The Design of an Online Game "Traveling Around the World in 180 Days"
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Journal of Information Technology and Applications
Vol. 2, No. 2, pp. 51-59, 2007
The Design of an Online Game “Traveling Around the World in 180 Days”
Wernhuar Tarng*, Lu-I Ke,
Department of Applied Mathematics, National Hsinchu University of Education
wtarng@mail.nhcue.edu.tw
Chen-Kai Shiu, Yu-Si Lin and Wen-Shin Tsai
Institute of Computer Science, National Hsinchu University of Education
Abstract
Traveling is a very popular recreational activity. We can see beautiful scenes, experience different cultures
and increase our knowledge during traveling. Limited by time, money and foreign language ability, not many
people can fulfill the dream of traveling around the world. In this paper, we propose an interesting online game
called “Traveling around the world in 180 days” to provide people with virtual tours by traveling on the Internet.
Players have to obtain information about places to visit, and book their flights and hotels in advance. They also
need to manage their time, money and health to achieve the goal of traveling around the world while
accumulating enough knowledge and experiences to become a winner in the contest. The online game is
accessible through network, and it can be used as an assistant tool in social science education to enhance the
interest and learning effects of students as well.
Keyword: online game, self-help tours, web-based learning
1. Introduction fun and freedom [4]. For example, a traveler can
decide the routes, daily schedules, foods and places to
People like traveling at leisure times, and it is a
stay. To plan a self-help tour, one has to know the
very good recreational activity for body and mind.
major purposes and conditions such as “Where and
Travelers can enjoy beautiful scenery, experience
when to go?” and “How much time and money do I
different cultures, and increase their knowledge [1].
have?” After deciding the destination and time to
People used to say that it is better to travel far than to
travel, one starts to collect the information for
read voluminously. Therefore, the early baronages in
making a plan. Tourist information collection and
England considered traveling an important activity
asking for the advices of experienced people is very
for young people. Traveling can exercise their bodies,
important for self-help travelers. The more detailed
broaden their visions, discipline strong wills, and
information, the more fun and less chance of
cultivate integrated personality. Moreover, young
accidents in the trip. Finally, one can start to book
people can learn to take care of themselves. By
flights and hotels via travel agencies and apply for a
approaching the nature, they will become more
visa if necessary [5].
independent and open-minded. Besides, the beautiful
There are several requirements to become a
scenery gives them precious memories.
self-help traveler, for example, comprehensive plans,
Since Taiwanese government carried out the
sufficient expense, strong body and mind, the ability
policy of “two days off weekly”, traveling has
of foreign languages and accident handling [6]. Many
become a popular activity in recent years [2]. Modern
people would think that self-help traveling is just a
people are usually very busy, so they would like to
dream due to the lack of essential conditions.
relax by traveling on vacation. In addition, traveling
However, students can raise travel expenses by taking
abroad not only help them stay away from boring
part-time jobs during summer vacation. In this way,
workplace but also improve the relationships between
they can also increase their life experiences and
parents and children. According to the reports of
develop the ability of foreign languages. Without
Tourism Bureau, there are more than 8 million
being afraid of exploring the outside world, they can
Taiwanese people traveling overseas in 2005 [3].
always expand their visions with optimistic attitudes
They mostly joined tour groups, and young people
and finally become happy self-help travelers.
preferred self-help traveling or went on study tours
Safety is a major concern during traveling. With
for a few months.
a huge number of travelers every year, there are
There are several ways of traveling to satisfy the
always regretful accidents happening occasionally. In
purposes of different people. Among them, self-help
fact, the accidents could have been avoided if the
traveling is more independent and thus can meet the
travelers can pay more attentions to their safety [7].
individual requirements of more people. Furthermore,
For example, a tourist should make sure if it is safe to
designing activities in self-help traveling has more
swim in the sea and know how to save himself before
* Corresponding author. 51
Journal of Information Technology and Applications
Vol. 2, No. 2, pp. 51-59, 2007
going into the water. Female travelers should be more make profits from the investment. Of course, luck
careful while traveling alone in the night. Also, it is will be the dominating factor. If one cannot stop at
very important to maintain the best physical the places as wanted, even with the best strategy
condition during the trip to prevent from being cannot win this game.
