734 research outputs found
The Industry and Policy Context for Digital Games for Empowerment and Inclusion:Market Analysis, Future Prospects and Key Challenges in Videogames, Serious Games and Gamification
The effective use of digital games for empowerment and social inclusion (DGEI) of people and communities at risk of exclusion will be shaped by, and may influence the development of a range of sectors that supply products, services, technology and research. The principal industries that would appear to be implicated are the 'videogames' industry, and an emerging 'serious games' industry. The videogames industry is an ecosystem of developers, publishers and other service providers drawn from the interactive media, software and broader ICT industry that services the mainstream leisure market in games, The 'serious games' industry is a rather fragmented and growing network of firms, users, research and policy makers from a variety of sectors. This emerging industry is are trying to develop knowledge, products, services and a market for the use of digital games, and products inspired by digital games, for a range of non-leisure applications. This report provides a summary of the state of play of these industries, their trajectories and the challenges they face. It also analyses the contribution they could make to exploiting digital games for empowerment and social inclusion. Finally, it explores existing policy towards activities in these industries and markets, and draws conclusions as to the future policy relevance of engaging with them to support innovation and uptake of effective digital game-based approaches to empowerment and social inclusion.JRC.J.3-Information Societ
A Learning Game For Youth Financial Literacy Education In The Teen Grid Of Second Life Three-Dimensional Virtual Environment
Game-like three-dimensional (3D) virtual worlds have become popular venues for youth to explore and interact with friends. To bring vital financial literacy education to them in places they frequent, a multi-disciplinary team of computer scientists, educators, and financial experts developed a youth-oriented financial literacy education game in the Teen Grid of Second Life 3D online virtual world. This paper presents the design and development process of this financial literacy education game, its learning effectiveness in classrooms, and lessons learned from the process
Spontaneous Communities of Learning: Cooperative Learning Ecosystems Surrounding Virtual Worlds
This thesis is the culmination of a five year research project exploring online gamers
and the cultures they engage with, both virtually in the many massively multiplayer
games and virtual worlds online, and in the physical spaces they inhabit in various
play spaces around the world. The primary research questions concerned social
learning in such spaces, i.e. how do players learn from one another what they need
to be successful, and what are the associated norms and practices for doing so?
What sorts of peripheral skills are gained, and are they applicable to physical world
contexts? Finally, what does participation in such spaces mean for individuals who
may have lacked other mechanisms for social learning, and what impacts might such
findings have on existing educational structures?
I anticipate that this thesis will generate as many questions as it will answer, and I
hope, that as a snapshot of a gaming culture in time, will be looked upon as a
monograph in the classic ethnographic tradition
Spartan Daily, February 17, 2022
Volume 158, Issue 10https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/spartan_daily_2022/1009/thumbnail.jp
Beyond billiard balls: transnational flows, cultural diversity and digital games
Current mass media policy and regulation in Western Europe is primarily state‐based and increasingly based on the presumption that a competitive market will maximise individual choice and diversity. Policy interventions are primarily justified in terms of specific market failures including concentration of producers in the marketplace, the need to financially reward content developers financially for their work and issues related to distribution bottlenecks.1 Nevertheless, it is clear that at the national and European levels, public interest and cultural arguments also inform policy development and regulation. New media, including online and offline digital games, represent a new area for policy makers at the national and international levels. This chapter aims to contribute to our understanding of how digital games operate as markets and as social and cultural activities in order to inform discussions about the need for policy interventions
Beyond billiard balls: transnational flows, cultural diversity and digital games
Current mass media policy and regulation in Western Europe is primarily state‐based and increasingly based on the presumption that a competitive market will maximise individual choice and diversity. Policy interventions are primarily justified in terms of specific market failures including concentration of producers in the marketplace, the need to financially reward content developers financially for their work and issues related to distribution bottlenecks.1 Nevertheless, it is clear that at the national and European levels, public interest and cultural arguments also inform policy development and regulation. New media, including online and offline digital games, represent a new area for policy makers at the national and international levels. This chapter aims to contribute to our understanding of how digital games operate as markets and as social and cultural activities in order to inform discussions about the need for policy interventions
A Review of the Open Educational Resources (OER) Movement: Achievements, Challenges, and New Opportunities
Examines the state of the foundation's efforts to improve educational opportunities worldwide through universal access to and use of high-quality academic content
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Online gaming and addiction: a psychosocial investigation using mixed methods
Online virtual worlds known as Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs) have gained increased popularity over the last decade. MMORPGs provide a sophisticated environment that enables complete immersion within the virtual world to the extent that it may become an alternative reality to its users. Some researchers have suggested that online gaming addiction is growing in prevalence among adolescents and adult gamers. It has been proposed that research is needed to establish the incidence and prevalence of MMORPG addiction. The aim of this body of research was to examine the impact of MMORPGs (psychologically and socially) on peoples' lives for the purpose of providing an empirical research base on which future research in the area can build. Using a mixed methods approach for data collection and analysis, an online scoping study, interview study and two questionnaire studies were conducted. The thesis provides a detailed conceptualisation of the psychological processes involved in MMORPG playing. The thesis was directed by previous research into video games, online gaming and addiction which provided a substantive picture of the psychosocial effects of online gaming. The findings showed that there were both positive and negative effects associated with online gaming; gamers used MMORPGs to alleviate negative feelings and to meet new people, learn about new cultures, and build friendships. Gamers also provided detailed descriptions of personal problems that had arisen due to playing MMORPGs. A small percentage of gamers (3.6%) were classified as addicted to MMORPGs, these gamers may find it difficult to control their game playing behaviour. However, there are still gaps in our knowledge of MMORPGs. Overall, the research has shown that the psychology of MMORPGs is an important topic that requires further in-depth investigation. The present research has revealed valuable information about the impact of MMORPGs on the lives of gamers that can be built upon by other researchers. Implications of the findings regarding excessive playing and addiction to MMORPGs, and social responsibility were discussed, and recommendations for future research studies were proposed
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