| Draw Your Own Story: Paper and Pencil Interactive Storytelling | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 1-12 | |
| Edirlei Soares de Lima; Bruno Feijó; Simone Barbosa; Antonio L. Furtado; Angelo Ciarlini; Cesar Pozzer | |||
| In this paper, we present a storytelling system able to dramatize
interactive narratives in augmented reality over a conventional sheet of paper.
The system allows users to freely interact with virtual characters by sketching
objects on the paper. Users interacting with the system can indirectly affect
the characters' decisions, even to the point of radically subverting the
storyline. Keywords: Interactive Storytelling; Augmented Reality; Sketch-Based Interface | |||
| The Experience of Interactive Storytelling: Comparing "Fahrenheit" with "Façade" | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 13-21 | |
| Christian Roth; Christoph Klimmt; Ivar E. Vermeulen; Peter Vorderer | |||
| At the intersection of multimedia, artificial intelligence, and gaming
technology, new visions of future entertainment media arise that approximate
the "Holodeck" ® idea of interactive storytelling. We report exploratory
experiments on the user experience in a 'classic', foundational application of
interactive storytelling, "Façade" (Mateas & Stern, 2002), and
compare results with an identical experiment carried out with users of the
adventure game "Fahrenheit". A total of N = 148 participants used one of the
systems interactively or watched a pre-recorded video sequence of the
application without interactive involvement. Using a broad range of
entertainment-related measures, the experience of Interactive Storytelling was
found to depend strongly on interactivity (mostly in "Façade") and to
differ substantially across the systems, with "Façade" achieving a
stronger connection between interactive use and the resulting profile of
entertainment experiences. Keywords: Interactive storytelling; user experience; "Façade"; enjoyment;
adventure games | |||
| Emotion-Driven Interactive Digital Storytelling | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 22-27 | |
| Huiwen Zhao; Jian J. Zhang; Siné McDougall | |||
| Interactive digital storytelling has attracted a great deal of research
interest in recent years. However, most interactive stories are told following
a goal-oriented and task-based mode, which motivates the player to interact
with stories by achieving the goals rather than empathizing with the characters
and experience the enriched emotions. Given this fact, we propose an
emotion-driven interactive digital storytelling approach based on Smith and
Lazarus' cognitive theory of emotion. In this approach, the player's emotions,
as a driving force, motivate the story forward and contribute to their
experience directly and explicitly. To evaluate this approach, an interactive
video was made by re-editing existing footage of the TV comedy Ugly Betty and
ten players were interviewed afterwards. The results reveal that the
interviewees' experience is largely influenced by their gender and favorite
media entertainment. Keywords: interactive digital storytelling; emotion-driven; cognitive theory of
emotion; user experience | |||
| Verification of Temporal Constraints in Continuous Time on Nondeterministic Stories | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 28-34 | |
| Eric T. Araujo; Angelo E. M. Ciarlini | |||
| This paper proposes a language based on temporal logics to specify
constraints on nondeterministic stories, generated by interactive storytelling
systems, taking into account that time is continuous and branched. These
constraints are checked, in real time, during story generation. Constraints to
be checked are described by temporal formulas over the properties of the story.
To make possible the verification in real time, it is assumed that these
properties are piecewise-linear functions. A prototype, using Constraint Logic
Programming for the verification of properties, is operational. Keywords: Continuous Change; Interactive Storytelling; Constraint Programming;
Branching Time | |||
| GrabApple: The Design of a Casual Exergame | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 35-46 | |
| Yue Gao; Regan L. Mandryk | |||
| Many people do not get the recommended 30 minutes of exercise per day, which
can result in health problems such as obesity, muscle atrophy and chronic
disease. Based on the principles of casual games and exergames, we propose and
define casual exergames for motivating people to exercise in multiple small
chunks of time throughout the day. We designed, implemented, and tested a
casual exergame called GrabApple. Our preliminary results show that users
enjoyed playing the casual exergame and that in just 10 minutes of play, their
heart rate was elevated to an average of 72% of maximum heart rate, and that
they burned an average of 91.8 Calories. If played three times per day, our
casual exergame produced sufficient physical activity to meet current fitness
guidelines. We discuss the potential health benefits of casual exergames. Keywords: Exercise; casual game; exergame; exercise efficacy | |||
| Motion-Based Games for Parkinson's Disease Patients | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 47-58 | |
| Oliver Assad; Robert Hermann; Damian Lilla; Björn Mellies; Ronald Meyer; Liron Shevach; Sandra Siegel; Melanie Springer; Saranat Tiemkeo; Jens Voges; Jan Wieferich; Marc Herrlich; Markus Krause; Rainer Malaka | |||
| Games for rehabilitation are developing rapidly in recent years. It has been
shown that utilization of therapy and gaming technology affects positively on
the patients' physical and mental condition. However, to this day there are
only few playable games for Parkinson's disease patients. This paper presents
the development process of WuppDi! -- a collection of five motion-based games
for Parkinson's disease patients, aimed at supporting their exercises routines
in various playful environments. We describe the game design challenges for
Parkinson's disease patients and our solutions used in the games. Finally, we
present the results of a conducted field test showing a very positive
motivational effect among the majority of the patients but also highlighting
remaining issues and technical difficulties, which can be beneficial for the
future development in this field. Keywords: serious games for health; Parkinson's disease; motion-based game controls;
physiotherapy | |||
| Universal Game Based on Traditional Children's Outdoor Games | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 59-64 | |
| Teruhisa Nakamura; Nagisa Munekata; Fumihiko Nakamura; Tetsuo Ono; Hitoshi Matsubara | |||
| A universal game, Daruma, has been developed that can be played by both
healthy people and people with physical limitations. It is based on the
Japanese variation of the traditional outdoor children's game Red Light, Green
Light. We devised two ways to play the game: one is by swinging an arm; the
other is by tapping a desk with two fingers. Players can select either of these
choices, enabling people with physical limitations to enjoy the game. We
conducted experiments to verify their ease of play and to evaluate their
degrees of enjoyment and utility. We found that both ways of playing were
appropriate for the visually impaired and that healthy people also enjoyed
playing Daruma. Keywords: universal game; traditional children's plays; physical limitations; devises;
"Red light; green light" | |||
| Gemini: A Pervasive Accumulated Context Exergame | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 65-76 | |
| Kevin G. Stanley; Ian J. Livingston; Alan Bandurka; Mohammad Hashemian; Regan L. Mandryk | |||
| Exergames encourage physical activity, but generally require specialized
hardware and prescribed activities; whereas pervasive accumulated context
exergames (PACEs) allow players to choose their type of exercise, but have
limited depth of play. For mass commercialization of PACEs, facilitating
long-term behavioural change, we propose two requirements: that PACEs support
large-scale and flexible deployment; and that the design of PACEs support
staying power through long-term playability. From these requirements, we
motivate six PACE design principles and use these principles to develop a
multiplayer roleplaying PACE. Results from a week-long study of our game showed
that by satisfying the six design principles, we can create a PACE with
scalability and staying power. Our results are the first step toward creating
PACEs that promotes long-term game engagement, which is needed for
activity-related behaviour change. Keywords: exergame; pervasive game; activity sensing; accumulated context | |||
| Evaluating User Experience in a Selection Based Brain-Computer Interface Game A Comparative Study | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 77-88 | |
| Hayrettin Gürkök; Gido Hakvoort; Mannes Poel | |||
| In human-computer interaction, it is important to offer the users correct
