Dispute resolution across platforms : offshore gambling industry & EVE online

Contemporary online environments suffer from a regulatory gap; that is there are few options for participants between customer service departments and potentially expensive court cases in foreign jurisdictions. Whatever form of regulation ultimately fills that gap will be charged with determining whether specific behavior, within a specific environment, is fair or foul; whether it’s cheating or not. However, cheating is a term that, despite substantial academic study, remains problematic. Is anything the developer doesn’t want you to do cheating? Is it only if your actions breach the formal terms of service? What about the community norms, do they matter at all? All of these remain largely unresolved questions, due to the lack of public determination of cases in such environments, which have mostly been settled prior to legal action. In this paper, I propose a re-branding of participant activity in such environments into developer-sanctioned, advantage play, and cheating. Advantage play, ultimately, is activity within the environment in which the player is able to turn the mechanics of the environment to their advantage without breaching the rules of the environment. Such a definition, and the term itself, is based on the usage of the term within the gambling industry, in which advantage play is considered betting with the advantage in the players’ favor rather than that of the house. Through examples from both the gambling industry and the Massively Multiplayer Role-Playing Game Eve Online, I consider the problems in defining cheating, suggest how the term ‘advantage play’ may be useful in understanding participants behavior in contemporary environments, and ultimately consider the use of such terminology in dispute resolution models which may overcome this regulatory gap.

Ryhmäidentiteetin mittaaminen verkkoroolipelissä World of Warcraft

The objective of the study was to explore the dimensions of group identity in the guilds of World of Warcraft. Previous research shows that social interaction has an important role in playing games for many players. Social identities are an important aspect of self-concept and since group related cues are more salient than personal clues in computer-mediated communication, the social gaming experience was approached through group identity. In the study a new scale will be developed to measure the group identity in games. Secondary goal is to study how different guild attributes affect the group identity and third goal is to explore the connection between group identity and gaming experience and amount of play. Subjects were 1203 guild members and 106 players not in a guild. The data was gathered by an Internet survey which measured group identity with nine scales, gaming experience with three scales and guild attributes with four scales. Also various background data was gathered. The construct of group identity was analyzed with explorative factor analysis. The typical experiences of group identity was analyzed with cluster analysis and effects of guild attributes with multivariate analysis of covariance. As a result of the study a new scale was developed which measured group identity on six dimensions: self-stereotyping, public and private evaluation, importance, interconnection of self and others and awareness of content. Group identity was experienced strongest in elder middle-sized guilds that had formal rules and that emphasized social interaction. The players with strong group identity had more positive gaming experience and played World of Warcraft more per week than the players who were not in a guild or identified to guild weakly. This result encourages game developers to produce environments that enhance group identity as it seems to increase the enjoyment in games. As a whole this study proposes that group identity in guilds is constructed from the same elements as in traditional groups. If this is truly the case, guild membership may have similar positive effects on individual’s mental well-being as traditional positively evaluated group memberships have.

Przegląd dotychczasowych badań nad związkami cech osobowości nauczycieli i uczniów z procesem nauczania / uczenia się

Poniższy artykuł oparty jest na dwóch pozycjach: Psychologia dla nauczycieli Davida Fontana oraz Individual differences in second language learning Petera Skehana i stanowi podstawę teoretyczną dla jednego z tandemów badawczych, w projekcie dotyczącym autonomizacji procesu uczenia się / nauczania. Techniką wykorzystaną w doświadczeniu jest rozwinięta forma znanej w metodyce techniki role play do postaci role playing game. (gry fabularne). Celem doświadczenia jest sprawdzenie skuteczności tejże techniki w kształtowaniu autokontroli i autokorekty, jako elementów Indywidualnej Kompetencji Komunikacyjnej w powiązaniu z cechami osobowości.

Le rôleplay dans les communautés underground en France

Dans les milieux dits alternatifs ou undergrounden France, affiliés aux formes postmodernes de cultures fan geek et otaku, une pratique a émergé ces dernières années: le rôleplay. Ni tout à fait jeu de rôle, ni tout à fait théâtre, cette modalité d’échange basée sur une mise en scène de soi se pratique en groupe dans des espaces consacrés. Le présent travail est le résultat d’une ethnographie au sein de ces milieux. Il cherche à la fois à rendre compte de cette pratique et à analyser les enjeux qui lui sont liés. C’est une réflexion polyphonique qui lie les questionnements de l’identité, tant individuelle que collective et la performativité à travers, notamment, les travaux de Deleuze, Agamben et Butler. La forme éclatée dans laquelle interviennent différentes voix reprend l’idée de chaos carnavalesque,motif central dans la présente analyse.

