Sociability in Hybrid Board Game Marketing Materials: Seven Key Features

Ville Kankainen Abstract University of Tampere Hybrid board games mixing physical and digital Kalevantie 4, FI-33014 elements are one form of growingly popular hybrid Finland [email protected] playful products and services. Hybrid Social Play research project aims to identify the best practices in Timo Nummenmaa using the hybridity to develop new kind of social University of Tampere experiences in board games. In this study marketing Kalevantie 4, FI-33014 and promotional material of 13 hybrid board games Finland +358 50 420 1506 have been identified and analyzed in order to determine [email protected] how social features related to hybrid game features are presented. As a result of the analysis, it has become apparent that there are seven key features which are presented as being important to players. The knowledge generated in this work acts as a view to how the industry sees hybridity in games as a tool for supporting social interaction, and how the industry Paste the appropriate copyright/license statement here. ACM now wants to message it to consumers when they explore supports three different publication options: promotional material. • ACM copyright: ACM holds the copyright on the work. This is the historical approach. • License: The author(s) retain copyright, but ACM receives an Author Keywords exclusive publication license. Hybrid Games, Board Games, Marketing, • Open Access: The author(s) wish to pay for the work to be open access. The additional fee must be paid to ACM. Advertisement, Sociability This text field is large enough to hold the appropriate release statement assuming it is single-spaced in Verdana 7 point font. Please do not change the size of this text box. ACM Classification Keywords Each submission will be assigned a unique DOI string to be included here. K.8.0 [Personal Computing]: General – Games

Introduction also informing what they think customers value in such Hybrid Social Play1 is a two year project which aims to products. identify best practices and principles for hybrid social playability and develop tools and concepts for future Position Statement social physical-digital (phygital) products and services. Currently, the mobile technology allows mixing digital The project focuses on four hybrid phenomena: board and physical elements in board games easier than ever. games, toys, money games and print media. The However, augmenting physical board games with the research on the project is conducted with mixed digital technology is nothing but a new phenomenon. methods approach including, but not limited to Already on late 1970s there was microchip mediated workshops with entertainment and media industry board games such as Parker Brother’s Code Name: partners, literature reviews, game analysis, interviews Sector (1977). A popular game during its time, Dark and surveys. Tower (Milton Bradley, 1981), was one of the first board games that had simple displays integrated on the Hybrid board games which blend physical and digital game board. elements in various ways are a category of growingly popular hybrid playful products and services (cf. [10]). Games such as Clue VCR Mystery Game (Parker In order to understand how the industry sees hybrid Brothers, 1985), utilized the VCR-technology of 1980s board games regarding the social features, we analyzed as a game element. During the 1990s and 2000s the a set of commercial games in terms of how they are outdated technology was replaced by CDs and DVDs, marketed to the consumer. This information also and the digital recording technology made it possible to reveals what features are seen by the publisher to be introduce interactive elements into the game design the selling points of the game, and what they think (e.g. Space Alert, Czech Games Edition 2008). There about the expectations and wishes of players. Goals for were also some attempts towards augmented reality this analysis was to find out: board games (e.g. The Eye of Judgement, Sony 2008) in 2000s, but these never grew successful. 1. How do game publishers see hybridity to affect sociability in their games? The app revolution of late 2000 revived publishers’ 2. What do game publishers see as interesting interest towards hybrid board games. Mobile from the perspective of the consumer? technology has been used in various ways to augment traditional board game experience, but the most These findings will give insights on publishers view of common approach at the moment seems to be a hybrid board games, which is important in order to companion app supporting the physical board game in understand what they find valuable in hybridity, while some way (cf. [5]).

As the technology develops so does the understanding 1 https://hybridplayproject.wordpress.com/ of what is considered as hybrid. Electronic elements

were introduced to the board games already on 1930s Previous Research Table 1. List of games. according to the Board Game Geek2. Currently these Sociability in board games and digital games have been Name Publisher Year are rarely considered hybrid games per se, but at the studied in several occasions and from various angles Code time such games blended together features from two (e.g. [9]; [8]; [3]; [14]; [13]), and there is number of Parker Name: 1977 separate domains that were not traditionally mixed. studies concentrating on the design aspects of hybrid Brothers Sector Likewise, in the future board games using mobile apps board games (e.g. [7]; [2]). However, only few studies Milton can become a norm instead of forming a separate exist that analyze the ways how games are marketed Dark Tower 1981 Bradley category of games. to the public, and the few out there (e.g. [11]) are Electronic mostly concentrated on video game marketing. Still, a Milton Mall 1991 The hybridity in itself is rarely interesting for the study on player appreciation of board games suggests Bradley Madness customers in the long run; the value lies in the that the success of a new board game relies on its Monopoly: experiences it can offer. As such it can be argued that it capacity to present unique play experiences and Electronic Hasbro 2006 would be beneficial for the designers to understand the possibilities for interaction between players [4]. Banking experiences hybrid products blend instead of just The Eye of Sony 2008 mixing various technologies. [1] Analysis Judgement A representative selection of games with various types Czech One way to blend novel features to the board game of hybrid elements were selected. They were analyzed Space Alert Games 2008 experience could be to introduce familiar features of with a form of qualitative content analysis [12]. The Edition social media that already surround the core play sources used include text on the game’s website, The Game Identity 2012 experience. Lauwaert [6] speaks about the core and advertisement videos, and text on the back of the Changer Games periphery of play. In the core are the ways of play the game box. The selection of 13 games (see Table 1on Spellshot Hasbro 2012 designer intended, while in the periphery lie the the sidebar) has been guided by previous research in Leaders: A emergent forms of play. One way to harness the the Hybridex project [10], but contains many games Rudy Combined 2013 Games opportunities of hybridity is to bring the periphery of also not mentioned in that research. Game play in to the core. For example, a Finnish game Hare- company Playmore Games is developing a companion The requirements for games to be analyzed here were Golem brained 2014 Arcana app called Dized that teaches you to play various board that they contained digital elements which affect Schemes games through interactive tutorials similar to ones seen gameplay and board game like mechanics. It was also Ravens- 2003 3 King Arthur in digital games . The company has plans to develop required that information regarding sociability and the burger 2014 their app to a full blown universal companion app combination of physical and digital elements was XCOM: The Fantasy usable with any board games, that can be used for present in marketing material that could be found. This Board Flight 2015 example to find new people to play with. is in no way an exhaustive list, but contains various Game Games different types of games, some more recent and some World of Iello 2015 somewhat older. The analysis process involved reading Yo-Ho 2 https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamecategory/1072/electronic through the collected data, and extracting pieces that 3 https://dized.com/ fit the requirements of the study. These excerpts were

then further analyzed, focusing on the way they considering its importance for the game experience and represented the role of social interaction. value for the consumers. However, it is another matter if this is actually the case. There is the possibility that Seven Key Features the publishers have higher expectations for the effects By grouping together the important findings from the of the hybrid features in their games than those analysis, the following seven key features can be actually have. As the hybrid games are a new identified to appear in the marketing material (in no phenomenon they have a gimmicky value which particular order): publisher can take an advantage of when persuading consumers to buy their products or services. 1. A game master and/or common enemy 2. Replacing player managed parts with more Findings of this study will give important insight into efficient versions sociability in hybrid board games which can be used in 3. Personal physical element as a game interface various ways. The information can be used as design 4. Social features and interactions not normally knowledge for designing social features in new hybrid seen outside of hybrid products board games or in designing add-ons to existing 5. Expanded possibilities for playing socially games. 6. The possibility for hidden information 7. Family play through new kind of sociability The findings can also act as a starting point for other studies in which the real play experience of the games To summarize the key findings, the marketing focuses can be compared to what is present in the marketing on automation, content extension, personalization, and material. The findings can also be used when designing social game play features. These findings can be used how to market one’s game. Further, as the study in further analyses of hybrid board games. conducted here is somewhat limited in its scope, a further inquiry into a wider set of games, or even into Discussion and Conclusions other hybrid playful products, could bring more insights When looking the found features in wider perspective it how publishers see hybrid elements affecting their seems that the publisher see hybrid technology as way products. to refine social elements of board games. They highlight new ways of interacting with the game, with Participant Bio the possibility of bringing in mechanics familiar from Ville Kankainen (M.Sc.) is a Finnish game researcher, digital games. Further, the hybridity can simplify play a PhD student and a game designer. His research is by automating complex tasks, and makes it easier to focused on board games, hybridity and material produce additional content for the games. experiences surrounding these. Ville has been working in the Game Research Lab since 2013 in research It is not a surprising observation, that publishers see projects focusing on hybrid play and adult playfulness the hybridity improving the sociability of their games, in work environment.