exhausted and getting sick. In addition to balance diet The game rules of “Traveling around the world
and full rest, drinking enough water and keeping in 180 days” are similar to that of “Monopoly”, by
warm are also very important. It’s better to bring making plans to become the winner in the contest.
portable medicines just in case you need them. If After registration, each player receives a small
one’s physical condition cannot afford traveling, it is amount of money, just enough to finish the first trip.
better not to take the risk. The medical expenses can The players need to work part-time or answer
be very expensive in some countries, and one may questions to earn money for the next trip. The
also have problems to communicate with foreign questions come from the information about the city
doctors [8]. and country that they are visiting. They may
Although traveling is a fascinating activity, it encounter some accidents or opportunities during the
also costs a lot of money. Limited by time, money trip such as robbery, illness or winning lottery, just
and foreign language ability, not many people can like the “Fate” and “Chance” in “Monopoly”. To
afford to go abroad for traveling frequently. Without enhance the interest of players, we designed several
enough preparation and experiences, some people treasures that can be found at different scenic spots.
may start the trips with excitement but finally end up Players find out the treasures can increase the value
with disappointment. The objective of this study is to of experience, and they can also sell the treasures
develop an interesting online game called “Traveling when they need cash. There is a discussion area on
around the world in 180 days” using the technologies the website for players to share their experiences in
of computer network, database, virtual reality and virtual and real trips.
animation. It provides the function of entertainment The online game proposed in this paper can
as well as abundant knowledge and experiences for achieve the goal of education through entertainment,
traveling. Players can see beautiful scenery in the which has been the ideal for many educators. Besides
world and learn about the history, geography and beautiful scenery and attractive animation, it also
cultures in different countries. Besides, they can also provides players with knowledge and experiences in
improve their foreign language ability. traveling. Therefore, it can be used for the purpose of
In the past few years, computer gaming industry edutainment in social science education by increasing
has had the highest growth rate among the newly students’ interest and learning effects. Nowadays, a
established business in Taiwan. Especially, online lot of young people are obsessed with video games
games received high attention from young people and and they are paying less attention to study. This game
thus became the mainstream on the market. can induce them to study some materials in social
According to the Digital Content Institute, Ministry science and help them manage their lives, so it has
of Economic Affair, Taiwan, the population of online positive inspiration for young people.
game players was 3 million in 2004. This number had
grown to 4.5 million in 2005. Further more, the 2. System Architecture
output value in computer gaming industry was 5.8
The development of this online game includes
billion in 2002, which rose to 8.4 billion in 2003. It is
the following parts: tourist information, database,
estimated to exceed 17 billion in 2006 [9]. The main
web programming, game rules, virtual scenes, tourist
products designed or imported by local gaming
maps, animation, billiard board and discuss area
companies are: Heaven from Gamania [10],
(Figure 1). At first, we spent a lot of time collecting
Millenary and Red Moon from Holy Canonry [11],
the tourist information. We developed the database
Hero from Softstar [12] and Dragon from Acer
for players to search for the information when
Gamezone [13].
planning their trips or answering questions. We also
There are numerous online games on the
defined the parameters to record the information and
Internet, among which tactics and strategies related
statuses of players. After reading tourist information,
ones are more popular. The 3D virtual scenes and
players have to make comprehensive plan for their
attractive animation of video games captivate many
trips, book flights and reserve hotels. They can visit
young players. Taking the traditional game
scenic spots by using tourist maps. The screen will
“Monopoly” for example [14], the rules are very
display the animation to simulate course in traveling
simple and thus it is suitable for players of all ages.
