April 2012 Volume 15 Number 2 - Educational Technology & Society

on-site to finally achieve a meaningful transmission of information to individuals. The Hypercontextualized Game
(HCG) design model (Islas Sedano et al., 2010) aims, since its very conception, to link small audiences with their
continuously changing context. In contrast, today’s digital games are developed outside the player’s context and their
main aim is to target worldwide audiences. The game can thus be played anywhere and at anytime in a virtually
generated world without a meaningful connection to the player’s reality.
We conceptualized LieksaMyst as a means to deliver meaningful information to the Pielinen Museum’s visitors onsite
within the constraints of the available resources. Although museums often use modern technology to help their
visitors understand their exhibitions, digital games are rarely used. Some of the existing game solutions for museums
feature initiatives like the use of the technology and user acceptance (Ferris et al., 2004; Klopfer, Perry, Squire, Jan,
& Steinkuehler, 2005). Complementary to this genre of museum games, this paper addresses a related but different
problem. The question is how to design a game for a particular museum within the limits of its own available
resources. Unlike generic technology, of which context-aware recorders that automatically explain the surrounds to
the visitor are an example, we wanted to craft a game that originates from the particular context itself. Whereas
conventional solutions are technology-driven, ours is driven by the context. The distinguishing perspective of this
paper is thus the design process that we call hypercontextualized. A typical study executed on a technology-driven
game is quantitative. It analyzes to which extent the designed solution, which is provided, promotes user experience
or learning. In our case, the context is given, while the solution is designed alongside with and informed by the study.
Therefore, our study is qualitative and explores the design process itself.
This paper identifies the elements that characterize LieksaMyst as an HCG and analyzes the design process. Each
one of the HCG stories is designed and developed in, with and for the specific context. The stories target a small and
inclusive audience, namely visitors to the Pielinen Museum. The LieksaMyst design process exemplifies a modern
digital game carefully knitted with the reality of a specific context to deliver meaningful information on-site which,
in turn, supports the co-creation of knowledge by its players. Furthermore, the design process highlights the players’
imagination and curiosity about the real life elements (e.g. environment, social dynamics) and utilizes these to guide
the players in a positive learning experience. The carefully executed design process of the LieksaMyst HCG stories
resulted in an enjoyable mobile service offered by the Pielinen Museum which the curators can expand upon as and
when they wish.
Literature review
The combination of games and museums is nothing new (Hooper-Greenhill & Moussouri, 2000). Games are utilized
without using technology widely in museums. Examples of this are the role-playing games at the Herren-Chimsee
New Palace and King Ludwig II Museum in Bavaria and the treasure hunting games at the Van Gogh Museum in
Amsterdam. Literature widely addresses the use and development of digital games in museums. However, most of
these games are reported as temporal research studies and not as established services of the museums (Ferris et al.,
2004). One potential reason for the limited presence of digital games in museums is the restricted involvement of
curators in the design and development of the games. This leads to the infrequent transfer of research game
prototypes to museum services. Additionally, researchers seem to want to produce edutainment by combining
education and entertainment (Resnick, 2006). Instead, we argue, digital games should transfer and relay the curators’
passion and knowledge of the exposition to the visitors through play, as is the case of non-digital games.
According to Ravenscroft and McAlister (2006), the enthusiastic application of digital games in education is
apparently encouraged by the video game industry. Gee (2003), for example, argues that the knowledge gained by
playing video games is transferable to other domains. In opposition to this claim, Ravenscroft and McAlister
explicitly state that today’s digital games are weak in linking the “game-playing activity to transferable social or
conceptual processes and skills that constitute, or are related to learning” (2006). Additionally, knowledge cannot
be viewed as a self-contained unit of information to be transferred without a contextual reference. Brown, Collins
and Duguid (1989) hold forth that knowledge and cognition cannot be separated from a situation – instead, the
activity and the situation co-create the knowledge that is developed and deployed at the moment in which it is to be
learned. Cronje sustains their argument noting that “learning is constructed from the experience of the learner”
(2006). Additionally, Robinson mentions that “we think about the world in all the ways we experience it, we think
visually, we think in sound, we think kinesthetically, we think in abstract terms, we think in movement” (2006).
Hence, to co-create knowledge alongside information we should involve ourselves in a situation – preferably at a
multidimensional level.
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