modalities for particular tasks and situations. Unless the user has the
suitable modality for a task, neither task performance nor user experience can
be optimised. The aim of this study is to assess the appropriateness of using a
steady-state visually evoked potential based brain-computer interface (BCI) for
selection tasks in a computer game. In an experiment participants evaluated a
BCI control and a comparable automatic speech recogniser (ASR) control in terms
of workload, usability and engagement. The results showed that although BCI was
a satisfactory modality in completing selection tasks, its use in our game was
not engaging for the player. In our particular setup, ASR control appeared to
be a better alternative to BCI control. Keywords: Brain-computer interface; steady-state visually evoked potential; games;
user experience; engagement; usability; workload | |||
| Influencing Experience: The Effects of Reading Game Reviews on Player Experience | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 89-100 | |
| Ian J. Livingston; Lennart E. Nacke; Regan L. Mandryk | |||
| Game reviews are used by game developers for making business decisions and
measuring the success of a title, and have been shown to affect player
perception of game quality. We conducted a study where players read positive or
negative reviews of a game before playing, and show that the valence of review
text affected game ratings and that these differences could not be explained by
mediating changes in mood. Although we show predictable changes in player
experience over the course of the study (measured objectively through
physiological sensors), there were no objective differences in experience
depending on review valence. Our results suggest that reading reviews does not
directly affect play experience, but rather is a post-play cognitive
rationalization of the experience with the content of the review. Our results
are important for understanding player experience and to the game industry
where reviews and user forums affect a game's commercial success. Keywords: Biasing effects; game reviews; critics; player experience; games;
physiology; GSR; EMG; affect | |||
| Quality of Service and Quality of Experience Correlations in a Location-Based Mobile Multiplayer Role-Playing Game | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 101-112 | |
| Maarten Wijnants; Wouter Vanmontfort; Jeroen Dierckx; Peter Quax; Wim Lamotte; Katrien De Moor; Jeroen Vanattenhoven | |||
| The well-established Quality of Service and the relatively recently emerged
Quality of Experience research topics are unquestionably linked, yet to date
little effort has been invested in the study of their precise correlation and
mutual reciprocity. This paper examines the impact of three representative
QoS-related parameters on user QoE in the particular context of location-based
multiplayer games played on mobile devices. The choice for this research
context is motivated by the rapidly expanding popularity of this application
domain. Analysis of the quantitative and qualitative results from an empirical
study involving 32 participants confirms that modifications in the performance
of the investigated technical parameters does indeed hold implications for the
quality of the users' experiences; at the same time, the results clarify the
magnitude of these implications. Our findings are valuable as they provide
practical insight in the QoS/QoE relationship and can hence aid software
developers in delivering high-quality usage experiences to their customers. Keywords: QoS; QoE; quantitative and qualitative user study; location-based mobile
gaming; multiplayer; user experience | |||
| Effect of Camera and Object Motion on Visual Load in 3D Games | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 113-123 | |
| David Milam; Magy Seif El-Nasr; Dinara Moura; Lyn Bartram | |||
| 3D video games are a popular form of entertainment that features elaborate
visual compositions and settings. Occasionally, players are thrown into
situations with a high amount of visual complexity, which may cause players,
especially novice players, to misinterpret important game goals or mechanics,
which may, in turn, lead to a diminished experience. Previous research
investigated visual design, but only in terms of brightness and color contrast,
no research investigated attributes of motion, their complexity in regards to
visual design, and their effect on the game experience. Informed by cinema and
visual perception domains, we embark on a study of 4 motion attributes:
flicker, shape, speed, and repetition, and investigate their design within 6
games. We rate these games based on their complexity. We use video coding with
a kappa reliability measure to identify these attributes. We then investigate
the relationship between the use of these motion attributes and the rated
complexity of the visual scene. We present this analysis as a contribution, and
design lessons extrapolated based on the analysis. Keywords: Game Design; Motion; Visual Composition; Visual Perception; User Experience | |||
| Integrating Stereoscopic Video in 3D Games | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 124-135 | |
| Jonas Schild; Sven Seele; Maic Masuch | |||
| Recent advances in commercial technology increase the use of stereoscopy in
games. While current applications display existing games in real-time rendered
stereoscopic 3D, future games will also feature S3D video as part of the
virtual game world, in interactive S3D movies, or for new interaction methods.
Compared to the rendering of 2D video within a 3D game scene, displaying S3D
video includes some technical challenges related to rendering and adaption of
the depth range. Rendering is exclusively possible on professional hardware not
appropriate for gaming. Our approach, Multi-pass Stereoscopic Video Rendering
(MSVR), allows to present stereoscopic video streams within game engines on
consumer graphics boards. We further discuss aspects of performance and
occlusion of virtual objects. This allows developers and other researchers to
easily apply S3D video with current game engines to explore new innovations in
S3D gaming. Keywords: Stereoscopic rendering; S3D video; game engine; 3D gaming | |||
| A Public 3D Visualization Tool for the Musée des Arts et Métiers de Paris | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 136-142 | |
| Pedro Alessio; Alexandre Topol | |||
| Useful and durable knowledge can be built upon the experience of discovering
and the construction of a contextual awareness. In this article we present a
tool to browse a catalog of 3D objects taken from the Musée des arts et
métiers de Paris. The purpose of this multimedia kiosk is to enhance the
visit experience by helping users to built meaningful relations between objects
and scientific fields. Users select subjects of interest during the visit by
collecting cards placed beside the real objects in the museums galleries. The
cards are tagged with reactvision fiducial marks that enable the user to
manipulate the 3D object representation on the screen. We present this tool and
we focus more precisely on interaction issues both for individuals and groups
in a public context and for a private use at home. Keywords: Cultural heritage and learning; web; multimedia integration and
interoperation | |||
| Camerawork for Comics Generated from Visitors' Experiences in a Virtual Museum | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 143-148 | |
| Ruck Thawonmas; Kohei Kato | |||
| We present a camerawork module for representing events in a virtual museum
with a comic style. The module uses four basic camera shots, i.e., internal,
external, apex, and group, to compose a shot sequence of two main events
happening in a museum, i.e., move and stay. This module is fully implemented in
a comic generation system we have been developing for summarizing user
experiences in Second Life. Visual comparison, with a baseline camerawork,
confirms the effectiveness of the proposed camerawork module. Keywords: camerawork; comic; virtual museum; metaverse; Second Life | |||
| Towards a Unified System for Digital Film Production | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 149-154 | |
| Jake Seigel; Sam Fisher; Stephen Brooks | |||
| We present a system which aids content management during the pre- and
post-processing aspects of digital film production. Editors can synchronize
their footage with their imported scripts to help in the organization of the
video "bin". In addition to this, we provide a zoomable interface to facilitate
the process and help organize pre-production media such as images, and video
clips. Keywords: zoomable; video editing; video analysis | |||
| Fundamentals of Stereoscopic 3D Game Design | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 155-160 | |
| Jonas Schild; Maic Masuch | |||
| Stereoscopic 3D (S3D) has (re-)emerged as a major technological trend [12].
