The Efficacy of a Novel Video Game Intervention (MindLight) in Reducing Children's Anxiety

Anxiety disorders are the most prevalent form of psychopathology among children and adolescents. Because demand for treatment far exceeds availability, there is a need for alternative approaches that are engaging, accessible, cost-effective, and incorporate practice to reach as many youth as possible. One novel approach is a video game intervention called MindLight that uses two evidence-based strategies to target childhood anxiety problems. Using neurofeedback mechanics to train players to: (1) attend to positive rather than threatening stimuli and (2) down-regulate arousal during stressful situations, MindLight teaches children how to practice overcoming anxious thoughts and arousal in a fun and engaging context. The present study examined the effectiveness of MindLight versus online cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) based psychoeducation sessions as a comparison in reducing anxiety in a sample of 144 anxious children, which was measured in three ways: (1) anxiety symptoms, (2) state anxiety in response to stress, and (3) psychophysiological arousal in response to stress. Children between the ages of 8.05–17.78 years (M=13.61, SD=1.79) were randomly assigned to play MindLight or complete psychoeducation for five hours over three weeks. State anxiety and psychophysiological arousal were assessed in response to two stress tasks before and after exposure to MindLight or psychoeducation. Anxiety symptoms were also measured via a questionnaire. Overall, participants showed significant reductions in anxiety symptoms and state anxiety in response to stress, but not psychophysiological arousal in response to stress. Moreover, the magnitude of reductions in anxiety did not differ between interventions but by age and sex. Specifically, older participants showed a greater decrease in severity of state anxiety in response to a social stressor than younger participants and girls showed a greater decrease in severity of state anxiety in response to a cognitive stressor than boys. The present study suggests that playing MindLight results in similar reductions in anxiety as one of the more common means of delivering CBT principles to youth.

A comparative study of translation strategies applied in dealing with role languages. : A translation analysis of the video game Final Fantasy XIV

Localisation is the process of taking a product and adapting it to fit the culture in question. This usually involves making it both linguistically and culturally appropriate for the target audience. While there are many areas in video game translations where localisation holds a factor, this study will focus on localisation changes in the personalities of fictional characters between the original Japanese version and the English localised version of the video game Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn and its expansion Heavensward for PC, PS3 and PS4. With this in mind, specific examples are examined using Satoshi Kinsui's work on yakuwarigo, role language as the main framework for this study. Five non-playable characters were profiled and had each of their dialogues transcribed for a comparative analysis. This included the original Japanese text, the officially localised English text and a translation of the original Japanese text done by myself. Each character were also given a short summary and a reasoned speculation on why these localisation changes might have occurred. The result shows that there were instances where some translations had been deliberately adjusted to ensure that the content did not cause any problematic issues to players overseas. This could be reasoned out that some of the Japanese role languages displayed by characters in this game could potentially cause dispute among the western audience. In conclusion, the study shows that localisation can be a difficult process that not only requires a translator's knowledge of the source and target language, but also display some creativity in writing ability to ensure that players will have a comparable experience without causing a rift in the fanbase.

A Phylogenetic Classification of the Video-Game Industry’s Business Model Ecosystem

Part 8: Business Strategies Alignment

Studio e Sperimentazione di Algoritmi di Reinforcement Learning Applicati a Video Game

Nella prima parte del mio lavoro viene presentato uno studio di una prima soluzione "from scratch" sviluppata da Andrew Karpathy. Seguono due miei miglioramenti: il primo modificando direttamente il codice della precedente soluzione e introducendo, come obbiettivo aggiuntivo per la rete nelle prime fasi di gioco, l'intercettazione della pallina da parte della racchetta, migliorando l'addestramento iniziale; il secondo é una mia personale implementazione utilizzando algoritmi più complessi, che sono allo stato dell'arte su giochi dell'Atari, e che portano un addestramento molto più veloce della rete.

Adaptive Game Design Study of a fully adaptive framework

Adventure! The Paladin Order foi um projecto ambicioso que começou por ser desenvolvido como um video jogo completo. Tinha como objéctivo implementar uma ferramenta diferente que permitisse tornar o jogo completamente adaptativo às decisões do jogador tanto nas interacções e no diálogo com outras personagens, assim como no combate contra os variados inímigos do jogo. Devido à inexperiência do autor uma grande parte do tempo foi passado a estudar e a pesquisar várias possíveis soluções que permitissem criar um ambiente que fosse adaptativo de uma forma simples e interessante, não só para os programadores mas também para qualquer pessoa que fosse responsável por editar o diálogo e a história do jogo. Os resultados foram bastante interessantes, revelando um sistema que depende simultaneamente dos ficheiros de onde é retirado o diálogo, e de um sistema de personalidades que permite definir qual será o comportamento de qualquer objecto do jogo ou, pelo menos, como as outras personagens irão reagir. O produto final é uma ferramenta de bases sólidas que permite uma implementação relativamente simples de um sistema abrangente e adaptativo, com poucas falhas e apenas algumas questões de simplicidade de código.

