Call of duty:Modern warfare (series)

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (MW) and its sequels Modern Warfare 2 (MW2) and Modern Warfare 3 (MW3) are FPS video games primarily developed by California-based developer Infinity Ward and published by Activision. They are the fourth, sixth and eighth installments of the Call of Duty franchise. The MW story arc marked a significant departure from the initial Call of Duty series roots, in that it moves the setting of the game to the present-day/near-future from the previous iterations that were set in World War II. This shift allowed the developers to tap into the geopolitics post-9/11. In the single-player campaign, the player takes on the roles of various characters, including a United States Marine and a British Special Air Service (SAS) operative. The player’s perspective changes dependent on the character and as the plot evolves through non-playable events and playable missions. Missions typically include objectives based around eliminating enemies, passing checkpoints, securing objectives against attackers or destroying an enemy location. In the multiplayer version, the series utilizes these mechanics for various team-based and deathmatch-based modes across various maps. The multiplayer modes established several features that became the de-facto benchmark for similar games in the genre in that players earn experience points, allowing them to advance in level, unlock new weapons, and open up further customization options, challenges, and gameplay modes. The series also popularized the notion of rewarding players for “Kill Streaks.

Just war? War games, war crimes, and game design

Military shooters have explored both historical and modern settings and remain one of the most popular game genres. While the violence of these games has been explored in multiple studies, the study of how war and the rules of war are represented is underexplored. The Red Cross has argued that as virtual war games are becoming closer to reality, the rules of war should be included. This article explores the argument put forward by the Red Cross and its reception by games media organizations, in order to consider how the concept of “just war” is represented within games. This article will focus on concerns over games adherence to the criteria of jus in bello (the right conduct in war) and will also consider the challenges that developers face in the creation of entertainment products in the face of publisher and press concerns

Playing with the dead:transmedia narratives and the Walking Dead games

This chapter discusses the theory and practice of transmedia narratives within the storyworld created by Robert Kirkman, Tony Moore and Charlie Adlard’s comics series The Walking Dead. It examines key aspects from the comics series and AMC’s adaptive television franchise to consider how both have been utilized and adapted for games. Particular focus will be paid to Telltale Games’ The Walking Dead, Gamagio’s The Walking Dead Assault and Terminal Reality’s The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct. The chapter explains the core concepts of transmedia narratives as they relate to The Walking Dead, places the games in the context of both the comics and television franchise, examines the significance of commercial and grassroot extensions and considers the role gaming and interactive narratives have within rich storyworlds. In examining The Walking Dead as a transmedia property, the authors demonstrate how vast narratives are adopted, modified and transformed in contemporary popular culture

Gaming the heart of darkness

The history of Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness has been one of adaptation and change. The enduring story is based upon Conrad’s experiences in the Congo in the 1890s and has been published as a novella in 1902. Since then the story has been criticised for racism by Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe (1975) and relocated to Vietnam by Francis Ford Coppola as Apocalypse Now (1979), influencing computer games such as Far Cry 2 (2008) and Spec Ops: The Line (2012). In examining the adaptations of Heart of Darkness we can consider how the story evolves from the passive reading of post-colonial narratives through to the active participation in morally ambiguous decisions and virtual war crimes through digital games: examining Conrad’s story as it has been adapted for other mediums provides a unique lens in which to view storytelling and retelling within the context of how we interpret the world. This paper compares the source material to its adaptations, considering the blending of historical fact and original fiction, the distortion of the original story for the purpose of creating new meaning, and reflects on whether interactivity impacts upon the feeling of immersion and sense of responsibility in audiences of different narratives

Glitchspace:teaching programming through puzzles in cyberspace

There is an increasing need to address the player experience in games-based learning. Whilst games offer enormous potential as learning experiences, the balance between entertainment and education must be carefully designed and delivered. Successful commercial games tend to focus gameplay above any educational aspects. In contrast, games designed for educational purposes have a habit of sacrificing entertainment for educational value which can result in a decline in player engagement. For both, the player experience is critical as it can have a profound effect on both the commercial success of the game and in delivering the educational engagement. As part of an Interface-funded research project Abertay University worked with the independent games company, Space Budgie, to enhance the user experience of their educational game Glitchspace. The game aimed to teach basic coding principles and terminology in an entertaining way. The game sets the player inside a Mondrian-inspired cyberspace world where to progress the player needs to reprogramme the world around them to solve puzzles. The main objective of the academic-industry collaborative project was to analyse the user experience (UX) of the game to increase its educational value for a standalone educational version. The UX design focused on both pragmatic and hedonic qualities such playability, usability and the psychological impact of the game. The empirical study of the UX design allowed all parties to develop a deeper understanding of how the game was being played and the initial reactions to the game by the player. The core research question that the study sought to answer was whether when designing an educational game, UX design could improve philosophical concepts like motivation and engagement to foster better learning experiences.</p

