MULTIPAYER ONLINE ROLE-PLAYING GAME BASED ON HISTORY

History is a compulsory subject in the education syllabus in Malaysia. Historical learning plays a vital part in developing a student, in terms of spiritual, emotional, physical and intellectual growth. There are numerous studies conducted which shows the lack of interest in learning history among students. History is perceived as boring by students with numerous facts and texts to be remembered and memorized. The lack of pictures to depict the events happened in the past do not help, either. However, interactive contents are able to help students understand and learn history better. Students, who are usually teenagers and young adults, usually fare better when they can learn in an interactive environment. Digital game can enable a student to “relive” history by telling its storyline. Computer games are immersive, interactive and sometimes addictive. The interaction between player and the game components, such as hardware and software, defines these qualities. A game is highly immersive if it can capture a player‟s imagination in its interactive world with different characters, storylines, strategies and design. In this paper, a finding is done from a preliminary analysis on problems faced when teaching and learning history, students‟ response and reaction for game-based learning and the ability. An investigation is carried out using questionnaire and interview, involving 40 respondents, which are mainly student and parents from different schools in Ipoh, Perak. The key findings from this investigation are problems faced by students when learning history and their reaction towards game-based learning (GBL). The product of this project has been developed and successfully tested by users from various students

Using gaming paratexts in the literacy classroom

This paper illustrates how digital game paratexts may effectively be used in the high school English to meet a variety of traditional and multimodal literacy outcomes. Paratexts are texts that refer to digital gaming and game cultures, and using them in the classroom enables practitioners to focus on and valorise the considerable literacies and skills that young people develop and deploy in their engagement with digital gaming and game cultures. The effectiveness of valorizing paratexts in this manner is demonstrated through two examples of assessment by students in classes where teachers had designed curriculum and assessment activities using paratexts

Understanding Engagement within the Context of a Safety Critical Game

One of the most frequent arguments for deploying serious games is that they provide an engaging format for student learning. However, engagement is often equated with enjoyment, which may not be the most relevant conceptualization in safety-critical settings, such as law enforcement and healthcare. In these contexts, the term ‘serious’ does not only relate to the non-entertainment purpose of the game but also the environment simulated by the game. In addition, a lack of engagement in a safety critical training setting can have serious ethical implications, leading to significant real-world impacts. However, evaluations of safety-critical games (SCGs) rarely provide an in-depth consideration of player experience. Thus, in relation to simulation game-based training, we are left without a clear understanding of what sort of experience players are having, what factors influence their engagement and how their engagement relates to learning. In order to address these issues, this paper reports on the mixed-method evaluation of a SCG that was developed to support police training. The findings indicate that engagement is supported by the experience situational relevance, due to the player’s experience of real-world authenticity, targeted feedback mechanisms and learning challenges

Effects Of A Computer Game On Mathematics Achievement And Class Motivation: An Experimental Study

In the last few years educational computer games have gained attention as a tool for facilitating learning in different sectors of society including but not limited to military, health, and education. However, advances in computer game technology continue to outpace research on its effectiveness. Few empirical studies have investigated the effects of educational games in the context of formal K-12 settings. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a series of mathematics computer games on mathematics achievement and motivation of high school students. In addition, the role of prior mathematics knowledge, computer skill, and English language skill of the participants on their mathematics achievement and motivation when they played the games were investigated. A total of 193 students and 10 teachers from an urban high school in the southeast of the United States of the America participated in this study. The teachers were randomly assigned to treatment and control groups. Students\u27 mathematics achievement was measured using school district benchmark exams and a game performance test generated by the developers of the mathematics games. A mathematics motivation questionnaire based on Keller\u27s (1987a) ARCS model of motivational design measured students\u27 mathematics motivation. Multivariate Analysis of Co-Variance (MANCOVA) was conducted to analyze the data. In addition, interviews were conducted to cross validate the results of the quantitative data. The MANCOVA results indicated significant improvement of the mathematics achievement of the experimental versus control group. No significant improvement was found in the motivation of the experimental versus control group. However, a significant improvement was found on the motivation scores of the students who played the games in their school lab and classrooms compared to the ones who played the games only in the school labs. In addition, the findings indicated that prior mathematics knowledge, computer skill and English language skill did not play significant roles in achievement and motivation of the experimental group. Teachers\u27 interviews revealed that these individual differences had indeed played significant roles in game-playing at the beginning of using the games, but the impacts gradually diminished as the students gained the required game-playing skills. The overall results indicated that the mathematics games used in this study were effective teaching and learning tools to improve the mathematics skills of the students. Using the games in mathematics education was suggested by the teachers as an appropriate alternative way of teaching, as one of the teachers stated: This is definitely the way that we have to go to teach mathematics in the future. Mathematics games should be integrated with classroom activities if teachers want to increase mathematics class motivation. Teachers\u27 helps and supports are vital in using the games effectively in a population with different prior mathematics knowledge, computer skills, and English language skills

