The edge of glory: the relationship between metacritic scores and player experience

This study sought to examine how measures of player experience used in videogame research relate to Metacritic Professional and User scores. In total, 573 participants completed an online survey, where they responded the Player Experience of Need Satisfaction (PENS) and the Game Experience Questionnaire (GEQ) in relation to their current favourite videogame. Correlations among the data indicate an overlap between the player experience constructs and the factors informing Metacritic scores. Additionally, differences emerged in the ways professionals and users appear to allocate game ratings. However, the data also provide clear evidence that Metacritic scores do not reflect the full complexity of player experience and may be misleading in some cases.

Understanding expectations with multiple controllers in an augmented reality videogame

Player experiences and expectations are connected. The presumptions players have about how they control their gameplay interactions may shape the way they play and perceive videogames. A successfully engaging player experience might rest on the way controllers meet players' expectations. We studied player interaction with novel controllers on the Sony PlayStation Wonderbook, an augmented reality (AR) gaming system. Our goal was to understand player expectations regarding game controllers in AR game design. Based on this preliminary study, we propose several interaction guidelines for hybrid input from both augmented reality and physical game controllers

Engaging in videogame play: An activity-centric analysis of the player experience

This paper focuses on examining play activities in people's favourite videogame experience. Through interviews with 30 videogame players we discovered which types of play activities are most appealing. Our research identifies the level of appeal of a wide range of game play activities. We have established that high levels of engagement for many participants is grounded in play as power and play as strategy, with play as fantasy adding to the experience. Through our study we established that conflict-based activities hold strong appeal. We subsequently investigated the context in which players talked about their experience of conflict within game. By using activities as a categorisation of gameplay we have been able to capture the play experience across a range of games and a range of gaming contexts. By examining players' individual experience we begin to understand why conflict in videogames appears to be a popular choice of activities.

Cooperative game play with avatars and agents: Differences in brain activity and the experience of play

The current study sought to identify the impact of whether teammates in a cooperative videogame were controlled by other humans (avatars) or by the game (agents). The impact on player experience was explored through both subjective questionnaire measures and brain wave activity measurement (electroencephalography). Play with human teammates was associated with a greater sense of relatedness, but less competence and flow than play with other computer-controlled teammates. In terms of brain activity, play with human teammates was associated with greater activity in the alpha, theta and beta power bands than play with computer-controlled teammates. Overall, the results suggest that play with human teammates involves greater cognitive activity in terms of 'mentalising' than play with computer-controlled teammates. Additionally, the associations between subjective measures of player experience and brain activity are described. Limitations of the current study are identified and key directions for future research are discussed.

Grand Push Auto: A car based exertion game

Grand Push Auto is an exertion game in which players aim to push a full sized car to ever increasing speeds. The re-appropriation of a car as essentially a large weight allows us to create a highly portable and distributable exertion game in which the main game element has a weight of over 1000 kilograms. In this paper we discuss initial experiences with GPA, and present 3 questions for ongoing study which have been identified from our early testing: How might we appropriate existing objects in exertion game design, and does appropriation change how we think about these objects in different contexts, for example environmental awareness? How does this relate to more traditional sled based weight training? How can we create exertion games that allow truly brutal levels of force?

Operationalising and measuring flow in video games

This paper explores the obstacles associated with designing video game levels for the purpose of objectively measuring flow. We sought to create three video game levels capable of inducing a flow state, an overload state (low-flow), and a boredom state (low-flow). A pilot study, in which participants self-reported levels of flow after playing all three game levels, was undertaken. Unexpected results point to the challenges of operationalising flow in video game research, obstacles in experimental design for invoking flow and low-flow, concerns about flow as a construct for measuring video game enjoyment, the applicability of self-report flow scales, and the experience of flow in video game play despite substantial challenge-skill differences.

Redefining videogame reward types

The aim of our research is to iteratively refine and begin validating a proposed videogame reward typology and its associated definitions. A mixed methods approach has been taken so as to best evaluate and refine the taxonomy. The views of an expert focus group have been explored and considered. Separately, a review of the videogame rewards observed within recreational videogames has been undertaken and analyzed. The collective findings of both the focus group and the videogame reward review have prompted the redesign of an existing videogame reward taxonomy, resulting in more robust definitions with increased applicability.

Deep learning review and its applications

Deep neural networks have recently gained popularity for improv- ing state-of-the-art machine learning algorithms in diverse areas such as speech recognition, computer vision and bioinformatics. Convolutional networks especially have shown prowess in visual recognition tasks such as object recognition and detection in which this work is focused on. Mod- ern award-winning architectures have systematically surpassed previous attempts at tackling computer vision problems and keep winning most current competitions. After a brief study of deep learning architectures and readily available frameworks and libraries, the LeNet handwriting digit recognition network study case is developed, and lastly a deep learn- ing network for playing simple videogames is reviewed.

