Introduction to the Minitrack on Decision Support for Healthcare Processes and Services

Abstract

In our digitized modernity, there are an increasing number of discourses related to the benefits of returning to nature for well-being, health, lived daily experiences and promoting ecological sustainability. Concurrently, location-based games (LBGs), such as Pokémon GO, have become a prominent game-technological trend, which influences players' movement out and about in nature. Therefore, LBGs could potentially provide a fruitful development to re-establish some of the human-nature relationships lost in urbanization and industrialization. The aim of this study, therefore, is to explore how contemporary LBGs affect peoples' relationship with nature. We conducted a qualitative study through semi-structured interviews among LBG players. We focused on two complementary seeding points of departure, (1) what aspects of the games affect how players interact with nature and/or are enticed to move in nature, and (2) how LBGs affect the experience in and of nature. The findings detail the multifaceted and bi-directional relationship of how LBGs affect players' perceptions of nature, but simultaneously, nature changes and shapes players' movement and experiences, potentially resulting in increased well-being and more sustainable gaming praxis.