless connections between
telephones, computers and other devices and
thereby simplifies communication and syn-
chronization between devices. Bluetooth wire-
less technology uses a globally available fre-
quency band (2.4GHz) and can transmit data up
to 2.1 Mbit/s on distances from 10-100 meter.
(Apple.com, 2005, and Ericsson.com, 2005).
Compared to wireless LAN, Bluetooth offers
lower bandwidth but is a cheaper technology
and consumes little energy. Bluetooth had a
slow start but can now be found in most mid-
and high-end mobile phones, and is also used in
three handheld gaming systems: the Gizmon-
do, the Nokia N-Gage, and Tapwave Zodiac.
Wireless LAN (802.11)
802.11, also called ”Wi-Fi”, is a set of stand-
ards for wireless local area networks de-
veloped by the Institute of Electrical and
Electronics Engineers (IEEE). The 802.11
family contains several protocols where the
most popular one is 802.11b, which fea-
tures a maximum data rate of 11 Mbit/s, a
range of up to 100 meters, and operates in
the 2.4 GHz band. (Wikipedia.org, 2005)
Wireless LAN offers high bandwidth, but
consumes a lot of energy. Wireless LAN is to-
day a common technology in PCs, but is also
becoming popular in PDAs. Wireless LAN is
also used in two powerful handheld gaming
systems: the Sony PSP and the Nintendo DS.
Cell ID positioning
Cell ID positioning can also be used to ac-
complish proximity gaming, but is differ-
ent from Bluetooth and wireless LAN since
it’s not a communication technology. In-
stead, it’s a rather crude method of locating
people, and can be used to find out wheth-
er people are in proximity of each other.
A mobile network consists of thousands of an-
tennas, or cells, and a mobile phone (device)
is always connected to one of these cells.
Both the mobile network and the device are
always aware of the ID number of the cell the
phone is currently in. By matching devices
that are reporting the same cell ID, you find
devices that are in proximity of one another.
In practice, this is slightly trickier. Acquir-
ing this information from the mobile net-
work requires a relationship with a mobile
carrier, or preferably several if the game is
supposed to work across multiple networks.
From the device, the cell ID can only be ex-
tracted with low-level software, such as na-
tive C++ code on a Nokia 7650 Symbian
phone (the miniGPS application from Psi-
loc does just that) (Psiloc.com, 2005). Just
having the cell ID locally on the device is
no good for a proximity service, so it must
be paired with other player’s cell ID using
an online service of some kind, transmit-
ting the data over a GPRS or 3G network.
RFID
Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is
a method of retrieving ID codes over short-
range radio. An RFID tag is a small ob-
ject, such as an adhesive sticker, that can
be attached to or incorporated into a prod-
uct. RFID tags contain antennas to enable
them to receive and respond to radio-fre-
quency queries from an RFID transceiver.
Because of its static, passive nature, it’s difficult
to use RFID as the basis for a multiplayer game.
Instead, RFID could be used for incorporating
items or passive players into a proximity game.
Other wireless networking technologies
Some devices have used their own proprietary
wireless communication system. The Cybiko
device used its own radio technology, and so
does the new Nintendo DS (although the latter
also features wireless LAN communication).
31
Devices
Mobile phones
Mobile phones may not be the most powerful
gaming device, but what they lack in perform-
ance they make up in volume: mobile phones
are an everyman’s device, and for many peo-
ple the first game console they come across.
The modern mobile phones often have color
screens, multimedia features, and decent
game controls. But first and foremost, a phone
is a communication device and it’s almost
taken for granted that a new phone has GPRS/
3G and possibly Bluetooth connectivity.
Cybiko
The Cybiko was introduced in 1999 as an
entertainment PDA for teenagers. It fea-
tured a 160x100 grayscale screen and a
proprietary wireless communication sys-
tem that enabled messaging and gaming
in 19.2 kB/s over a range of 50-100 m. It
was a totally proprietary system, but since
it was so early in the market, it gathered
quite a big group of buyers and developers.
Gizmondo
The Gizmondo from Tiger Telematics is packed
with technology: GPRS and Bluetooth connec-
tivity, a camera, and a GPS receiver. It sports a
320x240 screen and NVIDIA hardware accel-
eration (Gizmondo.com, 2005). Unfortunate-
ly, after the Gizmondo bankruptcy there will
be little development support for this device.
Nintendo DS
The Nintendo DS (”Dual-Screen”) is rath-
er odd-looking with its twin 256x192 pix-
el LCD screens, where one of them is a
touch screen. The DS supports both wire-
less LAN and a proprietary radio commu-
nication protocol. (Nintendo.com, 2005)
Nokia N-Gage
Nokia N-Gage and the follow-up N-Gage
QD is based on Nokia’s Series 60 platform
and is essentially the same device as a Nokia
7650/3650 mobile phone. It got a bad repu-
tation due to some poor design choices but
is still a powerful device. The device has a
176x208 screen and Bluetooth and GPRS
connectivity. (Forum Nokia website, 2005)
Sony PSP
The PlayStation Portable (PSP) is the highest-
performing handheld gaming device to date,
with performance almost equal to the PlaySta-
tion 2. The screen is large, 480x272 pixels and
the device has wireless LAN communication.
Tapwave Zodiac
The Zodiac is a Palm OS-powered game de-
vice available in the US, UK, Singapore,
and Korea. It has a large 480x320 screen, a
graphics accelerator from ATI, and features
Bluetooth connectivity. (Tapwave.com, 2005)
Game design aspects
Given the basic concept of proxim-
ity gaming, there are several design
choices to be made when designing a
proximity game. The following chapter dis-
cusses a few design patterns to consider.
Formal vs. ad hoc game sessions
Traditional multiplayer games follow a formal
structure. A player starts up her game applica-
tion, enters the multiplayer mode. She designs
her character, either loads up a saved character
or creates a new one. The player creates a new
game, thereby defining what game rules should
apply to the game session. Other players can
then join the game, thus accepting the stated
rules of the game. When enough players have
joined the game and all players have set them-
selves as “ready”, the game session begins.
An ad hoc game session in a proximity game is where players automatically join the same game
session when their devices are within range of each other. A single-player game seamlessly
becomes a multiplayer game, and then returns to single-player mode when the connection is
broken. Game characters are defined beforehand. Game rules are either fixed, or negotiated
between the devices when merging two game sessions.
32
Mobile phones
Mobile phones may not be the most powerful
gaming device, but what they lack in perform-
ance they make up in volume: mobile phones
are an everyman’s device, and for many peo-
ple the first game console they come across.
The modern mobile phones often have color
screens, multimedia features, and decent
game controls. But first and foremost, a phone
is a communication device and it’s almost
taken for granted that a new phone has GPRS/
3G and possibly Bluetooth connectivity.
Cybiko
The Cybiko was introduced in 1999 as an
entertainment PDA for teenagers. It fea-
tured a 160x100 grayscale screen and a
proprietary wireless communication sys-
tem that enabled messaging and gaming
in 19.2 kB/s over a range of 50-100 m. It
was a totally proprietary system, but since
it was so early in the market, it gathered
quite a big group of buyers and developers.
Gizmondo
The Gizmondo from Tiger Telematics is packed
with technology: GPRS and Bluetooth connec-
tivity, a camera, and a GPS receiver. It sports a
320x240 screen and NVIDIA hardware accel-
eration (Gizmondo.com, 2005). Unfortunate-
ly, after the Gizmondo bankruptcy there will
be little development support for this device.
Nintendo DS
The Nintendo DS (”Dual-Screen”) is rath-
er odd-looking with its twin 256x192 pix-
el LCD screens, where one of them is a
touch screen. The DS supports both wire-
less LAN and a proprietary radio commu-
nication protocol. (Nintendo.com, 2005)
Nokia N-Gage
Nokia N-Gage and the follow-up N-Gage
QD is based on Nokia’s Series 60 platform
and is essentially the same device as a Nokia
7650/3650 mobile phone. It got a bad repu-
tation due to some poor design choices but
is still a powerful device. The device has a
176x208 screen and Bluetooth and GPRS
connectivity. (Forum Nokia website, 2005)
Sony PSP
The PlayStation Portable (PSP) is the highest-
performing handheld gaming device to date,
with performance almost equal to the PlaySta-
tion 2. The screen is large, 480x272 pixels and
the device has wireless LAN communication.
Tapwave Zodiac
The Zodiac is a Palm OS-powered game de-
vice available in the US, UK, Singapore,
and Korea. It has a large 480x320 screen, a
graphics accelerator from ATI, and features
Bluetooth connectivity. (Tapwave.com, 2005)
Game design aspects
Given the basic concept of proxim-
ity gaming, there are several design
choices to be made when designing a
proximity game. The following chapter dis-
cusses a few design patterns to consider.
Formal vs. ad hoc game sessions
Traditional multiplayer games follow a formal
structure. A player starts up her game applica-
tion, enters the multiplayer mode. She designs
her character, either loads up a saved character
or creates a new one. The player creates a new
game, thereby defining what game rules should
apply to the game session. Other players can
then join the game, thus accepting the stated
rules of the game. When enough players have
joined the game and all players have set them-
selves as “ready”, the game session begins.
An ad hoc game session in a proximity game is where players automatically join the same game
session when their devices are within range of each other. A single-player game seamlessly
becomes a multiplayer game, and then returns to single-player mode when the connection is
broken. Game characters are defined beforehand. Game rules are either fixed, or negotiated
between the devices when merging two game sessions.
32
Connection and disconnection as game
event
If players can move around with the proximity gaming devices, players will constantly connect
and disconnect from each other. These events can be used in the game design itself, as an indica-
tion of a player entering or leaving a certain range.
A simple application can play a sound or show an animation when another player was nearby.
More advanced games could change gameplay mode when someone connects, e.g. change from
observation mode to battle mode.
