Bacteria Hunt: Evaluating multi-paradigm BCI interaction

The multimodal, multi-paradigm brain-computer interfacing (BCI) game Bacteria Hunt was used to evaluate two aspects of BCI interaction in a gaming context. One goal was to examine the effect of feedback on the ability of the user to manipulate his mental state of relaxation. This was done by having one condition in which the subject played the game with real feedback, and another with sham feedback. The feedback did not seem to affect the game experience (such as sense of control and tension) or the objective indicators of relaxation, alpha activity and heart rate. The results are discussed with regard to clinical neurofeedback studies. The second goal was to look into possible interactions between the two BCI paradigms used in the game: steady-state visually-evoked potentials (SSVEP) as an indicator of concentration, and alpha activity as a measure of relaxation. SSVEP stimulation activates the cortex and can thus block the alpha rhythm. Despite this effect, subjects were able to keep their alpha power up, in compliance with the instructed relaxation task. In addition to the main goals, a new SSVEP detection algorithm was developed and evaluated

GPU-Based One-Dimensional Convolution for Real-Time Spatial Sound Generation

Incorporating spatialized (3D) sound cues in dynamic and interactive videogames and immersive virtual environment applications is beneficial for a number of reasons, ultimately leading to an increase in presence and immersion. Despite the benefits of spatial sound cues, they are often overlooked in videogames and virtual environments where typically, emphasis is placed on the visual cues. Fundamental to the generation of spatial sound is the one-dimensional convolution operation which is computationally expensive, not lending itself to such real-time, dynamic applications. Driven by the gaming industry and the great emphasis placed on the visual sense, consumer computer graphics hardware, and the graphics processing unit (GPU) in particular, has greatly advanced in recent years, even outperforming the computational capacity of CPUs. This has allowed for real-time, interactive realistic graphics-based applications on typical consumer- level PCs. Given the widespread use and availability of computer graphics hardware and the similarities that exist between the fields of spatial audio and image synthesis, here we describe the development of a GPU-based, one-dimensional convolution algorithm whose efficiency is superior to the conventional CPU-based convolution method. The primary purpose of the developed GPU-based convolution method is the computationally efficient generation of real- time spatial audio for dynamic and interactive videogames and virtual environments

Psychologically-Based and Content-Oriented Experience in Entertainment Virtual Environments

