| Towards an ethics of video gaming | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 1-8 | |
| Grant Tavinor | |||
| Video gaming continues to be an ethically contentious topic, not the least
because of its claimed negative effects on individuals and the society they
live within. By taking a consequentialist approach to the issue -- setting out
the consequences of video games and gaming, and assessing those consequences
for their ethically relevant propertiesi -- video gaming can be given a partial
moral defence against its critics. Keywords: consequentialism, ethics, philosophy, video games | |||
| Girls playing games: rethinking stereotypes | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 9-16 | |
| Jennifer Jenson; Suzanne de Castell; Stephanie Fisher | |||
| This paper reports on findings from a three-year, Canadian federally funded
research project entitled "Education, Gender and Gaming". Our study of gender
and digital game-playing was driven by two significant factors: first, that far
more boys than girls play video games, and boys' early and sustained experience
with gaming places them at an advantage with respect to computer competence and
confidence. Second, not only are computer-based media increasingly central
tools for learning and work, but in fact games are increasingly being recruited
in educational contexts. This eager uptake for educational deployment of
game-based learning threatens to compound and intensify girls' disadvantage. It
is therefore even more urgent that educationally-based research reinvestigates
stereotypical presumptions about gender as they relate to computer-based game
playing for children in order to make it possible for girls to participate more
fully and equally in technology-related fields. In this way, the new push to
design educational games might better be informed by as full an understanding
as possible of girls' perspectives on and participation in gaming, and about
the kinds of games, characters, and overall approaches to "play" that might
better engage and involve girls, who are already very much participating in
gaming culture. Keywords: digital game play, gender, girls, social issues | |||
| Digital game design for elderly users | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 17-22 | |
| Wijnand Ijsselsteijn; Henk Herman Nap; Yvonne de Kort; Karolien Poels | |||
| The current paper reviews and discusses digital game design for elderly
users. The aim of the paper is to look beyond the traditional perspective of
usability requirements imposed by age-related functional limitations, towards
the design opportunities that exist to create digital games that will offer
engaging content combined with an interface that seniors can easily and
pleasurably use. Keywords: digital game design, elderly users, review, social and cognitive benefits of
games | |||
| Analyzing sociocultural perspectives on violence in digital games | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 23-29 | |
| Alexander Thayer | |||
| This article reports the results of a content analysis that tested whether a
significant difference in attitude toward violent digital games occurred in the
news media as a result of the Columbine school shootings. This article lists
attitudinal information about violent game content for more than 30 worldwide
news sources, as well as the most frequently mentioned people, institutions,
and digital games mentioned by these sources. A one-way ANOVA of authors'
attitudes toward violent digital games prior to and after April 20, 1999, as
well as ANOVAs testing geographic location, newspaper, and article type, showed
no significant attitudinal difference toward violent digital games before and
after the Columbine incident. Four cultural themes that relate to the control
of violent digital games are also analyzed. Keywords: Columbine, content analysis, cultural studies, digital games, game research,
mass media, video games, violence | |||
| Pervasive games in ludic society | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 30-37 | |
| Jaakko Stenros; Markus Montola; Frans Mäyrä | |||
| In this paper we chart how pervasive games emerge from the intersection of
two long-standing cultural trends, the increasing blurring of fact and fiction
in media culture, and the movements struggling over public space. During the
past few decades a third trend has given a new meaning to media fabrication and
street cultures: the rise of ludus in the society through maturation of the
gamer generations. As more and more activities are perceived as games in the
contemporary society, fabricated media expression and performative sports pave
the way for a new way of gaming. Born in the junction of playful, ordinary and
fabricated, pervasive games toy with conventions and configurations of
contemporary media. Keywords: fabrication, game, ludus, magic circle, paidia, pervasive game, play,
pretense, public space | |||
| Sensor networks as video game input devices | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 38-45 | |
| Anthony Whitehead; Nick Crampton; Kaitlyn Fox; Hannah Johnston | |||
| In this work we are motivated by creating a network of sensors that can be
used as input devices for video games. Our goal is to create an inexpensive
network of off-the-shelf sensors that are used to force proper movement and
engagement of the player. Our experience shows that a distributed set of
sensors around the body prevents the player from cheating the system by using
motion of the device alone to trick the system. In this work we show that a
relatively simple sensor network configuration can enforce proper form and
ensure that the player is actively participating in the game context. Keywords: accelerometer, entertainment technologies, human computer interaction,
sensor networks, video games | |||
| Where is the answer?: the importance of curiosity in pervasive mobile games | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 46-53 | |
| Carolina Islas Sedano; Teemu H. Laine; Mikko Vinni; Erkki Sutinen | |||
| Today games are increasingly recognized not only for their entertainment
value, but also for their positive impact on social interaction, educational
potential, technical interests, publicity and economical power. A new game
genre of pervasive games extends a virtual game world into the real world
environment, allowing players to move seamlessly from one to the other. Our
research is focused on identifying the elements that are important in a
pervasive playful application that can trigger the interest of different
individuals towards the reflection and understanding of the knowledge
