Simulation Games - A Creative Tool for Capacity Building: Experience from the Learning for Sustainability Approach

Games that simulate complex realities to be dealt with in teams are an effective tool for fostering interactive learning processes. they link different levels of decision-making in the household, community and societal contexts. Negotiation and harmonisation of different perceptions and interests, be it within or between different households, form the basis of a common strategy for sustainable development.

Combining qualitative and quantitative methods to analyze serious games outcomes: A pilot study for a new cognitive screening tool

Computer games for a serious purpose - so called serious games can provide additional information for the screening and diagnosis of cognitive impairment. Moreover, they have the advantage of being an ecological tool by involving daily living tasks. However, there is a need for better comprehensive designs regarding the acceptance of this technology, as the target population is older adults that are not used to interact with novel technologies. Moreover given the complexity of the diagnosis and the need for precise assessment, an evaluation of the best approach to analyze the performance data is required. The present study examines the usability of a new screening tool and proposes several new outlines for data analysis.

Power Games in Strategy Formation Processes – A Performative Interpretation

The article approaches an understanding of power within strategy formation processes established by verbal and bodily communication. On this note, we examined concepts of power constituted by hierarchy and developed a conceptual framework for a performative interpretation of power. In line with Austin’s (1962) and Butler’s (1990, 1993, 1997) concept of performativity as well as strategy-as-practice research (Balogun et al., 2007; Jarzabkowski & Spee, 2009) we ask: How is persuasion achieved by strategic actors during strategy formation processes? To explore verbal and bodily communication empirically we developed an experimental setting in a small high-tech company located in Germany in December, 2012. The Results indicate that (1) during critical incidents – when perspectives clash – actors use arguments to gain persuasion. (2) The data illustrates that independently of their hierarchical position within the company, strategic actors show an equal distribution of argumentative techniques.

Sequential Pre-Marital Investment Games: Implications for Unemployment

Agents on the same side of a two-sided matching market (such as the marriage or labor market) compete with each other by making self-enhancing investments to improve their worth in the eyes of potential partners. Because these expenditures generally occur prior to matching, this activity has come to be known in recent literature (Peters, 2007) as pre-marital investment. This paper builds on that literature by considering the case of sequential pre-marital investment, analyzing a matching game in which one side of the market invests first, followed by the other. Interpreting the first group of agents as workers and the other group as firms, the paper provides a new perspective on the incentive structure that is inherent in labor markets. It also demonstrates that a positive rate of unemployment can exist even in the absence of matching frictions. Policy implications follow, as the prevailing set of equilibria can be altered by restricting entry into the workforce, providing unemployment insurance, or subsidizing pre-marital investment.

Assessing fun in serious games: Formative evaluation of games from two diabetes prevention interventions

Purpose. To determine the usability of two video games to prevent type 2 diabetes and obesity among youth through analysis of data collected during alpha-testing. ^ Subjects. Ten children aged 9 to 12 were selected for three 2-hour alpha testing sessions.^ Methods. "Escape from Diab" and "Nanoswarm" were designed to change dietary and physical inactivity behaviors, based on a theoretical framework of mediating variables obtained from social cognitive theory, self-determination theory, elaboration likelihood model, and behavioral inoculation theory. Thirteen mini-games developed by the software company were divided into 3 groups based on completion date. Children tested 4-5 mini-games in each of three sessions. Observed game play was followed by a scripted interview. Results from observation forms and interview transcripts were tabulated and coded to determine usability. Suggestions for game modifications were delivered to the software design firm, and a follow-up table reports rationale for inclusion or exclusion of such modifications.^ Results. Participants were 50% frequent video game players and 20% non game-players. Most (60%) were female. The mean grade (indicating likeability as a subset of usability) across all games given by children was significantly greater than a neutral grade of 80% (89%, p < 0.01), indicating a positive likeability score. The games on average also received positive ratings for fun, helpfulness of instructions and length compared to neutral values (midpoint on likert scales) (all p < 0.01). Observation notes indicated that participants paid attention to the instructions, did not appear to have much difficulty with the games, and were "not frustrated", "not bored", "very engaged", "not fidgety" and "very calm" (all p < 0.01). The primary issues noted in observations and interviews were unclear instructions and unclear purpose of some games. Player suggestions primarily involved ways to make on screen cues more visible or noticeable, instructions more clear, and games more elaborate or difficult.^ Conclusions. The present study highlights the importance of alpha testing video game components for usability prior to completion to enhance usability and likeability. Results indicate that creating clear instructions, making peripheral screen cues more eye-catching or noticeable, and vigorously stating the purpose of the game to improve understandability are important elements. However, future interventions will each present unique materials and user-interfaces and should therefore also be thoroughly alpha-tested. ^

El fratricidio en las Crónicas del Canciller Ayala y en El Victorial de Díaz de Games

Se analiza la lucha fratricida entre Pedro I y Enrique II de Castilla a la luz del "Cuento de los Reyes" inserto en El Victorial, de Gutierre Díaz de Games, y de las Crónicas de Pero López de Ayala. En el transcurso de una guerra civil, inscripta en un conflicto aún mayor, la Guerra de los Cien Años, dos reyes luchan por la misma corona. Ya que Pedro I tiene un origen claramente legítimo, los cronistas, favorables al usurpador Enrique, deben crear para éste una legitimidad, basada en este caso en la denuncia del profundo daño que causa al reino la notoria inconducta del rey legítimo. Una vez perpetrado el doble crimen que significa el asesinato de Pedro a manos de Enrique ?a la vez fratricidio y regicidio? se ejerce la violencia en su función fundacional, instaurando a la vez un nuevo reinado y una nueva dinastía. Por otra parte, lo que sucede en la cúspide de la sociedad se repite en otros niveles, ya que en la guerra civil también se cometerían fratricidios, porque el enemigo no es el Otro, sino un Igual.

Las representaciones de la alteridad en El Victorial de Gutierre Díaz de Games

Fil: Chicote, Gloria Beatriz. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educación; Argentina.

Las representaciones de la alteridad en El Victorial de Gutierre Díaz de Games

Fil: Chicote, Gloria Beatriz. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educación; Argentina.

Las representaciones de la alteridad en El Victorial de Gutierre Díaz de Games

Fil: Chicote, Gloria Beatriz. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educación; Argentina.

El fratricidio en las Crónicas del Canciller Ayala y en El Victorial de Díaz de Games

Se analiza la lucha fratricida entre Pedro I y Enrique II de Castilla a la luz del "Cuento de los Reyes" inserto en El Victorial, de Gutierre Díaz de Games, y de las Crónicas de Pero López de Ayala. En el transcurso de una guerra civil, inscripta en un conflicto aún mayor, la Guerra de los Cien Años, dos reyes luchan por la misma corona. Ya que Pedro I tiene un origen claramente legítimo, los cronistas, favorables al usurpador Enrique, deben crear para éste una legitimidad, basada en este caso en la denuncia del profundo daño que causa al reino la notoria inconducta del rey legítimo. Una vez perpetrado el doble crimen que significa el asesinato de Pedro a manos de Enrique ?a la vez fratricidio y regicidio? se ejerce la violencia en su función fundacional, instaurando a la vez un nuevo reinado y una nueva dinastía. Por otra parte, lo que sucede en la cúspide de la sociedad se repite en otros niveles, ya que en la guerra civil también se cometerían fratricidios, porque el enemigo no es el Otro, sino un Igual.