References MindTrek Conference: Everyday Life in the 1. Jonne Arjoranta, Ville Kankainen, Timo Ubiquitous Era (MindTrek '09), 82–89. Nummenmaa. 2016. Blending in Hybrid Games. In 9. T.L. Taylor. 2006. Play between worlds: exploring Proceedings of the 13th International Conference online game culture. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA. on Advances in Computer Entertainment Technology (ACE2016), 1–6. ACM Press, New York, 10. Heikki Tyni, Annakaisa Kultima, Timo NY. http://doi.org/10.1145/3001773.3001798 Nummenmaa, Kati Alha, Ville Kankainen, and Frans Mäyrä. 2016. Hybrid Playful Experiences: Playing 2. Karl Bergström, Staffan Björk. 2014. The Case for between Material and Digital - Hybridex Project, Computer-Augmented Games. ToDigra Physical and Final Report. Retrieved from Digital in Games and Play, 1(3). https://tampub.uta.fi/handle/10024/98900 3. Mia Consalvo. 2011. Using your friends. In 11. David T. A. Wesley, and Gloria Barczak. 2010. Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Innovation and Marketing in the Video Game Foundations of Digital Games (FDG ’11), 188–195. Industry: Avoiding the Performance Trap. Gower ACM Press, New York, NY, USA. Publishing, Ltd. Farnham, UK. http://doi.org/10.1145/2159365.2159391 12. Marilyn D. White, Emily E. Marsh. 2006. Content 4. Alain d’Astous, Karin Gagnon. 2007. An inquiry into Analysis: A Flexible Methodology. Library Trends, the factors that impact on consumer appreciation of 55(1), 22–45. a board game. Journal of Consumer Marketing, http://doi.org/10.1353/lib.2006.0053 24(2), 80–89. http://doi.org/10.1108/07363760710737085 13. Stewart Woods. 2012. Eurogames : the design, culture and play of modern European board games. 5. Ville Kankainen, Heikki Tyni. 2014. Understanding McFarland & Co., Jefferson, NC. Smart Device Tabletop Games. In A. Lugmayr (Ed.), Proceedings of the 18th International 14. Yan Xu, Evan Barba, Iulian Radu, Maribeth Gandy, Academic MindTrek Conference: Media Business, and Blair Macintyre. 2011. Chores Are Fun: Management, Content & Services, Understanding Social Play in Board Games for (AcademicMindTrek'14), 238–241. ACM, New York, Digital Tabletop Game Design. In Proceedings of NY. http://doi.org/10.1145/2676467.2676511 DiGRA 2011 Conference: Think Design Play (DiGRA’11), 1–16. 6. Maaike Lauwaert. 2009. The Place of Play: Toys and Digital Culture. Amsterdam University Press, Amsterdam, Netherlands. 7. Carsten Magerkurth. 2012. Hybrid gaming environments: Keeping the human in the loop within the Internet of things. Universal Access in the Information Society, 11(3), 273–283. http://doi.org/10.1007/s10209-011-0242-z 8. Jaakko Stenros, Janne Paavilainen, Frans Mäyrä. 2009. The many faces of sociability and social play in games. In Proceedings of the 13th International

Augmented Tabletop Games (ATGs) Incorporating Real-Life Data

Amalia Kallergi Abstract Department of Communication and UPDATED—20 August 2017. This contribution discusses Information Sciences ATG gameplay that incorporates real-life data, i.e. real- Tilburg University life data contributed by the players on the spot and via Tilburg, 5037 AB, the Netherlands their personal mobile devices. Motivated by the [email protected] dynamic capacities of ATG boards, we suggest the integration of personal mobile devices and their data as a means to novel, generative and participatory play experiences. The resulting tabletop games will be augmented with dynamic components based on real-life content, further complicating the relationship between virtual and real that typifies mixed reality games.

Author Keywords tabletop games; augmented games; mixed reality games; personal devices; personal device data.

ACM Classification Keywords Paste the appropriate copyright/license statement here. ACM now H.5.m. Information interfaces and presentation: supports three different publication options: Miscellaneous; K.8.0 General: Games. • ACM copyright: ACM holds the copyright on the work. This is the historical approach. • License: The author(s) retain copyright, but ACM receives an Introduction exclusive publication license. Augmented Tabletop Games (ATGs) can be understood • Open Access: The author(s) wish to pay for the work to be open access. The additional fee must be paid to ACM. as living and dynamic game spaces that traverse the This text field is large enough to hold the appropriate release statement limitations of the printed (analogue) medium [11]. assuming it is single-spaced in Verdana 7 point font. Please do not change the size of this text box. Undoubtedly, the availability of a “living”, constantly Each submission will be assigned a unique DOI string to be included here. updating and constantly up-to-date game board opens up new possibilities for novel gameplay. ATG boards

are powerful, sensory-rich and undoubtedly smart; yet, Eventually, an emphasis on game mechanics and their dynamic capacities may not be always afforded forms of play should allow ATGs to mature into meaningfully and structurally coupled to the games a field that balances technological and ludological played on them1. We are in search of gameplay in priorities. which the dynamic capacities of the board are central to the game and game logic as opposed to only being Certainly, our take on ATGs is motived by our supportive to it. background in playful interfaces and (serious) games. In our previous work, we have repeatedly argued for For this workshop contribution, we focus on games in and consciously employed co-located play as the which game content and/or game logic are generated vehicle for exchange and articulation. Consider as an on the spot, based on real-life data contributed by the example our work on a tablet-based storytelling game players. Specifically, we suggest an integration of to foster collaboration [8] and a traditional board game personal mobile device and their data into ATG to foster debate and awareness on bioethical issues [5]. gameplay. Personal mobile devices can be appropriated Naturally, we are particularly motivated by the both as vaults of real-life data and as portals to real-life potential of ATGs as hybrid systems where the “best of data. The resulting tabletop games will be augmented both worlds” (digital and analogue) is materialized. with dynamic components based on real-life content, Secondly, we have an ongoing research interest in further complicating the relationship between virtual games and play as a mechanism to explore data, from and real that typifies mixed reality games [3; 13]. In research data in repositories [6] to personal images in effect, given [15]’s framework, we explore ATGs online collections [7]. In these and similar contexts, gameplay across a cultural rather than technological ATGs could be optimal platforms to share, discuss and dimension, by investigating qualitatively different negotiate data and a useful platform to raise issues of flavors of blending gameplay with real life. personal data privacy and management.

Augmenting ATGs with real-life data could revitalize Related work and expand the space of game concepts available to Personal devices and ATGs AGTs. All in all, we believe that the domain of ATGs can Personal devices and personal device data, in particular benefit from research into novel game mechanics that GPS and location data, are an indispensable component are only possible thanks to the medium of ATGs. And of locative games as well as various other sub-genres while ATGs are excellent testbeds for technological of pervasive/mixed reality games, such as cross-media developments, the types of augmentation attempted games, augmented reality games and alternate reality should not be dominated by the technology involved. games. Without neglecting the rich tradition of pervasive games, our contribution focuses on ATGs as

purely co-located games played on a shared surface. In 1 [12] hints at several advantages of dynamic game boards, but the concepts described remain somewhat static and without a this context, the use of personal devices, i.e. the participatory dimension players’ own mobile phones, is surprisingly limited.

Similarly to CSCW systems, where external devices interactions may or may not be applicable for games of may facilitate interaction with larger or shared surfaces, a generative and participatory nature. ATGs may indeed employ external devices as additional controllers or secondary screens. [12]’s seminal work Real-life data and games with the STARS system demonstrates the use of Arguably, reality may not be the best candidate for external devices to support discreet communication game content. After all, many of us play games to among team players. Others explore the use of external stimulate the imagination, entertain ourselves in displays for the management of a player’s private work fictional worlds or assume alternative identities. Here, area (e.g. [17]), as the viewport for augmented reality we consider existing and plausible cases of real-life content (i.e. handheld AR ATGs [4; 19]) or as an object data finding their way into games. Focus is on co- of its own tangible affordances (e.g. [18]). Most of located games involving factual data. Data-driven these systems make use of generic devices deployed personalized or adaptive gaming is not of immediate alongside the ATG system, which may be due to relevance to our approach. historical or practical reasons. Still, we were unable to trace an ATG game concept that makes deliberate use Social party/parlor games, such as “Truth or Dare”, are of the devices owned by the players. a simple example of games where players happily share details about their private life. These games are purely A wealth of mobile apps port known board games on conversational but one can find various card, dice, one’s tablet or mobile phone; however, such ports board or digital (apps) variants. Regarding personal simply replace the game’s tabletop surface with the device data, we were able to identify just one board surface of a personal device and offer no actual game that uses the players’ own cameral roll images. integration of the personal device into the game. [14; “Camera Roll” (Endless Games, 2014) requires players 16] suggest a shift in the ways mobile devices are to share photos on given subjects; the game employs a incorporated into tabletops games; the physical voting mechanism with points awarded to both the integration of dynamic displays into analogue or digital quickest and the most creative contributions. A board games is of particular interest. Finally, we wish specialized example of games employing real-life to mention the work and research done on co-located images can be found in the practice of design games, mobile gaming [10]. Co-located mobile games do not i.e. games that encourage a playful interaction with meet our definition of ATGs but their emphasis on co- ethnographic data [2]. Interestingly, tabletop surfaces located play with personal devices echoes some of our can be of relevance to the practice of interaction design priorities. [9], so we might be just a step from ATGs oriented to design professionals. RESEARCH DIRECTIONS The integration of personal devices into ATGs is It should be noted that real-life data need not be only accompanied by a series of interface and interaction personal. Contemporary themes, trends or branded design challenges. Existing know-how on ATG based content are not uncommon in tabletop games.

