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I denna studie så kommer jag att analysera MMORPG-spelet World of Warcraft genom att utföra en analys i hopp om att isolera spelmekanismer och element som kan anses vara välfungerande och väldesignade. Jag kommer dessutom att bryta ner World of Warcraft till dess kärnkomponenter med hjälp av Interaction Centric Framework modellen som ett komplement till denna studie. Resultaten visar att World of Warcraft använder sig av många slags egenskaper och designval som skiljer sig själv från andra spel, som att dra ner på story element och att destillera spelets kärna till en väldigt grundlig ”morot-och-piska” formel som låter spelaren kunna spela oavbrutet utan att känna något skäl att sluta spela. / In this paper, I intend to analyze the MMORPG game World of Warcraft by conducting a formal analysis as a way to isolate game mechanics and elements that could be viewed as well-functioning and well-designed. I will also be breaking down the core components of World of Warcraft using the Interaction Centric Framework to complement the study. The results show that World of Warcraft employs a number of features and design choices that differentiates itself from other games, such as stripping the game of story elements and distilling the gameplay to a basic “carrot on a stick” formula, also leaving the player completely uninterrupted and undeterred during gameplay.

This research investigates the gendered nature of video arcades and video games, in relation to the perceptions and attitudes of the users to them. Video arcades are relatively recent sites of leisure and engagement with electronic games. Very little research (if any) in this area has been done in South Africa. This research is concerned with both media and gender and draws on a theoretical framework informed by poststructural understandings of gender construction and discourse. The research also examines users' habits and attitudes to and perceptions of the video arcades, the games and their narrative scenarios, in relation to gendered behaviours. As a Media Educator, these findings reinforce the researcher's belief in an urgent need for Media Education in South African schools. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2001.

This thesis focuses on the work of policing, regulating and monitoring of New Zealand public censorship classifications. It follows the processes and agents involved in the day-to-day practices of the enforcement of the classifications given to objects by the Office of Film and Literature Classification. Responsibility for the enforcement of the classification decisions of the Office is delegated to private agents and agencies involved in supplying audiences with classified media products - cinemas, video stores, bookstores and libraries. The thesis also documents enforcement undertaken directly by public agents of the Censorship Compliance Unit. In this case enforcement is concerned with unclassified publications circulating on the Internet. The thesis argues that the networks of agents assembled for the practices of enforcement evolve as the forms of media evolve or change. The thesis focuses on the modes of interaction between agents, media and publics enacted in the different sites of the cinema, the bookstore, the video store, the library and the Internet. It documents the work of enforcement involved in the purchase of images for a fixed period of time in the fixed site of the cinema; the purchase of books from the fixed site of the bookstore; the hire of video films and video games from the fixed site of the video store; and the borrowing of books and videos from the fixed site of the public library. It contrasts the work of enforcement in these different sites with the development of new work practices involved in the interactive, fluid and seemingly intangible yet still policed site of the Internet. It documents how the responsibilities for, and the practices of, enforcement shift between public sites of enforcement to the increasingly difficult public monitoring of the private consumption of images distributed through the media of the Internet. It pays attention to how different methods and strategies of enforcement have been developed in response to both the classification and consumption of the expanding variety of mobile media and the proliferation and consumption of images in the unclassified and fluid world of the Internet.

The current study examined electrical brain activation in adolescent participants playing three different video games. Forty-five school aged children (M=14.3 years, SD=1.5) were randomly assigned to play either a violent game, non-violent game, or a non-violent game specifically designed to "train" the brain. Electroencephalography (EEG) was recorded during video game play. Results revealed an asymmetric right hemisphere activation in the alpha band for participants in violent game group, while those in the non-violent groups exhibited left hemispheric activation. Greater right activation in emotion literature denotes signs of withdrawal or avoidance from undesired stimulus. Implications of this finding as well as other findings related to electrical brain activation during video game play is discussed further in the manuscript.