Anonymity
Multiplayer games can be designed to allow anonymous players, where players create an
avatar, an alter ego, and masking their true identity. Combining this with ad hoc game ses-
sions, this allows for games where you could suddenly start playing with a stranger. The only
thing you would know for certain is that the other player is close enough to be in range. In
a setting where there are many people and where appropriate devices are widespread, it can
be an exciting part of the game trying to figure out whom you are playing with in real life.
Mutual consent
In a traditional multiplayer game, all players
normally agree to take part in the game and
know the game rules that apply. In a proximity
game, the total opposite can be true. One play-
er can actually “invade” another player’s game
without permission. An example could be to
stop by and leave a virtual “graffiti tag” in an-
other player’s game, a sort of social invasion.
Distributed game world
In a proximity game, the game world can
be distributed across the participating play-
ers’ devices. With ad hoc game sessions,
the game world could then grow or shrink
as new players join or leave the game.
Imagine a game where each player has her own pirate ship. Before encountering any other play-
er, the ship floats by itself in sea, and the player can walk around with her character on the ship.
When another player is in proximity, another pirate ship appears on the screen. The two players
can battle, but also board each other’s ships. Every new player means a new ship on the screen,
and so the game arena grows with each player. The ship becomes an analogy for the device itself.
One example of a distributed game world is the game “Pac-Man Must Die!” developed by the
Viktoria Institute in Sweden. Players stand close to each other and play the game on wireless
PDA’s. In the game, the players control ghosts and try to avoid being captured by Pac-Man.
The game arena is distributed across the players’ devices, and a player can capture Pac-Man
by moving away from the other players when Pac-Man is on the screen. (Viktoria.se, 2005)
A problem appears when the players disconnect when one player is on another player’s “ship”.
What should happen; should the player return to her own ship, or just vanish into thin air?
33
event
If players can move around with the proximity gaming devices, players will constantly connect
and disconnect from each other. These events can be used in the game design itself, as an indica-
tion of a player entering or leaving a certain range.
A simple application can play a sound or show an animation when another player was nearby.
More advanced games could change gameplay mode when someone connects, e.g. change from
observation mode to battle mode.
Anonymity
Multiplayer games can be designed to allow anonymous players, where players create an
avatar, an alter ego, and masking their true identity. Combining this with ad hoc game ses-
sions, this allows for games where you could suddenly start playing with a stranger. The only
thing you would know for certain is that the other player is close enough to be in range. In
a setting where there are many people and where appropriate devices are widespread, it can
be an exciting part of the game trying to figure out whom you are playing with in real life.
Mutual consent
In a traditional multiplayer game, all players
normally agree to take part in the game and
know the game rules that apply. In a proximity
game, the total opposite can be true. One play-
er can actually “invade” another player’s game
without permission. An example could be to
stop by and leave a virtual “graffiti tag” in an-
other player’s game, a sort of social invasion.
Distributed game world
In a proximity game, the game world can
be distributed across the participating play-
ers’ devices. With ad hoc game sessions,
the game world could then grow or shrink
as new players join or leave the game.
Imagine a game where each player has her own pirate ship. Before encountering any other play-
er, the ship floats by itself in sea, and the player can walk around with her character on the ship.
When another player is in proximity, another pirate ship appears on the screen. The two players
can battle, but also board each other’s ships. Every new player means a new ship on the screen,
and so the game arena grows with each player. The ship becomes an analogy for the device itself.
One example of a distributed game world is the game “Pac-Man Must Die!” developed by the
Viktoria Institute in Sweden. Players stand close to each other and play the game on wireless
PDA’s. In the game, the players control ghosts and try to avoid being captured by Pac-Man.
The game arena is distributed across the players’ devices, and a player can capture Pac-Man
by moving away from the other players when Pac-Man is on the screen. (Viktoria.se, 2005)
A problem appears when the players disconnect when one player is on another player’s “ship”.
What should happen; should the player return to her own ship, or just vanish into thin air?
33
Persistency between sessions - pseudo-per-
sistent game worlds
In the case of a distributed game world, the
state of the local game worlds can be saved
between game sessions. When a player visits
another player’s pirate ship again, she finds a
sword that was left there on her previous visit.
Given enough players, the illusion of a persist-
ent-world game could be created. This “pseu-
do-persistent game world” would act as a per-
sistent world as in massively multiplayer online
games (MMOGs), but in fact it creates lots of
fragments of a world. The persistency is main-
tained through synchronization between two
players at a time. This will lead to inconsisten-
cies in the game world data, and these discrep-
ancies must be dealt with in the game design.
Viral behavior and electronic rumors
Proximity gaming, especially in its ad hoc sense, is an ideal ground for viral game behavior. Messages
and virtual items can travel between players. Players could “infect” other players that are within range.
Information within the game can be viral, too. If in-game information, such as the state of
the game world or the high score list is synchronized between players upon connection, in-
formation spreads from player to player. But as in the classic “whisper game”, no player will
hold the absolute truth, and the quality of the information is weakened as the distance to the
source increases. The more connections each player makes, the more pieces of the puzzle she
will have and thus the closer to the truth she will be. That in turn can foster social gameplay.
Involving non-players
One extraordinary aspect of viral gameplay is
to involve non-players in the game. Given that
the game device can detect and in some sense
identify a nearby person, other people can act
as “props” in a proximity game. Non-players
can be tagged by players, possibly carrying a
virtual infection or a virtual piece of informa-
tion. The non-players could either be totally
unaware of the game in progress, or they could
be manipulated by players as part of the game-
play, e.g. coaxed to walk in a certain direction.
Two students at the Swedish Institute of Com-
puter Science (SICS) used this game design
element to design a game for shopping malls.
The game called “Frog Race” enabled players
to use Bluetooth devices to scout for nearby
persons that were carrying Bluetooth-enabled
phones. When a suitable person was found, the
player can attach a virtual “frog” to the per-
son. The frog will then follow the non-player
wherever she went. The game objective was to
get one’s own virtual frog out of the shopping
mall as quick as possible. (SICS.se, 2005)
New types of network games
Putting the pieces together, this chapter
explores how proximity gaming can be
used to create new game concepts. .
Matchmaking
With the Lovegety as basis, it’s easy to im-
agine match-making games and services.
Create a profile, and the device will notify
you when someone matching the profile is
nearby. The Lovegety was a pretty simple
device, and a game could involve more role-
playing elements and allowing the player
to create a more detailed profile. Such serv-
ices rely on a large community, and there-
fore the mobile phone is a suitable platform.
Sports
Sports and other physical games are excel-
lent applications of proximity gaming. With
the players moving around, proximity is a
way to detect other players and possibly parts
of a physical game arena. It’s easy to im-
agine an orienteering game, where players
would have to move around and find navi-
gation points powered by Bluetooth trans-
mitters or similar. But other forms of elec-
tronic sports are also feasible, including ball
sports (with a virtual ball). The case study on
“Proxiball” later in this article demonstrates
how a sports game can be implemented.
34
sistent game worlds
In the case of a distributed game world, the
state of the local game worlds can be saved
between game sessions. When a player visits
another player’s pirate ship again, she finds a
sword that was left there on her previous visit.
Given enough players, the illusion of a persist-
ent-world game could be created. This “pseu-
do-persistent game world” would act as a per-
sistent world as in massively multiplayer online
games (MMOGs), but in fact it creates lots of
fragments of a world. The persistency is main-
tained through synchronization between two
players at a time. This will lead to inconsisten-
cies in the game world data, and these discrep-
ancies must be dealt with in the game design.
Viral behavior and electronic rumors
Proximity gaming, especially in its ad hoc sense, is an ideal ground for viral game behavior. Messages
and virtual items can travel between players. Players could “infect” other players that are within range.
Information within the game can be viral, too. If in-game information, such as the state of
the game world or the high score list is synchronized between players upon connection, in-
formation spreads from player to player. But as in the classic “whisper game”, no player will
hold the absolute truth, and the quality of the information is weakened as the distance to the
source increases. The more connections each player makes, the more pieces of the puzzle she
will have and thus the closer to the truth she will be. That in turn can foster social gameplay.
Involving non-players
One extraordinary aspect of viral gameplay is
to involve non-players in the game. Given that
the game device can detect and in some sense
identify a nearby person, other people can act
as “props” in a proximity game. Non-players
can be tagged by players, possibly carrying a
virtual infection or a virtual piece of informa-
tion. The non-players could either be totally
unaware of the game in progress, or they could
be manipulated by players as part of the game-
play, e.g. coaxed to walk in a certain direction.
Two students at the Swedish Institute of Com-
puter Science (SICS) used this game design
element to design a game for shopping malls.
The game called “Frog Race” enabled players
to use Bluetooth devices to scout for nearby
persons that were carrying Bluetooth-enabled
phones. When a suitable person was found, the
player can attach a virtual “frog” to the per-
son. The frog will then follow the non-player
wherever she went. The game objective was to
get one’s own virtual frog out of the shopping
mall as quick as possible. (SICS.se, 2005)
New types of network games
Putting the pieces together, this chapter
explores how proximity gaming can be
used to create new game concepts. .
Matchmaking
With the Lovegety as basis, it’s easy to im-
agine match-making games and services.
Create a profile, and the device will notify
you when someone matching the profile is
nearby. The Lovegety was a pretty simple
device, and a game could involve more role-
playing elements and allowing the player
to create a more detailed profile. Such serv-
ices rely on a large community, and there-
fore the mobile phone is a suitable platform.
Sports
Sports and other physical games are excel-
lent applications of proximity gaming. With
the players moving around, proximity is a
way to detect other players and possibly parts
of a physical game arena. It’s easy to im-
agine an orienteering game, where players
would have to move around and find navi-
gation points powered by Bluetooth trans-
mitters or similar. But other forms of elec-
tronic sports are also feasible, including ball
sports (with a virtual ball). The case study on
“Proxiball” later in this article demonstrates
how a sports game can be implemented.
34
Pervasive games
In a pervasive game, a game that blends with
the player’s real world, the game device would
rather take the role of a ”tool” in a real world
setting, than being the scene for the game it-
self. Such a game benefits from the viral as-
pects of proximity gaming, for example to send
secret pieces of information between agents.
