60 research outputs found

    INTERPRETING DIGITAL GAMING PRACTICES: SINGSTAR AS A TECHNOLOGY OF WORK

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    Embedded within discourses of the enactment of information and communications technologies (ICTs) at work is often a tightly constrained range of legitimate application areas of study, a rather thin concept of user-developer relations and a context of use that precludes simultaneity, multiplicity and informality. This situation persists despite the increasing relocation of work to informal settings beyond the traditional boundaries of the work organization. In this paper we argue for the consideration of digital games as premier and hallmark examples of socially rich ICTs and demanding the attention of researchers concerned with work orgainzations. Through two intersecting ethnographies of the use of the Sony PlayStation console game, SingStar, we provide an account of ICT mediated experiences associated with playing the game. We consider SingStar in particular as socially rich as it invites us to think about: the wider capabilities of ICTs beyond work-orientated organisations; the expansion of conditions of ICT appropriation, extended collaboration practices and the co-production of sociotechnical arrangements in situ. We argue that SingStar can be thought of as glue technology that assists in crafting and strengthening social linkages amongst players. Our examination of the play and experience of this game provides a fuller account of the interrelationships of people to socialising technologies that reaches beyond traditional discourses regarding technology, organizations and work

    Social networking and digital gaming media convergence : classification and its consequences for appropriation

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    Within the field of Information Systems, a good proportion of research is concerned with the work organisation and this has, to some extent, restricted the kind of application areas given consideration. Yet, it is clear that information and communication technology deployments beyond the work organisation are acquiring increased importance in our lives. With this in mind, we offer a field study of the appropriation of an online play space known as Habbo Hotel. Habbo Hotel, as a site of media convergence, incorporates social networking and digital gaming functionality. Our research highlights the ethical problems such a dual classification of technology may bring. We focus upon a particular set of activities undertaken within and facilitated by the space – scamming. Scammers dupe members with respect to their ‘Furni’, virtual objects that have online and offline economic value. Through our analysis we show that sometimes, online activities are bracketed off from those defined as offline and that this can be related to how the technology is classified by members – as a social networking site and/or a digital game. In turn, this may affect members’ beliefs about rights and wrongs. We conclude that given increasing media convergence, the way forward is to continue the project of educating people regarding the difficulties of determining rights and wrongs, and how rights and wrongs may be acted out with respect to new technologies of play online and offline

    Ludus online : um estudo ludolĂłgico e social de League of Legends

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    Monografia (graduação)—Universidade de BrasĂ­lia, Faculdade de Comunicação, Departamento de Audiovisual e Publicidade, 2013.O trabalho a seguir busca entender as caracterĂ­sticas, estruturas e naturezas do jogo online do tipo MOBA (multiplayer online battle arena), para isso foi escolhido o League of Legends, o jogo online mais jogado no mundo. A anĂĄlise busca compreender o que Ă© o jogo online, como ele se comporta, como ele se diferencia de outros momentos de nĂŁo-jogo da vida e de outros momentos de jogo. _________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACTThe following work try to acknowledge the characteristics, structures and natures of the MOBA (multiplayer online battle arena) games, for this purpose League of Legends was choose, the most played online game. The analysis try to understand what is a game, how does it behaves, how it distinguishes from non-playing moments of life and from other playing ones

    A social scientific framework for social systems in online video games: Building a better looking for raid loot system in World of Warcraft

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    This paper examines social behavior in the online video game World of Warcraft. Specifically focusing on one element of social design: the behavior of players in the first release of Looking-for-Raid (LFR) loot system of World of Warcraft. It uses lens of economic game theory, combined with Williams (2010) mapping principle and a modern theoretical account of human decision-making, to explore how theory about individual interactions in well-defined contexts (games) can explain collective behavior. It provides some support for this theoretical approach with an examination of data collected as part of an ethnographic study, through focus groups, and a survey distributed to 333 World of Warcraft players. It concludes with a discussion of the results and some guidelines for predicting collective outcomes in certain types of online games using the introduced framework. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

    Architectonics of Game Spaces: The Spatial Logic of the Virtual and Its Meaning for the Real

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    What consequences does the design of the virtual yield for architecture and to what extent can the nature of architecture be used productively to turn game-worlds into sustainable places - over here, in "reality"? This pioneering collection gives an overview of contemporary developments in designing video games and of the relationships such practices have established with the design of architecture. Due to their often simulatory nature, games reveal constructions of reality while positively impacting spatial ability and allowing for alternative avenues to complex topics and processes of negotiation. Granting insight into the merging of the design of real and virtual environments, this volume offers an invaluable platform for further debate

    Architectonics of Game Spaces

    Get PDF
    What consequences does the design of the virtual yield for architecture and to what extent can the nature of architecture be used productively to turn game-worlds into sustainable places - over here, in »reality«? This pioneering collection gives an overview of contemporary developments in designing video games and of the relationships such practices have established with the design of architecture. Due to their often simulatory nature, games reveal constructions of reality while positively impacting spatial ability and allowing for alternative avenues to complex topics and processes of negotiation. Granting insight into the merging of the design of real and virtual environments, this volume offers an invaluable platform for further debate

    STALEMATE: TRANSLATING SOCIAL DILEMMA TO COMPUTER GAME

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    Originating from the desire to explore concepts relating to social interaction in play mechanics, this thesis evolved into a computer game that is based on translating economic and social dilemmas into play mechanics. Specific empha- sis is put on the Prisoner Dilemma, an analysis that predicts the likelihood that individuals will cooperate or compete against each other in a given situation. Due to the separation from reality and the elimination of social norms in the environment of computer games, the Prisoner Dilemma manifests itself differently than it would in a real-life situation. The resulting prototype is a two-player competitive computer game. Players must collect orbs while running on a revolving sphere; at the same time, however, they must be sure not to lose the game by depleting a “sun” sphere that is affected by the speed of the competition. This gives them the choice between competing, cooperating, or alternating between the two
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