Imagining the Immigration Past through an AR Game in Singapore

Singapore is a multicultural and multiracial society, built upon migration from nearby Southeast and East Asian regions in the early history of the nation. To help people recognize and relate to the cultural heritage of the current generation in the culturally diverse society, a mobile game utilizing location-based technology and augmented reality was built. The content of the game includes images of historical artifacts from the National Archive of Singapore to re-enact historical moments, events, and lifestyles of early immigrants who came to Singapore. The storyline is about a Samsui woman traveling from China and working in Singapore, as close to history as possible. The augmented reality mobile game guides players to walk around the geographical area where most Samsui women lived and worked and experienced daily life activities the early migrants engaged in Singapore. Game players assume the role of one of the Samsui women and have dialogue with other in-game historical figures and carry out in-game tasks. Feedback from game players showed that they gained knowledge about the immigration history, and meaning of the historical building, and established an appreciation for the older generation that had helped build the city-state.