Hence, many game designers are challenged to avoid S3D pitfalls whilst creating
innovative and entertaining gameplay experiences. We analyze the challenges and
opportunities of S3D game design. Based on a review of related findings in the
fields of perceptual psychology and 3D movie making, we propose a catalogue of
fundamental and innovative concepts for S3D game design that shall lead to new
and differentiating game developments. Keywords: Stereoscopy; game design; S3D; 3D gaming; stereoscopic vision | |||
| Affective Agents for Empathic Interactions | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 161-172 | |
| Flávio Soares Corrêa da Silva; Ary Fagundes Bressane Neto | |||
| In the present work we develop an experimental setting to evaluate the
influence of affect -- more precisely, of simulated coherent fluctuations in
mood and emotional states -- in the construction of empathy in synthetic
characters for interactive digital entertainment. Our goal is to evaluate
whether the impression of interacting with human-like agents can be more
relevant than purely utilitarian metrics for user preferences to interact with
systems in certain situations. We have built affective agents to play computer
games against human users, and assessed empirically the extent to which users
consider more engaging to play against the affective agents than to play
against agents that are easy to beat. Keywords: Affective Computing; Digital Entertainment; Artificial Intelligence;
Intelligent Agents | |||
| Time Balancing with Adaptive Time-Variant Minigames | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 173-185 | |
| Amin Tavassolian; Kevin G. Stanley; Carl Gutwin; Aryan Zohoorian | |||
| Balancing timing of tasks and abilities in multiplayer games is an important
design element, but two time balancing issues are currently difficult to deal
with: individual differences in experience or skill, and real-world elements
that impose fixed temporal constraints on the game (as in mixed-reality games).
We introduce adaptive time-variant minigames as a way of addressing the
problems of time balancing. These minigames are parameterized to allow both a
guaranteed minimum play time (to address fixed temporal constraints), and
dynamic adaptability (to address temporal variances caused by individual
differences). We developed three adaptive time-variant minigames and carried
out two studies with them. The studies showed that the adaptation mechanisms
allow accurate prediction of play time, that the minigames were valuable in
helping to balance temporal asymmetries in a real mixed-reality game, and that
they did not detract from the overall play experience. Keywords: Game balance; time balancing; minigames; adaptation | |||
| Increasing Efficiency and Quality in the Automatic Composition of Three-Move Mate Problems | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 186-197 | |
| Azlan Iqbal | |||
| In this article, we demonstrate the use of composing 'experience' in the
form of piece location probability values derived from a database of matein- 3
chess problems. This approach was compared against a 'random' one. Comparisons
were made using 'experiences' derived from three different databases, i.e.
problems by human composers (HC), computer-generated compositions that used the
HC experience (CG), and mating 'combinations' taken from tournament games
between humans (TG). Each showed a reasonable and statistically significant
increase in efficiency compared to the random one but not each other.
Aesthetically, the HC and CG were better than the others. The results suggest
that composing efficiency and quality can be improved using simple probability
information derived from human compositions, and unexpectedly even from the
computer-generated compositions that result. Additionally, these improvements
come at a very low computational cost. They can be used to further aid and
entertain human players and composers. Keywords: Artificial intelligence; chess; composition; probability; experience;
efficiency; aesthetics | |||
| Designing and Evaluating Casual Health Games for Children and Teenagers with Cancer | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 198-209 | |
| Kathrin Gerling; Alberto Fuchslocher; Ralf Schmidt; Nicole Krämer; Maic Masuch | |||
| Because they offer an easy entry into play, casual games have become an
increasingly popular leisure activity among children and teenagers, engaging
particularly broad target audiences. In this paper, we present a casual game
that addresses childhood cancer: Besides mere entertainment, a health game that
focuses on cancer may serve as a clinical tool in order to teach children about
the particularities of the disease and initiate discussion among cancer
patients, their parents and medical staff. In this context, the results of an
empirical study revealed a generally high acceptance of the health game among
young patients, while parents and medical staff highlighted the educational
potential of health games addressing cancer. Additionally, we discuss the
challenges of evaluating digital games in a hospital setting which were
revealed during the evaluation phase. Keywords: Casual Games; Game Design; Games for Health; Serious Games; Childhood
Cancer; Persuasive Games | |||
| Art and Technology for Young Creators | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 210-221 | |
| Marikken Høiseth; Letizia Jaccheri | |||
| The general research goal that motivates this work is the aim to produce new
knowledge at the intersection between art and technology. The practical goal of
the project reported in this paper is to strengthen pupils' interest in
computer science and art and to present pupils with possibilities of becoming
creators of digital media rather than pure consumers. To reach our practical
goal a group of researchers and artists designed and implemented a workshop
program for children based on the open source software tool Scratch and the
artistic idea of ReMida centers based on recycling and reusing waste materials.
The workshops have been documented by notes and pictures which serve as data
for workshop evaluation. Keywords: Children; art and technology; Scratch; open source software; ReMida;
recycle; workshop; new media art; interactive art; creativity; child-computer
interaction | |||
| A Narrative Game as an Educational Entertainment Resource to Teach Words to Children with Learning Deficits: A Feasibility Study | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 222-227 | |
| Marcos Alexandre Rose Silva; Débora Corrêa de Lima; Junia Coutinho Anacleto; Deisy das Graças de Souza; Claudia Maria Simões Martinez | |||
| We describe the use of an entertainment computer narrative game to teach
words to a child in a special education process. In order to observe the
potential of this kind of game, we chosen a child who has difficult to learn
some words using a basic computer tool at writing learning special education
environment. The results showed that narrative games and its entertainment
resources can be a good way to allow child reads and writes words considering
different sentences and contexts, as well as, resources of the game can be a
useful strategy to engage child on the storytelling. Keywords: Narrative game; writing; special education | |||
| Future Delta Motivating Climate Change Action Grounded in Place | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 228-234 | |
| Aleksandra Dulic; Olaf Schroth; Maggie Shirley; Stephen Sheppard | |||
| In this paper we discuss the Future Delta game, as a time-forward 3-D
visualization and simulation tool that aims to motivate actions and behavioral
changes and to educate players about climate change mitigation and adaptations
solutions and challenges. The game simulation is situated in a recognizable
community locale: the flood-prone neighborhood of Delta, BC. Combining climate
change modeling, socioeconomic scenario analysis and 3D modeling of real places
with engaging soundscapes and imagery, our game is designed to make climate
change science and solutions more salient and understandable to the layperson.
