4 research outputs found
Exploring Theatre Of The Oppressed And Media Synchronicity To Supplement Virtual Learning Environments: Experiences With Mados
This thesis explored the application of Media Synchronicity Theory and its potential for translating Critical Pedagogy (specifically Boal\u27s Theatre of the Oppressed) into a computersupported collaborative work (CSCW) environment. It introduces the Maquina dos Oprimidos (Mados) prototype, a CSCW supplement to traditional asynchronous learning networks. Mados operates as a role-playing debate game, in which students debate a pre-selected prompt while performing assigned character roles. The study explores the prototype\u27s potential to affect student\u27s identification with their assigned character and personal attitude toward the prompt, as well as examining the effect of presence on students\u27 performances. The study was performed with 38 8th grade students. Subjects debated a prompt which proposed a banning cell phones from classrooms. Results show that subjects collaboratively constructed solutions that compromised between both positions, while slightly favoring the antiban position. Results also show that subjects experienced gains in character identification after participating in the task regardless of assigned character, hinting at a separation between perceived similarity to characters and affinity for characters\u27 position. The ability of subjects to defend their assigned character\u27s position while inhabiting their own perspective, that of an 8th grade student, also hints at this separation. Additionally, results indicated correlations between subjects\u27 control factors, a subset measure for presence, and total change in prompt agreement. Other positive correlation exist between subject\u27s reprocessing attempts and task performance, as well as total presence and task performanc
To Play or Not to Play: Non/Participation in Eve Online
This dissertation addresses a gap in the academic study of digital games whereby investigations remain focused on current players and the experiences of former or non-players are rarely accounted for. Using EVE Online (EVE), a massively multiplayer online game (MMOG) known for its difficult learning curve and homogenous community as a case study, I conducted an investigation of who does/does not play this particular game and their stated reasons for playing or not. I argue that while EVE is positioned in the MMOG market as a sandbox style game where in-game activities are only limited by a players imagination, in reality only a very particular type of play (and player) is publically acknowledged by EVEs developer (CCP Games), the gaming enthusiast press, and academics investigations of this game, emphasizing just how little is known about who plays EVE beyond the stereotypical imagined player.
Drawing on literature from leisure studies to articulate a framework for exploring barriers/constraints to gameplay and theoretically informed by feminist theories of technology, I conducted an Internet-based survey to capture the thoughts and experiences of current, former, and non-EVE players. A total of 981 participants completed the survey. In my analysis of open-ended responses, I found that current players described the game in a way that emphasized its exceptionality, relied heavily on jargon, and assumed their reader was already familiar with EVE, its player community, and its surrounding norms and conventions. Non-players who were familiar with the game described their perceptions of EVE being an unwelcoming community meant they had opted out of playing without ever downloading the trial. Former players fell into three groupings: ex-players who had permanently quit EVE, a group who want to play but felt forced to take a temporary break due to external constraints (e.g. exams at school or financial limitations), and a third group would consider returning if changes to their personal circumstances and/or the game happened in future. Ultimately this research complicates what it means to play or not play MMOG, opening up avenues for future research about how access and barriers to digital game play inevitably shift over time
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The presentation of self in Massively Multiplayer Online games
This thesis examined the presentation of self in Massively Multiplayer Online games, to investigate how players create and maintain versions of self in these environments. Key research questions concerned the motivation for engaging in these behaviours, the impact of such activities on their offline lives and for those that did not engage in the active presentation of self, why they did not do this. There were three studies in the thesis, employing a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods. The first study consisted of interviews (n=29), analysed using Grounded theory, and the second an online focus group (n=13 participants) explored using thematic analysis. These results were combined to create a theoretical model for the presentation of self in MMOs. Based on these concept statements a third study (n=408) was created, using an online questionnaire design. Results indicated that a five factor model was the most satisfactory means of explaining the presentation of self in MMOs â with Presentation of the Existing Self, Social Interaction, Gaming Aesthetics, Presenting Different Sides of the Self, and Emotional Impact as the salient factors