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Search ResultsExploration in computer games -- a new starting point
Egenfeldt-Nielsen Simon Space, vast lands and dungeons… It is no coincidence that Space War and Adventure are among the best known of the first computer games. Both clearly appeal to the player’s curiosity, and desire to explore unknown territory. When exploration ceases, the game comes to a stop … For some time it has been clear to me that the importance of exploration has remained largely unexplored by game research. Sometimes it is used as a subset of a larger theory or analysis. However, I believe there are strong reasons for giving it more attention. The case I want to make in this paper is that exploration is an essential part of computer games. I will concentrate my argumentation on exploration as a basic drive for playing computer games. To achieve this I will look at exploration in computer games from two different perspectives: A player perspective and a system perspective. The argument is that each perspective is a different set of optics for the perception of the exploration of the game. The system perspective denotes the rules necessary to play a game, and the player’s exploration of them. The player perspective explains the phenomenological game experience, where meaning is central to the exploration. Succinctly, my argument will be as follows: All computer games start with the player building a state of tension (a conflict), which gradually subsides through the ongoing exploration of the game universe. A computer game is characterized by an ability to support different optics of explorative activities. The primary goal of this article is the description of those two sets of optics. Keywords: Exploration, games, system, player, meaning, rules, logic, interpretation, optics, Technology tells a tale: digital games and narrative
Schut Kevin In this paper, I discuss the debate over digital games and narrative in light of medium theory (also known as media ecology). The communicative environment created by a society’s media can favor certain kinds of cultural change. After analyzing the stories (or lack of them) in three very different games, I argue with ludologists that games are not narratives. I believe, however, that the digital medium has encouraged the transformation of what our culture thinks of as a story. Keywords: Digital games, narrative, ludology, medium theory The Ideology of Interactivity (or Video Games and Taylorization of Leisure)
Garite Matt Interactivity is one of the key conceptual apparatuses through which video games have been theorized thus far. As many writers have noted, video games are distinct from other forms of media because player actions seem to have direct, immediate consequences in the world depicted onscreen. But in many ways, this “interactive” feature of video games tends to manifest itself as a relentless series of demands, or a way of disciplining player behavior. In this sense, it seems more accurate to describe the human-machine interface made possible by gaming as an aggressive form of “interpellation” or hailing. Drawing primarily upon the work of Louis Althusser, I argue that traditional theories of interactivity fail to acknowledge the work of video games—in other words, the extent to which video games define and reconstitute players as subjects of ideology. Keywords: Ideology, interactivity, video games, Marxism Stepping Back: Players as Active Participators
Nitsche Michael, Thomas Maureen Instead of confining the player to a single role, the active participator model positions the player in a more flexible position towards the fictional gameworld: involved and immersed in its various events without being limited to one role. The research project Common Tales explores this model in a serial game structure that stages the flexible relationship between the two game heroes. Players can change controls from one character to the other, guiding them through their adventures, and shaping their relationship with each other. Enabled through interactive functionality and expressed though cinematic mediation and spatial organisation, the character-driven gameworld engages the player as the central addressee and originator at the same time. Keywords: Character, Identification, Interface, Space, Cinematic Mediation Expressive AI: Games and Artificial Intelligence
Michael Mateas In recent years, as dramatic increases in graphic sophistication began yielding diminishing returns, the technical focus in game design has been turning towards Artificial Intelligence (AI). While game AI might be considered a “purely technical” phenomenon not of interest to game designers and theorists, this paper argues that AI-based art and entertainment constitutes a new interdisciplinary agenda linking games studies, design practice, and technical research. I call this new interdisciplinary agenda expressive AI. Keywords: expressive AI, game design. Characters in Computer Games: Toward Understanding Interpretation and Design
Lankoski Petri, Heliö Satu, Ekman Inger Interpretation of characters is a fundamental feature of human behavior. Even with limited information available, people will assign personality – even to inanimate objects. Characters in computer games will be attributed personality based on their appearance and behavior. The interpretation of these characters affects the whole game experience. Designing the protagonist character in computer games is different from the design of static characters (e.g. film or literature), because the player’s actions will affect the nature of the character. There are, however, many ways to control and guide the actions of the protagonist and thus the character’s nature. By setting goals, scripting pre-defined actions and choosing what kind of actions to implement, the game designer can restrict the player’s freedom. This, together with the characterization of the character, will affect the interpretation of the character. Keywords: Character design, interpretation Issues and Approaches in Artificial Intelligence Middleware Development for Digital Games and Entertainment Products
Karlsson Börje Felipe Fernandes This work presents issues and approaches regarding the creation of artificial intelligence (AI) middleware to aid the development of digital games and entertainment products in general. It starts with a discussion of the concept and context of an AI middleware (emphasizing the relations of traditional AI areas with computer games). Then, some approaches to the problem of creating an AI middleware are presented, followed by a taxonomy regarding design methods and componentization, and related research. Finally, we discuss the impact of such middleware, open issues to be addressed and future directions. Keywords: Artificial Intelligence, AI middleware, computer games. A Real Little Game: The Pinocchio Effect in Pervasive Play
McGonigal Jane Mobile digital technologies and networks have fueled a recent proliferation of opportunities for pervasive play in everyday spaces. In this paper, I examine how players negotiate the boundary between these pervasive games and real life. I trace the emergence of what I call “the Pinocchio effect” – the desire for a game to be transformed into real life, or conversely, for everyday life to be transformed into a "real little game.” Focusing on two examples of pervasive play – the 2001 immersive game known as the Beast, and the Go Game, an ongoing urban superhero game — I argue that gamers maximize their play experience by performing belief, rather than actually believing, in the permeability of the game-reality boundary. Keywords: Pervasive play, immersive games, gaming reality, performance studies Computer games and violence: Is there really a connection?