at the same time. In order to increase interactivity and
Players take turns to throw dices and try to make
3D visual effects, we used virtual reality technology
money by investing real estate. Whoever earns most
to develop the virtual scenes of scenic spots in this
money and makes competitors out of the game will
game. Players can see beautiful scenery at different
become the winner. To win this game, one should
viewing angles, and they can also explore the virtual
know the trick and take the chances to invest so as to
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Journal of Information Technology and Applications
Vol. 2, No. 2, pp. 51-59, 2007
About the Login Time Player’s
MySQL
Website Location Status
PHP ．Tourist Information
Forum
Game Rules Plot
Tour Animation ．Players’ Status
Map
Tourist Billiard
Information Board ．Booking System of
Virtual Scenes
System Clock
Figure 1: The system architecture of online game “Traveling around the world in 180 days”
scenes to find out the treasures hidden at different experience. In the 3D virtual scenes, players can also
places. look for treasures, for instance, Pharaoh’s mace and
The major functions of the website for this the Viscera Coffin of Tutankhamun in the Tomb of
online game are listed in the following: Varn, the painting of Mona Lisa in Paris’ Louvre
z Login: Enabling players to register a new Museum, diamond of South Africa and Burma ruby.
account and login to the system. The major part for the development of this game
z About the Website: The purpose and idea for is the database system. We designed four databases,
developing this game. i.e., tourist information, player’s data, flight booking
z Forum: An area for players to share their and hotel reservation systems. The function of each
traveling knowledge and experiences. database is described as followed.
z Game Rules: The rules to calculate time, money, z Tourist information: There are a lot of
experience, happiness and health values. information about the cities and scenic spots. For
z Billiard Board: A scoreboard to show the ranking example, country name, capital, flag, language,
results of all players. religion, human race, history, geography, culture,
z Tourist Information: Providing the information climate, safety issues, seasons, currency and
of scenic spots, cities and countries in the exchange rate, time zone, holidays, store’s open
world.There are 204 cities and 326 scenic spots hours, visa, postal service, telephone service and
in 64 countries all over the world in this game: voltage.
z Asia: China, Japan, Korea, Thailand, Singapore, z Player’s data: Each record contains a player’s
Malaysia, Indonesia, Filipino, Vietnam, account, password, traveling time, position,
Cambodia, India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Arab and money, experience, happiness, health conditions,
Israel. country visited and treasures found.
z America: USA, Canada, Jamaica, Panama, z Flight booking: It provides the user interface for
Belize, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Argentina, players to check and book flights online.
Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Peru, Guatemala, El z Hotel reservation: It provides the user interface
Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras, Colombia and for players to reserve hotels online.
Paraguay There are four major areas on the screen area in
z Europe: France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, this game. The player’s nickname and avatar are
Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Holland, displayed in the left upper frame, and his personal
Belgium, Luxembourg, Greece, Italy, UK, data are displayed in the left middle frame, including:
Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Denmark, Norway, current status, time, position, money, experience,
Sweden, Finland, Iceland and Russia. happiness, health, country and treasures. The tourist
z Oceania: New Zealand, Aussie, Palau and Fiji. map is displayed in the left bottom frame, indicating
z Africa: Egypt, Morocco, South Africa and where the player is and directing him to the scenic
Tunisia. spots. After arriving at a scenic spot, the screen will
We divided all scenic spots into three classes display the virtual scene or animation in the right
and each class is displayed by a different technique. frame. We used virtual reality tools to design the
Class A contains the most popular scenic spots and scenic spots in class A, and used Flash to design the
well- known landmarks, for example, Pyramids of animation for the plots of eating at restaurants,
Egypt, the Colosseum in Rome, the Statue of Liberty resting in the hotels and taking taxi to the scenic
in New York and Eiffel Tower in Paris. These scenic spots.
spots are presented by 3D virtual scenes. Scenic spots The Flash animations we developed in this game
in Class B are displayed by videos and animations, are the stories occurred during a trip. For example,
and scenic spots in class C are less attractive and thus packing baggage, taking taxi to the airport, flight
shown by images only. Visiting scenic spots of check-in, shopping in duty-free stores, eating in the
different classes will obtain different values of cabinet, watching a movie, playing video games,
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Vol. 2, No. 2, pp. 51-59, 2007
reading tourist information, arriving at the destination, watching a movie or reading tourist information.