Furthermore, one may find real-life data in critical space of ATGs integrating personal data. As HCI games addressing social issues. Consider as an researchers, we also focus on understanding ATGs as example newsgames, a subgenre of serious games designed and mediated experiences. addressing issues of journalistic relevance [1]. Newsgames are mostly deployed as casual, digital This contribution is an early stage investigation of ATG games but one can easily conceive tabletop games gameplay that structurally incorporates real-life data. Real-life data taxonomy whose subject matter relates to similar issues. ATGs During the workshop, we are eager to discuss and (concept) could provide a technical solution towards news further delineate the major aspects of augmenting oriented tabletop games that are always up-to-date. ATGs with real-life data: from technological possibilities

More importantly, though, ATGs could integrate real-life to interaction design considerations to the philosophical ├─ Personal (personal devices as vaults) data curated and contributed by the players. This opens implications of such games. Obviously, these aspects │ ├─ Media up opportunities for games that tackle societal issues of are directly related to existing priorities in the field of │ ├─ Usage statistics personal significance to the players and for educational ATGs; as such, real-life data augmentation can serve as │ ├─ Application data games that engage players with case studies directly a useful case study to reflect upon the present and │ ├─ Web browser related to the players’ reality. future of the field. Finally, we would be grateful to │ ├─ Social networking brainstorm together with the rest of the participants on │ ├─ Location RESEARCH DIRECTIONS relevant application domains and/or concrete game │ ├─ Calendar Obviously, different application domains will result in concepts. │ ├─ Communications different types of games. A meaningful match between │ └─ Contacts game concepts/ mechanics and the aims of the game Short Bio └─ Factual, Non Personal should be explored on a case-by-case basis via (game) Amalia Kallergi is a HCI researcher active at the (personal devices as portals) design research. Moreover, HCI research can provide intersection of HCI with games and play. She conducted insights into the experience of playing with real-life her PhD research at the Imaging & Bioinformatics data. What is the impact of real-life data on group, Leiden University, where she investigated the enjoyment? What happens when the game gets (too) potential of playful interfaces for scientific practice. Her close to home? Finally, supporting theoretical game designs are informed by practices such as social foundations are to be found in studies on board game gaming and storytelling, while her educational practice sociability as well as in communication sciences studies, often involves games and game design as critical e.g. on the use of mobile devices during face-to-face exercises. Amalia has been teaching (future) scientists, interactions or on personal data disclosure attitudes artists, interaction designers and responsible innovators and behaviors. at various institutes, including Leiden University, The Royal Academy of Art and The Norwegian University of Methods and Approach Science and Technology. Presently, she is assistant Our work is situated in the field of HCI, with a strong professor New Media Design at the Department of emphasis on game design. Methodologically, we focus Communication and Information Sciences, Tilburg on design exploration as the means to investigate the University.

References Proceedings of the IADIS International Conference [1] BOGOST, I., FERRARI, S., and SCHWEIZER, B., Game and Entertainment Technologies 2011, 35- 2010. Newsgames : journalism at play MIT Press, 42. Cambridge, Mass. :. [8] KALLERGI, A. and VERBEEK, F.J., 2014. Playful [2] BRANDT, E. and MESSETER, J., 2004. Facilitating Interfaces for Scientific Image Data: A Case for collaboration through design games. In Storytelling. In Emerging Research and Trends in Proceedings of the eighth conference on Interactivity and the Human-Computer Interface Participatory design: Artful integration: IGI Global, 471-489. interweaving media, materials and practices- [9] LUCERO, A., ALIAKSEYEU, D., and MARTENS, J.- Volume 1 ACM, 121-131. B., 2007. Augmenting mood boards: flexible and [3] DE SOUZA E SILVA, A. and SUTKO, D.M., 2008. intuitive interaction in the context of the design Playing life and living play: How hybrid reality studio. In Horizontal Interactive Human-Computer games reframe space, play, and the ordinary. Systems, 2007. TABLETOP'07. Second Annual Critical Studies in Media Communication 25, 5, IEEE International Workshop on IEEE, 147-154. 447-465. [10] LUNDGREN, S., FISCHER, J.E., REEVES, S., and [4] HUYNH, D.-N.T., RAVEENDRAN, K., XU, Y., TORGERSSON, O., 2015. Designing mobile SPREEN, K., and MACINTYRE, B., 2009. Art of experiences for collocated interaction. In defense: a collaborative handheld augmented Proceedings of the 18th ACM Conference on reality board game. In Proceedings of the 2009 Computer Supported Cooperative Work & Social ACM SIGGRAPH symposium on video games ACM, Computing ACM, 496-507. 135-142. [11] MAGERKURTH, C., CHEOK, A.D., MANDRYK, R.L., [5] KALLERGI, A., 2016. BIO-CHASE. In Abstracts of and NILSEN, T., 2005. Pervasive games: bringing the 10th European Conference on Games Based computer entertainment back to the real world. Learning ECGBL 2016, Paisley, Scotland, 161-162. Computers in Entertainment (CIE) 3, 3, 4-4. [6] KALLERGI, A. and VERBEEK, F.J., 2010. Video [12] MAGERKURTH, C., MEMISOGLU, M., ENGELKE, T., games for collection exploration: games for and and STREITZ, N., 2004. Towards the next out of data repositories. In Proceedings of the generation of tabletop gaming experiences. In Proceedings of the 14th International Academic Proceedings of Graphics interface 2004 Canadian MindTrek Conference: Envisioning Future Media Human-Computer Communications Society, 73- Environments (Tampere, Finland2010), ACM, 80. 1930518, 143-146. DOI= [13] MONTOLA, M., 2005. Exploring the edge of the http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/1930488.1930518. magic circle: Defining pervasive games. In [7] KALLERGI, A. and VERBEEK, F.J., 2011. The Proceedings of DAC, 103. games Flickrites play: An investigation of Flickr- [14] MORA, S., DI LORETO, I., and DIVITINI, M., 2016. based gaming activity with special focus on From interactive surfaces to interactive game opportunities for exploratory interaction. In pieces in hybrid board games. Journal of Ambient

Intelligence and Smart Environments 8, 5, 531- 548. [15] NIEUWDORP, E., 2007. The pervasive discourse: an analysis. Computers in Entertainment (CIE) 5, 2, 13. [16] PARK, J.W., 2017. Hybrid Monopoly: A Multimedia Board Game that Supports Bidirectional Communication between a Mobile Device and a Physical Game Set. Multimedia Tools and Applications, 1-17. [17] SCOTT, S., MCCLELLAND, P., and BESACIER, G., 2012. Bridging private and shared interaction surfaces in co-located group settings. In Proceedings of the 2012 ACM international conference on Interactive tabletops and surfaces ACM, 403-406. [18] SHIRAZI, A.S., DÖRING, T., PARVAHAN, P., AHRENS, B., and SCHMIDT, A., 2009. Poker surface: combining a multi-touch table and mobile phones in interactive card games. In Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Human- Computer Interaction with Mobile Devices and Services ACM, 73. [19] XU, Y., GANDY, M., DEEN, S., SCHRANK, B., SPREEN, K., GORBSKY, M., WHITE, T., BARBA, E., RADU, I., and BOLTER, J., 2008. BragFish: exploring physical and social interaction in co- located handheld augmented reality games. In Proceedings of the 2008 international conference on advances in computer entertainment technology ACM, 276-283.

Augmented Tabletop Gaming Workshop CHI PLAY 2017

Amber G. O'Brien Interest and Background in Augmented University of Waterloo Tabletop Gaming Waterloo, ON N2J 2Z1, CANADA I have only recently developed an interest in [email protected] augmented tabletop games. My interest in ATGs began in earnest when I started looking for ways to enhance a digital/physical hybrid board game that I am currently developing, The Pantheon of Dream, which is a finalist in the CHI PLAY student game design completion. Around April of this year, I decided that I wanted to give the players of my game the ability to work collaboratively to create their own unique narratives to see if it strengthened their immersion in it. At that time, my game was a purely physical board game. However, I quickly realized that I could give players a bigger space in which to create their own unique narratives if I implemented a digital component in my game.

Please do not modify this text block until you receive explicit instructions. I’m interested in attending this workshop to learn more Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for about augmented tabletop games and how to improve personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are my own game. One of the things I wrestle with my own not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for game design is how to make the digital and physical components of this work owned by others than the author(s) must be aspects of the game more interdependent. In other honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior words, currently, both aspects of the game do not specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from depend on the other to function. However, I think that [email protected]. a clearer understanding about how augmented tabletop CONF '22, Jan 1 - Dec 31 2022, Authorberg. Copyright is held by the owner/author(s). Publication rights licensed to games work could help me weave the digital and ACM. ACM 978-1-xxxx-yyyy-z/zz/zz…$zz.00. physical aspects of my game more tightly together. unique doi string will go here

Current Methods and Approaches Lore Customization Tool I approach augmented tabletop gaming work through The first one is a lore customization tool, which will my own game design. I am currently attempting to allow players to add their own lore, or, in other words, create game mechanics in both the physical and digital fictional history, to the various locations and creatures aspects of The Pantheon of Dream that encourage in The Pantheon of Dream and then save it to the players of the game to work together to create their online portion of the digital component. After they own unique narratives. My goal is to use this game to upload their own “worlds” to the digital component, play with the relationship between two types of they and other players will be able to play The narrative in games, emergent and embedded narrative, Pantheon of Dream with that specific lore. in order to increase player immersion. Fellowship Quest Generation Tool Physical Component The second approach that I wish to take is to The physical component of my game consists of a implement a fellowship quest generation tool. This tool series of interlocking 3D printed pieces that branch off will work in similar ways to the lore customization tool of and reconnect to a central square 3D printed piece in that it will allow players to weave their own stories called the game hub. Players select one of four avatars into the game. The lore customization tool will allow and join with their friends in fellowship to complete one players to write their own fellowship quests and submit of many quests. In order to solve these quests, the them to the digital component. Players will then be able players construct paths to various locations. to experience their own unique journeys in the game. What is more, they will be able to experience the Digital Component journeys that other players have made. The digital component of my game consists of several Figure 1 Featured here are some different parts of the game: the card deck, item A Device Interdependent Digital Component of the 3D printed parts of the inventory, active effects list, quest library, instance The third approach that I want to implement is to physical component of the game. stories, quest log, and the rulebook. The digital actually make all of the players using the digital component determines how the physical component is component play in the same session with each other. constructed. In the card deck, for example, there are Right now, a group of people can sit together and play two types of cards: Event cards and Path Piece cards. with the physical component of the game, and their Event cards determine what happens to the players and decisions all impact the board state. However, the the board state, whereas the Path Piece cards give same cannot be said for the digital component. Players physical path piece tokens to the players, who can then can access the digital component through their digital use those pieces to build up the board. devices, but they cannot currently impact the how the digital component behaves for the other players that Future Approaches they play with. For instance, because players cannot There are three major approaches that I wish to use in play the same session together in the digital my game’s design. component, the deck behaves differently for each of

them. More troublesome cards may appear more perspective could prove beneficial to the workshop.