Endestad Tor, Torgersen Leila The relationship between videogames and violent behaviour was analysed in a representative sample of 9889 Norwegian youth ageing from 13 to 18 years. Videogames were separated in eight different categories. A hypothesis of the relationship between videogames and violence was put forward as a starting – point for reasoning. A unique correlation between violent videogames, specifying first person shooters and action games, and violent behaviour was found. By controlling for age and gender, the effect of first person shooter games disappeared for youth in - between 9th to 12th grades, and the action videogames remained as the significant predictor. Only first person shooter was a significant predictor in 8th grade. Keywords: Videogames, violence, adolescence. Wargaming and Computer Games: Fun with the Future
Crogan Patrick This essay explores aspects of the history of wargaming in order to develop fresh perspectives on the analysis of contemporary computer games. Wargaming is considered in relation to the ludological approach to games studies with a view to developing an understanding of the marginality of narrative content in games that ludology takes as its point of departure. Wargaming is interpreted as a forerunner of contemporary modelling and simulation practices. It is associated with the modern project of programming the future by the rational means of mathematically-based measurement and projection. The influence of wargaming on contemporary computer gaming is discussed and the appeal of computer games is explored in terms of a modulation of this modern project. Keywords: War, wargaming, model, simulation, program. Player Character Design Facilitating Emotional Depth in MMORPGs
Eladhari Mirjam, Lindley Craig How can we create computer games facilitating emotional depth in the playing experience? When entering into a persistent virtual game world the player leaves the body behind. It is up to the game designer to create a virtual body with skills, needs and drives necessary for survival and pleasure in the game world. Would it be sensible also to create a virtual mind for the player to possess and evolve? Can models like Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and ‘being-values’, or the personality trait model popularly called ‘the big five’ be used for character design in a way that suits massive multi-player game form? Based upon a view of the player character as the concentrated mirror of the functionality of an RPG game and adding features inspired from psychology, cognitive science and behavior science, this paper presents the high-level system design of a virtual mind for the player to possess in a MMORPG. The mind model is being implemented in a research demonstration game in which game play emphasizes emotional engagement and dramatic interaction. This research is conducted in the Zero-Game Studio within the frame of the open research MMORPG Ouroboros. Keywords: Emotive game play, player character, mind modeling, MMORPG, emergence, Massively Multiplayer, characterization. Computer games and the complexicity of experience
Kattenbelt Chiel, Raessens Joost Computer games are usually studied on the basis of a sensory- motor model related to classical cinema, a model which is almost exclusively oriented towards the actuality and causality of action. This assumption of an actiondriven, Aristotelean dramaturgy does not only concern the possible world which is represented in the game, but also the playing of the game itself. We argue that such an approach does not sufficiently recognize the complexity of the experience represented in the game and gone through by the game player. In order to determine the complexity of experience, two other –this time modern-cinema related – models are used, based on Peirce’s phenomenological categories of firstness, secondness and thirdness, and on Deleuze’s cinematographical categories of the movementimage, the time-image, and the thought-image. According to these triadic theories the actuality and causality of action is broken through by the predominance of the intensity of experience and/or the reflexivity of thought. We develop a conceptual framework which provides us the tools in order to understand the three dimensions of the experience of the game and of the playing of the game in their triadic relations. Keywords: Firstness, secondness and thirdness; lyric, epic and dramatic; time-image, movement-image and thought-image; deconstruction; device paradigm The other game researcher: participating in and watching the costruction of boundaries in game studies
Copier Marinka Game researchers are busy doing game studies: researching, writing and publishing articles, organizing conferences and creating a curriculum. I will argue that creating a new autonomous discipline such as game studies mainly involves constructing boundaries on different levels. In this article I would like to discuss how we can watch and analyze where and how these boundaries are being constructed, while realizing that I am also participating in this process. I mainly focus on the construction of borders between game studies and other disciplines and the ways in which a line is being drawn between game researchers, game designers and gamers. I will argue that Donna Haraway’s concept of situated knowledge can help us to realize where and how knowledge is being produced. I will claim we have to look into the empirical situation of game research in order to see that we all produce knowledge from a certain (hybrid) position and perspective. Keywords: Science and Technology Studies, game researchers, game studies, constructing a discipline, boundary-work, situated knowledge, hybrid researchers The appeal of cute monkeys
Tosca Susana Pajares If we agree with Sega and Nintendo advertising and look at the selling numbers of the game Super Monkey Ball, it seems that its characters, MeeMee, GonGon, Baby and AiAi would have to be some of the most successful computer game characters ever created. The game doesn’t have any story, but the monkeys have personality and are ever so cute. Is it possible that the “aesthetics of cuteness” so prevalent in many Japanese consumption and entertainment products has also now conquered Western hearts? This paper examines the construction and reception of the four characters, and reflects about the relationship between the pure visual design element of a game and its success as an entertainment product, including a qualitative study conducted with a number of test subjects exposed to the game. Keywords: Characters, Character Design, Reception, Cultural Value, Cuteness "You can't help shouting and yelling": fun and social interaction in Super Monkey Ball
Klastrup Lisbeth This paper examines the relation between social interaction and fun in multi-player console gaming contexts. It points to the fruitfullness of integrating game studies and game sociology with cultural studies of television and video use in order to explain both the framing and (social) use of console games and the fun of playing them. A prestudy of the relation between social interaction and fun in the playing of the game Super Monkey Ball reveals that there is a close relation between gaming skills, the gaming situation as a pleasurable and relieving social activity and the experience of fun. Keywords: Social interaction, fun, console gaming, Super Monkey Ball, social practice, contexts of consumption Vertigo and verticality in Super Monkey Ball
Johansson Troels Degn The vertical dimension is crucial to Super Monkey Ball on all levels1, and invites us to meditate on vertigo and verticality, falling and failing in the construction of space and game-play in this game and in computer- games as such. In Super Monkey Ball, the vertical dimension should be mastered (landing on tiny islands with the ball glider), avoided (off golf courses, off race tracks, or off fight arenas elevated almost astronomically above the ground), although it may also invite to dangerous downslide acceleration or short-cuts that will give your baby monkey ball a lead in the race (descending tilting planes, falling from one level to another while staying on the course). But most notably, verticality is emphasized by falling and failing. Slipping off the race-track or shooting oneself off the golf course by mistake always means dropping into a spectacular free fall; losing the poor baby monkey in dark swamps, sparkling oceans, or void, endless desertlike spaces. Meditating on this aesthetization of falling and failing in Super Monkey Ball, this brief study outlines the peculiar allegorical, albeit funny and social character of this game, which seems just as important as the playing of the game as such. Keywords: Aesthetics of computer games, fun, console gaming, rhetoric, allegory, Super Monkey Ball Keep the monkey rolling: eye-hand coordination in Super Monkey Ball
Egenfeldt-Nielsen Simon This paper examines the relation between eye-hand coordination and computer games, specifically Super Monkey Ball. The study is exploratory and focuses on theoretical background and method problems. At the end of the paper the results from the pilot study is briefly presented. The results from the study are inconclusive in regard to the two main questions: Is there a connection between good skills in playing computer games and eyehand coordination? Do avid computer game players have better eye-hand coordination than others? Keywords: Super Monkey Ball, games, study, learning, educational, eye-hand coordination, visual, motor, skills, children Where have all the videogame console artists gone?
