Geospatial Human‐environment Simulation through Integration of Massive Multiplayer Online Games and Geographic Information Systems

Abstract

This article reports on the initial development of a generic framework for integrating Geographic Information Systems (GIS) with Massive Multi-player Online Gaming (MMOG) technology to support the integrated modeling of human-environment resource management and decision-making. We review Web 2.0 concepts, online maps, and games as key technologies to realize a participatory construction of spatial simulation and decision making practices. Through a design-based research approach we develop a prototype framework, "GeoGame", that allows users to play board-game-style simulations on top of an online map. Through several iterations we demonstrate the implementation of a range of design artifacts including: realtime, multi-user editing of online maps, web services, game lobby, user-modifiable rules and scenarios building, chat, discussion, and market transactions. Based on observational, analytical, experimental and functional evaluations of design artifacts as well as a literature review, we argue that a MMO GeoGame-framework offers a viable approach to address the complex dynamics of human-environmental systems that require a simultaneous reconciliation of both top-down and bottom-up decision making where stakeholders are an integral part of a modeling environment. Further

Emerging GIS themes and the six senses of the new mind: is GIS becoming a liberation technology?

“…Geogames are gaining more recognition for their importance in both GIS research and education (Ahlqvist et al 2012). The interactions between GIS and the online virtual world second life (SL) are particularly noteworthy (Sui 2008).…”

“…In retrospect, the past 20 years have witnessed the emergence of a plethora of research themes in GIS that are quite different from traditional GIS practices before 1992. Intellectually tied to the critical cartography pioneered by Harley (1989) in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the emerging GIS themes covered in this article have evolved from early discussions on GIS and Society (primarily via NCGIA initiative-19) (Pickles 1995), critical GIS (Schuurman 2000), public participation GIS (PPGIS) (Sieber 2006), feminist GIS (Kwan 2007), deep maps (Bodenhamer 2013) to qualitative GIS (Cope and Elwood 2009), queer cartography (Brown and Knopp 2008), neogeography (Turner 2006), crowding scouring/ volunteered geographic information (VGI) (Dodge and Kitchin 2013;Wilson and Graham 2013), geoweb (Leszczynski 2012), postcolonial computing (Irani et al 2010), geogames (Ahlqvist et al 2012), geodesign (Goodchild 2010) and spatial humanities, etc. (Wilson 2012).…”

Engaging Youth Through Spatial Socio-Technical Storytelling, Participatory Gis, Agent-Based Modeling, Online Geogames and Action Projects

“…They can be designed as geogames, games that intend to represent the environment in a realistic or close to realistic way (Schlieder et al 2005, Ahlqvist et al 2012, often based on maps, satellite images or aerial photographs. We hypothesize that games, online games and game-based simulations may provide environments in which players/citizens can be immersed and feel like being in the flow enjoying the engagement and participatory activities.…”

(Re-)Localization of Location-Based Games

“…We regard LBGs as a particular subclass of geogames, i.e., games played in geographic space [35]. The latter, however, include also online games that make use of geographical information without any physical interaction of players [1].…”

“…In order to reach players from different places and in order to allow for flexibility in taking gaming opportunities, LBG concepts need to be easily relocalized in a way which preserves the particular attractiveness of a game. Furthermore, turning successful virtual reality games played on a computer, or massive multiplayer online games [1], into a LBG requires localization, i.e., the suitable embedding of virtual game concepts into a physical environment. All these tasks still pose considerable conceptual and computational challenges, even though some effort has been made to tackle them [35,19,11,34].…”