Fostering Player Communities Through Game Support Systems in Individual Ball Sports
摘要
This article presents a design scheme and functional characteristics of a mobile decision support system for recreational ball game players, aimed at attracting new users and building player communities. The main functionality of the application is real-time capture and analysis of high-frequency ball-tracking data, which serves as the basis for generating real-time recommendations for players of individual ball games such as golf or minigolf. A distinguishing feature of these games is the absence of direct responses from other players to a player’s move. Competition arises when one player completes specific tasks first or when the final scores of multiple players are compared. We review existing best practices in game support methods and propose the design of an intelligent minigolf game support system. Its business model assumes implementation by a course supplier who offers the mobile application free of charge to customers. The system employs a dynamic programming algorithm to compute optimal moves from the player’s current position and provides hints that account for the player’s score history and skill level.