Player retention in a free-to-play mobile game:the role of engagement

Abstract. This master’s thesis studies engagement and player retention in a free-to-play mobile game. The research design of this study was causal comparative. The study was based on statistical analysis of 5,000 first time players of a mobile game. These players’ behaviour on their first day of playing was analysed. Game engagement was defined by combining views of prior research of school engagement and game engagement. Game engagement was defined as players’ involvement, interest, and connection to a game. Game engagement was further defined as a four-dimensional concept consisting of behavioural, cognitive, affective, and agentic engagement. This study focused on studying behavioural and agentic game engagement. This study focused on examining how different engaged player behaviours on the first day of gameplay were connected to whether players continue playing the game. Continued play was examined through player retention at two points in time: after the first day and after the first week of gameplay. The research questions of this study examined how behavioural and agentic game engagement on the first day of gameplay were connected to whether players continued playing the game after the first day and first week of playing. The results of this study showed that behavioural and agentic game engagement factors on the first day of playing were important predictors in player retention both after the first day and after the first week of playing. The variables of first day gameplay had different effects after the first day and first week of gameplay. The most influential first day variables predicting continued gameplay both after a day and after a week were customising the game and gathering game rewards. Social interaction and time spent playing also impacted player retention after the first day. After the first week, influential factors were time spent playing, gathering rewards and skill level on the first day. The results of this study can be applied in developing different game-based solutions.Sitoutumisen rooli pelaamisen jatkamisessa ilmaisessa mobiilipelissä. Tiivistelmä. Tämä pro gradu -tutkielma tarkastelee pelaajien sitoutumista ja pelaamisen jatkamista ilmaisessa mobiilipelissä. Tutkimuksessa tarkastellaan tilastollisen analyysin avulla 5,000 ensikertalaispelaajaa mobiilipelissä ensimmäisen pelipäivänsä aikana. Peliin sitoutuminen määritellään yhdistelemällä aiemman tutkimuksen näkökulmia. Pohjana määrittelylle toimivat kouluoppimiseen sitoutumisen ja peleihin sitoutumisen teoriat. Peliin sitoutuminen määritellään pelaajan osallistumisena, kiinnostuksena ja suhteena peliin. Tarkemmin peliin sitoutuminen määritellään neljästä osasta koostuvana käsitteenä. Nämä osat ovat behaviouraalinen, kognitiivinen, affektiivinen ja toimijuudellinen sitoutuminen. Tässä tutkimuksessa tutkitaan behavioraalista ja toimijuudellista peliin sitoutumista. Tutkimuksessa tarkastellaan sitä, onko pelaajien ensimmäisen pelipäivän toiminnalla yhteyttä siihen, jatkaako pelaaja pelaamista. Pelaamisen jatkamista tarkastellaan kahtena ajankohtana: ensimmäisen pelipäivän ja ensimmäisen peliviikon jälkeen. Tutkimuskysymykset tarkastelevat sitä, miten behavioraalinen ja toimijuudellinen peliin sitoutuminen ensimmäisenä päivänä ennustaa pelaamisen jatkamista ensimmäisen pelipäivän ja ensimmäisen peliviikon jälkeen. Tutkimuksen tulokset osoittavat, että behavioraalinen ja toimijuudellinen peliin sitoutuminen ensimmäisenä pelipäivänä ennustavat tilastollisesti merkittävästi pelaamisen jatkamista. Ensimmäisen päivän pelitoiminnoilla oli erilaisia yhteyksiä yhden päivän ja yhden viikon pelaamisen jälkeen. Merkitsevimmät ensipäivän pelitoiminnot, jotka ennustivat pelaamisen jatkamista sekä ensimmäisen päivän jälkeen että ensimmäisen viikon jälkeen olivat pelin kustomointi sekä palkintojen kerääminen. Myös sosiaalisella vuorovaikutuksella ja pelissä käytetyllä ajalla oli vaikutusta ensimmäisen päivän jälkeen pelaamisen jatkamiseen. Ensimmäisen viikon jälkeen ensipäivän toiminnasta vaikuttavia olivat myös pelissä käytetty aika, palkintojen kerääminen sekä taitotaso. Tutkimuksen tuloksia voi hyödyntää erilaisten pelipohjaisten ratkaisujen suunnittelussa

Advanced process technologies : plasma, direct-wire, atmospheric pressure, and roll-to-roll ALD

As applications of atomic layer deposition (ALD) in emerging areas such as nanoelectronics, photovoltaics, and flexible electronics expand beyond single-wafer semiconductor processing, there is a growing need for novel approaches to integrate new process designs, substrate materials, and substrate delivery methods. An overview is given of new means to extend the capabilities of ALD and to improve the speed and simplicity of ALD coatings using new reactor designs. These include energy-enhanced and spatial ALD schemes involving plasma, direct-write, atmospheric pressure, and roll-to-roll processing. The long-term goal of this work is to integrate viable high-throughput capabilities with ALD processes

