Reassessing Otocky : a forgotten classic in digital games history

What makes a digital game a “classic”, revered by players and studied by academics? Different aspects like technological innovations, design features, or commercial success contribute to this status. Otocky, designed by Japanese media artist Toshio Iwai in 1987, predated in a number of ways so-called music games, connecting music generation with the established tropes of the shoot’em up genre. It anticipated not only contemporary examples of music-centered gameplay, but also explored the boundaries of games’ formal properties, juxtaposing traditional game characteristics with extemporaneous musical creativity. This paper addresses the innovation of Otocky, and aims to position it in the current academic discourse surrounding game history, which according to Huhtamo is in its "chronicle era" (Huhtamo 2005). Available journalistic writings about Otocky consider it a curiosity, and a proper historicization process never took place, possibly due to the fact that the game has never been published outside of Japan and was only available for the Famicom Disk System, an add-on for the original Nintendo Famicom. Interacting with sound is arguably Otocky’s main affordance. Analysis of sound and music in digital games is the topic of numerous academic writings; Collins (2008) defines dynamic audio as “sounds that reacts to changes in the gameplay environment and/or in response to a user”, and identifies different degrees of dynamic activity, taking as examples games such as Grim Fandango (Lucas Arts 1998) and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (Nintendo 1998). Otocky, however, structures a simple interaction with its musical content, preferring bizarre improvisations rather than well timed sound cues. This musical system hardly fits Collins’ categorization, and constitutes a relevant example that is currently absent from game sound analysis literature. This paper argues that the game can be addressed as an example of an “open work”, as discussed by Eco (1979) in relation to composition systems such as Klavierstücke XI by Stockhausen. Even if Otocky is an example of creative freedom awarded to players, it is firmly rooted in the tradition of the shoot’em up: for a contemporary sensibility, it is arguably a very punishing game. Rigid competition and free performance are two polarizing elements in Otocky, which lives out of their sheer incompatibility. Finally, this paper will position Otocky in the discussion about game genres and forms. With its comedic look, Otocky reassesses the shoot’em up genre tropes, arguably offering a parody version, amplified by the unclear nature of its winning condition. In this sense, the game is akin to contemporary examples such as Jostle Bastard by game auteur Pippin Barr (2013), a satirical take on the popular game Hotline Miami (Dennaton Games 2012). Conclusion shows that current academic tools in use to analyze digital games can be used to reposition relevant games, rendered little known due to contingencies, positively contributing to the available academic discourse.peer-reviewe

Surveillant assemblages of governance in massively multiplayer online games:a comparative analysis

This paper explores governance in Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs), one sub-sector of the digital games industry. Informed by media governance studies, Surveillance Studies, and game studies, this paper identifies five elements which form part of the system of governance in MMOGs. These elements are: game code and rules; game policies; company community management practices; player participatory practices; and paratexts. Together these governance elements function as a surveillant assemblage, which relies to varying degrees on lateral and hierarchical forms of surveillance, and the assembly of human and nonhuman elements.Using qualitative mixed methods we examine and compare how these elements operate in three commercial MMOGs: Eve Online, World of Warcraft and Tibia. While peer and participatory surveillance elements are important, we identified two major trends in the governance of disruptive behaviours by the game companies in our case studies. Firstly, an increasing reliance on automated forms of dataveillance to control and punish game players, and secondly, increasing recourse to contract law and diminishing user privacy rights. Game players found it difficult to appeal the changing terms and conditions and they turned to creating paratexts outside of the game in an attempt to negotiate the boundaries of the surveillant assemblage. In the wider context of self-regulated governance systems these trends highlight the relevance of consumer rights, privacy, and data protection legislation to online games and the usefulness of bringing game studies and Surveillance Studies into dialogue

On the Minority Game : Analytical and Numerical Studies

We investigate further several properties of the minority game we have recently introduced. We explain the origin of the phase transition and give an analytical expression of $\sigma^2/N$ in the $N\ll2^M$ region. The ability of the players to learn a given payoff is also analyzed, and we show that the Darwinian evolution process tends to a self-organized state, in particular, the life-time distribution is a power-law with exponent -2. Furthermore, we study the influence of identical players on their gain and on the system's performance. Finally, we show that large brains always take advantage of small brains.Comment: 9 pages, 19 figures, accepted for publication in Physica A. Latex compilation on VMS systems should now wor

