Massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs) present fantastic, persistent worlds and narratives for a community of players to experience through pre-defined rules, roles, and environments. To be able to offer the opportunity for every player to try the same experiences, many game developers have opted to create elaborate virtual theme parks: scripted experiences within static worlds that cannot be affected or changed through player actions. Within these games, some players have turned to role-playing to establish meaningful connections to these worlds by expanding upon and subverting the game's expectations to assume a limited sense of agency within the world. The interaction between role-players and the locations they occupy within these worlds is a notable marker of this narrative layering; specific locations inform social codes of conduct, designed by developers, and then repurposed by players for their characters and stories. Through a qualitative case study in World of Warcraft on public role-playing events, this thesis considers how the design of in-game locations inform their use for role-playing, and how locations are altered through storytelling as a result.

<p>For many people, a good game is synonymous with good graphics. One thing that is often forgotten, is that the graphics only makes up one part of the games. An aspect of the games that is far to often forgotten, is the game’s content and ability to tell stories. Through analyses of the games of the Zelda series, the development of content and storytelling aspects of computer- and video games, since the later half of the 1980:s and up till today, are examined.</p> / <p>Bra spel är för många synonymt med bra grafik. Något som allt för ofta glöms bort är att grafiken bara är en del av det hela. En aspekt av spelen som ofta glöms bort, är dess innehåll och möjligheter att berätta historier. Genom grundliga analyser av spelen i Zelda-serien undersöks hur berättandet inom TV-spelen sett ut, och förändrats sedan andra halvan av 1980-talet och fram tills idag. </p>

Genuine Forschungsdesigns zum Thema Social Presence in spielbasierten Lernumgebungen lagen bisher noch nicht im Fokus der Wissenschaft oder entsprechenden Forschungs‐ und Entwicklungsabteilungen der Hersteller von Game-Based-Learning-Software. Die vorhandenen Untersuchungen zu diesem Themenkomplex bezogen sich bislang entweder auf Social Presence in Computerspielen oder auf Social Presence in virtuellen Lernumgebungen, die nicht als Spiel umgesetzt worden sind. Spiel und Lernen wurden also bereits getrennt voneinander auf Social Presence untersucht, aber beide Konzepte empirisch noch nicht hinreichend zusammengebracht. Zukünftige Projekte müssen versuchen, diese Aspekte zu integrieren, um die Bedeutung von Social Presence im Kontext des spielbasierten Lernens valide einordnen zu können. Nachfolgend werden als Einführung zunächst Konzepte und Ergebnisse aus den Bereichen Social Presence im Videospiel und Social Presence beim Lernen vorgestellt, um im Anschluss daran erste Implikationen für die Gestaltung von GBL-Umgebungen abzuleiten.

Competitive video gaming is experiencing exponential growth. Advances in technology and global Internet penetration has created highly dedicated fan bases for games played at a competitive level. Game developing companies are beginning to focus their attention on making games for the new eSports market. How avid eSports fans view competitive gaming is disrupting traditional consumption models. Twitch.TV a site that streams live gaming content is seeing massive growth. Now, more than ever, dedicated gamers can live off of playing games – whether by competing in tournaments as sponsored players or running ads on their Twitch.TV live stream while they play. The communities that have developed around different genres of competitive games are as varied as traditional sports such as Major League Baseball or the National Football League. A new industry with a complex infrastructure is developing in this new market. / text