Their memory:exploring veterans’ voices, virtual reality and collective memory

This paper focuses on the virtual reality (VR) project Their Memory and details the development and evaluation of virtual reality environments and experiences with respect to its impact on young people (14-35 demographic) with the narratives of veterans in Scotland. As part of the AHRC Immersive Experiences program, Their Memory was created to explore how game design techniques and immersive technology could be used to enhance existing historical research and enrich narratives to bring expansive experiences to hard-to-reach audiences. The project worked directly with the veterans’ charity, Poppyscotland, to create an environment and experience that would resonate with new audiences, and explore documentary and storytelling techniques for the commemoration of war and conflict. The design of the project evolved through co-design sessions with veterans and young people and culminated in the creation of a short, thought-provoking, narrative-driven experience. The VR experience enabled players to connect with the memories of veterans in Scotland and exploring the different conflicts or situations they experienced and how they make sense of them. The project brought together cross-sector expertise to research how immersive experiences can help memory-based organizations in engaging with wider audiences, raise awareness, and diversify current learning outputs. The paper details the design and development of the Virtual Reality project, through co-design, and how this engaged the audience and evolved the experience created. The paper includes a summative evaluation of events conducted with schoolchildren to assess the project and concludes with how the project evidences impact upon audiences and the potential for both technology and the experience

Towards the estimation of the economic value of the outputs of Scottish Higher Education Institutions

This report is the outcome of a preliminary scoping study undertaken for the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council and Universities Scotland Knowledge Transfer Taskforce during the three month period April - June 2005. The study focussed on the feasibility of developing an economically meaningful approach to measurement of Scottish higher education institutional outputs in monetary terms. The growing policy emphasis on higher education's role in the economy has led to an increasing need for quantitative analysis of the value to the economy of what a HEI does (that is, as a producer of specifically educational goods) - over and above the economic benefits that arise from the mere fact of the HEI doing something (that is, as a producer of general unspecified goods)

Higher education means business: a summary of the economic impact of Scottish higher educaton institutions

This study examined key economic features of the Scottish higher education institutions (HEIs) in the academic and financial year 2004 -2005 together with those aspects of their contribution to the economy that can be readily measured. The Scottish HEIs included in the study are the 20 institutions for which data is provided by the Higher Education Statistics Agency. Major economic characteristics of the HEIs were examined, including their revenue, expenditure and employment. The study also included modelled analysis of the economic activity generated in other sectors of the economy through the secondary or 'knock-on' effects of the expenditure of the institution, its staff and international students. Overall this summary presents an up-to-date examination of the quantifiable contribution of Scottish HEIs to the economy

The impact of the University of Strathclyde on the economy of Scotland and the City of Glasgow

The interest in the economic impact of higher education has led to the early studies of both Scottish and UK Higher Education being updated and extended. However it is now 12 years since the very first study of Strathclyde University (which arguably set the core policy agenda for subsequent work)10 was undertaken. It is timely to take a fresh look at the University of Strathclyde's impact on Scotland. The current study was undertaken in Spring 2004 and focuses primarily on those aspects of the University of Strathclyde's contribution to the economy that can currently be quantified and measured in conventional economic terms such as output, employment and export earnings. Modelled estimates are made of the economic activity generated in other sectors of the economy, both throughout Scotland and also within the City of Glasgow, through the secondary or 'knock-on' effects of the expenditure of the University, its staff and its students. Overall the study presents an up-to-date and detailed examination of the University of Strathclyde's quantifiable economic contribution to both the City of Glasgow and to Scotland as a whole. The study was conducted by Ursula Kelly and Donald McLellan of the Information Resources Directorate of the University of Strathclyde working with Emeritus Professor Iain McNicoll, who served as Technical Adviser on the study