Players usually consider finding the best (fastest, cheapest, most efficient) methods for transportation to be a game challenge even if this is not explicit in the game rules. To make the best use of this, a traveling game needs to be designed in a fashion that accommodates diverse methods of moving, ranging from walking and bicycling to hitchhiking and taking taxis. From the design point of view, these methods are radically different when it comes to aesthetics and travel time. If the game design works best with a certain mode of transportation, this has to be either explicated in the rules or motivated in the backstory of the game.
All physical movement takes time. While Larry can fetch a new leisure suit from the store with a few strokes of the keyboard, it can take a player hours to do the same thing in the real world. Estimating how much time a trip will take is very difficult. Mobilizing large groups of players takes longer than mobilizing small groups, traffic congestion and problems with public transport affect the journey time, and, as pervasive games often take players to unknown parts of town, players tend to get lost now and then.
These factors make it important to design large-area games so that it does not really matter how long a trip takes. In particular, it is dangerous to assume that players should ride a taxi, as this could impact the cost of the game significantly. Then again, relying on buses might leave players stranded if the game takes them to desolate places in the dead of night.
Playing in traffic can be hazardous. Players caught up in the thrill of the moment take more risks than they would in their ordinary lives. In BotFighters (Case D), players were willing to push the gas pedal a little harder just to score some extra points while driving, whereas people testing the parkour-inspired GPS game Wanderer were willing to risk being bumped by a car in order to perform better. Designs that divert player attention are even more risky, whether the diversion is caused by staring at a mobile phone screen or an obstructive head-mounted display.
In general, driving a car while playing a game is a bad combination, unless the game has been designed specifically for drivers. At the very least, games for drivers should never require the driver to manipulate small buttons or look at a small screen (which, incidentally, is the usual setup for car navigation systems).
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