Type: J2ME client and supporting server engine (Low-fi prototype milestone this term.)

Idea: We will be creating a mobile game that involves image capture and annotation. The basic premise of the game is that individuals will receive “tasks” (“zookes”). The user must complete a set of tasks, measured in difficulty by each level, to proceed to the next level. After completing the first set of “tasks” the user will be able to create the tasks and distribute them to other players. An interesting aspect of the game is the possibility for sponsors to create some of the zookes/tasks that players complete and award prizes for the first x players who complete the task. It is important to note that note that not all the tasks are created by sponsors, but that tasks are a mix of what other players create and what sponsors create.

Tasks

Tasks can involve one of two types of actions:

1. Taking an image of something - person, place, object, or action.

2. Verifying that another user in the system has taken an appropriate picture (i.e., that it is annotated correctly.)

3. Task guidelines and restrictions will be outlined in further development of the game.

PC Component

There will be a component of the game which allows players to view their own (and others’) photos from a PC and continue game play as well. Players may take photos via the camera and verify photos via the PC. (Users may also be allowed to take photos with other devices, upload, and annotate via the browser.)

Reputation Points

Like eBay assigns reputation stars to sellers, each player will receive reputation points. If they take photos which do not get verified, these reputation points decrease. They are penalized for having bad reputation points (they may have to stay on a level for a longer time and complete more tasks until their reputation points are sufficient to proceed.)

Added Value

At the completion of the game (or on running) a verified correctly annotated photo database will exist. The system will put all photos which did not get x% of verification into a trash bin and not add them to the database. The rich value of this information would be of value to both sponsors and researchers.

Why? Our Motivation:

The motivation of the game is sparked from a desire to solve the problem of annotation of images at time of capture. In this model the added value is actually end goal. After studying people’s usage patterns with the phones, we discovered that in general individuals use the phone to take funny ad-hoc pictures. Leveraging this fact, why not give them a structure to guide this play and exploration? Therefore we created a game that will provide an interaction mechanism which makes annotation transparent and fun to the user. By bringing the user’s world into the game (this is called Mobile Augmented Gaming), we can create a very rich interaction exploring social actions of individuals and communities and also provide a tangible solution to our primary problem.

Audience:

Anyone with a camera cell phone and has spare time, during which they sometimes play games. We will be targeting individuals who have both a mobile camera phone and spare time. Yes, we know this is a very broad demographic. Our goal, however, is to target the “every day user”. We also believe that other types of players that are not of the “every day users” type include individuals who geo-cache and who also play mobile games. By targeting the “every day user” player, we do not want to limit our target audience to only individuals who geo-cache or mobile game. We are hoping to target an audience similar to that of the game SIMS: those individuals who are less concerned with very competitive gaming, but more concerned and intrigued with society and social interaction in general. It will be a very simple game to play so, the target population should be everyday consumers, who are not necessarily technically savvy or a gamers. They will simply need a camera phone and free time.