An example would be a game about a vi-
ral outbreak. The virtual virus spreads from
person to person as soon as they are within
range. Even non-players could be carrying
the virus. The players have the “tools” (i.e.
game software) necessary to track and de-
stroy the virus. But since the virus spreads
in the real world, the players have to find
the people carrying the virus and maybe ask
former “patients” about their whereabouts
in order to track the source of the virus.
Case study: Proxiball
This chapter describes how a simple demon-
stration application on proximity gaming was
designed, implemented, and tested with a fo-
cus group of players.
Design
Proxiball was designed to be a small demon-
stration of a proximity sports game. The basic
concept was “virtual rugby”, a team-based
game where the objective was to deliver a vir-
tual ball to a virtual goal. There was no am-
bition to create a commercial product of this
concept, merely to use it as a research plat-
form for other proximity gaming concepts.
The interface was designed to be extremely
simple and quick to use, since this is a physi-
cal sports game where players can spend
limited time looking at a screen. Each par-
ticipant has a device of her own, and another
two devices are used as goal cages. There are
two teams; blue and red, without restrictions
on the team size. The game interface shows
the player in the centre, with nearby team
members in the bottom half of the screen and
nearby opponents in the top half of the screen.
Selecting another player and pressing the
fire button passes the ball, or try to steal the
ball if it was held by the selected opponent.
The devices acting as goal cages are run-
ning the software in a special mode, where it
counts the number of times it has received the
virtual ball (i.e. when someone has scored a
goal). The goal cages automatically give the
ball to a member of its own team after a goal.
Screenshots from Proxiball.
Implementation
As test platform, Nokia Series 60 phones
were chosen. The game application was
implemented in Java (J2ME) and Blue-
tooth was used as communication protocol.
The Bluetooth programming interface is
event driven and supports events for when
a new device is found. However, it does not
have an event for when a connection to a
device is lost. Since Proxiball relied on both
events, custom code was added to create a
“memory” of nearby devices and to trig-
ger events when a device lost connection.
Testing turned out to be a big problem, since the
actual Bluetooth implementation on the mobile
phones turned out to act quite differently com-
pared to the emulation on PC. The hardware
implementation only supports one connection
at a time, so the game’s communication layer
had to be rewritten to do the communica-
tion in a serial, “one-step-at-a-time” manner.
Testing
For testing the first version of Proxiball,
four people from the author’s office were
selected. With two additional phones as
goal cages, a total of six phones were
used. The goal phones were put on tables
roughly 50 meters away from each other.
A phone used as the Red Team’s goal.
The four players gathered in the centre,
right between the two goal cages, and the
game started. As the application started up
on each phone, the virtual ball flicked from
screen to screen when the phones synchro-
nized their connections. When it finally sta-
bilized, the ball ended up in the phone of a
surprised member of the red team. He ran
to the blue goal and scored a quick goal be
35
In a pervasive game, a game that blends with
the player’s real world, the game device would
rather take the role of a ”tool” in a real world
setting, than being the scene for the game it-
self. Such a game benefits from the viral as-
pects of proximity gaming, for example to send
secret pieces of information between agents.
An example would be a game about a vi-
ral outbreak. The virtual virus spreads from
person to person as soon as they are within
range. Even non-players could be carrying
the virus. The players have the “tools” (i.e.
game software) necessary to track and de-
stroy the virus. But since the virus spreads
in the real world, the players have to find
the people carrying the virus and maybe ask
former “patients” about their whereabouts
in order to track the source of the virus.
Case study: Proxiball
This chapter describes how a simple demon-
stration application on proximity gaming was
designed, implemented, and tested with a fo-
cus group of players.
Design
Proxiball was designed to be a small demon-
stration of a proximity sports game. The basic
concept was “virtual rugby”, a team-based
game where the objective was to deliver a vir-
tual ball to a virtual goal. There was no am-
bition to create a commercial product of this
concept, merely to use it as a research plat-
form for other proximity gaming concepts.
The interface was designed to be extremely
simple and quick to use, since this is a physi-
cal sports game where players can spend
limited time looking at a screen. Each par-
ticipant has a device of her own, and another
two devices are used as goal cages. There are
two teams; blue and red, without restrictions
on the team size. The game interface shows
the player in the centre, with nearby team
members in the bottom half of the screen and
nearby opponents in the top half of the screen.
Selecting another player and pressing the
fire button passes the ball, or try to steal the
ball if it was held by the selected opponent.
The devices acting as goal cages are run-
ning the software in a special mode, where it
counts the number of times it has received the
virtual ball (i.e. when someone has scored a
goal). The goal cages automatically give the
ball to a member of its own team after a goal.
Screenshots from Proxiball.
Implementation
As test platform, Nokia Series 60 phones
were chosen. The game application was
implemented in Java (J2ME) and Blue-
tooth was used as communication protocol.
The Bluetooth programming interface is
event driven and supports events for when
a new device is found. However, it does not
have an event for when a connection to a
device is lost. Since Proxiball relied on both
events, custom code was added to create a
“memory” of nearby devices and to trig-
ger events when a device lost connection.
Testing turned out to be a big problem, since the
actual Bluetooth implementation on the mobile
phones turned out to act quite differently com-
pared to the emulation on PC. The hardware
implementation only supports one connection
at a time, so the game’s communication layer
had to be rewritten to do the communica-
tion in a serial, “one-step-at-a-time” manner.
Testing
For testing the first version of Proxiball,
four people from the author’s office were
selected. With two additional phones as
goal cages, a total of six phones were
used. The goal phones were put on tables
roughly 50 meters away from each other.
A phone used as the Red Team’s goal.
The four players gathered in the centre,
right between the two goal cages, and the
game started. As the application started up
on each phone, the virtual ball flicked from
screen to screen when the phones synchro-
nized their connections. When it finally sta-
bilized, the ball ended up in the phone of a
surprised member of the red team. He ran
to the blue goal and scored a quick goal be
35
fore anyone else could react. The blue goal
played a sound effect of a fanfare. 1-0.
The ball was handed to a blue team member who
now was nearby. He started moving towards the
red goal, but suddenly the ball was snatched by
the red player and another goal was made! 2-0.
Blue player moving in to the goal area.
Now, the blue players grouped and started
running in a wide arc around the office, quick-
ly passing the ball back and forth. They ap-
proached the red goal, now guarded by both
red players. Intense button-jabbing followed
as the blue players tried to score a goal and the
red players tried stealing the ball. Suddenly, the
fanfare sounded from the red goal phone. 2-1.
It feels good to be on the winning team.
Here are some comments from the testers:
“Interesting concept, but the fun doesn’t
last very long. It feels a bit weird running
around with an invisible ball. It’s awkward
to run around while staring at the screen.”
“Well, it’s certainly a new twist to a mo-
bile game. With some improved us -
ability and more stable communica-
tion, this could well become a fun sport.”
Future outlook: proximity gaming in 2010
Will proximity-based games be a new game
genre of its own, dominating the video game
shelves in five years? No, proximity gaming
– compared to massively multiplayer games
and pervasive games – will not be coined a
game genre in its own right. Instead, elements
of proximity gaming will seep into the design
of mobile and handheld games, little by little.
Two things hamper the development of proxim-
ity gaming applications: penetration of game de-
vices that can communicate with each other, and
social acceptance of “invading” other peoples’
personal space in a game. But changes are
on the horizon, and these two elements are
tied to each other, pulling the other forward.
Pervasive computing is no longer a vision – it is
already here. People carry around plenty of small
computer-powered devices: mobile phones,
PDA’s, digital cameras and music players.
The next logical step is to get all these devices
to work together. “Connectivity” will be the
predominant feature of many consumer de-
vices; not only mobile phones and handheld
devices, but also music players and toys.
These devices will connect with each other
for improved integration, but also with other
peoples’ devices to exchange information, as
well as for pure entertainment value. A re-
cent example is Konami’s music toy Otoizm,
which remixes your portable music, and also
shares music with other Otoizm users that
happen to be nearby (Gizmodo.com, 2006).
In short, people will grow more accustomed
to sharing information, and interacting with
nearby people in a connected manner. Their
definition of privacy will be reshaped and
redefined. As that happens, game designers
will feel more confident in adding proximity
gaming features to their games. And wire-
less gaming will never be the same again.
References
Ackerman, Kyle (2004), ”Sony on Hardware:
PlayStation 2 Add-Ons and the PSP”, Fric-
tionless Insight, http://www.frictionlessin-
sight.com/Articles/GDC2004SonyKey/GDC-
2004SonyKey.htm.
Apple.com, “Wireless gets more personal”,
http://www.apple.com/bluetooth/, last visited
2005.
Ericsson.com, ”Bluetooth Wireless technol-
ogy”, http://www.ericsson.com/technology/
tech_articles/Bluetooth.shtml, last visited
2005.
Forum Nokia website, “Nokia N-Gage Tech-
nical Specs”, http://forum.nokia.com/n-gage,
last visited 2005.
Gizmodo.com, “iPodmagotchi”, http://
us.gizmodo.com/gadgets/konami/index.php,
last visited 2006.
Gizmondo.com, “Gizmondo inside: specifica-
tions”, http://www.gizmondo.com/unit/speci-
fications.asp, last visited 2005.
Iwatani, Yukari (1998), ”Love: Japanese
Style”, Wired, http://www.wired.com/news/
culture/0,1284,12899,00.html
Nintendo.com, “Nintendo DS Technical
Specifications”, http://www.nintendo.com/
techspecds, last visited 2005.
Psiloc.com, “miniGPS”, http://www.psiloc.
com/index.html?id=155, last visited 2005.
SICS.se, “Frog Race” is a master thesis
project at the Stockholm University carried
out by Jenny Niemi and Susanna Sawano,
supervised by Annika Waern and Petra Sund-
ström at SICS, http://www.sics.se/interaction/
projects.php, last visited 2005.
Tapwave.com, “Zodiac product specifica-
tions”, http://www.tapwave.com/zodiac_
specs.html, last visited 2005.