surrounding them. Our findings suggest that stimulating the curiosity of
players is one of these key elements, and that it should be considered in the
design of serious mobile games with pervasive characteristics, while looking to
enrich the informal learning. In addition, mobile phones are well accepted as
play tools. These results are based on the feedback given by 45 players of our
game entitled SciMyst, which is a mobile adventure game with pervasive and
multiplayer characteristics. In SciMyst the player has to solve different types
of enigmas, which are based on the information from the real world. The player
is required to become familiar with the surroundings in order to succeed, and
at the same time s/he is learning from the environment in a playful manner. The
game was in action and the data collection took place during SciFest 2007, a
science festival in Joensuu, Finland, in March 2007. Keywords: environment and player, mobile games, mobile learning, pervasive games,
pervasive learning, playful learning | |||
| The virtual window simulator | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 54-60 | |
| Eric Penner; J. R. Parker | |||
| Most virtual reality systems offer the option of viewing the space using a
head mounted display or a head coupled display. These can provide a comfortable
way of providing a 3D display while detecting head motion and using that to
change the viewing position and angle. However, head mounted displays typically
have limited resolution, can create neck and eye strain, and can create user
disorientation. Head coupled displays, where the display is usually projected
onto a screen and the head mount is used for 3D and orientation only, are now a
focus of attention in research and in production systems. They are used in, and
in fact have spurred the development of, systems like the CAVE, Immersadesk,
and IWall to name just three. However, their use is limited by their high cost,
fixed nature, and space requirements, and a focus of research is on making
head-coupled displays more easily usable and less expensive. The VirtualWindow
project is a simulation of a head-coupled display that can be used to develop
software for such systems without the expense of owning one, or at least
without using the very expensive space. The simulator uses two webcams to
perform 3D head tracking rather than instrumenting the user, and provides a set
of useful operations that enhance the development and the viewing experience. Keywords: graphics, video gameo, virtual reality | |||
| Guidelines for 3D positioning techniques | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 61-68 | |
| Robert J. Teather; Wolfgang Stuerzlinger | |||
| In this paper, we present a set of guidelines for designing 3D positioning
techniques. These guidelines are intended for developers of object interaction
schemes in 3D games, modeling packages, computer aided design systems, and
virtual environments. The guidelines promote intuitive object movement
techniques in these types of environments.
We then present a study comparing 3D positioning techniques based on these guidelines with 2D and 3D/6D devices across VR display technologies. Display technologies such as stereoscopic graphics and head-coupled perspective provide additional depth cues and could affect how a user perceives and thus interacts with a 3D scene -- regardless of the input device/technique used. Thus they are examined as well. The results suggest that 2D devices using "smart" movement algorithms can outperform 3D devices. Keywords: 3D object positioning, guidelines | |||
| Effective use of the periphery in game displays | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 69-76 | |
| Kevin Grad; T. C. Nicholas Graham; A. James Stewart | |||
| The human eye can perceive visual information with high acuity within a
narrow foveal view; outside the foveal view (in the periphery), vision has
progressively less resolution, and ability to perceive colour is reduced. In
this paper, we argue that game displays can be improved by accounting for the
part of the visual field in which information is displayed. We present two
games in which information is visually encoded for presentation in the
periphery. We conclude that the use of peripheral displays may be an
interesting way of improving the challenge and entertainment of games involving
rich informational displays. Keywords: computer games, display design, peripheral display | |||
| Video game play: effects on nighttime dreams | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 77-82 | |
| Jayne Gackenbach; Ian Matty; Bena Kuruvilla | |||
| Two sets of content analyses were computed on 56 dreams of 27 hard core
video game players gathered during semi-structured interviews in the winter
term of 2006 at a Canadian college. The standard dream content analysis system
from Hall and VandeCastle [19] was used to analyze these dreams as was another
content analysis focused upon lucid/control dreaming. As expected gamers dreamt
about gaming and indeed well over half of the dreams reported included easily
recognized references to games. Since emotional regulation is thought to be a
central feature of dreams, emotions of gaming which range from joy to anger and
sadness were investigated in their social contexts in dreams with mixed
results. Although gamers evidenced more self negativity in these dreams other
indicates of positive emotional environments were present. If hard core gaming
created distorted world views at a deep level of consciousness (i.e., in
dreams) then this would be expected to appear in their dreams. However, despite
the differences from norms, the overall picture is one of dreams reflecting
game play while not dramatically distorting their emotional lives as depicted
in dreams. Keywords: consciousness, dreams, lucid dreams, video games | |||
| "It is always a lot of fun!": exploring dimensions of digital game experience using focus group methodology | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 83-89 | |
| Karolien Poels; Yvonne de Kort; Wijnand Ijsselsteijn | |||
| This paper focuses on digital game experience: the feelings and experiences
people have when they play digital games. Digital game experience is not a
one-dimensional concept. Great variety exists in game genres and game players,
and game experiences will differ accordingly. To date, game experience is
studied in a rather fragmented way. As such, the field still lacks a common
vocabulary and a shared taxonomy of the different dimensions of game
experience. In this paper we describe a focus group study and present a
