Gameplay Rhetoric: A Study of the Construction of Satirical and Associational Meaning in Short Computer Games for the WWW


Madsen Helene Johansson Troels Degn
2002 Computer Games and Digital Cultures Conference Proceedings

This paper maps out the construction of non-narrative rhetorical meaning in short computer games. Setting off from the recent emergence of short satirical computer games on the World Wide Web, it observes that at least some computer games do have potentials as a medium of artistic expression; that regardless of the possible narrative powers of computer games. Drawing on Leonard Feinberg's categories of satire and George Lakoff's theory of metaphor, the article describes the basic rhetorical mechanisms of satire and association in computer games and suggests that satire and especially allegorical association in this context appear as two sides of a common theme: the call for immortality and the mastery of computer games.

 

Mobile Gaming with Children in Rural India: Contextual Factors in the Use of Game Design Patterns


Kam Matthew Rudraraju Vijay Tewari Anuj Canny John
2007 DiGRA '07 - Proceedings of the 2007 DiGRA International Conference: Situated Play

Poor literacy remains a barrier to economic empowerment in the developing world. We make the case that “serious games” can make an impact for these learners and highlight that much remains to be learned about designing engaging gameplay experiences for children living in rural areas. Our approach revolves around game design patterns, which are building blocks that can inform game designs. We argue that patterns are beneficial because they facilitate the reuse of existing knowledge about successful games, and can capture contextual information such as domain applicability that has evolve through iterative testing. We describe the design of three mobile games based on patterns and report on a field experiment with rural children in India that evaluated these games against games that were not designed with patterns. We found that patterns are decontextualized design tools that can both help and hinder good designs. We distill lessons on the contextual factors that designers must consider when using patterns to design for this user group. These factors include designing for fun by focusing on the gameplay process and not only the winning conditions, and taking the power structure in local communities into consideration in the game designs.

 

More Than A Craze: Photographs of New Zealand’s early digital games scene


Swalwell Melanie
2011 DiGRA '11 - Proceedings of the 2011 DiGRA International Conference: Think Design Play

"More Than A Craze" is an online exhibition consisting of 46 photographs of New Zealand's early digital games scene, in the 1980s. The exhibition includes the work of some of New Zealand's best known documentary photographers – Ans Westra, Christopher Matthews, Robin Morrison – with images from the archives of Wellington's Evening Post and Auckland's Fairfax newspapers. These photographers captured images of games, gamers and gameplay in the moment when these were novel. These images are significant in that they offer insights into the early days of digital games. They are an important primary source material for researchers interested in the history of play and interactive entertainment. The exhibition has been curated by Melanie Swalwell and Janet Bayly. It is an online exhibition, hosted by Mahara Gallery, Waikanae (http://www.maharagallery.org.nz). It is one of the outcomes of Swalwell's research into the history of digital games in New Zealand, in the 1980s.

 

Three Shadowed Dimensions of Feminine Presence in Video Games


Cosima Rughiniș Răzvan Rughiniș Toma Elisabeta
2016 DiGRA/FDG '16 - Proceedings of the First International Joint Conference of DiGRA and FDG

Representations of femininity in video games and other media are often discussed with reference to the most popular games, their protagonists and their sexist predicament. This framing leaves in shadow other dimensions. We aim to identify some of them and to open a broader horizon for examining and designing femininity and gender in games. To this end we look into games with creative portrayals of feminine characters, diverging from the action-woman trope: The Walking Dead, The Path, and 80 Days. We talk in dialogue with scholars, but also with a digital crowd-critique movement for films and games, loosely centered on instruments such as the Bechdel-Wallace test and the TV Tropes.org wiki. We argue that the central analytical dimension of female character strength should be accompanied by three new axes, in order to examine feminine presence across ages, in the background fictive world created by the game, and in network edges of interaction.

 

The Cheating Assemblage in MMORPGs: Toward a sociotechnical description of cheating


Paoli Stefano De Kerr Aphra
2009 DiGRA '09 - Proceedings of the 2009 DiGRA International Conference: Breaking New Ground: Innovation in Games, Play, Practice and Theory

This paper theoretically and empirically explores cheating in MMORPGs. This paper conceptualises cheating in MMORPGs as a sociotechnical practice which draws upon a non-linear assemblage of human actors and non-human artefacts, in which the practice of cheating is the result or the outcome of an assemblage. We draw upon the assemblage conceptualizations proposed in [16] and [8] and on empirical data taken from a pilot study we have conducted during the period September-November 2008 and from an ethnography we are conducting in the MMORPG Tibia (http://www.tibia.com) since January 2009. This game in particular was chosen because CipSoft, the company that develops the game, launched an anticheating campaign at the beginning of 2009.

