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Blurring the Lines of Age: Intergenerational Collaboration in Alternate Reality Games

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Game-Based Learning Across the Lifespan

Part of the book series: Advances in Game-Based Learning ((AGBL))

Abstract

Intergenerational play and collaboration can be valuable for various age cohorts. However, there has been limited research that explores such intergenerational play especially in the context of intergenerational games. In this chapter, we explore the idea of using alternate reality games (ARGs) for intergenerational collaborative learning. ARGs provide an opportunity for pervasive, immersive, gameplay where cooperation and collaboration are often required. First, we describe the role of serious games for older adults and intergenerational learning. Second, we describe ARGs as a new genre of game for collaborative learning and articulate a series of design considerations for creating ARGs for intergenerational learning for youth and older adults. These focus on ways to promote collaboration, blurring the boundaries between real life and the game, utilizing collaborative storytelling, and using demographic-specific mixed media as part of ARGs.

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Acknowledgments

We wish to thank the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) and the AGE-WELL Network of Centres of Excellence (NCE) for supporting this project financially.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Simon Fraser University, British Columbia, Canada

    Simone Hausknecht (Sessional Instructor), Carman Neustaedter (Associate Professor) & David Kaufman (Professor)

Authors
  1. Simone Hausknecht
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  2. Carman Neustaedter
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  3. David Kaufman
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Simone Hausknecht .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Université Laval, Québec, Canada

    Margarida Romero

  2. Concordia University, Montréal, Canada

    Kimberly Sawchuk

  3. Universitat Pompeu Fabra , Barcelona, Spain

    Josep Blat

  4. Universitat de Lleida, Lleida, Spain

    Sergio Sayago

  5. Université Laval , Québec, Canada

    Hubert Ouellet

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Hausknecht, S., Neustaedter, C., Kaufman, D. (2017). Blurring the Lines of Age: Intergenerational Collaboration in Alternate Reality Games. In: Romero, M., Sawchuk, K., Blat, J., Sayago, S., Ouellet, H. (eds) Game-Based Learning Across the Lifespan. Advances in Game-Based Learning. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-41797-4_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-41797-4_4

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-41795-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-41797-4

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