Smart phones have allowed mixed reality gaming to expand from small, niche communities using custom built, bulky, and expensive hardware into worldwide and massively multiplayer games, compatible with the multitude of devices already resting in our pockets. However, the shift to smart phones as the major platform for location based mixed reality gaming has cultivated a reliance on the screen and visual storytelling to mediate the alternate reality experience. In this presentation, I will cover the historical use of non-visual media in the creation of mixed and alternate realities, focusing on novel uses of audio and haptic interaction and the affordances each sensation offers. An in-depth look at an audio-based mixed reality project for discovering data centers as well as a demo of the project will help to illustrate the challenges and possibilities for non-visual mixed reality in gaming.

ATTENDEE TAKEAWAY
By using non-visual forms of feedback, game designers can enhance or completely alter the type of interactions in location based mixed reality games. If many of the goals of such games are to get players out of their chairs and into the world, a player’s behavior and attention within the world must also be considered.