This thesis is the first attempt to construct a standardized measure of literacy for the medium of video games, filling a gap in the literature by synthesizing various items of skills, behaviors, and affective components from existent studies and determining their correlations through analyzation of survey data. The five categories that were derived from conceptual review and factor analysis have high measures of internal consistency: Information and Systems Management; Exploration and Enjoyment; Teamwork; Design; and Socialization. To test for external consistency and reliability, the proposed gaming literacy model was compared to the Novak and Hoffman (1997) construction of flow, using the three primary components of Challenge, Skill, and Play. Flow is the ultimate level of optimal experience possible with any activity, so it was assumed that high levels of self-reported literacy would coincide with similarly elevated scores in concern with the flow phenomenon. The data shows that, indeed, there is a positive and statistically significant relationship between the two constructs. Nomological validity tests between males and females were conducted post-hoc, using the available data. The intended use for this scale is to establish a baseline measurement system for self-report methods of assessing literacy with video games. Future research should attempt to correlate the scale to actual gaming activity, test the importance of each component in an experimental setting, and determine the discriminate validity by comparing it to scales that have been established for other forms of digital literacy.

Culture plays a part in the construction of legal understandings in the Supreme Court contrary to much legal scholarship. The oral argument of the Supreme Court is a unique way for Justices to gather information beyond the formalized briefs and prior written opinions. In the oral argument the Supreme Court Justices utilize cultural codes as tools to probe, shape, negotiate and challenge the legal meanings and boundaries of the case before them. Using the oral argument transcript in a 2010 Supreme Court case on the issue of whether California has the right to censor the sale of violent video games to minors, this study attempts to understand the sociological processes behind constructing law. Findings show cultural codes being used by the Justices, in this legal context of an oral argument, to address the border disputes and help to establish the specific legal parameters of a case.

In the months following the Sandy Hook elementary school tragedy, there has been increased attention and debate regarding violent video games and how they affect those who play them. While some lobby for increased regulation of their sale, others argue that video games are not the reason such tragedies continue to happen. In this report, I approach the debate from social, personal and political dimensions to better identify the inconsistencies regarding how violent video games are presented to and received by the public. I also interview video game developers, critics, and researchers to uncover solutions and new strategies to increase video game education and perception about the use of violence in a video game. / text

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Each new medium of communication that has emerged over the past century and more has generated concern over its alleged negative effect on children. This concern has (in most cases) generated a moral panic, involving campaigning by moral guardians and office spokespeople, calls for greater regulation and subsequent response from the government or designated regulators. Based on continued inconclusive media effects research and debates over adults' and children's rights, regulation has become increasingly problematic. Such questions as how far you should restrict and protect children and how it may be possible to balance protection with rights, are complex and fraught with practical difficulties. These are the kind of questions that regulators have currently to consider. In addition, media convergence and internet technology threaten traditional regulatory structures. Such developments pose a further regulatory quandary. How are regulators attempting to tackle these issues? The thesis attempts to examine this question by exploring how regulators have responded to panics over children's media and whether their attempts have resulted in robust regulatory systems. The regulation systems analysed embrace advertising and obesity, internet chat-rooms and grooming, video games and violence and cinema regulation (the 12A classification). Case studies of these particular areas of current concern show how regulation has developed and how it works in practice, assess whether such regulation is effective and if not, recommends ways in which it could be improved.

