Meta-Designing Interactive Outdoor Games for Children:
A Case Study.
Susanne Lagerström1,2, Iris Soute2, Yves Florack2, Panos Markopoulos2
1
2
Department of Communications and Networking,
Aalto University, School of Electrical Engineering,
Otakaari 5A, 02150 Espoo, Finland
Department of Industrial Design
Eindhoven University of Technology
Den Dolech 2, 5612AZ Eindhoven, The Netherlands
[email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]
systems. Typically, these systems have a learning goal: to teach
children how to program. Furthermore, these systems are
generally designed for indoor use, and are usually not suitable for
outdoor play - which is our particular research interest.
ABSTRACT
The growth of tangible and embodied interfaces has lead them to
expand from research labs to everyday life. This has raised the
question of end-user development and the user requirements for
an environment supporting development. This paper researches
the user requirements for a toolkit to create interactive outdoor
games for children, by adults with no programming skills. We
present a case study in which adults designed such games and
tested them with children. For the design and testing of the games,
RaPIDO, a platform specially designed for prototyping interactive
technology, was used. Based on this experience we identify
requirements for a toolkit to support the creation of interactive
outdoor games.
The continuing miniaturization of technology has enabled
designers and engineers to create interactive technology that can
easily be taken outdoors and create novel user experiences. In
particular, pervasive (outdoor) gaming is receiving growing
interest in research [2,6,10,13]. Still, the trend for supporting
adaptation and personalization is less common for tangible and/or
mobile interactive technology [14].
We argue that, especially where outdoor gaming is concerned,
there is a need for supporting non-technical schooled people to
create and/or adapt games. Caretakers of children, such as scout
leaders and teachers are natural designers of games for children.
Scout leaders currently already design and create non-digital
games for the children to play. For instance, they create different
versions of Capture the Flag, such as a soccer version, in which
famous soccer players replace all original military roles. Scout
leaders have a unique understanding in what kind of games
children prefer to play. Also, the ability to constantly adapt and
change games, allows for games to 'grow' with the children,
matching their interests as these evolve over time.
Categories and Subject Descriptors
H.5.2 [Information Interfaces and Presentation]: User
Interfaces – evaluation/methodology, user-centered design,
prototyping.
General Terms
Design, Human Factors
Keywords
Interactive technology brings novel and enjoyable play
experiences to outdoor games [13]. Currently, however, the
development process of such games requires a considerable
amount of time and software skills; time and skills that, e.g., scout
leaders typically do not possess. This research examines how
interactive applications could support adults, with little or no
programming skills, to create interactive outdoor games for
children.
End-user development; meta-design; children; interactive outdoor
games
1. INTRODUCTION
Adaptation and personalization of interactive devices is a growing
trend in the field of Human Computer Interaction [5]. It has
consequently been proposed that end-users themselves should be
enabled to create and adapt systems to their personal needs and
likes [8]. A well known example of a system that lets children
create their own content, is Scratch [9]. Similarly, offerings such
as LEGO Mindstorms [3] allow children to create interactive
In this paper we first discuss related work in end-user
development of interactive systems. We propose arguments for
why current practices in end-user development may not be
suitable in the design of games in the class of interest. Next, we
present a case study where two interactive, outdoor games for
children are iteratively designed and evaluated by adults using
RaPIDO [12], a platform that enables the easy prototyping of
interactive outdoor games. Finally, we discuss our main findings
on user requirements for a toolkit for creating interactive outdoor
games, and conclude with a reflection on how this work might
also be valuable for other research areas.
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IDC'14, June 17–20, 2014, Aarhus, Denmark.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/2593968.2610483
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2. END-USER CUSTOMIZATION OF
TANGIBLE INTERACTIVE
TECHNOLOGY
3.1 Participants
The participants in this study were five scout leaders, aged 20-24
of a scouting organization in the Netherlands. During the process
of designing the games, children (7-10 years old) have
participated as testers. We obtained consent from the parents of
the children for their children participating in the sessions, and
also for gathering video and photo material.
