VR : Time Machine

Time Machine is an immersive Virtual Reality installation that explains – in simple terms – the Striatal Beat Frequency (SBF) model of time perception. The installation was created as a collaboration between neuroscientists within the field of time perception along with a team of digital designers and audio composers/engineers. This paper outlines the process, as well as the lessons learned, while designing the virtual reality experience that aims to simplify a complex idea to a novice audience. The authors describe in detail the process of creating the world, the user experience mechanics and the methods of placing information in the virtual place in order to enhance the learning experience. The work was showcased at the 4th International Conference on Time Perspective, where the authors collected feedback from the audience. The paper concludes with a reflection on the work and some suggestions for the next iteration of the project

The design principles for flow experience in educational games

Educational games have to be well designed to incorporate learner engagement, an integral component of educational effectiveness. One foundation of designing educational engagement is flow theory. This article presents a flow framework that describes the building blocks of flow experience that can be used to design appealing and effective educational games for formal and informal learning contexts. The framework provides the principles for good educational game design, based upon associative, cognitive and situative learning theories, including engagement and pedagogic elements with a focus upon feedback and flow principles. Furthermore, the paper clarifies the relation between the flow experience and immersion. We tested the flow framework in the RealGame case study, which revealed that the RealGame business simulation game was well designed and effective at engaging student.We found tht the university student; flow experience in the game was high and the findings indicated that sense of control, clear goals and challenge-skill dimensions of flow scored the highest, but a rewarding experience and feedback dimensions also scored highly by the students. Overall, the results indicate that flow framework is a useful tool in studying game-based learning experiences

Antecedents to the effectiveness of game-based learning environments for the Net generation: A game task fit and flow perspective

Purpose: There is a general consensus that games are effective as learning tools. There is however, a lack of knowledge regarding what makes games effective as a learning tool. The purpose of this study is therefore to answer the question: what are the antecedents of an effective game-based learning environment for the Net generation? The Net generation comprises individuals who prefer to learn using games as a tool. Aim: The aim of this dissertation is to develop a conceptual framework that reflects the antecedents of an effective game-based learning environment for the Net generation. The conceptual framework combines the IS Success Model, and the Task-Technology Fit and Flow theory. Method: The study used a quantitative method. Data was collected using an online instrument. The study used 125 participants from mainly the United Kingdom, United States and South Africa. The model was validated using confirmatory factor analysis and tested using multiple regression analysis. Key Findings: The identified antecedents of effectiveness are Game-Task Fit and Flow, where Flow consists of Clear Goals, Feedback and Concentration. Additionally, the Use factor in the model is replaced by Perceived Usefulness. The Conceptual Framework can be used as an evaluation tool for effective game-based learning environments for the Net generation

The motivational landscape of first-person shooter games

Abstract. The purpose of this research was to gain better understanding of the motivations to play video games, particularly first-person shooter games. The aim was therefore to produce a motivational landscape that describes and categorizes the main motivations to play first-person shooter games (FPS). The study tries to expand the understanding of motivations to play. Therefore, qualitative research method was chosen for gaining a better understanding. The chosen research strategy is case study and the cases used in this study are Battlefield 3 and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. These two cases represent popular games in FPS-genre. The empirical material was collected by using semi-structured interviews. Total of seven (7) persons were interviewed for this study. All interviewees were Finnish males (ages 22–28) that are experienced gamers. This study expands the motivation research of gaming. From the academic standpoint, the study offers an empirically grounded categorization for analyzing the motivations to play FPS-games: achievement, learning, social interaction, entertainment and escapism. The study gives structure to a complex and elusive subject of motivation, deepens the understanding of the content of the categories and reveals the underlying processes behind it. In addition, the study makes a division between intrinsic and extrinsic motivations. From managerial standpoint, the study offers comprehensive and balanced structure for evaluating games in terms of their motivational appeal and may therefore help in game development. Game developers should understand that the game needs to provide enough intrinsic motivation to keep players interested. Extrinsic motivation should be used as something that enhances the gameplay experience without destroying it. In-depth understanding of the player’s motivations to play is a vital part of every game company’s business decision-making practices. Video game companies should consider motivations to play when they design monetization models for their games. From a societal standpoint, the parents of gamers could benefit from this study by understanding more of what is actually happening when their children play FPS-games

Immersion and identity in video games

The video gaming industry is an ever-expanding one. According to Reuters, the global net worth of the industry in 2011 was US$65 billion (Reuters, 2011). Every year developers race to deliver the best game ever produced. There are various factors, which render a game successful and a successful formulation of those factors means a satisfying game experience for the players. Immersion, the mental involvement between the game and the player, is one of the broader phenomena, which includes most of the game design elements as its determinants. Understanding the impact of a game\u27s immersiveness and how to form a strong immersive structure is relevant to the development of a successful video game. ^ Every video game player, as they play video games, connects their real life identity with a virtual identity, which serves as a visual and substantial representation. The real life identity, with every aspect, is reflected on to the virtual identity and the latter is reflected on to the former as an outcome of being exposed to video games. James Paul Gee (2004) has suggested that a third type of identity is formed during this process of exchange: the Projective Identity (p. 56). Understanding the relationship between identity and videogames through this idea of triple identities (real life, projective and virtual) and the interaction between players\u27 real-world self and the avatar they are controlling inside the virtual space is crucial towards analyzing video game elements such as Immersion and Presence .^ This thesis investigates different video game elements and the impact they have in terms of immersion and the relevance of these elements based on the Space Simulation Genre, to create a model that would be applicable to other genres

