Video games as a multifaceted medium: a review of quantitative social science research on video games and a typology of video game research approaches

Although there is a vast and useful body of quantitative social science research dealing with the social role and impact of video games, it is difficult to compare studies dealing with various dimensions of video games because they are informed by different perspectives and assumptions, employ different methodologies, and address different problems. Studies focusing on different social dimensions of video games can produce varied findings about games' social function that are often difficult to reconcile - or even contradictory. Research is also often categorized by topic area, rendering a comprehensive view of video games' social role across topic areas difficult. This interpretive review presents a novel typology of four identified approaches that categorize much of the quantitative social science video game research conducted to date: "video games as stimulus," "video games as avocation," "video games as skill," and "video games as social environment." This typology is useful because it provides an organizational structure within which the large and growing number of studies on video games can be categorized, guiding comparisons between studies on different research topics and aiding a more comprehensive understanding of video games' social role. Categorizing the different approaches to video game research provides a useful heuristic for those critiquing and expanding that research, as well as an understandable entry point for scholars new to video game research. Further, and perhaps more importantly, the typology indicates when topics should be explored using different approaches than usual to shed new light on the topic areas. Lastly, the typology exposes the conceptual disconnects between the different approaches to video game research, allowing researchers to consider new ways to bridge gaps between the different approaches' strengths and limitations with novel methods

Fully Depleted, Monolithic Pinned Photodiode CMOS Image Sensor Using Reverse Substrate Bias

A new pixel design using pinned photodiode (PPD) in a 180 nm CMOS image sensor (CIS) process has been developed as a proof of principle. The sensor can be fully depleted by means of reverse bias applied to the substrate, and the principle of operation is applicable to very thick sensitive volumes. Additional n-type implants under the in-pixel p-wells have been added to the manufacturing process in order to eliminate the large parasitic substrate current that would otherwise be present in a normal device. The new design exhibits nearly identical electro-optical performance under reverse bias as the reference PPD pixel it is based on, and the leakage current is effectively suppressed. The characterisation results from both front- and back-side illuminated sensor variants show that the epitaxial layer is fully depleted

Online Games

When we agreed to edit the theme on online games for this Encyclopedia our first question was, “What is meant by online games?” Scholars of games distinguish between nondigital games (such as board games) and digital games, rather than between online and offline games. With networked consoles and smartphones it is becoming harder and harder to find players in the wealthy industrialized countries who play “offline” digital games. Most games developers now include some element of online activity in their game and the question is:What is the degree to which the gameplay experience occurs online? Is online gameplay more a multiplayer than an individual experience? If we move beyond the technological meaning of “being online” we should, as Newman (2002) argued, be concerned with varying degrees of participation during gameplay

More Than Stories With Buttons: Narrative, Mechanics, and Context as Determinants of Player Experience in Digital Games

Recent research has attempted to describe meaningful experiences with entertainment media that go beyond hedonic enjoyment. Most of this research focuses on noninteractive media, such as film and television. When applied to digital games, however, such research needs to account for not only the content of the medium, but also the unique dimensions of digital games that distinguish them from noninteractive media. Experiences with digital games are shaped by the game mechanics that define the users' interaction with game content, as well as by the opportunities for social interaction that many games offer. We argue that the complex interplay of these dimensions (narrative, mechanics, and context) facilitates or inhibits meaningful user experiences in ways that are unique to digital games

Digital games research: a survey study on an emerging field and its prevalent debates

Digital games have become a popular form of media entertainment. However, it remains unclear whether a canon of accepted knowledge and research practices has emerged that may define an independent field of research. This study is a collaborative effort to analyze the outlines of digital games research (DGR) through a survey among the membership of 3 institutionalized structures focusing on the study of digital games (International Communication Association Game Studies Interest Group, European Communication Research and Education Association Temporary Working Group DGR, and Digital Games Research Association). The study reveals relatively homogeneous viewpoints among games researchers, even regarding controversial aspects of digital games. It mirrors the mainstream scholarly views on contentious issues of a recently emerged field within communication studies

Ionising radiation effects in a soft X-ray CMOS image sensor

CIS221-X is a prototype monolithic CMOS image sensor, optimised for soft X-ray astronomy and developed for the proposed ESA THESEUS mission. A significant advantage of CMOS technology is its resistance to radiation damage. To assess this resistance, four backside-illuminated CIS221-X detectors have been irradiated up to a total ionising dose of 113 krad at the ESA ESTEC 60Co facility. Using unirradiated readout electronics, the performance of each sensor has been measured before and after irradiation. The gain, readout noise and dark current are shown to increase, while the image lag remains unchanged. These measurements are compared to that of similar CMOS image sensors and a possible physical explanation is provided for each result

Evaluation of sensors for the detection of energy resolved very soft x-ray fluorescence

Energy-dispersive imaging spectroscopy of X-ray emission from the Earth’s aurorae promises to further knowledge in the field of aeronomy. Time- and spatially-resolved observations of fluorescence from the dominant atmospheric components require the detection of X-rays as soft as 390 eV with a resolution of no more than 100 eV at these energies. The Auroral X-ray Imaging Spectrometer (AXIS) instrument of the Disturbed and quiet time Ionosphere-thermosphere System at High Altitudes (DISHA) mission is expected to perform these observations. The baseline instrument design has suggested the use of an electron-multiplying charge-coupled device (EMCCD). The EMCCD’s electron-multiplying register can reduce the effective readout noise and enable the detection of signals as small as a single photoelectron. For the detection of soft X-rays, however, the noise penalty from the EM register’s stochastic process degrades energy resolution. Emerging CMOS image sensors (CIS), particularly the Teledyne e2v CIS221-X test device, with back illumination, full depletion (with 36 μm thickness), large pixel sizes (40 μm), and low readout noise (3 e- rms effective) are expected to achieve the required performance without the effects of the EM register. Simple models for X-ray event sensitivity, detectability, and resolution, indicate that candidate CIS equal or better EMCCD performance. Furthermore, CIS offer other advantages including lower power consumption, higher operating temperature, and increased radiation hardness. However, these sensors introduce other behaviors that may impact their apparent benefits, which initial experimental testing and analyses are working to understand

Attributing minds to vampires in Richard Matheson’s I Am Legend

For Palmer (2004, 2010), and other proponents of a cognitive narratology, research into real-world minds in the cognitive sciences provides insights into readers’ experiences of fictional minds. In this article, I explore the application of such research to the minds constructed for the vampire characters in Richard Matheson’s (1954) science fiction/horror novel I Am Legend. I draw upon empirical research into ‘mind attribution’ in social psychology, and apply Cognitive Grammar (Langacker, 2008), and its notion of ‘construal’, as a framework for the application of such findings to narrative. In my analysis, I suggest that readers’ attribution of mental-states to the vampires in Matheson’s novel is strategically limited through a number of choices in their linguistic construal. Drawing on online reader responses to the novel, I argue that readers’ understanding of these other minds plays an important role in their empathetic experience and their ethical judgement of the novel’s main character and focaliser, Robert Neville. Finally, I suggest that the limited mind attribution for the vampires invited through their construal contributes to the presentation of a ‘mind style’ (Fowler, 1977) for this character