Familiars: social gaming with PASION

The PASION (Psychologically Augmented Social Interaction Over Networks) project is designed to research social presence technologies and their effect on individual and group behaviour within mediated collaborative environments. A mobile multiplayer social game called Familiars is being designed, where the success and rank of a player within the game is directly linked to the qualities of the player's in-game social network. By examining the structures of the game-wide social network generated through playing the game, the aim is to identify patterns in the interactions which can be used to direct further studies and build future versions of the game that will enhance the game experience, bringing more of the face-to-face social value to technologically mediated games and hence mediated collaborations in general

Game Based Learning for Safety and Security Education

Safety and security education are important part of technology related education, because of recent number of increase in safety and security related incidents. Game based learning is an emerging and rapidly advancing forms of computer-assisted instruction. Game based learning for safety and security education enables students to learn concepts and skills without the risk of physical injury and security breach. In this paper, a pedestal grinder safety game and physical security game have been developed using industrial standard modeling and game development software. The average score of the knowledge test of grinder safety game was 82%, which is higher than traditional lecture only instruction method. In addition, the survey of physical security game shows 84% average satisfaction ratio from high school students who played the game during the summer camp. The results of these studies indicated that game based learning method can enhance students' learning without potential harm to the students

Avatars Going Mainstream: Typology of Tropes in Avatar-Based Storytelling Practices

Due to the growing popularity of video games, gaming itself has become a shared experience among media audiences worldwide. The phenomenon of avatar-based games has led to the emergence of new storytelling practices. The paper proposes a typology of tropes in these avatar-based narratives focusing on non-game case studies. Suggested tropes are also confronted with the latest research on avatars in the area of game studies and current knowledge of the issues concerning the player-avatar relationship. Some of the most popular misconceptions regarding the gameplay experience and its representation in non-game media are exposed as a result of this analysis. The research confirms that popular culture perceives gaming experience as closely related to the player identity, as the latter inspires new genres of non-game narratives

Load Shifting in the Smart Grid: To Participate or Not?

Demand-side management (DSM) has emerged as an important smart grid feature that allows utility companies to maintain desirable grid loads. However, the success of DSM is contingent on active customer participation. Indeed, most existing DSM studies are based on game-theoretic models that assume customers will act rationally and will voluntarily participate in DSM. In contrast, in this paper, the impact of customers' subjective behavior on each other's DSM decisions is explicitly accounted for. In particular, a noncooperative game is formulated between grid customers in which each customer can decide on whether to participate in DSM or not. In this game, customers seek to minimize a cost function that reflects their total payment for electricity. Unlike classical game-theoretic DSM studies which assume that customers are rational in their decision-making, a novel approach is proposed, based on the framework of prospect theory (PT), to explicitly incorporate the impact of customer behavior on DSM decisions. To solve the proposed game under both conventional game theory and PT, a new algorithm based on fictitious player is proposed using which the game will reach an epsilon-mixed Nash equilibrium. Simulation results assess the impact of customer behavior on demand-side management. In particular, the overall participation level and grid load can depend significantly on the rationality level of the players and their risk aversion tendency.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures, journal, accepte

Agents Play Mix-game

In mix-game which is an extension of minority game, there are two groups of agents; group1 plays the majority game, but the group2 plays the minority game. This paper studies the change of the average winnings of agents and volatilities vs. the change of mixture of agents in mix-game model. It finds that the correlations between the average winnings of agents and the mean of local volatilities are different with different combinations of agent memory length when the proportion of agents in group 1 increases. This study result suggests that memory length of agents in group1 be smaller than that of agent in group2 when mix-game model is used to simulate the financial markets.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, 3 table

The Placebo Effect in Digital Games

Play-testing of digital games is a crucial part of any game development process, used to gather feedback about the game and correct any existing and potential flaws with the design. However, due to the nature of human subject testing, the feedback being collected in such experiments is prone to biases. Players' expectations play a great role in dictating their gaming experience, which means the information players receive before trying a new game, as well as the knowledge they already possess, may affect their perception and experience of the game. Two studies were conducted in order to evaluate how priming players to expect a game technology can positively influence their experience. The results supported the hypothesis that even basic instructions can change players' perception of the game, and lead to a higher level of perceived immersion when knowing that the game contains an improved feature, the adaptive artificial intelligence (AI), while it is not present in the game