asking for tourist information, taking taxi to the hotel, Because the player must achieve the goal of traveling
sleeping, eating at the restaurant, shopping at markets, around the world in 180 days, he must accumulate the
watching the show, seeing a doctor, answering game time of 180 days, which is equivalent to
questions and working part-time. We designed the 180/60=3 days (or 72 hours) in the real world. If a
billiard board to show the competition results of all player spends an hour everyday in this game, he
players. The scoreboard will show the player’s basic needs more than 2 months to achieve the goal of
information and status by clicking at the “user name”. traveling. Therefore, the player should avoid idle
The score of a player is calculated based on his time when playing this game and try to visit as many
money, experience, health and happiness values. A countries as possible to accumulate more knowledge
player can search for other player’s status and and experience value.
ranking. For example, by clicking at “country”, we In addition to game time, player’s position is
can see the flags of all the countries visited so far. another important state to be defined in this game.
We used hierarchical state diagrams (Figure 3) to
3. Developing Method clearly define the player’s current position. There are
several nodes and links in the state diagrams. On the
The system is developed using the technologies
world map, a node indicates a traveling city and a
of network, database, virtual reality and animation.
link represents the air route between two traveling
We designed the engine to calculate the game time
cities. On the city map, a node indicates the airport, a
and position of a player by using state diagram. We
hotel or a scenic spot, and a link represents a bus
used game time instead of real time to reduce the
route. For example, the player took a flight from
scale and player’s time spent in this game, and
Taipei to Tokyo. After traveling in Tokyo for several
maintained its continuity by state-transition method.
days, he took another flight to Honolulu to continue
For instance, a player logged in the system at T0, and
his trip.
logged out at T1. During this time, he registered an
account and applied his passport and visa. On the
next day, the player logged in the system at T2 and
booked his flights and hotels. He also packed his
baggage during this time. After that, he logged out at
T3. Several days later, he logged in the system again
at T4. After taking the flight and visiting the scenic
spots, he logged out at T5. The system recorded the
player’s login and logout times for the calculation of
the player’s accumulated game times. In this example, Figure 3: Defining player’s position by state diagram
the player has spent a total of T5-T4+T3–T2+T1-T0
time in this game so far (Figure 2). Using the According the state diagram, a player’s position
accumulated game time is more flexible for players to is either in a node or between two nodes (meaning
decide when to log in or log out and how much time that the player is in the flight between two cities).
he wants to play. When the player is in a flight state, the screen will
display the world map and play the animation to
simulate the plots in the cabinet. When the player
arrives at the destination, the screen will display the
city map, showing the airports, hotels, restaurants,
and all scenic spots in this city. The system records
and displays the player’s position on the map by
using state transition method. In addition, the screen
will display animation or the virtual scene of a scenic
spot depending on current status of the player.
Figure 2: The calculation of game time To create the feeling of traveling in the real
world, we designed the course and game rules based
Based on the time domain of this game, we on the true stories of self-help traveling, including
defined a minute of game time as an hour in the real beautiful scenery, surprising discovery, adventure,
world to reduce the scale of game time. For example, and accidents. We used 3D modeling and virtual
it takes about 12 hours to fly from Taipei to New reality tools to develop the virtual scenes of popular
Zealand in the real world, so the virtual flight time scenic spots and well-known landmarks. Players can
from Taipei to New Zealand is 12 minutes. During enjoy the beautiful scenery as if seen in the real world.
this time, the screen will display the animation of They can also explore freely in the immersive 3D
staying in the cabinet, for example, eating, sleeping, space and search for precious treasures. Developing
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Vol. 2, No. 2, pp. 51-59, 2007
the virtual scenes is an important task for online information.
game design. Players may feel as if they are situating When the player arrives at the restaurant for
in the real world by seeing the beautiful and highly eating, the waiter takes him to a dining table and
interactive virtual scenes. To create such effects, we gives him the menu for ordering a meal (figure 6).
collected the pictures, videos and models of these
scenic spots as reference for the development of 3D
models.