Video Gaming in Children Improves Performance on a Virtual Reality Trainer but Does Not yet Make a Laparoscopic Surgeon.

Background: In children, video game experience improves spatial performance, a predictor of surgical performance. This study aims at comparing laparoscopic virtual reality (VR) task performance of children with different levels of experience in video games and residents. Participants and methods: A total of 32 children (8.4 to 12.1 years), 20 residents, and 14 board-certified surgeons (total n = 66) performed several VR and 2 conventional tasks (cube/spatial and pegboard/fine motor). Performance between the groups was compared (primary outcome). VR performance was correlated with conventional task performance (secondary outcome). Results: Lowest VR performance was found in children with low video game experience, followed by those with high video game experience, residents, and board-certified surgeons. VR performance correlated well with the spatial test and moderately with the fine motor test. Conclusions: The use of computer games can be considered not only as pure entertainment but may also contribute to the development of skills relevant for adequate performance in VR laparoscopic tasks. Spatial skills are relevant for VR laparoscopic task performance.

Players and Avatars: The Connections between Player Personality, Avatar Personality, and Behavior in Video Games

The increasing variety and complexity of video games allows players to choose how to behave and represent themselves within these virtual environments. The focus of this dissertation was to examine the connections between the personality traits (specifically, HEXACO traits and psychopathic traits) of video game players and player-created and controlled game-characters (i.e., avatars), and the link between traits and behavior in video games. In Study 1 (n = 198), the connections between player personality traits and behavior in a Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Game (World of Warcraft) were examined. Six behavior components were found (i.e., Player-versus-Player, Social Player-versus-Environment, Working, Helping, Immersion, and Core Content), and each was related to relevant personality traits. For example, Player-versus-Player behaviors were negatively related to Honesty-Humility and positively related to psychopathic traits, and Immersion behaviors (i.e., exploring, role-playing) were positively related to Openness to Experience. In Study 2 (n = 219), the connections between player personality traits and in-game behavior in video games were examined in university students. Four behavior components were found (i.e., Aggressing, Winning, Creating, and Helping), and each was related to at least one personality trait. For example, Aggressing was negatively related to Honesty-Humility and positively related to psychopathic traits. In Study 3 (n = 90), the connections between player personality traits and avatar personality traits were examined in World of Warcraft. Positive player-avatar correlations were observed for all personality traits except Extraversion. Significant mean differences between players and avatars were observed for all traits except Conscientiousness; avatars had higher mean scores on Extraversion and psychopathic traits, but lower mean scores on the remaining traits. In Study 4, the connections between player personality traits, avatar traits, and observed behaviors in a life-simulation video game (The Sims 3) were examined in university students (n = 93). Participants created two avatars and used these avatars to play The Sims 3. Results showed that the selection of certain avatar traits was related to relevant player personality traits (e.g., participants who chose the Friendly avatar trait were higher in Honesty-Humility, Emotionality, and Agreeableness, and lower in psychopathic traits). Selection of certain character-interaction behaviors was related to relevant player personality traits (e.g., participants with higher levels of psychopathic traits used more Mean and fewer Friendly interactions). Together, the results of the four studies suggest that individuals generally behave and represent themselves in video games in ways that are consistent with their real-world tendencies.

Thumb-bangers : exploring the cultural bond between video games and heavy metal

« Heavy Metal Generations » is the fourth volume in the series of papers drawn from the 2012 Music, Metal and Politics international conference (http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/publishing/product/heavy-metal-generations/).