NutzerInnen von gewalthaltigen Medien geben einerseits oftmals zu, dass sie fiktionale, gewalthaltige Medien konsumieren, behaupten jedoch gleichzeitig, dass dies nicht ihr Verhalten außerhalb des Medienkontexts beeinflusst. Sie argumentieren, dass sie leicht zwischen Dingen, die im fiktionalen Kontext und Dingen, die in der Realität gelernt wurden, unterscheiden können. Im Kontrast zu diesen Aussagen zeigen Metanalysen Effektstärken im mittleren Bereich für den Zusammenhang zwischen Gewaltmedienkonsum und aggressivem Verhalten. Diese Ergebnisse können nur erklärt werden, wenn MediennutzerInnen gewalthaltige Lernerfahrungen auch außerhalb des Medienkontexts anwenden. Ein Prozess, der Lernerfahrungen innerhalb des Medienkontexts mit dem Verhalten in der realen Welt verknüpft, ist Desensibilisierung, die oftmals eine Reduktion des negativen Affektes gegenüber Gewalt definiert ist. Zur Untersuchung des Desensibilisierungsprozesses wurden vier Experimente durchgeführt. Die erste in dieser Arbeit untersuchte Hypothese war, dass je häufiger Personen Gewaltmedien konsumieren, desto weniger negativen Affekt zeigen sie gegenüber Bildern mit realer Gewalt. Jedoch wurde angenommen, dass diese Bewertung auf Darstellungen von realer Gewalt beschränkt ist und nicht bei Bildern ohne Gewaltbezug, die einen negativen Affekt auslösen, zu finden ist. Die zweite Hypothese bezog sich auf den Affekt während des Konsums von Mediengewalt. Hier wurde angenommen, dass besonders Personen, die Freude an Gewalt in den Medien empfinden weniger negativen Affekt gegenüber realen Gewaltdarstellungen zeigen. Die letzte Hypothese beschäftigte sich mit kognitiver Desensibilisierung und sagte vorher, dass Gewaltmedienkonsum zu einem Transfer von Reaktionen, die normalerweise gegenüber gewalthaltigen Reizen gezeigt werden, auf ursprünglich neutrale Reize führt. Das erste Experiment (N = 57) untersuchte, ob die habituelle Nutzung von gewalthaltigen Medien den selbstberichteten Affekt (Valenz und Aktivierung) gegenüber Darstellungen von realer Gewalt und nichtgewalthaltigen Darstellungen, die negativen Affekt auslösen, vorhersagt. Die habituelle Nutzung von gewalthaltigen Medien sagte weniger negative Valenz und weniger allgemeine Aktivierung gegenüber gewalthalten und nichtgewalthaltigen Bildern vorher. Das zweite Experiment (N = 103) untersuchte auch die Beziehung zwischen habituellem Gewaltmedienkonsum und den affektiven Reaktionen gegenüber Bildern realer Gewalt und negativen affektauslösenden Bildern. Als weiterer Prädiktor wurde der Affekt beim Betrachten von gewalthaltigen Medien hinzugefügt. Der Affekt gegenüber den Bildern wurde zusätzlich durch psychophysiologische Maße (Valenz: C: Supercilii; Aktivierung: Hautleitreaktion) erhoben. Wie zuvor sagte habitueller Gewaltmedienkonsum weniger selbstberichte Erregung und weniger negative Valenz für die gewalthaltigen und die negativen, gewalthaltfreien Bilder vorher. Die physiologischen Maßen replizierten dieses Ergebnis. Jedoch zeigte sich ein anderes Muster für den Affekt beim Konsum von Gewalt in den Medien. Personen, die Gewalt in den Medien stärker erfreut, zeigen eine Reduktion der Responsivität gegenüber Gewalt auf allen vier Maßen. Weiterhin war bei drei dieser vier Maße (selbstberichte Valenz, Aktivität des C. Supercilii und Hautleitreaktion) dieser Zusammenhang auf die gewalthaltigen Bilder beschränkt, mit keinem oder nur einem kleinen Effekt auf die negativen, aber nichtgewalthaltigen Bilder. Das dritte Experiment (N = 73) untersuchte den Affekt während die Teilnehmer ein Computerspiel spielten. Das Spiel wurde eigens für dieses Experiment programmiert, sodass einzelne Handlungen im Spiel mit der Aktivität des C. Supercilii, dem Indikator für negativen Affekt, in Bezug gesetzt werden konnten. Die Analyse des C. Supercilii zeigte, dass wiederholtes Durchführen von aggressiven Spielzügen zu einem Rückgang von negativen Affekt führte, der die aggressiven Spielhandlungen begleitete. Der negative Affekt während gewalthaltiger Spielzüge wiederum sagte die affektive Reaktion gegenüber Darstellungen von gewalthaltigen Bildern vorher, nicht jedoch gegenüber den negativen Bildern. Das vierte Experiment (N = 77) untersuchte kognitive Desensibilisierung, die die Entwicklung von Verknüpfungen zwischen neutralen und aggressiven Kognitionen beinhaltete. Die Teilnehmer spielten einen Ego-Shooter entweder auf einem Schiff- oder einem Stadtlevel. Die Beziehung zwischen den neutralen Konstrukten (Schiff/Stadt) und den aggressiven Kognitionen wurde mit einer lexikalischen Entscheidungsaufgabe gemessen. Das Spielen im Schiff-/Stadt-Level führte zu einer kürzen Reaktionszeit für aggressive Wörter, wenn sie einem Schiff- bzw. Stadtprime folgten. Dies zeigte, dass die im Spiel enthaltenen neutralen Konzepte mit aggressiven Knoten verknüpft werden. Die Ergebnisse dieser vier Experimente wurden diskutiert im Rahmen eines lerntheoretischen Ansatzes um Desensibilisierung zu konzeptualisieren. / Users of violent media often state that they consume fictional violent media and claim that this does not influence their behavior outside of the media context. Media users reason that they can easily distinguish between things learned in a fictional context and things learned in reality. In contrast to these claims, meta-analyses report medium-sized effects between media violence consumption and aggressive behavior. These effects can only be explained if media users also apply learning experiences from the media outside the media context. One of the processes linking learning experiences in the media context to behavior in the real word is desensitization, which is often defined as a reduction of negative affect towards violence. To investigate the process of desensitization, four experiments were conducted. The first hypothesis investigated in these experiments was that persons who have a higher level of violent media exposure show less negative affect towards depictions of real violence compared to persons with a lower level. However, it was assumed that this reduction in reaction would be limited to depictions of real violence and would not be found in response to depictions of nonviolent pictures electing negative affect. The second hypothesis referred to the role of affect experienced during exposure to media depictions of violence, assuming that especially people who enjoy the violence while consuming the media show less negative affect towards depictions of real violence. The final hypothesis addressed cognitive desensitization effects and predicted that media violence use leads to transfer effects from responses to violent cues to initially neutral stimuli The first experiment (N = 57) examined to what extent the habitual use of media violence predicts the self-reported affect (Valence and Arousal) towards depictions of real violence and nonviolent pictures eliciting negative affect. Habitual media violence exposure predicted less negative valence and less arousal toward violent pictures and negative nonviolent pictures. The second experiment (N = 103) also examined the relationship between habitual media violence exposure and the affective reactions towards images of real violence as well as negative, nonviolent scenes. Additionally, affect while watching violent media was added as a second predictor. The affect toward the images was also obtained by psychophysical measures (Valence: activity of C. Supercilii; Activation: skin conductance). As in experiment 1, habitual media violence exposure predicted less self-reported negative valence and less self-reported arousal for the violent pictures and the negative nonviolent pictures. The physiological measures replicated this result. However, a different pattern emerged for the enjoyment of violent media. People who enjoyed violent media more showed a reduction of affective responsivity toward violence on all four different measures. Additionally, for three of the four measures (skin conductance, self-reported negative valence and the activity on the C. Supercilii) this relationship was limited to the violent pictures, with no or little effect on the negative, but nonviolent pictures. A third experiment (N = 73) studied affect while participants played a violent computer game. A game was specially programmed in which specific actions could be linked to the activity of the C. Supercilii, an indicator for negative affect. The analysis of the C. Supercilii showed that repeatedly performing aggressive actions during the game led to a decline in negative affect accompanying the aggressive actions. The negative affect during aggressive actions in turn predicted less negative affective responses to violent images of real-life violence but not to nonviolent, negative images. The fourth experiment (N=77) showed cognitive desensitization effects, which involved the formation of links between neutral and aggressive cognitions. Participants played a first-person shooter game either on a ship or a city level. The relationship between neutral constructs (ship/city) and aggressive cognitions was measured using a lexical decision task. Playing the game in a ship/city level led to shorter reaction time for aggressive words following ship/city primes respectively. This indicated that the neutral concepts introduced in the game had become associated with aggressive cognitions. The findings of these four experiments are discussed in terms of a learning theory approach to conceptualizing desensitization.

