Player Balancing for FIrst-Person Shooter Games

When player skill levels differ widely in a competitive First-Person Shooter (FPS) game, enjoyment suffers: weaker players become frustrated and stronger players become less engaged. Player balancing techniques attempt to assist the weaker player and make games more competitive, but these techniques have limitations for deployment when skill levels vary substantially. In this thesis, we developed new player balancing schemes to deal with a range of FPS skill difference, and tested these techniques in a series of five studies using a commercial-quality FPS game developed with the UDK engine. Our results showed that our balancing techniques (Combo and Delay) are extremely effective at balancing, even for players with large skill differences. These techniques also led to higher enjoyment of the game by players of all skill levels. Our studies are the first to show that player balancing can work well in realistic FPS games, providing developers with a way to increase the audience for this popular genre. In addition, our results demonstrate the idea that successful balancing is as much about the way the technique is applied as it is about the specific manipulation

Player experience and deceptive expectations of difficulty adaptation in digital games

Increasingly, digital games are including adaptive features that adjust the level of difficulty to match the skills of individual players. The intention is to improve and prolong the player experience by allowing the player to have the feeling of challenge without it being overwhelming and leading to repeated failure and frustration. Previous work has shown that player experience is indeed improved by such adaptations but also that the player experience can be improved by simply claiming such an adaptation is present even when it is not. It is therefore possible that claims about adaptations and the actual adaptations could interact and not lead to the intended outcomes for the players or worse disappoint players. This paper reports on two studies that were conducted to experimentally investigate the interaction between game adaptations and player information about adaptations on the player experience, specifically their sense of immersion in the game. For this, two games were developed using two different kinds of adaptations to adjust difficulty based on players’ performance in the game. Participants were provided with information about game adaptations independently of whether the adaptations were present. The results suggest that players felt more immersed in the game when told that the game adapts to them, regardless of whether the adaptation was present in the game or not. This effect was observed in both games despite their different adaptations and it remained prominent even during longer gaming sessions. These findings demonstrate that players’ knowledge of adaptations influences their experience independently of adaptations. In this particular context, the knowledge reinforced the experience of the adaptations. This suggests that, at least in some circumstances, developers do not need to be concerned about negative effects of telling players about in-game adaptations

Research priorities for maintaining biodiversity’s contributions to people in Latin America

Maintaining biodiversity is crucial for ensuring human well-being. The authors participated in a workshop held in Palenque, Mexico, in August 2018, that brought together 30 mostly early-career scientists working in different disciplines (natural, social and economic sciences) with the aim of identifying research priorities for studying the contributions of biodiversity to people and how these contributions might be impacted by environmental change. Five main groups of questions emerged: (1) Enhancing the quantity, quality, and availability of biodiversity data; (2) Integrating different knowledge systems; (3) Improved methods for integrating diverse data; (4) Fundamental questions in ecology and evolution; and (5) Multi-level governance across boundaries. We discuss the need for increased capacity building and investment in research programmes to address these challenges

Longitudinal and azimuthal evolution of two-particle transverse momentum correlations in Pb-Pb collisions at root √sNN=2.76 TeV

This paper presents the first measurements of the charge independent (CI) and charge dependent (CD) two-particle transverse momentum correlators G2CI and G2CD in Pb–Pb collisions at sNN=2.76TeV by the ALICE collaboration. The two-particle transverse momentum correlator G2 was introduced as a measure of the momentum current transfer between neighboring system cells. The correlators are measured as a function of pair separation in pseudorapidity (Δη) and azimuth (Δφ) and as a function of collision centrality. From peripheral to central collisions, the correlator G2CI exhibits a longitudinal broadening while undergoing a monotonic azimuthal narrowing. By contrast, G2CD exhibits a narrowing along both dimensions. These features are not reproduced by models such as HIJING and AMPT. However, the observed narrowing of the correlators from peripheral to central collisions is expected to result from the stronger transverse flow profiles produced in more central collisions and the longitudinal broadening is predicted to be sensitive to momentum currents and the shear viscosity per unit of entropy density η/s of the matter produced in the collisions. The observed broadening is found to be consistent with the hypothesized lower bound of η/s and is in qualitative agreement with values obtained from anisotropic flow measurements

