The Harder the Battle, the More We Talk: The Effects of Perceived Risk of Player Death on Social Presence and Enjoyment in Mobile Fps Game

Even though the relationship between presence and game enjoyment has been explored, there are unsolved theoretical questions regarding the degree to which social presence may be generated in games. Drawing on (social) presence theory, this study investigated the effects of the perceived risk of player death on game enjoyment. Specifically, the current study examined whether there is a relationship between the perceived risk of player death and communication between players; if this communication will serve as a trigger for a social presence; and if social presence will increase game enjoyment. Results from a self-report survey (N = 128) indicated that the perceived risk of player death has no direct relationship with game enjoyment. However, this result unfolds in a different way when social presence is activated. The results of path analysis showed that the higher the players\u27 perceived risk of death, the more players communicate with teammates. Moreover, communication positively influenced players\u27 social presence, and social presence was positively associated with game enjoyment. The study\u27s theoretical findings were discussed regarding the concept of social presence. The appropriate challenge level and user experience in mobile first-person shooting (FPS) games were discussed as practical implications

Network traffic characterisation, analysis, modelling and simulation for networked virtual environments

Networked virtual environment (NVE) refers to a distributed software system where a simulation, also known as virtual world, is shared over a data network between several users that can interact with each other and the simulation in real-time. NVE systems are omnipresent in the present globally interconnected world, from entertainment industry, where they are one of the foundations for many video games, to pervasive games that focus on e-learning, e-training or social studies. From this relevance derives the interest in better understanding the nature and internal dynamics of the network tra c that vertebrates these systems, useful in elds such as network infrastructure optimisation or the study of Quality of Service and Quality of Experience related to NVE-based services. The goal of the present work is to deepen into this understanding of NVE network tra c by helping to build network tra c models that accurately describe it and can be used as foundations for tools to assist in some of the research elds enumerated before. First contribution of the present work is a formal characterisation for NVE systems, which provides a tool to determine which systems can be considered as NVE. Based on this characterisation it has been possible to identify numerous systems, such as several video games, that qualify as NVE and have an important associated literature focused on network tra c analysis. The next contribution has been the study of this existing literature from a NVE perspective and the proposal of an analysis pipeline, a structured collection of processes and techniques to de ne microscale network models for NVE tra c. This analysis pipeline has been tested and validated against a study case focused on Open Wonderland (OWL), a framework to build NVE systems of di erent purpose. The analysis pipeline helped to de ned network models from experimental OWL tra c and assessed on their accuracy from a statistical perspective. The last contribution has been the design and implementation of simulation tools based on the above OWL models and the network simulation framework ns-3. The purpose of these simulations was to con rm the validity of the OWL models and the analysis pipeline, as well as providing potential tools to support studies related to NVE network tra c. As a result of this nal contribution, it has been proposed to exploit the parallelisation potential of these simulations through High Throughput Computing techniques and tools, aimed to coordinate massively parallel computing workloads over distributed resources

Understanding computer game culture: the cultural shaping of a new medium

In the past few decades, video games have developed from a marginal technological experiment into a mainstream medium. During this period they have gone through several transformations, from arcade machines offering a few minutes of solitary fun for a quarter to monthly subscription-based online MMOs in which thousands of players spend hundreds or even thousands of hours and lead a significant part of their social life as a fantasy character. But what is it that has driven video games? development? Is it technology? Indeed, with every new generation of hardware, game designers were given a broader set of tools for evoking exhilarating experiences. But is not culture at least as important? What would games look like if Tolkien never had written Lord of the Rings, or if Nintendo had not brought Japanese manga drawing styles to the new medium? This book looks at the theoretical challenges and foundations on which to base a cultural shaping approach towards the evolution of video games and proposes a set of concepts for analyzing and describing this process

PRICING STRATEGIES FOR ONLINE MULTIPLAYER GAMES

This dissertation examines the different pricing strategies available to online multiplayer game publishers. We develop mathematical models of the pricing decision that the publisher engages in and conduct a numerical experiment to identify critical parameters for the pricing decision. We also develop an agent based simulation to further examine the influence of these parameters on the dynamics between the publisher and consumers and make recommendations about the conditions under which certain pricing strategies are superior to others

Preferences, emotions, and visual attention in the first-person shooter game experience