Putting Pleasure First: Localizing Japanese Video Games

Since their humble beginnings, video games have undergone huge technological advances, becoming a significant global industry today and highlighting the role played by translation and localization. Despite the continuing localization activities undertaken in the industry, translation studies (TS) have not paid much attention to video games as a research domain. Drawing on the author’s previous work on the Japanese Role Playing Game (RPG) Final Fantasy titles, this paper attempts to demonstrate the ample research scope that this domain presents for TS scholars. In particular, it discusses the unique localization model used by Final Fantasy’s Japanese publisher, illustrating how the games’ new digital platform allows the (re)creation of a new gameplaying pleasure directly through the localization process itself. In this model, the original game merely sets off a chain of improvements through localization. In turn, understanding the different pleasures drawn from different localized versions of games will contribute useful insights into emerging games research.Depuis leurs humbles origines, les jeux vidéo ont fait l’objet d’immenses avancées technologiques : ils sont aujourd’hui une importante industrie transnationale et illustrent le rôle joué par la traduction et la localisation. Cependant, en dépit de la croissance des activités de localisation dans cette industrie, la traductologie n’a guère envisagé les jeux vidéo comme domaine de recherche. En nous inspirant de nos travaux antérieurs sur le jeu vidéo de rôle japonais Final Fantasy, nous tentons de montrer quel vaste champ d’étude ce domaine présente pour les chercheurs en traductologie. Nous abordons plus particulièrement le modèle de localisation utilisé par l’éditeur japonais de Final Fantasy, unique en son genre, pour illustrer comment la nouvelle plate-forme numérique des jeux permet la (re)création d’un nouveau plaisir ludique à travers le processus de localisation lui-même. Dans ce modèle, le jeu original est simplement le point de départ d’une succession d’améliorations grâce à la localisation. Dès lors, une meilleure compréhension des différents plaisirs ludiques offerts par chaque version localisée d’un jeu fournira d’utiles pistes de recherche dans le domaine émergent de l’étude des jeux vidéo

Systems at Play: The Construction of International Systems in Social Impact Games

This thesis explores how game makers conceive of and navigate the intersection between digital systems and real world systems by asking, how can social impact game designers shape procedural rhetoric to effectively address complex real world systems with digital systems? By examining three game case studies, I reach four significant findings regarding player agency, subversive play, design approaches to scale, and game difficulty in regards to systems fluency

Out of the Margins: Evolving Narrative Representation of Women in Video Games

This thesis examines narrative representation of female characters in video games and how game narratives and representations contribute to socio-cultural discourse. First, this thesis explores and defines the cultural background for female representation in video games. It then defines video games as a type of text and describes the features that are unique to games, such as the use of avatars, and what impacts these features have on game narratives. The thesis attempts to establish evidence of an evolutionary arc of comprehensive female representation in video games by first exploring historical female narrative tropes, and then comparing them to narrative case studies of female characters within five recent game titles (Tomb Raider, Bayonetta, Dragon Age, Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, and Horizon: Zero Dawn). In these case studies, the implications for their representations of female characters are analyzed in the context of socio-cultural discourse. Furthermore, this thesis argues for the importance of diverse representation within video games as a form of media, and as cultural objects that contribute to social discourse

Where have all the games gone? An exploratory study of digital game preservation

It is 50 years since the development of the first computer game and digital games now have an unprecedented influence on our culture. An increasingly popular leisure activity, digital games are also permeating other aspects of society. They continue to influence computer technology through graphics, animation and social networking; an influence which is also being felt in other media, in particular film and television. They are a new art form and they are seen to be influential on children s learning and development. However, despite their pervasiveness and apparent importance within our society and culture, they are still largely ignored as part of our cultural heritage. Dismissed as disposable, entertainment products, they have not specifically been addressed in most of the academic literature on digital preservation which represents a serious omission in past research. This was justification for an exploratory study into the preservation of digital games and the aim of this study has been to explore the value of digital games, their significance in our culture, and the current status of their preservation. Investigating the relationship of games to culture; reviewing current preservation activities and drawing conclusions about the value of digital games and the significance of their preservation were the study s objectives. These have been achieved through interviews with key stakeholders the academic community, as potential users of collections; memory institutions, as potential keepers of collections; fan-based game preservation experts; and representatives from the games industry. In addition to this, case studies of key game preservation activities were explored. Through this research, a clearer picture of attitudes towards digital games and opinions on the need for preservation of these cultural products has been established. It has become apparent that there is a need for more coherent and collaborative efforts to ensure the longevity of these important aspects of digital heritage

A comparative study of the effect of collaborative problem solving in a massively multiplayer online game (MMOG) on individual achievement

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