Aris game

I started this assignment by exploring the Aris website, and I focused on the press section that had a variety about Aris. I read articles titled "Augmented Reality Enhances Learning," and "Augmented Reality' on Smartphones Brings Teaching Down to Earth," which sparked my interest in the types of games that were on the app, also because it referred to playing the games in a physical sense.

I then proceed to download the app and went to play a game with one of my roommates. Right away I was confused, because the names of the games didn't seen very eye catching to me. Under the location specific tab were games such as: UW Campus Tour, Dow Day, Henry Mall History, and more, which were definitely uncommon game names. They all had the same red box icon for Aris, rating with stars, the creator, and the location.

The game we decided was called Secret Places, because it had 4 stars and sounded the most interesting out of the others. In this game, there is a series of character spread out on a map of Madison which would each guide us to their favorite place, which would then pop up on the map after talking to that person, and the goal of the game is to collect all the items that go to your inventory after talking to every character. Some of these "secret" places included: Indian Burial Mounds, Mark's Fountain, the genius, and there is 9 in total. This definitely wasn't what I was expecting when I heard about the assignment, but it has a purpose other than entertainment. It give a map of madison with interesting places that would be useful if you wanted to go on an exploration.

This assignment really showed me how broad the category of "games" can be. There are games designed for many different purposes that are not what first pop into our heads when we think of the word.