Lessons Learned in Location-based Gaming

Since 2000, Geocaching.com started with the goal in mind to get gadget heads outdoors. Groundspeak, the company behind Geocaching.com, has been exploring location as a gaming medium for over seven years with a goal to extend the experience outside of Hide and Seek games.

During the development of Groundspeak’s LBS gaming platform, Wherigo, various gaming concepts have been created and tested in the real world with varied results. This presentation explores some of the concepts and presents lessons learned that can help developers and authors to deliver successful location-based outdoor experiences—as well as experiences from managing the web site for the world’s first GPS-based game.