The field of video game studies has through later years shown a growing interest in game's spatialfeatures, along with their narrative implications. By introducing earlier findings of spatialmanifestations of dreams and psychological content in narrative works, with regards to their medialrepresentation into this discussion, I hope to conjoin video game research (better known asludology) with a line of psychoanalytic inquiry, which hitherto seems to have been left unexploredwithin media research.    While establishing a viewpoint through the interdisciplinary field of media research andpsychoanalysis, my intention is to broach a discussion on the possibilities of expanding itsviewpoints and theoretical frameworks unto the video game medium. In the present thesis I will forthis purpose center the discussion on the dreamlike Portal games, developed by Valve Corporation,which manages to enact a psychologically interesting narrative content largely through its spatialfeatures, as well as their game mechanics.    The psychoanalytic approach I intend to adopt for this study will, apart from taking mediaspecifications into account, also necessarily, following Gilles Deleuzes and Félix Guattaris focus onthe historical-political situation in their critique of earlier psychoanalytic inquiry, be directedtowards a societal context while addressing the individual works. I will thus, while analyzingspatial-psychological implications of works in different media, be regarding contemporary topics ofcultural phenomena and theories on human psychology as important factors for the forms ofexpression and thematic content, which contemporary cultural artifacts may take.    The term transmediality, which below will be discussed in appliance to psychoanalytic inquiry,refers in this thesis to the definition outlined by the literary scholar Irina Rajewsky, who situates itsemergence in an ongoing development in the field of the interconnected narratology and intermedialstudy, in which I hope to engage and contribute.

Résumé Cette thèse examine la nature complexe de l'identité dans les jeux vidéo solo. Elle introduit la notion d'identité-hybride, et propose un cadre analytique pour déconstruire la jouabilité à travers les genres afin de distinguer des moments d’émergence d’identité. Alors que la recherche sur l’identité se concentre couramment sur le joueur ou le personnage-joueur (ou les deux), la notion d'identité-hybride est une forme d’identité fluide, parfois éphémère, qui existe entre le joueur et le personnage-joueur. L’identité-hybride se développe au cours du processus de jeu et inclut nécessairement le joueur (expérience, contexte de jeu, etc. ), l’environnement du jeu (le design, les mécaniques, etc.), et la médiation technologique (ordinateur, console, etc.) qui facilite la jouabilité. Afin de cerner les différents aspects du gameplay qui contribuent a l'émergence de différents types d'identité, un cadre multiforme a été conçu pour isoler les interactions spécifiques? qui comprennent les interactions joueur/personnage-joueur, personnage-joueur/personnage non-joueur, joueur/environnement du jeu, personnage-joueur /environnement de jeux, et joueur/joueur. Il a été associé à un cadre secondaire qui comprend l'examen des spécificités du joueur individuel et la médiation technologique qui facilitent le jouabilité. Une analyse systématique d’expériences de jeu et des éléments de design de trois jeux différents; Mirror’s Edge (DICE, 2008), Alone in the Dark (Eden Games, 2008), et Fable 2 (Lionhead Studios, 2008), a été réalisée pour illustrer les différents degrés d’apparition d'identité dans différentes structures de jeu. En comparant les trois analyses, l'utilité de ce cadre pour mettre de l’avant les éléments qui contribuent au (ou peuvent entraver) le développement de l'identité et, plus spécifiquement, l'apparition de l'identité-hybride, est démontrée. Ces trois exemples jettent les bases d'une discussion plus profonde sur la définition, le contexte, et le processus d’identité-hybride dans les jeux vidéo en général. / Abstract This dissertation examines the complex nature of identity in single-player videogames. It introduces the concept of hybrid-identity and proposes an analytical framework to deconstruct gameplay across genres to distinguish moments of identity emergence. While identity research commonly focuses on the player or the player-character (or both), the concept of hybrid-identity is a fluid, at times fleeting form of identity that exists between the player and the player-character. Hybrid-identity develops during the networked process of videogame play and necessarily includes the player (experience, play-context, etc.), the game environment (design, mechanics, etc.), and the mediating technology (computer, console, etc.) that facilitates gameplay. In order to delineate the different aspects of gameplay that contribute to the emergence of different types of identity, a multifaceted framework was devised to isolate specific interactions between the player/player-character, player-character/non-playing character, player/game environment, player-character/game environment, and player/player. This framework was coupled with a secondary frame which includes examining the specificities of the individual player and the mediating technologies that facilitate gameplay. A systematic analysis of gameplay and design elements of three different games; Mirror’s Edge (DICE, 2008), Alone in the Dark (Eden Games, 2008), and Fable 2 (Lionhead Studios, 2008) was performed to illustrate the varying degrees of identity emergence in different game structures. The utility of the framework is demonstrated by comparing the three gameplay analyses and highlighting the elements that contribute to (and possibly hinder) identity development and more specifically, the emergence of hybrid-identity. These three examples form the foundation for a more in-depth discussion on the definition, context, and process of hybrid-identity in videogame play. / Pour respecter les droits auteur, la version electronique de cette thèse a été dépouillée de ses documents visuels et audio-visuels. La version intégrale de la thèse a été déposée au Service de la gestion des documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal.

