1. A method of presenting a game having a visual virtual environment to a user of a mobile gaming device that executes the game, comprising: providing, at the mobile gaming device, a first set of characteristics that define the visual virtual environment, wherein each characteristic of the first set of characteristics is related to a geographic location of the mobile gaming device; determining, by the mobile gaming device, a current geographic location of the mobile gaming device; sensing an ambient light level with a light sensor of the mobile gaming device; determining, by the mobile gaming device, a value for each of the first set of characteristics that define the visual virtual environment based on the current geographic location of the mobile gaming device; generating, by the mobile gaming device, a value of a non-visual gameplay characteristic at the mobile gaming device: wherein the non-visual gameplay characteristic is an avoidance-detection characteristic, wherein the value of the non-visual gameplay characteristic is modified based on the sensed ambient light level, and wherein when the value of the lighting characteristic indicates a high level of ambient light, the value of the avoidance-detection characteristic is modified to a value that indicates an increased ability of a first character of the game to detect a second character of the game; and generating, by the mobile gaming device, the visual virtual environment by visually incorporating and simulating the determined values for each of the first set of characteristics in the visual virtual environment.