The design of virtual scenes is divided into three
parts according to the distance from viewing position,
i.e., long range, middle range, and close range. The
long-range objects indicate the sky and mountains;
the middle-range objects include forests and small
hills; the close-range objects represent the
independent and dynamic objects such as buildings,
flowers, plants, trees, animals and people. After
developing the 3D model, we also need to past
texture to the surface of these objects to create better
visual effect. Figure 5: The animation of flight check-in
Let’s take Hikone at Shiga, Japan as an example.
This castle was built by Ii Naokatsu in 1603, so it has If the player prefers western-style foods, he can order
more than 400 year’s history. Due to its unique model beefsteak or mutton chop. If the player would like to
and style, Hikone receives very high appreciation eat eastern-style foods, he can order Chinese or
from architects all over the world. In addition, it has Japanese foods. However, there are different prices
been rated as national treasure of Japan. Hence, there for different foods, so the player must choose foods
are numerous tourists visiting this place every year. according to his budget. For example, a bowl of
In this game, the model of Hikone is developed using seafood noodles costs $5 only. A candlelight dinner
3ds Max by referring to the picture (Figure 4). The with beefsteak, croissant, seafood salad, oxtail soup,
images of wood, stones and bricks are used as texture fruit plate, orange and blueberry yoghourt and fruit
for pasting to the surfaces of gate, stables and walls. tea, is worth $40. Although the latter is more
expansive than the former, it is very helpful in
increasing the values of health and happiness. In
order to make the players familiar with the foods in
different countries, we designed several restaurants
with different menus for people to select, for example,
Spanish paella, Swiss cheese fondue and Italian
pizza.
Figure 4: The 3D model of Hikone’s architecture
In this game, the players can enjoy beautiful
scenery during their trips, and they can also
experience the course that could actually happen in a
self-help trip, for example, taking the subways, eating
foreign foods and staying in 5-star hotels. All these
events are simulated by Flash animation, and the
interaction between players and the system is
achieved by Action Script and PHP. We designed
several lovely cartoon characters and interesting
conversations for entertaining the players. For
Figure 6: The animation of dining in the cabinet
example, front desk staff asks the player to show his
ticket and passport, and measures the weight of his
As described before, we have embedded real
baggage for the check-in (Figure 5). After that, the
circumstances in self-help traveling into the events
player needs to pass through the custom and security
and rules of this game. The course of these events is
check. He can go to the boarding gate directly, or
shown by animation, and the interaction between the
spend some time at duty-free store to buy some
player and database is achieved by Action Script and
souvenirs. After take-off, the player can eat meal,
PHP. Taking the event of eating in a restaurant as an
watch movies, sleep, play video games or read tourist
example, the system has to update the player’s data
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Vol. 2, No. 2, pp. 51-59, 2007
(money, health and happiness) after finishing the value. What’s worse, if the health value is decreased
meal and paying the bill. The process for the event to zero, the game is over no matter how much money
and updating data is described as followed: and experience value one may have.
z The values of money, happiness and health are When taking a flight, the player has to check in
retrieved from database by using PHP, and these the flight early enough before the departure time.
parameters are passed to .swf file by Java Script. Otherwise, he may miss the plane and his trip will be
z Players order meals by filling in the menu. delayed. In that case, he must re-book a flight and
z The values of money, happiness and health after there is a penalty of paying extra charge imposed.
this meal are calculated by Action Script. Basically, time, money and health are the important
z A PHP program called by Action Script is used factors to win the game or to succeed in the real
to update the values of money, happiness and world. Hence, the player needs to collect enough
health in MySQL database. information, make a comprehensive plan, use game
time efficiently to travel more countries and answer
4. Defining Game Rules more questions to obtain a high score. In other words,
he needs to manage his time, money and health
We designed this game by simulating self-help
efficiently to achieve the goal of winning this game.