tentative, but comprehensive categorisation of game experience. Focus groups
with various types of gamers were organised to capture a full first-hand
account of game experiences and second, findings were discussed in an expert
meeting in which empirical findings were consolidated with existing theoretical
findings. The categorisation bears relevance for both game theorists and game
developers wanting to get to the heart of digital game experience. Keywords: categorisation, digital game experiences, emotions, focus group methodology | |||
| While the ball in the digital soccer is rolling, where the non-player characters should go in a defensive situation? | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 90-96 | |
| Vadim Kyrylov; Eddie Hou | |||
| The non-player characters (NPCs), i.e. the artificial characters that are
not under direct control by the user, are essential part of many digital games.
Achieving the realistic behavior by NPCs in digital sports games such as the
simulated soccer is challenging. Here we limit our scope to the defensive
situation, i.e. when the ball is controlled by the opponents, and propose a
systematic method for optimal NPC positioning. So far the methods for
automatically finding defensive positions by the intelligent robotic soccer
players have been investigated by some scholars within RoboCup, an
international research and educational initiative in Artificial Intelligence
and robotics. Although simulated soccer teams using these methods have proved
to be reasonably good, the collaboration issue in defensive situations has been
overlooked. In this paper we propose a systematic approach based on solving a
multi-criteria assignment problem. This allows gracefully balancing the costs
and rewards involved in defensive positioning to achieve better results. Keywords: RoboCup, multi-criteria assignment problem, player collaboration, player
positioning, simulated soccer | |||
| Cognitive dimensions of a game scripting tool | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 97-104 | |
| Marty Kauhanen; Robert Biddle | |||
| In this paper we show how a heuristic evaluation can be applied to a game
scripting tool, using the Cognitive Dimensions of Notations framework. We
introduce an end-user development toolset that allows users to create custom
modules and content for the popular Neverwinter Nights computer role-playing
game. The use of the Cognitive Dimensions of Notations as a discussion aid is
illustrated through the examination of the toolset using a select set of
dimensions. We comment on the findings, and on the usefulness of this approach
to study of game development. Keywords: cognitive dimensions of notations, game development, heuristic evaluation | |||
| Casual games discussion | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 105-112 | |
| Jussi Kuittinen; Annakaisa Kultima; Johannes Niemelä; Janne Paavilainen | |||
| Digital games have become a remarkable cultural phenomenon in the last ten
years. The casual games sector especially has been growing rapidly in the last
few years. However, there is no clear view on what is "casual" in games
cultures and the area has not previously been rigorously studied. In the
discussions on casual games, "casual" is often taken to refer to the player,
the game or the playing style, but other factors such as business models and
accessibility are also considered as characteristic of "casual" in games. Views
on casual vary and confusion over different meanings can lead to paradoxical
readings, which is especially the case when "casual gamer" is taken to mean
both "someone who plays casual games" and someone who "plays casually". In this
article we will analyse the ongoing discussion by providing clarification of
the different meanings of casual and a framework for an overall understanding
of casual in the level of expanded game experience. Keywords: casual game player, casual gamer, casual games, casual gaming, casual
playing, digital games, expanded game experience | |||
| The impact of realism on learning engagement in educational games | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 113-120 | |
| Jay Shiro Tashiro; David Dunlap | |||
| We describe an evidence-based model for improving the quality and outcomes
of game-based instructional materials for K-12 and undergraduate science
courses. Our educational game models have been able to address critical issues
in developing improved learning outcomes, especially in areas of higher order
thinking like clinical judgment, understanding what scientists "do" as they
engage in the scientific method, and in language training. The current focus of
our work is the importance of realism and learning engagement in instructional
games and simulations. In this paper, we use educational frameworks from the
Federation of American Scientists and the United States National Research
Council as a foundation from which to consider how to study the impacts of
realism and engagement in educational games. Using this guiding framework, we
have developed a methodology for building and evaluating instructional
simulations in the sciences and mathematics that meet exacting standards for
evidence-based education. In this paper, we explore the impact of realism and
engagement in instructional games and simulations within the context of
creating an evidence-based framework for teaching, learning, and assessment of
learning outcomes. Keywords: educational games, engagement, realism, serious games, teaching and learning | |||
| Instructional ethology: reverse engineering for serious design of educational games | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 121-128 | |
| Katrin Becker | |||
| The effective application and use of games and game technology for education
requires examinations of existing artifacts, both in and out of formal
educational settings, as well as the development of new theories and models for
how to design games intended primarily to educate rather than entertain. One
way to facilitate an understanding of how a medium like digital game technology
can be used effectively in education is to study that medium's outstanding
examples, regardless of their original purpose. This paper describes a
methodology for analysing entertainment games that uses a synergy of reverse
engineering and ethology, neither of which have been used in this context
before. Normally, reverse engineering attempts to recover the original design
of a software application, but in this case it will be used to generate an
alternate design that can then in turn be used to inform instructional design.
