ArticleTelematics and informatics2020
Did location-based games motivate players to socialize during COVID-19?
Article in Telematics and informatics, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers.
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Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 77 citations in OpenAlex.
- Motivational Factors, Physical Activity Impacts, and Sociopsychological Effects of Pokémon GO in Players Over the Years: Scoping Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Article
- Playing remotely: The COVID-19 pandemic and mobile locative gaming in Northeast Brazil.Mobile media & communication · 2023Article
- Young Adults' Perspectives on the Implications of an Augmented Reality Mobile Game for Communities' Public Health: A Qualitative Study.International journal of public health · 2023Article
- MeetDurian: Can Location-Based Games be Used to Improve COVID-19 Hygiene Habits?Games and culture · 2022Article
- Dynamic associations between temporal behavior changes caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and subjective assessments of policymaking: A case study in Japan.Transport policy · 2021Article
- Extended Reality for Enhanced Telehealth During and Beyond COVID-19: Viewpoint.JMIR serious games · 2021Article
- Understanding the impact of information sources on COVID-19 related preventive measures in Finland.Technology in society · 2021Article
- The impact of sharing physical activity experience on social network sites on residents' social connectedness:a cross-sectional survey during COVID-19 social quarantine.Globalization and health · 2021Article
- BiLSTM and dynamic fuzzy AHP-GA method for procedural game level generation.Neural computing & applications · 2021Article
- COVID-19 as 'Game Changer' for the Physical Activity and Mental Well-Being of Augmented Reality Game Players During the Pandemic: Mixed Methods Survey Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2020Article
- Misinformation sharing and social media fatigue during COVID-19: An affordance and cognitive load perspective.Technological forecasting and social change · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Location-based games (LBGs) are typically played outdoors, as moving in the game is done by moving in the real world. However, during the COVID-19 pandemic, people were advised and even forced by governments to stay home and avoid social contact to slow down the spreading of the virus. The major LBG developers reacted by making in-game adjustments that allow playing from home, while still maintaining some incentives for players to go outdoors and socialise. For investigating factors influencing intention to play LBGs socially during the on-going pandemic, we collected cross-sectional survey data (N = 855) from Finnish players of the most popular LBG, Pokémon GO. The results showed that perceived severity of the pandemic and a positive attitude towards both governmental measures and in-game changes for combatting COVID-19 predicted intention to reduce social playing. Fear of missing out and deficient self-regulation increased playing intensity, which in turn negatively correlated with the intention to reduce social playing. Our findings demonstrate the influence that LBGs can have on human behaviour even during global crises such as COVID-19. As such, LBGs can be considered a resource in designing interventions for influencing movement at a population level.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.