traveling in the real world. The goal is to travel
Experience is an important index for the ranking
around the world within a fixed period of time while
of players in the billiard board. A player will receive
obtaining the highest score to win this game. The
a flag and 100 points of experience value after
money, experience and happiness accumulated during
visiting a country. Besides, the player will get extra
the trips are the major factors for computing the final
experience values by visiting scenic spots. The scenic
score. At the beginning, a player needs to register to
spots in this game are divided into 3 classes, and their
obtain an account, and he will receive $5,000 as
experience values as defined as: the class-A spot is
traveling expense for the first trip. He can make a
worth 100 points, the class-B spot is worth 50 points,
plan by searching for the information of destination
and the class-C spot is worth 10 points. The treasures
on the website. The plan includes departure time and
found in scenic spots can also increase experience
place, arrival time and destination, the way of
values. The player can also sell them for money when
traveling, hotels and scenic spots to visit. Before
needed. The treasures and their equivalent experience
traveling, the player needs to apply for the passport
values are listed in Table 1.
and visa, book flights and hotels, and pack his
baggage. The player takes a taxi to the airport, checks
Table 1：Treasures and their experience values
in with his baggage, passes through the custom and
Treasure Hiding Place point
enters the boarding gate. In the cabinet, the player
Pharaoh’s mace Pyramids of Egypt 50
can eat meals, sleeps, watch movies, play video
painting of Mona Lisa Louvre Museum 50
games or read tourist information during the flight.
clay figures of warriors Chin Tomb 50
When arriving at the destination, he has to find his
torch Statue of Liberty 40
baggage. After checking in the hotel, the player
gold coin Colosseum in Rome 40
begins his trip in this country.
diamond South Africa 30
During the trip, the player goes to scenic spots
beryl Istanbul 20
by clicking at the city map. He can visit and explore
ruby Burma 20
at the scenic spots to increase the values of
black pearl Tahiti 10
experience and happiness. The treasures found at
scenic spots can also increase experience value, and
Visiting scenic spots, reading tourist information
the player can also sell it for money. To support the
and answering questions are the ways of learning in
function of education in this game, we have designed
this game. Moreover, the scenic plots and animations
the rule that a player must earn money by answering
provide a lot of traveling experience for players. To
questions, of which the answers comes from the
increase the motivation of learning, we designed a lot
tourist information. In addition, we have designed
of questions related to tourist information. The player
some questions about the English conversations
can answer them to earn money for the expense. For
frequently used in traveling to enhance the language
example, “Which country in Asia is called the garden
ability of players.
city? (Singapore)”, “Which museum in Paris collects
To win this game, the player must manage his
the painting of Mona Lisa? (Louvre)”, “Which park
money, health and happiness well to obtain a higher
in New Zealand is the major scene for the movie The
score. For example, he needs to pay attention to his
Lord of the Ring? (Tongariro National Park)” Players
safety and health during the trips. If the player is too
can earn $100 and 5 points of experience value if
hungry or too tired, the health value will decrease and
they answer the questions correctly.
he may get sick. In that case, the player has to see a
To create the feeling of adventure, there are
doctor, which costs him some money and experience
several events designed in this game to simulate the
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Vol. 2, No. 2, pp. 51-59, 2007
unexpected situations occurred in the tours, which are in happiness and health values in return. Seeing a
similar to the “Fate” and “Chance” in “Monopoly”. doctor, the player has to pay some money, but he can
For example, seeing a doctor due to the injury when recover his health value to 60%. The calculations of
climbing Columbia Glacier costs $500 and 10% of some parameters in Table 3 are described as
health value, winning the first prize when playing followed:
bingo in Las Vegas earns $10,000 and increases 10 z Food: The food value is set to 100% after eating
points of happiness, and visiting the British Museum a meal. It is decreased by 10% in each hour until
in London increases 50 points of experience value. reaching 0. Although it won’t become negative, a
We defined some parameters in databases to low food value will affect the health condition.
