Concepts and Technologies for Pervasive Games

This book gives an introduction and overview of the field of Pervasive Gaming, an emerging genre in which traditional, real-world games are augmented with computing functionality, or, depending on the perspective, purely virtual computer entertainment is brought back to the real world.
We try to both inform about the developments and influential works in the field of Pervasive Games, and also help laying the foundation for shaping the future of this application domain. Consequently, we focus on concepts and theoretical works that help understanding and sharpening the rationale behind the field (the “what”) as well as on technological means of actually realizing working prototypes of Pervasive Games (the “how”).
With these twelve chapters ranging from conceptual approaches to detailed technological solutions we hope to provide stimulation and raise interest for the exciting new field of Pervasive Gaming. Many of the works presented here were initially discussed among researches at a series of scientific symposia called PerGames that, at the time of this writing, have been held four times since 2004 and have attracted a growing number of participants each year. As a valuable next step towards diving deeper into the field, the discussion with peers and experts at gatherings such as PerGames is highly recommended. Getting active and link with other practitioners and researchers is what we hope to have stimulated with this book. The PerGames website is at www. pergames. de.