In daily life, rich experiences evolve in every environmental and social interaction. Because experience has a strong impact on how people behave, scholars in different fields are interested in understanding what constitutes an experience. Yet even if interest in conscious experience is on the increase, there is no consensus on how such experience should be studied. Whatever approach is taken, the subjective and psychologically multidimensional nature of experience should be respected. This study endeavours to understand and evaluate conscious experiences. First I intro-duce a theoretical approach to psychologically-based and content-oriented experience. In the experiential cycle presented here, classical psychology and orienting-environmental content are connected. This generic approach is applicable to any human-environment interaction. Here I apply the approach to entertainment virtual environments (VEs) such as digital games and develop a framework with the potential for studying experiences in VEs. The development of the methodological framework included subjective and objective data from experiences in the Cave Automatic Virtual Environment (CAVE) and with numerous digital games (N=2,414). The final framework consisted of fifteen factor-analytically formed subcomponents of the sense of presence, involvement and flow. Together, these show the multidimensional experiential profile of VEs. The results present general experiential laws of VEs and show that the interface of a VE is related to (physical) presence, which psychologically means attention, perception and the cognitively evaluated realness and spatiality of the VE. The narrative of the VE elicits (social) presence and involvement and affects emotional outcomes. Psychologically, these outcomes are related to social cognition, motivation and emotion. The mechanics of a VE affect the cognitive evaluations and emotional outcomes related to flow. In addition, at the very least, user background, prior experience and use context affect the experiential variation. VEs are part of many peoples lives and many different outcomes are related to them, such as enjoyment, learning and addiction, depending on who is making the evalua-tion. This makes VEs societally important and psychologically fruitful to study. The approach and framework presented here contribute to our understanding of experiences in general and VEs in particular. The research can provide VE developers with a state-of-the art method (www.eveqgp.fi) that can be utilized whenever new product and service concepts are designed, prototyped and tested.Antoisat kokemukset syntyvät toimiessamme vuorovaikutustilanteissa sekä ympäris-tön että muiden ihmisten kanssa. Näin syntyneet kokemukset vaikuttavat käyttäytymi-seemme ja tuleviin toimiimme. Tutkijoita on alkanut kiinnostaa, miten paremmin ym-märtää kokemuksen rakentumista ympäristön vuorovaikutustilanteissa. Vaikka kiinnostus kokemuksellisuuden ymmärtämiseksi on kasvanut, vielä ei ole yksimielisyyttä siitä, miten kokemusta tulisi tutkia. Olipa lähestymistapa mikä tahansa, tulisi aina kunnioittaa kokemuksen subjektiivista ja psykologisesti moniulotteista luonnetta. Tämä tutkimus edesauttaa tietoisen kokemuksen ymmärtämistä ja arvioimista. Ensin esitellään teoreettinen lähestymistapa psykologiseen ja sisällöllisesti suuntautuneeseen kokemukseen, jossa mieli yhdistyy ympäristön sisältöjen kanssa kokemuskehässä. Lä-hestymistapa on melko yleinen ja sitä voidaan soveltaa moniin eri ihmisen ja ympäris-tön vuorovaikutustilanteisiin. Tässä tutkimuksessa lähestymistapaa sovellettiin viihteellisiin virtuaalisiin ympäristöihin (VY), kuten digitaalisiin peleihin, joiden aikaansaamien kokemusten arvioimiseen kehitettiin tutkimusviitekehys. Tutkimusviitekehyksen kehittämiseksi kerättiin sekä subjektiivista että objektiivista aineistoa CAVE:sta ja lukuisista digitaalisista peleistä (N=2414). Lopullinen versio sisälsi viisitoista faktorianalyysillä muodostettua alakomponenttia, joilla mitattiin läsnäolon tunnetta (presence), osallistumista (involvement) ja flow ta. Yhdessä nämä muodostivat moniulotteisen kokemusprofiilin VY:stä. Tulokset osoittivat yleisiä VY:n kokemiseen liittyviä lainalaisuuksia. Käyttöliittymä vaikuttaa (fyysiseen) läsnäolontunteeseen, joka psykologisesti tarkoittaa huomiokykyä, havainnoimista ja kognitiivista arviota VY:n aitoudesta ja spatiaalisuudesta. Tarinallisuus saa aikaan (sosiaalista) läsnäoloa ja osallistumista sekä vaikuttaa tunteisiin. Psykologisesti nämä liittyvät sosiaaliseen kognitioon, motivaatioon ja emootioihin. Mekaniikka vaikuttaa kognitiiviseen arviointiin ja emootioihin, jotka liittyvät flow n kokemiseen. Myös taustamuuttujat, kuten sukupuoli ja aikaisempi kokemus sekä käyttökonteksti vaikuttavat kokemukseen. VY:t ovat iso osa monien ihmisten arkea ja niihin liitetään monenlaisia uskomuksia ja seuraamuksia. Arvioijan tausta ja motiivit vaikuttavat siihen, liitetäänkö VY:öön nautinto, oppiminen vai riippuvuus. Tämän takia VY:n tieteellinen tutkimus on yhteiskunnallisesti tärkeää ja psykologisesti hedelmällistä. Esitetty lähestymistapa ja viitekehys auttavat ymmärtämään kokemuksia yleisesti ja erityisesti VY:ssä. VY:n kehittäjille tutkimus tarjoaa viimeisintä tietämystä edustavan viitekehyksen (www.eveqgp.fi), jota voidaan hyödyntää kun uusia tuote- ja palvelukonsepteja suunnitellaan ja testataan