First-person shooter (FPS) games are one of the most popular yet notorious genres of digital games. They contain visceral emotional content and require intense visual attention from players, leading some people to appreciate and others to resent these types of games. This thesis investigated individual differences in the game experience of FPS games by exploring how preferences for violent game dynamics (e.g., preferences for shooting, killing, and exploding) affect players’ emotions and perceptions of curiosity, vitality, and self-efficacy. In addition, the thesis explored how visual attention skills affect the viewing of FPS games as indexed by viewers’ eye movements. In Study I, the role of visual attention skills in viewing FPS gameplay videos was explored. The results showed that viewers’ eye movements tended to progress from a diffuse scanning mode towards a more focal and central viewing mode as time passed. Visual qualities and saliency of events also guided eye movements. Individual differences in visual attention skills (namely, the ability to track multiple objects, perform a visual search for targets, and to see rapidly appearing serial targets) were related to what was attended to in the screen. The role of visual attention skills on eye movements was more prominent during visually distinct events. In sum, the results showed that specific visual attention skills predicted eye movement patterns during FPS gameplay video viewing. Study II explored whether game dynamics preferences and emotion-related responses to an FPS game are connected. Participants’ heart rate, electrodermal activity, and electric activity of facial muscles were recorded as indexes of emotion-related responses both during playing (active participation) and gameplay video viewing (passive watching). The participants also rated their level of experienced arousal and valence. The results showed that there were individual differences in physiological emotion-related responses as a function of dynamics preferences, especially in measures of physiological arousal. Those who liked violent dynamics showed a rather stable level of physiological arousal state both when playing and when viewing the game. In contrast, participants who disliked violent dynamics showed an overall higher level of physiological arousal during playing than when viewing, and the level of arousal increased across time in both conditions. The results on facial muscle activity likewise showed that activity differed between people who liked versus disliked violent dynamics. However, the results were somewhat conflicting: those who liked violent game dynamics showed a steep increase in the activity of the corrugator supercilii muscle, an index of negative valence. Instead, those who disliked the dynamics showed less increase in corrugator supercilii activity. The dynamics preferences did not affect self-reported emotional valence or arousal. Thus, the results highlight that game dynamics preferences were associated with physiological signals, although they may not be a straightforward index of emotions in a gaming context. In Study III, associations between game dynamics preferences and self-reported experiences of vitality, self-efficacy, and curiosity were explored both in association with life in general and with playing an FPS video game. The results showed that players who were neutral or mildly positive towards violent content experienced stable levels of vitality, curiosity, and emotional valence both in life in general and when playing. They also experienced a slight decline in self-efficacy in the playing context. Conversely, those who disliked violent dynamics experienced a clear decline in all of these measures in the playing context. Thus, game dynamics preferences were connected with wider experiential reflections related to playing. Overall, the results of all three studies showed why there is individual variation in the playing experience: players and viewers have differing skills and preferences. These skills and preferences affect how players and viewers pay attention to the game, and what kind of emotional reactions and experiences they have. This is valuable for understanding the psychological outcomes of FPS games, as well as why people hold differing opinions about these types of games. Likewise, the results have importance for game design, as they show that players respond in different ways to game contents. Thus, it may be fruitful to personalize and tailor game contents based on players’ preferences and visual attention skills.Mieltymykset, tunteet ja näönvarainen tarkkaavuus ensimmäisen persoonan ammuntapelien pelikokemuksessa Ensimmäisen persoonan ammuntapelit (FPS-pelit) ovat sekä yksi suosituimmista että pahamaineisimmista digitaalisten pelien genreistä. Ne sisältävät voimakasta tunnepitoista sisältöä ja vaativat äärimmäistä näönvaraista tarkkaavuutta. Näiden seikkojen takia toiset arvostavat ja toiset paheksuvat