The project comprises a game simulation and dynamic 3D visualizations of future
local climate change scenarios to provide an environment for experiential
learning tied to place attachment. The project builds on a foundation rich in
research, experimentation, and production in the topic of climate change in
Delta, but extends previous work into a new representational platform of
virtual game. An initial testing of the game shows that engaging with the game
strengthened the user's belief that action can be taken to mitigate climate
change and increased their support for more transformative social changes to
achieve climate mitigation and adaptation. Keywords: Serious Games; Climate Change; Experience Design; Immersion; Interactivity;
Landscape Visualization; Behavioral Change; Attitudes | |||
| Sound in COLLADA | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 235-246 | |
| Shih-Han Chan; Cecile Le Prado; Stéphane Natkin; Guillaume Tiger; Alexandre Topol | |||
| Standard or normalized file formats exist since many years to
write/read/exchange 3D scene descriptions. However, these descriptions are
mainly for visual contents. Options given for sound compositions of 3D scenes
are either lacking or poor. In this paper, we propose to include rich sound
descriptions in the COLLADA standard, a commonly used scene language. Our work
relies on a research project, the goal of which is to define and develop a
sound engine for virtual cities. In this context we have implemented and
experimented a first version of sound descriptions in COLLADA. Keywords: COLLADA; Dynamic Audio; Audio Scene Description; Soundscape; Virtual Cities | |||
| A Deeper Look at the Use of Telemetry for Analysis of Player Behavior in RTS Games | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 247-257 | |
| André R. Gagné; Magy Seif El-Nasr; Chris D. Shaw | |||
| This paper describes the analysis of a simple, free-to-play Real Time
Strategy game called Pixel Legions. In developing this analysis, we worked with
the developer to instrument, collect, and analyze telemetry data. Due to the
specifics of the designers' inquiries, we developed a visualization system that
enables us to answer specific micro-level questions in a way that is easy for
the designer to understand how players learned and played the game. Our
contribution constitutes the system we built and the analysis we developed to
answer the questions imposed by the designer. Keywords: Video Game; Visualization; Telemetry | |||
| Realistic 2D Facial Animation from One Image | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 258-263 | |
| Jaehwan Kim; Il-Kwon Jeong | |||
| In this paper we present a novel complete framework for creating realistic
facial animation given only one neutral facial image as an input data. Our
approach is carried on in a two-dimensional image space, instead of
three-dimensional space. In addition, we employ an advanced computer vision
method (digital image matting) as well as conventional image processing
techniques (texture synthesis and image warping) in order to express more
realistic facial animations. The major contribution of this work is showing how
facial animation with a variety of realistic expressions can be generated very
efficiently, where not only main facial components (e.g., eyeball, eyebrow and
lip) but also pseudo-depth values obtained from their alpha mattes are utilized
in our system. Simulations with real image confirm that our scheme produces
high quality facial animations with an ease. Keywords: two-dimensional facial animation; matting; warping; texture synthesis;
realistic expression; pseudo-depth | |||
| Filtering Joystick Data for Shooter Design Really Matters | | BIBA | Full-Text | 264-269 | |
| Christoph Lürig; Nils Carstengerdes | |||
| Designing satisfactory, quick and precise control schemes for shooters on consoles remains one of the major game play programming challenges today. Besides the application of game situation specific control aids like soft locking even simple and game unspecific filtering approaches can improve the control quality significantly. In this paper we will objectify and quantify this effect that is well known among game developers as heuristic knowledge. | |||
| Naming Virtual Identities: Patterns and Inspirations for Character Names in World of Warcraft | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 270-281 | |
| Christian Thurau; Anders Drachen | |||
| The abstract should summarize the contents of the paper and should People
are increasingly interacting via online services -- from forums, online
communities, social networks and online computer games. While there has been
considerable research on the motivations and communication of people online, as
well as the social environment provided by online services, large-scale
analyses of the virtual identities people use online are rare. In this paper,
the first large-scale analysis of virtual identities in the massively
multi-player online game WORLD OF WARCRAFT® is presented based on a dataset
of nearly eight million avatar names and associated information. The results
presented highlight the inventiveness of the names the users of WORLD OF
WARCRAFT® express in terms of naming their virtual identities and the
varied nature of the sources of inspiration for these names, which range from
mythology, literature, popular culture, real-world names and others. The
results also indicate that how players name their characters is influenced by
the aesthetics and game function of the characters. The server type also
appears to have an impact on player naming strategies, with role-playing
servers forming a distinct cluster from Player-vs-Player type servers.
Additionally, the analysis presented reveals that character name frequencies
follow, similar to real-world names, a power law distribution. Keywords: online identity; WORLD OF WARCRAFT®; character; avatar | |||
| The Looking Glass: Visually Projecting Yourself to the Past | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 282-287 | |
| Bon Adriel Aseniero; Ehud Sharlin | |||
| Memories define us as individuals and are considered a special aspect of
one's life. We try to preserve our memories as much as possible by taking
pictures, videos, or through any form of documentation that we can revisit
later on in our lives. Our goal is to design an immersive system that allows
rich documentation of the past and interactive 3D-revisitation of the stored
reflections in the future. Our prototype system, the Looking Glass captures
human experiences and allows users to interactively explore them. Our system,
unlike classic methods of documentation, extends the experience of visiting
memories beyond viewing, and affords an immersive interactive experience. The
Looking Glass is envisioned to provide a 3D visual experience of revisiting
past scenes, allowing a more entertaining and emotionally engaging personal
approach to re-experiencing past memories. This short paper presents our
research motivation and design approach, details our implementation efforts,
and current prototype. Keywords: affective interaction; immersive media; interactive art; 3D scene
extraction; 3D motion capture; time travel; self-reflecting entertainment
computing | |||
| BrainHex: Preliminary Results from a Neurobiological Gamer Typology Survey | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 288-293 | |
| Lennart E. Nacke; Chris Bateman; Regan L. Mandryk | |||
| This paper briefly presents a player satisfaction model called BrainHex,
which was based on insights from neurobiological findings as well as the
results from earlier demographic game design models (DGD1 and DGD2). The model
presents seven different archetypes of players: Seeker, Survivor, Daredevil,
Mastermind, Conqueror, Socialiser, and Achiever. We explain how each of these
player archetypes relates to older player typologies (such as Myers-Briggs),
and how each archetype characterizes a specific playing style. We conducted a
survey among more than 50,000 players using the BrainHex model as a personality
type motivator to gather and compare demographic data to the different BrainHex
archetypes. We discuss some results from this survey with a focus on
psychometric orientation of respondents, to establish relationships between
personality types and BrainHex archetypes. Keywords: player types; player satisfaction modeling; play patterns; neurobiology;
social science; survey | |||
| ZenTrader, an Emotion-Reactive Interface | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 294-299 | |
| Thomas Luan Dang; Steven Kun Liu; Sidney Fels | |||
| We explore the concept of interactive technology that is implicitly
controlled by emotions, via wearable physiology sensors. We describe a
proof-of-concept emotion-reactive stock trading software that interrupts trades
that appear to be entered under an unusual amount of stress. We describe a
galvanic skin response (GSR) sensor armband that broadcasts stress events via
Bluetooth to a prisoner's dilemma game application on an Android phone, which
alters its behavior when the user is stressed. We carried out pilot evaluation
of this system's effects on the consistency of decisions made under stress. Keywords: interactive technology; finance; GSR; EDA; stress; galvanic skin response;
implicit control; wearable; affective computing; proactive computing | |||
| Measuring the Impact of Knowledge Gained from Playing FPS and RPG Games on Gameplay Performance | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 300-306 | |
| Mona Erfani Joorabchi; Magy Seif El-Nasr | |||
| Understanding players' gameplay behaviors, performance abilities, and
interests is a growing research area due to its utility in developing knowledge
and theory that can enhance game design. Much previous research exists within
this area, however, none of these works deeply investigated player behavior and
its relation to knowledge/skills gained by playing specific genres. This topic
is important, as knowledge gained from playing different genres influences
players' game behaviors. Knowing the details of the skills gained and their
influence on performance will allow designers to make informed decisions about
their game design given knowledge about target audience's playing habits. In
this paper, we address this issue. In particular, we discuss results of a study
conducted with 35 college participants to explore the influence of prior gaming
experience, specifically with Role Playing and First Person Shooter games, on
knowledge/skills related to their ability to navigate and solve spatial puzzles
in 3D games. Keywords: Game user research; Game performance metrics; Game usability; Game users;
User gaming experience; Player modeling; Video games | |||
| The Effect of Privacy on Social Presence in Location-Based Mobile Games | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 307-318 | |
| Pooya Amini Behbahani; Magy Seif El-Nasr | |||
| Location-Based Games (LBGs) have been gaining both academic and industrial
interest in the past few years. Utilizing location information, LBGs enable
users to extend their social game-play from cyberspace to the real-world.
