Playing remotely: The COVID-19 pandemic and mobile locative gaming in Northeast Brazil

Mobile locative games consist of a subset of mobile games that encourage players to go outside, by promoting outdoor activities and physical meetings. Because of this, their gameplay breaks the core of social distancing strategies implemented since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, developers implemented changes in their locative games supported by the mobile game revenue model, which enabled a strategy called "playing remotely" that encourages the players to spend their money with microtransactions. This study analyses the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic in mobile locative gaming, by examining the preferences and behavior of players from the Northeast Brazil, a region with socioeconomic inequalities and urban violence, among other issues that shape mobility practices. Accordingly, we pose a research question: how do players living in Northeast Brazil manage the mobile game revenue model for playing remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic? With this in mind, we have conducted an online survey among communities of players located in Northeast Brazil, by sharing a questionnaire with 21 questions. Seventy-four players from the region responded to our survey. The sample's age was from 16 to 58 years old, and they lived in seven of the nine states that form Northeast Brazil. We have found that players' preference is to invest their time in gathering resources by playing the game, instead of spending their money in microtransactions for playing remotely. Moreover, we have found that mobile communication plays a significant role in keeping players in touch during the COVID-19 pandemic, allowing players to expand their networks to other cities and countries. We have concluded that playing remotely represents an important strategy to support the development of locative games and other location-based applications, which can help us to prepare for the next pandemic.