Gaming with Purpose: Heuristic Understanding of Ubiquitous Game Development and Design for Human Computation

In technology, the growth of ubiquitous computing and the increased use of human computation games (HCGs) create a possibility space for games that convert the serious business of work into the seriously engaging experience of play. HCGs have witnessed a significant growth in the last few years. This chapter outlines the defining characteristics of HCGs. It also outlines the design concept of the human cloud for HCGs. The chapter provides an overview of design patterns in games based on heuristic analysis. There are two dichotomous solutions to the design of HCGs. The first is to determine the problem to be solved and then apply an appropriate game design to it. The second solution is to reverse engineer the game solution by starting with a game. The chapter concludes with a discussion on design models for creating ubiquitous and persuasive play using HCGs.