Video games have suffered a negative reputation regarding their influence on children and adolescents, in comparison to its “well-behaved” counterpart, books. Nevertheless, the world of video games is much more diverse than imaginable – from fantasy to reality – and it is possible that different types of video games have different effects on human cognition and behavior. To fill a gap in research, fantasy and non-fantasy genres were the focal point of the correlational study. In this study, we analyze how video game playing habits, video game genre preference, book reading habits and book reading preferences are correlated with creative thinking. Construal level theory explains the importance of psychological distances in enhancing creativity. Fantasy and fiction content, as well as role play, are theorized to be part of creativity due to generation of distance and abstract thinking. Creativity was measured by insight problems and a categorization task. Abstract thinking was also measured by the Behavioral Identification Form. The questionnaire was given out to 154 students during lunch hours at a university in Sweden, throughout the period of March 2019. The results indicated that preference in a genre, whether gaming or literature, did not indicate significant differences in creative thinking. However, the consumption and habit of playing role-play games showed a significant correlation to creativity in comparison to its “rival” – action games. Results showed the same effects for fiction literature versus non-fiction. Theoretical and practical implications for organizations and the workplace are discussed, as well as limitations of the study.

Lately, the trailer for the game “Battlefield V” received a massive backlash from the players of the Battlefield franchise due to the fact that the game inspired by World War II featured a woman as the main character. This research set out to investigate how female elements are interpreted in a traditional male-dominated digital space, and aims to highlight the elements to consider when introducing a female lead character in a video game. The method employed was the critical discourse analysis method (CDA) which interprets discourse by drawing out the implicit meanings in texts. The analysis sought to discern the elements depicting the woman soldier in the online discourse around the game that originated from the controversy. The interpretation of the results is based on the reception theory, as well as the concept of identification and develop around the theory of gender and media and game theory (ludology). The results revealed that the perception of women as a role, from a presence and aesthetic perspective in a virtual space, is influenced by gender roles and the reception of History. Another conclusion is that when giving a female character the main role, with all the attributes of a male character, it seems to confuse the players, resulting in that they cannot identify themselves with the avatar. In addition, the physical appearance contributes to the identification with a character and confirms the precedent studies about male players identifying with male players. The findings support the autonomy of historical understanding and its connection to visual culture in order to explain the phenomenon. As a consequence, the rejection of the main character has led to the creation of a community built around the online discourse and the imbalance of gender values, favorising masculinity over femininity.

Os jogos eletrônicos são hoje uma das formas de entretenimento que mais crescem no mundo. No período em que vivemos assistimos à uma proliferação de dispositivos que nos cercam, governandonos e subjetivando-nos. Desde objetos simples como uma caneta até a própria linguagem, não há como escapar do círculo de influência dos dispositivos. Seus efeitos são tanto mais presentes quanto menos somos capazes de percebê-los. Os jogos eletrônicos parecem ter uma vocação especial para se enquadrar nesse último caso, já que costumamos dedicar pouca atenção aos mesmos, muitas vezes considerando-os como meros brinquedos, ou passatempos. Nesse trabalho buscamos descrever e compreender como são as estratégias usadas pelos jogos eletrônicos para capturar seus jogadores e submetê-los a um processo de subjetivação que os governa. Queremos também identificar que tipos possíveis de resistências são formados nesse processo. Especificamente, nos debruçamos sobre o jogo GTA V e seu modo exclusivamente online. A série de jogos GTA é uma das mais populares da atualidade e possui uma trajetória repleta de controvérsias em torno da violência e criminalidade representada em seu universo. Assim sendo, a questão da violência no jogo e como seus jogadores a elaboram também foi um ponto importante em nossa investigação. Para alcançarmos nossos objetivos fizemos uma descrição do funcionamento de seu funcionamento, realizamos uma incursão etnográfica em uma comunidade de jogadores online e entrevistamos adultos e adolescentes jogadores. Ao final de nosso trabalho observamos que os jogos eletrônicos, em especial o GTA, são capazes de seduzir e capturar seus jogadores por possibilitar que estes obtenham sucesso em seus esforços para alcançar as metas que o jogo propõe. Diferentemente do que acontece no dia a dia, em que nossas tarefas nos parecem demasiadamente árduas, pouco recompensadoras, ou até sem sentido, as ações dentro do jogo trazem recompensas imediatas e as regras que regulam seu funcionamento são bastante claras e constantes. Porém, como forma de sempre impulsionar os jogadores a permanecerem engajados o jogo deve ser constantemente atualizado e novas metas e tarefas, cada vez mais desafiadoras e, às vezes, inalcançáveis, devem ser introduzidas. Frente a isso, o jogador deve comportar-se como um perfeito homo oeconomicus neoliberal respondendo prontamente à essas modificações sistemáticas. Porém, vislumbramos algumas formas de resistência, ou engajamentos diferentes com o jogo. Tais como ignorar as atualizações e formas prioritárias de jogar ou subverter as regras modificando o jogo para acessa-lo de formas não previstas. Resistir ao poder de governo dos jogos eletrônicos não é uma tarefa simples e talvez nem seja possível de realizá-la de forma perfeita, mas conhecer as formas com que eles nos subjetivam é um passo importante a ser dado. Acreditamos que nosso trabalho tenha trazido contribuições nesse sentido. / The videogames are one of the fastest growing entertainment media in the world. Nowadays, we witness a proliferation of devices that surround us, governing and subjecting us. From simple objects like a pen to the language itself, there is no escape from its circle of influence. The less we are able to perceive them the more they are likely to govern us. Videogames seems to have a special vocation to fit in that latter case, as we tend to pay little attention to them, often considering them as mere toys or hobbies. In this work we seek to describe and understand the strategies used by electronic games to capture their players and submit them to the process of subjectivation. We also want to identify possible resistances and types of countermeasures that can appear in this process. Specifically, we focus on GTA V and its online mode. GTA is one of the most popular series of games today and has a path full of controversies around violence and criminality portraited in its games. Therefore, the violence in the game and how its players deal with it was also an important issue in our investigation. To achieve our goals, we described how the game works, conducted an ethnographic visitation on a community of online players and interviewed adult and teenage players. At the end of our research we observed that electronic games, especially GTA, are capable of seducing and capturing their players by enabling them to succeed in their efforts to achieve the goals proposed by the game. Opposing what happens on the everyday life, where our tasks seem too arduous, unrewarding, or even meaningless, the in-game actions brings immediate rewards. At the same time the rules that governs these virtual worlds are fairly clear and constant. However, to always encourage players to stay engaged, the game must be constantly updated with new goals and tasks even more challenging and, sometimes, beyond reach. Facing it the player must behave like a perfect neo-liberal homo oeconomicus responding to systematic modifications. Despite it, we encounter different forms of engagement with the game that maybe could imply in small ways of resistance. Such as ignoring the updates and primary forms of play or subverting the rules by modifying the game to make use of it in unpredictable ways. To resist the governing and subjectivation powers of the videogames is not a simple task. And maybe not completely possible. But knowing the ways in which they govern us is an important step to take. So, we believe our work has made contributions in this regard.