However, sharing personal information particularly the physical location of
users is likely to raise privacy concerns resulting in eroding players' social
experience. To further explore this issue, we investigated the impacts of two
attributes of privacy, avatar realism and location-awareness, on the players'
perceived social presence during a designed LBG. The results indicated that the
social presence was not significantly affected by the applied privacy
configurations. However, players' negative feelings decreased when photographic
images of players were used as their avatars. Further, players desired to share
their physical location and sacrifice location privacy in order to track other
players. Our findings suggest that a well-designed LBG can lessen users'
location privacy concerns. Keywords: Avatar realism; Location awareness; Social presence; Location-based game;
Location privacy; Location-based service | |||
| VivoSpace: Towards Health Behavior Change Using Social Gaming | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 319-330 | |
| Noreen Kamal; Sidney Fels; Michael Blackstock; Kendall Ho | |||
| Social gaming is now surpassing traditional gaming in terms of the total
number of players. We describe our research in creating VivoSpace, an online
social network application that applies the rapid uptake of social gaming to
the domain of serious games for personal health. Specifically, VivoSpace aims
to leverage social gaming to motivate positive health behavior change. A user
centered design process has begun for designing VivoSpace based on an initial
user inquiry questionnaire that revealed key motivations for using online
social networks and users' thoughts on health. Interview feedback of the paper
prototypes highlighted reluctance to share particular types of health
information and apprehension in logging daily information. However, people were
fond of the social aspect of sharing personal health information in the context
of group challenges and participating in group health activities. Keywords: VivoSpace; health behavior change; online social networks; serious gaming;
user-centered design | |||
| Wisdom about the Crowd: Assuring Geospatial Data Quality Collected in Location-Based Games | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 331-336 | |
| Sebastian Matyas; Peter Kiefer; Christoph Schlieder; Sara Kleyer | |||
| The idea of outsourcing geospatial data creation tasks to the crowd
(volunteered geographic information, VGI) has become quite popular in the field
of geographic information science (GIScience). As one approach to VGI,
location-based games (LBGs) have been shown to be successful in motivating
non-expert users to collect and tag geospatial data. However, the central VGI
problem of data quality has so far not been solved satisfyingly. Previous
studies show that games that reward their players for in- or post-game data
reviewing can assure only a validation rate of about 40% of the data. We
address this problem with a new LBG design pattern, based on game rules that
encourage players to take the decisions of others into account while making
their data collecting decisions. We empirically evaluate the new pattern by
comparing the positional accuracy of data collected with two different rule
sets for the LBG GeoSnake. Our pattern is shown to result in a significant
accuracy improvement. Keywords: location-based games; crowdsourcing; volunteered geographic information;
geospatial data; data quality; game design | |||
| An End-to-End Framework for Multi-view Video Content: Creating Multiple-Perspective Hypervideo to View on Mobile Platforms | | BIBA | Full-Text | 337-342 | |
| Gregor Miller; Sidney Fels; Michael Ilich; Martin M. Finke; Thomas Bauer; Kelvie Wong; Stefanie Mueller | |||
| We present a work-in-progress novel framework for the creation, delivery and viewing of multi-view hypermedia intended for mobile platforms. We utilize abstractions over creation and delivery of content and a unified language scheme (through XML) for communication between components. The delivery mechanism incorporates server-side processing to allow inclusion of additional features such as computer vision-based analysis or visual effects. Multi-view video is streamed live to mobile devices which offer several mechanisms for viewing hypermedia and perspective selection. | |||
| Cheshire: A Design Framework for Alternate Reality Games | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 343-348 | |
| Alejandro I. Baltra | |||
| Alternate Reality Games (ARG) have come very far in the last ten years.
