Affective Medicine: a review of Affective Computing efforts in Medical Informatics

Background: Affective computing (AC) is concerned with emotional interactions performed with and through computers. It is defined as “computing that relates to, arises from, or deliberately influences emotions”. AC enables investigation and understanding of the relation between human emotions and health as well as application of assistive and useful technologies in the medical domain. Objectives: 1) To review the general state of the art in AC and its applications in medicine, and 2) to establish synergies between the research communities of AC and medical informatics. Methods: Aspects related to the human affective state as a determinant of the human health are discussed, coupled with an illustration of significant AC research and related literature output. Moreover, affective communication channels are described and their range of application fields is explored through illustrative examples. Results: The presented conferences, European research projects and research publications illustrate the recent increase of interest in the AC area by the medical community. Tele-home healthcare, AmI, ubiquitous monitoring, e-learning and virtual communities with emotionally expressive characters for elderly or impaired people are few areas where the potential of AC has been realized and applications have emerged. Conclusions: A number of gaps can potentially be overcome through the synergy of AC and medical informatics. The application of AC technologies parallels the advancement of the existing state of the art and the introduction of new methods. The amount of work and projects reviewed in this paper witness an ambitious and optimistic synergetic future of the affective medicine field

Using motivation derived from computer gaming in the context of computer based instruction

This paper was originally presented at the IEEE Technically Sponsored SAI Computing Conference 2016, London, 13-15 July 2016. Abstract— this paper explores how to exploit game based motivation as a way to promote engagement in computer-based instruction, and in particular in online learning interaction. The paper explores the human psychology of gaming and how this can be applied to learning, the computer mechanics of media presentation, affordances and possibilities, and the emerging interaction of playing games and how this itself can provide a pedagogical scaffolding to learning. In doing so the paper focuses on four aspects of Game Based Motivation and how it may be used; (i) the game player’s perception; (ii) the game designers’ model of how to motivate; (iii) team aspects and social interaction as a motivating factor; (iv) psychological models of motivation. This includes the increasing social nature of computer interaction. The paper concludes with a manifesto for exploiting game based motivation in learning

The avatar and the player : Understanding the relationship beyond the screen

“This material is presented to ensure timely dissemination of scholarly and technical work. Copyright and all rights therein are retained by authors or by other copyright holders. All persons copying this information are expected to adhere to the terms and constraints invoked by each author's copyright. In most cases, these works may not be reposted without the explicit permission of the copyright holder." “Copyright IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. However, permission to reprint/republish this material for advertising or promotional purposes or for creating new collective works for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or to reuse any copyrighted component of this work in other works must be obtained from the IEEE.” DOI: 10.1109/VS-GAMES.2009.11This paper looks at the concept of the avatar in terms of our interaction and viewpoints. It proposes a vocabulary of terms which analytically describe the player: avatar relationship as opposed to the player: screen relationship, emphasising the performative rather than the representational elements. In place of transposing cinematographic concepts such as first person' or 'third person' to the discussion of avatars, as has been the case in the past, the paper proposes the idea of the 'altered positions' of the avatar, whether that be playing 'within' the character' or 'outside' of the character. These concepts link to the avatarial display and avatarial presence of a game character and emphasise how the various 'positions' effect our movements and experience within the game world, and help us understand how we, as players, are 'performing' through our avatars, engaging in and enjoying a player->controller->avatar experience that is essentially aesthetic and emotional

Embodying Compassion in Virtual Reality using Celebrity Avatars

OBJECTIVE: The study aimed to investigate the use of a virtual reality paradigm in facilitating self-compassion for self-critical people, embodied in compassionate or uncompassionate celebrity avatars. Specifically, the study explored if this intervention could help reduce people’s self-criticism, negative affect and fears of compassion and increase self-compassion, motivation to act compassionately and positive affect. It was predicted that embodying the avatar of a compassionate celebrity would trigger the proteus effect and thus enhance the positive outcomes of the intervention. METHOD: Forty-eight participants who scored highly on a measure of self-criticism were randomly assigned to embody either a celebrity they perceived as highly compassionate or uncompassionate. They were given psycho-educational material concerning compassion and were supported to write a compassionate script. Participants then engaged in a virtual reality scenario where, embodied as a celebrity, they gave compassion to a distressed child before a recording of this compassion was played back to them whilst re-embodied as the child. All participants completed measures of compassion, self-criticism and positive and negative affect before and after the virtual reality intervention. RESULTS: Following the intervention, participants in both conditions reported significantly reduced fears of compassion and self-criticism and significantly increased self-compassion, self-reassurance and motivation to be compassionate to themselves and others. Contrary to predictions, there was no significant difference in outcomes between participants who embodied a compassionate or uncompassionate celebrity. There was no significant change in positive and negative affect following the intervention however an insecure attachment style was predictive of experiencing less relaxed and safe/warm emotions following the compassionate scenario. CONCLUSION: The study provides promising results for the application of a virtual reality intervention in helping self-critical people cultivate compassion for themselves and reduce their fears of compassion. This area of research however is in its infancy and further studies investigating the longer-term use of the intervention in clinical populations is important. Researchers and clinicians should hold in mind that for people with attachment difficulties, the use of VR in this context should be proceeded with additional support and sensitivity. The findings suggest that the identity of the embodied avatar (compassionate or not) does not impact the positive outcomes of this intervention. Possible explanations for failure to evidence the proteus effect are discussed