As interactive systems continue to evolve, they become easier to
use for end-users who are typically not schooled in computer
programming. Research in end-user development (EUD) [8]
focuses on how to best support these users to adapt computer
tools to integrate in their everyday life, the main focus being on
users that are information workers [7], i.e. users that use
computers and software in their professional context, but are not
trained software engineers. A typical example of such a user is a
financial expert, who uses spreadsheet software on a daily basis.
Though such a user is not trained in programming, he/she might
write scripts to ease his/her routine tasks. Research in end-user
development (at earlier times under the label of end-user
programming) has often considered the need of the domain expert
who is a non programmer, e.g., see [4]
The scout leaders had previous experience designing non-digital
games for children, such as tailor-made versions of Capture-theFlag. However, they had no experience with programming.
3.2 Procedure
In total, four sessions were organized with the scout leaders, in
which they iteratively designed two games. In the first two
sessions the scout leaders (re-) designed the games, in the third
and the fourth session these games were tested by the children.
As the scout leaders had no programming experience, they
designed the game rules, which we subsequently programmed for
the RaPIDO platform. We chose for this approach as we were less
interested in the actual programmed result, but more in the
process surrounding the creation of games – and how an eventual
tool would best support that.
Less emphasis has been put on researching the challenges and
opportunities that end-user adaption of tangible interactive
systems brings for non-information workers, such as
physiotherapists, and teachers. A notable exception is offered by
Tetteroo et al. [14], who identify five key challenges that endusers face when adopting tangible interfaces in their daily routine.
Challenges include: integrating the virtual with the physical;
supporting end-users in designing interactivity; and EUD in a
social-technical context. Tetteroo et al. also argue that due to the
needed engineering skills and the effort it takes to design
interactive applications, end-users do not have the time, nor do
they have a fundamental interest in mastering the skills needed to
do so. Therefore they argue that there is a need for toolkits that
make it even easier to engage in end-user development.
3.3 Design sessions
Four scout leaders, 2 women and 2 men, participated in the first
game designing session. From these scout leaders 3 out of 4
participated in a previous study and were therefore familiar with
the devices and the games. In the second design session two scout
leaders, 1 woman and 1 man, participated.
In the first session (Figure 1) we interviewed the scout leaders
about their normal way of creating games for the children.
Furthermore, the scout leaders were (re) acquainted with RaPIDO
by playing an existing game. Then, the design process started, in
which we kept our own interference to a minimum. First, we
asked the scout leaders to individually write down as many games
as they could come up with. Next, ideas were discussed and
merged in to two game designs, which we implemented on
RaPIDO after the session. In the second design session the scout
leaders played these games and brainstormed on improvements.
In the last 10 years, several toolkits have been developed targeting
the simplified world of engineering, e.g. the Arduino platform [1]
makes it relatively easy for novices to create interactive systems.
Modular hardware is offered with a programming environment
and software libraries, and a range of extensible hardware is
available to further adapt the system. Furthermore, it is supported
with an active online community promoting tutorials and
examples of how to build interactive applications. For non
programmers and especially for people engaging in discretionary
end-user programming (i.e. not as part of work), the disadvantage
of most of the mentioned platforms, is the need to learn coding
and basic engineering. We examine related challenges in a case
study that follows end-users in their design process of an
interactive game for children.
3. CASE STUDY SETUP
This case study examines how non discretionary end-user
developers engage with designing games, and in doing so it aims
to establish the user requirements for a toolkit for end-user
development of interactive outdoor games. This tool would be
targeted at adults, with no programming experience, to design
games for children using the RaPIDO platform. The RaPIDO
platform [12] consists of a set of devices that support various
interaction styles that are useful in outdoor interactive games,
such as tactile and auditory feedback, sensors for detecting motion
and distance. Currently, the RaPIDO platform offers a software
API to program games, but it requires advanced software skills to
use it.
Figure 1. First designing session with scout leaders
We noted that when designing the games the scout leaders were
thinking about the added value of technology. They tried to focus
on games that needed the technology and ruled out some game
ideas that would not have a need for technology. They were also
reasoning about how the children would experience the game.
