Good Times?!: 3 Problems and Design Considerations for Playful HCI

Using Location-aware Multimedia Messaging (LMM) systems as a research testbed, we present an analysis of how ‘fun or playfulness’ can be studied and designed for under mobile and ubiquitous environments. These LMM systems allow users to leave geo-tagged multimedia messages behind at any location. Drawing on previous efforts with LMM systems and an envisioned scenario illustrating how LMM can be used, we discuss in detail what playful experiences are and three problems that arise in realizing the scenario: how playful experiences can be inferred (the inference problem), how the experience of capture can be motivated and maintained (the experience-capture maintenance problem), and how playful experiences can be measured (the measurement problem). We respond to each of the problems by drawing three design considerations for playful Human-Computer Interaction: 1) experiences can be approached as information-rich representations or as arising from human-system interaction 2) incentive mechanisms can be mediators of fun and engagement, and 3) measuring experiences requires a balance in testing methodology choice.