Titelaufnahme

Introduction : a new opportunity -- Part I: Social exchange : Macon money -- Local fit : a framework for stronger community -- Part II: Game mechanics and social policy : fit in Macon -- Small groups and network science : reality ends here -- Circulating stories across platforms : from media to civic data -- Reclaiming commercial games : cities remix Pokemon GO and popular culture -- Sustainable growth and design : embedding with scale.

"Locally Played reveals a growing role for urban games to strengthen community and build local ties. A series of games are analyzed in successive chapters. Each game deepens a local connection including to neighbors, local businesses, and a group identity. The book ties game studies to urban studies, especially at the community and network level. Each case study reveals a distinct way to make cities stronger and neighborhoods healthier. One connects strangers across zip codes, tackling economic segregation along a business corridor in Macon, Georgia. A second takes place in Los Angeles, where game mechanics shape a group's activities to rebrand a troubled neighborhood and build cohesion. The third takes place at a leading cinema school, where the game guides team formation as students compete to make short films, balance alliances, and earn points that reflect growing social complexity. Success in such games is measured in unusual community terms, including collective efficacy, resilience and social capital. To trace impact, the book demonstrates the need for new methods - including network visualizations to connect the physical and digital. Ethics concerns are also distinct when games serve almost as policy for social mixing. In contrast to gamification, designs avoid top-down attempts to simply "add motivation" to our cities (e.g., the temptation to gamify government tasks). Instead, players are given an excuse to connect"--