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

RPG e mídia: uma análise do caso Ouro Preto

This paper is intended to perform an analysis of the news published by the Website Ouropreto.com.br and the portals and Uai e Terra in news about the murder of the student Aline Silveira Soares and about its judgment. According with the news, the student's body was found in the cemetery of the church Nossa Senhora das Mercês e Misericórdia on 14th October 2001 in the city of Ouro Preto in Minas Gerais. The police and the media reverberated the hypothesis that Aline would had been killed during a Satanic ritual related to the RPG game(Role Playing Game) which is a game where players assume characters within a story. Our proposal is to analyze the coverage of vehicles of different ranges (local, regional and national) and evaluate how the case was shown focusing on its supposed relationship with the RPG game

Videojuegos y Educación Literaria. Narrativas transmedia en las constelaciones literarias

Actualmente, la sociedad denuncia la cada vez más acuciante desidia lectora en los estudiantes de Educación Secundaria. Es habitual escuchar que las causas de la misma se encuentran en las horas que los adolescentes dedican a la televisión, a Internet y a los videojuegos. Lejos de alimentar el rechazo a estos soportes lúdicos, este estudio se plantea que se han convertido en una parte fundamental de la cultura de los jóvenes y que, además, no solo no disuaden de la lectura, sino que están relacionados con ella y, en muchísimos casos, dependen de la misma para su propio desarrollo. No es posible imaginar un RPG (Role-Playing Game), una aventura gráfica o una visual novel sin texto escrito y es indudable que quienes emplean estos soportes están leyendo continuamente. Se plantea, pues, la posibilidad de emplear los videojuegos en el área de Didáctica de la Lengua y la Literatura como elementos viables para el desarrollo de la competencia lectoliteraria en los alumnos de Educación Secundaria, gracias a su papel como elementos transmedia y su fácil inclusión en las constelaciones literarias de cada uno de los alumnos.

Ролевата игра като форма на повишаване на творческата активност на учениците в часовете по информатика

Irina Goranova - The author shares his experience with rising the creativity of students in informatics classes using role-playing games. The paper contains the methods of preparation and taking role-playing games and examples of role-playing games, used in informatics classes.

Lectura y escritura como prácticas culturales : La investigación y sus contribuciones para la formación docente

Tabla de contenidos: Lectura y escritura como prácticas culturales. La investigación y sus contribuciones para la formación docente / Sandra Sawaya, Carolina Cuesta. Las prácticas de lectura y escritura o el lugar del alumno como ciudadano / Sandra Sawaya. Lectura y escritura como contenidos de enseñanza de la lengua y la literatura: tensiones entre políticas educativas y trabajo docente en Argentina / Carolina Cuesta. Enseñanza de la lectura y la escritura en el primer ciclo: prácticas de enseñanza y fracaso escolar / María Fernanda Ronconi. Tras la huella de la mandrágora: derivas teóricas de una experiencia de intervención social con la literatura / Angeles Ingaramo. Prácticas de lectura y escritura en los RPG (Role Playing Game) y las Creepypastas / Manuela López Corral. La enseñanza de la poesía en la escuela Secundaria: la tradición escolar y lo no documentado / Matías Massarella. Parodias de alumnos al saber docente: literatura, cultura popular y humor / Mariano Dubin. Presupuestos acerca de las prácticas de lectura en documentos oficiales de la provincia de Buenos Aires: sobre canon, literatura y experiencia / Mariana Provenzano.

Conhecimento, sociabilidade e lazer em jogos online : 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

Audio games: investigation of the potential through prototype development

This article discusses the potential of audio games based on the evaluation of three projects: a story-driven audio role-playing game (RPG), an interactive audiobook with RPG elements, and a set of casual sound-based games. The potential is understood, both in popularity and playability terms. The first factor is connected to the degree of players’ interest, while the second one to the degree of their engagement in sound-based game worlds. Although presented projects are embedded within the landscape of past and contemporary audio games and gaming platforms, the authors reach into the near future, concluding with possible development directions for this non-visual interactive entertainment.

Conhecimento, sociabilidade e lazer em jogos online : 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

Talking about watching : using the video card game and wiki-web technology to engage IT students in developing observational skills.

Designers need to develop good observational skills in order to conduct user studies that reveal the subtleties of human interactions and adequately inform design activity. In this paper we describe a game format that we have used in concert with wiki-web technology, to engage our IT and Information Environments students in developing much sharper observational skills. The Video Card Game is a method of video analysis that is suited to design practitioners as well as to researchers. It uses the familiar format of a card game similar to "Happy Families,, to help students develop themes of interactions from watching video clips. Students then post their interaction themes on wiki-web pages, which allows the teaching team and other students to edit and comment on them. We found that the tangible (cards), game, role playing and sharing aspects of this method led to a much larger amount of interaction and discussion between student groups and between students and the teaching team, than we have achieved using our traditional teaching methods, while taking no more time on the part of the teaching staff. The quality of the resulting interaction themes indicates that this method fosters development of observational skills.In the paper we describe the motivations, method and results in full. We also describe the research context in which we collected the videotape data, and how this method relates to state of the art research methods in interaction design for ubiquitous computing technology.