Catanese Paul This paper offers insight into the brief history of those artists whose work utilizes, incorporates or subverts the aesthetics and/or technology of video games. It questions why artwork that subverts consoles is seen less frequently than other emerging forms such as sampling, modifications (mods) and machine cinema (machinima). The paper concludes by offering an examination of obstacles which face artists creating console based subversion and points to these as the reasons why this emerging form is seen with less frequency than the others. Keywords: Art, Machinima, Mods, Console-Based Subversion Videogame art: remixing, reworking and other interventions
Mitchell Grethe, Clarke Andy This paper explores some of the areas of intersection between videogames and both digital and non-digital art practice. By looking at examples of art practice drawn from videogames, it outlines some categories and so provides an overview of this area, placing it within the wider context of contemporary and historical art practice. The paper explores the tendency for much of this work to have elements of subversion or “détournement”, whilst also identifying areas of tension in the appropriation of videogames as material for art practice Keywords: Videogames, art, digital art, appropriation, subversion, patch, mod, machinima Together we brand: America's Army
Graaf Shenja van der, Nieborg David B. This paper signals the aesthetic and socio-economic implications of a new generation of commercial media culture in an age of computer network-facilitated participation. It explores the cultural status of the online game America’s Army: Operations (US Army, 2002) that has commerce at the core of its brand identity. The game exemplifies the linkage of commercial goals with cultural texts through creating engaging experiences, initiated by commercial corporations for reasons of promotion and profit, enabled by computer networks, and – to a lesser extent - given form by various members of the public. Keywords: Advergames, design, brand experience, participatory culture, marketing aesthetics It's no videogame: news commentary and the second gulf war
Consalvo Mia This study analyzes U.S. news media coverage of the second Gulf War, to determine how individuals used the term ‘videogame’ in reference to the war. By studying how the news media itself sought to praise or criticize coverage of the war as being un/like videogames, we can see how videogames continue to be constructed in popular media in troublesome ways. Analysis, for example, shows that use of the term “videogame” points to coverage that (1) focuses on sophisticated technologies, (2) is devoid of human suffering, and/or (3) seems somehow fake or non-serious. Use of the term is largely pejorative and dismissive, reflecting (and reinforcing) popular views of videogames as lacking context and seriousness. Finally, the study examines the military’s own history of game-related activities, and how that context creates striking paradoxes in such usages. Keywords: War coverage, Iraq, Gulf War II, videogame, technology, war Power games just want to have fun?: instrumental play in a MMOG
Taylor T.L. In this paper I explore a particular slice of massive multiplayer participants known as power gamers. Through my ethnography of EverQuest, as well as interviews with players, I analyze the ways these participants, who operate with a highly instrumental game-orientation, actually facilitate their play style through a variety of distinctly social activities. Rather than seeing this segment of the gaming population as “lone ranger” figures or via various other “geek gamer” myths, this work explores the way high-end players are actually embedded in deeply social structures, rituals, and practices. Keywords: Massive multiplayer online games, MMOG, EverQuest, socialization, styles of play, player typology, power gaming Exploring clan culture: social enclaves and cooperation in online games
Lin Holin, Sun Chuen-Tsai, Tinn Hong-Hong Virtual online gaming clan organizations are used to analyze social grouping and cooperation within competitive gaming communities. Participants from two popular massive multi-player online role-playing games (MMORPGs) in Taiwan were interviewed to collect data on the social dynamics of gamer networks in virtual worlds. Our essential argument is that joining online clans involves costs and risks, yet the “law-of-the-jungle” nature of the gaming world and the interdependent role structure of most game designs encourage the formation of gaming groups. Players commonly establish clans consisting of individuals from their off-line networks in order to reduce the risk of cooperating with strangers. A typical portrait of careless and vulnerable teenage gamers is found unsound. Keywords: Online game, MMORPG, clan, cooperation, network Women just want to have fun - a study of adult female players of digital games
Kerr Aphra In the past twenty-five years, the production of digital games has become a global media industry stretching from Japan, to the UK, France and the US. Despite this growth playing digital games, particularly computer games, is still seen by many as a boy’s pastime and part of boy’s bedroom culture. While these perceptions may serve to exclude, this paper set out to explore the experiences of women who game despite these perceptions. This paper addresses the topic of gender and games from two perspectives: the producer’s and the consumer’s. The first part of the paper explores how Sony represented the PS2 in advertisements in Ireland and how adult female game players interpreted these representations. The second part goes on to chart the gaming biographies of these women and how this leisure activity is incorporated into their adult everyday life. It also discuses their views about the gendered nature of game culture, public game spaces and game content; and how these influence their enjoyment of game playing and their views of themselves as women. These research findings are based on semi-structured interviews with two marketing professionals and ten female game players aged 18 and over. The paper concludes that the construction of both gender and digital games are highly contested and even when access is difficult, and representations in the media, in console design and in games are strongly masculine these interviewees were able to contest and appropriate the technology for their own means. Indeed ‘social networks’ were important in relation to their recruitment into, and sustained playing of, digital games. At the same time, the paper found that these interviewees were largely ‘invisible’ to the wider gaming community and producers, an issue raised by Bryce and Rutter (2002:244) in an earlier paper, which has important implications for the development of the games industry. Keywords: Gender, computer games, video games, social networks The representation of gender and ethnicity in digital interactive games
Janz Jeroen, Martis Raynel G. The actual content of games is an understudied area in social scientific research about digital interactive games (DIGs). This paper aims to contribute to the understanding of game content, in particular with respect to the portrayal of men, women, and people of different ethnic origin. Earlier studies by Provenzo [14], Gailey [8], and Dietz [6] concluded that games were dominated by stereotypic male characters with a few stereotypic females in minor roles. Nowadays, quite a few DIGs have women in leading parts. We want to establish if this change resulted in a multiplicity of meaning in the representation of gender and ethnicity [10]. This paper reports a content analysis about the ways in which gender and ethnicity are represented in the game. We concentrate on the portrayal of the leading character, and supporting role in the introductory film of the DIG. Our sample consists of 12 games that run on ‘Next Generation Consoles’ (PS2, X Box, Game Cube). Among the titles studied are games with a female leading character (for example, Tomb Raider, Parasite Eve), and with a male leading character (for example, GTA ViceCity, Splinter Cell). Characters in supporting roles are diverse: colored, and non-colored men, as well as colored and non-colored women Keywords: Computer games, content analysis, gender Power and control of games: children as the actors of game cultures
Ermi Laura, Mäyrä Frans The primary aim of this paper is to look into the game related practices and significances of games. This perspective is applied to examining the pleasures derived from different games and to analyse the different strategies developed by children and their families to situate and control game playing. Research was conducted among 10–12-year-old children in Finland during spring and summer 2003. Sample of 284 survey questionnaires filled out by children and their parents provides an overview on the subject and the basis for 15 thematic interviews. It is hard to point towards any single element in games as the most powerfully engaging one, but the imaginary worlds provided by games seem to have an important role in offering children possibilities for experiencing things otherwise impossible. In terms of control, there does not seem to be any severe conflicts or serious troubles currently surrounding games in homes. Keywords: Children, digital games, game cultures, game playing, attractiveness, holding power, control Supporting visual elements of non-verbal communication in computer game avatars
