Backseat Playground: Mobile Experiences on the Road
From MobileDesign
Presented at Design for Mobile 2008
[edit] Presenter
Liselott Brunnberg | Interactive Institute | interview with Liselott
1:55 PM | Wednesday
[edit] Abstract
Backseat Playground is a project exploring the possibility to design new forms of mobile game experiences for road travellers. A journey along a road means a continuous flow of impressions, where changing scenes, sense of motion and contingent encounters provide for a very special sensation. It is a sequential experience, resembling a dramatic play of space and motion, i.e. the highway experience.
Backseat Playground makes use of this unfolding experience and turns mountains, churches, bridges, and other roadside objects, seen through the window of the vehicle, into a fictive land filled with riddles and actions of a crime mystery. By pointing the device towards objects as they pass by, the player can explore, reveal and unfold the dark adventure embedded in the surrounding physical landscape. GPS is used in combination with existing map-data to link the game to the surrounding landscape and to dynamically create a unique gaming experience wherever the player might travel in the road network.
A common cry from the back of the car or from the seat of a bus, "Are we there yet..." sums up the frustration of many passengers, particularly children, who see the journey as little more than a functional necessity to get from A to B. Backseat Playground suggest that it is possible to engage children more into that journey experience and offers children an entertaining and meaningful diversion from the boredom of a journey.
