Image: Bomboman/Dreamstime.com
Paul Wilkinson, a technology consultant specialising in construction collaboration tools, on the latest gaming phenomenon sweeping the globe.
We’ve heard quite a lot recently about augmented reality (AR), and this can be a difficult concept to explain.
Pokemon Go is a perfect example of how a smartphone’s maps and real world view can provide a backdrop to added digital information, and be interactive.
It’s not a new concept: at a Digital Futures event in 2011, I tested an AR game created by a Lancaster University lecturer to teach children (early stage surveyors, maybe?) about latitude and longitude. Using GPS smartphones, if kids navigated successfully to particular locations they could capture virtual dinosaurs.
Pokemon Go is using real-life buildings and other landmarks as locations for players to interact with the game, though, sadly, I doubt avid players will pay much attention to the buildings themselves. Some people have reportedly been injured as a result of being so immersed in Pokemon Go that they’ve tripped or bumped into things.
I spoke to the parent of one user, and she was disappointed that the objective was to capture Pokemon characters and then engage in battles: “Why couldn’t they make or build something, instead of fighting each other?” she lamented.
At least Pokemon Go challenges game-playing couch potatoes to get off their backsides, go out into the open air, and potentially meet other players in real life, rather than doing it virtually. It therefore has a strong social element to it – like the location-based app FourSquare that in turn spawned Swarm (which I often use with Twitter for checking-in at places with the #ukbimcrew and others).
But let’s not forget that we already have popular games with strong social, creative and construction themes, from forging empires to building cities in Minecraft.
It may not be AR or on a smartphone, but if your kids want to try their hand at restoring Battersea Power Station, for example, then the CIOB’s Craft your Future Minecraft-based platform helps young learners tackle many construction challenges.
Paul Wilkinson blogs at www.pwcom.co.uk
