The False Dichotomy between Positive and Negative Affect in Game Play

Most of the time games make us happy, but sometimes they are frustrating or make us feel sad. They allow us to experience pleasure, success and joy, but they can also yield feelings of frustration, failure, or sorrow as a result of darker themes. In games, we can experience the full range of emotions – both positive and negative. The workshop goals are to: 1) Investigate positive affect, negative affect, and the interplay between positive and negative affect as a means to create powerful gaming experiences; 2) Identify gaps in our existing knowledge regarding the full range of emotional experiences in games and their impact on the player and play experience; 3) Determine directions for research to advance knowledge in this space; and, 4) Create a community of people interested in developing games that involve powerful and meaningful player experiences. The organizers will provide the structure, questions, scaffolding of discussions, and workshop materials; whereas the participants will provide ideas through positions papers and discussion

Serious Games for education and training

Serious Games (SGs) are gaining an ever increasing interest for education and traning. Exploiting the latest simulation and visualization technologies, SGs are able to contextualize the player's experience in challenging, realistic environments, supporting situated cognition. However, we still miss methods and tools for effectively and deeply infusing pedagogy and instruction inside digital games. After presenting an overview of the state of the art of the SG taxonomies, the paper introduces the pedagogical theories and models most relevant to SGs and their implications on SG design. We also present a schema for a proper integration of games in education, supporting different goals in different steps of a formal education process. By analyzing a set of well-established SGs and formats, the paper presents the main mechanics and models that are being used in SG designs, with a particular focus on assessment, feedback and learning analytics. An overview of tools and models for SG design is also presented. Finally, based on the performed analysis, indications for future research in the field are provided

A Serious Games Development Environment

Un ambiente per lo sviluppo di Serious Game

Modélisation et maintien de l’engagement dans un environnement du jeu vidéo émotionnel

Les études récentes sur les Interactions Homme-Machine ont intégré la dimension émotionnelle dans l'évaluation de l'expérience de l'utilisateur. En effet, un nouveau courant de recherche est apparu à savoir l'informatique affective, qui a donné lieu à une nouvelle génération de jeux vidéo capables d'interagir avec l'utilisateur en prenant en considération ses émotions, appelée jeux vidéo affectifs. L’objectif principal de ces jeux est de garder le joueur engagé durant la session du jeu. Pour y arriver, le jeu vidéo doit mesurer et réguler l‘état émotionnel du joueur en ajustant ses différents composants. Malgré le nombre important des recherches qui visent à améliorer le processus de détection émotionnelle, toutes les mesures utilisées jusqu'à présent ont montré certaines limites à cause de la complexité d'interprétation du concept émotionnel. Dans le présent travail, nous proposons de mesurer et soutenir l'engagement mental du joueur dans un environnent de jeu vidéo. Nous avons d’abord développé une première version de jeu vidéo et nous avons conduit une première étude expérimentale pour mesurer l'engagement mental du joueur à partir d'un index d’engagement mental extrait des données de l’activité cérébrale du joueur et plus précisément l’électroencéphalographie (EEG). Nous avons ensuite développé une deuxième version de jeu vidéo capable de capter l'état d'engagement mental (engagé, désengagé) du joueur et de déclencher un ensemble de stratégies d'engagement. Finalement, nous avons réalisé une deuxième étude expérimentale pour vérifier la capacité de ces stratégies à corriger l'état de manque d'engagement (désengagement) à augmenter et à maintenir le niveau d'engagement du joueur durant le jeu. Mots-clés : jeux vidéo, engagement mental, émotions, électroencéphalographie, stratégies d’engagement.Recent studies in human-machine interactions have integrated the emotional dimension into the evaluation of the user’s experience. Indeed, a new current research has emerged, namely affective computing, which has given rise to a new generation of video games capable of interacting with the user taking into consideration his emotions, called affective video games. The main objective of the games is to keep the player engaged during the game session. To achieve this, the video game must measure and regulate the player’s emotional state by adjusting its different components accordingly. Although the large number of researches that aim to improve emotional detection processes, all the measures used up to now have shown some limitations, because of the complexity of the emotional concept interpretation. In this work, we add to these studies by formally proposing to measure and support the player’s mental engagement in a video game environment. First, we developed a first version of video game and we conducted a first experimental study to measure the player’s mental engagement from a mental engagement index extracted from the player’s brain activity data, and more precisely Electroencephalography (EEG). Second, we developed a second version of video game capable of capturing the player’s mental engagement state (engaged, disengaged) and triggering a set of engagement strategy. Finally, we carried out a second experimental study to verify the ability of these strategies to correct the engagement lack state (disengagement) and to increase and maintain the player engagement level during the game. Keywords: video games, mental engagement, emotions, electroencephalography, engagement strategy