Ethology studies the observed behaviour of animals, but here is adapted as a
method for the study of games. Through this perspective, it is possible to
identify and classify built-in learning objectives and from there to associate
the mechanisms and strategies employed to teach them. It is proposed that these
strategies can then be used in educational games without compromising the
essential qualities that have made digital games the most popular leisure
activity in the western world today. Keywords: cognition, direct manipulation, education, human-computer interaction,
learning, learnware, reflection | |||
| A framework for socially communicative faces for game and interactive learning applications | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 129-136 | |
| Steve DiPaola; Ali Arya | |||
| In this paper, we describe a modular multi-dimensional parameter space for
real-time face game-based animation. Faces are our most expressive
communication tools. Therefore a synthetic facial creation and animation system
should have its own tailored authoring environment rather than using general
purpose tools from image, 2D and 3D animation. This environment would take
advantage of a knowledge space of faces types, expressions, and behavior,
encoding known facial knowledge and meaning into a comprehensive, intuitive
facial language and set of user tools. Since faces and face expression work on
so many cognitive levels, we propose a multi-dimension parameter space called
FaceSpace as the basic face model, and a comprehensive authoring environment
based on this model. We describe the underlying mechanisms of our environment,
and also demonstrate its early game applications and content process. Keywords: communication systems, facial animation, gaming | |||
| DEAL: dialogue management in SCXML for believable game characters | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 137-144 | |
| Jenny Brusk; Torbjörn Lager; Anna Hjalmarsson; Preben Wik | |||
| In order for game characters to be believable, they must appear to possess
qualities such as emotions, the ability to learn and adapt as well as being
able to communicate in natural language. With this paper we aim to contribute
to the development of believable non-player characters (NPCs) in games, by
presenting a method for managing NPC dialogues. We have selected the trade
scenario as an example setting since it offers a well-known and limited domain
common in games that support ownership, such as role-playing games. We have
developed a dialogue manager in State Chart XML, a newly introduced W3C
standard, as part of DEAL -- a research platform for exploring the challenges
and potential benefits of combining elements from computer games, dialogue
systems and language learning. Keywords: SCXML, game dialogue, non-player characters, serious games, statecharts | |||
| True story: dynamically generated, contextually linked quests in persistent systems | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 145-151 | |
| James Pita; Brian Magerko; Scott Brodie | |||
| Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs) typically use a
handful of static conventions for involving players in stories, such as
predefined quest or story paths (a quest or story path is one in which the user
experiences a sequence of related quests that must be accomplished in a
particular order). Beyond the work done in MMORPGs there has been strong
research in designing adaptive approaches to interactive fiction/drama that
dynamically author content for users of the interactions [10] [18]. The system
architecture presented in this paper, TRUE STORY, is designed to address issues
concerning dynamically generated quest or story paths in persistent worlds,
such as MMORPGs, for users to engage in more enhanced, interactive and personal
experiences. TRUE STORY empowers persistent world designers by offering a truly
modular approach for dynamically generating and presenting compelling content
that results in user experiences worth telling a story about. The current
implementation is set in a game model to demonstrate a dynamic quest generation
system built to present users with unique and compelling experiences linked by
context to past quests and/or experiences. This is achieved by utilizing
history and relationships developed through interaction between world objects
and actions. Keywords: MMORPG, contextually linked goals, dynamic quest generation, game AI,
interactive narrative, multiplayer games, story generation | |||
| Story scripting for automating cinematics and cut-scenes in video games | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 152-159 | |
| W. Zhang; M. McLaughlin; M. Katchabaw | |||
| Storytelling can play a very important role in the success of modern video
games. Unfortunately, it can be quite difficult for writers to directly create
and integrate story content into games on their own, and they must instead rely
upon programmers and others on the development team to implement their stories.