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We observed that the scout leaders know how to come up with
conceptually good game ideas. Often they did not consider the
interaction between the device and the player. For example, they
did not always think about how the user would get feedback in
different situations, e.g. advancing from one level to the next.
However they did think about some details in the game e.g. using
vibration to show a player that a tag has been read, when not
wanting to show it to other players. Unsurprisingly, they had
difficulty envisioning the use of some of the technology. This
relates to the fact that, though the scout leaders were aware of
what the devices could do, they were not aware of how it was
technically implemented, and how best to use the technology to
support the game design. For example, they were aware that the
devices could show RGB colors using four RGB LEDs. However,
due to technical limitations, only one color can be selected at a
time. In their game design, the scout leaders envisioned each led
showing a different color. Once they realized this was not
possible, they could not think of alternatives, and eventually it had
to be us suggesting to them to switch the LEDs consecutively on
and off, so that each could show its designated color, which left
the game design relatively intact.
We observed that it was easy for the scout leaders to handle the
devices in terms of initiating games. However, explaining the
games to the children proved more difficult than normally. Aside
from explaining the game rules, now they had to explain the
interaction with devices and the game flow as well, which they
were not yet familiar enough with.
4. DISCUSSION
The main goal of this study was to study the process of designing
games in order to establish the user requirements for a toolkit
targeted at adults, with no programming experience, to design
outdoor games for children.
4.1 Findings for User Requirements
In the sessions with the scout leaders, the main focus was to look
at how the target-user can create games from the ground up,
conceptualizing the game interactions, possible storyline and, in
this case, what technologies would be used.
Concerning the user requirements for a toolkit to create interactive
outdoor games, the design, reflection and testing sessions
provided some insights for a potential list of requirements.
3.4 Game test sessions
First of all, there was definitely a need for helping them
understand what is possible with technology. For example, during
the designing sessions, the scout leaders found it challenging to
include the technology in their designs, not knowing the
opportunities they had, nor having any practical examples to
compare to. They could implement technological aspects they had
seen put into practice before, but coming up with new ideas,
seemed challenging for them. Peer support, online resources are
ways to provide this awareness, or perhaps an explicit account of
different possibilities.
In the next two sessions the games designed by the scout leaders
(and implemented by us) were tested by children (Figure 2). In the
first test session, 5 scout leaders, 3 men and 2 women, attended to
the meeting. 9 children (8 boys, 1 girl, 7-10 years) also attended
the scout meeting. In the second session 3 scout leaders, 1 man 2
women, attended to the meeting. 6 children, all boys, attended to
this meeting, one of them had not attended in the previous session
nor the evaluation made earlier [13].
In the game testing sessions the scout leaders would play the
games with the children. We would only act as observers and in
case of problems help them with the devices. We gave them
instructions on how to handle the devices and a recap of how the
games work before the children arrived.
Second, scout leaders have no background in interaction design,
so it is not surprising that they had trouble designing detailed
interactivity aspects, such as user feedback. For example, in the
first game design session, the scout leaders incorporated scanning
an RFID tag in one game. From a users’ perspective it is easier if
a successful scanning action is confirmed by, say, an auditory cue.
However, such cues were not taken into account in the design.
Upon testing in the second session, the scout leaders clearly
missed such feedback and wanted it to be implemented.
After playing with the children, the scout leaders had some ideas
on how to change the games, both regarding the interaction with
the game and new game rules. For instance when they found that
the children were learning the correct order of tags that needed to
be found in one of the games, they wanted to randomize the order
of tags. They also asked for color collecting assignments, which
previously had been shown on paper cards, to be shown on the
devices themselves.