Measurement of electrons from semileptonic heavy-flavour hadron decays at midrapidity in pp and Pb-Pb collisions at √ s(NN)=5.02 TeV

The differential invariant yield as a function of transverse momentum (pT) of electrons from semileptonic heavy-flavour hadron decays was measured at midrapidity in central (0\u201310%), semi-central (30\u201350%) and peripheral (60\u201380%) lead\u2013lead (Pb\u2013Pb) collisions at sNN=5.02 TeV in the pT intervals 0.5\u201326 GeV/c (0\u201310% and 30\u201350%) and 0.5\u201310 GeV/c (60\u201380%). The production cross section in proton\u2013proton (pp) collisions at s=5.02 TeV was measured as well in 0.5<10 GeV/c and it lies close to the upper band of perturbative QCD calculation uncertainties up to pT=5 GeV/c and close to the mean value for larger pT. The modification of the electron yield with respect to what is expected for an incoherent superposition of nucleon\u2013nucleon collisions is evaluated by measuring the nuclear modification factor RAA. The measurement of the RAA in different centrality classes allows in-medium energy loss of charm and beauty quarks to be investigated. The RAA shows a suppression with respect to unity at intermediate pT, which increases while moving towards more central collisions. Moreover, the measured RAA is sensitive to the modification of the parton distribution functions (PDF) in nuclei, like nuclear shadowing, which causes a suppression of the heavy-quark production at low pT in heavy-ion collisions at LHC

How Disclosing Skill Assistance Affects Play Experience in a Multiplayer First-Person Shooter Game

ABSTRACT In social play settings, it can be difficult for people with different skill levels to play a game together. Player balancing that provides skill assistance for the weaker player can allow for enjoyable play experiences; however, previous research (and conventional wisdom) has suggested that skill assistance should be kept hidden to avoid perceptions of unfairness. We carried out a study to test how disclosing skill assistance affects player experience. We found -surprisingly -that disclosing assistance did not harm play experience; players were more influenced by the benefits of equalized performance resulting from assistance than by their knowledge of the assist. We introduce the idea of attribution biases to help explain why awareness was not harmful -people tend to take credit for their successes, but attribute failures externally. We discuss how game designers can incorporate skill assistance to build multiplayer games that improve experiences for a wide range of players

Research priorities for maintaining biodiversitys contributions to people in Latin America

Maintaining biodiversity is crucial for ensuring human well-being. We participated in a workshop held in Palenque, Mexico, in August 2018, that brought together thirty mostly early-career scientists working in different disciplines (natural, social and economic sciences) with the aim of identifying research priorities for studying the contributions of biodiversity to people and how these contributions might be impacted by environmental change. Five main groups of questions emerged: (1) Enhancing the quantity, quality, and availability of biodiversity data; (2) Integrating different knowledge systems; (3) Improved methods for integrating diverse data; (4) Fundamental questions in ecology and evolution; and (5) Multi-level governance across boundaries. We discuss the need for increased capacity building and investment in research programs to address these challenges.</ns7:p

Multiplicity dependence of light (anti-)nuclei production in p–Pb collisions at sNN=5.02 TeV

The measurement of the deuteron and anti-deuteron production in the rapidity range −1 < y < 0 as a function of transverse momentum and event multiplicity in p–Pb collisions at √sNN = 5.02 TeV is presented. (Anti-)deuterons are identified via their specific energy loss dE/dx and via their time-of- flight. Their production in p–Pb collisions is compared to pp and Pb–Pb collisions and is discussed within the context of thermal and coalescence models. The ratio of integrated yields of deuterons to protons (d/p) shows a significant increase as a function of the charged-particle multiplicity of the event starting from values similar to those observed in pp collisions at low multiplicities and approaching those observed in Pb–Pb collisions at high multiplicities. The mean transverse particle momenta are extracted from the deuteron spectra and the values are similar to those obtained for p and particles. Thus, deuteron spectra do not follow mass ordering. This behaviour is in contrast to the trend observed for non-composite particles in p–Pb collisions. In addition, the production of the rare 3He and 3He nuclei has been studied. The spectrum corresponding to all non-single diffractive p-Pb collisions is obtained in the rapidity window −1 < y < 0 and the pT-integrated yield dN/dy is extracted. It is found that the yields of protons, deuterons, and 3He, normalised by the spin degeneracy factor, follow an exponential decrease with mass number