This needlessly complicates the game development process, leading to increased
costs, more strain on developer time, and loss of creative control and,
potentially, story quality as a result. Consequently, tools and supports are
necessary to enable writers to generate story content for games directly, with
minimal programming or programmer assistance required, if any.
This paper examines the use of specialized story scripting elements to automate the production of cinematics and cut-scenes for video games. These elements allow writers to specify their stories in a well-defined, structured format that can be acted out automatically by software. This paper discusses these story scripting elements in depth, along with a prototype software engine capable of using these elements for cinematic and cut-scene automation. This paper also presents experiences with using this engine to recreate cinematics and cut-scenes from existing commercial video games. Keywords: automation, cinematics, cut-scenes, story scripting, storytelling, video
games | |||
| Save 'Em: physical gameplay using augmented reality techniques | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 160-165 | |
| Cody Watts; Ehud Sharlin | |||
| We present Save 'Em, an augmented reality-based computer game designed to
explore the challenge of making computer games more immersive and engaging by
moving gameplay to the physical environment.
As in the classic computer game, Lemmings, Save 'Em is based on maneuvering a group of slow-witted characters called Dudes through a treacherous maze. Using augmented reality techniques, Save 'Em places virtual game entities directly within the player's physical environment; gameplay takes place on a real game board rather than on a computer screen, and the Dudes' fate is tied directly to the player's physical actions. In this paper we discuss our Save 'Em game implementation and use our current findings to explain how moving game interaction from the virtual domain into the physical world using augmented reality can affect both gameplay and the players' overall experience. Keywords: augmented reality, computer games, control methods, gaming, immersion,
interfaces, mixed reality | |||
| Using games to increase exercise motivation | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 166-173 | |
| Jeffrey Yim; T. C. Nicholas Graham | |||
| In recent years, there has been significant work in integrating physical
activity into video games. One goal of this work has been to help motivate
sedentary people to be more physically active. Konami's Dance Dance Revolution
and Nintendo's Wii Sports have shown that exercise games can be both fun and
commercially successful.
To date, however, there has been little attempt to investigate what properties of exercise games will help motivate sedentary people to start and continue exercise programs. This paper reviews the literature on exercise motivation and derives from it requirements for computer-aided exercise games. The paper then introduces the new Life is a Village exercise game, and uses it to illustrate how these requirements can be met. Keywords: computer-aided exercise, computer-supported cooperative work, exertion
interfaces, video game design | |||
| Automated avatar creation for 3D games | | BIBA | Full-Text | 174-180 | |
| Andrew Hogue; Sunbir Gill; Michael Jenkin | |||
| Immersion is a key factor in video games and virtual reality simulation environments. Users' presence in a virtual environment is highly dependent on the user's identification with their avatar. Creating more realistic looking avatars thus enables a higher level of presence. Current video games allow character customizability via techniques such as hue adjustment for stock models, or the ability to select from a variety of physical features, clothing and accessories in existing player models. Occasionally user uploadable facial texture is available for avatar customization. We propose a dramatic leap forward in avatar customization through the use of an inexpensive, non-invasive, portable stereo video camera to extract model geometry of real objects, including people, and to then use these textured 3D models to drive avatar creation. The system described here generates the 3D textured and normal-mapped geometry of a personalized photorealistic user avatar suitable for animation and real-time gaming applications. | |||
| IMTool: an open framework for interactive music composition | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 181-188 | |
| Yves Chiricota; Jean-Michel Gilbert | |||
| In computer games, music often serves to create a more immersive and
captivating experience for the target audience. As such, it often needs to
adapt in real-time to changes in the game state. Otherwise, it might not blend
well with the game environment and might even be detrimental to the players'
experience of the game. In this paper, we describe IMTool: an open framework
for interactive music composition. It includes an authoring tool whose
interface is designed to maximize composers' productivity and a music engine
which can be integrated to a game engine through an easy-to-grasp Application
Programming Interface (API). Our model is based on finite state machines. We
introduce a hybridization between extended and probabilistic finite state
machines. This results in automata which include both registers and
probabilities. The former allow to create nonlinear music which can adapt to
the context of the game. The latter allow to create variations in musical
themes more easily. The main motivation of our work is to create a reusable
system that may facilitate the implementation of interactive music in future
computer games. Keywords: content creation, interactive music | |||
| Adaptive multiple texture approach to texture packing for 3D video games | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 189-196 | |
| Alexander Wong; Andrew Kennings | |||
| This paper presents an adaptive multiple texture approach to the problem of
texture packing for 3D video games. In modern graphics hardware, texture size
is typically constrained to width and height dimensions that are powers of two.