Kujanpää Tomi, Manninen Tony Communication between players in networked computer games is often inadequately implemented. The games do not exploit the full potential of using different forms of communication possibilities between players, and therefore result in problems in sending and receiving messages. This paper introduces a model that describes how visual aspects of non-verbal communication (NVC) in avatars could be systematically designed. The model can be used as a guideline in the design process of more communicative avatars. The study was conducted using a variety of research methods. The topic has been approached from both the constructive and theoretic-conceptual viewpoints. Nonverbal communication theories have been used as the framework to construct avatars for game environments and to form a model that supports the design of NVC elements into avatars. The primary result of the work is a model that describes how to design more communicative avatars. The model introduces the aspects required when considering the designing of the visual elements of NVC. As an empirical result, the avatars based on the model determine how different elements of NVC work, and how NVC could be used in the avatar context. The results can be applied for design and construction purposes, as well as for further research into the diverse areas of avatar design. The model describes three layers that can be used to guide the work of avatar designers and creators in supporting the visual elements of communication in computer game avatars. The model shows that designers and creators should search for the required elements of the NVC, vary these elements to form a rich set of ways to use them, and finally, personalise the avatars by selecting varied elements for separate avatars to support natural communication. Keywords: Non-verbal communication, avatar, avatar design, computer game, multi-player Enhancing gameplay: challenges for articifical intelligence in digital games
Charles Darryl Computer power in recent years has been advancing very rapidly and as increasingly more Artificial Intelligence (AI) experts turn their attention to game design, there is a clear opportunity to think more radically about digital game AI design. We suggest that not only is it timely for significant AI innovation but that it is essential to appreciably enhance key interactive aspects of digital game design, create opportunities for novel gameplay scenarios, and to progress the medium as an art form. Issues arising from the enhanced utilization of AI in digital games are discussed and the implications for gameplay explored; such as affecting player emotion, moral dilemmas, player created stories, dynamic and adaptive game worlds, and character believability. Keywords: Artificial Intelligence, dynamic learning, gameplay Delightful identification & persuasion: towards an analytical and applied rhetoric of digital games
Walz Steffen P. This article discusses first steps towards a specific rhetoric of digital games where general rhetoric makes up the scientific discipline of strategic communication and symbolic action by means of identification and psychagogy. Therefore, this work contributes to the fundamental and general question why and how players become consubstantialised and persuaded with game designs, and stick to gameplay these games. Accordingly, a first conceptual model is introduced and discussed. It features three interrelating dimensions which engage a symbolic, a structural, and a systemic coupling between player and game design during gameplay within an experiential eigenworld of reciprocal control, mastery, and empowerment. Keywords: Rhetoric of digital games, general rhetoric, psychagogy, digital games, theory of games, game analysis, game design, game design patterns Game Design Patterns
Björk Staffan, Lundgren Sus, Holopainen Jussi We present a model to support the design, analysis, and comparison of games through the use of game design patterns, descriptions of reoccurring interaction relevant to game play. The model consists of a structural framework to describe the components of games, and patterns of interaction that describes how components are used by players (or a computer) to affect various aspects of the game play. Focusing on the patterns and identified methods for using them, we describe the development of the model and how we are currently working to enlarge and validate the collection of patterns. Keywords: Game Design, Patterns, Taxonomies, Game Models Uncle Roy all around you: mixing games and theatre on the city streets
Flintham Martin, Anastasi Rob, Benford Steven, Drozd Adam, Mathrick James, Rowland Duncan, Oldroyd Amanda, Sutton Jon, Tandavanitj Nick, Adams Matt, Row-Farr Ju We describe Uncle Roy All Around You, a mixture of game and theatre that took place in central London in late May and early June of 2003. Street players, equipped with handheld computers and wireless networking, journeyed through the streets of the city in search of an elusive character called Uncle Roy, while online players journeyed through a parallel 3D model of the city, were able to track their progress and could communicate with them in order to help or hinder them. We describe how Uncle Roy All Around You mixed elements of pre-programmed game content with live performance and behind the scenes orchestration to create a compelling experience, especially for street players. We suggest that finding ways to scale this approach to support larger numbers of participants is an important challenge for future research. Keywords: Pervasive Games, Mixed Reality, Mobility, Theatre, Performance, Orchestration Enchanting reality: a vision of big experiences on small platforms
Ericsson Martin Games for mobile platforms (phones and PDA) tend to be simple remakes or clones of gaming hits like Snake and Defender or in the case of high end-devices, Starcraft and Myst. Only a very small number of games use the unique properties of mobile computing. These location-based or mixed reality games represent a game form in its infancy, struggling to find functional gameplay models. Is it possible to create powerful immersive game experiences using the mobile platforms unique properties? How can technical limitations like limited display size, resolution and sound quality be made to work with the game instead of against it? What challenges face designers of games played on handheld devices in a real physical setting? Using the functional Visby Under prototype as a starting point this paper presents a novel approach to location- based mobile games. The mobile gamers presence in physical space, his ability to move though and interact with it, is seen as the central quality of the game-form. Using experiences from live-action-roleplaying design the paper explores the possibilities of using the real world as the primary user interface for deep mobile games. The device is used as the engine for story-progression and gameplay without breaking the illusion of the fiction, transforming everyday reality into an engaging multi-player game space. Keywords: Location based, Visby Under, live action roleplaying, diegetic consistency, visions Textuality in video games
Carr Dianne, Burn Andrew, Schott Gareth, Buckingham David In this article the participants report on a two year research project titled Textuality and Videogames; Interactivity, Narrative Space and Role Play that ran from September 2001, until late 2003 at the Institute of Education, University of London. After presenting an overview of the project, including the methodologies we have adopted, and the questions we have sought to address, we outline two sample case studies, one that relates to player agency, the other that considers role-play, social semiotics and sign making in an MMORPG. Keywords: Narrative, RPG, Play, Textual analysis, Role-play, Agency From text to talk: multiplayer games and voiceover IP
Halloran John, Rogers Yvonne, Fitzpatrick Geraldine The social experience of multiplayer gaming is mediated by the communications tools that are available to use. Until recently, these have been largely text-based, but with the advent of new voiceover IP tools like Roger Wilco and Xbox Live, voice-mediated communication is becoming increasingly common. We present three studies of multiplayer gaming, where we analyse what happens in terms of the social experience when players are given the opportunity of talking to each other rather than texting. To do this we use a conceptual framework called FFIPS, which stands for Form, language Functions, Identity, Presence, and Social protocols. Our findings show that voiceover IP for multiplayer gaming appears to be well-suited to supporting a distinctive and enjoyable social experience, both by providing high ‘presence’ (i.e., increased energy, engagement and vividness), and by revealing information about players’ real identities. Keywords: Multiplayer games, voiceover IP, voice-based communications, text-based communications, social experience On the border: pleasure of exploration and colonial mastery in Civilization III play the world
Lammes Sybille Games like Myst, Civilisation and Anno 1602 are centred around the virtual travelling of the gamer through unknown worlds. The voyage s/he undertakes often hinges on notions of colonialist exploration, turning the gamer into a traveller who surveys and masters unknown domains and learns to control techno-scientific principles along the way. Since such games are related to a mentality of colonialism, questions should be asked about how such games can be located in its discursive formation. This paper will shed light on these questions by analysing Civilization III and my experiences of playing this game. Keywords: (Post)colonialism, science, ethnicity, appropriation Gamescapes: exploration and virtual presence in game-worlds
