Dark Patterns in the Design of Games

Game designers are typically regarded as advocates for players. However, a game creator’s interests may not align with the players’. We examine some of the ways in which those opposed interests can manifest in a game’s design. In particular, we examine those elements of a game’s design whose purpose can be argued as questionable and perhaps even unethical. Building upon earlier work in design patterns, we call these abstracted elements Dark Game Design Patterns. In this paper, we develop the concept of dark design patterns in games, present examples of such patterns, explore some of the subtleties involved in identifying them, and provide questions that can be asked to help guide in the specification and identification of future Dark Patterns. Our goal is not to criticize creators but rather to contribute to an ongoing discussion regarding the values in games and the role that designers and creators have in this process

Definitions of Role-Playing Games

Many de nitions of “role-play” and “role-playing games” have been suggested, but there is no broad consensus. People disagree because they often have an unclear idea of what kind of phenomena they are talking about and, therefore, what kind of definition is appropriate. Existing definitions often assume games and, with them, RPGs to be a natural kind with some unchanging essence. However, because “role-playing games” is a social category created by humans, it has no unchanging, context-independent essence. Hence, if we ask for a definition of “role-playing games”, we can only refer to either how particular groups at particular points in time empirically use the word and organize actions and the material world around it or how we, as a scientific observer, choose to use the word to foreground and understand a particular perspective: viewing RPGs as a performance or as a virtual economy, etc. RPGs can be traced to a shared historical ancestor: the TRPG D&D. From there, RPGs and their communities evolved increasingly idiosyncratic forms and styles, afforded by their material under-determinations. Commonly recognized forms are TRPGs, larps, CRPGs, and MORPGs. Common styles – ideas of what experience one hopes to achieve through play – are achieving goals and making progress according to rules, acting out and immersing oneself in a role, creating an interesting story, or simulating a world. Every local community, form, or style captures only a subset of the phenomena people call “role-playing games” and carries with it some implicit or explicit normative ideas about what makes an RPG “good”. Thus, people often disagree on the definition of “role-playing games” because they are usually only familiar with and/or aesthetically prefer a subset of RPG forms, styles, and communities: “this is not a role-playing game” often means “this is not something I am familiar with calling and/or like in RPGs”. Still, across forms and styles of RPGs, some characteristics commonly reoccur: they are play activities and objects revolving around the rule-structured creation and enactment of characters in a fictional world. Players create, enact, and govern the actions of characters, defining and pursuing their own goals, with great choice in what actions they can attempt. The game world, including characters not governed by individual players, usually follows some fantastic genre action theme, and there are often rules for character progression and combat resolution. Forms diverge in the structure of the play situation, the constitution and governance of the fictional world, and the form and importance of rules. Play situations range from a single player and computer to small face-to-face groups to large co-located or online mediated populations that organize into smaller groups. The fictional world may be constituted through joint talk and inscriptions; physical locales, props, and player bodies; or computer models and user interfaces. It can be governed by one or more human referees or a computer. Rules may be extensive or minimal, resolving the outcome of actions by player negotiation, a model and testing of probabilities, physical abilities of players, or combinations of all three. Given the social constitution of RPGs and the diversity of their forms and styles, we argue that it is pointless to capture an “essential nature” in a definition. Instead, as the following chapter begins to do, it is more fruitful to empirically describe this diversity and analyze it through a multitude of explicit disciplinary perspectives: not asking what something RPGs are but what we can learn when we view them as a particular something

Electrocatalytic oxidation of hydrazine in alkaline media promoted by iron tetrapyridinoporphyrazine adsorbed on graphite surface

The electrocatalytic oxidation of hydrazine was studied using an ordinary pyrolytic graphite electrode modified with iron tetrapyridinoporphyrazine complex (FeTPyPz), employing cyclic voltammetry and rotating disk electrode techniques. Analyses of the voltammograms recorded at different potential scan rates and the polarization curves at different electrode rotation rates showed that the reaction of electrooxidation of hydrazine on FeTPyPz occurs via 4-electrons with the formation of N2 as main product. The kinetic parameters suggest that the second electron transfer step is rate controlling. The activity of FeTPyPz depends on its Fe(II)/Fe(I) formal potential and fits well in a volcano plot that includes several iron phthalocyanines, indicating that such formal potential is a good reactivity index for these complexes

Novella 2.0: A Hypertextual Architecture for Interactive Narrative in Games

The hypertext community has a history of research in Interactive Digital Narrative (IDN), including experimental works and systems to support authoring. Arguably the most prevalent contemporary form of IDN is within the world of computer games where a mixture of large-scale commercial works and smaller indie experimental pieces continue to develop new forms of interactive storytelling. We can explore these pieces through the lens of hyper- textual theory and support them with hypertextual architectures, but there are unique challenges within modern game-based storytelling that these frameworks sometimes struggle to capture on a content level, leaving us in some cases with insufficient models and vocabulary. In this paper, we build upon previous work by presenting a discussion on techniques of modeling video game narrative. This is followed by thorough presentation and demonstration of our game-centric theoretical model of interactive narrative, Novella 2.0, which builds upon our previous contributions. This model is then positioned within a novel architecture for the authoring, interchange, integration, and simulation of video game narrative. We present alongside the architecture four key innovations towards supporting game narrative. We include support for Discoverable Narrative and other game narrative content alongside structural features in a deference of responsibility to game engines and our own approach to mixing calligraphic and sculptural hyper- text structure

ARIA digital anamorphosis: Digital transformation of health and care in airway diseases from research to practice

Digital anamorphosis is used to define a distorted image of health and care that may be viewed correctly using digital tools and strategies. MASK digital anamorphosis represents the process used by MASK to develop the digital transformation of health and care in rhinitis. It strengthens the ARIA change management strategy in the prevention and management of airway disease. The MASK strategy is based on validated digital tools. Using the MASK digital tool and the CARAT online enhanced clinical framework, solutions for practical steps of digital enhancement of care are proposed

A framework for games literacy and understanding games

Based on research that studied the challenges and difficulties faced by students taking games studies and game design courses, we propose that, while many students enrolled in games education programs are adept at playing games, they are usually neither games literate nor do they have a deep understanding of games. In this article we provide a framework that can be used to evaluate and assess games literacy. Using Gee’s notion of literacy, we propose that a deep understanding of games involves having the ability to explain, discuss, describe, frame, situate, interpret, and/or position games (1) in the context of human culture (games as a cultural artifacts), (2) in the context of other games, (3) in the context of the technological platform on which they are executed, (4) and by deconstructing them and understanding their components, how they interact, and how they facilitate certain experiences in players. We describe each of these aspects and also discuss two educational lenses that can be used to help contextualize what it means to understand and learn about games as well as support games literacy in students

Ludoliteracy: Defining, Understanding, and Supporting Games Education

It seems like teaching about games should be easy. After all, students enjoy engaging with course content and have extensive experience with videogames. However, games education can be surprisingly complex. This book explores ludoliteracy, or the question of what it means to understand games, by looking at the challenges and problems faced by students taking games-related classes. In response to these challenges, this book then describes how online learning environments can be used to support learning about games by helping students get more from their experiences with games, and helping students use what they know to establish deeper understanding. Based on the findings from a series of research studies, Ludoliteracy examines the broader implications for supporting games education.</p