Paving the way to e-services: Innovation through online games

The transformative power of organizational and service innovations on value or supply chains has been the object of several studies. The question identified in this paper is how disruptive trends in the videogames world can have spill-over effects in the broader realm of e-services. Section 1 opens with a brief review of literature. Section 2 proposes a description of the on-line games industrial ecosystem, the characteristics of the production process and the value chain in the online video games industry. The main techno-economic models for the production and distribution of online games are described in a third section with an emphasis on service creation, and illustrated by some case studies. The last part highlights the trend of innovative paths towards an economy of e-Services which are driven by the evolution of online games in a converged environment. --Online value creation,virtual world,virtual good,value chain,digital content convergence,new business models,services

Bipartite electronic SLA as a business framework to support cross-organization load management of real-time online applications

Online applications such as games and e-learning applications fall within the broader category of real-time online interactive applications (ROIA), a new class of ‘killer’ application for the Grid that is being investigated in the edutain@grid project. The two case studies in edutain@grid are an online game and an e-learning training application. We present a novel Grid-based business framework that makes use of bipartite service level agreements (SLAs) and dynamic invoice models to model complex business relationships in a massively scalable and flexible way. We support cross-organization load management at the business level, through zone migration. For evaluation we look at existing and extended value chains, the quality of service (QoS) metrics measured and the dynamic invoice models that support this work. We examine the causal links from customer quality of experience (QoE) and service provider quality of business (QoBiz) through to measured quality of service. Finally we discuss a shared reward business ecosystem and suggest how extended service level agreements and invoice models can support this

Exploring Customers’ Preferences for Online Games

Online content providers who use the Internet to distribute content experience an extremely competitive business environment. To survive in this environment, they have started charging a fee for the content that they provide. However, there have been very few success stories in commercializing online content. Although one of few success stories is the online game, it still has customers’ psychological resistance against paying a high fee for playing games. To pay back their high R&D or development costs quickly, many online game producers have a tendency to assign high prices to their online games. Without examining customers’ perceived prices for online games, many online game producers have tended to decide prices from their perspectives. Although many online game-related research works have focused on psychological and technical aspects, very few works have examined online gamers’ preferences carefully. This study aims at exploring online gamers’ preference by measuring their WTP (Willingness To Pay) for online games

Emergence and playfulness in social games

Social Games, built and played on social networks such as Facebook, have rapidly become a major force in the world of game development, and the top social games today claim more players than any other online game on any format. As social games begin to mature from their roots as simple playful social toys and into the products of big business, the patterns and mechanics used in the design have begun to be formalised. In this paper, it is argued that experimentation and playfulness is still a very important part of the play experience and a valuable source of fun. As game designs explore the space opened by the new genre of social games, it is vital for designers to leave “gaps” in the design to allow for playful and serendipitous experiences to emerge from the activities of the players. To support this argument, Caillois’ classification of play is used as a lens through which social games can be examined. Examples of paidic, playful and emergent play are presented from popular social and offline games, and a detailed case study of paidic play in a new social game is presented from the designer’s perspective. Interviews from participants to an open trial are discussed, and their experiences in creating their own playful experiences and goals within the formal structure of the social game design are explored

Gaming Business Communities: Developing online learning organisations to foster communities, develop leadership, and grow interpersonal education

This paper explores, through observation and testing, what possibilities from gaming can be extended into other realms of human interaction to help bring people together, extend education, and grow business. It uses through action learning within the safety of the virtual world within Massively Multiplayer Online Games. Further, I explore how the world of online gaming provides opportunity to train a wide range of skills through extending Revans’ (1980) learning equation and action inquiry methodology. This equation and methodology are deployed in relation to a gaming community to see if the theories could produce strong relationships within organisations and examine what learning, if any, is achievable. I also investigate the potential for changes in business (e.g., employee and customer relationships) through involvement in the gaming community as a unique place to implement action learning. The thesis also asks the following questions on a range of extended possibilities in the world of online gaming: What if the world opened up to a social environment where people could discuss their successes and failures? What if people could take a real world issue and re‐create it in the safe virtual world to test ways of dealing with it? What education answers can the world of online gaming provide

Student interactions in online discussion forums: their perception on learning with business simulation games

Digital technology offers new teaching methods with controversial results over learning. They allow students to develop a more active participation in their learning process although it does not always drive to unequivocal better learning outcomes. This study aims to offer additional evidence on the contribution of business simulation games to students' learning outcomes, considering student interactions in online discussion forums. We conducted a qualitative research with the online discussion forums of 5 different courses at bachelor and master levels, which involves 41 students' teams. The final sample was composed of 3681 messages posted by the students. The results reveal that some generic and specific managerial skills exert a positive influence on learning outcomes. Students mostly highlighted teamwork, decision-making, information processing, reaching agreements, and dealing with uncertainty as the most relevant contributions of the game towards their learning. These results have instructional and pedagogical implications for determining the best way to enhance students' motivation and learning outcomes when using digital technology methods, which involves recommendations that affect their design and monitoring

Living City, A Collaborative Browser-Based Massively Multiplayer Online Game

This work presents the design and implementation of our Browser-based Massively Multiplayer Online Game, Living City, a simulation game fully developed at the University of Messina. Living City is a persistent and real-time digital world, running in the Web browser environment and accessible from users without any client-side installation. Today Massively Multiplayer Online Games attract the attention of Computer Scientists both for their architectural peculiarity and the close interconnection with the social network phenomenon. We will cover these two aspects paying particular attention to some aspects of the project: game balancing (e.g. algorithms behind time and money balancing); business logic (e.g., handling concurrency, cheating avoidance and availability) and, finally, social and psychological aspects involved in the collaboration of players, analyzing their activities and interconnections

DAMPAK MICROTRANSACTION GAME ONLINE TERHADAP PENGELOLAAN KEUANGAN PRIBADI GENERASI Z DI INDONESIA

Online games have become entertainment for almost all groups, especially young people who fall into the Generation Z category. Technological developments are also a factor in why online games are also developing. The online game industry has made many innovations, one of which is presenting a microtransaction business model in the games they make. Microtransaction requires a certain amount of real money to buy a number of virtual items. This research aims to analyze the significant impact of microtransactions on financial management, the frequency and nominal value of online game microtransactions as well as how to reduce the negative impacts arising from online game microtransactions on generation Z. The research uses quantitative research methods.Finding the sample was carried out randomly by distributing online questionnaires and sample selection using the Lemeshow formula. Data analysis and processing using SmartPLS-3 resulted in the result that there is a fairly strong impact of online game microtransactions on generation Z's personal financial management

Teaching employability skills through simulation games

This paper examines the use of a business simulation game to test its effectiveness in promoting the awareness of employability skills in undergraduate students. A mixed approach using an-online survey tool was used to record student perceptions of how their employability skills were developed across ten courses and three faculties. The survey was conducted before the unit started, and on completion. Key emerging themes show that students demonstrated an increased awareness and development of their employability skills. They acquired and developed their skills by learning how to operate a small business start-up using a business simulation game. This research project was limited to one core unit in the curriculum, and the project is university specific. A cross university research project would add further value to the research project. Students are able to articulate the skills they have acquired and developed thus showing elements of self-awareness. An increase in student’s social capital is likely to enhance their career decisions. This paper will be of value to institutions wishing to evaluate the use of serious business simulation games to embed employability skills into the curriculum