Tetteroo et al. [14] also state that, in general, end-users are not
used to designing interactivity and there for they need support in
this. At the moment there is a lack of design guidelines for endusers who want to create their own solutions. Therefore, Tetteroo
argues that meta-designers should not only provide a toolkit for
end-users, but they should also be provided guidance in how to
meaningfully design interactivity, or even add detailed
interactivity aspects automatically (e.g., automatically inserting an
audio cue for every scanned tag)
Third, during the testing sessions, it seemed to be difficult for the
scout leaders to explain the games and the interactions to the
children. By adding a possibility within a toolkit to demonstrate
aspects of a game, it would probably help the scout leaders
explain the game. One of the scout leaders also remarked that
usually with games without technology, they show the children
how it is done beforehand. Taking this into consideration
throughout the design process of a game, we hypothesise that this
will provide the scout leader with the capability to better
communicate and translate the game to the children. In principle,
Figure 2. Designing and testing session
with scout leaders and children
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this aspect can also be used during the design phase, to test and
evaluate the design with.
6. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We would like to thank the children and scout leaders of Scouting
Steensel, the Netherlands for excellent cooperation.
Finally, there was a need for being able to set up a game with e.g.
number of players, teams, time-limit, etc. or the need to change
parameters between games. Also, during play it could be handy
for the scout leaders to monitor the game, i.e. see some game
parameters in real-time (e.g. scores, time left to play etc.) During
one of the testing sessions there was definitely a need to adjust
settings for one game, as it was becoming boring for the children.
7. REFERENCES
[1] Arduino. Arduino website. 2014. www.arduino.cc.
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4.2 Reflections on the Method Used
In general we think that the method used in this study worked
well with our target group, the scout leaders. The scout leaders
designed two games that both they and the children liked to play.
As the scout leaders did not have experience programming the
RaPIDO devices, we have done this for them. We did implement
some details of games that were not specifically designed by the
scout leaders – in particular details that, when not implemented,
would make a game totally unplayable. However, we kept this
‘interference’ to a minimum; the general design of the game
originated from the scout leaders. As such, this process gave us a
good insight in how the scout leaders would engage in the design
process and what kind of designs they are capable of.
[4] Bonnie A. Nardi. A small matter of programming:
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of ‘expert of his/her experience’ by providing tools for ideation
and expression” [11], as a method for this research, we believe
that our approach was more suitable for this specific study. If we
had co-designed the games with the scout leaders, we could have
assumed the role as technology and game design experts and
would have had more influence on the game design, which would
have given a distorted image of how scout leaders would have
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5. CONCLUSION
Adults, such as scout leaders, often have a good insight on what
kind of games the children like and may therefore be good, and
perhaps even better than interaction designers, at designing the
game concepts for these kind of games. However, these people
rarely have experience in interaction design or programming,
which we argue is needed for being able to design interactive
games with a good game flow and which match with the game
concept. Therefore we strongly believe that there is a need for a
toolkit that supports and structures the creation of interactive
outdoor games. The main idea of such a toolkit would be to give
non-programmers and people who do not have experience in
interaction design a chance to design and/or tweak interactive
outdoor games.
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designing new forms of digital augmentation for learning
outdoors. Proc. of IDC ’04, ACM (2004), 3–10.
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new landscape of design. CoDesign. Vol. 4, No. 1. 5-18.
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Platform for Mobile Outdoor Gaming for Children. In D.V.
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prototyping of outdoor games for children in an iterative
design process. Proceedings of the 12th International
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Even though the target group in this research was very specific,
we believe that the findings in this research could also be
transferred to other Tangible and Embodied Interfaces. As
(embedded) technology is becoming more and more established in
everyday life, it becomes important that users are able to adapt
functionality to their preferences, to encourage adoption of said
technology. Especially professionals, who are not educated in
technology, taking up technology in their work context, could
benefit from tools to adapt technology. For example, a toolkit,
tailored to the capabilities of a teacher, would enable the teacher
to use technology in a meaningful way. This research is a first step
in showing how the development of such toolkits could be
executed.
[14] Tetteroo, D., Soute, I., and Markopoulos, P. Five Key
Challenges in End-user Development for Tangible and
Embodied Interaction. Proceedings of the 15th ACM on
International Conference on Multimodal Interaction, ACM
(2013), 247–254.
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