Steering Gameplay Behavior in the Interactive Tag Playground

Abstract

This paper deals with steering player behavior in the Interactive Tag Playground (ITP). The ITP, an ambient environment instrumented with contact-free sensor technology and ambient display capabilities, enhances the traditional game of tag by determining when a valid tag has been made and visualising the current tagger. We present three modifications of the ITP that aim to steer the gameplay actions of the players. The modifications are intended to influence who will be chased next by the tagger; to make good players easier to tag and less skilled players harder to tag; and to influence the locations visited by the players. We report on a user study showing that two of the three modifications have a significant effect on the behavior of players in the ITP and discuss opportunities for future research that follow from this study.