Video games are increasingly becoming more intelligent, able to adapt themselves to the individual gamer. Learning styles are a set of models used to categorize people into different types of learners to explain why some people learn better through different methods. Since learning and exploration are such fundamental parts of the video game experience, it is interesting to consider the possibility of applying these learning style models to video games, allowing the video game to adapt to its player, providing a better experience. To consider such adaptation, the game must first be able to detect that learning style from how the player has interacted with it. Simple metrics collected during game play of an instrumented game (opensource Supertux) are compared to the results of the Hay Group’s Kolb Learning Style Inventory, a paper test designed to determine one’s learning style. A relationship between recordable game play metrics and the academic model for learning would allow a game designer to potentially infer that model from game play and use it to adapt the game to that type of learner.

Research has shown that creating uniformity in video games has a larger potential to be objectively good. Realistic video games can create uniformity by implementing a dynamic weather system. The purpose of this thesis is to compare dynamic and static weather and their contribution to the overall player satisfaction. Three weather components were created: wind, rain and clouds. Which weather component that creates the most enjoyment have been examined. Two virtual environments, one dynamic and one static, were created and a test group answered a questionnaire regarding the simulations. Results indicate that dynamic weather is preferred over static weather regarding overall satisfaction.

In the context of video games, a portrayed mood can bring forward emotion and make a scene more alive. With the use of dynamic mood, the look and feel of the game may change provided dynamic events, as dictated by player inputs and various sets of conditions. This thesis aims to describe and present a range of techniques that are subject of affecting the in-game mood, as implemented into an original development project. By using select design patterns, carefully authored parameters and intuitive areas of implementation, the mood and atmosphere of the game experience can be altered dynamically in meaningful ways. / Ur ett datorspelsperpektiv så kan en viss stämning väcka känslor och få en miljö att kännas mer levande. Med dynamisk stämning så menas att spelets utseende och känsla kan förändras med hjälp av dynamiska händelser, formade efter indata från spelaren och olika uppsättningar av villkor. Detta dokument har för avsikt att presentera en rad tekniker som kan användas för att påverka ett spels stämning på ett dynamiskt och betydelsefullt sätt. Genom att välja rätt designmönster, noggrant formulera parametrar samt utforska intuitiva utvecklingsområden så demonstreras detta inför ett verkligt spelprojekt.

This paper examines how the video game Life Is Strange balances the aims of an entertainment game with themes that are more typically found in serious games. Drawing from scholars like Belman, Flanagan and Bogost, the paper explores the capability for entertainment games to foster empathy within players. Finally, the paper attempts to reinforce frameworks for analyzing entertainment games.

This dissertation is study into the phenomena of video game play through the use of personal narrative and autoethnographic performance methods. First, this dissertation seeks to understand the epistemological and ontological ways that ludic forms of phenomenological engagement and embodiment can be conceptualized as a site of autoethnographic performance possibilities. Second, the author utilizes the stage performance of their solo show, Game (Over) Life, to interpret the experiential ways that video games can be utilized for performance-based research and scholarship. Last, this dissertation compares, contrasts, and expands on the multitude of ways that performance studies scholarship and game studies scholarship resonant with each and argues for greater interdisciplinary exchange between the two academic disciplines.

Virtual reality (VR) and videogames present, enable, and constrain human engagement with what may broadly be called digital worlds. Videogames have already become a global force in popular culture. Although VR technologies have existed for half a century, it is only during the past decade that VR has become more widely accessible to the public beyond the confines of research institutions and industry use. Very little scholarship has examined the interconnections of videogames and VR as co-extensive cultural forces that shape ideas and feelings about inhabiting digital worlds. This thesis specifically examines the often-employed lexicon of immersion, presence, or feelings being inside of computer-generated contexts as they exist across videogames and VR. By analyzing 15 participants’ interactions with a contemporary VR videogame and interviewing them about this experience, I discuss how immersion, presence, or the feeling of being inside computer-generated worlds is performative and exceeds what the technology affords. Instead, engagement with digital worlds intersects with other performances, actions, and previous engagement with objects or other digital worlds to make sense of creating meaning in VR. / Graduate

