Teens, Video Games, and Civics

Analyzes survey findings on trends in teenagers' video gaming, the social context, the role of parents and monitoring, and the link between specific gaming experiences and civic activities. Explores gaming's potential as civic learning opportunities

Market Leadership Through Technology - Backward Compatibility in the U.S. Handheld Video Game Industry

The introduction of a new product generation forces incumbents in network industries to rebuild their installed base to maintain an advantage over potential entrants. We study if backward compatibility moderates this process of rebuilding an installed base. Using a structural model of the U.S. market for handheld game consoles, we show that backward compatibility lets incumbents transfer network effects from the old generation to the new to some extent but that it also reduces supply of new software. We examine the tradeoff between technological progress and backward compatibility and find that backward compatibility matters less if there is a large technological leap between two generations. We subsequently use our results to assess the role of backward compatibility as a strategy to sustain market leadership.backward compatibility, market leadership, network effects, video games, two-sided markets

Born Digital / Grown Digital: Assessing the Future Competitiveness of the EU Video Games Software Industry

This report reflects the findings of the JRC-IPTS study on the Video games Industry, with a focus on two specific activities: online and mobile video games. The report starts by introducing the technologies, their characteristics, market diffusion and barriers to take up, and their potential economic impact, before moving to an analysis of their contribution to the competitiveness of the European ICT industry. The research is based on internal and external expertise, literature reviews and desk research, several workshops and syntheses of the current state of the knowledge. The results were reviewed by experts and in dedicated workshops. The report concludes that the general expectations for the next years foresee a speeded up migration of contents and services to digital, in a scenario of rapidly increasing convergence of digital technologies and integration of media services taking advantage of improved and permanent network connections. The role of the so-called creative content industry is expected to increase accordingly. Communication services and media industry will co-evolve on the playground of the Internet of services, along with a product to service transformation of the software market in general. In this general context the Video games Software industry plays and is expected to play a major role. The games industry may become a major driver of the development of networks as it has been in the past for the development of computer hardware.JRC.DDG.J.4-Information Societ

Focus on the journey, not the destination: Digital games and students with disability

The way in which technologies support students with disability has been widely explored in recent times. Much of this research has focused on computer programs specifically designed to teach social and academic skills to students with disability. In the research reported in this paper we examined how students with disability could use technology designed for the general market. The impetus for the study was the principle of normalisation, which espouses that people with disability should have the opportunity to share in experiences of their same-aged peers. In previous research we demonstrated the benefits of using the commercially available hand-held games console Nintendo DS with Dr Kawashima’s Brain Training program with students in mainstream classrooms. This finding led us to consider how this technology could be used to meet specific academic and social outcomes for students with disability in the same settings. We implemented a small-scale study in an Education Support Centre [1] as this setting provided us with the opportunity for a detailed examination of how students with disability might use this technology. We found that students with disability can benefit from using the Nintendo DS with Dr Kawashima’s Brain Training program and have identified how they may use this type of technology in inclusive classrooms. © 2016, Western Australian Institute for Educational Research Inc. All rights reserved

The story of a video game: reading the Assassin\u27s Creed universe

In the digital age, fictional narratives worthy of serious analysis are no longer confined to print. In recent years, video games have come under the eye of scholars from many fields. What can video games offer? How do they change the hature of fictional narrative? And how can we study them with a critical eye? The Assassin’s Creed universe is an ideal case study for analyzing the fictional worlds video games create using narrative. The Assassin\u27s Creed narrative is composed of two parts: a present day narrative and a memory narrative set in a stylized historical past. The present day narrative accesses the memory narrative in a similar way that a player accesses the video game narrative. In addition to mirroring the gaming experience, the Assassin\u27s Creed narrative had become a fictional world that has extended to other media. These are not just recreations of the story presented in the games, but new narratives that live within the same fictional universe