Place for video games : a theoretical and pedagogical framework for multiliteracies learning in English studies

Students are now involved in a vastly different textual landscape than many English scholars, one that relies on the “reading” and interpretation of multiple channels of simultaneous information. As a response to these new kinds of literate practices, my dissertation adds to the growing body of research on multimodal literacies, narratology in new media, and rhetoric through an examination of the place of video games in English teaching and research. I describe in this dissertation a hybridized theoretical basis for incorporating video games in English classrooms. This framework for textual analysis includes elements from narrative theory in literary study, rhetorical theory, and literacy theory, and when combined to account for the multiple modalities and complexities of gaming, can provide new insights about those theories and practices across all kinds of media, whether in written texts, films, or video games. In creating this framework, I hope to encourage students to view texts from a meta-level perspective, encompassing textual construction, use, and interpretation. In order to foster meta-level learning in an English course, I use specific theoretical frameworks from the fields of literary studies, narratology, film theory, aural theory, reader-response criticism, game studies, and multiliteracies theory to analyze a particular video game: World of Goo. These theoretical frameworks inform pedagogical practices used in the classroom for textual analysis of multiple media. Examining a video game from these perspectives, I use analytical methods from each, including close reading, explication, textual analysis, and individual elements of multiliteracies theory and pedagogy. In undertaking an in-depth analysis of World of Goo, I demonstrate the possibilities for classroom instruction with a complex blend of theories and pedagogies in English courses. This blend of theories and practices is meant to foster literacy learning across media, helping students develop metaknowledge of their own literate practices in multiple modes. Finally, I outline a design for a multiliteracies course that would allow English scholars to use video games along with other texts to interrogate texts as systems of information. In doing so, students can hopefully view and transform systems in their own lives as audiences, citizens, and workers.

School-age children show a bias toward fantasy classifications after playing a platform game

We investigated the influence of playing a video game on children’s ability to distinguish between fantasy and reality. School-age children played a platform game for 15 min and then performed a fantasy/reality distinction task in which they were to judge whether images (from the platform game and from other games) were fantasy images or reality images. Unlike those in the control group (who played a memory game), the children in the experimental group showed a response bias toward mistakenly classifying reality images from the video game as fantasy images (as determined by means of an analysis based on signal detection theory). We conclude that playing the video game exerted a short-term influence on children’s ability to distinguish between fantasy and reality.

General Game Playing: Análisis del problema. Solución basada en un algoritmo hibrido de inteligencia computacional

El objetivo de este trabajo es presentar unas bases de conocimiento sobre el denominado General Game Playing (GGP) analizando los conceptos relacionados con esta área que ha surgido recientemente, de forma que nuestro trabajo pueda ser usado como base en futuras investigaciones y tesis relacionadas con la materia. Para ello, se hará un estudio de los enfoques que se han empleado para abordar el problema y se profundizará en otras técnicas algorítmicas, tales como por ejemplo la de Montecarlo Tree Search y los algoritmos bio-inspirados que no se han empleado (o se han empleado poco) en este contexto. Adicionalmente, se realiza una propuesta de un agente autónomo (es decir, un resolutor del problema), implementando un algoritmo bio-inspirado mixto, dentro de la plataforma para la General Video Game Artificial Intelligence Competition (GVGAI), analizando sus resultados y extrayendo conclusiones.

Aspectos motores da Paralisia Cerebral Espástica diparética : o Nintendo WII 'MARCA REGISTRADA' como atividade motora complementar = Motor aspects of Spastic Cerebral Palsy : the Nintendo WII 'TRADEMARK' as a supplementary motor activity

Universidade Estadual de Campinas . Faculdade de Educação Física

O uso de videogames, jogos de computador e internet por uma amostra de universitários da Universidade de São Paulo

OBJETIVO: Avaliar uso de jogos eletrônicos (videogames, jogos de computador e internet) em uma amostra de universitários. MÉTODO: Um questionário a respeito de comportamentos relacionados ao uso de jogos eletrônicos, contendo a escala Problem Videogame Playing (PVP), foi aplicado em 100 alunos da Universidade de São Paulo (USP). RESULTADOS: A maioria (83%) relatou ter jogado no último ano, dentre a qual 81,9% eram homens, 51,8% jogavam de 1 a 2 horas por sessão; 74,4% afirmaram que jogar não interfere em seus relacionamentos sociais e 60,5%, que o uso de jogos violentos não influencia sua agressividade. Os estudantes dividiram-se entre jogadores ocasionais e frequentes, diferenciando-se por duração de cada sessão, jogo preferido, motivação para jogar, e influência do jogo na vida social. Cerca de 5% relataram só parar de jogar quando interrompidos, normalmente jogar mais de 4 horas por sessão e se relacionar mais com amigos virtuais, sugerindo maior envolvimento com a atividade. Na escala PVP, 15,8% da amostra preencheu mais da metade dos itens, indicando consequências adversas associadas ao uso dos jogos eletrônicos. CONCLUSÃO: Observou-se que o uso de jogos eletrônicos é comum entre os estudantes da USP e que uma parcela apresenta problemas relacionados ao excesso de jogo.