Stumbling into Virtual Worlds. How Resolution Affects Users’ Immersion in Virtual Reality and Implications for Virtual Reality in Therapeutic Applications

Studies of how users experience Virtual Reality (VR) have thus far failed to address the extent to which rendering resolution and rendering frame rate affect users’ sense of immersion in VR, including applications of VR involving simulators, treatments for psychological and mental disorders, explorations of new and nonexistent structures, and ways to better understand the human body in medical applications. This study investigated if rendering resolution affected users’ sense of immersion in VR. This was conducted by comparing the responses of two groups, relative to two measures of participant immersion: (a) participant’s sense of presence and (b) participant’s sense of embodiment. The treatment levels were (a) low 512 pixels per inch (ppi) and (b) high 2048 ppi rendering resolution. One potential moderating variable, game type, varied over three levels: narrative, objective, and situational. The participants were randomly assigned to a treatment level account for previous VR experience, neither participants nor the research observer knew the treatment level. Measurements were collected after each game via an Immersion tendency Questionnaire after each game. For each dependent measure, sample descriptive statistics—mean (M) and inter-quartile range (IQR) with a conventional significance level of 0.05—were evaluated to conclude the results. Data indicated that the rendering resolution did not affect user immersion, but the game type did affect immersion and the situational game type was determined to be significantly more immersive than the other game types

The subjective gameplay experience: An examination of the revised game engagement model

The study of the subjective gameplay experience spans multiple disciplines, from teachers who want to harness the power of gameplay to enhance instruction to game developers hoping to create the next big hit. Despite decades of interest, little agreement has been found regarding the way constructs—such as immersion, involvement, presence, and flow—are used to describe the subjective gameplay experience. Without the consistent usage of well-defined constructs, it becomes impossible to further scientific understanding of this domain. This dissertation examined the theoretical evolution of the key subjective gameplay experience constructs. From this, definitions for immersion, involvement, presence, and flow were extracted. Based on the prior work of Brockmyer et al. (2009), a revised game engagement model was created that incorporated these definitions. To test the proposed relationships within the revised game engagement model, experienced players of the computer game Minecraft were recruited for an experimental study. The participants played the game Minecraft, which was manipulated with respect to both level of difficulty and immersive aspects. This allowed for a range of potential game engagement states to be experienced by the participants. Several individual differences hypothesized to influence the different constructs of game engagement also were measured. The results of the study supported many proposed aspects of the revised game engagement model and revealed ways in which the model could be further refined. The theoretically-derived definitions and revised game engagement model resulting from this work, along with the suggested measures for these relevant constructs, provides a framework for future work in this area. This framework will improve the consistency of construct operationalization, benefiting the continued study of the subjective gameplay experience

Semiotics & Syringe Pumps

Semiotics can be a useful paradigm in HCI research and yet the cognitive process of semiosis is difficult to uncover and empirically study. Thus in the domain of HCI semiotics has largely remained a descriptive theory, able to provide a theoretical basis for the study of interfaces and interaction, but unable to produce empirical data and generative research. This work, made up of several studies, aims to investigates human errors motivated by the problems of medical interfaces. It takes an empirical approach to investigate the interplay between semiotic signs and human error, attempting to uncover how signs in the interface may affect the use of interactive devices. Interfaces are created from signs, collections of symbols, icons and indices which form a semiotic scene, a meaningful whole through which the user may interact with the underlying system. Therefore interaction with an interface relies heavily on the process of semiosis. The first study in this thesis was a questionnaire study looking at number pads as indurate signs for calcu- lators and telephones. The questionnaire was designed to ascertain how users interpreted number-pads and what features of the number-pad influenced this interpretation. We found that the layout of the numerical buttons on a number-pad had little to do with how the number-pad was perceived, and that the users based their assumptions about the use of the interface based entirely upon the extra contextualizing non-numerical buttons. The wish to use a semiotic paradigm in an empirical study demanded the exploration of a novel experimental methodology. The next set of studies were experiments to see whether the interpretation of indurate signs could be overcome under pressure. Thus we used a computer game based experiments as it was thought that they would allow for the complete control and manipulation of signs within the experimental environment, and encourage more natural semiosis that one might expect from participants in a real life task based explicit ex- periment. In these studies it was found that under pressure participants fell back upon the culturally fossilized meanings of the indurate signs they encountered, suggesting that indurate signs may cause misinterpretation in human-machine interaction if used ineffectively. Overall this thesis makes a contribution to semiotics by exploring the notion of indurate signs and how they are interpreted, by investigating what features of common interfaces affect semiosis, and by attempting to further the course of empirical semiotic studies. This thesis also contributes towards the use of computer games as a research tool by charting the evolution of the game based experimental methodology over the course of this thesis