Children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) may suffer numerous cognitive impairments, including significant problems with executive functioning, language, attention, and memory [40]. It is estimated that two to five percent of children born in the U.S. are affected by FASD [34]. It has been shown that training improvements can be made in working memory and attention in children with ADHD [25]. Computerized training with game elements enhances not only motivation but training efficacy of these interventions [38]. This thesis examines the creation of two suites of serious games, Cognitive Carnival and Caribbean Quest, intended to improve working memory aspects of attention with the assistance of a trained psychology interventionist in a therapeutic setting. A game-based approach is chosen to provide motivation to children for sustained cognitive challenges presented by cognitive exercises built into the gameplay. Cognitive Carnival was shown by interventionists to have positive effects in neuropsychological studies of populations of children with epilepsy and FASD [33, 30]. / Graduate

This paper deals with the Swedish computer and video game industry. The aim is toreach a better understanding of why it has been so successful and why it has seen such a largegrowth during the years 2008-2015. In the paper, this is shown by looking at Sweden’s computerand video game sector as a cluster, as defined by Porter. The analysis is based on a model usingnational systems of innovation. The paper presents a narrative of the development of theSwedish video game industry as well as cases describing specific companies in more detail.The reasons for the growth during the period are found to be primarily three different aspects ofthe sector: (1) success of the Swedish game Minecraft (2) the specific market conditions (3) acycle of growth in the Swedish game industry. The conditions allowing the Swedish gameindustry to be successful are found to be tradition, international focus, the Swedish nationalwelfare system, all supported by well-developed technical educations.

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Education / Master / Master of Science in Information Technology in Education

An experiment is conducted among male adolescents to assess the impact of data collection methodology toward response quality factors, including completeness of answers, response distortion, response time, and item omissions. Data collection methodologies include in-person interviews, self-administered questionnaires, and use of an electronic form. Results suggest that personal interviews are generally the most effective method for collecting quality data from adolescent males. The impact of warning labels toward product evaluations was also tested using psychological reactance (Brehm 1966) to underpin hypotheses. Results indicate that adolescents rate their preference for entertainment products with restrictive labels higher than products with non-restrictive labels. Implications for public policy makers and both academic and managerial researchers are presented.

Jag har med denna litteraturstudie närmare undersökt begreppet immersion och dess koppling tillgränssnitt i digitala spel inom FPS-genren (First-Person Shooter). I studien presenteras först tidigare forskning som skett inom områdena för immersion, användargränssnitt samt digitala spel. Utifrån detta lyfts det sedan upp tre saker i problemformuleringen: att immersion kan påverka människor, att gränssnitt är en viktig länk mellan spelet och spelaren samt att genren även har en betydelse vid utformandet av gränssnitt. Syftet med studien har varit att undersöka aktuell teori vilket har ökat min förståelse för immersion, användargränssnitt samt digitala spel. En kvalitativ inriktad forskning med hermeneutiken som metod har använts vid utförandet avstudien. Jag presenterar i resultatkapitlet exempel på tre stycken spel i FPS-genren där det framkommer att två av dessa spelen har gränssnitt som stödjer immersion varav det tredje spelet har ett gränssnitt som bryter immersionen. Från resultatet har sedan fyra stycken riktlinjer extraherats med syftet att ge gränssnittsdesigners tydliga instruktioner om vad som gäller vid utvecklingen av gränssnitt som stödjer immersion i FPS-genren. Slutsatsen har med studien blivit att gränssnitt kan påverka immersion i både en positiv och negativ mening. / I have with this literature study closer studied the term immersion and it's connection to user interfaces within video games in the FPS-genre (First-Person Shooter). The study first presents previous research that has occurred in the fields of immersion, user interfaces and video games. Three things are then, from this, later lifted up in the problem specification, those three are, that immersion can affect people, that user interfaces are critical links between the gamer and the game and that the genre is significant in the development of a user interface. The purpose of the study has been to a research current theory which has expanded my knowledge in the fields of immersion, user interfaces and video games. A qualitative oriented research with hermeneutics as the methodology has been applied in the execution of the study. I then present, in the results chapter, three examples of games in the FPS-genre where it is found that two of these games have a user interface that supports immersion with the third game having a user interface that breaks immersion. The results have then been extracted into four guidelines with the purpose to give user interface designers clear instructions about what applies in the development of user interfaces that supports immersion in the FPS-genre. The conclusion of the study has then been that user interfaces can affect immersion in both a positive and in a negative way.