store player’s information and current status (as z Sleep: When sleeping, the sleep value increases
shown in Table 2 and Table 3). Some parameters can 10% in each hour until reaching 100%, and it is
be used to compute the final scores of the players. decreased by 6% in each hour when awaking. A
Others are related to the control of game time and low sleep value can also affect health condition.
current position of the player. We used Action Scripts z Health: If the value of food or sleep becomes 0,
to control the movement of players on the maps and health value will decrease 2% in each hour. On
its synchronization with animation. After logging in, the other hands, health value will increase 2% in
the player can make a traveling plan, e.g., booking each hour if the values of food and sleep are both
flights, reserving hotels and applying for visa. He can more than 80%. The player will get sick if health
continue the tour from last logout time, e.g., taking value is less than 50%. Then, the player will
taxi to scenic spots, resting in a hotel, eating in a receive a message warning him that he is sick.
restaurant or answering questions. Any change of z Money: The player will receive $5,000 as
player’s data will be updated immediately by calling traveling expenses after registration, which can
a PHP program to upload and download the data. be used to arrange the first trip. The player must
work part-time or answer questions to earn
Table 2: Information (storing player’s information) traveling expenses after arriving destinations.
Parameter Description z Happiness: All nice events increase the value of
name login name (primary key) happiness, for example, seeing beautiful scenery,
password password of player’s account enjoying a hearty dinner, staying at 5-star hotels
nick name player’s nick name and supporting a busker.
mail player’s e-mail address z Experience: Players will receive different values
registration registration date and time of experience after visiting a scenic spot or a city.
On the other hand, the accidents in the trip may
Table 3: Status (storing player’s data) also decrease the experience value.
Parameter Description
time accumulated game time 5. Conclusions
position player’s current position
In this paper, we have proposed an interesting
hunger degree of hunger
online game called “Traveling around the world in
sleep degree of sleep
180 days” to provide people with virtual tours by
health health condition
traveling through network. Players can enjoy
happiness degree of happiness
beautiful scenery and increase their foreign language
money player’s money
ability during the trips. Modern people are usually
experience experience value
very busy, so they may not have time or money to go
score total score
aboard for traveling. This game enables players to
country countries already visited
start and stop their trips at any time. They can make a
city cities already visited
new plan for the next trips or continue the unfinished
treasure treasures found at scenic spots
trips. They can see popular scenic spots around the
world, and experience different cultures, life styles
In addition, there are some other tables used in
and exciting adventures. They can also learn more
this game, for example, the tables for booking flights
knowledge and experiences in traveling, and share
and reserving hotels, and the table for providing the
these experiences with others on the Internet.
information of scenic spots. When designing this
Education through entertainment has been the
game, it is very important to define a set of
ideal for many educators. We tried to integrate the
reasonable game rules for which can affect the
knowledge of history, geography and foreign
interest of players about is game. Also, the
language with that of traveling such that this game
computation of parameters and final score should be
can help the learning of young people. In order to
reasonable because they will affect the ranking of
improve the player’s motivation in learning, we
players. For example, having a hearty meal may cost
designed the game rule of “answering question to
the player more money, but he can earn some points
57Journal of Information Technology and Applications
Vol. 2, No. 2, pp. 51-59, 2007
earn money”. We also designed the way of [6] Flying Web, To know about self-traveling:
competition such that players must manage their time, http://www.flying.com.tw/travel/know/know1.htm
money and health carefully in traveling if they want [7] Shi, Z. M., 1996, “The travelers’ manual for
to win this game. We believed that players would safe outdoors activities,” Taipei: Tourism
realize that these factors are also very important in Bureau.
the real life. If one can manage them efficiently, he [8] Bureau of Consular, “The safety guide for
can also succeed in his life. traveling abroad”: http://www.boca.gov.tw/
Nowadays, many young people lack experiences [9] Lin, H. T., “The boundary and current status of
of life management. They are not capable of dealing digital content industry”: http://www.tdva.org.tw/
with difficulties and frustrations. The materials of this download/tdva_930616_2.pdf
game are mainly from real life, and we designed the [10] Gamania Digital Entertainment Ltd.: http://ww
game rules to provide positive inspiration for young w.gamania.com/home/index.asp
people. It helps players to learn courtesy and decency, [11] Tainan National University of the Art: http://
and teaches them to know that being prepared before dacenter.tnca.edu.tw/business/07.htm
action gives them a higher chance to succeed. [12] Softstar Entertainment Inc.:http://www.joypark.