kyseisiä pelejä. Tässä väitöskirjassa tutkittiin yksilöllisiä eroja FPS-pelien pelikokemuksessa selvittämällä, kuinka mieltymykset väkivaltaisiin pelidynamiikkoihin (esimerkiksi mieltymykset ampumiseen, tappamiseen ja räjäyttämiseen) vaikuttavat pelaajien tunnetiloihin ja kokemuksiin uteliaisuudesta, elinvoimaisuudesta ja minäpystyvyydestä. Tämän lisäksi väitöskirjassa tutkittiin silmänliikkeitä tarkastelemalla kuinka näönvaraisen tarkkaavuuden taidot ovat yhteydessä FPS-pelivideoiden katseluun. Tutkimuksessa I tarkasteltiin, miten näönvaraisen tarkkaavuuden taidot vaikuttavat FPS-pelivideoiden katseluun. Tutkimuksessa havaittiin, että silmänliikkeet etenivät laajemmasta ja hajaantuneemmasta silmäilystä kohti pinta-alaltaan pienempää ja lähempänä näytön keskustaa olevaa aluetta. Lisäksi erilaisten pelitapahtumien visuaaliset ominaisuudet ja huomiota herättävyys suuntasivat silmänliikkeitä. Yksilölliset erot näönvaraisen tarkkaavuuden taidoissa (tässä tutkimuksessa taidot seurata useita liikkuvia kohteita, etsiä kohteita ja nähdä nopeasti peräkkäin ilmestyviä kohteita) olivat yhteydessä siihen, miten katselija tarkasteli pelinäkymää. Näönvaraisen tarkkaavuuden taitojen yhteys silmänliikkeisiin tuli esiin etenkin visuaalisesti toisistaan erottuvien pelitapahtumien aikana. Yhteenvetona tutkimuksen tulokset osoittivat, että tietyt näönvaraisen tarkkaavuuden taidot ennustavat silmänliikkeitä FPS-pelivideon katselun aikana. Tutkimuksessa II selvitettiin, ovatko pelidynamiikkamieltymykset ja FPS-peliin liittyvät tunnereaktiot yhteydessä toisiinsa. Tutkimukseen osallistujien sykettä, ihon sähkönjohtavuutta ja kasvolihasten sähköistä aktiivisuutta mitattiin indikaatioina tunnereaktioista sekä pelaamisen (aktiivinen osallistuminen) että pelivideon katselun (passiivinen tarkkailu) aikana. Osallistujat myös arvioivat oman tunnetilansa koettua virittävyyttä ja valenssia. Tulokset osoittivat, että yksilöiden välillä oli eroja fysiologisissa tunteisiin liittyvissä reaktioissa riippuen siitä, millaiset pelidynamiikkamieltymykset heillä oli. Tämä näkyi erityisesti fysiologisissa autonomisen hermoston tilaa kuvaavissa mittareissa. Väkivaltaisista dynamiikoista pitävillä osallistujilla oli suhteellisen tasainen fysiologisen aktivaation taso sekä pelatessa että pelivideota katsellessa. Sen sijaan niillä osallistujilla jotka eivät pitäneet väkivaltaisista dynamiikoista oli kaiken kaikkiaan korkeampi fysiologisen aktivaation taso pelatessa kuin pelivideota katsellessa, ja aktivaation taso kasvoi ajan kuluessa molemmissa tilanteissa. Kasvojen lihasten sähköiseen toimintaan liittyvät tulokset niin ikään osoittivat, että väkivaltaisista dynamiikoista pitävien ja niitä vieroksuvien henkilöiden välillä oli eroja. Tulokset olivat kuitenkin jossain määrin ristiriitaisia: väkivaltaisista dynamiikoista pitävillä osallistujilla negatiivista valenssia indikoiva corrugator supercilii -lihaksen aktiivisuus lisääntyi ajan kuluessa huomattavasti. Sen sijaan osallistujilla jotka eivät pitäneet väkivaltaisista dynamiikoista corrugator supercilii -lihaksen aktiivisuuden lisääntyminen oli lievempää. Pelidynamiikkamieltymykset eivät olleet yhteydessä osallistujien omiin arvioihin tunnekokemuksen virittävyydestä ja valenssista. Täten tulokset osoittivat, että pelidynamiikkamieltymykset olivat yhteydessä fysiologisiin vasteisiin, mutta niitä ei voida käyttää täysin mutkattomina mittareina tunteista pelikontekstissa. Tutkimuksessa III tarkasteltiin pelidynamiikkamieltymysten yhteyttä uteliaisuuden, elinvoimaisuuden ja minäpystyvyyden kokemuksiin elämässä ylipäätään ja FPS-pelin pelaamiseen liittyen. Tutkimuksessa havaittiin, että uteliaisuus, elinvoimaisuus ja tunteen valenssi olivat samankaltaiset sekä elämässä ylipäätään että pelatessa mikäli pelaaja suhtautui väkivaltaisiin dynamiikkoihin neutraalisti tai jonkin verran positiivisesti. Tällaisilla pelaajilla minäpystyvyys oli kuitenkin jonkin verran alhaisempi pelitilanteessa verrattuna elämään ylipäätään. Sen sijaan pelaajat jotka eivät pitäneet väkivaltaisista dynamiikoista arvioivat kaikkien näiden kokemusten olevan selvästi huonompia pelatessa. Pelidynamiikkamieltymykset olivat siis yhteydessä laajempiin reflektiivisiin kokemuksiin pelaamisesta. Väitöstutkimuksen tulokset auttavat ymmärtämään, miksi pelikokemuksessa on yksilöllistä vaihtelua: pelaajat ja katsojat eroavat taidoiltaan ja mieltymyksiltään. Nämä taidot ja mieltymykset ovat yhteydessä siihen, millä tavoin pelaajat ja katselijat kiinnittävät huomiota peliin ja minkälaisia tunnereaktioita ja kokemuksia heillä on. Näiden seikkojen huomioiminen on tärkeää FPS-pelien psykologisten vaikutusten ja peleihin liittyvien eriävien mielipiteiden ymmärtämiseksi. Tuloksilla on lisäksi merkitystä pelisuunnittelulle, sillä ne osoittavat, että pelaajat reagoivat eri tavoin pelisisältöihin. Tämän vuoksi voisi olla hyödyllistä muovata pelisisältöjä yksilöllisesti pelaajien mieltymysten ja näönvaraisen tarkkaavuuden taitojen mukaan

