Understanding the Videogame Medium through Perspectives of Participation


Pereira Luís Lucas Roque Licinio
2014 DiGRA '13 - Proceedings of the 2013 DiGRA International Conference: DeFragging Game Studies

The videogame medium enables the player to participate in meaningful activities from which a gameplay experience emerges. The multiplicity of forms that a videogame can take associated with the subjective and holistic nature of experience challenge a comprehensive and systematic approach to design in the videogame medium. In this paper we present a conceptual model to support game design and gameplay experience evaluation built upon the notion of participation, the way players take part in gameplay activity and experience the game. The model aims to contribute to an understanding of the design space in videogame medium as well as to the evaluation of gameplay experience through six perspectives on participation: Playfulness, Challenge, Embodiment, Sociability, Sensemaking and Sensoriality. We illustrate the use of the model as a basis for analysis of videogame objects and the kinds of participation they promote.

 

A Sociotechnical Conjecture about the Context and Development of Multiplayer Online Game Experiences


Roque Licinio
2005 DiGRA '05 - Proceedings of the 2005 DiGRA International Conference: Changing Views: Worlds in Play

The advent of multiplayer online games brings new actors into the development scene and redefines traditional roles and interactions. Anchored on studies of the role of context in human interaction we argue for a view of multiplayer online games as sociotechnical constructs, and of their “development” as an ongoing process of context engineering. By recognizing the new interplay of actors that extends from design time well into play time we attempt to transcend the technological determinism of approaches that focus on technological devices as determinants of the game experience. Using Actor-Network Theory constructs we propose an alternative perspective that takes context as the development object and technical artifacts, social and game rules, roles, playing and organizational strategies and practices as media designed to influence the emergence of the heterogeneous sociotechnical networks governing online game experiences. Finally, we outline challenges for the innovation of designer and player roles.

 

Because Players Pay: The Business Model Influence on MMOG Design


Alves Reis Tiago Roque Licinio
2007 DiGRA '07 - Proceedings of the 2007 DiGRA International Conference: Situated Play

The authors explore Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOG) business models in order to characterize two main problems: big initial investment and continuous expenditures. The four main actors of a MMOG environment . game producer, Game, Players and Business Model . are analysed resorting to Actor Network Theory in order to understand their alignment in Business Models and how they can influence game design. The conclusion ends in the fact that the Business Model, directly or indirectly, influences and constrains the game design in the following ways: the high economic risks inhibits game design innovation, the players have power to demand poor game design decisions while the virtual economy games simply embrace the business model into its design.

 

The Integration of the Computer-mediated Ludic Experience in Multisensory Environments


Roque Licinio Castelhano Nuno
2009 DiGRA '09 - Proceedings of the 2009 DiGRA International Conference: Breaking New Ground: Innovation in Games, Play, Practice and Theory

Multisensory stimulation environments (MSE) have grown in popularity particularly among organizations dedicated to children with developmental disabilities. These artificial places are the stage for a custom-made intervention that relies on technological artifacts to induce a general feeling of relaxation and well-being, from which leisure, occupational or therapeutic objectives are pursued. Children with intellectual disability are a preferential group of clients in MSE for reasons related to the intervention on their personal development, taking into account the imperative of social inclusion and integration. The computer-mediated ludic experience, provided by a computer game or a simulation, concentrates a stimulation potential that is similar to other traditional objects in MSE. In addition, the computer-mediated ludic experience can be designed and configured to work as a mediator to the objectives of the intervention being carried out. The first objective of this work is to clarify which specific areas of the intervention based on the MSE for children with intellectual disability could benefit from the computer-mediated ludic experience. The challenge of contextual diversity is also meaningful for a second concern in this work, related to the elicitation of preferential characteristics of the computer game to be used in MSE, as a contribution to the definition of a set of design guidelines.

 

Modeling Games with Petri Nets


Araújo Manuel
2009 DiGRA '09 - Proceedings of the 2009 DiGRA International Conference: Breaking New Ground: Innovation in Games, Play, Practice and Theory

This paper describes an alternate approach to the modeling of game systems and game flow with Petri nets. Modeling languages usually used in this area are of limited efficiency when it comes to validating the underlying game systems. We provide a case study to show that Petri Nets can be used with advantages over other modeling languages. Their graphical notation is simple, yet it can be used to model complex game systems. Their mathematically defined structure enables the modeled system to be formally analyzed and its behavior’s simulation offers the possibility of detecting unwanted behaviors, loop-holes or balancing issues while still in the game design stage.

 

Player as Author: conjecturing online game creation modalities and infrastructure


Tavares José Pedro Gil Rui Roque Licinio
2005 DiGRA '05 - Proceedings of the 2005 DiGRA International Conference: Changing Views: Worlds in Play

As we outline a movement beyond the apparent creative stagnation in the videogames industry we envision possible transformations, beyond the gridlock a producer-consumer dichotomy, that propose to mobilize players as creative actors in a holistic experience. We propose to recognize the authoring roles players develop in their relation to the industry and the gaming community, that configure an emancipation from the current producer-consumer dichotomy. Building on this conjecture we review possible meanings of a player as author perspective and conjecture modalities of authorship and participation. We close by outlining some of the design challenges for an infrastructure to support those roles.

 

Architecting Scalability for Massively Multiplayer Online Gaming Experiences


Gil Rui Tavares José Pedro Roque Licinio
2005 DiGRA '05 - Proceedings of the 2005 DiGRA International Conference: Changing Views: Worlds in Play

In this study, the authors propose to discuss scalability challenges posed by Massively Multiplayer Online Game (MMOG) scenarios, while outlining issues specific to the context of online interactive experiences and game genres. These scalability issues concern: game simulation, content distribution, communication and coordination, and structural scalability. The authors present a critical review of approaches to known issues and outline research goals for an integrated scalability approach, to achieve a balanced, general purpose design, for MMOG infrastructure.