To reduce the texture management overhead caused by storing individual
textures, texture packing algorithms are used to pack multiple textures into a
single powers-of-two texture. Current texture packing techniques are very
limiting as they are capable of packing textures only into a single texture of
predefined size. This can result in significant wasted texture space due to the
powers-of-two texture size restrictions. In the proposed technique, individual
arbitrarily sized rectangular textures are packed into multiple textures in an
adaptive manner. This approach reduces the amount of wasted texture space in a
more efficient manner by adaptively determining the quantity as well as size of
textures being used during the packing process. Experimental results
demonstrate the effectiveness of this technique in packing textures in an
efficient and automated fashion. This makes it well suited for improving
texture management in future 3D video games, where resources are limited and a
high frame rate needs to be achieved to provide a truly immersive experience. Keywords: 3D, adaptive, texture packing, video games | |||
| Filtering of analogue sticks on joypads for improved control precision | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 197-200 | |
| Christoph Lürig | |||
| Analog joysticks especially on game pads present a major challenge to the
game play programmer. The usable range of those joysticks that generates valid
output data is normally very small. The difficulty is here to implement a
system that makes the game easily controllable for the player. In this article
we discuss a couple of filtering techniques that have been applied in several
shipped games to overcome this problem. These techniques are derived from
observations on how those analogue joysticks are used, from where the precision
and latency problem stems and how to design an infinite impulse response filter
to overcome this problem. Keywords: filter, game development, joystick | |||
| Bridging the gap: balancing faculty expectations and student realities in computer gaming courses | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 201-204 | |
| Christopher Egert; Stephen Jacobs; Andrew Phelps | |||
| As game design and game development emerges as an academic discipline, it is
important for programs to balance the technical and creative aspects of the
curriculum. Students must be exposed to both the technical and content creation
experiences that define the field, and also be exposed to critical areas such
as games and media history, games analysis, literature, media study, and
psychology. Furthermore, students must understand the ramifications of cultural
and societal factors as they intersect games and entertainment technology. In
this paper, the authors examine how a technically focused game program can
provide students with a broader exposure to the world of game development. In
particular, the authors will discuss where their treatment succeeded and
failed, and how the curriculum has evolved over several offerings. Keywords: games education | |||
| Playscripts a new method for analyzing game design and play | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 205-208 | |
| Jessica Aldred; Robert Biddle; Chris Eaket; Brian Greenspan; David Mastey; Minh Q. Tran; Jennifer Whitson | |||
| We propose a methodological framework for game analysis that uses the notion
of 'scripting' as the basis for game interpretation and design. Drawing upon
several disciplines and domains, this paper provides a template for critical
analysis by outlining seven forms of scripting at work in games, and how these
scripts either complement or compete with each other in various types of games.
This system of analysis not only comprises the different technical, social or
cognitive scripts that operate within the various modules of any given game,
but also provides a method for the comparative study of different games, as
well as a framework for building improved scripting and work flow tools for
game designers. Keywords: games, ludology, narrative, scripting, scripts | |||
| Wiizards: 3D gesture recognition for game play input | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 209-212 | |
| Louis Kratz; Matthew Smith; Frank J. Lee | |||
| Gesture based input is an emerging technology gaining widespread popularity
in interactive entertainment. The use of gestures provides intuitive and
natural input mechanics for games, presenting an easy to learn yet richly
immersive experience. In Wiizards, we explore the use of 3D accelerometer
gestures in a multiplayer, zero sum game. Hidden Markov models are constructed
for gesture recognition, providing increased flexibility and fluid tolerance.