 

Gambling is in My Genes: Correlations between Personality Traits with Biological Basis and Digital Entertainment Choice


Park Byungho
2007 DiGRA '07 - Proceedings of the 2007 DiGRA International Conference: Situated Play

Online gaming sites like https://www.pikakasinotsuomi.com/ offer loads of bonuses to new players looking to join the site as well as daily promotions to keep things fresh and interesting for recurring players. Online gambling is one of the fastest growing areas in the digital entertainment industry. Slot gambling bets from a trusted site like batman138 with very abundant profits have always been the target of bettors every day. Due to the amount of traffic online casino slots in the USA receive many online casinos are able to offer better deals, bargains, and cool perks for their players. Gambling provides players with an intensely exciting experience and scholars see this as a primary cause of its attractiveness, and may play a role in the process of addiction. Finding a way to identify those more likely to gamble or check the satta king chart could be a first step towards discovering those who may be more likely to use certain genres of video games. This study used a sample of 93 college students to investigate whether personality traits believed to have their roots in biological differences can be used to predict one’s preference for gambling online. Results showed that Zuckerman’s Sensation Seeking Scale [27] and Lang’s Motivation Activation Measure [16] both had significant correlation with pathological online gambling symptoms based on DSM-IV [1] modified for online gambling, while only the Motivation Activation Measure significantly correlated with individual’s online gambling experience at sites like bonusetu.com. Implications of the findings for both the industry and health professionals are discussed.

 

Diversity of Play


Fuchs Mathias Palmer Karen Ensslin Astrid Krzywinska Tanya Rautzenberg Markus
2015 DiGRA Books

Based on the keynote lectures held at DiGRA2015, the publication "Diversity of Play" provides a critical view on the current state of digital games from theoretical, artistic, and practical perspectives. With an interview with Karen Palmer and essays by Astrid Ensslin, Mathias Fuchs, Tanya Krzywinska, and Markus Rautzenberg, Diversity of Play explores the uncanny in games, the power of “unnatural” narratives, and the exceptions and uncertainties of digital ludic environments. See also: http://meson.press/books/diversity-of-play/

 

Game Design on Item-selling Based Payment Model in Korean Online Games


Oh Gyuhwan Ryu Taiyoung
2007 DiGRA '07 - Proceedings of the 2007 DiGRA International Conference: Situated Play

The paper covers issues of item-selling based payment model(micro-transactions) in Korean online games. Firstly, we characterize two payment models in online game: subscription based payment model and item-selling based payment model. We then investigate and characterize itemselling based payment model in online games and introduce two online games, "Kart Rider" and "Special Force" which have been successfully adapted item-selling based payment model as their business model. Stay up to date with the latest trends and advancements in merchant services. Finally, we discuss game design issues to efficiently accommodate item-selling based payment model in online games: how to balance between items obtained by game-money and items purchased by real money, how to abstract the function of such items, and how to strength events and communities. The survey will provide insight of designing micro-transaction policy for the next-generation console markets with "Xbox 360", "Playstation 3", and "Wii" as its major axis.

 

From Gamers to Scholars: Challenges of Teaching Game Studies


Zagal José P. Bruckman Amy S.
2007 DiGRA '07 - Proceedings of the 2007 DiGRA International Conference: Situated Play

This article reports on the results of a study that explores the issues and challenges faced by instructors of games studies classes. Using a semi-structured protocol, we interviewed twelve professors and instructors of game studies courses. The interviews were transcribed and iteratively coded in order to refine theoretical categories, propositions and conclusions. Our results indicate that learning about games can be challenging for multiple reasons. For instance, an extensive prior videogame experience often interferes with students' abilities to reason critically and analytically about games. They also have difficulties articulating their experiences and observations. The medium itself also presents obstacles in access. Students must be skilled at games in order to fully experience them and technological barriers make it difficult to provide older games for students to experience. The article describes many of the solutions that instructors are adopting in order to overcome these challenges. We conclude by drawing attention to the issue that current game studies courses run the risk of limiting the diversity of people who could become game scholars.

 

Controversies: Historicising the Computer Game


MacCallum-Stewart Esther Parsler Justin
2007 DiGRA '07 - Proceedings of the 2007 DiGRA International Conference: Situated Play

Games which involve historical topics have always been a staple of digital games, but at the same time they have often caused controversy and debate. This paper traces some of the pitfalls inherent to the creation of historical games, as well as trying to reach an understanding of how a history game can be defined. Throughout the paper, we investigate how some aspects of history can be problematic, and how others have been made more difficult by a lack of definition or an expectation that all historical games operate on the same intellectual level. We also examine how controversial games have coped with difficult subjects, and relate this to the development of complexity and scope within gaming.