Traditional video games often gave people bad com.tw/HOME/Index.asp
images and brought negative effects to the society. [13] Acer Game Zone: http://www.acergame.com.
As a result, most people do not want to get involved tw/
in this business. This is the major reason for the lack [14] Rich Man: http://rich.joypark.com.tw/
of game designers in Taiwan. In recent years, most
popular online games on the market are from Korea Biographies
and Japan. Moreover, the online game market grows
Wernhuar Tarng is currently
rapidly in Mainland China. Since Taiwanese gaming
a professor in the Institute of
companies have more understanding about this
Computer Science, National
market, the government should set up strategy and
Hsinchu University of
direction for developing domestic gaming industry.
Education, Hsinchu, Taiwan.
The online game proposed in this paper has the
He received his B.S. degree
functions of both education and entertainment. It can
from National Chiaotung
help young people to develop correct worldview and
University, Hsinchu, Taiwan in
teach them the experiences of life management.
1984. He received his M.S. and
Playing this game is a lot of fun, especially for those
Ph.D. degrees in electrical and computer engineering
who like traveling, and it can also be used as an
from State University of New York at Buffalo, USA
assistant tool in social science education to enhance
in 1987 and 1992, respectively. He was a visiting
the interest and learning effects of students.
scholar of Oxford University, UK in 2003. His
research interests include: computer network,
Acknowledgement real-time systems, virtual reality and web-based
The authors would like to thank for the financial learning.
support of Best Wise International Computing Co.,
Ltd. and the National Science Council of Taiwan Lu-I Ke received her B.S and
under the contract NSC 94-2524-S-134 –003. M.S. degrees from National
Hsinchu University of
References Education, Hsinchu, Taiwan in
2004 and 2007, respectively.
[1] Tang, C. H., 1993, “Travelers manual around
She was a pre-service teacher at
the world,” Taipei: Jin-Xiu Publisher.
Min-Fu Elementary School,
[2] Luo, C. N., 1999, “Studying the influence of
Hsinchu, Taiwan in 2005. Since
two-day-off in a week on people’s traveling
August 2007, she became an
activities,” Taipei: Ministry of Transportation
engineer in Vanguard International Semiconductor
and Communications.
Corporation, Hsinchu, Taiwan.
[3] Tourism Bureau, 2005, “The report of a
workshop for developing tourism,” Taipei:
Ministry of Transportation and
Communications.
[4] Yu, C. V., 2004, “A travel guide for self-help
travelers,” Taipei: Easy Doctor Publisher.
[5] Gu, H. R., 2001, “Planning a few steps before
self-help traveling,” Taipei: ET News,
http://www.ettoday.com/2001/08/08/153-544529.htm
58Journal of Information Technology and Applications
Vol. 2, No. 2, pp. 51-59, 2007
Chen-Kai Shiu is a graduate
student of the Institute of
Computer Science, National
Hsinchu University of
Education, Hsinchu, Taiwan.
His current research interests
include network administration
and the application of virtual
reality in education.
Yu-Si Lin is a graduate student
of the Institute of Computer
Science, National Hsinchu
University of Education,
Hsinchu, Taiwan. He also works
part-time as an engineer for a
L7-network company. He is an
instructor of MBT (Mind
Building Training) program. His
research interests include network administration,
web-based education and virtual reality technologies.
Wen-Shin Tsai was graduated
from the Department of Social
Science Education, National
Hualien University of
Education, Hualien, Taiwan in
2006. She is currently a
graduate student of the Institute
of Computer Science, National
Hsinchu University of
Education, Hsinchu, Taiwan.
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