This idea came one night when I was walking home alone in a gentle rain and it was becoming quite dark. If I was wearing an audio system that anyone could play a sound on and there was someone watching me from one of those apartments I was passing. How frightened I would be if that person who I was not aware of just gave a horrifying scream through my audio system.

What would it be like if we could play MUDs and other role playing games like Ultima Online in the real world? Of course there are already live role-playing games (LRPG)[LARPG FAQ]. But what about if we could provide some of the fantasies so often seen in the worlds of these games? How would it be if we could support magic items, haunting ghosts and super beings? This is a description of how such an idea might look like with the use of wearable devices to support LRPG. While playing LRPG there are some things that are not possible to do due to limitations of the real world, like magic for instance. With technology though some of these shortcomings of the real world might be provided. There could be a god talking to every one at the same time, there can happen magic things or someone can have the ability to hear perfectly for several hundred meters. The ideas concentrate around a system where each player in the LRPG has at least one of the following, a wearable audio device (like the Nomadic Radio[ref]), a simple input/output devices or a positing device. All of these devices are connected to each other through a wireless network and there may also be other devices in this network, like a game server, which could be used to keep the game going.

The technology is used to provide the real world with new features, to create a fictive reality but most important is that the technology does not interfere with the game, like an Augmented Reality system would, because every player has to wear goggles. The devices should melt in to the game, e.g. in a fantasy game where the magician has his/her spell-book that actually is a PDA built into an old looking book.

In a LRPG as in any role-playing game each player takes on the role of a fictional character, or sometimes a dramatized version of a real historical or living person. You play your character much as you would in any role-playing setting but even more so. Instead of saying what actions your character takes you actually take those actions for real. It is therefor important that the technology supports this and encourages it. The technology should only provide what is not possible to do in the real world today

When would this idea be possible to realise? I believe that we can do it today! It is maybe not possible to make a system that would work anywhere but definitely in a closed region, e.g. a small forest or an old factory building. For audio input and output devices like the Nomadic Radio exists already or one could be build based on headphones or small speakers on the shoulders and a small cheap PDA like the Cassiopeia which has rather good sound capability. Most important in any case is that it doesn’t exclude the player from the real world. An input device can be anything from a simple rod with only one button to PDA’s with keyboard and screen. Positioning could be achieved through GPS or systems like the Active Badges.

To give some examples how a system like this might be used here are some examples.

The Magic technology - Almost every RPG has some kind of magic things, which can be anything from ability to cast spells to future advanced hi-tech weapons. With technology it would be possible to provide these magic items within the real world! Imagine for example if you are playing a ghost then it would be possible with a spatialized audio device to sneak up beyond people without actually being there. Playing the sound of footsteps in the speaker of the audio device does the effect while you are hiding in the bushes waiting to for the footsteps to get closer! Or you could just give a death scream behind someone’s back!

Keep the story going - A PDA with wireless communication can be used to provide each player with hints and tips how they should act. It can include a description of the character’s background and how the character reacts to different situations. It would let a game master direct and steer a game according to his or here goals. Like in a game where the characters should solve a mysterious murder they can be provided with extra information during the game if they have a hard time to solve it.

References

The Dream Park, ?

Radio Space http://www.media.mit.edu/~nmarmas/radioSpace.html