King Geoff, Krzywinska Tanya An analysis of the scope for exploration and the extent to which impressions of presence are created in domestic videogames. This paper argues that exploration is an important dimension of play in many games, whether employed in relation to other objectives or as a source of pleasure in its own right. The first part of the paper examines the relationship between freedom to explore and spatial constraint, arguing that many games offer a balance between the two, the precise nature of which varies from one type of game to another. The second part of the paper considers the extent to which different types of game offer illusions of presence in the game-world, from the distanced perspective of management and strategy games to the greater impression of sensory immersion created in games rendered in the first person. Keywords: Videogames, exploration, navigation, presence, immersion The playability of texts vs. the readability of games: towards a holistic theory of fictionality
Kücklich Julian Playful interaction occurs not only in games, but in literary texts as well. One cannot describe what takes place between author, text, and reader more accurately than by calling it a game. Games, on the other hand, cannot be reduced to playthings, but must be considered as cultural objects that are being read and interpreted. One does not, however, read solely for the plot. This is why a purely narratological analysis of both digital and analog games is bound to fail. Many games create a fictional world to be inhabited and explored by the players. In this respect, games are similar to literary texts, and a philological approach to games is therefore primarily justified because of their fictionality, rather than their narrative qualities. This is my starting point in an exploration of different models of ‘playability’, and how they can be used to understand the ‘readability’ of games. Keywords: Fictionality, reader-response theory, semiotics, possible world theory, playability Ludologists love stories, too: notes from a debate that never took place
Frasca Gonzalo During the last few years, a debate took place within the game scholars community. A debate that, it seems, opposed two groups: ludologists and narratologists. Ludologists are supposed to focus on game mechanics and reject any room in the field for analyzing games as narrative, while narratologists argue that games are closely connected to stories. This article aims at showing that this description of the participants is erroneous. What is more, this debate as presented never really took place because it was cluttered with a series of misunderstandings and misconceptions that need to be clarified if we want to seriously discuss the role of narrative in videogames. Keywords: Ludology, narratology, ludologist, narratologist, narrativism, narrativist In search iof a "fifth dimension"
Lauwaert Maaike The work Les Jeux et les Hommes (1958) by Roger Caillois [1] may help us to get a firmer grip on the actual nature of digital games. Caillois identified four dimensions of games and playing: agôn (competition), alea (chance), mimicry (simulation), and ilinx (vertigo). In light of the new culture of digital games, this paper argues the need for adding another dimension to Caillois four dimensions. This fifth dimension will be labelled repens or sequentially embedded surprise and it will enable us to describe, analyse, and understand the structure and complexities of the more recent digital games more profoundly. Keywords: Theory on games and playing, Roger Caillois, dimensions and and characteristics of computer games, repens Making and breaking games: a typology of rules
Järvinen Aki The paper introduces a particular approach to the study of rules. Different aspects of rules are studied: what are their functions, what do rules govern, what is a ruleset, and what are the elements in a game that rules govern. Five elements are discussed: components (pieces/ player characters/etc.), procedures associated with components (moving them or manipulating them in other ways), environments that define the physical boundaries of a game, theme that gives the game a subject matter, and interface which is used to access the game. The author introduces five types of rules, each type relating to a game element. The typology provides a better understanding of rules as a fundamental structure of games, and it can also be applied as a tool for analysing individual games’ structure and ruleset. Keywords: Rules, game environment, game mechanics, game rhetorics, The gaming landscape: a taxonomy for classifying games and simulations
Klabbers Jan H.G. Following Huizinga’s view, the play element of culture is emphasized. While playing, by means of rules, the participants in a game interact with one another to impact on the reference system. Thousands of simulation games are available that depict many different areas and purposes of use. The variety of the gaming landscape is illustrated by linking the various foci and areas of interest in one scheme. To see the wood for the trees, the generic model of games is presented, based on the three interconnected building blocks: actors, rules, and resources. I will point out that even if games have similar forms, their purpose, subject matter, content, context of use, and intended audience(s), may be very different. A framework for constructing, deconstructing and classifying games emerges, based on the combination of the three building blocks with elements of a semiotic theory of gaming: syntax, semantics and pragmatics. Keywords: Actors, rules, resources, faces of knowledge, interaction A multidimensional typology of games
Aarseth Espen, Smedstad Solveig Marie, Sunnanå Lise This paper builds on a general typology of textual communication (Aarseth 1997) and tries to establish a model for classifying the genre of “games in virtual environments” — that is, games that take place in some kind of simulated world, as opposed to purely abstract games like poker or blackjack. The aim of the model is to identify the main differences between games in a rigorous, analytical way, in order to come up with genres that are more specific and less ad hoc than those used by the industry and the popular gaming press. The model consists of a number of basic “dimensions”, such as Space, Perspective, Time, Teleology, etc, each of which has several variate values, (e.g. Teleology: finite (Half-Life) or infinite (EverQuest. Ideally, the multivariate model can be used to predict games that do not yet exist, but could be invented by combining the existing elements in new ways. Keywords: Game Genres, Typology of games, games in virtual environments The game, the player, the world: looking for a heart of gameness
Juul Jesper This paper attempts a definition of games. I describe the classic game model, a list of six features that are necessary and sufficient for something to be a game. The definition shows games to be transmedial: There is no single game medium, but rather a number of game media, each with their own strengths. The computer is simply the latest game medium to emerge. While computer games are therefore part of the broader area of games, they have in many cases evolved beyond the classic game model. Keywords: Game definition, game history, transmedial gaming; computer game histories This is not a game: play in cultural environments
Salen Katie, Zimmerman Eric Games have a particular set of relationships to the contexts in which they are played. Although games have clearly delineated boundaries in time and space that set them apart from the “real world”, some games are designed to blur that boundary. This essay, comprised of several selections from the authors’ book Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals, investigates the complex ways in which games interact with their cultural environment. Focusing on these questions from a game design viewpoint, the essay begins by identifying key concepts related to these questions and ends with detailed design analyses of three games that play with the cultural environments in which the games take place. Keywords: Game design, magic circle, metacommunication, games and Game Tips as Gifts: Social Interactions and Rational Calculations in Computer Gaming
Sun Chuen-Tsai, Lin Holin, Ho Cheng-Hong The authors look at online tip exchanges as parts of gift economies created by the players and designers of console and online role-playing games in Taiwan. A group of experienced players and tip contributors agreed to be interviewed about the mechanisms and processes of providing free strategy guides on the Internet. Their comments reveal needs for social approval and networking in addition to their perceptions of rational exchange in the interest of completing games. The authors speculate on the social norms behind tip cultures, and their influences on game play and management. Keywords: Game tips; tip culture; social approval; social exchange; game play Project Massive 1.0: Organizational Commitment, Sociability and Extraversion in Massively Multiplayer Online Games
Seay A. Fleming, Jerome William J., Lee Kevin Sang, Kraut Robert Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMPs) continue to be a popular and lucrative sector of the gaming market. Project Massive was created to survey MMP players about their play experience, social experience, and communication tool usage both inside and outside of their gaming environments. 1852 MMP players have completed the online Project Massive survey, reporting on their play patterns, commitment to their player organizations, and personality traits like sociability and extraversion. The primary focus of Project Massive has been on the player groups that form in MMPs. Most MMPs support and attempt to foster group formation of some kind or another among their players. These formal player groups, often called guilds, can be as persistent as the digital worlds in which they exist. We have found that players who are highly committed to their guilds spend significantly more time in-game than do moderately committed guild members and solo (non-guild) players. Enhancing a player's commitment to their guild can translate into extending their commitment to the game world. In turn, this may result in longer subscriptions and increased revenue for the game's creators. This research is important because there has not been substantial research into the traits and practices of the more successful player organizations that are able to sustain committed bodies of members. Project Massive has investigated how these groups develop, organize, communicate, and operate across a number of independent game worlds. Here we report on our findings and describe our future longitudinal work as we track players and their organizations across the evolving landscape of the MMP product space. Keywords: CSCW, MMP, MMO, MMORPG, guilds, massively multiplayer, persistent worlds, group formation, group maintenance Use of Computer and Video Games in the Classroom