Wikipedia.org, “IEEE 802.11”, http://
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/802.11, last visited
2005.
Viktoria.se, “Pac-Man Must Die!”, devel-
oped by Alexander Jaako, Annelie Lundén
and Staffan Lönn at the Viktoria Insitute in
Sweden, http://www.viktoria.se/fal/projects/
collgames/, last visited 2005.
36
played a sound effect of a fanfare. 1-0.
The ball was handed to a blue team member who
now was nearby. He started moving towards the
red goal, but suddenly the ball was snatched by
the red player and another goal was made! 2-0.
Blue player moving in to the goal area.
Now, the blue players grouped and started
running in a wide arc around the office, quick-
ly passing the ball back and forth. They ap-
proached the red goal, now guarded by both
red players. Intense button-jabbing followed
as the blue players tried to score a goal and the
red players tried stealing the ball. Suddenly, the
fanfare sounded from the red goal phone. 2-1.
It feels good to be on the winning team.
Here are some comments from the testers:
“Interesting concept, but the fun doesn’t
last very long. It feels a bit weird running
around with an invisible ball. It’s awkward
to run around while staring at the screen.”
“Well, it’s certainly a new twist to a mo-
bile game. With some improved us -
ability and more stable communica-
tion, this could well become a fun sport.”
Future outlook: proximity gaming in 2010
Will proximity-based games be a new game
genre of its own, dominating the video game
shelves in five years? No, proximity gaming
– compared to massively multiplayer games
and pervasive games – will not be coined a
game genre in its own right. Instead, elements
of proximity gaming will seep into the design
of mobile and handheld games, little by little.
Two things hamper the development of proxim-
ity gaming applications: penetration of game de-
vices that can communicate with each other, and
social acceptance of “invading” other peoples’
personal space in a game. But changes are
on the horizon, and these two elements are
tied to each other, pulling the other forward.
Pervasive computing is no longer a vision – it is
already here. People carry around plenty of small
computer-powered devices: mobile phones,
PDA’s, digital cameras and music players.
The next logical step is to get all these devices
to work together. “Connectivity” will be the
predominant feature of many consumer de-
vices; not only mobile phones and handheld
devices, but also music players and toys.
These devices will connect with each other
for improved integration, but also with other
peoples’ devices to exchange information, as
well as for pure entertainment value. A re-
cent example is Konami’s music toy Otoizm,
which remixes your portable music, and also
shares music with other Otoizm users that
happen to be nearby (Gizmodo.com, 2006).
In short, people will grow more accustomed
to sharing information, and interacting with
nearby people in a connected manner. Their
definition of privacy will be reshaped and
redefined. As that happens, game designers
will feel more confident in adding proximity
gaming features to their games. And wire-
less gaming will never be the same again.
References
Ackerman, Kyle (2004), ”Sony on Hardware:
PlayStation 2 Add-Ons and the PSP”, Fric-
tionless Insight, http://www.frictionlessin-
sight.com/Articles/GDC2004SonyKey/GDC-
2004SonyKey.htm.
Apple.com, “Wireless gets more personal”,
http://www.apple.com/bluetooth/, last visited
2005.
Ericsson.com, ”Bluetooth Wireless technol-
ogy”, http://www.ericsson.com/technology/
tech_articles/Bluetooth.shtml, last visited
2005.
Forum Nokia website, “Nokia N-Gage Tech-
nical Specs”, http://forum.nokia.com/n-gage,
last visited 2005.
Gizmodo.com, “iPodmagotchi”, http://
us.gizmodo.com/gadgets/konami/index.php,
last visited 2006.
Gizmondo.com, “Gizmondo inside: specifica-
tions”, http://www.gizmondo.com/unit/speci-
fications.asp, last visited 2005.
Iwatani, Yukari (1998), ”Love: Japanese
Style”, Wired, http://www.wired.com/news/
culture/0,1284,12899,00.html
Nintendo.com, “Nintendo DS Technical
Specifications”, http://www.nintendo.com/
techspecds, last visited 2005.
Psiloc.com, “miniGPS”, http://www.psiloc.
com/index.html?id=155, last visited 2005.
SICS.se, “Frog Race” is a master thesis
project at the Stockholm University carried
out by Jenny Niemi and Susanna Sawano,
supervised by Annika Waern and Petra Sund-
ström at SICS, http://www.sics.se/interaction/
projects.php, last visited 2005.
Tapwave.com, “Zodiac product specifica-
tions”, http://www.tapwave.com/zodiac_
specs.html, last visited 2005.
Wikipedia.org, “IEEE 802.11”, http://
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/802.11, last visited
2005.
Viktoria.se, “Pac-Man Must Die!”, devel-
oped by Alexander Jaako, Annelie Lundén
and Staffan Lönn at the Viktoria Insitute in
Sweden, http://www.viktoria.se/fal/projects/
collgames/, last visited 2005.
36
Vicky Wu, Froghop
- USA
Mobile Devices and the
“Traditional” Gamer
Abstract
While mobile gaming has become incredibly
popular around the world, there are some ob-
stacles to be faced in the future. There are
several reasons for this, primarily the fact that
today’s mobile gaming experience is a casual
activity designed to pass the time. Neither
the platforms, nor the games lend themselves
to extended periods of gaming . The current
users of mobile games are not gamers per se,
but rather casual users with little commitment
to the game itself. With so many companies
fighting over the small amount of casual time,
the market must lure a new audience in order
to continue growing. Instead of simply con-
verting PC and console games into mobile
experiences, a stepping stone approach will
help open mobile entertainment to the more-
demanding gamer market. In this paper we
will examine the importance and impact tradi-
tional gamers will have on the mobile gaming
industry, how the concept of transmedial ac-
cess advances mobile gaming in an evolution-
ary (rather than revolutionary) manner, and the
and the path it will lead the mobile games to.
What’s in it for the Traditional Gamer?
Mobile phones, as well as the mobile games
industry, have come a long way in recent years.
However, the majority view of mobile games
is that they are only for casual gamers. With
cellphones being “mass market” devices, the
focus has been to leverage the platform pe-
netration to convert non-gamers into casual
mobile-games players. But these back-pocket
devices that we never leave home without
can also be a valuable platform for existing
gamers. The question is: what type of mobile
gaming applications can entice the traditional
gamer market?
Before delving into this question, it is worth
mentioning the distinction being made in this
paper when referencing “traditional” gamers
and “casual” gamers. A traditional gamer refers
to those who play various videogames (PC or
console) and generally exhibit hardcore gam-
ing behavior and purchase patterns. Being a
traditional gamer does not exclude them from
enjoying casual-style games. Casual gamers
gravitate towards games with shorter learn-
ing curves – the kind you can just pick up and
play. The biggest misperception is that casual
gamers only play for short bursts of time; they
in fact often have hardcore playing habits, but
their purchase patterns are different. Casual
gamers’ price/value perception of games sepa-
rates casual gamers from traditional gamers.
Because purchase patterns are important to an
industry’s sustenance and growth, traditional
gamers are key for propelling mobile games
forward. Traditional gamers are willing to
embrace new game-related content, and are
willing to pay for products they believe will
enrich their gaming experience. There have
been numerous efforts geared towards attract-
ing the traditional videogame player to mobile
games, such as licensing traditional game IP
Although many traditional game players do
enjoy playing mobile games in their downtime,
anecdotal evidence suggests that traditional
gamers continue to perceive mobile games
as pale imitations of console games. Current
mobile game offerings appeal to a small per
centage of the traditional gamer demographic.
If the mobile games are viewed as a lesser ver-
sion of an original, it will be harder to jus-
tify a large number of recurring mobile game
downloads.
Despite the amazing developments that
have occurred in mobile gaming, most ad-
vancements have been developed through
a tunneled vision. Building upon existing
ideas and paradigms, many game develop-
ers still view the phone as just a miniature
console. Shrink-wrapping a console or PC
game isn’t the only way – nor is it always
the best way – to appeal to the traditional
videogame player. Learning to repurpose
content to appropriately fit devices is the big-
gest hurdle that game developers face today.
Leveraging Mobile and Fixed experiences
together
Portability and connectivity are the unique
strengths of mobile devices. While almost
everyone seems to grasp that mobile phones
are meant for capturing short bursts of activ-
ity “anytime, anywhere” because of its port-
ability, very few seem to recognize the power
behind the “connected” part. Still working
within the confines of existing paradigms, la-
tency and other technical limitations are being
blamed for the lack of connected games; mo-
bile games remain as isolated pass-the-time
experiences. It’s very difficult to build depth
and user loyalty within the casual commute
time. However, creating options for players
to keep your content with them as they move
from device to device can open opportunities
for additional content. Portability and connec-
tivity combined offers endless potential that
stationary applications can’t: connecting gam-
ers to their community or an overarching story.
Gamers from the traditional game sector are
still a huge, untapped, and underserved mar-
ket. Rather than pigeon-holing mobile gam-
ing, it is important to strip away any pre-con-
ceived idea of what mobile gaming should be.
The concept of transmedial access, where the
focus is taken off of game translation and onto
native game applications, is an emerging alter-
native in the mobile games arena. Transme-
dial access leverages different mediums (such
as mobile phones) and determines what type
of game content can be better experienced
on the phone than other available mediums.
Transmedial access should not be confused
with what is currently labeled as “cross-plat-
form” games, where a particular game is
developed for the console, PC, and mobile.
Cross-platform games are generally not con-
nected among each device, and are essentially
the same game slightly tweaked for varying
control mechanisms. The game experience
provided should not emphasize that they are
interacting with a super-powerful or sub-par
device; they should feel like they are being of-
fered the opportunity to interact with the game
through the best medium for that purpose.
How to Apply a Transmedial Strategy
As the computer game and mobile device
markets continue to grow, interest in the in-
tersection of those applications are on the rise.