frequently than they would if players were all sharing Also, I think that it is important to discuss how the deck, which could disrupt the boardstate in very narrative is constructed in ATGs, and how it can be frustrating ways. improved in order to create more immersive and meaningful experiences for the people who play them. Thoughts on the Present and Future of ATGs I am very interested to learn more about how Bio augmented tabletop games are currently designed, and Amber G. O’Brien is a Masters student in English. Her it is interesting to consider how they could develop. area of study focuses on narratives in games. More One of the games that has influenced my own specifically, Amber is exploring how games can play explorations into ATGs in particular has been an with emergent and embedded narratives through their augmented tabletop game called Above Water [1]. This game mechanics to generate greater player immersion. game is a digital/physical hybrid game that brings She is currently developing a digital/physical hybrid people together to discuss and educate themselves on game, The Pantheon of Dream, which encourages 2-4 mental illness. It uses a combination of physical cards players to work together to create unique heroic and activities on its digital component to generate narratives every time they play the game. these discussions amongst players. I found the stories that the people created while they played this game to References be very educational and meaningful. I would like to see 1. R. R. Wehbe, D. K. Watson, G. F. Tondello, and L. more ATGs that have been designed to encourage E. Nacke, “Above water: extending the play space for health,” in Proceedings of the 2016 acm on players to generate their own stories because of their interactive surfaces and spaces, New York, NY, potential to inspire players to create meaningful USA, 2016, pp. 497-499. experiences for themselves and for others. Figure 2 Featured here is the gameplay menu of the digital The Pantheon of Dream component. I would like to bring my game prototype to the workshop. I think that it would be very useful for me to discuss my design process with people who are also interested in ATGs. In addition, I think that other contributors would enjoy learning how my game works, the steps I’ve taken to develop it, and my game design goals.

My Contribution to the Prototyping Session My area of research focuses primarily on narrative and game mechanic integration. I think that this

Anyboard: Design and Prototyping Tools for Hybrid Board Games

Simone Mora and Monica Divitini Abstract Department of Computer Science Making hybrid board games (our alias for augmented Norwegian University of Science and Technology tabletop games) is a challenging process that requires 7491-Trondheim (Norway) skills in game design, software and hardware {simone.mora, monica.divitini}@ntnu.no development; blending concepts from digital and analog domains. Our research goal is to make hybrid game development accessible to end-users (e.g. students, kids). We have created a set of design and prototyping tools, Anyboard, that include: (i) a theoretical approach for interaction design based on augmented game pieces, (ii) a set of augmented physical game tokens that can be customized and re- used across different games, (iii) a visual game development environment. During the workshop, we aim at discussing challenges and opportunities related to involving end-users in making hybrid board games with Anyboard.

Paste the appropriate copyright/license statement here. ACM now Author Keywords supports three different publication options: Hybrid board games, design, prototyping, augmented • ACM copyright: ACM holds the copyright on the work. This is the historical approach. game pieces • License: The author(s) retain copyright, but ACM receives an exclusive publication license. Introduction • Open Access: The author(s) wish to pay for the work to be open access. The additional fee must be paid to ACM. In this paper we outline Anyboard [5], a platform for This text field is large enough to hold the appropriate release statement design and making of hybrid board games (HBG), our assuming it is single-spaced in Verdana 7 point font. Please do not change the size of this text box. alias for augmented tabletop games. The theoretical Each submission will be assigned a unique DOI string to be included here. foundations of Anyboard lies in the Interactive-Token approach (ITo) to hybrid board games [3] that

proposed the use of the theoretical concepts of tokens, ideal platform for hybrid board game development [1] constraints, digital feedbacks and interaction events as they combined some of the advantages of low-tech that to model game dynamics. Anyboard makes the ITo board games with the benefits of video games; allowing approach accessible to non-experts (e.g. students, the use of augmented pawns and cards to complement makers) with a set of design and prototyping tools. In interaction with screen contents. the following, after a brief historical overview of augmented board games, we briefly describe our In recent years the large adoption of smartphones and platform. tablets fostered the creation of hybrid games for mobile platforms. To address the limited screen size that Past, present and future of HBGs impedes co-located play, technologies in the field of In [4] we reviewed work done in the last 15 years of Multi-Display Environments (MDE) (Figure 1-c) and hybrid board games development. Our focus was in Around the Device Interaction (ADI) were adopted understanding how the introduction of computer (Figure 1-c). technology mutated the social and physical affordances of traditional board gaming. The review showed the During our literature review we came to the conclusion emergence of three trends. that nowadays the primary medium for interaction in hybrid games are stationary or mobile interactive In the early year of personal computing, traditional surfaces; with issues in terms of complexity, mobility board games had been turned into videogames; e.g. and cost. We proposed to leverage emergent Monopoly for Commodore platforms (Figure 1-a). Board technology in Internet of Things and tangible interfaces games became on all accounts video games, losing to shift from interactive surfaces to interactive game their long-established social and physical affordances. pieces. Tangible play was substituted by keyboard/mouse interaction with virtual game pieces and social The Interactive-Token Approach affordances were lost. In [3] we propose the Interactive-Token approach (ITo) to hybrid games. The approach is grounded in Tangible With the dawn of ubiquitous computing, elements of User Interfaces frameworks [2,6] and it is based on the physical and social interaction where re-introduced. concept of tokens, constraints, digital feedbacks and Advances in interactive surfaces (touchscreens) interaction events that are mapped to traditional board enabled for the development of hybrid versions of games elements. board games (Figure 1-b). While large touchscreens enabled to create virtualized version of traditional card Rather than using touchscreens, in the ITo approach, Figure 1: Hybrid board games implemented using interactive surfaces boards, sensor technologies enabled active or passive traditional game pieces (tokens) augmented with objects to interact with the virtual board. At the sensors and actuators are the primary means to play. beginning of years 2000s, tabletop computers (e.g. The cardboard is preserved as passive and paper- Microsoft Surface, ReacTIVision) were considered an based. Technology is used to enhance control and

representation roles of game pieces. Tokens can control AnyPawns (Figure 2-a) - are augmented version of the state of a game by capturing players’ interaction game pieces commonly found in most board games. events. E.g. an accelerometer embedded in a dice can They embed sensors to capture pawn’s association with sense the result of a dice throw, and notify a computer board constrains – tiled areas of the board printed in game engine in a way that is transparent to the player. specific color-codes (Figure 2-b). When an AnyPawn is At the same time, tokens can represent the state of a being moved inside a constraint region, a sensor on the game by producing digital feedbacks; e.g. via graphics, bottom provides an estimated color temperature value haptics or sound via embedded displays and actuators. of the sector surface that is in translated into a unique ID to be used to code interactive game behaviors. The ITo approach has several advantages. The same AnyPawns are also capable to capture other interaction tokens can be used to play multiple levels or games events like simple manipulations e.g. the pawn being just printing a new cardboard. Distributing interactivity shaken or tilted. To respond to interaction events across multiple components opens for a wider space of triggered by players, AnyPawn communicates back possibility in designing game experiences. Tokens are information with visual (LEDs and dot matrix display) active playing pieces and they can influence the state of and haptic feedbacks. a game not only when they sit on an the board, but also when they are manipulated over and around it. AnyDeck - is an augmented version of a traditional card Finally, because of relying on embedded technology not deck. Instead of holding stacks of cards, AnyDeck requiring external hardware, ITo offers a more mobile (Figure 2-c) prints out its own cards using a small and cost-effective alternative to tabletop. thermal printer. Information printed on cards can be text, icons and barcodes. Anyboard Prototyping Platform To support design and rapid prototyping of hybrid AnyboardJS - is a software library to code Anyboard games based on the ITo approach we created a toolbox games. APIs are provided to establish wireless links named Anyboard (http://anyboardgames.co) [5]. Our among tokens, to handle players’ interaction events; goal is to lower the threshold for the creation of simple and to trigger digital feedbacks. The library is designed games for users without a background in programming to be extensible, support to new interactive tokens can or game design topics. At the same time, we want to be added by writing driver modules. empower skilled users to integrate Anyboard with traditional game development frameworks like Unity or Anyboard Studio Figure 2: Anyboard interactive game Phaser. In the following we describe the tools provided Studio is a visual game development environment for tokens by the platform. Anyboard games. Target users of Studio are not required to have previous experience in game design or Anyboard Game Tokens programming, providing a simpler alternative to game Anyboard Game Tokens are a set of generic interactive development than AnyboardJS. Likewise similar visual game pieces (Figure 2). environments (e.g. Scratch), code builder visually

represent programming concepts like functions, on technology enhanced learning, cooperation counters, variables and operators with blocks. Studio is technology, mobile and IoT computing, user-centered currently under development; an early prototype will be design approaches. She coordinates TESEO Lab presented during the workshop. (teseolab.org), a research effort for design of technologies for cooperation, social interaction, and Workshop participation learning. She is currently unit responsible for EU UMI- We look forward to taking part in the discussion about a Sci-Ed, on UMI for STEM education, and project leader research agenda for augmented tabletop games. We for the project to promote IT education in schools of will bring Anyboard prototypes as a way to engage into the NOKUT Center for Excellence in IT education. In the discussion with participants and find synergies with the context of the workshop she is interested in work of others. In particular we aim at discussing: investigating the role of tabletop games for learning as well as the process of making of tabletop games as a - End-user involvement in the development of learning activity in the context of STEM education. augmented games - Learning outcomes related to making and play of augmented games References - Evaluation methods for augmented games [1] Haller, M., Forlines, C., Koeffel, C., Leitner, J., and Shen, C. Tabletop games: Platforms, Biographies experimental games and design recommendations. Art and Technology of Simone Mora holds a postdoctoral fellowship at the Entertainment Computing and Communication, department of Computer Science, NTNU. He graduated (2010), 271–297. in 2015 with a thesis on leveraging sensor-based [2] Ishii, H. Tangible Bits: Beyond Pixels. ACM interaction for supporting reflection at work, with crisis (2008). training as case study. His research investigates the [3] Mora, S., Di Loreto, I., and Divitini, M. The Interactive-Token Approach to Board Games. development of methods and tools for ideation and Proceedings of AMI 9425, Chapter 10 (2015), rapid prototyping of Internet of Things ecologies. He 138–154. co-authored more than 20 peer-reviewed papers in the [4] Mora, S., Di Loreto, I., and Divitini, M. From fields of computer-supported reflective learning, interactive surfaces to interactive game pieces collaboration technologies, tangible interfaces and HCI. in hybrid board games. Journal of Ambient In his recent past Dr. Mora has been a visiting scholar Intelligence and Smart Environments 8, 5 (2016), 531–548. at City London University and MIT. [5] Mora, S., Fagerbekk, T., Monnier, M., Schroeder, E., and Divitini, M. Anyboard: A Monica Divitini is full professor of cooperation Platform for Hybrid Board Games. In G. Wallner, technologies at the department of Computer Science at S. Kriglstein, H. Hlavacs, R. Malaka, A. Lugmayr NTNU. Prof. Dr. Divitini has more than 20-year active and H.-S. Yang, eds., Entertainment Computing experience in research with focus - ICEC 2016: 15th IFIP TC 14 International