Users can strategically effect the outcome via combinations of gestures with
limitless scalability. Keywords: HMM, games, gestures, interactive systems, pattern recognition | |||
| Video game habits: a reasoned action approach | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 213-216 | |
| Ryan Lange | |||
| This paper describes research done in the domain of habit as it pertains to
habitual video game play. A reasoned action understanding of habit is provided
to illustrate a potential research perspective. Keywords: deficient self-regulation, habit, reasoned action, video games | |||
| Musical interaction in computer games | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 217-220 | |
| J. R. Parker; J. Heerema | |||
| In general, the role of sound in interactive media environments, has been
limited to the production of a soundtrack which will enhance the player's
sensory experience of the game. Much less attention has been placed on the role
of sound as an input to a game. This paper will explore such a game, with a
view toward exploring the potential role of sound in computer games, and
practical design ideas which may advance the current state of the art. Keywords: audio games, audio interaction, video game audio | |||
| A fast temporal compression/expansion algorithm for sampled audio | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 221-224 | |
| J. R. Parker; J. Drews; J. Owoc | |||
| An algorithm for compressing or expanding the duration of an arbitrary sound
is presented, in which the frequencies present in the sound are not changed by
the process. This means that music can be slowed without changing the key, and
that sped up or slowed down voices can still be recognized. The process can be
performed in a small fraction of real time, meaning that it can be done live,
while the sounds are being captured. Keywords: pitch, sound duration, transformation | |||
| Game development 2.0 | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 225-228 | |
| Daniel Volk | |||
| In recent years a massive trend towards collaboratively created game
modifications has appeared and changed the very way the game industry is
working. A similar tendency towards user-participation is visible within the
Web 2.0 movement, which is considered to be the Internet's next evolutionary
step. This paper argues that both trends are caused by the same phenomenon. By
bringing the two trends together, the concepts of what could be called Game
Development 2.0 will become clear. In consequence, this also allows to
interpret its latest occurrence as in-world player-centric and collaborative
development as an important step towards an upcoming 'Web 3D 2.0'. Keywords: game development 2.0, metaverse, web 2.0, web 3D 2.0 | |||
| Oh, the thinks you can think: language barriers in serious game design | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 229-232 | |
| Katrin Becker | |||
| It is well-known that problems in interdisciplinary communication between
knowledge communities can seriously hinder innovation [1, 7, 8, 10]. The games
studies community is a highly interdisciplinary community, and there are, not
surprisingly, regular terminology debates that question the definitions of some
of our most fundamental terms such as 'game' and 'simulation'. While game
analysis and criticism for the purposes of social and humanities research may
not require direct collaboration between disparate disciplines, game design
does, especially when the game is being designed for serious purposes. This
paper is a discussion of some of the accepted meanings of key terms, discuss
some of the implications of an inability to agree on the meanings of basic
terminology and offer several strategies to address this problem. Keywords: communication, knowledge sharing | |||
| NDNWN: designing games with aboriginal stories using the Aurora Toolset | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 233-236 | |
| Beth A. Dillon | |||
| Video games can provide an interactive digital space for the retelling of
Aboriginal stories as interpreted by players. This project explores the Aurora
Toolset from BioWare's Neverwinter Nights -- a computer role-playing game based
largely around text branching conversations and quests -- as a game engine for
modifying Aboriginal content into game space. Keywords: aboriginal, game design, game modification, storytelling | |||
| Interactive community simulation environment for community health nursing | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 237-240 | |
| Michelle Hogan; Hamed Sabri; Bill Kapralos | |||
| The majority of nursing curriculums continue to relate experiences and
examples of nursing to the more familiar role of "nurse clinician".
Specifically, the use of simulation and technology has been used in the
undergraduate nursing program to assist learners in developing nursing skills
and knowledge for treating individual patients with acute and chronic
conditions. Nursing students are now able to apply learned concepts of nurse
clinician when treating virtual patients and while engaging in simulation-based
education. The use of such simulation in undergraduate nursing education allows
learners to readily apply skills and knowledge within a safe learning
environment; however, the use of such technology has not been widely adopted to
address the learning needs of today's community health nursing students. In
fact, despite its importance, the role and process of community health nursing
is often unknown to many undergraduate nursing students. This paper presents a
strategy-based, interactive community simulation environment that addresses the
learning needs of millennial students within a community health nursing
curriculum. Keywords: community health nursing, game-based learning, interactive learning
environment, serious games | |||
| Wildfire Wally: a volunteer computing game | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 241-242 | |
| Evan Peck; Maria Riolo; Charles Cusack | |||
| Online casual games can be used to significantly enhance the productivity of
volunteer computing. We call games which perform volunteer computing volunteer
computing games. We introduce Wildfire Wally, a volunteer computing game
capable of solving the maximum clique problem. Keywords: casual games, distributed algorithms, distributed computing, human
computing, online games, volunteer computing | |||
| Creativity techniques in game design | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 243-244 | |
| Annakaisa Kultima; Janne Paavilainen | |||
| Innovation and novelty are seen as important elements in game design but
systematic tools and methods for producing creative ideas may be little known
or poorly available, and creativity itself can be seen as something mystical
[2] that cannot be methodologically enhanced. However, modern creativity
research claims that creativity is in the scope of learning and techniques for
generating ideas are argued to give competitive advantage [1,2,6]. This may be
an important message to designers, but also to the creative leaders.
