Observations on Situated Design, Theoretical Perspectives and Measurement of Player Experiences in Location Aware Games

Dissatisfied with the inefficiency and inadequacy of the “learning from experience” methodology in determining user reaction to their location-aware games, Blink approached two local universities, experienced in evaluation techniques deployed in human computer interaction, to form a partnership to address the evaluation of their creations. In this paper we present two examples of Blink's previous work to show the limitations of the common sense approach to evaluation as applied to the design of location aware events. Many unanswered questions relating to the gauging of user experiences are enumerated as the product of reflection on the experiences gained as a result of these location-aware games implementations. We then touch briefly on a theoretical discussion of the nature of these events, before introducing some proposed heuristics, informed by previous experience and theoretical discussion. These heuristics will be used in conducting a more structured evaluation of the next event, taking place in Autumn 2008.