Players are starting to look for multi-platform
capabilities to effectively stay on top of their
game; developers want different ways to draw
the player in and keep them connected. The
mobile device is a perfect medium to serve as
an additional access route for existing games
that traditional gamers are already paying to
play. By providing these gamers with a means
to remotely access part of a meta-game, the
mobile gaming market can secure a large
37
- USA
Mobile Devices and the
“Traditional” Gamer
Abstract
While mobile gaming has become incredibly
popular around the world, there are some ob-
stacles to be faced in the future. There are
several reasons for this, primarily the fact that
today’s mobile gaming experience is a casual
activity designed to pass the time. Neither
the platforms, nor the games lend themselves
to extended periods of gaming . The current
users of mobile games are not gamers per se,
but rather casual users with little commitment
to the game itself. With so many companies
fighting over the small amount of casual time,
the market must lure a new audience in order
to continue growing. Instead of simply con-
verting PC and console games into mobile
experiences, a stepping stone approach will
help open mobile entertainment to the more-
demanding gamer market. In this paper we
will examine the importance and impact tradi-
tional gamers will have on the mobile gaming
industry, how the concept of transmedial ac-
cess advances mobile gaming in an evolution-
ary (rather than revolutionary) manner, and the
and the path it will lead the mobile games to.
What’s in it for the Traditional Gamer?
Mobile phones, as well as the mobile games
industry, have come a long way in recent years.
However, the majority view of mobile games
is that they are only for casual gamers. With
cellphones being “mass market” devices, the
focus has been to leverage the platform pe-
netration to convert non-gamers into casual
mobile-games players. But these back-pocket
devices that we never leave home without
can also be a valuable platform for existing
gamers. The question is: what type of mobile
gaming applications can entice the traditional
gamer market?
Before delving into this question, it is worth
mentioning the distinction being made in this
paper when referencing “traditional” gamers
and “casual” gamers. A traditional gamer refers
to those who play various videogames (PC or
console) and generally exhibit hardcore gam-
ing behavior and purchase patterns. Being a
traditional gamer does not exclude them from
enjoying casual-style games. Casual gamers
gravitate towards games with shorter learn-
ing curves – the kind you can just pick up and
play. The biggest misperception is that casual
gamers only play for short bursts of time; they
in fact often have hardcore playing habits, but
their purchase patterns are different. Casual
gamers’ price/value perception of games sepa-
rates casual gamers from traditional gamers.
Because purchase patterns are important to an
industry’s sustenance and growth, traditional
gamers are key for propelling mobile games
forward. Traditional gamers are willing to
embrace new game-related content, and are
willing to pay for products they believe will
enrich their gaming experience. There have
been numerous efforts geared towards attract-
ing the traditional videogame player to mobile
games, such as licensing traditional game IP
Although many traditional game players do
enjoy playing mobile games in their downtime,
anecdotal evidence suggests that traditional
gamers continue to perceive mobile games
as pale imitations of console games. Current
mobile game offerings appeal to a small per
centage of the traditional gamer demographic.
If the mobile games are viewed as a lesser ver-
sion of an original, it will be harder to jus-
tify a large number of recurring mobile game
downloads.
Despite the amazing developments that
have occurred in mobile gaming, most ad-
vancements have been developed through
a tunneled vision. Building upon existing
ideas and paradigms, many game develop-
ers still view the phone as just a miniature
console. Shrink-wrapping a console or PC
game isn’t the only way – nor is it always
the best way – to appeal to the traditional
videogame player. Learning to repurpose
content to appropriately fit devices is the big-
gest hurdle that game developers face today.
Leveraging Mobile and Fixed experiences
together
Portability and connectivity are the unique
strengths of mobile devices. While almost
everyone seems to grasp that mobile phones
are meant for capturing short bursts of activ-
ity “anytime, anywhere” because of its port-
ability, very few seem to recognize the power
behind the “connected” part. Still working
within the confines of existing paradigms, la-
tency and other technical limitations are being
blamed for the lack of connected games; mo-
bile games remain as isolated pass-the-time
experiences. It’s very difficult to build depth
and user loyalty within the casual commute
time. However, creating options for players
to keep your content with them as they move
from device to device can open opportunities
for additional content. Portability and connec-
tivity combined offers endless potential that
stationary applications can’t: connecting gam-
ers to their community or an overarching story.
Gamers from the traditional game sector are
still a huge, untapped, and underserved mar-
ket. Rather than pigeon-holing mobile gam-
ing, it is important to strip away any pre-con-
ceived idea of what mobile gaming should be.
The concept of transmedial access, where the
focus is taken off of game translation and onto
native game applications, is an emerging alter-
native in the mobile games arena. Transme-
dial access leverages different mediums (such
as mobile phones) and determines what type
of game content can be better experienced
on the phone than other available mediums.
Transmedial access should not be confused
with what is currently labeled as “cross-plat-
form” games, where a particular game is
developed for the console, PC, and mobile.
Cross-platform games are generally not con-
nected among each device, and are essentially
the same game slightly tweaked for varying
control mechanisms. The game experience
provided should not emphasize that they are
interacting with a super-powerful or sub-par
device; they should feel like they are being of-
fered the opportunity to interact with the game
through the best medium for that purpose.
How to Apply a Transmedial Strategy
As the computer game and mobile device
markets continue to grow, interest in the in-
tersection of those applications are on the rise.
Players are starting to look for multi-platform
capabilities to effectively stay on top of their
game; developers want different ways to draw
the player in and keep them connected. The
mobile device is a perfect medium to serve as
an additional access route for existing games
that traditional gamers are already paying to
play. By providing these gamers with a means
to remotely access part of a meta-game, the
mobile gaming market can secure a large
37
group of consistent, enthusiastic users. The
same level of enthusiasm is also shared
among those who favor multiplayer games,
either in cooperation or in competition with
others. Leveraging the existing gamer mar-
ket to introduce new products will help pro-
mote the acceptance of online mobile gaming,
and additional mobile gaming applications.
There are three general principles in transme-
dial access where the use of the mobile phone
can be applied in countless creative ways:
As a communication device: relaying & re-
sponding to time-sensitive data and dialogue.
Whether it’s coordinating an MMO raid or
managing a tournament in an RTS game, re-
ceiving notification of game updates or server
status, the phone is the perfect device to help
gamers stay in the loop with their commu-
nity, and in-the-know for game-critical data.
As a portable joystick: allowing players real-
time ability to affect character advancement,
housekeeping issues, and other virtual world
status. You want that Singing Runcible Sword
from the in-game auctioneer – but you can’t
stay home all day to make sure no one out-
bids you. Transmedial access can help players
who like to interact with the in-game auctions
by providing real-time access to the auctions
whenever they want, giving cell phone alerts
when an auction is about to expire or a higher
bid is entered, and – importantly – allowing
immediate responses to change. organize their
inventories, set up the order of their quests.
As a mobile mini-games: creating pocket-sized
experience extensions (such as mini-games),
where accomplishments can be uploaded and
translated into virtual world value. With a mo-
bile applet, players can spend their time away
from the computer designing the aesthetic
and functional aspects of custom-made game
items. In addition to being an interesting di-
version in itself, the design applet transfers
the designs into the game, giving characters
not only items optimized for their own uses,
but also items that personalize their avatar and
make it more their own. Pocket universes are
contained scenarios – one mini-quest or one
type of task – that, when completed, reap a
reward in the meta game environment. These
custom-created mobile mini-games add a few
twists for high-end titles that the hardcore
gamers welcome can take on the road with
them. Instead of being isolated casual games,
players can navigate a few hazards to gain a
new decorative garment, practice mixing po-
tions in order to raise their alchemy skill, or
even just bop some monsters for a bit of XP.
With the above three principles of transme-
dial design and utility, the mobile and sta-
tionary platforms complement each other
by providing experiences that are different,
yet best run on its respective device. With-
out the commitment of booting up the com-
puter, free moments on a commute to work
can now be used to continue a character’s
virtual progress and to advance a story.
A transmedial strategy can also be utilized to
create persistent narratives, add variety to play-
er challenges, collectibles, and quest formation,
or provide in-game reward mechanisms that
are then accessible through a mobile device.
When access is never farther away than a back
pocket, we have reached a state not only of
persistent worlds, but also of persistent access.
Why is transmedial access important to
the industry?
Isolated mobile gaming applications provide
flexibility but don’t offer enough experiential
depth; this limits immersion, accomplishment,
and loyalty factors, cornering mobile-only ex-
periences as mere diversions. But many tra-
ditional persistent and multiplayer games that
offer depth and intricacies require a significant,
concentrated, stationary commitment, which
then leads to customer attraction and reten-
tion issues. If fixed and mobile was leveraged
different types of entry points to your IP and
community, one device could help the other,
leading to a harmonious business equation.
Gamers don’t have a problem paying for some-
thing they find valuable. Remote email-check-
ing devices often come with hefty price plans,
but ask most business people whether they
find that service worthwhile, and most do. We
already are used to leveraging mobile tools to
help us stay connected to clients, colleagues,
and information for quick decision-making.
We understand the value of mobile access to
increase productivity, and therefore are willing
to pay for it. In fact, without those tools, we’d
actually miss it. With a single-platform offer-
ing, the gamer experience is also incomplete.
Whether in a massively multiplayer online
(MMO) game, or with multiplayer games
and tournaments, peer actions and event
changes have cumulative effects that are
consequential to individuals, whether or
not they are available...similar to real life.
But unlike real life where we have plenty of
tools to help us juggle multiple responsibili-
ties, access into virtual worlds is through a
single access point; active participation re-
quires a significant stationary commitment.
Even the most dedicated users have dif-
ficulty keeping up with the dynamic in-
formation. To remain active and included,
users need ways to better communicate, co-
operate and coordinate in an effective manner.
Playing games is a choice of what one does for
fun. Both mobile and traditional games need
to take into consideration the lifestyle and
gameplay habits of their demographic, and
how each device can contribute to customer
attraction and retention. It is not only an in-
dicator of business viability, it is ultimately an
indicator of whether the game is fun. Satis-
fied gamers means bottom line benefits for
game developers. Combining fixed and mo-
bile draws the player deeper into their game
and community, which in turn benefits both
the traditional and mobile games industry.
