opportunities and benefits of location-based games in tourism

LOCATION-BASED GAMES IN TOURISM Jessika Weber PhD Researcher School of Tourism, Bournemouth University 58th Meeting of the UNWTO Commission for Europe and Seminar on Mobile Technologies for Improving the Tourism Experience

GEOCACHING Jenn Seva

• Volunteer and avid geocacher since 2001

• Business Development Manager at Geocaching HQ, Seattle

• Editor of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Geocaching, 3rd

Edition

• MISSION: To inspire and enable discovery, exploration

and adventure.

OJOO Peter Symons

• Social media, tech and marketing expert

from Ghent, Belgium

•  Founder of OJOO, a revolutionary mobile app for creating,

playing, sharing and selling location-based games from

any mobile device

• MISSION: turn the world into a big playground

GOOGLE Anne Beuttenmüller

•  Joined Google 2008 and worked in

various positions

• Since 2 years head of Product Marketing & Community

Management Europe for Ingress at Google’s Niantic Labs

• MISSION: Create adventures & explorations through

meaningful interactions with the local environment and

people using technology and gameplay

GAMES AND TOURISM ARE TEMPORARY ESCAPES INTO ANOTHER WORLD

(Ermi and Mäyrä 2005)

* USING THE REAL WORLD AS THE PLAYGROUND

LOCATION-BASED GAMES

… for mobile handheld devices can be

understood as outdoor games making use of

the player’s physical location via the

GPS sensor and compass to facilitate

gameplay activities. The player interacts

with virtual and physical game mechanics

in order to overcome artificial challenges and

to proceed gameplay in the real and game

environment.

Posi%ve  Player  Emo%ons  

Loca%on  Engagement  

ENGAGING EXPERIENCES

Authen%city  

Social  Interac%on  

Loca%on-­‐based  Storytelling  

Playfulness   Media%on  Tool  

Tourist LB Game

Tourism Locations

Real/Virtual  World  Game  Mechanics    

HISTORY, PRESENT & FUTURE

2012 2013

• Google Glass

2014

• 6th Gen. iPhone

2015

•  VR – Oculus Rift

•  AR – HoloLens

•  EyeFly 3D

2016 …

• 4G • Cloud

Gaming

1999

• Mobile phones with GPS

2000 2006

• Google maps for mobile

2007

• 1st Gen. iPhone

2008

• Android with GPS

* POTENTIALS

FOR TOURISM

SMARTPHONES ARE KEY

ü  Advancements in mobile technology

ü  Affordability & increased connectivity

ü  Ubiquitous travel companion Dads

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Laptop

Tablets

Smartphones

Mobile device usage during travel

Over 55 35-54 years Under 35 yeards Total

MOBILE GAMES MARKET

ü  Growing 27.3% between 2015-19

ü  Among all apps, 65% spend on games

ü  $ 24 Bn. mobile games revenue in 2016

ü  More than 60% of gamers play mobile games daily

Mobile Games Revenue 2014

THE MOBILE GAMER

ü  No longer a ‘stereotype’ game player

ü  Average mobile gamer is 37 years old

ü  2 out of 5 players are female

ü  Play everywhere and any time

ü  Play ‘in-between’

ü  Like adventure and social games

* APPLICATION FIELDS

OUTDOOR TOURISM

CITY TOURISM

HOSPITALITY

CULTURAL HERITAGE

CURRENT (temporary) CHALLENGES

ü  High roaming in EU- free Wi-Fi in destinations

ü  GPS accuracy

ü  Compatibility of apps and devices

ü  Courage for innovation

LET‘S TURN THE TOURISM WORLD INTO A PLAYGROUND

KEY CRITERIA FOR IMPLEMENTATION

ü  Know your target audience & their interests

ü Real world application case

ü  Consider the gameplay context

ü  Available, findable & user friendly game app

ü  Business model

ü  Games around the tourism journey

ü  Engaging and meaningful experiences

GAME OVER Jessika Weber PhD Researcher School of Tourism, Bournemouth University jweber@bournemouth.ac.uk www.jessikaweber.net @JessikaWeber

REFERENCES • CCM Benchmark •  Technavio Research • Statistica.com (June 2015) • Kallio, Kaipainen and Mäyrä (2007) • Engl and Nacke (2012) •  Jacob and Coelho (2011) • Kallio, Kaipainen and Mäyrä (2007)

Pictures Shutterstock and private