Videogame cities are 'real-and-imagined' spaces whose ubiquity as a setting for games illustrates the persistent fascination with the opportunities for play in urban space. In order to describe these videogame cities, we need a framework that considers them as they relate not only to one another, but to other material and immaterial cities as well. Cities, according to landscape architect Douglas Allen, have a constitutional order that describes their structure and a representational order that fills this space with activity. While these concepts are useful for thinking about the way space organizes and afford certain activities, I pose that the addition of an experiential order better addresses the 'specificity' that makes each real-and-imagined city unique. The experience of these videogame cities primarily emerges from the movement of the player as they are embodied as something acting in the space. The videogame city in motion brings to life the 'spaces of flows' - sequences of exchange and interaction ﾖ that sociologist Manuel Castells argues characterize the city in the information/computer age. Thus, not only do videogame cities draw on existing architecture, narratives, and mediations, they exhibit the traits of networked cities in their coordinated processes. By looking at the history of the development of the open-world city, its architectural organization, visual representations, algorithmic infrastructures, and how players traverse space, it is possible to paint a picture of what kinds of places these videogame cities are and how they allow us to reflect on urban form.

Contemporary research on media violence has shown the importance of examining the violent presentation of American video games and the correlation between games and the current U.S. game rating system. However, not many studies in this field have been conducted in China, especially regarding the importance of its pending official game rating system which has caused much controversy nationwide. In an effort to seek academic evidence for developing China's official game rating system, this study examined and compared the violence in fourteen of the most popular American and Chinese electronic games in 2004.These fourteen Chinese games and American games were selected for content analysis of the quantity and context of game violent interactions. The percentage breakdown of PATs (violent interactions) was coded by rate per minute, as was perpetrator characteristic, target characteristic, weapon used and visual perspective.The goal of the study was to determine if the popular Chinese electronic games carry as much violence as do popular American games, and if the context of violence in the former is significantly different from that in the latter. The American games were used as a basis for comparison to Chinese games for this study.The results of the study showed that popular Chinese games featured as much violence as American games. However, their context of violence was significantly different in terms of perpetrator characteristic, weapon used and visual perspective.Based on the results, the researcher concluded that China would definitely need a game rating system. However, the significant difference in the context of violence suggested that the Chinese rating system does not necessarily have to be the same as the U.S. system. / Department of Telecommunications