Value-add Leads to Mass Market
Transmedial access allows gamers the same
type of convenience to access game statistics,
additional game content, and game commu-
nity, focusing on connected and often times
asymmetric experiences. If the mobile strat-
egy highlights the strength of mobile phones
instead of its limitations, gamers will find their
mobile device to be an indispensable part of
their gaming experience. There will be more
than one type of successful mobile gaming
application, but transmedial applications have
the opportunity of helping traditional gamers
become comfortable with the concept of rely-
ing on their mobile phone for entertainment.
This expands the user base substantially.
A transmedial strategy can be applied to both
hardcore and casual games. But until you cre-
ate a genuine value-add to the demographic
that not only wants to try new tools for game-
38
same level of enthusiasm is also shared
among those who favor multiplayer games,
either in cooperation or in competition with
others. Leveraging the existing gamer mar-
ket to introduce new products will help pro-
mote the acceptance of online mobile gaming,
and additional mobile gaming applications.
There are three general principles in transme-
dial access where the use of the mobile phone
can be applied in countless creative ways:
As a communication device: relaying & re-
sponding to time-sensitive data and dialogue.
Whether it’s coordinating an MMO raid or
managing a tournament in an RTS game, re-
ceiving notification of game updates or server
status, the phone is the perfect device to help
gamers stay in the loop with their commu-
nity, and in-the-know for game-critical data.
As a portable joystick: allowing players real-
time ability to affect character advancement,
housekeeping issues, and other virtual world
status. You want that Singing Runcible Sword
from the in-game auctioneer – but you can’t
stay home all day to make sure no one out-
bids you. Transmedial access can help players
who like to interact with the in-game auctions
by providing real-time access to the auctions
whenever they want, giving cell phone alerts
when an auction is about to expire or a higher
bid is entered, and – importantly – allowing
immediate responses to change. organize their
inventories, set up the order of their quests.
As a mobile mini-games: creating pocket-sized
experience extensions (such as mini-games),
where accomplishments can be uploaded and
translated into virtual world value. With a mo-
bile applet, players can spend their time away
from the computer designing the aesthetic
and functional aspects of custom-made game
items. In addition to being an interesting di-
version in itself, the design applet transfers
the designs into the game, giving characters
not only items optimized for their own uses,
but also items that personalize their avatar and
make it more their own. Pocket universes are
contained scenarios – one mini-quest or one
type of task – that, when completed, reap a
reward in the meta game environment. These
custom-created mobile mini-games add a few
twists for high-end titles that the hardcore
gamers welcome can take on the road with
them. Instead of being isolated casual games,
players can navigate a few hazards to gain a
new decorative garment, practice mixing po-
tions in order to raise their alchemy skill, or
even just bop some monsters for a bit of XP.
With the above three principles of transme-
dial design and utility, the mobile and sta-
tionary platforms complement each other
by providing experiences that are different,
yet best run on its respective device. With-
out the commitment of booting up the com-
puter, free moments on a commute to work
can now be used to continue a character’s
virtual progress and to advance a story.
A transmedial strategy can also be utilized to
create persistent narratives, add variety to play-
er challenges, collectibles, and quest formation,
or provide in-game reward mechanisms that
are then accessible through a mobile device.
When access is never farther away than a back
pocket, we have reached a state not only of
persistent worlds, but also of persistent access.
Why is transmedial access important to
the industry?
Isolated mobile gaming applications provide
flexibility but don’t offer enough experiential
depth; this limits immersion, accomplishment,
and loyalty factors, cornering mobile-only ex-
periences as mere diversions. But many tra-
ditional persistent and multiplayer games that
offer depth and intricacies require a significant,
concentrated, stationary commitment, which
then leads to customer attraction and reten-
tion issues. If fixed and mobile was leveraged
different types of entry points to your IP and
community, one device could help the other,
leading to a harmonious business equation.
Gamers don’t have a problem paying for some-
thing they find valuable. Remote email-check-
ing devices often come with hefty price plans,
but ask most business people whether they
find that service worthwhile, and most do. We
already are used to leveraging mobile tools to
help us stay connected to clients, colleagues,
and information for quick decision-making.
We understand the value of mobile access to
increase productivity, and therefore are willing
to pay for it. In fact, without those tools, we’d
actually miss it. With a single-platform offer-
ing, the gamer experience is also incomplete.
Whether in a massively multiplayer online
(MMO) game, or with multiplayer games
and tournaments, peer actions and event
changes have cumulative effects that are
consequential to individuals, whether or
not they are available...similar to real life.
But unlike real life where we have plenty of
tools to help us juggle multiple responsibili-
ties, access into virtual worlds is through a
single access point; active participation re-
quires a significant stationary commitment.
Even the most dedicated users have dif-
ficulty keeping up with the dynamic in-
formation. To remain active and included,
users need ways to better communicate, co-
operate and coordinate in an effective manner.
Playing games is a choice of what one does for
fun. Both mobile and traditional games need
to take into consideration the lifestyle and
gameplay habits of their demographic, and
how each device can contribute to customer
attraction and retention. It is not only an in-
dicator of business viability, it is ultimately an
indicator of whether the game is fun. Satis-
fied gamers means bottom line benefits for
game developers. Combining fixed and mo-
bile draws the player deeper into their game
and community, which in turn benefits both
the traditional and mobile games industry.
Value-add Leads to Mass Market
Transmedial access allows gamers the same
type of convenience to access game statistics,
additional game content, and game commu-
nity, focusing on connected and often times
asymmetric experiences. If the mobile strat-
egy highlights the strength of mobile phones
instead of its limitations, gamers will find their
mobile device to be an indispensable part of
their gaming experience. There will be more
than one type of successful mobile gaming
application, but transmedial applications have
the opportunity of helping traditional gamers
become comfortable with the concept of rely-
ing on their mobile phone for entertainment.
This expands the user base substantially.
A transmedial strategy can be applied to both
hardcore and casual games. But until you cre-
ate a genuine value-add to the demographic
that not only wants to try new tools for game-
38
enhancement, but is willing to pay for it and
tell their friends about it, mobile games will
have difficulty reaching its full potential. The
traditional gaming market is comprised of
game enthusiasts, eager to embrace new prod-
ucts and services that can bring value into their
gameplay experiences. Just as new technol-
ogy becomes mainstream technology through
the momentum of enthusiasts, transmedial ac-
cess will propel traditional gamers – and sub-
sequently the casual gamers – to look at their
mobile phone as an entertainment device.
Frank Fitzek,
Allborg University
- Denmark
Mobile Gaming 2010
Cooperative Mobile Gaming
Abstract --- This articled presents a way in
which mobile gamers may access the cellu-
lar communication system in the future. Co-
operation among terminals is advocated here
in contrast to the existing communication
method, where the base station communi-
cates with dedicated communication links to
the end terminals. By using the inbuilt short
range communication with high data rates,
terminals form cooperation clusters. In ad-
dition to that each terminal uses the cellular
communication link with low data rates to
form high virtual data rates for the cluster.
Furthermore, the cooperative access yields
reduced energy consumption per terminal and
reduced costs for the customer. The forming
process of the cooperative cluster is moti-
vated by technical as well as social reasons.
Introduction and Motivation
Quality of service is the enabler to ensure
financially successful wireless and mobile
communication systems. One of the most
promising services is mobile gaming, espe-
cially multiplayer games which are of special
interest to the players. To port the multiplayer
games to the mobile world, there are some
problems that have to be addressed to enable
mobile gaming for multiplayer games. As
with any mobile end system, the mobile gam-
ing consoles are limited in the wireless data
rate, maximum allowed costs, and energy
consumption. While the wireless data rate can
be increased for each individual terminal at
larger costs in terms of complexity and en-
ergy consumption, the energy consumption is
the critical issue at present and it will become
even more important in the future. The energy
consumption determines the stand by time of
the gaming console and therefore the degree of
freedom in a mobile world. In order to overcome
the described problems of energy consump-
tion, costs and complexity we are motivated
to look at novel communication architectures.
In [1] we have already outlined first novel ar-
chitectures for gaming services to access cellu-
lar networks. It was assumed that each player
has a mobile gaming console with two types
of wireless connection. The first connection is
the state of the art cellular link (offering low
data rates, large delays at high prices, but full
coverage) and the second one is a short range
communication (high data rates and low delays
and no or very low additional costs). In the
paper it was advocated to form gaming clus-
ters, such that they can be found at any LAN
location and play with friends in the proximity
of the user using the short range communica-
tion. The cellular connection was only used to
manage the game (game initiation, authenti-
cation, score submissions, map or digital item
downloading etc.). Therefore, the proposed
architecture was particularly well suited for
games that have offline software distribution,
but require a registration (authentication) each
time the game is played. This kind of archi-
tecture was especially interesting for network
and service providers. The network providers
could increase their financial efficiency (mon-
ey per bit) as most of the traffic is transported
over the short range and not over the cellular
connection so the service providers would get
a small benefit each time the game was initi-
ated. This architecture could easily be mapped
to school children playing on the school
yard (but it is not limited to that scenario).
On the other side this architecture did not
support the gaming with players which are
not in the proximity of the short range com-
munication, but may be placed somewhere
else in the communication network playing
on a central server. As multiplayer games
seem to be the most attractive forms of gam-
ing (currently, five million players daily ac-
cess World of Warcraf t), the proposed ar-
chitecture needs to be revised and we will
present a novel more refined architecture.
Cooperative Access
As shown in Figure 1, we envision the follow-
ing architecture (in close relationship to the
one given in [1]): Players are able to access
the gaming server via the wireless or the wired
connection. As an example the game played
can be a first-person shooter (FPS) game such
as Halflife or a massively multi-player role-
playing game (MMORPG) such as World
of Warcraft. While the players join the first-
person shooter game with its character for a
limited time, the MMORPG foresees to build
the character over a long time, which can be
a year. Thus, players are highly interested in
having certain access to the game that will not
loose their improved and trained characters.
