Paratextual play: Unlocking the nature of making-of material of games

Similar as to how films are accompanied with bonus features and extras on their dvd release, digital games too are sometimes released with supplemental materials which provide insight in the creative development process. Examples of these are behind-the-scenes documentaries, concept art, audio commentaries, and so on. In the study of digital games this material could easily be overlooked or primarily seen as marketing material outside and therefore not part of a game itself. This paper will discuss a shift in the paratextual location and function of making-of material from an external to internal or even integral part of the digital game experience. In some contemporary games, making-of material has become a feature which has a visible presence during play, and at times can only be accessed by unlocking them, which invites players to forms of paratextual play. In these play situations, paratext and text entangle, resulting not just in a potential shaping of the understanding but also of the playing of digital games, making them part of players’ gaming capital. By engaging with this type of making-of material, players are not just framed as knowledgeable insider in the creative process of game design but also acknowledged expert in terms of gaming prowess, requiring us to rethink how we approach making-of material as paratexts

Games of stake: control, agency and ownership in World of Warcraft

World of Warcraft has become one of the most significant computer games of recent years. The massively multiplayer online role-playing game (or MMORPG) has introduced millions of players around the world to new forms of community-based play within a constantly evolving virtual environment. The game encourages and facilitates players to appropriate and shape the game to their own wishes and needs, resulting in highly diverse forms of play and participation. Despite or because of this freedom, constant negotiations about the rules of play erupt between different types of players and the game’s developer, Blizzard Entertainment, as each group has its own stakes in the game. In this study, World of Warcraft is framed as a complex socio-cultural phenomenon defined by and evolving as a result of these negotiation processes between stakeholders, which are called ‘games of stake’, on ludic, social, technological, and managerial levels. T his analysis of games of stake provides insight into the tactics used to gain and/or keep control, agency and ownership in shared but nevertheless contested spaces of interaction. As such, this study is emblematic of the struggles between consumers and producers in our increasingly collaborative and participatory media landscape

The value of simulations and games for tertiary education

Simulations and games play an important role in how young people learn. Through simulations and games you can practice skills that are relevant for professional practice. Through simulations and games you can learn to deal with complexity and diversity. Simulations and games already play a role in higher education, albeit modest, fragmented and insufficiently embedded in learning objectives, and its evidence base is limited. In keywords this was the point of departure for a broadly-based, interfaculty group of Utrecht University (UU) colleagues who, in 2014, set to work on the joint project, Simulations and Simulation Gaming in Tertiary Education, initiated by the Utrecht Education Incentive Fund (Utrechts Stimuleringsfonds Onderwijs, USO). From the outset our objectives were ambitious and diverse, but could nevertheless be summarized in two sentences: To contribute towards making simulations and games easier to use and more accessible to a larger group of professors of different degree programmes. Secondly, to contribute towards getting a better idea about which types of learning and which learning objectives could be improved by which kinds of simulations and games. In this booklet we would like to take you on our journey of discovery and show you what the journey yielded

A General Family of Limited Information Goodness-of-Fit Statistics for Multinomial Data

categorical data analysis, cell-focusing, discrete data, item response theory, overdispersion, overlapping cells, Poisson models, quadratic form statistics, Rasch models, score test, sparse contingency tables, zero-inflation,