ROGUE SIGNALSA Location-Aware Game for Studying theSocial Effects of Information Bottlenecks

interface ecology lab

Game ServerObjectives’ positions Predators’

positions, orientations

Game state Harvesters’ positions, orientations, states

Coordinator

Virtual world understanding

Harvester

Coordinator Display

Real world understanding

Harvester moves in

real world

The role of the coordinator is fulfilled from a computer terminal with a two-way radio. The coordinator has constant access to all information about the game’s virtual world through a map, as well as information about player and game status. The duty of the coordinator is to keep the team informed about what is going on, as well as to guide the harvesters toward the objectives and away from the predators.

CoordinatorEquipped with a two-way radio, GPS, a simple information display, and a barcode scanner, harvesters move in the real world, while being tracked in the virtual. The harvesters try to locate and scan objectives while avoiding predators in the virtual world. Since they have very little information about the virtual world, they must rely on the coordinator and one another to win the game.

Harvesters touched by predators are deactivated until they can reach a reactivation zone. While deactivated, a harvester cannot collect any game objectives.

In order to be tracked, a harvester must be within a WiFi field. Those that leave areas of network coverage cannot collect objectives but are also immune to predators while outside.

HarvestersThe Human Team

The human team works against the clock and the predators to locate and scan objectives in physical space. Three harvesters and one coordinator make up the human team and three predators oppose them.

Information bottlenecks are an issue for distributed mobile workers (and players). While some members of the team may have access to information in situated contexts, this information must be filtered through team members and communication channels to reach other members, who need to use it.

The predators are the slow and invincible computer-controlled virtual opponents. They move in the virtual world, attempting to deactivate the avatars of the human harvesters. While unstoppable, the simplicity of their AI means they can be outsmarted.

Since the predators have no representation in the physical world, they are invisible to the harvesters and are able to move through physical barrier. Harvesters can detect only their proximity;, but not their exact location or bearing any other warnings come from the coordinator, who can see the predators.

The Predators

Whenever a harvester is deactivated by a predator, he or she must move to a reactivation zone to continue playing. Reactivation zones are visible to the coordinator on the coordinator’s map. The zones are represented in the real world by invisible circular spaces.

Reactivation Zones

objectiveObjectives are bar-coded sheets of paper. They are hidden, in the real world, to harvesters,. In the virtual world, they appear to the coordinator as X’s on the map Harvesters must seek them out and collect objectives, while only the coordinators can see where to look for them. To collect an objective, a harvester must swipe the barcode with the reader.

ObjectivesGame Artifacts

Two-way Radio – All human players (coordinator and harvesters) communicate over two-way radio. This allows information exchange and team coordination, but over a restricted verbal channel.

GPS – GPS is used for harvester location sensing. The real-world coordinates from the GPS are used to determine the position of the harvester’s avatar in the virtual world.

PDA – A PDA carried by the harvester acts both as a data-router and as an information display for the harvester. The PDA displays the a meter indicating the proximity of the predator nearest the harvester’s avatar, an indicator of whether or not the harvester’s avatar is active, and WiFi signal strength.

Barcode Reader – Harvesters scan in objectives using the barcode reader.

Objectives (Barcodes) – Objectives are hidden pieces of paper with barcodes on them.

WiFi-Connected Network – All game data is communicated between devices over a WiFi-connected network. This network saturates most of the outdoor playing area. As long as harvesters are within the network, they are able to participate in the game. Once out of the network, they are safe from predators, but unable to play until they return.

Equipment

http://ecologylab.cs.tamu.edu/rogue/

Texas A&M University Dept of Computer Science

College Station, Texas, USA

Zachary O. Toups (toupsz@csdl.tamu.edu), Andruid Kerne (andruid@csdl.tamu.edu) , Daniel Caruso (dcaruso@csdl.tamu.edu), Erin Devoy (jinglephrog@yahoo.com), Ross Graeber (rgraeber@tamu.edu), Kyle Overby (koverby@tamu.edu)

Two-way radioConversation