Those who have a fixed connection are re-
ferred to as Fixed Players and those who are
connected in a wireless fashion are called Mo-
bile Players. All players are connected to one
of the gaming servers hosted by Provider A,
B or C. We assume the fixed players will not
discover any problems as they have a power
supply and huge backbone capacity (e.g. flat
39
tell their friends about it, mobile games will
have difficulty reaching its full potential. The
traditional gaming market is comprised of
game enthusiasts, eager to embrace new prod-
ucts and services that can bring value into their
gameplay experiences. Just as new technol-
ogy becomes mainstream technology through
the momentum of enthusiasts, transmedial ac-
cess will propel traditional gamers – and sub-
sequently the casual gamers – to look at their
mobile phone as an entertainment device.
Frank Fitzek,
Allborg University
- Denmark
Mobile Gaming 2010
Cooperative Mobile Gaming
Abstract --- This articled presents a way in
which mobile gamers may access the cellu-
lar communication system in the future. Co-
operation among terminals is advocated here
in contrast to the existing communication
method, where the base station communi-
cates with dedicated communication links to
the end terminals. By using the inbuilt short
range communication with high data rates,
terminals form cooperation clusters. In ad-
dition to that each terminal uses the cellular
communication link with low data rates to
form high virtual data rates for the cluster.
Furthermore, the cooperative access yields
reduced energy consumption per terminal and
reduced costs for the customer. The forming
process of the cooperative cluster is moti-
vated by technical as well as social reasons.
Introduction and Motivation
Quality of service is the enabler to ensure
financially successful wireless and mobile
communication systems. One of the most
promising services is mobile gaming, espe-
cially multiplayer games which are of special
interest to the players. To port the multiplayer
games to the mobile world, there are some
problems that have to be addressed to enable
mobile gaming for multiplayer games. As
with any mobile end system, the mobile gam-
ing consoles are limited in the wireless data
rate, maximum allowed costs, and energy
consumption. While the wireless data rate can
be increased for each individual terminal at
larger costs in terms of complexity and en-
ergy consumption, the energy consumption is
the critical issue at present and it will become
even more important in the future. The energy
consumption determines the stand by time of
the gaming console and therefore the degree of
freedom in a mobile world. In order to overcome
the described problems of energy consump-
tion, costs and complexity we are motivated
to look at novel communication architectures.
In [1] we have already outlined first novel ar-
chitectures for gaming services to access cellu-
lar networks. It was assumed that each player
has a mobile gaming console with two types
of wireless connection. The first connection is
the state of the art cellular link (offering low
data rates, large delays at high prices, but full
coverage) and the second one is a short range
communication (high data rates and low delays
and no or very low additional costs). In the
paper it was advocated to form gaming clus-
ters, such that they can be found at any LAN
location and play with friends in the proximity
of the user using the short range communica-
tion. The cellular connection was only used to
manage the game (game initiation, authenti-
cation, score submissions, map or digital item
downloading etc.). Therefore, the proposed
architecture was particularly well suited for
games that have offline software distribution,
but require a registration (authentication) each
time the game is played. This kind of archi-
tecture was especially interesting for network
and service providers. The network providers
could increase their financial efficiency (mon-
ey per bit) as most of the traffic is transported
over the short range and not over the cellular
connection so the service providers would get
a small benefit each time the game was initi-
ated. This architecture could easily be mapped
to school children playing on the school
yard (but it is not limited to that scenario).
On the other side this architecture did not
support the gaming with players which are
not in the proximity of the short range com-
munication, but may be placed somewhere
else in the communication network playing
on a central server. As multiplayer games
seem to be the most attractive forms of gam-
ing (currently, five million players daily ac-
cess World of Warcraf t), the proposed ar-
chitecture needs to be revised and we will
present a novel more refined architecture.
Cooperative Access
As shown in Figure 1, we envision the follow-
ing architecture (in close relationship to the
one given in [1]): Players are able to access
the gaming server via the wireless or the wired
connection. As an example the game played
can be a first-person shooter (FPS) game such
as Halflife or a massively multi-player role-
playing game (MMORPG) such as World
of Warcraft. While the players join the first-
person shooter game with its character for a
limited time, the MMORPG foresees to build
the character over a long time, which can be
a year. Thus, players are highly interested in
having certain access to the game that will not
loose their improved and trained characters.
Those who have a fixed connection are re-
ferred to as Fixed Players and those who are
connected in a wireless fashion are called Mo-
bile Players. All players are connected to one
of the gaming servers hosted by Provider A,
B or C. We assume the fixed players will not
discover any problems as they have a power
supply and huge backbone capacity (e.g. flat
39
rate) and hereafter we focus only on the mobile
gamers. In case of user E1 and E2, the players
need a gaming console with a cellular connec-
tion offering huge bandwidth and small delays
similar to the fixed connection. Even though
the gaming traffic is small compared to video
streaming, there are given periods where a lot
of action takes place and high data rates are
required. This will lead to short delays. To
achieve the required characteristics, the gam-
ing console has to be high complex (ending up
in a high priced entity) and investing a lot of
energy and money.
Therefore we advocate the usage of coopera-
tive access (e.g. formed by User A, B, C and
D). Once again we come back to the idea of a
gaming console with two kinds of connection,
the short range and the cellular (or central-
ized). In case the players have grouped (oc-
casionally or because of the later explained
advantage) they can establish multiple links to
the overlay network.
In contrast to the single reception case, the ter-
minals will not receive the full information,
but receive only partial information in the first
step. The cluster needs to coordinate this kind
of cooperative access with disjunctive infor-
mation and exchange the retrieved informa-
tion over the short range communication link.
The partial information per terminal is differ-
ent for all terminals. To retrieve the full infor-
mation, the terminals exchange the received
data over the short range communication. The
received information can be distinguished into
three types:
i.) common part: gaming maps, general
information, high scores, etc.
ii.) dedicated information: only for a
given terminal Figure 1: Architecture for Multi Player Gaming with Cooperative Access
40
gamers. In case of user E1 and E2, the players
need a gaming console with a cellular connec-
tion offering huge bandwidth and small delays
similar to the fixed connection. Even though
the gaming traffic is small compared to video
streaming, there are given periods where a lot
of action takes place and high data rates are
required. This will lead to short delays. To
achieve the required characteristics, the gam-
ing console has to be high complex (ending up
in a high priced entity) and investing a lot of
energy and money.
Therefore we advocate the usage of coopera-
tive access (e.g. formed by User A, B, C and
D). Once again we come back to the idea of a
gaming console with two kinds of connection,
the short range and the cellular (or central-
ized). In case the players have grouped (oc-
casionally or because of the later explained
advantage) they can establish multiple links to
the overlay network.
In contrast to the single reception case, the ter-
minals will not receive the full information,
but receive only partial information in the first
step. The cluster needs to coordinate this kind
of cooperative access with disjunctive infor-
mation and exchange the retrieved informa-
tion over the short range communication link.
The partial information per terminal is differ-
ent for all terminals. To retrieve the full infor-
mation, the terminals exchange the received
data over the short range communication. The
received information can be distinguished into
three types:
i.) common part: gaming maps, general
information, high scores, etc.
ii.) dedicated information: only for a
given terminal Figure 1: Architecture for Multi Player Gaming with Cooperative Access
40
iii.) derived information: additional in-
formation for a given player or set of players.
By using this sort of information in addition
with the common information, new informa-
tion can be derived. This seems promising as
all players within a cooperation cluster may
be located near by even in the virtual world
and information may be coded differentially.
In the Figure 2 the merging process of three
individual gaming streams into one coopera-
tive stream is shown. After the gaming server
knows about the clustering, it will take the
streams and start to rearrange the informa-
tion. First of all the common information is
extracted and put in the front followed by the
dedicated information. Obviously the common
part is now only transmitted once per coopera-
tive cluster and not multiple times, so this is
already a first gain by the cooperative clusters.
Advanced gaming servers may search for
compression possibilities to get the derived
information. Nevertheless, after the new co-
operative packet is generated, some mapping
is needed to determine where to send the in-
formation. Assume that all terminals have a
fixed bandwidth (same packet size P1, P2, and
P3), so there is an optimal sending strategy to
reduce the later exchange over the short range
communication link, but that is out of scope
of this paper. What we can also see by this ex-
ample is that an inherent multiplexing is given
(Player 1 is receiving data for the whole group
and player 3 is offers some data for player 2).
This may be seen as misusage of the foreign
capacity, but roles may change and as we have
explained earlier, the gaming group has one
common goal (which is to win the game).
Figure 2: Merging process of three individual gaming packets into one
cooperation packet
To sum up, the cooperative communication
has the following advantages:
Less Complex Cellular Access: Compared to
a stand alone air interface, the cooperative one
will be less complex and low cost end termi-
nals are the result.
Less Energy Consumption: By cooperative
access, it has been shown in [2], that the pow-
er can be reduced dramatically. This statement
holds as long as the short range communica-
tion is using less energy per transmitted bit
than the cellular approach. For most techno-
logies this is true such as in the case of GPRS
data from the base station that will be ex-
changed with Bluetooth among the coopera-
tive users and more examples can be found.
If we foresee new technologies for short
range communication such as IEEE802.15.3a,
the energy per bit becomes even smaller.
Shared Reduced Service Costs: As the coop-
erative group retrieves nearly the same amount
of information as the stand alone player, the
costs can be split among the players. Even the
network provider will see this as an advantage as
this approach breaks new ground of customers.
These advantages will encourage players to
group together motivated by technical and fi-
nancial reasons. In addition to that, mobile gam-
ers may even form grouping because of social
reasons or reasons related to the type of game.
Social Grouping: Often players meet to per-
form together in so called clans (some sort of
gaming team). The real life communication
helps to play more efficient or to plan future
steps, even though more advanced games offer
voice support to communicate among the play-
ers. Therefore this technically driven architec-
ture will have its feedback to the social life.