Conference, Vienna, Austria, September 28-30, 2016, Proceedings. Springer International Publishing, Cham, 2016, 161–172. [6] Ullmer, B., Ishii, H., and Jacob, R.J.K. Token+constraint systems for tangible interaction with digital information. ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction (TOCHI) 12, 1 (2005).

Towards Design Guidelines for Hybrid Board Games

Janne Paavilainen Lilli Sihvonen Abstract University of Tampere University of Turku Hybrid playful products and services that combine both Tampere, FI33014, Finland Turku, FI20014, Finland physical and digital elements have become increasingly [email protected] [email protected] popular. One interesting domain in this emerging design space is hybrid board games that utilize Ville Kankainen Jonne Arjoranta augmentation in different forms via various University of Tampere University of Jyväskylä technological layers. Hybrid Social Play research project Tampere, FI33014, Finland Jyväskylä, FI12345, Finland studies how augmentation could be used to enhance [email protected] [email protected] social play experiences in hybrid board games. Based on our mixed method research approach with industry Elina Koskinen collaboration, we propose a preliminary list of 12 design University of Tampere guidelines for hybrid board games. The preliminary list Tampere, FI33014 Finland is a result from literature review, game analysis, [email protected] workshops, and interviews of industry professionals. In the future we will supplement the current preliminary list with new findings as the research proceeds.

Author Keywords

Please do not modify this text block until you receive explicit instructions. Augmentation, Board Games, Guidelines, Hybrid Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for Games, Sociability personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for ACM Classification Keywords components of this work owned by others than the author(s) must be K.8.0 [General]: Games – Personal Computing honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]. CONF '22, Jan 1 - Dec 31 2022, Authorberg. Copyright is held by the owner/author(s). Publication rights licensed to ACM. ACM 978-1-xxxx-yyyy-z/zz/zz…$zz.00. unique doi string will go here

Introduction technology should fill holes in the concept that cannot Hybrid playful products such as augmented board be solved without augmentation [4]. games have become increasingly popular. Combining both physical and digital elements, these hybrid games Game design patterns have been used to describe can enhance social play via technological layer such as possible mechanics of computer augmented games by mobile phones, tablets, or other digital devices. Hybrid Lundgren & Björk [10], while Peitz et al. use game Social Play (https://hybridplayproject.wordpress.com/) design patterns to describe a preliminary design space research project aims to identify the best practices and for augmented board games based on a series of principles for hybrid social playability, and develop tools design experiments they conducted [12]. Bergstöm & and concepts for future social physical-digital products Björk present a more encompassing design space for and services. The project is focusing on case studies in computer augmented games, built on multi-dimensional four different entertainment and media domains: 1) typology of games approach [1], and Magerkurth goes board games, 2) money games, 3) toys, and 4) print one step further by creating a full conceptual model for media. The Hybrid Social Play project started in January hybrid games [11]. In turn, Köffel et al. present 10 2016 and continues until December 2017. table-top specific evaluation heuristics that address the experience and usability of such games [9]. These In this workshop paper we present 12 preliminary heuristics are based on the earlier work of Köffel [7] design guidelines for hybrid board games that utilize and Köffel & Haller [8]. Eriksson et al. [5] and Cheung augmentation for creating enhanced social play et al. [3] offer various approaches for preserving the experiences. These findings are the result of our mixed social flexibility and adaptability of traditional board methods research approach where we have games when mixing them with digital technology. collaborated with various entertainment and media industry partners. While all these approaches have their merits, their focus is mostly on academia based games and/or they Related Work are mostly focused on the actual activity of playing, Hybrid board game design guidelines and evaluation without considering the wider hybrid experience around tools have been previously addressed in several studies the game artifact. People, for example, share in social from various perspectives, and by describing these media pictures of board game sessions, discuss game games with various terms. rules in online forums and test the digital adaptations of board games before buying the physical copy. These In an early survey study De Boer & Lamers present can be seen to be part of an expanded game three core principles for augmented board games. The experience [6] or as a pastime [2], where the holistic augmentation of physical board games: 1) should experience is composed of a set of various activities increase the playing pleasure, 2) physical elements around the core game. We believe that understanding should be preserved as much as possible, and 3) hybrid board games in a holistic way is important from the perspectives of design, evaluation, and play.

Mixed Method Approach Lastly we have interviewed three industry professionals This research work for the hybrid board games design who work with board games. The interviewees work in guidelines is mainly based on the literature review, the same company in different roles (management and game analyses, workshops, and interviews of industry development). The interviews were semi-structured and professionals. focused on the development and business of hybrid board games. The findings from the interviews were The literature review briefly presented in the previous reflected against the preliminary guidelines and section has been a natural starting point for our supplemented to the list accordingly. research. The first months of the project focused on mapping the state-of-the-art of various hybrid products Preliminary Design Guidelines and services, and the related research. Currently we Based on our findings we present 12 preliminary design are finishing a publication that is solely focused on the guidelines for hybrid board games in Table 1 on the literature review. next page. Rather than pin-pointing each guideline as a direct result from a certain research approach, these We have also played and analyzed various hybrid board guidelines have been formed through hermeneutic games, took notes, and discussed the findings between analysis using various research methods as explained in several researchers in the project. The focus has been the previous section. on how the hybrid elements affect the play experience and sociability. Hybrid board games such as Space Alert Each guideline is presented with a running number, (Czech Games Edition, 2008), X-COM: The Board Game guideline title, and description. We will be updating the (Fantasy Flight Games, 2015), Golem Arcana guidelines according to future findings from the (Harebrained Schemes, 2014) and other hybrid games upcoming design workshops, and the final version will like Anki OVERDRIVE (Anki, 2015) and Pokémon GO include examples from hybrid board games as well. The (Niantic, 2016) [13] have been studied closely. final guidelines could be distributed in the tangible form of a deck of cards to make them more accessible. During the project we have held four workshops focused on hybrid social play in different domains. The In the near future we will organize a design workshop analysis workshop in October 2016 was focused on for hybrid board games where researchers and industry hybrid board games. During the workshop, mixed professionals will develop new hybrid social game groups of researchers and industry professionals tested concepts with the parallel design method [14]. This and discussed the features of several hybrid board approach has already been tested in two earlier design games. The workshop was partially recorded and workshops in the spring 2017 that focused on money researchers took notes during the play sessions. Based games and transmedia (alternate reality) games. These on the findings from this workshop, we started to industry collaborated workshops have been fruitful and formalize the list of preliminary design guidelines. the results look promising.

# Guideline Description

Digital elements should bring added value by enriching the play experience either by exchanging (physical elements to digital), expanding (new features), or extending (more 1 Added value content) the experience. Digitize chores that are unnecessary and not fun. Bookkeeping can be tedious and 2 Automation complex, but an app can handle it easily. 3 Aesthetics Audiovisual effects can be used in specific events to improve the game experience.

Make sure that when the technology fails (and it will), it does so gracefully and with as 4 Recovery little frustration to the player as possible. How do they quickly get back into the game? Consider whether there is a need to develop new technology or whether something premade also works. Most mobile phones have camera apps that could be utilized 5 Availability without designing a new one. Make sure the app works on a wide variety of devices. Nobody wants to be left out of a 6 Universality game because there is no support for their phone, for example. Make game elements easily extendable. A list of random effects can easily be extended 7 Scalability if it is handled by an app. Letting players customize the game content gives them a sense of ownership. For 8 Customization example, it's more fun to play with characters you chose or designed yourself. Support new forms of sociability through the use of augmentation. Games which use 9 Sociability imperfect information are good candidates for augmentation. Think about what content from the game can be easily shared on social media. People 10 Shareability love sharing stuff they play, so it should be easy. Provide video tutorials to demonstrate the game play. Players love to play instead of 11 Online tutorials reading rules, thus watching a tutorial video helps in learning the basics more quickly.

12 House rules Players like to create house rules and the application should not restrict such behavior.

Table 1. Preliminary design guidelines for hybrid board games.

Participant Bios Ville Kankainen (M.Sc.) is a Finnish game researcher, Janne Paavilainen (Ms.Econ.) is a Finnish games a PhD student and a game designer. His research is researcher focusing on game usability, playability, and focused on board games, hybridity and material game experience in different game domains. Working in experiences surrounding these. Ville has been working the Game Research Lab since 2006, Janne has been in the Game Research Lab since 2013 in research mainly involved in qualitative applied research in projects focusing on hybrid play and adult playfulness collaboration with the Finnish games industry. in work environment.