An Information-Theoretic Framework for Consistency Maintenance in Distributed Interactive Applications

Distributed Interactive Applications (DIAs) enable geographically dispersed users to interact with each other in a virtual environment. A key factor to the success of a DIA is the maintenance of a consistent view of the shared virtual world for all the participants. However, maintaining consistent states in DIAs is difficult under real networks. State changes communicated by messages over such networks suffer latency leading to inconsistency across the application. Predictive Contract Mechanisms (PCMs) combat this problem through reducing the number of messages transmitted in return for perceptually tolerable inconsistency. This thesis examines the operation of PCMs using concepts and methods derived from information theory. This information theory perspective results in a novel information model of PCMs that quantifies and analyzes the efficiency of such methods in communicating the reduced state information, and a new adaptive multiple-model-based framework for improving consistency in DIAs. The first part of this thesis introduces information measurements of user behavior in DIAs and formalizes the information model for PCM operation. In presenting the information model, the statistical dependence in the entity state, which makes using extrapolation models to predict future user behavior possible, is evaluated. The efficiency of a PCM to exploit such predictability to reduce the amount of network resources required to maintain consistency is also investigated. It is demonstrated that from the information theory perspective, PCMs can be interpreted as a form of information reduction and compression. The second part of this thesis proposes an Information-Based Dynamic Extrapolation Model for dynamically selecting between extrapolation algorithms based on information evaluation and inferred network conditions. This model adapts PCM configurations to both user behavior and network conditions, and makes the most information-efficient use of the available network resources. In doing so, it improves PCM performance and consistency in DIAs

Born Digital / Grown Digital: Assessing the Future Competitiveness of the EU Video Games Software Industry

This report reflects the findings of the JRC-IPTS study on the Video games Industry, with a focus on two specific activities: online and mobile video games. The report starts by introducing the technologies, their characteristics, market diffusion and barriers to take up, and their potential economic impact, before moving to an analysis of their contribution to the competitiveness of the European ICT industry. The research is based on internal and external expertise, literature reviews and desk research, several workshops and syntheses of the current state of the knowledge. The results were reviewed by experts and in dedicated workshops. The report concludes that the general expectations for the next years foresee a speeded up migration of contents and services to digital, in a scenario of rapidly increasing convergence of digital technologies and integration of media services taking advantage of improved and permanent network connections. The role of the so-called creative content industry is expected to increase accordingly. Communication services and media industry will co-evolve on the playground of the Internet of services, along with a product to service transformation of the software market in general. In this general context the Video games Software industry plays and is expected to play a major role. The games industry may become a major driver of the development of networks as it has been in the past for the development of computer hardware.JRC.DDG.J.4-Information Societ

Real-time individualized training vectors for experiential learning.

Military training utilizing serious games or virtual worlds potentially generate data that can be mined to better understand how trainees learn in experiential exercises. Few data mining approaches for deployed military training games exist. Opportunities exist to collect and analyze these data, as well as to construct a full-history learner model. Outcomes discussed in the present document include results from a quasi-experimental research study on military game-based experiential learning, the deployment of an online game for training evidence collection, and results from a proof-of-concept pilot study on the development of individualized training vectors. This Lab Directed Research & Development (LDRD) project leveraged products within projects, such as Titan (Network Grand Challenge), Real-Time Feedback and Evaluation System, (America's Army Adaptive Thinking and Leadership, DARWARS Ambush! NK), and Dynamic Bayesian Networks to investigate whether machine learning capabilities could perform real-time, in-game similarity vectors of learner performance, toward adaptation of content delivery, and quantitative measurement of experiential learning