The advantage for the manufacture is that low
and high complexity terminals are needed.
While the high complex terminals are used
by a small number of users, the mass mar-
ket will use the cooperative terminals. It has
to be noted here that also the high complex
terminals may use cooperation to achieve the
cooperative gains such as less energy con-
sumption and shared costs while playing.
Business Model
In contrast to the architecture proposed in [1],
the envisioned cooperative architecture as-
sumes that all terminals are directly connected
to the cellular system and therefore the bill-
ing can be arranged by the network provider.
Furthermore, the gaming provider will also
bill for its services. There are two billing ap-
proaches, namely the separate and the trans-
parent billing.
Separate Billing: With separate billing the
customer has a contract with the network pro-
vider and one or multiple separate contract(s)
with one or multiple game service provider(s).
The cellular provider charges the customer
41
formation for a given player or set of players.
By using this sort of information in addition
with the common information, new informa-
tion can be derived. This seems promising as
all players within a cooperation cluster may
be located near by even in the virtual world
and information may be coded differentially.
In the Figure 2 the merging process of three
individual gaming streams into one coopera-
tive stream is shown. After the gaming server
knows about the clustering, it will take the
streams and start to rearrange the informa-
tion. First of all the common information is
extracted and put in the front followed by the
dedicated information. Obviously the common
part is now only transmitted once per coopera-
tive cluster and not multiple times, so this is
already a first gain by the cooperative clusters.
Advanced gaming servers may search for
compression possibilities to get the derived
information. Nevertheless, after the new co-
operative packet is generated, some mapping
is needed to determine where to send the in-
formation. Assume that all terminals have a
fixed bandwidth (same packet size P1, P2, and
P3), so there is an optimal sending strategy to
reduce the later exchange over the short range
communication link, but that is out of scope
of this paper. What we can also see by this ex-
ample is that an inherent multiplexing is given
(Player 1 is receiving data for the whole group
and player 3 is offers some data for player 2).
This may be seen as misusage of the foreign
capacity, but roles may change and as we have
explained earlier, the gaming group has one
common goal (which is to win the game).
Figure 2: Merging process of three individual gaming packets into one
cooperation packet
To sum up, the cooperative communication
has the following advantages:
Less Complex Cellular Access: Compared to
a stand alone air interface, the cooperative one
will be less complex and low cost end termi-
nals are the result.
Less Energy Consumption: By cooperative
access, it has been shown in [2], that the pow-
er can be reduced dramatically. This statement
holds as long as the short range communica-
tion is using less energy per transmitted bit
than the cellular approach. For most techno-
logies this is true such as in the case of GPRS
data from the base station that will be ex-
changed with Bluetooth among the coopera-
tive users and more examples can be found.
If we foresee new technologies for short
range communication such as IEEE802.15.3a,
the energy per bit becomes even smaller.
Shared Reduced Service Costs: As the coop-
erative group retrieves nearly the same amount
of information as the stand alone player, the
costs can be split among the players. Even the
network provider will see this as an advantage as
this approach breaks new ground of customers.
These advantages will encourage players to
group together motivated by technical and fi-
nancial reasons. In addition to that, mobile gam-
ers may even form grouping because of social
reasons or reasons related to the type of game.
Social Grouping: Often players meet to per-
form together in so called clans (some sort of
gaming team). The real life communication
helps to play more efficient or to plan future
steps, even though more advanced games offer
voice support to communicate among the play-
ers. Therefore this technically driven architec-
ture will have its feedback to the social life.
The advantage for the manufacture is that low
and high complexity terminals are needed.
While the high complex terminals are used
by a small number of users, the mass mar-
ket will use the cooperative terminals. It has
to be noted here that also the high complex
terminals may use cooperation to achieve the
cooperative gains such as less energy con-
sumption and shared costs while playing.
Business Model
In contrast to the architecture proposed in [1],
the envisioned cooperative architecture as-
sumes that all terminals are directly connected
to the cellular system and therefore the bill-
ing can be arranged by the network provider.
Furthermore, the gaming provider will also
bill for its services. There are two billing ap-
proaches, namely the separate and the trans-
parent billing.
Separate Billing: With separate billing the
customer has a contract with the network pro-
vider and one or multiple separate contract(s)
with one or multiple game service provider(s).
The cellular provider charges the customer
41
for the use of the cellular connection.
Transparent Billing: With transparent bill-
ing, the cellular billing entity is used for both,
the billing for the cellular connection as well
as for the billing for the gaming service. The
two main advantages of the transparent bill-
ing approach are that (1) the customer deals
only with one company (i.e. the billing for
the gaming service is transparent to the cus-
tomer), and (2) the customer’s SIM card can
be used for reliable billing. Therefore, the
transparent billing approach may be viewed
as customer friendly. Note that for transparent
billing, communication between the cellular
billing entity and the game service provider is
necessary to establish the price of the service
(this however is transparent to the customer).
We note that both the transparent billing ap-
proach as well as the separate billing approach
is inspired by the successful service model of
NTT DoCoMo [3]. NTT DoCoMo takes re-
sponsibility for the network infrastructure.
The services for the platform are provided
partially by NTT DoCoMo and partially by
selected partners. The idea of the business
model is that NTT DoCoMo receives the traf-
fic revenue and the service providers receive
their transaction revenue. In case the provid-
ers are using NTT DoCoMo’s value-added
services, such as billing, NTT DoCoMo also
receives the revenue from the transactions
(similar to our transparent billing approach).
In relationship to the cooperative gam-
ing, the billing does not require any addi-
tional changes as long as all cooperating
consoles share the bill equally. In case of
heterogeneous billing some small changes
are required to offer the needed flexibility.
Conclusion:
Cooperative gaming architecture will enable a
new way of gaming by overcoming the known
problems in the wireless domain as there are
the energy constraints and the related costs.
Also cooperation is based on technical rea-
sons, it maps perfectly to the needs and wishes
of players how they enter the gaming zones,
which is in so called clans. Cooperation of-
fers advantages for players, manufactures,
network providers and service providers.
References:
[1] F.H.P. Fitzek and G. Schulte and M. Re-
isslein. System Architecture for Billing of
Multi-Player Games in a Wireless Envi-
ronment using GSM/UMTS and WLAN
Services. 2002. in Proceedings of the First
Workshop on Network and System Support
for Games (NetGames 2002), pages 58-64.
Braunschweig, Germany.
[2] Frank H. P. Fitzek and and Marcos Katz.
Cooperation in Wireless Networks: Prin-
ciples and Applications, Springer, ISBN1-
4020-4710-X, 2006
[3] K. Satoh. NTT DoCoMo activities in
and beyond IMT2000. Presentation at 11th
Time-Market Symposium, Sky Garden, Sony-
Center Berlin, Germany, Sept. 2001.
42
Transparent Billing: With transparent bill-
ing, the cellular billing entity is used for both,
the billing for the cellular connection as well
as for the billing for the gaming service. The
two main advantages of the transparent bill-
ing approach are that (1) the customer deals
only with one company (i.e. the billing for
the gaming service is transparent to the cus-
tomer), and (2) the customer’s SIM card can
be used for reliable billing. Therefore, the
transparent billing approach may be viewed
as customer friendly. Note that for transparent
billing, communication between the cellular
billing entity and the game service provider is
necessary to establish the price of the service
(this however is transparent to the customer).
We note that both the transparent billing ap-
proach as well as the separate billing approach
is inspired by the successful service model of
NTT DoCoMo [3]. NTT DoCoMo takes re-
sponsibility for the network infrastructure.
The services for the platform are provided
partially by NTT DoCoMo and partially by
selected partners. The idea of the business
model is that NTT DoCoMo receives the traf-
fic revenue and the service providers receive
their transaction revenue. In case the provid-
ers are using NTT DoCoMo’s value-added
services, such as billing, NTT DoCoMo also
receives the revenue from the transactions
(similar to our transparent billing approach).
In relationship to the cooperative gam-
ing, the billing does not require any addi-
tional changes as long as all cooperating
consoles share the bill equally. In case of
heterogeneous billing some small changes
are required to offer the needed flexibility.
Conclusion:
Cooperative gaming architecture will enable a
new way of gaming by overcoming the known
problems in the wireless domain as there are
the energy constraints and the related costs.
Also cooperation is based on technical rea-
sons, it maps perfectly to the needs and wishes
of players how they enter the gaming zones,
which is in so called clans. Cooperation of-
fers advantages for players, manufactures,
network providers and service providers.
References:
[1] F.H.P. Fitzek and G. Schulte and M. Re-
isslein. System Architecture for Billing of
Multi-Player Games in a Wireless Envi-
ronment using GSM/UMTS and WLAN
Services. 2002. in Proceedings of the First
Workshop on Network and System Support
for Games (NetGames 2002), pages 58-64.
Braunschweig, Germany.
[2] Frank H. P. Fitzek and and Marcos Katz.
Cooperation in Wireless Networks: Prin-
ciples and Applications, Springer, ISBN1-
4020-4710-X, 2006
[3] K. Satoh. NTT DoCoMo activities in
and beyond IMT2000. Presentation at 11th
Time-Market Symposium, Sky Garden, Sony-
Center Berlin, Germany, Sept. 2001.
42
Categories
SportsDownload
Download Slideshow Get the original presentation fileQuick Actions
Statistics
- Views 16,644
- Slides 43
- Favorites 36
- Age 6524 days
Related Slideshows
32
figurative-language power point.pptththtrht
acecamero20
21 views
22
Figurative-Language-powerpoint.pptgttgth
acecamero20
24 views
44
Plasma proteins functions electroforesis - Copy.pptx
DratoshKatiyar
22 views
2
FORMATO 4. PLANTEAMIENTO DEL PROBLEMA. 4 Oct. 2022.ppt
LuisLopez350618
20 views
4
Cristiano Ronaldo jugador portugués, la leyenda
laparchizacorp
20 views
10
🎮✨ Top 10 Most Used Software Tools by Indie Game Developers (2025 Edition)
cheapersgamecomcare
19 views