Great works by the likes of Steve Peters, Christy Dena and Jim Miller have
pushed the genre forward, but it still lacks some of the tools created for
other types of games. The design process for ARGs is, in the best case
scenario, complicated. Given the enormous amount of media these kind of games
use, things can escalate from complex to utterly impossible in the blink of an
eye and sadly, there are currently no tools to help solve this problem or lower
its impact in the finished game. This paper proposes Cheshire, a framework to
enable categorization of games and alignment of these with defined sets of
patterns previously detected in the design of the experience. This tool will
help maintain the generated experience as loyal to the original concept as
possible, and graphically represent which elements will support it in the best
manner. Keywords: Alternate Reality Games; ARG; Game Design; Digital Narrative | |||
| CiVo: Real-Time Visualization of Social Activities by Cartoonized Twitter | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 349-353 | |
| Mitsuru Nakamura; Yosuke Miyazawa; Yoshikazu Kidera; Tsuyoshi Moriyama; Motoyasu Tamaki | |||
| We propose a web system called CiVo (City Voice) that is capable of
visualizing public conversations on the Internet. It monitors the posting on
the Twitter with respect to a set of specific phrases and displays the
correspondent movie clips with cartoons on the time line on CiVo when it finds
them. It extends the Twitter to a visual social medium that allows people to
share what happens in the world at a glance. The main loop of CiVo runs on PHP
while monitoring the Twitter using its API and it returns a specific SWF file
to the HTTP clients for each GET request. The SWF file always updates its
sub-SWFs reflecting the phrases found on the Twitter. Keywords: Twitter; web services; cartoonization; Action Script; PHP | |||
| Re:Cycle -- A Generative Ambient Video Engine | | BIBA | Full-Text | 354-357 | |
| Jim Bizzocchi | |||
| Re:Cycle is a visual poem, improvised in real-time by a system of deceptively simple rules relating to luminance and chrominance values in a set of moving image shots. Richly textured natural images of snow, mountains, rivers, and sky slowly unfold in a never-ending sequence that constantly changes. The resulting complex ambient video repudiates the standard cinematic conventions of linear narrative, and draws the viewer into an active creation of meaning for the work. | |||
| Tippy the Telepresence Robot | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 358-361 | |
| Johnty Wang; Vincent Tsao; Sidney Fels; Benny Chan | |||
| We have built Tippy, a micro telepresence robot that allows a user to
remotely project him or herself into another space, move around, and
communicate via video and audio. An iPod Touch running Skype provides the robot
with wireless video input and output capabilities and handles the movement
commands from the remote user. In order to handle the robot's movement without
implementing an additional medium, we inserted the control signals visually
into the video and detect the signals via light sensors connected to the motor
drive system. By optically coupling the mobile device display with the robot's
drive-train control, we reduce the amount of software and hardware interfacing
required for the end application. Keywords: telepresence; robot; optic coupling; hardware interfaces; human computer
interaction; mobile applications | |||
| A Poor Woman's Interactive Remake of the "I Still Remember" Documentary with OpenGL | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 362-366 | |
| Miao Song; Peter Grogono; Jason Lewis; Maureen J. Simmonds | |||
| Making the "I Still Remember" documentary's memory floating bubbles
interactive with audience's participation using a near day-to-day OpenGL (aimed
at later enhancements with haptics). We describe a simple process of making a
passive documentary interactive using available tools and preserving the
aesthetic and emotional appeal. Moreover, the good comparison of the linear
convention film and its nonlinear narrative version with audiences' body
movement involvement may give answers to some of the artists who are still
hesitating to adapt their projects to the dramatic developed new technology. Keywords: interactive documentaries; computer graphics; HCI; OpenGL | |||
| Automated Song Selection System Complying with Emotional Requests | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 367-370 | |
| Ryosuke Yamanishi; Yuya Ito; Shohei Kato | |||
| Recently, we have a lot of musical pieces due to a large capacity of
storage. However, it would be difficult to select the song with bibliographic
data as the capacity of the music database increases. Therefore, we proposed an
emotional song selection system. In this study, the Acoustic -- Emotion model
was composed by relating the acoustic fluctuation features that can explain the
time variation of music with the emotional evaluations of music obtained
through the subjective evaluation experiments. Based on the model, the
emotional evaluations of music were calculated from their acoustic features.
Using the proposed system, user can select the song with the adjective words
and their degrees. Keywords: Music; Emotion; Melodic database retrieval technique; Fluctuation features | |||
| Bringing Empathy into Play: On the Effects of Empathy in Violent and Nonviolent Video Games | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 371-374 | |
| Christian Happ; André Melzer; Georges Steffgen | |||
| While violent media has adverse effects on cognition, emotion and behavior,
prosocial content promotes these variables in a prosocial way. Greater
individual levels of empathy as well as increasing the level of empathy in
media content typically foster prosocial behavior and reduce aggression. Two
experiments replicated game content findings, and also showed that inducing
empathy prior to a video game had a positive influence on behavior. However,
under certain circumstances, inducing empathy before playing a violent video
game may even have negative effects on behavior. As empathy is a common tool in
prevention programs, the implications of these findings are discussed. Keywords: video games; empathy; aggression; prosocial behavior | |||
| Cross-Platform Social Web Application for Older Adults with HTML 5 | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 375-378 | |
| Tiago Boldt Sousa; Pedro Tenreiro; Paula Alexandra Silva; Francisco Nunes; Eduarda Mendes Rodrigues | |||
| Online social networks can potentially play an important role in connecting
older adults with family and friends who often live far. However, adoption of
social Web services among the elderly is still very limited because the user
interfaces are not adapted to them and also because few of their friends use
such services. This paper introduces a mobile Web application designed with
older adults' characteristics in mind that integrates a popular social network. Keywords: storytelling; online social networks; user-centered interface design; older
adults; html5 | |||
| Designing a Wearable Vibrotactile Feedforward Wrist Display for Novice Gameplay | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 379-382 | |
| Katie Seaborn; Alissa N. Antle | |||
| As the potential of the video game medium expands, new design challenges
come to light. In this paper, we present the design of a wearable vibrotactile
feedforward display for novice players. The device, named "The Gauntlet Guide,"
is designed to provide vibrotactile guidance cues during navigation tasks in a
fast-paced, visual- and audio-intensive video game. We report on a preliminary
study in which we assessed the reliability, ergonomics and appeal of the
display. Our findings support continued research on haptic feedforward as a
viable technique for scaffolding the learning curve in modern video game
environments and engaging novice players in gameplay. Keywords: Vibrotactile; feedforward; guidance; tactile wrist display; wearable;
haptics; video games; learning curve; navigation; novice players | |||
| Interactive Ink-and-Wash Drawing | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 383-386 | |
| Young-Mi Kim | |||
| This paper is about the study on an artwork, a Ink-and-Wash Painting that
has been expressed through a digital algorithm. Ink-and-Wash Painting were
popular during the Chosun era [1] reigned by kings and officials [2]. It is the
intention of this paper to study the potential of expressing Ink-and-Wash
Painting through interaction, and present a direction that can coincide with
modern paintings by developing Ink-and-Wash Painting from a traditional aspect
through analyzing the theories and techniques instilled in my work. Keywords: Interactive drawing; Interactive Ink-and-Wash drawing; Digital Ink-and-Wash
Painting; Interactive Four Gracious Plants | |||
| Digital Keepsake Box: Sharing Items and Memories to Enhance Communications among Remote Persons | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 387-390 | |
| Yuichiro Kinoshita; Kento Shirakawa | |||
| This study introduces a digital keepsake box that enhances communications
among group users, such as family members and friends, who are living at a
distance. It allows users to virtually share items that involve common
interests and memories. The box also increases awareness of the existence of
other users by slightly opening the cover of the box when other users put items
in their box. The results of user studies suggest that the digital keepsake box
is useful in enhancing remote communications. Keywords: communication; sharing; interaction in a group; awareness | |||
| Emotional Intelligent Contents: Expressing User's Own Emotion within Contents | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 391-394 | |
| Minyoung Kim; Kyoung Shin Park; Dongkeun Kim; Yongjoo Cho | |||
| This paper presents an Emotionally Intelligent Contents (EIC) framework.
