Brave New Play: A Brief Look at Digital Natives, Changing Play Ecosystems, and Wager-Based Gaming

In this April 11 Gaming Research Colloquium talk, Andrade presents some recent research and insights into new forms of popular digital and reality-based play. New game forms such as cosplay, larping, virtual-location based games, co-presence, and play communities are established norms of play with tens-of-thousands of players/participants and gaining popularity as productive gaming communities

“Fairy rings” of participation: the invisible network influencing participation in online communities

Individuals participate in many different ways in online communities. There is an extensive body of research describing participation as a key metaphor in communities of practice and stressing that participatory mobility is influenced by underground multidirectional activities, directed away from the notion of periphery to the centre practices and taking the shape of expansive swarming and multidirectional pulsations. This article describes an ongoing observational study proposing a model that attempts to determine how users participate in online communities and what influences them to alter the way in which they participate. We performed daily observations on user participatory behaviour in 50 online communities using public domain – anonymous data available in the communities. The specific communities were selected because they are related to learning and support learning activities within their networks. The data observations collected were analysed using Compendium, a hypermedia knowledge mapping and sense-making tool, to represent and structure the data, make complex cross data queries, test hypotheses and build representation of real examples to support our claims. Initial findings indicate that users connect, participate, contribute and collaborate on a shared objective, transferring information and pooling knowledge within and between communities in four different modes. During their online journey, users switched between modes of participation or even remained in one specific mode, implying that the way in which users participate in an online community is not just related to the mode of participation and the level of engagement with the community but it is also due to hidden reasons or motivations, an invisible network of interactions of elements that affect the willingness of the user to participate. This layer is not immediately evident in the user actions but can be inferred by analysing user reactions. It is argued that user participation in online communities occurs in two layers; the “visible” layer of participation with the different modes; and the “invisible” layer of element interactions, similar to formations observed in nature when a radically spreading underground network of fungi activity results in a ring or arc formation of mushrooms, also known as a “fairy ring”. These underground multidirectional activities influence participation and participatory mobility. Following an open scientific inquiry approach and an open research paradigm we plan to share these observations with a wider audience of practitioners, researchers and theorists for all to test or contest our arguments, and to enrich, question, or support our model

Toward an Ecology of Gaming

In her introduction to the Ecology of Games, Salen argues for the need for an increasingly complex and informed awareness of the meaning, significance, and practicalities of games in young people's lives. The language of the media is replete with references to the devil (and heavy metal) when it comes to the ill-found virtues of videogames, while a growing movement in K-12 education casts them as a Holy Grail in the uphill battle to keep kids learning. Her essay explores the different ways the volume's contributors add shades of grey to this often black-and-white mix, pointing toward a more sophisticated understanding of the myriad ways in which gaming could and should matter to those considering the future of learning

Gaming Classics: The Bard

Technological advancement is a driving influence in the development of today’s culture. Upon the creation of electronic videogames, gaming has allowed players to not only experience new ideas previously unheard of in a gaming medium, but gaming is easily accessible to people throughout the world. Academia has begun studying games, checking the positive and negative effects videogames have on people. Might one of these positive effects be educational? If it was, college professors might use the game to help supplement their classes. The question this paper will be focused on is as follows: using the classics as our field of study, how can we build a videogame that simulates the development of cities in classical antiquity and increases a player\u27s interest in the period? This paper will be in regards to the development of this game, including how the game came about, the process of developing it, playtesting the game, and any conclusions that might be drawn

Create a Model to Detect Audiovisual Videos by Breaking Down Superscribing Tensor and Using Less Frequency and a Lower Ranking

The aim of this study is to develop a model for audiovisual video detection by decomposing superscribing tensors and using reduced frequency and lower rank. This model will be used for identifying videos that have audio with low frequencies and visual frames with low rankings. The proposed model would use a convolutional neural network (CNN) and a recurrent neural network (RNN) to detect and classify the audiovisual characteristics. The Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) will be used to record the video frames with high frequency, while the Recurrent Neural Network (RNN) will be utilised to capture the audio characteristics with low frequency. The training process will use an extensive dataset of audiovisual videos. The performance of the model will be assessed by testing it using a validation dataset. Ultimately, the model will be used in a live setting to identify audiovisual recordings with low occurrence rates

The pedagogical potential of MMOG: an exploratory study including four games and their players¹

The increasing complexity experienced by electronic games, began to demand a greater cognitive effort from their players. This has fostered some capacities in its players that could be used in teaching and learning. This chapter describes an exploratory study with two phases: the first one analyses four MMOG (Ikariam, OGame, Gladiatus and Metin2) and its pedagogical potential related to the development of problem solving skills, communication and interaction skills, and motivation to perform tasks. The second phase is a survey conducted to the players of these games about their motivation to play and their perceptions about its pedagogical potential. The results showed that all of the four analyzed games are motivating for the players, they have some pedagogical potential related to problem solving, and they improve communication and interaction skills. But the majority of the players felt some difficulties in accepting that they could transfer those developed skills to their scholar or professional life.(undefined