Kirriemuir John, McFarlane Angela This paper examines the use of “pure” computer and video games in classrooms. It reports the findings of an ongoing informal survey of how and why such games are used as an integrated part of formal classroom learning. The paper presents a number of examples of the use of such games, and tries to determine likely trends in their use in such an environment. Of significance is an examination of the obstacles that teaching staff encounter in attempting to use such software during lesson times, and how some staff have overcome these obstacles. Keywords: Computer games, video games, school, classroom, Xbox, PC, GameCube, Playstation, PS2 All Your Base Are Belong To Us: Videogame culture and textual production online
Simons Iain, Newman James This paper examines the practices and activities of videogame fans online. In scrutinising a variety of player-produced texts including walkthroughs, fanart, theorising and FAQs, the authors seek not only to highlight the creativity and vibrancy of the participatory culture of videogame fandom but also to examine the ways in which discussion and the production of such texts are used by players to generate and communicate their identity within the community of otaku and modify the terms of engagement with the game. In this way, the authors seek to interrogate player-produced texts as examples of the involvement and activity of players in the construction of videogames’ meaning and as a means of problematising discussions of the pleasures of gameplay. Keywords: Fandom, walkthrough, videogame culture Patches of Peace: Tiny Signs of Agency in Digital Games
Poremba Cindy One of the more interesting and distinct aspects of digital games is the proliferation of player produced artifacts. The reworking of original game materials is an integral part of game culture that cannot be ignored in the study of these games. This paper explores player authorship in digital games through the rhetoric of select peace-themed game modifications. Keywords: Modification, participatory culture, protest, player-author, authorship, agency WADs, Bots and Mods: Multiplayer FPS Games as Co-creative Media
Morris Sue This paper will focus on the inter-relationships between media, technology and culture as demonstrated by the online multiplayer FPS scene, and will make explicit the degree to which game texts and associated technology facilitate culture and the formation of community, and how in turn such social structures inflect and determine the development of computer games, related Internet technologies and subsequent models for software development and distribution. Beyond the idea of “participatory media”, I argue that multiplayer FPS games have become “co-creative media”; neither developers nor players can be solely responsible for production of the final assemblage regarded as “the game”, it requires the input of both. Keywords: Online games, multiplayer, first-person shooter, gaming culture, co-creative media”, mod scene, Quake, Half-Life, Counter-Strike, game development. "This isn't a computer game you know!": revisiting the computer games/televised war analogy
Swalwell Melanie During the Gulf War of 1991, the television coverage was frequently observed to be ‘just like a video game’. This analogy primarily derived from the specific, ‘bombs-eye’ perspective of camera-equipped weapons, approaching their targets. The troubling nature of this coverage was said to derive from the viewer’s sense of direct involvement: the argument was that viewers were able to marvel at the ‘high tech’ nature of the weapons, at a remove from the bloody reality on the ground. These criticisms of a vicarious aesthetic (dis)engagement were taken to also characterise the playing of computer games. At a time when we have once again been confronted by TV coverage of war in the Gulf, this paper revisits the TV war/computer games nexus, informed by research on players’ engagements with games. It argues that comparisons between televised war and games have little to offer to those concerned with theorising games, at least in their current form. Research with players of games is, however, able to provide insights useful for theorising the fraughtness of watching televised war. Considered in this way, the analogy can be revealing. Drawing on previous research on players’ aesthetic engagements with games, as well as a range of other sources, this paper re-considers televisual war spectatorship, in terms of the figures of proximity/distance; here and there; negotiations between different materialities and realities; and virtuality. It proposes these figures as bases around which a more productive dialogue on computer games and televisual war might be conducted. Keywords: War, distance, spectacle, empathy, engagement Encounters with consumption during computer-mediated play: the development of digital games as marketing communication media
Molesworth Mike This paper explores the use of digital games for marketing communications using two theoretical perspectives. Firstly, the external contexts in which video game play takes place and secondly, internal game processes that are likely to be of interest to marketers and game developers. Findings from exploratory focus groups support the use of brand placement in games. Players feel that it can increase realism and help support the costs of game development. However the repetitive nature of games may cause rapid message wear-out and players' frustrations with aspects of play may lead to negative evaluations of brands. Individuals may also use video games to explore the meaning and benefits of consumption and this raises the question of the degree to which game content supports or opposes existing consumer cultures. An agenda for further research is presented. Keywords: Marketing; brand placement; consumption; digital games Family Values: Ideology, Computer Games & Sims
Sicart Miguel This article discusses some ideological issues related with the simulation of social systems in The Sims, proposing an interpretation of The Sims as an ideological game. This paper will focus on describing The Sims as a social simulator of a postcapitalist society: what The Sims proposes as an ideological game is a simulation of a specific set of values linked with a capitalist culture. Therefore, it can be considered not as a social simulator, but as a simulator of an ideology of modern capitalist societies. The last goal of this article is, then, to propose an analysis of the relation between rules, gameplay and ideology in certain computer game simulations. Keywords: Computer games, Ideology, Philosophy, Sociology How Videogames Express Ideas
Weise Matthew What are the exact aspects of the videogame medium, the precise features or combinations of features that lend themselves to expressing ideas and meaning? To chart this out, I begin with an American legal case that serves as a foundation for the basic issues involved and then move on to show how this relates to some of the broader attitudes the world of videogame discourse. Based on this, I break down the expressive strategies of videogames into three aspects—non-playable sequences, rule-based systems, and the relationship between the two—which I then illustrate with examples proving that videogames can indeed be an expressive medium. Keywords: Expression, First Amendment, Speech, Communication, Ideology, Meaning, Interactivity, Agency, Videogaming Community, Cut-Scene, Dialogue-Scene, Opinion Summary Conditions of Engagement in Game Simulation: Contexts of Gender, Culture and Age
Noble Ralph, Ruiz Kathleen, Destefano Marc, Mintz Jonathan We advocate a research approach to determining the conditions of engagement in game simulation that is a multi-disciplinary cultural and scientific inquiry at the juncture of psychological, artistic, and programming perspectives. What are the factors that cause some people to become enthralled with detail-oriented simulation game-play, while others are captivated by more abstracted, symbolic styles of play? How are the conditions of engagement influenced by gender, culture, and age? Keywords: Research methodology, psychology of engagement, intuition, decision making, gender, culture, real world psychology and game worlds, game aesthetics, game composition, logistics of perception, synthesis of factors "You Shoot Like A Girl!": The Female Protagonist in Action-Adventure Video Games
Grimes Sara M. This paper was inspired by the popularity of female video game protagonists despite girls’ and women’s continued hesitance to participate in digital gaming activities. The pilot study examines how the imagery and narrative structure of popular, contemporary video games construct a paradigm of the ideal female heroine. An in-depth content analysis of three best-selling action-adventure video games was conducted. Key findings indicate the recurrence of a paradoxical interplay between beauty ideals and characterization, wherein the female protagonist must reconcile traditional ideals about beauty and body type with the decidedly untraditional gender roles and actions she engages in. Keywords: Video games, gender roles, audience identification, representation, heroines Is Electronic Community an Addictive Substance?