Le design pédagogique dans les jeux vidéo non éducatifs est une discipline en mal de définitions et de méthodes. Contrairement à celui que l’on trouve dans les écoles ou autres institutions de formation, le design pédagogique pour les jeux vidéo non éducatifs est fait par des designers de jeux qui n’ont souvent aucune formation en enseignement. Un modèle de design pédagogique pour les jeux vidéo non éducatifs est donc développé dans ce mémoire, à partir d’une recherche exploratoire utilisant l’analyse de contenu de jeux vidéo et les théories de la science de l’éducation. Étant donné les ressources limitées disponibles pour le développement du modèle, la présente recherche pourra servir de base à la construction d’un modèle plus élaboré sur un sujet semblable, offrira des pistes intéressantes de recherche sur l’enseignement par le jeu et pourra soutenir les designers de jeu lors de la planification du design pédagogique dans leurs jeux. / Instructional design for non-educational video games is an ill-defined discipline that lacks established methods. Contrarily to the one used in schools or other education or formation institutions, video game instructional design is done by video game designers who often have no teaching training. An instructional design model for non-educational games is developed, in this paper, based on video game content analysis and educational science theories. Considering the limited resources available for the development of this model, it lays grounds for the establishment of a more elaborate model on instructional video game design, offers insights on education through games and can help video game designers plan the instructional design for their games.

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This study explores Environmental Storytelling techniques and whether these can beused in combination with each other to lead a player through a game scene in aspecific pattern, affect the player’s narrative and exploratory view and explorewhether Self-paced Exploration can be combined with these techniques.It is a qualitative study conducted by six gaming sessions with accompanyinginterviews in which six people get to play one of three versions of the same gamescene. The only differences between the scenes are the different guidance techniquesused. The informants' movement patterns are identified and interviews recorded byaudio, as well as screen recording. The results shows that Environmental Storytellingtechniques can very well be used to control the player's exploration patterns, bothnarratively and navigation purposes and Self-paced Exploration can be utilized to agreater efficiency in combination with these. / Denna studie behandlar Environmental Storytelling -tekniker och huruvida dessa kananvändas i kombination med varandra för att leda en spelare genom en spelscen i ettvisst mönster, påverka spelarens narrativa och utforskande uppfattning samt utforskahuruvida Self-paced Exploration kan kombineras med detta. Det är en kvalitativstudie utförd genom sex enskilda spelsessioner med tillhörande intervjuer där sexpersoner får spela en av tre versioner av samma spelscen. Spelscenernas endaskillnader är de olika vägledningstekniker som används. Informanternasrörelsemönster kartläggs och intervjuerna spelas in genom ljud, såväl somskärminspelning. Resultatet påvisade att Environmental Storytelling -tekniker mycketväl kan användas till att styra spelares utforskningsmönster, både narrativt ochnavigationsmässigt, samt att Self-paced Exploration kan utnyttjas till en störreeffektivitet i kombination med dessa.

Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPGs) are complex and interesting objects of study. They are quite popular among both casual and connoisseur gamers, and they are often played continuously over many years. Despite a reasonable amount of existing research on MMORPGs, no clear explanation has emerged to explain what particular game features encourage so many players to enjoy these games for so long. In this thesis, I contend that the most important elements in the success of an MMORPG are meritocratic play and managed player efficiency (MPE). This contention is proved by examining the existing literature on player enjoyment and game design, surveying popular MMORPGs, and building and testing a simple, browser-based game that implements meritocratic play and managed player efficiency. While existing research and my survey of popular MMORPGS provide good support for the importance of meritocratic play and MPE, participants in my study provided much stronger support by reporting particular enjoyment of game tasks that displayed the clearest meritocratic play and the best opportunities to manage player efficiency.