Abstract

We encounter questions concerning other senses of place within contemporary media environments through an examination of mobile and locative media in a classic social practice: gaming. Mobile Gaming has become widespread with the rapid technical developments and increasing use of mobile phones which have become smartphones. We will show how recent developments in mobile technologies shape gaming practices, how these practices lead to a recreation of new senses of place, and how these other senses of place are being encountered. To do so, we will first outline the interdependency of technological developments of mobile devices and new forms of gaming practices. Then we will discuss how smartphones pervade social life and create new sociospatial formations with regard to casual and location-based games. Finally we will draw on a case study on a location-based, urban casual game that we developed in a transdisciplinary project together with game designers and computer scientists. We will conclude with a detailed analysis of the processes involved in creating new (play)spaces and show how physical and "on-screen" space is coordinated in social practices.