Chee Florence, Smith Richard In this study, we examine how online games, like the Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG) EverQuest, are represented and controlled through media rhetoric. We look at international attempts to regulate their use through policy, and unearth some of the ways in which media reports have constructed public opinion of online games. We then contrast those reports with an ethnographic study of the EverQuest environment. The analysis of game experience and informant testimony shows that regulation and control of games is ultimately not a correct course of action in order to heal social dysfunction, of which excessive participation in electronic communities is only a symptom. Keywords: Addiction, online community, games, ethnography, policy, EverQuest Breaking the flow: Intervention in computer game play through physical and Intervention in computer game play through physical and on-screen interaction
Eggen Berry, Feijs Loe,de Graaf Mark, Peters Peter This article investigates issues of controlling the amount of time during computer game play and potential solutions to help prevent excessive gaming. The study incorporates the realization of three different variants. Two screen based solutions and one based on a physical agent, outside the computer screen, provide notification and additionally even “intervention” to the user. The three realizations have been put to the test and the results, both quantitative and qualitative are presented. The physical agent-based solution was most attractive. Keywords: Game support robots, computer games, RSI, flow Parental mediation of children’s video game playing: A similar construct as television mediation
Nikken Peter By means of an Internet-survey among 536 parent-child dyads, we researched which mediation strategies parents use for their children’s (8-18 years) video gaming. As in previous research on television mediation, principle factor analyses show that the same types of strategies are used: ‘restrictive mediation’, ‘evaluative mediation’, and ‘consicous co-playing’. Mediation is most strongly predicted by the age of the child and by parents’ gaming. Furthermore, parents are more restrictive and evaluative when they fear negative media-effects on behaviors and attitudes. They somewhat more often play together with the child when they suppose positive social-emotional effects of gaming. Keywords: Mediation, parents, children, conference publication Supporting Communities in Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games by Game Design
Koivisto Elina M.I. Communities get formed almost automatically in multiplayer games, but in some games they seem to be stronger and more active than in others. In order to find out why it is so, We study in this paper what kind of game design makes game community formation and maintenance easier in Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPG). Three MMORPGs are used as examples: Ultima Online, Anarchy Online and Toontown Online. The communication methods, game mechanics and environments of the three MMORPGs are compared and their effects on the game community are analyzed. Communities do not exist without communication. Game mechanics affects how important it is for the players to co-operate and compete with others and how useful it is to form different kinds of sub-communities, such as guilds. If the game supports player created content it typically strengthens the game community. The game environment provides settings for player-to-player interaction and can encourage collaboration and inspire the players to create their own stories around the sub-communities. Keywords: Game, Community, Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG), Ultima Online, Anarchy Online, Toontown Developing a hybrid of MMORPG and LARP using usability methods: the case of Takkar
Christensen Laust Juul, Jørgensen Thomas Tae-Yang, Jørgensen Anker Helms This paper examines the idea of combining Live Action Role-Playing (LARP) and MMORPG into a hybrid game named Takkar. We developed three versions of Takkar in an iterative fashion. In each iteration we constructed and tested game play and features using principles and ideas drawn from game development theory and usability/Participatory Design such as user interviews and expert reviews. Between iterations we made use of LARP-theory and theories of virtual environments to further develop the concept. Considerations of embodiment, concurrency in actions and rich communication emerge as central factors for the successful transfer between the two parts of the hybrid. Usability methods proved effective during game development giving a better and faster understanding of the needs of the players. Keywords: LARP (Live Action Role-Playing), MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game), Usability, User testing, Player types, Body language, Embodiment, In-game communication, Neverwinter Nights, Hybrid Game The attack of the backstories (and why they won't win)
Myers David This essay adopts a formal model of play as semiosis [18] to explore the often dysfunctional role of backstories within computer game design and play. Within this model, backstories indicate an extended play of contextualization. This definition raises questions concerning the appropriateness of backstories as currently implemented within many computer game designs. For instance, backstories are clearly not critical to all computer game play. And, even when limiting analysis solely to role-playing games, the use of backstories as design tools (as opposed to marketing devices or play supplements) remains problematic. Conclusions concern "pre-narrative" aspects of play--particularly when narrative is defined (e. g., within narrative psychology) as a folk theory of causes. Keywords: Backstory, computer game, game theory, narrative, semiosis Participatory design and opposing interests in development of educational computer games
Magnussen Rikke, Misfeldt Morten, Buch Tasha In this study we have followed a participatory design process in a class of children aged 11 and 12. The development team, a group of Danish schoolteachers, invited the children to participate in the design of a computer game for mathematics education. The objective of the participatory design process was to have the children create a game close to their own interests, experiences and fantasies, hereby insuring that they would find the game interesting enough to play it in their spare time away from school. Prior to the design workshops, the development team had a discussion with one of their classes, and decided on a game of exploration where the player travels through time and space, and the purpose of the design process described in this paper was to develop this idea further. During this process it became clear that the teachers’ ideas in some sense differed from the children’s. In the teachers’ original concept, the landscape would represent the history of mathematics (e.g. ancient Egypt, Greece, China), whereas the children’s ideas, diverse though they were, evolved around a fantasy setting and tourist experiences. In this project there arose a conflict between a pedagogical goal and an attempt to understand the end-users world through research. Keywords: Participatory Design, Learning Games, Mathematics. Describing Games: An Interaction-Centric Structural Framework
Björk Staffan, Holopainen, Jussi We present a structural framework to describe games in terms of components. The components are divided into four major areas: meta-structure, bounding, narrative and objective. The framework is developed to be used in conjunction with game design patterns, descriptions of patterns of interaction relevant to game play. We describe the development of the framework and how it relates to patterns. Keywords: Game Design, Patterns, Taxonomies, Game Models The Diverse Worlds of Computer Games: A Content Analysis of Spaces, Populations, Styles and Narratives