This framework helps to create content that changes its elements (such as
textures, color, light and sound) dynamically in response to a user's emotional
state. Also, this emotionally intelligent content allows users to add their own
emotion characters at run-time. This paper presents an overview of the EIC
framework designed to adapt a game environment to a user's emotional state as
measured physiologically or through an explicit rating of one's affective
state. It will then describe a couple of applications built with this
framework. Keywords: Emotion; Emotional Intelligent Contents; Emotional Characters | |||
| Exercise Pal Mootchi | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 395-398 | |
| Wai Shan (Florence) Ng; Ehud Sharlin | |||
| Exercise is vital to maintaining good health, but many people neglect to
work out regularly or often enough. One reason is the lack of will to take part
in physical activities. We believe that interactive technologies can play a
role in providing entertaining and implicitly educational mechanisms that will
help people pursue healthy physical activities. As an example to our approach
we present a mixed reality pet, Mootchi, which will provide users with an
emotional incentive for exercising, indirectly acting as a persuasive physical
trainer. This short paper outlines our prototype implementation and initial
findings based on a design critique of Mootchi. Keywords: Personal projection; emotional attachment; mobile interfaces; persuasive
educational interfaces | |||
| Exploring the Concept of Third Space within Networked Social Media | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 399-402 | |
| Chamari Edirisinghe; Ryohei Nakatsu; Adrian Cheok; Johannes Widodo | |||
| Third Space is thinking differently of the significance and meanings of
space progressing beyond the inadequacy of dualism, as in mental and physical
space. The discourse on Third space emerges to set aside the 'either/or' manner
of binary categorizing to encompass 'both/and also' logic that allows an
'Other' set of options. The online social networking is the newest thing in
creating connectivity and the identities. This paper is an attempt to
comprehend and recognize the dynamics of the concept of Third space through the
online social networking realm. Keywords: Social Space; Third Space; Social Networks; Hybridity; Difference; Radical
Openness | |||
| Game Information Dynamics | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 403-406 | |
| Hiroyuki Iida; Takeo Nakagawa | |||
| This paper is concerned with game information dynamics. Information and
information kinetic energy are derived using existing models. Based on
Einstein's special relativity theory, it is suggested that when the velocity of
information particles is slightly smaller than the speed of light, our mental
concentration increases enormously. Keywords: Information Dynamics; Energy; Relativity Theory; Emotion | |||
| Interactive Communion Tabletop | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 407-410 | |
| Young-Mi Kim | |||
| Interactivity, the most prominent characteristic of digital media paradigm,
generally means a relationship in the communication between human and human,
human and machine, or media and media interacting each other. This work is
interactive art and is produced to prepare a foundation for closer
communication between human and human based on technology. Keywords: Interactive ivy; Interactive design; Communion hand; Digital media art | |||
| Lifelogging for Hidden Minds: Interacting Unconsciously | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 411-414 | |
| Huang-Ming Chang; Leonid Ivonin; Wei Chen; Matthias Rauterberg | |||
| In this paper, we propose a conceptual design of an entertainment system,
which would utilize a combination of lifelogging and bio-signal measuring
techniques for capturing unconscious communication flow coming from a user. We
expect this system could interpret the user's unconsciousness and generate an
emotionally rich feedback framed in a narrative, which would be tailored
according to the universal symbolic patterns. This concept aims to explore a
new area of entertainment computing. The discussed system looks promising to
proceed with future work. Keywords: Unconsciousness; Symbol; Bio-signal; Emotion; Lifelogging; Entertainment;
Narrative; Interaction | |||
| Maritime City: Using Games Technology to Train Social Workers -- Some Initial Results | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 415-418 | |
| Ryan Flynn; Lachlan McKinnon; Elizabeth Bacon; Janet Webb | |||
| Maritime City is an educational tool for training Healthcare professionals,
currently targeted towards Social Workers. It has its roots in the serious
games area and is developed in a commercial game engine. This paper presents
some initial results from testing the game with in-practice Social Workers in
the context of child protection, with the aim to show equivalence between this
approach and more traditional methods. The testing found that the game was
realistic (apart from in some areas, which has provided new directions for the
research) and also showed that there are many areas of the game experience that
impact on the learning in ways similar to that of traditional role-play. Keywords: Games technology; health; social work; serious game | |||
| Opportunity of Accelerating User eXperience (UX) Technologies on Embedded Systems | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 419-423 | |
| Hyun-Min Choi; Seung Eun Lee | |||
| An important class of features centered on recognition (i.e. the ability to
recognize images, speech, gestures, etc) is rapidly becoming available on UX
(user eXperience) devices. This requires high performance computing to support
recognition with low-latency, low power and high throughput. In this paper, we
investigate the UX technologies and find opportunity to accelerate the UX
technology on embedded systems. Keywords: User eXperience; Recognition; Hardware Accelerator; Multi-Processor
System-on-Chip (MPSoC); Embedded System | |||
| Randomness + Structure = Clutter: A Procedural Object Placement Generator | | BIBA | Full-Text | 424-427 | |
| Joshua Taylor; Ian Parberry | |||
| Clutter is the random yet structured placement of objects in a room. We describe a procedural clutter generator that achieves believable, varied, and controllable object placement using a hierarchical colored Petri net capable of expressing any computable set of object placement constraints. | |||
| Toward a Framework for Prototyping Physical Interfaces in Multiplayer Gaming: TwinSpace Experiences | | BIBA | Full-Text | 428-431 | |
| Derek Reilly; Anthony Tang; Andy Wu; Niels Mathiasen; Andy Echenique; Jonathan Massey; Hafez Rouzati; Shashank Chamoli | |||
| We reflect on our experiences using an experimental platform for rapidly prototyping physical control configurations for multiplayer games. We describe how the architecture permits novel forms of collaborative play through the combination and configuration of basic tangible/physical building blocks, the deep integration between physical and virtual objects, and flexibility in how physical and virtual spaces are mapped onto each other. We also identify three important limitations of the architecture that became apparent through our prototyping efforts. | |||
| RTFX: On-Set Previs with UnrealEngine3 | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 432-435 | |
| Lesley Northam; Joe Istead; Craig S. Kaplan | |||
| This paper discusses on-set previsualization with distributed motion
capture, virtual camera and asset control, and real-time rendering using a
video game engine. Our test harness, RTFX, demonstrates the feasibility and
usefulness of a system that couples Epic Games' UnrealEngine3 with the Houdini
3D animation kit by Side Effects Software and a passive motion capture system
by Vicon. Keywords: previsualization; real-time rendering; virtual production | |||
| Serious Questionnaires in Playful Social Network Applications | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 436-439 | |
| Aneta Taktamysheva; Markus Krause; Jan Smeddinck | |||
| Conducting surveys is a costly and time-consuming process. We developed a
playful questionnaire that addresses the issue of motivation for voluntary
participation. In addition, distributing playful questionnaires on Facebook
gives access to basic user data, which may allow employing some of them as
quality control questions or simply help to lessen the number of questions. Keywords: questionnaire; human subject survey; game; social networks; social media;
Facebook; playful applications | |||
| Tangible Interaction on Tabletops for Elderly People | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 440-443 | |
| Tiago Marques; Francisco Nunes; Paula Silva; Rui Rodrigues | |||
| The urge to improve the life of older adults grows as this segment of
society expands. Computers have an enormous potential to benefit the lives of
older adults, however, the unawareness or disregard of their characteristics,
renders technology, many times, impossible to use. Peripherals are a common
obstacle when learning to operate computers, because the most common ones do
not directly map the input in the user interface. It has been argued that
touch- and gesture-based user interfaces, due to their direct mapping of input,
can reduce the obstacles that older adults face, when using the computer. To
assess this, this paper presents a project that uses a multi-touch tabletop
system as a gaming platform for older adults. Specifically, it reports on the
low-fidelity prototype that was built to test whether tangible objects can be
used. Conclusions regarding the viability of tangible objects for that purpose
are also drawn. Keywords: Tangible objects; Tabletop; Games for elderly; Natural User Interface;
Human-Computer Interaction | |||
| The Cursor as an Artistic Expression in Jeddah | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 444-447 | |
| Maha Zeini Al-Saati; Jim Bizzocchi; David Botta | |||
| The paper discusses Jeddah, an interactive artwork that experiments with the
relation between cursor and background art. In addition to being functional,
the cursor is also cast as an element of artistic expression. It is exaggerated
in shape, scale, color and motion to blend in with the background art, and is
constantly transforming in response to the art world. This is done to enhance
the mood and experience of spatial exploration of Jeddah's world. Keywords: Cursor transformation; cursor aesthetics; spatial exploration; experimental
artwork | |||
| The Role of Movies and Telephony in the History of Communication Media | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 448-451 | |
| Ryohei Nakatsu; Chamari Edirisinghe | |||
| Various types of new communication media have recently emerged such as
e-mails, blogs, and social networks. We try to investigate this recent trend in
communication in this paper based on the long history of human communications.