O gênero game: possibilidades criativas de leitura

A presente pesquisa tem como objetivo geral defender o ato de jogar como processo de leitura, concebida como construção de sentido(s), da qual o jogador participa como coautor. Para realização dessa tarefa, sugerimos uma descrição do game como gênero discursivo hipermodal. Teorias da área do estudo de games foram articuladas a teorias da área de Letras, a fim de respaldar com coerência teórica os objetivos aqui pretendidos. O corpus a ser estudado compõe-se de uma transcrição de uma jogada completa do game Heavy Rain e de gravações de cenas fílmicas e controláveis do mesmo jogo. Nesta pesquisa, defendemos a atividade lúdica como um processo de leitura bastante enriquecedor, que exige do jogador uma postura ativa, na qual ele precisa concretizar habilidades diversas para dar conta de construir sentidos a partir da multiplicidade semiótica do game

Obra-jogo: processos, visualidades e tessituras

Esta dissertação trata das visualidades buscadas no campo da arte contemporânea utilizando como linguagem o videogame e sua estética, que se formam como transfigurações das ideias de um mundo estruturado em códigos, uma informação entre os signos que convivem no cotidiano do homem comum. Neste caráter, o trabalho artístico aliado ao videogame propõe estados de percepção estética e interação com o espectador como forma estrutural da obra, como a obra em si. Unir a arte com o videogame para alcançar a mistura entre artista, obra e espectador

Exploração de ambientes em jogos eletrônicos

Esta pesquisa parte da observação de uma prática ocorrida em jogos eletrônicos, identificada como exploração de ambientes. Seu objeto são as ações, processos e os contextos que abrigam esta prática posta em movimento pelos jogadores, em associação com os demais agentes que fazem o jogo funcionar. Objetiva-se uma conceituação do comportamento exploratório nos videogames, bem como dos ambientes nos quais ele se concretiza, e do qual é inseparável. Para tanto, fez-se uma divisão em três partes, a procura de redefinir esta prática a partir de perspectivas teóricas distintas. A primeira se refere às particularidades da exploração em ambientes digitais. Demonstra-se como o jogo representa as habilidades que compõem este processo (movimento, navegação, reconhecimento e manipulação), e quais as propriedades comunicativas da exploração no videogame. A segunda expande a mesma reflexão à uma esfera lúdica, em busca da relação entre ludicidade e exploração nos jogos de mundo aberto, além das suas propriedades formais e ficcionais. A última liga a exploração a um processo criativo de invenção e experimentação com as possibilidades do jogo

EMG Biofeedback Videogame System for the Gait Rehabilitation of Hemiparetic Individuals

Gemstone Team CHIP

The influence of video games with apocalyptic content in adolescents

The aim of this study is the dissertation and analysis of the influence (sociological, psychological and cultural) exerted on adolescents by the concept of Apocalypse. Become a key thought of visual culture, the called doomsday theory achieves one of its highest expressions in video games, possibly the favorite entertainment for young people in their leisure time. The results obtained in this research represent a first approach to the subject through the selected samples, two secondary schools from the city of Seville with disparate locations and divergent socioeconomic backgrounds. To reinforce the comparative study, we have included issues related to parental control, principal gaming platforms used by respondents or the number of hours dedicated to this type of entertainment. The conclusions demonstrate an irremediable attraction from our youth towards apocalyptic universes, plotter consciously with leisure and entertainment as escape from their routine of everyday life.

Vision and Virtuality:The Construction of Narrative Space in Film and Computer Games

This paper seeks to explore the construction of narrative space in 3D PC computer games. With reference to Stephen Heath’s theory of filmic narrative space, the paper will examine how computer games, based on the rendition of a continuous 3D, real-time interactive environment, construct a distinct mode of narrativisation. The dynamic imbrication of the manipulation of 3D objects in a virtual world and the (re)presentation of this virtual mise-en-scene constitute an interaction that affects the concept of narrative in computer games. This leads to several questions that the paper seeks to investigate: How does the construction of space in PC games contribute to the meaning-making process or the gamer’s experience of narrative? How then is this experience of narrative game-space different from that of film?

Gameful connectivism: social bookmarking no SAPO Campus

A web moderna, ou web 2.0, assenta nos princípios de abertura e participação dos seus utilizadores. A natureza voluntária do uso de serviços da web 2.0, aliada à dependência da participação por parte dos seus utilizadores, leva a uma forte concorrência entre serviços semelhantes na web. Esta concorrência leva à procura de novas formas de diferenciação entre serviços. Neste contexto surge a indústria de gamification, que procura transferir elementos de videojogos a outros contextos para aumentar o envolvimento dos utilizadores. Contudo, o discurso desta indústria recente é alvo de fortes críticas de profissionais de game design. Neste trabalho de investigação apresenta-se tanto o discurso da indústria de gamification como as suas críticas. Assumindo que a abordagem atual da gamification assenta numa compreensão limitada dos videojogos, parte-se para a elaboração de um novo quadro concetual que possa guiar o desenho da interação em ambientes web. Esta abordagem fundamenta-se num levantamento bibliográfico da teoria do game design. O quadro concetual resultante é usado no desenho e desenvolvimento de um serviço de social bookmarking no Sapo Campus UA, uma plataforma de serviços web 2.0 para contextos educativos, com o objetivo explícito de aumentar a participação dos seus utilizadores na aplicação. A utilidade do quadro concetual é avaliada com sessões de teste com utilizadores do público-alvo do serviço. Os resultados obtidos indicam que o game design pode enriquecer o desenho da interação na web através da criação de ciclos de ação com resultado claro e feedback positivo.