MSU Campus Explorer Experience

The MSU Campus Explorer Experience is an immersive, mixed reality (MR) application that blends place-based exploration, playful interaction, and financial literacy education within a unified campus narrative.

Developed through a collaboration between the Games for Entertainment and Learning (GEL) Lab at Michigan State University and the Michigan State University Federal Credit Union (MSUFCU), the experience leverages the affordances of the Apple Vision Pro to reimagine how students engage with campus spaces, institutional resources, and personal financial decision-making.

The experience invites users into a stylized, interactive representation of the MSU campus, where they can explore iconic locations and participate in game-based activities grounded in recognizable student experiences. These include painting the iconic “Rock,” playing frisbee with Zeke the Wonder Dog near Beaumont Tower, working a shift at the MSU Dairy Store, and attending a football game at Spartan Stadium. Each activity is designed not only for engagement and delight, but also as an entry point for contextual learning, embedding financial literacy concepts into meaningful, situational gameplay.

A central design goal of the project is to reduce barriers to financial knowledge by integrating student-focused financial guidance into playful, low-stakes interactions. Through narrative prompts, decision-making scenarios, and contextualized information, players are introduced to financial tools, services, and strategies available through MSU and MSUFCU. This approach positions financial literacy not as abstract instruction, but as a lived and relevant component of the student experience.

The project also explores the potential of mixed reality as a medium for place-based onboarding and institutional storytelling. By situating learning within familiar campus landmarks, the experience strengthens students’ sense of belonging while increasing awareness of available resources. The use of spatial computing enables embodied interaction and presence, offering new opportunities for engagement that extend beyond traditional mobile or desktop applications.

The Campus Explorer Experience has been deployed in a public-facing installation within the “In Good Taste” space in the MSU Union during Fall 2025 and Spring 2026, as well as at targeted outreach events hosted by MSUFCU. These exhibitions provide opportunities to observe user interaction, gather informal feedback, and assess engagement patterns across diverse audiences.