Further, we want to elucidate that this trend could be interpreted as a shift
from logical to emotional communications. We simultaneously want to clarify
that this recent trend has its origins in the invention of movies and telephony
in the late 19th century. Keywords: Communications; media history; movies; telephony | |||
| To Virtualize or Not? The Importance of Physical and Virtual Components in Augmented Reality Board Games | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 452-455 | |
| Jessica Ip; Jeremy Cooperstock | |||
| Whereas traditional games have employed entirely physical interfaces,
computer games provide a generally virtual alternative. Motivated by interest
in supporting conventional gameplay in the computer environment, we investigate
the benefits of game interaction techniques based on gestures applied to
tangible objects, comparing the user experience with that resulting from more
virtualized interaction. Our study is applied in the context of a German-style
board game, Settlers of Catan. Significant findings indicate a preference for
tangible components for complex interaction tasks. Keywords: Augmented Reality; Tangible User Interfaces; Augmented Gaming; Multi-user
Interaction | |||
| Using Game Engines in Mixed Reality Installations | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 456-459 | |
| Marija Nakevska; Casper Vos; Alex Juarez; Jun Hu; Geert Langereis; Matthias Rauterberg | |||
| In mixed reality installations we have to integrate a variety of
technologies such as virtual reality, augmented reality, animated virtual
agents and robotic agents. In this paper we describe some of our explorations
with a game engine as the driving software for mixed reality installations. Keywords: Mixed reality; virtual reality; CAVE; game engine | |||
| 1st Workshop on Game Development and Model-Driven Software Development | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 460-463 | |
| Robert Walter; Maic Masuch; Ed Merks | |||
| This workshop brings together game development professionals and experts of
model-driven software development (MDSD). MDSD can improve the way software is
developed by providing a higher level of abstraction and model-to-model
transformation respectively model-to-text generation by automated tools. With
this workshop, we want to identify how game development can benefit from MDSD.
Thereby, the workshop focuses on a strong collaboration of both expert groups
to determine the chances, challenges, and boundaries of introducing MDSD to the
game domain. Keywords: Game Development; Model-Driven Software Development; Model-Driven Game
Development | |||
| How Does an Interactive Story Feel Like? Theory and Measurement of the User Experience | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 464-467 | |
| Christian Roth; Peter Vorderer; Christoph Klimmt; Ivar E. Vermeulen | |||
| This workshop is dedicated to discussing the user experience of an emerging
new type of entertainment computing: Interactive stories. Technology
development in Interactive Storytelling (IS) has made substantial progress
recently, but theory and empirical studies on the user perspective have not
received much attention in the entertainment computing community so far. The
workshop introduces a measurement toolkit for testing user experiences in IS
prototypes and stimulates discussion on conceptual as well as methodological
issues in user-focused research on IS. Keywords: Interactive storytelling; user experience; methods; measurement | |||
| Open Software and Art: A Tutorial | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 468-471 | |
| Letizia Jaccheri | |||
| The tutorial is devoted mainly to PhD students, researchers, educators, and
artists who are interested to learn, practice, and reflect about software tools
for creativity and art. In this work, we chose to focus on open source software
and its intersection with art. This choice is motivated by significant related
work in open source software and art and available software for art like
Processing, Arduino, and Scratch. Four research questions will shape the
discussion: 1) Development or use of software? 2) Who are the stakeholders? 3)
How to evaluate art and technology works? 4) Are there feelings beyond
creativity and amusement one should aim at when designing art and technology
expressions? Keywords: Art and Technology; Open Source Software; Creativity; Arduino; Processing;
Scratch | |||
| Beyond Badges -- Gamification for the Real World | | BIBA | Full-Text | 472 | |
| Glenn Entis | |||
| Gamification is simple common sense -- why not apply decades of games industry design and experience to non-game businesses and software in order to attract users, improve engagement, and build loyalty and community? But the concept of gamification is mired in confusion -- does it mean simply stapling a game to non-game software? "decorating" web sites with a thin veneer of game-like graphics and mechanics? Badges and leaderboards? Or is it something more subtle and powerful -- thinking like a game designer in uncovering the real challenges, rewards and engagement loops in any interactive situation (and what situations in real life are not interactive in some way or another?) and building on those to make real world tasks more intuitive, engaging and fun? In this talk, we will deconstruct the concept of gamification, illustrate some of the key principles of real world gamification, and look at a few simple examples of how those principles are being applied. | |||
| Playing Digital Games Will Make You a Better Human Being | | BIBA | Full-Text | 473 | |
| Regan L. Mandryk | |||
| The negative stereotypes about the effects of playing computer or video games are a rich source of material for mass media; we hear less often about the positive aspects of digital game play. In her talk, Regan Mandryk will address five prevalent negative stereotypes, debunking common myths on how playing digital games makes you: 1) fat and lazy, 2) stupid, 3) unable to focus, 4) socially isolated, and 5) emotionally stunted. Drawing from her own research and the research of other academics who study digital games, Dr. Mandryk will leave you itching to go play games so that you can become a smarter, fitter, better-focused individual with a great emotional connection to your circle of friends. | |||