Conhecimento, sociabilidade e lazer em jogos online : SubTítulo: uma etnografia na "Lan House do Paulo" em São Gonçalo do Amarante-RN

In a highly dynamic society such as we live, have access to the virtual world is an increasingly common practice, is aiming to study, work or to search leisure through chat rooms, sites and games, being incorporated by the most varied groups that end up appropriating these new possibilities of interaction, shaping them in order to adapt them to their needs / wants. The specific purposes pursued through the use of tools available over the Internet can vary considerably when one takes into account specific user groups, which makes the topic quite relevant to problematization, especially when we take into account access through lan houses. This research seeks to study the networks of knowledge, sociability and leisure formed by young people who frequented the "Lan house do Paulo" in São Gonçalo do Amarante - RN based on the use of the online role-playing-game World of Warcraft, which makes possible the interaction of several users through an avatar resident in a virtual world, theoretically questioning the importance of this type of platform for the development and maintenance of social interactions among its users

Uma abordagem comportamental para inserção de robôs em ambientes culturais

In this work, we propose methodologies and computer tools to insert robots in cultural environments. The basic idea is to have a robot in a real context (a cultural space) that can represent an user connected to the system through Internet (visitor avatar in the real space) and that the robot also have its representation in a Mixed Reality space (robot avatar in the virtual space). In this way, robot and avatar are not simply real and virtual objects. They play a more important role in the scenery, interfering in the process and taking decisions. In order to have this service running, we developed a module composed by a robot, communication tools and ways to provide integration of these with the virtual environment. As welI we implemented a set of behaviors with the purpose of controlling the robot in the real space. We studied available software and hardware tools for the robotics platform used in the experiments, as welI we developed test routines to determine their potentialities. Finally, we studied the behavior-based control model, we planned and implemented alI the necessary behaviors for the robot integration to the real and virtual cultural spaces. Several experiments were conducted, in order to validate the developed methodologies and tools

Realidade virtual na atividade cerebral: um estudo comparativo entre estados emocionais de adultos jovens e idosos

The association of Virtual Reality (VR) to clinical practice has become common in the recent years, showing to be an additional tool on health care, especially for elderly. Its use has been related to higher therapeutic adhesion levels and well being sensation. Such emotional based aspects are often observed by subjective tools of relative validity. This study analyzed the immediate effects of varied VR contexts balance training over emotional behavior, which was observed under peaks of maximum expression of EEG waves. Methodology: 40 individuals, divided in two groups, both gender, 20 young and 20 elderly, were submitted to a 60 minutes intervention, including balance training under VR. The first 25 minutes referred to initial evaluation, general orientation and cognitive assessment by the use of Mini Mental. The next ten minutes were designated to the avatar creation and tutorial video presentation. Through the following 20 minutes, the individuals from both groups were exposed to the exact same sequence of games under virtual contexts, while submitted to electroencephalography by Emotiv EPOC® focusing Adhesion, Frustration and Meditation states. The virtual interface was provided by the Nintendo® game, Wii Fit Plus, with the scenarios Balance Bubble (1), Penguin (2), Soccer (3), Tight Rope (4) and Table Tilt (5). Finally, a questionnaire of personal impressions was applied on the 5 minutes left. Results: data collected showed 64,7% of individuals from both groups presented higher concentration of adhesion peaks on Balance Bubble game. Both groups also presented similar behavior regarding meditation state, with marks close to 40%, each, on the same game, Table Tilt. There was divergence related to the frustration state, being the maximum concentration for the young group on the Soccer game (29,3%), whilst the elderly group referred highest marks to Tight Rope game (35,2%). Conclusion: Findings suggest virtual contexts can be favorable to adhesion and meditation emotional patterns induction, regardless age and for both sexes, whilst frustration seems to be more related to cognitive motor affordance, likely to be influenced by age. This information is relevant and contributes to the orientation for the best choice of games applied in clinical practice, as for other studies regarding this topic