Dissosiaatiohäiriöt ja niiden hoito

Tiivistelmä. Tarkastelen kandidaatintutkielmassani dissosiaatiota mielenterveyden häiriöiden oireena ja dissosiaatiohäiriöissä. Tutkimuskysymykseni ovat miten dissosiaatio voidaan määritellä, miten dissosiaatiohäiriöt kehittyvät, millaisia erityispiirteitä liittyy lapsuuden dissosiaatioon, miten dissosiaatiohäiriöitä voidaan diagnosoida sekä miten dissosiaatiota voidaan hoitaa. Tutkielmani on systemaattinen kirjallisuuskatsaus, jonka perustana on aiempi aiheeseen liittyvä tutkimuskirjallisuus. Dissosiaatio voidaan määritellä persoonallisuuden integraation puutteeksi, joka on seurausta traumasta. Etenkin lapsuuden trauma voi olla liikaa psyyken käsittelykyvylle, josta seuraa trauman eriyttäminen muusta persoonallisuudesta. Ei ole olemassa selkeää selitystä sille, miksi eri dissosiaatiohäiriöt kehittyvät, mutta niiden oireet vaikuttavat laajasti yksilön toimintakykyyn ja kykyyn jäsentää ympäröivää todellisuutta ja omaa identiteettiä. Lapsuuden dissosiaatio kehittyy trauman seurauksena adaptiivisena toimintona, joka mahdollistaa lapsen selviämisen. Silloin kun lapsi ei voi välttyä traumaattiselta kokemukselta ja koska hän ei välttämättä osaa käsitellä sellaista sen kohdatessaan, dissosiaatio mahdollistaa traumaattisen kokemuksen unohtamisen tai eriyttämisen muista psyyken toiminnoista. Dissosiaatiohäiriöiden diagnosoimisessa tulee ottaa huomioon samankaltaisuudet monien eri mielenterveyden häiriöiden kanssa. Esimerkiksi epävakaan persoonallisuushäiriön, masennuksen ja skitsofrenian oireet ovat usein yhteneviä dissosiaatiohäiriöiden kanssa. Dissosiaatiohäiriöistä kärsivillä on suuri riski saada väärä diagnoosi. Dissosiaatiohäiriön oikea diagnoosi on kuitenkin erittäin tärkeä tekijä oikean hoidon saamisessa. Diagnosointimenetelminä toimivat kliininen haastattelu ja erilaiset seulontamenetelmät, joista yleisimpiä ovat itsearviointikyselyt. Dissosiaatiohäiriöt ovat yhteydessä itsetuhoiseen käyttäytymiseen ja korkeaan terveydenhuoltopalveluiden käyttöasteeseen. Dissosiaatiohäiriöistä kärsivät hyötyvät dissosiaatioon ja traumaan keskittyvästä psykoterapiasta, joka etenee vaiheittain turvallisuuden luomisesta ja oireiden vähentämisestä traumaattisten muistojen kohtaamiseen ja käsittelyyn ja lopulta keskittyen identiteetin integroimiseen sekä tulevaisuuteen suuntaamiseen

Neonaticide in the Courtroom – Room for Improvement? Conclusions Drawn from Austria and Finland's Register Review

This study analyses the psychological, clinical and criminal characteristics of neonaticide focusing on court verdicts with the aim of formulating recommendations for judicial guidelines. This study was register based, comprising all known neonaticides in Austria and Finland between 1995 and 2005. The cases (n = 28) were obtained by screening death certificates from coroner departments and analysing them alongside all further reports available. Five out of 21 convicted offenders were imprisoned with an average sentence of 1.65 years. A mental disorder, at the time of the offence, was diagnosed in half of the offenders (9/18) who underwent forensic examination. Of the total offenders, 14 were deemed responsible for the crime, one was deemed to have had diminished responsibility and three were considered not responsible for the crime. The main motive, determined by court evaluation, was an ?unwanted child?, followed by ?no motive?, ?fear of abandonment or a negative response from others? and 'mental overload'. The rate of repeated neonaticide was 13 per cent. Considering the rate of mental illness within the neonaticide offenders, we would recommend a treatment detention order instead of imprisonment or non-prosecution, as well as state-of-the-art guidelines for the court. ?Analyses the psychological, clinical and criminal characteristics of neonaticide focusing on court verdicts? Key Practitioner Messages Autopsies should be conducted for all suspected neonaticides. Forensic examinations should be performed by experts with knowledge and experience of neonaticide. There should be standardised forensic examinations using structured psychiatric and psychological methods by two independent experts. Neonaticide cases should be tried in specialised courts. A psychiatric treatment order should be made for all neonaticide offenders as a preventive measure to reduce reoffending and address the high psychological burden.Peer reviewe