References 9. Christina Koeffel, Wolfgang Hochleitner, Jakob 1. Karl Bergström, Staffan Björk. 2014. The Case for Leitner, Michael Haller, Arjan Gevan, and Manfred Computer-Augmented Games. ToDigra Physical and Tscheligi. 2010. Using Heuristics to Evaluate the Digital in Games and Play, 1(3). Overall User Experience of Video Games and Advanced Interaction Games. In Evaluating User 2. Marcus Carter, Martin Gibbs, Mitchell Harrop. 2014. Experience in Games: Concepts and Methods, Drafting an Army: The Playful Pastime of Regina Bernhaupt (Ed.). Springer-Verlag, London, Warhammer 40,000. Games and Culture, 9(2), UK, 233-256 122–147. http://doi.org/10.1177/1555412013513349 10. Sus Lundgren and Staffan Björk. 2003. Game Mechanics: Describing Computer-Augmented 3. Gifford Cheung, Alison Lee, Kevin Cheng, & Hae Jin Games in Terms of Interaction. In Proceedings of Lee. 2013. Dispensable, Tweakable, and Tangible TIDSE 2003 conference, 45–56. Components: Supporting Socially Negotiated http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi Gameplay. Games and Culture, 8(4), 259–288. =10.1.1.13.5147 http://doi.org/10.1177/1555412013496893 11. Carsten Magerkurth. 2012. Hybrid gaming 4. Clim J. de Boer and Maarten H. Lamers. 2004. environments: Keeping the human in the loop Electronic Augmentation of Traditional Board within the Internet of things. Universal Access in Games. In Proceedings of the ICEC 2004 the Information Society, 11(3), 273–283. conference. http://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540- http://doi.org/10.1007/s10209-011-0242-z 28643-1_57 12. Johan Peitz, Daniel Eriksson, Staffan Björk. 2005. 5. Daniel Eriksson, Johan Peitz, Staffan Björk. 2005. Augmented Board Games - Enhancing board games Socially Adaptable Games. In Proceedings of the with electronics. In proceedings of DiGRA 2005 DiGRA 2005 Conference. Retrieved from conference. Retrieved from http://www.digra.org/digital- http://www.digra.org/digital- library/publications/socially-adaptable-games/ library/publications/augmented-board-games- 6. Annakaisa Kultima, Jaakko Stenros. 2010. enhancing-board-games-with-electronics/ Designing games for everyone: the expanded game 13. Janne Paavilainen, Hannu Korhonen, Kati Alha, experience model. In Proceedings of the Jaakko Stenros, Elina Koskinen, Frans Mäyrä. 2017. International Academic Conference on the Future of The Pokémon GO Experience: A Location-Based Game Design and Technology, 66–73. Augmented Reality Mobile Game Goes Mainstream. http://doi.org/10.1145/1920778.1920788 In Proceedings of CHI’17 conference. ACM, New 7. Christina Koeffel. 2007. Heuristics for Tabletop York, NY. Games. Master’s Thesis. Department of Digital http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?doid=3025453.3025 Media, Upper Austria University of Applied Sciences 871 Hagenberg. 14. UsabilityNet. 2006. Parallel Design. Retrieved from 8. Christina Koeffel and Michael Haller. 2008. http://www.usabilitynet.org/tools/parallel.htm Heuristics for the Evaluation of Tabletop Games. Presentation in Evaluating User Experience in Games Workshop, CHI 2008 conference, April 5-10, Florence, Italy.

Player Acceptance of Augmented Board Games

Mehmet Kosa Abstract Middle East Technical University This paper describes my interest in and how my Dumlupınar Bulvarı No:1 research is related to augmented tabletop gaming. The Ankara, Turkey grand project I am working on includes the research of [email protected] player acceptance of different gaming technologies. The first study consisted of a survey where VR gaming players were invited to participate. The second study was a diary study on pervasive gaming where the participants played a predetermined game for 14 days and filled questionnaire at the end of each day. As part of this grand research project, the third study is a qualitative study on how and why tabletop game players adopt the technologically enhanced tabletop games. On the other hand, the research is also looking into how and why players of tabletop games resist to those kinds of enhancements. Moreover, it investigates the effects of using different kinds of digital entities (smart phones, motors, sensors, lights, score keeper, Paste the appropriate copyright/license statement here. ACM now time keeper etc.) in tabletop gaming in terms of player supports three different publication options: experience. • ACM copyright: ACM holds the copyright on the work. This is the historical approach. • License: The author(s) retain copyright, but ACM receives an Author Keywords exclusive publication license. Player Acceptance of Augmented Tabletop Games, • Open Access: The author(s) wish to pay for the work to be open access. The additional fee must be paid to ACM. Augmented Tabletop Game Adoption, Resistance to This text field is large enough to hold the appropriate release statement Augmented Tabletop Games. assuming it is single-spaced in Verdana 7 point font. Please do not change the size of this text box. Each submission will be assigned a unique DOI string to be included here.

ACM Classification Keywords as reddit.com or boardgamegeek.com) which has the K.8.0. Personal Computing: Games; H.1.2. Information thread subject related to augmented tabletop games Systems: Software Psychology. where people express their ideas on how they feel about those kind of games and their predictions about Introduction and Motivation the future of these games. Technology acceptance of hedonic purposed digital artifacts are gaining more prominence as the Other than this, the study will also be consisting of a investment in the digital entertainment industry grows. series of semi-structured interviews with (self- Augmented tabletop gaming is one of the application identified) tabletop gamers who have at least tried an domain of using digital devices for entertainment. It is augmented tabletop game once. They will mainly be important for augmented tabletop game developers and asked if they enjoy the experience of playing designers to know what players think about those kind augmented tabletop games. They will also be asked the of games and how their views are affected by their reasons for adopting or resisting these games. The data experience of traditional (non-digital) gaming. that is going to be collected will consist of general opinions of the players on augmented tabletop games Technology acceptance model [2] is well-studied and how they feel about the integration of digital throughout the years and spans across many domains. entities with traditional tabletop games. Fundamentally, the theory states that perceived ease of use and usefulness are the main determinants for Past, Present and Future of Augmented adoption of a technology [1] [3]. Later, it was realized Tabletop Games that enjoyment was a stronger predictor than Obviously, how people think about the past, now and usefulness for hedonic information systems [6]. The future of the augmented tabletop gaming will be literature that we are interested in is in the hedonic revealed after the analysis of the qualitative data. domain and subjectively more and more studies appear However, we can still speculate on certain aspects of every year (i.e. [4] [5]). But we do not know whether augmented tabletop gaming. these constructs are applicable for augmented tabletop gaming. Also, to my knowledge, there are no studies in Usage of digital entities in tabletop gaming is in its information systems research that investigate the infancy. There are couple of games that include smart player acceptance of augmented board games. The phones as the digital part, mainly for design purposes main question is: Why do players are motivated to play (i.e. Alchemist) or for both design and atmospheric augmented tabletop games and why do some of them purposes (i.e. Mansions of Madness). In these games, resist to these kinds of gaming technologies? the player is expected to supply the smart phone. However, there are others who supply the digital parts To close this gap, a qualitative study was designed to with themselves (i.e. Golem Arcana) however it is still be able to shed light to those questions. The study will very rare since inclusion of digital parts pushes the be including a content analysis of several forums (such game’s cost up. Other than these, there are tabletop

gaming hardware platforms (tabletop console) that References carries the gaming completely to the digital but still 1. Davis, F. D. (1989). Perceived usefulness, successfully staying at the tabletop (i.e. PlayTable). perceived ease of use, and user acceptance of information technology. MIS quarterly, 319-340. With these in mind, as the advancements in 2. Davis, F. D., Bagozzi, R. P., & Warshaw, P. R. (1989). User acceptance of computer technology: a virtual/augmented reality continue and with the new comparison of two theoretical models. Management game design possibilities that come with computing science, 35(8), 982-1003. devices, we will be seeing more games being published 3. Davis, F. D., Bagozzi, R. P., & Warshaw, P. R. that use digital devices as their counterparts. Tabletop (1992). Extrinsic and intrinsic motivation to use gaming will also be utilizing internet of things where computers in the workplace1. Journal of applied the physical objects of the gaming system will be able social psychology, 22(14), 1111-1132. to send and receive data. This way, developers can 4. Lowry, P. B., Gaskin, J., Twyman, N., Hammer, B., have another tool for creative designs. In addition to & Roberts, T. (2012). Taking ‘fun and games’ the ability that the game components will be able to seriously: Proposing the hedonic-motivation system talk with each other, they will also be able to adoption model (HMSAM). Journal of the communicate with other physical components in the association for information systems, 14(11), 617- 671. environment (physical world that is not necessarily a part of the game) which will open way for tabletop 5. Wang, Z., & Scheepers, H. (2012). Understanding games to be remarkably adaptive and pervasive. the intrinsic motivations of user acceptance of hedonic information systems: towards a unified Information from the real world will be used which will research model. Communications of the Association effect the tabletop gaming system. for Information Systems, 30(1), 17. 6. Van der Heijden, H. (2004). User acceptance of Contribution to the Workshop hedonic information systems. MIS quarterly, 695- I am planning to casually interview the attendees 704. throughout the workshop to see what academics think about the player acceptance of augmented tabletop games and see if their view is in line with the data I will be collecting from tabletop gamers. While interacting with the attendees, I also intend to share my research and the results so far to be able get feedback from fellow colleagues which will hopefully create possible collaborations to push the research further. Seeing what other studies are being carried out, new ideas can be incorporated into the present research. Tabletop Game Meets Live-Streaming: Empowering the Audience

Pascal Lessel Maximilian Altmeyer Author Keywords DFKI GmbH DFKI GmbH Co-presence; audience influence; audience integration Saarland Informatics Campus Saarland Informatics Campus [email protected] [email protected] ACM Classification Keywords H.5.m [Information interfaces and presentation (e.g., HCI)]: Miscellaneous

Introduction Live-streaming of games has become a topic for research recently [2,4,5,6,7]. Not only are digital games streamed, but also card and tabletop games. Today’s gaming live- streaming platforms offer a direct communication channel between audience and streamer via a live-chat. The lat- ter is often used to integrate the audience into the stream, e.g. by letting the audience participate in a poll that decides what should be played next. Games also have appeared that allow the audience to alter game mechanics while the streamer plays the game (e.g., ChoiceChamber [9]). While many of these games are digital, it seems reasonable to extend this to analog games, potentially, by augmenting the underlying game as well. In this white paper, we will present as examples two categories of analog games that are already used in streams today and we elaborate on how The copyright lies with the authors. these games have been extended for this context and how these could be augmented further. With this paper, we illus- trate not only how non-digital games have been altered but also want to emphasize that having an audience is an im- portant aspect that is of relevance for augmented tabletop audience can submit answer options and vote on games—similar to video games that have already started them later on) polls the audience can alter what hap- to take this design dimension into account—in the future as pens in the game for the players, e.g., the audience well. The latter is especially important when the inherent could decide which character they meet next and the social component of tabletop gaming is considered. game master would follow this.

