"Smart Artifacts as a Key Component of Pervasive Games" by Michal Roj (workshop paper for the Workshop on Gaming Applications in Pervasive Computing Environments 2004).

In this paper we present how smart artifacts can become a crucial element in pervasive games. In our vision, ‘magical’ artifacts play two roles: first, they are very attractive game gadgets (such as magic wands), second, they are able to handle the game (implementing the main game logic). We claim that in some cases no infrastructure would be needed to play a game. Artifacts, as we present here, are carried by players (or lying somewhere in the game area) and communicating through a wireless network. The vision has been inspired by a number of ideas and ongoing projects on smart devices and middleware platforms.

Why do I blog this? Michal is interested in by applications of ontologies in the field of pervasive computing, and, in a wider view, applications of ontologies in telecommunications. The topic of his PhD thesis is: “A methodology for ontology-driven programming artifacts in pervasive computing”. Even though his research is more related to architectural concerns