<div>Although some literature suggests that video games improve attention skills within the game-play, this study addressed translating this effect on attention in the real world. Research has shown video games can help people focus. Yet, there is lack of evidence displaying whether video games improve or diminish attention skills. The video game “The Inattentive Mind”, a game created for this study, used a method of overstimulation in the form of user interfaces, sound, and environmental interaction to try and help participants to empathize or improve their attention skills outside of the game. Using an experimental design of pre-test, video game intervention, and post-test, results were expected to show improved attention skills. These results did not show conclusive evidence of significant changes in attention skills. However, the results did show an increase in ADHD understanding.<br></div>

The current models of skill in video games make one of two impositions on players: either to provide an estimate of their own skill, or complete several games before they can be properly assessed. However, in order to experience the most enjoyment and greatest sense of immersion, players need to play against the right difficulty. In order to assign the appropriate difficulty, the player's skill must first be captured accurately and quickly, before the player gets frustrated or bored. Rather than relying on game results that need to be averaged over several games, this thesis proposes predicting a player's skill from their behaviour within the first game. In order to do this, we explore methods for measuring skill in both a multiplayer and single-player game and methods for extracting appropriate information from the player's behaviour. The resulting predictions can then be used to automatically assign an appropriate difficulty to the player. In a multiplayer environment, we first demonstrate that a player's final rank canbe predicted within the first 30 seconds of a game with a correlation of over 0.8.This process is transferred to a single-player first-person shooter, where our modelis shown to assign difficulties comparable to a player's own assessment of theirskill within the first 30 seconds of a campaign. We argue that these methods forcapturing skill in a first-person shooter are transferable to other genres, and havethe potential to improve difficulty selection systems.

"Video games are more popular now than they have ever been, and the video game industry is on the verge of hitting its Golden Age (Diver, 2015). In 2015 alone, the video game industry is predicted to reach $91 billion in sales revenue (Nunnely, 2015). Video games have become a key element in today’s youth culture (Seel, 2001; Aarsand, 2007; Gee, 2007). With such a successful and culturally relevant medium at their disposal, pedagogues can use this form of entertainment as a gateway medium for educational instruction. This paper describes the progressive integration of technology in music education as well as the implications of using a non-traditional method of educational instruction through a video game. Focusing specifically on the instruction of music theory, several methods of instruction are examined. Past studies using video games as a medium to convey instruction are further examined. The development of an educational music theory video game is explored along with several development tools in its design. A randomized controlled trial was conducted in an undergraduate classroom where participants completed a series of activities using either the music theory video game prototype or a simulated method book application. The data suggests a significant improvement in each skill topic when using the video game and compares similarly to the simulated method book application."