Filicide in Austria and Finland - A register-based study on all filicide cases in Austria and Finland 1995-2005

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Filicide is the tragic crime of murdering one's own child. Previous research has found that the offending parents are commonly depressed and that suicide is often associated as an actual act or an intention. Yet, filicide is an underreported crime and previous studies have been strained with methodological problems. No comprehensive international studies on filicide have been presented in the literature until now.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This was a descriptive, comprehensive, register-based study of all filicides in Austria and Finland during 1995-2005. Filicide-suicide cases were also included.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Most of the perpetrators were the biological mothers; in Austria 72%, in Finland 52%. Suicide followed filicide either as an attempt or a fulfilled act in 32% and 54% of the cases in Austria and Finland, respectively. Psychotic mood disorders were diagnosed for 10% of the living perpetrators in Austria, and 12% in Finland. Non-psychotic depression was diagnosed in 9% of surviving perpetrators in Austria, 35% in Finland.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The data from the two countries demonstrated that filicide is such a multifaceted and rare phenomenon that national data from individual countries seldom offer sufficient scope for its thorough study. Further analyses are needed to produce a complete picture of filicide.</p

Topographic control of asynchronous glacial advances: A case study from Annapurna, Nepal

Differences in the timing of glacial advances, which are commonly attributed to climatic changes, can be due to variations in valley topography. Cosmogenic 10Be dates from 24 glacial moraine boulders in 5 valleys define two age populations, late-glacial and early Holocene. Moraine ages correlate with paleoglacier valley hypsometries. Moraines in valleys with lower maximum altitudes date to the lateglacial, whereas those in valleys with higher maximum altitudes are early Holocene. Two valleys with similar equilibrium-line altitudes (ELAs), but contrasting ages, are \u3c 5 km apart and share the same aspect, such that spatial differences in climate can be excluded. A glacial mass-balance cellular automata model of these two neighboring valleys predicts that change from a cooler-drier to warmer-wetter climate (as at the Holocene onset) would lead to the glacier in the higher altitude catchment advancing, while the lower one retreats or disappears, even though the ELA only shifted by ~120 m

Ambient pressure x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy setup for synchrotron-based in situ and operando atomic layer deposition research

An ambient pressure cell is described for conducting synchrotron-based x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) measurements during atomic layer deposition (ALD) processes. The instrument is capable of true in situ and operando experiments in which it is possible to directly obtain elemental and chemical information from the sample surface using XPS as the deposition process is ongoing. The setup is based on the ambient pressure XPS technique, in which sample environments with high pressure (several mbar) can be created without compromising the ultrahigh vacuum requirements needed for the operation of the spectrometer and the synchrotron beamline. The setup is intended for chemical characterization of the surface intermediates during the initial stages of the deposition processes. The SPECIES beamline and the ALD cell provide a unique experimental platform for obtaining new information on the surface chemistry during ALD half-cycles at high temporal resolution. Such information is valuable for understanding the ALD reaction mechanisms and crucial in further developing and improving ALD processes. We demonstrate the capabilities of the setup by studying the deposition of TiO2 on a SiO2 surface by using titanium(IV) tetraisopropoxide and water as precursors. Multiple core levels and the valence band of the substrate surface were followed during the film deposition using ambient pressure XPS.Peer reviewe

Exome sequencing followed by large-scale genotyping suggests a limited role for moderately rare risk factors of strong effect in schizophrenia.

Schizophrenia is a severe psychiatric disorder with strong heritability and marked heterogeneity in symptoms, course, and treatment response. There is strong interest in identifying genetic risk factors that can help to elucidate the pathophysiology and that might result in the development of improved treatments. Linkage and genome-wide association studies (GWASs) suggest that the genetic basis of schizophrenia is heterogeneous. However, it remains unclear whether the underlying genetic variants are mostly moderately rare and can be identified by the genotyping of variants observed in sequenced cases in large follow-up cohorts or whether they will typically be much rarer and therefore more effectively identified by gene-based methods that seek to combine candidate variants. Here, we consider 166 persons who have schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder and who have had either their genomes or their exomes sequenced to high coverage. From these data, we selected 5,155 variants that were further evaluated in an independent cohort of 2,617 cases and 1,800 controls. No single variant showed a study-wide significant association in the initial or follow-up cohorts. However, we identified a number of case-specific variants, some of which might be real risk factors for schizophrenia, and these can be readily interrogated in other data sets. Our results indicate that schizophrenia risk is unlikely to be predominantly influenced by variants just outside the range detectable by GWASs. Rather, multiple rarer genetic variants must contribute substantially to the predisposition to schizophrenia, suggesting that both very large sample sizes and gene-based association tests will be required for securely identifying genetic risk factors. © 2012 The American Society of Human Genetics