Audience Integration In Analog Games • On-screen visualizations: Some graphics, especially To exemplify how non-digital games could be used in the when they concern riddles, are shown as an overlay live-streaming context, we selected two categories of games. in the stream. This allows viewers to also directly In example 1 we discuss pen&paper roleplaying games; in participate in these riddles. example 2, creative card games like “Cards against Hu- • Indirect participation options: Viewers have the option manity” [1] and “Superfight” [8]. Both categories were se- to use Twitter to contribute tweets (potentially with lected as they were already used in live-streams and were pictures), that are directly visible on a screen in the adapted to account for the audience. game room and thus can be read by the players. With this, the audience can give hints to riddles or sugges- Pen&Paper Roleplaying Games tions on what the players should do next in the game. Several channels on today’s live-streaming platforms exist that broadcast pen&paper roleplaying game sessions. A • Asymmetrical information: The viewers see results pen&paper roleplaying game is a mix between a tabletop from dice throws the game master has made. With game (as fights in the game often have a complex rule set this, viewers have more knowledge than the players. and need to be played on a “battle map” on a table) and an improvisational theater, with one person being the game • World and story co-creation: Viewers are able to master that has imagined the world and the story the other change specific aspects of the world. In the first players play in while he or she plays all the non-player char- episodes they could, for example, propose names acters. Every player represents one character in this imag- for specific buildings that were then adopted by the 2 inary world. Rocket Beans TV1 is one such channel that game master. Later, a platform (based on a MediaWiki offers this experience and is keen on integrating their audi- was made public, in which viewers could add details ence. Their roleplaying sessions usually attract more than to the game world from which the game master could 30,000 viewers. A more detailed overview can be found take ideas/concepts. Additionally, viewer tasks that in our previous work [4]. Here we focus on what has been directly influenced the game for the players were for- altered in the game by the Rocket Beans to be able to inte- mulated that had a direct impact on the players, de- grate the audience. pending on how the viewers decide/perform.

• Polls: With pre-made (i.e., the game master has de- These elements show that the audience has options that veloped the options beforehand) and open (i.e., the put them in the position of a game master (e.g., the co-story

1https://www.rocketbeans.tv/, last accessed: 02/08/2017 2https://www.mediawiki.org, last accessed: 02/08/2017 creation) or in the players’ position (e.g., while solving rid- Creative Card Games dles). This already augmented the way usual roleplaying is Another genre is card games that require the players to dis- played. The mentioned elements can be realized without cuss after having played certain cards. “Cards against Hu- the need to have a sophisticated custom software running. manity” [1] and “Superfight” [8] are two examples of such Two ideas that would integrate the audience even more but games. In these games, players have a set of cards (in would require additional technical effort would be: “Superfight”, for example, players have cards representing characters, such as “Abraham Lincoln” and attributes such as “Riding a Segway” or “Long metal claws”) and they play • Representing viewers in the game world: Every viewer a defined number of these per round. After the players have could have a virtual character that is an inhabitant in revealed their selected cards they argue for why their cards the fictive game world the game master has imag- are better than the opponent’s (in case of “Superfight” why ined. Viewers could elaborate on their characters their character would win a battle against the other charac- (e.g., define personality traits, a background story, ter). After a bit of discussion, the players decide who was where are they from exactly, etc.) and they could re- most convincing. Both mentioned games are also played ceive rewards that have an influence on the character in live-stream channels (for example in the official channel (such as items for their character or achievements of “Superfight”3). Here, the other players do not need to be such as titles) by simply watching the stream or par- convinced, but rather the audience, which can vote via the ticipating in polls. At certain points in the game se- chat on which player has won. lected characters could meet the players as friend or foe. Then, either by integrating the respective viewer Such games are especially suitable for a live-streaming into the game via Skype or Discord, or the game scenario, as the audience can be easily integrated. Using master using them as non-player characters based polls as a mechanic for this is something that the audience on the description given by the viewer, these charac- is familiar with in this context already. Additionally, moving ters would have a direct effect on the game. this decision away from the players seems reasonable to reach a decision that is (potentially) less biased than having • Community items: Similar to the aforementioned the players decide for themselves. An option for augment- idea, viewers could gain a virtual currency. With it, ing this genre (even though these might affect the poten- they could buy elements from a “shop”, for example a tial bias) would be to visualize each player’s hand and let specific healing potion or a specific enemy creature. the audience vote on which card they want to see played. These elements, to balance the experience, would Another option is to allow viewers to also provide explana- be so expensive that they needed funding from sev- tions for why a certain card combination should win over eral viewers, but as soon as enough viewers spent the others that are visualized in the stream itself. Finally, their resources the game master would integrate this the viewer might suggest new card labels that might be in- element for the players. tegrated into the deck. If all players play with a mobile app (instead of physical cards), these new suggestions could

3https://www.twitch.tv/superfight, last accessed: 02/08/2017 be directly integrated into their games. Thus, they would powered with options that increase their (perceived) agency have to argue with ideas (in the case of “Superfight”, new and analyzing the effects of this. One example of his work characters and new abilities) coming from their audience. is the investigation of so-called “bottom-up” gamification in which individuals are able to set up their gamification Research Agenda and Approach options by themselves instead of having a researcher, pro- Our examples have illustrated how common game genres grammer or a superior doig the setup. have been augmented to be a better fit for live-streaming settings. In both scenarios, the importance of the audience As one of his hobbies, he is a passionate gamer of all kinds as a group has been acknowledged by the channel own- of digital and analog games. Considering the latter, he is ers and the augmentations were primarily done to account head of a board gaming group that meets monthly (with for this group. In the course of this, though, new experi- usually 10-20 players attending) to try out new games and ences have arisen: Games that are usually played with only play classic ones. Here, augmented games are also played, small groups are capable of handling thousands of users, leading to a good understanding of current augmented although not everyone has the same influence as the play- game mechanics, examples are: Zombie 15’, Space Alert!, ers at the table. On the other side, the experience for the 5-Minute Dungeon (all working with audio support), Keep tabletop players changes as well. Talking and Nobody Explodes (which provides software for one player), Descent 2nd Edition, Mansions of Madness So far, it is unclear which augmentations are appreciated (which uses a companion app to simulate the game master) by the viewers and which further augmentations are de- and Alchemists (an app is an important component of the manded. By conducting a requirements analysis via focus game). Additionally, companion apps for Dominion and El- groups and/or online surveys, more insights can be gained. dritch Horror exist, that help to keep track of all administra- Based on this, (software) prototypes can be implemented tive elements in these games. Based on these experiences and tested within established streams. This seems more and his scientific background, he is very interested in taking reasonable than starting ones own streaming channel, as part in this workshop. this leads to the problem that not enough viewers become available in a short time: Kaytoue et al. showed that many Research Gaming and Prototyping Session channels on today’s live-streaming platforms have only a For the research gaming and prototyping session I would few or no viewers at all [3]. select three different tabletop games (if time permits) as discussion artifacts that are known to every participant that Interest, Background, Bio is interested in this sub-session. For each of the games, we Pascal, who would attend the workshop, is a PhD student in would discuss how we could augment it to be a good fit for computer science at Saarland University. He is working at being used on a current live-streaming platform. Potentially, the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence and we would also be able to derive general concepts that apply his research interests are in the domains of games, gami- for every game (e.g., such as using polls) that could lay the fication and live-streaming. More specifically, he is looking groundwork for future research in this domain. at how individuals and groups in these domains can be em- References [5] Pascal Lessel, Alexander Vielhauer, and Antonio [1] Cards Against Humanity LLC. 2017. Cards Against Krüger. 2017b. Expanding Video Game Live-Streams Humanity. (2017). https://cardsagainsthumanity.com/, last with Enhanced Communication Channels: A Case accessed: 02/08/2017. Study. In Proc. CHI 2017. ACM, New York, NY, USA, [2] William A. Hamilton, Oliver Garretson, and Andruid 1571–1576. DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/3025453. Kerne. 2014. Streaming on Twitch: Fostering Partici- 3025708 patory Communities of Play Within Live Mixed Media. [6] Anthony J. Pellicone and June Ahn. 2017. The Game In Proc. CHI 2014. ACM, New York, NY, USA, 1315– of Performing Play: Understanding Streaming As Cul- 1324. DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/2556288.2557048 tural Production. In Proceedings of the 2017 CHI Con- [3] Mehdi Kaytoue, Arlei Silva, Loïc Cerf, Wagner Meira, ference on Human Factors in Computing Systems Jr., and Chedy Raïssi. 2012. Watch Me Playing, (CHI ’17). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 4863–4874. I Am a Professional: A First Study on Video Game DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/3025453.3025854 Live Streaming. In Proc. WWW 2012 Compan- [7] Rainforest Scully-Blaker, Jason Begy, Mia Consalvo, ion. ACM, New York, NY, USA, 1181–1188. DOI: and Sarah Ganzon. 2017. Playing Along and Playing http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/2187980.2188259 For on Twitch: Livestreaming from Tandem Play to [4] Pascal Lessel, Michael Mauderer, Christian Wolff, and Performance. In Proc. of HICSS 2017. IEEE, 2026– Antonio Krüger. 2017a. Let’s Play My Way: Investi- 2035. gating Audience Influence in User-Generated Gaming [8] Skybound LLC. 2016. Superfight. (2016). https: Live-Streams. In Proc. TVX 2017. ACM, New York, //www.superfightgame.com/, last accessed: 02/08/2017. NY, USA, 51–63. DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/3077548. [9] Studio Bean. 2015. Choice Chamber. (2015). http: 3077556 //www.choicechamber.com, last accessed: 02/08/2017. Above Water: Fighting Stigma with Augmented Tabletop Games