The Development of a Modular Framework for Serious Games and the Internet of Things

The combination of Serious Games and the Internet of Things is a recent academic domain of research. By combining the software and gaming advantages of Serious Games with the interconnected hardware and middleware driven ecosystem of the Internet of Things, it is possible to develop data-driven games that source data from the local or extended physical environment to progress in the virtual environment of gaming. The following thesis presents research into Serious Games and the Internet of Things, focusing on the development of a modular framework that represents the combination of the two technologies. Current research in the domain of Smart Serious Games omits a modular framework that is application independent and outlines the software and hardware interaction between Serious Games and the Internet of Things, therefore this thesis is the first to introduce one. By developing such a framework, this thesis contributes to the academic domain and encourages new and innovative real-world applications of Smart Serious Games that include healthcare, education, simulation and others. Further to the framework, this thesis presents a survey into the network topologies for Serious Games and the Internet of Things and a computer algorithm that provides a measure of student engagement, integrated into a Smart Serious Game developed as part of the undertaken research named Student Engagement Application (SEA). This thesis utilises a semester-long experiment and the techniques of control groups and randomised controlled trials to investigate and compare the measures of engagement obtained through SEA and self-reflection questionnaires, and the measure of student engagement against academic performance, respectively. After statistical analysis, the data presented strong confidence in the measure of engagement through SEA, validating the effectiveness of the proposed framework for Smart Serious Games

THE DEVELOPMENT OF A MODULAR FRAMEWORK FOR SERIOUS GAMES AND THE INTERNET OF THINGS

The combination of Serious Games and the Internet of Things is a recent academic domain of research. By combining the software and gaming advantages of Serious Games with the interconnected hardware and middleware driven ecosystem of the Internet of Things, it is possible to develop data-driven games that source data from the local or extended physical environment to progress in the virtual environment of gaming. The following thesis presents research into Serious Games and the Internet of Things, focusing on the development of a modular framework that represents the combination of the two technologies. Current research in the domain of Smart Serious Games omits a modular framework that is application independent and outlines the software and hardware interaction between Serious Games and the Internet of Things, therefore this thesis is the first to introduce one. By developing such a framework, this thesis contributes to the academic domain and encourages new and innovative real-world applications of Smart Serious Games that include healthcare, education, simulation and others. Further to the framework, this thesis presents a survey into the network topologies for Serious Games and the Internet of Things and a computer algorithm that provides a measure of student engagement, integrated into a Smart Serious Game developed as part of the undertaken research named Student Engagement Application (SEA). This thesis utilises a semester-long experiment and the techniques of control groups and randomised control trials to investigate the compare the measures of engagement obtained through SEA and self-reflection questionnaires, and the measure of student engagement against academic performance, respectively. After statistical analysis, the data presented strong confidence in the measure of engagement through SEA, validating the effectiveness of the proposed framework for Smart Serious Games

Una visión empresarial del desarrollo de serious games : propuesta de un marco de trabajo