‘World of Warcraft is My Home From Home’: An Argument for the Protection of Virtual Worlds

Virtual worlds have taken on a renewed significance in our contemporary world of social distancing and isolation. Virtual worlds exist independently of the physical world yet allow individuals a degree of verisimilitude of the physical world; including attachment to that world and others in it. This phenomenon is present in Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Games which are the primary focus of this work. How the law ought to approach such virtual worlds has been contested since the early days of the internet. Much of the literature in the area looks to utilise established areas of law such as property law, contract law, or intellectual property to solve the novel problems created by virtual worlds. It is perhaps understandable that scholars and judges would opt for established areas of law in light of their knowledge and trust in the same. This traditional approach understands virtual worlds and the items therein as the property of the developer thereby eroding users’ trust in the long term existence of virtual worlds. This article takes a novel and previously unexplored view as to how virtual worlds should be protected in light of the attachment an individual may feel towards virtual worlds irrespective of ownership. It will be established that this attachment is akin to the connection a person may feel towards their home in the physical world. This paper utilises these similarities to question why legal protections are not afforded to individuals and the virtual worlds to which they are connected. In arguing to secure this protection the article draws inspiration from the community empowerment principles of the Localism Act 2011 which allows for land and buildings to be protected as Assets of Community Value

Demon girl power: Regimes of form and force in videogames primal and Buffy the Vampire Slayer

'There's nothing like a spot of demon slaughter to make a girl's night'. Since the phenomenal success of the Tomb Raider (1996) videogame series a range of other videogames have used carefully branded animated female avatars. As with most other media, the game industry tends to follow and expand on established lucrative formats to secure an established market share. Given the capacity of videogames to create imaginary worlds in 3D that can be interacted with, it is not perhaps surprising that pre-established worlds are common in videogames, as is the case with Buffy the Vampire Slayer (there are currently three videogames based on the cult TV show 2000-2003), but in other games worlds have to be built from scratch, as is the case with Primal (2003). With the mainstream media's current romance with kickass action heroines, the advantage of female animated game avatars is their potential to broaden the appeal of games across genders. This is however a double-edged affair: as well as appealing to what might be a termed a post-feminist market, animated forms enable hyper-feminine proportions and impossible vigour. I argue that becoming demon - afforded by the plasticity of animation – in these games troubles the representational qualities ordinarily afforded to female avatars in videogames. But I also argue that theories of representation are insufficient for a full understanding of the formal particularities of videogames and as such it is crucial to address the impact of media-specific attributes of videogames on the interpellation of players into the game space and the way that power regimes are organised. While theories of gender representation can go someway towards understanding the ideological construction of game characters, they are not developed sufficiently to accommodate the particular nature of player participation intrinsic to playing digital games. The fact that players are interpolated into the game worlds of the Buffyverse and Primal in ways quite different to other media forms is significant and I offer the concept of 'being-in-the-world-of-thegame' to illustrate how theories of representation alone are not sufficient to the task of analysing videogame forms. This paper focuses on the ways in which the interactive and spatial features of videogame formats affect narrative structure, characterisation and themes (particularly agency and power) and I argue that an address of the ways that videogames operate structurally is essential if we are to understand how they take animation into the realms of interactivity and how videogames generate meaning and pleasure

Virtual Worlds – a Legal Post-Mortem Account

This paper addresses the lack of legal literature in the area of death and virtual worlds. It sheds light on the legal status of different in-game assets, assessing whether these could fit within the notions of property or other relevant legal concepts such as intellectual property, usufruct, or easements. Having determined this, the paper goes on to explore the possibilities regarding the transmission of these assets on death. The author does not share views of a great portion of the legal literature arguing for recognition of ”virtual property” as a concept. Rather, this paper proposes an alternative solution in order to reconcile different interests arising in VWs; primarily, those of developers and players. Recognising a phenomenon of consitutionalisation of VWs, this article suggests a solution in the form of servitudes (usufruct). Virtual usufruct is herein conceived as player‟s entitlement to use the VW account and profit from it, if applicable. It is suggested that the entitlement to use the account expires on death, but that it allows a player‟s personal representative/executor to gain access to the account and extract any possible monetary value. This solution would enable players to take more control over their virtual assets and heirs to potentially benefit from valuable VW accounts