Diane Watson University of Waterloo Waterloo, ON, CANADA [email protected]

ABSTRACT The negative stigma associated with mental health illnesses can lead individuals to discontinue, or never seek treatment. Overcoming stigma can be difficult as one must simultaneously overcome misunderstandings, misinformation and myths. In this short paper, we present Above Water, a digitally augmented card game which aims to overcome stigma by taking advantaged of both the affordances of the digital and physical space.

CCS CONCEPTS • Human-centered computing → Interaction design process and methods;

KEYWORDS Augmented Tabletop Game, Digital-Physical Hybrid Game, Mental Health Stigma, Games for Mental Health

ACM Reference format: Diane Watson. 2017. Above Water: Fighting Stigma with Augmented Tabletop Games. In Proceedings of CHIPLAY, AMSTERDAM, OCTOBER 2017 (CHIPLAY’17), 4 pages. https://doi.org/

CHIPLAY’17, OCTOBER 2017, AMSTERDAM © 2017 Association for Computing Machinery. This is the author’s version of the work. It is posted here for your personal use. Not for redistribution. The definitive Version of Record was published in Proceedings of CHIPLAY, OCTOBER 2017. Above Water: Fighting Stigma with Augmented Tabletop Games CHIPLAY’17, OCTOBER 2017, AMSTERDAM

INTEREST AND BACKGROUND Augmented tabletop games is an area of interest as physical and digital interaction offer differing affordances. For example, non-digital games have been shown to increase discussion2 [ ] due to their face to face nature. In particular, I am interested in tabletop games which have been augmented with a personal device such as a tablet or phone. In the game Above Water[3, 4], an augmented tabletop game of which I am one contributor, we make use of the personal nature of a phone to encourage players to share details which are possibly personally relevant. Above Water, a game which approaches the subject of mental health, is dealing with a stigmatized subject matter, and the personal nature of one’s phone provides a safe(r) space to talk aboutthe subject matter. Stigma, stops those suffering from mental health issues from approaching treatment, either to avoid being publicly labeled, or to avoid self-stigmatization [1].

Figure 1: Above water is a physical card Above Water game with a digital component Above Water is digital/physical hybrid game designed to contribute to a conversation about mental illness – specifically general anxiety disorder and panic disorder. At its base gameplay, it is a card game. Players collect ’anxiety’ cards that they can only get rid of by using ’treatment’ cards. Each treatment card can remove a variable number of anxiety cards; treatments that require more help in the real world (i.e. from a mental health professional) remove more anxiety cards than treatments that one can do as an individual. This encourages people with either anxiety disorders to get help. At the beginning of the game, players choose four life goals from a list of six as their own personal winning condition. When a player has no anxiety cards and has collected all four ’life goal’ cards, they win. Each player has their own mobile phone or tablet open to the game web page. Digital interactions are invoked by certain cards in the physical deck. For example, the ’exercise treatment’ card indicates Figure 2: A digital component is accessible that player select and carry out the yoga activity. The ’meditation treatment’ card will start a group from player’s phone’s web browser breathing exercise. Some ’anxiety’ cards invoke a ’myth buster’ activity where players are presented a common mental health myth and asked to determine as a group if it is true or not. And finally, there are ’share’ cards, which start a discussion activity augmented by their personal device. For example, players might be asked to "provide a tip for a friend about dealing with an anxiety attack in a public place". The physical setting of the game encourages communication, as players are sitting acrossfrom each other. The game-like context is hypothesized to lower barriers when talking about a stigmatized subject matter. The digital setting allows us to add a little bit of privacy and distance fromthesubject at hand. For example, most of the questions in the ’share’ exercise are designed with the ’tip for a friend’ paradigm, allowing players to talk about an experience without revealing that personal nature of these experiences. Also, all four players enter in answers to the ’share’ activity, but only one Above Water: Fighting Stigma with Augmented Tabletop Games CHIPLAY’17, OCTOBER 2017, AMSTERDAM

response is used for discussion (chosen at random) to enable a little bit of privacy when sharing with the group. Furthermore, if one does not want to share (e.g., the question is too personal), they can leave the answer blank and the game can choose from a set of predefined answers if necessary.

METHODOLOGY AND FUTURE WORK Because we are dealing with a sensitive subject, and because our studies may attract those that are suffering from (treated or untreated) mental illness, we have a lot ethical considerations inour study design. We have made sure that all individuals running the study will be properly trained in crisis management (the University of Waterloo offers several levels of training for staff and students). Figure 3: Players play with a group of 4 Furthermore, we have putting procedures in place that will help up direct participants to the proper players, using both the physical and digi- counseling and crisis services if they are in need. tal components simultaneously Our next step in Above Water’s development is to involve mental health professionals in it’s design. In particular we want to make sure that Above Water sends the right message and that all information provided by the game is correct and useful. Currently Above Water has been designed in-keeping with relevant literature (e.g., papers on available treatments,etc.), however, experts in the field are best equipped to evaluate the game design.

THE FUTURE OF AUGMENTED TABLETOP GAMES Like Above Water, augmented tabletop games can take advantage of both the physical and digital contexts. This can lead to • Personalization: By using personal devices to display content, the game can adjust the content to the user. For example, the game could provide a color-blind friendly interface, personalize avatars using a photo of the user, or draw from the users social network information. • Privacy: personal devices, are, well, personal. Above Water makes use of this by having users answer personal questions on their personal devices, allowing for a little privacy as to which user answered what response. • Hidden Information: Augmented reality can be used to reveal hidden information to some users and not others. Many games give different information to different roles, and augmented reality could be used to highlight, hide, or lie about the state of the game. Personal devices can be likewise used to hide or alter information. For example, cards could be virtually stored on your mobile where other players are unlikely to see them. • Stacked Decks: Physical decks of cards are limited in that the distribution of cards in the deck is always dependent on which cards have already been drawn or played. Augmented tabletop games can either ignore played cards and always keep the same distribution available to players, or they can fully embrace chance and alter the card distribution dramatically, by responding to Above Water: Fighting Stigma with Augmented Tabletop Games CHIPLAY’17, OCTOBER 2017, AMSTERDAM

events in the game. Imagine a game which balances itself by making ’event’ cards more likely when the game has been boring or dull. • Physical Properties: Physical pieces are tangible and can be manipulated in physical ways. Physical pieces could be altered with accelerometers, vibration or other tactile feedback, or other visual changes such as the addition of LEDs. • Additional Interaction: Augmented tabletop games can respond the needs or wants of the user. User interfaces can prompt the players to make decisions or offer players new ways to advance game play. Video/cut scenes could be added to a story-based physical game. Tangible pieces (perhaps augmented with accelerometers) can be used for new interaction modalities.

MATERIALS Currently the prototype for both the physical card and digital components have been developed for testing. Above Water was part of the student games competition at CHIPLAY’2016 [3] and presented as a demo at Interactive Surfaces and Spaces 2016 [4]. As both the physical and digital parts have been developed, I can demo Above Water at the workshop.

BIO Diane Watson is a PhD Candidate at the University of Waterloo in Canada. Her work focuses on gamification (e.g., how positive behaviours can be encouraged through games) and on creativity in games (e.g., sandbox games). She has worked on the design of several games, including Reading Garden, a game which encourages undergraduate students to read their textbooks, and Above Water, an educational game about generalized anxiety disorder and panic disorder which aims to reduce the stigma surrounding these disorders.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I thank Rina R. Wehbe, Gustavo F Tondello, Marim Ganaba, Melissa Stocco, Alvin Lee, and Lennart E Nacke who are all part of the Above Water team.

REFERENCES [1] Patrick Corrigan. 2004. How stigma interferes with mental health care. American psychologist 59, 7 (2004), 614. [2] Sue Franklin, Mary Peat, and Alison Lewis. 2003. Non-traditional interventions to stimulate discussion: the use of games and puzzles. Journal of Biological Education 37, 2 (March 2003), 79–84. https://doi.org/10.1080/00219266.2003.9655856 [3] Rina R Wehbe, Diane K Watson, Gustavo F Tondello, Marim Ganaba, Melissa Stocco, Alvin Lee, and Lennart E Nacke. 2016. ABOVE WATER: An Educational Game for Anxiety. In Proceedings of the 2016 Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play Companion Extended Abstracts. ACM, 79–84. [4] Rina R Wehbe, Diane K Watson, Gustavo F Tondello, and Lennart E Nacke. 2016. ABOVE WATER: Extending the Play Space for Health. In Proceedings of the 2016 ACM on Interactive Surfaces and Spaces. ACM, 497–499.