Effects and applications of video games and virtual environments

The widespread use of virtual environments in today’s society leads to the importance of researching how using these virtual environments affect us, as well as how we can best use them. Video games are a very commonly used type of virtual environment/application of virtual environments. Video game research is rife with conflicting results, from studies into training, effects on emotion, to effects on visual attention. Chapter 2 considers the impacts of playing video games on visual attention and shows that the effects depend on the type of attentional process measured, and the video game genres played. Chapter 3 looks at how studies measure video game experience, and suggests a more sophisticated measure, including video game genres and platforms. This chapter also considers to what extent different video game genres are linked to different cognitive skills. Chapter 4 covers research between video game playing, task switching, and impulsivity. Chapter 5 shows that home video game playing (i.e. on home console platforms) affects both implicit memory and explicit memory, but mobile video game playing does not. Recent technological advances allowed the development of a newer form of virtual environment, virtual reality. Virtual reality has become more popular over the last few years in manufacturing and entertainment industries. However, studies into applying virtual reality to educational settings are limited. Chapter 6 presents a study that tests the effects of virtual reality on learning. The results show increased motivation and engagement with learning materials, when xxiv compared to learning with textbook-style or video materials. Chapter 7 compares learning in virtual reality, mixed reality and traditional lecture style modalities, and finds that participants report higher levels of engagement in both Virtual Reality and Mixed Reality conditions, and higher levels of positive emotions in the Virtual Reality condition. Implications for how individuals are affected by both of these types of virtual environments is discussed, including how they can be applied to learning

You are likely to be eaten by a grue: How computer games are consuming modern culture

Computer games represent an area of untapped, unappreciated potential in the human-computer relationship. Having long been considered low culture and unworthy of scholarly attention, the focus on games is intensifying as the field of ludology emerges. The first game was created forty years ago, and since then games have branched out from their traditionally young male user base and gained popularity with both adults and females. Violence in and addiction to games remain controversial topics, but the threat posed by games fades a bit in comparison to the fascinating insights they give us into literature, art, and cinema. Their cultural impact is also evidenced by the wave of nostalgia that is bringing back video games from the 1970\u27s and 80\u27s. Online gaming is changing the way people experience interactive entertainment in their homes, and massive multi-player online worlds are edging closer to becoming simulations of offline society. The significance of computer games can no longer be denied, and their future is bright as technology and game theory continue to create astounding and entertaining virtual worlds

Learning from Digital Natives: Bridging Formal and Informal Learning. Final Report

Overview This report suggests that students are increasingly making use of a variety of etools (such as mobile phones, email, MSN, digital cameras, games consoles and social networking sites) to support their informal learning within formalised educational settings, and that they use the tools that they have available if none are provided for them. Therefore, higher education institutions should encourage the use of these tools. Aims and background This study aimed to explore how e-tools (such as mobile phones, email, MSN, digital cameras, games consoles and social networking sites) and the processes that underpin their use can support learning within educational institutions and help improve the quality of students’ experiences of learning in higher education (pgs 9-11). Methodology The study entailed: (i) desk research to identify related international research and practice and examples of integration of e-tools and learning processes in formal educational settings; (ii) a survey of 160 engineering and social work students across two contrasting Scottish universities (pre- and post-1992) – the University of Strathclyde and Glasgow Caledonian University – and follow-up interviews with eight students across the two subject areas to explore which technologies students were using for both learning and leisure activities within and outside the formal educational settings and how they would like to use such technologies to support their learning in both formal and informal settings; and (iii) interviews with eight members of staff from across the institutions and two subject areas to identify their perceptions of the educational value of the e-tools. (pgs 24-27). Key findings • Students reported making extensive use of a variety of both e-tools (such as mobile phones, email, MSN, digital cameras) and social networking tools (such as Bebo, MySpace, Wikipedia and YouTube) for informal socialisation, communication, information gathering, content creation and sharing, alongside using the institutionally provided technologies and learning environments. • Most of the students owned their own computer or had access to a sibling or parent’s computer. Many students owned a laptop but preferred not to bring it onto campus due to security concerns and because they found it too heavy to carry about. • Ownership of mobile phones was ubiquitous. • Whilst the students’ information searching literacy seemed adequate, the ability of these students to harness the power of social networking tools and informal processes for their learning was low. Staff reported using a few Web 2.0 and social software tools but they were generally less familiar with how these could be used to support learning and teaching. There were misconceptions surrounding the affordances of the tools and fears expressed about security and invasion of personal space. Considerations of the costs and the time it would take staff to develop their skills meant that there was a reluctance to take up new technologies at an institutional level. • Subject differences emerged in both staff and student perceptions as to which type of tools they would find most useful. Attitudes to Web 2.0 tools were different. Engineers were concerned with reliability, using institutional systems and inter-operability. Social workers were more flexible because they were focused on communication and professional needs. • The study concluded that digital tools, personal devices, social networking software and many of the other tools explored all have a large educational potential to support learning processing and teaching practices. Therefore, use of these tools and processes within institutions, amongst staff and students should be encouraged. • The report goes on to suggest ways in which the use of such technologies can help strengthen the links between informal and formal learning in higher education. The recommendations are grouped under four areas – pedagogical, socio-cultural, organisational and technological