Brand Jeffrey E. , Knight Scott, Majewski Jakub The Diverse Worlds Project analysed 130 computer and video games (CVGs) to understand their textual landscape. Titles were sampled from the five gaming platforms dominant in 2002. Blending the quantitative content analytic tradition and the Bordwellian approach to formal film analysis, characters, settings, narrative and stylistic factors were studied in four units of analysis including box, handbook, opening cinematic sequences, and game-play. “Diverse Worlds” contradicts the popular stereotypes about CVGs presenting exaggerated, violent characters in simplistic, formulaic, worlds lacking in aesthetic nuance and texture. Games are painted using a vast array of visible features and locations. Narrative structure and progression varies depending on genre and goes beyond “shoot the bad guy.” Graphic stylisation tends toward a mid-point between animation and photo-realism with the latter more often used for rendering environments and the former for characters. Limitations of character representation include the use of stereotypes found in traditional mainstream media. An earlier version of this work was presented at the International Ratings Conference in Sydney, Australia, September 2003. Keywords: Content analysis, film analysis, representation, narrative, style Apocalypse the Spielberg Way: Representations of Death and Ethics in Saving Private Ryan, Band of Brothers and the Videogame Medal of Honor: Frontline
Kingsepp Eva “Authenticity” is an issue central to Steven Spielberg in his re-creations of World War II. But while the films are (hyper)realistic also in their representation of death, this is not the case in the videogames. Does this suggest anything about contemporary society’s view of killing, dying and death? In my paper I study death and ethics in Saving Private Ryan, the TV series Band of Brothers, and the video game Medal of Honor: Frontline (2002), all sharing the same topic: the Allied invasion of Normandy during World War II. The differences indicate an ambiguity in the notion of authenticity as well as different strategies of handling ethical questions. Keywords: Death, ethics, authenticity, remediation film-videogame Ka as shomin-geki: Problematizing videogame studies
Huber William The paper addresses limitations of strictly interactive theories of videogame genre, proposes a supplementary, historicist inter-media alternative, and interprets the videogame Ka as a ludic worked based in the shomin-geki tradition of Japanese cinema. Keywords: Japanese cultural history, videogame genre theory, shomin-geki, domesticity, intertextuality As if by Magic: On Harry Potter as a Novel and Computer Game
Gunder Anna This paper examines the computer game Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone in relation to the novel with the same title. The analysis focuses on the temporal aspects of the works, and differences and similarities regarding both media structure and artistic devices are described. The notion of content space is central and a distinction is made between information content space, action content space, and task content space, which form various kinds of works and structures. Moreover, instead of the traditional pair story and discourse, the four concepts of performed discourse, performed story, omnidiscourse, and omnistory are used to reveal temporal effects and characteristics of the game. Finally, it is concluded that the two works, although different in many ways, play with the same user effects, suspense, curiosity, and surprise, to capture and keep the user’s interest. Keywords: computer game, ergodic literature, hypertext theory, ludology, narratology, media theory, Harry Potter, Rowling Games as Technological Entry Point: A Case Study of Uzbekistan
Kolko Beth E., Thayer Alex This paper considers cross-cultural patterns of game-playing activities. The paper is part of an overall argument regarding computer games as a possible technological entry point for novice users. In particular, increasing use of games in educational settings has drawn attention to the fact that computer games can be a way for young people to gain an initial exposure to computer technology. The paper discusses game-playing patterns in the US and South Korea in order to demonstrate that such patterns vary based on country. The paper then considers survey work conducted in March 2003 in Uzbekistan that presents a snapshot of game-playing activity in a country that is in early stages of computer technology adoption. This paper is part of a larger study that seeks to argue that game-playing, if fostered correctly, can serve as an effective point of entry to computer technology for youth in developing countries and in areas where computer penetration is relatively low. Keywords: Cross-cultural issues, education, gaming patterns, international development, Uzbekistan, technology adoption Space, Agency, Meaning and Drama in Navigable Real-Time Virtual Environments
Roudavski Stanislav, Penz François Does our preoccupation with navigable space distract us from the expressive potential of interactive media? Can our understanding of spatial context in virtual environments (VEs) be expanded to incorporate social reasoning and behavior? Drawing on the theoretical foundations and practice of Architecture, this paper considers the relationship between person and environment in the real world and in navigable real-time three-dimensional digital worlds. The first part discusses the cyclical and bi-directional nature of the person _ environment relationship with interactive involvement as the basis for meaning construction and behavior guidance. The second part considers the differences brought in by the representative nature of computer-based interactive three-dimensional (3D) worlds. The examples for discussion are derived from the rich field of videogames. This is followed by an overview of the principal components of Shenmue II, a role-playing game, and a case-study examination of one interactive sequence from it. The analysis shows that navigable space always carries meaning, reiterates that interactivity is an integral part of spatial experiences and illustrates how construction of mental images is a product of mediation. When VEs are designed to utilize rich agency and expressive mediation devices, they potently overstep the systematic rule-based constraints of their design and become meaningful and engaging as situations that have real-world roots and dramatically significant consequences. Keywords: Spatial context, interactivity, virtual environment, behavior, videogame, meaning, drama The Construction of Ludic Space
Adams Ernest Most modern graphics-based computer games entertain the player in part by presenting him or her with a simulated space, an imaginary two- or threedimensional region whose visual appearance is mapped onto the twodimensional surface of the video screen. The player observes this space and sometimes virtually explores or moves through it in the course of playing the game. As an imaginary space, it is necessarily constructed by human beings, and therefore may be thought of as the product of architectural design processes. In this paper I discuss the psychosensory limitations of perceiving ludic space compared with real-world architectural space, and the primary and secondary functions of ludic space. The primary function is to support the gameplay by providing a context for challenges, and I discuss how this occurs; secondarily, the space informs and entertains in its own right by a variety of means: Familiarity, Allusion, Novelty, Atmosphere, and others, which I illustrate by example. Keywords: Architecture, video games, computer games, game design Problem Solving: The Essence of Player Action in Computer Games
Jørgensen Kristine This paper will present the major findings of the author’s hovedfag (M.A.) thesis [1], which investigates how the player engages in the structuring of courses of action in computer games. Since the player’s engagement may be said to be a problem solving process, this paper presents a scheme of problem solving in modern computer games that proposes the concept of computer game agency. The scheme will be illustrated by examples from the computer role-playing game Baldur’s Gate II, and the turn-based strategy game Heroes of Might & Magic IV. Keywords: Action, problem solving, computer game agency, aporia & epiphany, Baldur’s Gate II, Heroes of Might & Magic IV |
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