Gameful Experience Questionnaire (GAMEFULQUEST): an instrument for measuring the perceived gamefulness of system use

In this paper, we present the development and validation of an instrument for measuring users’ gameful experience while using a service. Either intentionally or unintentionally, systems and services are becoming increasingly gamified and having a gameful experience is progressively important for the user’s overall experience of a service. Gamification refers to the transformation of technology to become more game-like, with the intention of evoking similar positive experiences and motivations that games do (the gameful experience) and affecting user behavior. In this study, we used a mixed-methods approach to develop an instrument for measuring the gameful experience. In a first qualitative study, we developed a model of the gameful experience using data from a questionnaire consisting of open-ended questions posed to users of Zombies, Run!, Duolingo, and Nike+ Run Club. In a second study, we developed the instrument and evaluated its dimensionality and psychometric properties using data from users of Zombies, Run! (N = 371). Based on the results of this second study, we further developed the instrument in a third study using data from users of Duolingo (N = 507), in which we repeated the assessment of dimensionality and psychometric properties, this time including confirmation of the model. As a result of this work, we devised GAMEFULQUEST, an instrument that can be used to model and measure an individual user’s gameful experience in systems and services, which can be used for user-adapted gamification and for informing user-modeling research within a gamification context.</p

Framework for the implementation of an enhanced virtual design studio in the architecture education curriculum of the United Arab Emirates : the virtual creative and collaborative studio

Being a rapidly developing country the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has realised the need for highly qualified and properly skilled manpower to cope with the country‟s ambitious development plans. This has resulted in high investments in education and training in the UAE. The government facilitated high technological tools for education. These tools suffered from underutilisation and a failure to be properly integrated in the curricula. The literature review indicates that today‟s knowledge-driven economy demands a workforce equipped with complex skills such as creativity and collaboration. Universities must not only teach the necessary technical skills and knowledge, but also the culture of creativity and teamwork. The learning theories emphasise the importance of learning by doing and collaboration processes to achieve effective learning. Learning theories also emphasise the importance of teaching creative skills to the students. These approaches are congruent with use of technologies, such as visual design studio (VDS), for the purpose of architecture education in design courses, but such use is lacking in the UAE. The present research focuses on implementing and evaluating technologies such as the VDS in architecture education in an attempt to formulate a framework for implementing technologies combined by creative and collaborative skills in the UAE. Since implementing a new technology into education practice is complex task, this work will formulate a framework that will help in shifting from the traditional learning to learning with technology. This work will take into consideration factors such as pedagogical issues, collaboration creative work and architecture practice and industrial needs in the UAE. The aim of the current research is to formulate a framework for implementing VDS at the conceptual end of the architecture design education in the UAE. This research will apply an action research method framework. The action research will be generated into three phases. Each phase will consist of three stages, the descriptive stage which will analyse the need and criteria of the method, the constructive stage which will include the process involved in constructing the framework and the evaluative stage which will include the testing and evaluation. The resulting framework should satisfy the UAE‟s needof advanced technological tools for enhancing design education taking in consideration the socio-cultural dimension of the UAE. As technology is changing rapidly; future research should concentrate on adding further technological tools such as mobile learning. Also as this work provided a framework for integrating technology in architecture design education, yet it is not limited to this discipline only. Other disciplines could benefit from this emerging model and further research could be conducted