Even the most creative mind can commit the crime of repetition. This is because it is natural for the mind to create patterns [1]. Usually these patterns are helpful, but seeking new and innovative solutions as in product design, one should be able "to think outside" the common practices. Designers are required to be creative on demand, yet the procedures and methods for breaking the common approaches are often based on intuitive belief systems rather than on empirically validated theory [9]. One of the solutions to enhance creativity in game design is to use idea generation techniques that help designers to be creative on demand. Studies from other industries suggest that there is a strong relationship between the number of idea generation techniques and the number of successful products [8,10]. However, brainstorming, the best known technique, does not necessarily lead to innovation [5], which is also acknowledged in game design [3]. Even though brainstorming is useful in some cases, no single creativity technique can provide the ultimate solution for innovation in general: different techniques are needed [10]. Idea generation may seem a relatively easy task. However, while anybody can come up with some ideas, applicable and novel ideas do not come easily [9]. This is well established in those studies showing that one of the characteristics of companies successful in development is their ability to generate ideas [3]. In a successful ideating session, the generation of ideas is separated from idea evaluation and early criticism may be seen as harmful to the overall process[6]. Whereas vertical thinking targets the one and only solution, lateral thinking targets quantity [1] as a tool for quality [6]. Additionally, since idea generation is not a random process governed solely by an individual's personal traits, but a relatively structured process that can be explained [8], a methodological approach is indeed possible. Since we believe that game ideas have their special characteristics, and that and general idea generation techniques may not be so very supportive of the nature of game design processes, we designed several experimental game-specific techniques in the GameSpace project (http://gamelab.uta.fi/GameSpace). These techniques are based on game-related stimuli and structural modules for ideating casual, multiplayer and mobile games. During the project, computer programs and other tools were created to help documenting, game analysis, randomization of stimuli and communicative aspects. These techniques are easy to approach from their functional aspects: the activity of idea generation is based on playing specific board games, card games, using small computer applications or other tools and toys. In light of our workshop experiences with Finnish game professionals in 2006 and 2007, these idea generation techniques can be successfully utilized and help designers to create applicable and novel game ideas that they would not otherwise come up with. Hence these techniques can be seen as a successful way to help "creativity on demand" in game design practices. Some of these techniques have already been fruitfully adopted by the Finnish mobile game industry. While we have already documented several positive user experiences and know that our techniques work, we are conducting a more extensive user study in autumn 2007 and spring 2008 to gain a systematic understanding of game specific idea generation techniques and game idea generation processes. Keywords: brainstorming, creativity, game design, ideas, techniques | |||
| Playing for knowledge | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 245-246 | |
| Dana R. Herrera; András Margitay-Becht | |||
| This paper focuses on the applicability of on-line games in pedagogy and
social science research. The on-going experiments examine emerging virtual
worlds, migratory practices, and developing markets. Keywords: emerging markets, virtual immigration, virtual colonization, virtual worlds | |||
| mygamestudies.com: building a community for game design students | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 247-248 | |
| Aki Järvinen | |||
| The author is about to defend his Ph.D. on methods of game studies and
design. The major results of the study are methods with which to analyze game
play from the perspectives of game design and player experience. The methods
will be implemented online as a community service for teaching game studies and
design. mygamestudies.com will be a site with community features that is open
for contributions from students, educators, researchers, and game designers. Keywords: game analysis methodology, game curriculum, game design, web 2.0 | |||
| Making players laugh: the value of humour in computer games | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 249-250 | |
| Claire Dormann; Robert Biddle | |||
| Humour is an important aspect of human communication and interaction, and it
has cognitive, social, and affective functions. Yet there seems little humour
in videogames, even while Machinima draws strongly on comical principles.
Humour seems to be an important source of pleasure for game players, and its
importance in videogames should be re-evaluated. This brief paper introduces
our study of the experience of humour in videogames, and explores the value of
humour for design. Keywords: emotion, game design, humour | |||
| AudiOdyssey: an accessible video game for both sighted and non-sighted gamers | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 251-252 | |
| Eitan Glinert; Lonce Wyse | |||
| Despite the growing number and demographics of video game players, most
games are still completely inaccessible to disabled populations. To study the
issue of gaming accessibility, we created AudiOdyssey, a prototype video game
designed to be usable by both sighted and non-sighted audiences. Featuring
multiple input control schemes, rhythm based game play, and fully accessible
menus and play levels, the prototype allows all individuals to share a common
gaming experience, regardless of level of vision. Keywords: accessible design, accessible user interface, accessible video game,
experimental game design, human computer interaction, sight impaired, vision
impaired | |||