The purpose of this research was to investigate the effects of prosocial videogames, played both singly and cooperatively, and aggressive videogames, played both singly and competitively, on children's prosocial behavior. Eighty boys and 80 girls, half third and fourth graders, and half seventh and eighth graders, were randomly assigned to one of five conditions. In a control condition, children answered questions about videogame experience and enjoyment. In two of the treatment conditions, children played a videogame with prosocial content (a human-like fantasy character rescuing another from danger); half of the children played this game singly, while the other half played cooperatively. In the other two conditions, children played an aggressive videogame (stylized boxing), with half of the children playing singly and the other half competing. Following exposure to one of these conditions, each child's game score, game enjoyment rating, level of donating, and level of helping were measured. The results of a three-way analysis of variance (sex x grade x treatment) on donating yielded significant effects for age, F(1, 140) = 34.12, p = Although prosocial videogame play did not increase prosocial responding, aggressive videogame play clearly suppressed this behavior. The failure of the prosocial condition to accelerate donating and helping might be due to the relatively brief exposure used in this study (10 minutes) and/or to the particular prosocial videogame utilized. The failure of the cooperative and competitive game modes to affect prosocial behavior may have been due to the age of the children or to the possibly aversive effects of the type of cooperation required.

There has been concern and controversy in recent years pertaining to the effects that video games have on the player. This study examined physiological and psychological responses to video game play, as well as the interplay between the two domains of response. The primary purpose of this study was to determine if there is a difference in cardiovascular response (measured by heart rate and blood pressure levels) between aggressive and nonaggressive video game play. In addition, self-report of perceived arousal and hostility levels were assessed following completion of both levels of video game play. Physiological resting baselines for heart rate and blood pressure were determined prior to both levels of play. A mean heart rate was recorded for each 2-min interval while 16 male participants played both an aggressive and a nonaggressive video game for a period of 18- min each. Blood pressure levels were again assessed postplay. Following each level of video game play psychological tests (perceived arousal and hostility levels) were administered. Results show a main effect for type of video game on heart rate, with heart rate significantly higher in the aggressive game than in the nonaggressive game. In addition, a main effect for intervals was also significant, with heart rate increasing over time. No siqnificant differences were found between levels for blood pressure, perceived arousal, and hostility scores. The only significant correlation resulted between post-diastolic blood pressure measure and the hostility subscale of the Multiple Affect Adjective Check List. Implications for future research are discussed.

This thesis explores the contemporary world of video games and analyzes why people engage with single player and multiplayer video game experiences. Based on the uses and gratifications framework, this study examines how college students are engaging with video games and if they prefer single player or online multiplayer video games. Focus groups were conducted with college students to explore the video game culture. The results demonstrated that participants preferred single player video games due to less interruption from social interactions with online multiplayer games, but also to avoid harassment and negative criticisms that continue to plague online multiplayer experiences. Results also suggest that participants seek solitude while engaging with video games in order to become immersed within the game for a more relaxed and fun experience. Gratification dimensions were included from previous research including: arousal, challenge, competition, diversion, fantasy, and social interaction. Several new dimensions not matching previous research were discovered in the data that provided new perspectives on why players engage with single player video games. The participants discussed that single player video games could be played at their own pace, stopped at any time, and then continue their experience at their leisure. Participants were also researching and anticipating new game projects from their favorite developers. Additionally, participants suggest that if the developers made video games they enjoy playing, then the participants would continue to support and follow their future game projects.

In the United States, at least 65% of adults have gambled and/or played a video game in the past year. An emerging form of entertainment combines gambling and video game play and has led to an approximately $30 billion per year industry. Despite an explosion in growth, this form of potentially high-risk behavior has received little research attention. This paper will present a systematic review of the available peer-reviewed and grey literature related to gambling on video games. Our review identifies three major methods of combining gambling and video games. First is betting directly on the outcomes of eSports, either with money or via skin gambling. Second is gambling within video games where players purchase a chance to win a valued prize or consumable virtual item (e.g., loot box, prize crate, gacha). Prizes change the within game experience, from superficial items that change an in-game character’s appearance to items that substantially improve a player’s chance of winning. Further, if desired, these items can be sold for actual money in secondary marketplaces. Third, there are gamified casino games with the sequential, skill-based feel of video games and real money at stake. Implications: This paper is the first comprehensive review of this nascent literature. Results will provide clinicians with important insights into the language and behaviors of clients who gamble on video games. Further, findings may have future policy implications as some gambling on video games is potentially accessible to underage gamblers.