Social Status and Hierarchies in Virtual Worlds : A Study of World of Warcraft

Denne masteroppgaven undersøker på et overhengende nivå hvordan spillmekanikker påvirker de sosiale komponentene i et Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game som World of Warcraft. For å bedre illustrere dette, er fokuset i oppgaven snevret ned til en kvalitativ undersøkelse i form av en virtuell etnografi av hvordan spillmekanikker sammen med sosiale aspekter bidrar til å skape sosial status og hierarkier i spillet. Sentralt i denne oppgaven er også å undersøke hvordan virtuell sosial status kan fungere som en motiverende faktor for spillere, og hvorfor de bruker så mye tid på spillet. Resultatet av studien viser at spillere har en trang til å vinne sosial status og stige i det virtuelle hierarkiet. Konkurransen over sosial suksess og anerkjennelse er en måte for spillere å hevde seg i et spill med tusenvis av andre spillere. Resultatene av studien viser også at sosial suksess i spillet kan medføre negative konsekvenser i tillegg til de mer positiv

Collaborative Quality Controlled Collection and Semantic Integration of Spatial Data

In den vergangenen Jahren ist die Verbreitung von mobilen Geräten mit integrierter Lokalisierungstechnologie (z.B. GPS) stark gestiegen. Jeder, der ein solches Gerät besitzt, kann zum Datenlieferanten werden und in einem Netzwerk von Freiwilligen, die Rolle eines Datensensors übernehmen. In der vorliegenden Dissertation werde ich zwei Problemstellungen näher betrachten, die im Kontext von raumbezogenen Daten, erhoben von Gemeinschaften aus fachlich (hier: geowissenschaftlich) nicht geschulten Nutzern, noch ungelöst sind: Wie können geowissenschaftliche Laien motiviert werden, freiwillig qualitätsgesicherte raumbezogene Daten zu erheben? Der erste Beitrag meiner Dissertation liefert eine Antwort auf diese Frage. Er beinhaltet ein Framework zum Design von ortsbezogenen Spielen, die geowissenschaftliche Laien motivieren, raumbezogene Daten qualitätsgesichert in spielerischer Art und Weise zu sammeln. Um es mit den Worten von Peltola et al. (2006) auszudrücken: ”game play is a natural motivator to participate in something that is not necessary or beneficial. [...] By controlling game events and perhaps game logics and rules, the agencies that ultimately use the gathered data, can steer players to do tasks supporting their needs“. Wie kann die Qualität von Sammlungen semantisch angereicherter raumbezogener Daten verbessert werden? Eine wichtige Eigenschaft von ortsbezogenen Spielen zur Datenerhebung ist die wiederholte Spielbarkeit. Im Gegensatz zu anderen Domänen ist nämlich die Erstellung redundanter Daten im raumbezogenen Kontext sogar erwünscht. Das Zusammenführen von Daten mehrerer Nutzer kann man als Mehrfachmessung auffassen, die sich dazu nutzen lässt, die Qualität von Lokalisierung (Wo?) und Kategorisierung (Was?) zu verbessern. Der zweite Beitrag meiner Dissertation gibt eine Antwort auf die Fragestellung und besteht in einem Ansatz zur semantischen Integration der gesammelten raumbezogenen Daten.In recent years, the proliferation of mobile devices capable of recording GPS coordinates has increased rapidly. Everyone owning such a device has the potential to be a ”voluntary sensor” (Goodchild, 2007) and as such provide useful information about his everyday environment. In my PhD thesis I want to investigate two research problems in the context of spatial data collected by these voluntary non-experts that are not solved yet: How can non-experts be motivated to collect quality controlled spatial data voluntarily? Therefore the first contribution of my PhD thesis is a framework to design location-based games that motivate voluntary non-experts to collect quality controlled spatial data in an entertaining way. To say it with Peltola et al. (2006): ”game play is a natural motivator to participate in something that is not necessary or beneficial. [...] By controlling game events and perhaps game logics and rules, the agencies that ultimately use the gathered data, can steer players to do tasks supporting their needs”. How can the quality of collections of semantically enhanced spatial data be improved? An important feature of location-based games for data collection is their replay ability. In contrast to other domains the redundant creation of data is very welcome in the context of spatial data. The integration of data from different users can be used to improve the quality of the localization (where?) and the categorization (what?) of such data. The second contribution of my PhD thesis is an approach to semantically integrate the collected spatial data