Tesis inédita de la Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Facultad de Ciencias de la Información, leída el 26-01-2023El carácter multidisciplinar establece el desarrollo de la investigación que a continuación presentamos y que está enmarcada en una beca de doctorado industrial desarrollada en la empresa de base tecnológica Pada One Games. Esta investigación pretende definir un marco de trabajo para el diseño de serious games en museos que incluya la evaluación de la diversión y el aprendizaje como variables separadas pero (inter) relacionables. Fruto del objetivo expuesto, surge la hipótesis principal de la investigación: la evaluación mixta, cuantitativa y cualitativa por separado, de la diversión y el aprendizaje en el diseño de los juegos para museos permite crear juegos más efectivos, es decir, más divertidos y útiles al mismo tiempo para los fines pedagógicos de estas instituciones. A través de varios experimentos realizados sobre juegos concretos, se han evaluado una serie de hipótesis específicas que nos han ayudado a determinar la validez de la principal. Para la consecución de este objetivo seguiremos la metodología conocida como Investigación-Acción participativa. Se aplica en el desarrollo del marco de trabajo para el diseño de serious games, y se complementa con las evaluaciones intermedias sobre aspectos concretos de los juegos. En ellos utilizaremos técnicas cuantitativas que permitan juzgar la diversión y el aprendizaje en los videojuegos que se desarrollarán como parte de la investigación...The multidisciplinary character marks the development of the research presented below, which is framed in an Industrial Doctorate grant developed in the technology-based company Pada One Games. This research pursues the definition of a framework for the design of Serious Games in museums that includes the evaluation of fun and learning, asseparate but (inter) relatable variables. As a result of the above objective, the main hypothesis of the research arises: Separate quantitative/qualitative evaluation of fun and learning in the design of games for museums allows designing more effective games, i.e., that are both more fun and useful for the pedagogical purposes of these institutions.Through several experiments conducted on specific games, a series of more specific hypotheses have been evaluated that have helped us to determine the validity of the main hypothesis.In order to achieve this objective, we will follow a methodology known as Participatory Action Research. This methodology is applied in the development of the framework for the design of Serious Games and is complemented by intermediate evaluations on specific aspects of the games, where we will use quantitative techniques that allow us to evaluate the fun and learning in the video games that will be developed as part of the research...Fac. de Ciencias de la InformaciónTRUEunpu

VideoTag: Encouraging the Effective Tagging of Internet Videos Through Tagging Games

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the University of Wolverhampton for the degree of Doctor of PhilosophyAbstract The tags and descriptions entered by video owners in video sharing sites are typically inadequate for retrieval purposes, yet the majority of video search still uses this text. This problem is escalating due to the ease with which users can self-publish videos, generating masses that are poorly labelled and poorly described. This thesis investigates how users tag videos and whether video tagging games can solve this problem by generating useful sets of tags. A preliminary study investigated tags in two social video sharing sites, YouTube and Viddler. YouTube contained many irrelevant tags because the system does not encourage users to tag their videos and does not promote tags as useful. In contrast, using tags as the sole means of categorisation in Viddler motivated users to enter a higher proportion of relevant tags. Poor tags were found in both systems, however, highlighting the need to improve video tagging. In order to give users incentives to tag videos, the VideoTag project in this thesis developed two tagging games, Golden Tag and Top Tag, and one non-game tagging system, Simply Tag, and conducted two experiments with them. In the first experiment VideoTag was a portal to play video tagging games whereas in the second experiment it was a portal to curate collections of special interest videos. Users preferred to tag videos using games, generating tags that were relevant to the videos and that covered a range of tag types that were descriptive of the video content at a predominately specific, objective level. Users were motivated by interest in the content rather than by game elements, and content had an effect on the tag types used. In each experiment, users predominately tagged videos using objective language, with a tendency to use specific rather than basic tags. There was a significant difference between the types of tags entered in the games and in Simply Tag, with more basic, objective vocabulary entered into the games and more specific, objective language entered into the non-game system. Subjective tags were rare but were more frequent in Simply Tag. Gameplay also had an influence on the types of tags entered; Top Tag generated more basic tags and Golden Tag generated more specific and subjective tags. Users were not attracted to use VideoTag by the games alone. Game mechanics had little impact on motivations to use the system. VideoTag used YouTube videos, but could not upload the tags to YouTube and so users could see no benefit for the tags they entered, reducing participation. Specific interest content was more of a motivator for use than games or tagging and that this warrants further research. In the current game-saturated climate, gamification of a video tagging system may therefore be most successful for collections of videos that already have a committed user base.University of Wolverhampto