My dissertation research studies the use of video games as texts for analysis in a College English course. The purpose of the study was to see what happens when College English students are asked to engage with a video game as a class text, use their engagement with a video game to make sense of other texts, and how reader-response theory applies to making meaning of video games as texts. A secondary purpose was to study, if this transaction does take place, whether video games can support the kind of analysis required of a College English curriculum and what this curriculum might look like. I conducted this study as an autoethnography of a course designed for this purpose as the course instructor. Observing my students’ participation and analyzing their written work served as the primary data, as well as self-reflection on my own meaning-making processes. My final observations suggest that students engaged with the video game as a class text, though not more than they might have any other text; however, the nature of playing the text (and the multiple interpretations that afforded individual students) encouraged a critical reading in which students readily participated. For this reason, game choice was of paramount importance, that it might align with learning objectives but was accessible to a wide variety of prior experience with video games. Finally, a committee of department faculty deemed the majority of student work as of the quality expected for the course, suggesting video games can serve as texts for analysis that the field expects of its students. The implications of this study should inform English Education’s adaption to teaching the multiple literacies of the 21st century, as this research itself is multimodal and requires multiple literacies to read. This choice of research method and format was also meant to serve as examples of the transactions I and students experienced in the study.

Game-based learning, or the process of adapting an educational concept into a game-based structure, has been studied by researchers for nearly a century. Over the last several decades, new technologies have allowed digital media to create a multibillion- dollar entertainment industry commonly known as video games. Video games have become a tool for many educators who have the potential to engage and motivate students to learn in various subjects and disciplines. The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of digital game-based learning in comparison to other teaching methods as related to music education and to explore the perspectives of young students regarding video games both in school and in their personal lives. Ninety-two (n = 92) fifth and sixth grade students in a northeastern U.S. elementary school completed a mixed-method experimental study consisting of a pretest/posttest control group, surveys, and in-depth interviews. Results showed that students who had access to educational video games combined with the assistance of an instructor achieved higher mean scores compared with students who had access to either video games without instruction or instruction without video games. Survey and interview data suggested that students enjoyed playing video games on a regular basis for reasons such as enjoyment, socialization, and distraction. The majority of respondents believed that video games can and should be used in educational practices, including music education, but current educational games are inadequate because they do not possess the qualities of entertainment that are inherent in commercially designed games. These findings suggested that educational video games may be potentially used as an effective tool in the music classroom to teach musical concepts and skills. In addition, benefits may also include increased student motivation, engagement, and a hands-on approach to learning that is based on the students’ individual needs. However, it may be necessary for video games to be used in combination with a qualified teacher to prevent confusion, distraction, and possible frustration. Pairing quality instruction with engaging technology that is relevant in children’s lives may be highly beneficial for the continued development of music education.

Developing video games is an iterative and demanding process. It is difficult to achieve the goal of most video games — to be enjoyable, engaging and to create revenue for game developers — because of many hard-to-evaluate factors, such as the different ways players can interact with the game. Understanding how players behave during gameplay is of vital importance to developers and can be uncovered in user tests as part of game development. This can help developers to identify and resolve any potential problem areas before release, leading to a better player experience and possibly higher game review scores and sales. However, traditional user testing methods were developed for function and efficiency oriented applications. Hence, many traditional user testing methods cannot be applied in the same way for video game evaluation. This thesis presents an investigation into the contributions of physiological measurements in user testing within games user research (GUR). GUR specifically studies the interaction between a game and users (players) with the aim to provide feedback for developers to help them to optimise the game design of their title. An evaluation technique called Biometric Storyboards is developed, which visualises the relationships between game events, player feedback and changes in a player's physiological state. Biometric Storyboards contributes to the field of human-computer interaction and GUR in three important areas: (1) visualising mixedmeasures of player experience, (2) deconstructing game design by analysing game events and pace, (3) incremental improvement of classic user research techniques (such as interviews and physiological measurements). These contributions are described in practical case studies, interviews with game developers and laboratory experiments. The results show this evaluation approach can enable games user researchers to increase the plausibility and persuasiveness of their reports and facilitate developers to better deliver their design goals. Biometric Storyboards is not aimed at replacing existing methods, but to extend them with mixed methods visualisations, to provide powerful tools for games user researchers and developers to better understand and communicate player needs, interactions and experiences. The contributions of this thesis are directly applicable for user researchers and game developers, as well as for researchers in user experience evaluation in entertainment systems.

Thesis (MTech (Information Technology)--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2017. / Active Video Games (AVGs) are a form of video games that rely on gamer motion as the main source of interaction between the AVG and the player. These AVGs serve a number of purposes, such as medical rehabilitation, education, social development, and motor skill development, among others. Prolonged play of AVGs is not sustainable as gamers lose interest in playing AVGs after the initial period of acquiring them. Therefore, the following research question was posed: “What design factors contribute to an engaged and immersed AVG experience?” The aim was to explore the inhibiting and enhancing factors influencing engagement and immersion among AVG gamers, as well as to develop a theory of AVG design. Constructivist Grounded Theory (CGT) was used as the methodology to carry out this study, which adopted an inductive approach towards the research to construct a theory firmly grounded in the data. Play Active Theory (PAT) is the outcome of this process, which explores the engagement and immersion factors related to AVG design as well as the abandonment and replayability of AVGs. PAT was compared to existing engagement and motivation theories as part of the CGT process, and further refined. In closing, the research question was answered and the aims of the study were met. A reflection account of the research journey concludes the thesis.