A interação jogador e videojogo na construção da experiência de jogo

Doutoramento em Informação e Comunicação em Plataformas DigitaisAmong the many discussions and studies related to video games, one of the most recurrent, widely debated and important relates to the experience of playing video games. The gameplay experience – as appropriated in this study – is the result of the interplay between two essential elements: a video game and a player. Existing studies have explored the resulting experience of video game playing from the perspective of the video game or the player, but none appear to equally balance both of these elements. The study presented here contributes to the ongoing debate with a gameplay experience model. The proposed model, which looks to equally balance the video game and the player elements, considers the gameplay experience to be both an interactive experience (related to the process of playing the video game) and an emotional experience (related to the outcome of playing the video game). The mutual influence of these two experiences during video game play ultimately defines the gameplay experience. To this gameplay experience contributes several dimensions, related to both the video game and player: the video game includes a mechanics, interface and narrative dimension; the player includes a motivations, expectations and background dimension. Also, the gameplay experience is initially defined by a gameplay situation, conditioned by an ambient in which gameplay takes place and a platform on which the video game is played. In order to initially validate the proposed model and attempt to show a relationship among the multiple model dimensions, a multi-case study was carried out using two different video games and player samples. In one study, results show significant correlations between multiple model dimensions, and evidence that video game related changes influence player motivations as well as player visual behavior. In specific player related analysis, results show that while players may be different in terms of background and expectations regarding the game, their motivation to play are not necessarily different, even if their performance in the game is weak. While further validation is necessary, this model not only contributes to the gameplay experience debate, but also demonstrates in a given context how player and video game dimensions evolve during video game play.Entre as muitas discussões e estudos relacionados com os videojogos, um dos mais recorrentes, amplamente debatido e importante relaciona-se com a experiência de jogar videojogos. A experiência de jogo - como empregado neste estudo - é o resultado da interação entre dois elementos essenciais: um videojogo e um jogador. Os estudos existentes têm explorado a experiência resultante do ato de jogar a partir da perspectiva do videojogo ou do jogador, mas nenhum parece igualmente equilibrar estes dois elementos. O estudo aqui apresentado contribui para o debate em curso com um modelo da experiência de jogo. O modelo proposto, que procura equilibrar de forma igual os elementos videojogo e jogador, considera a experiência de jogo como uma experiência interativa (relacionada com o processo de jogar o videojogo) e uma experiência emocional (relacionada com o resultado de jogar o videojogo). A influência mútua destas duas experiências durante o ato de jogar define a experiência de jogo. Para esta experiência de jogo contribuem várias dimensões, relacionadas com o videojogo e o jogador: o videojogo inclui a dimensão da mecânica, da interface e narrativa; o jogador inclui a dimensão das motivações, expectativas e background. Além disso, a experiência de jogo é inicialmente definida por uma situação de jogo, condicionada por um ambiente em que o jogo se realiza e uma plataforma na qual se joga. Para inicialmente validar o modelo e tentar mostrar uma relação entre as múltiplas dimensões do modelo proposto, um estudo multicaso foi concretizado utilizando dois videojogos e amostras diferentes. Num dos estudos, os resultados mostram correlações significativas entre as múltiplas dimensões do modelo, e evidências de que alterações ao videojogo podem influenciar as motivações do jogador e o seu comportamento visual. Numa análise relacionada com características dos jogadores, os resultados mostram que os jogadores, embora possam ser diferentes em termos de experiência e expectativas em relação ao jogo, a sua motivação para jogar não é necessariamente diferente, mesmo que o seu desempenho no jogo seja fraco. Embora uma validação contínua do modelo seja necessária, este modelo não só contribui para o debate da experiência de jogo, mas também mostra num determinado contexto como as dimensões do jogador e videojogo evoluem durante o ato de jogar