Many video games have elaborate plots and storylines with intricate world-building and lore for the players to explore. However, some games are about doing real-life activities in a virtual world. These type of games belong to the Social and Life Simulation  genre of games. Often, games within this genre are considered to be plotless, with the presumption that they are lore-less as well. Even though these games do not have a specific plotline to follow there may still be evidence of lore and stories in these games. A case study is conducted, examinimg community-created content for the Social and Life- simulation games Animal Crossing and The Simms that highlight lore and stories in the games. The result shows that the games contain lore wich can be used as a starting point for players to create theories and stories of their own during game play.

This study aimed to explore sound design and sound representation techniques to strengthen the inclusion of players with sensory disabilities alongside non-disabled players. Additionally, it aimed to identify characteristics in inclusiveness components for video games. Tap Tone is a 3D action-adventure prototype with iteratively improved inclusiveness components based on research and requirements analyses. Twenty-five participants were recruited for user tests and divided into four groups: 1) non-disabled, 2) vision impaired, 3) deaf and hard of hearing, and 4) blindfolded players. Data were collected with a questionnaire and saved in-game data. The data was analyzed using statistical methods, including ANOVA and a t-test. Results indicate that the experience for deaf and hard of hearing is significantly different from the groups vision impaired and non-disabled. The results indicate similarities in experience for non-disabled and vision impaired players. Moreover, the player performance indicates similarities between the groups non-disabled, vision impaired and deaf and hard of hearing. Finally, the study identified and discussed key characteristics of the inclusiveness components. / Denna studie syftade till att utforska ljuddesign och ljudrepresentationstekniker för att stärka inkluderingen av spelare med sensoriska funktionshinder tillsammans med icke-handikappade spelare. Dessutom syftade det till att identifiera egenskaper i inkluderande komponenter för videospel. Tap Tone är en prototyp av ett 3D-action-äventyrsspel med stegvist förbättrande inkluderingskomponenter baserade på forskning och kravanalyser. Tjugofem deltagare rekryterades för användartester och delades in i fyra grupper: 1) ickehandikappade, 2) synskadade, 3) döva och hörselskadade och 4) spelare med ögonbindel. Data samlades in med ett frågeformulär och data sparad genom spelet. Datan var analyserad med hjälp av statistiska metoder, inklusive ANOVA och ett t-test. Resultaten tyder på att upplevelsen för döva och hörselskadade skiljer sig signifikant från grupperna med synskada och icke-handikappade. Resultaten indikerar likheter i erfarenhet för icke-handikappade och synskadade spelare. Dessutom indikerar spelarens prestation likheter mellan grupperna icke-handikappade, synskadade och döva och hörselskadade. Slutligen identifierade och diskuterade studien nyckelegenskaper hos de inkluderande komponenterna.

No / PURPOSE: A computer-based interactive binocular treatment system (I-BiT) for amblyopia has been developed, which utilises commercially available 3D 'shutter glasses'. The purpose of this pilot study was to report the effect of treatment on visual acuity (VA) in children with amblyopia. METHODS: Thirty minutes of I-BiT treatment was given once weekly for 6 weeks. Treatment sessions consisted of playing a computer game and watching a DVD through the I-BiT system. VA was assessed at baseline, mid-treatment, at the end of treatment, and at 4 weeks post treatment. Standard summary statistics and an exploratory one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) were performed. RESULTS: Ten patients were enrolled with strabismic, anisometropic, or mixed amblyopia. The mean age was 5.4 years. Nine patients (90%) completed the full course of I-BiT treatment with a mean improvement of 0.18 (SD=0.143). Six out of nine patients (67%) who completed the treatment showed a clinically significant improvement of 0.125 LogMAR units or more at follow-up. The exploratory one-way ANOVA showed an overall effect over time (F=7.95, P=0.01). No adverse effects were reported. CONCLUSION: This small, uncontrolled study has shown VA gains with 3 hours of I-BiT treatment. Although it is recognised that this pilot study had significant limitations-it was unblinded, uncontrolled, and too small to permit formal statistical analysis-these results suggest that further investigation of I-BiT treatment is worthwhile.

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Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka vad det är som får spelarna att stanna kvar i spelet under en spelsession. Spelmarknaden kan delas upp i två typer av spel, antingen Open World-spel där användaren fritt kan ströva omkring i en virtuell värld och ges en betydande frihet i att välja hur denne skall nå sina mål eller linjära spel där användaren styrs av start och slutscener. Det är mycket vanligt i designen av den andra varianten (linjära spel) att användaren själv, aktivt väljer att starta nästa omgång. För att begränsa omfattning på denna studie har studien gjorts på linjära spel där användaren aktivt väljer att påbörja en ny omgång och exempel på speltyper som ofta inkluderas i linjära spel är MOBA, Battle Royal eller Första Personskjutare. Detta beslut har gjorts för att kunna jämföra resultatet med andra studier om binge-beteende. Binge är ett begrepp många inte har hört idag men som det talas allt mer om. Begreppet används ofta för att beskriva konsumenter som sträcktittar på TV-serier men har även börjat appliceras på flera aktiviteter då man gör något överdrivet under en period.  För att svara på frågeställningen ”Vilka faktorer uppmuntrar användaren till ett bingebeteende?” Har jag valt att se på problemet från två olika vinklar och delat upp detta i två arbetsfrågor ”Vilka externa faktorer utanför spelets design påverkar användaren?” och ”Vilka implementerade funktioner påverkar användaren?” Resultatet från intervjustudien visar att den sociala miljön som datorspel erbjuder, men som också skapas av användaren själv genom att man bygger en social umgängeskrets i spelmiljön påverkar användaren att fortsätta spela. Under intervjuerna gav intervjupersonerna exempel på att om man blir ombedd att spela en omgång till av kompisarna eller att man har så roligt tillsammans att man inte vill avbryta så leder det till att man fortsätter spela trots att kan från början inte har planerat det.    Studien visade även på en stor betydelse av den implementerade designimplementationen grinding, förmågan att genom att spela längre låsa upp nya saker, gå upp i level eller klättra i ett rankat tävlingssystem.  En slutsats efter denna intervjustudie är att det finns bingebeteende i relation med datorspel, exakt i vilken form och till vilken grad det uppkommer beror på hur man definierar binge. Det går även påvisa att grinding och den sociala aspekten i spelen bidrar i hög grad till att spelsessionerna blir längre än vad personerna först planerade. / The purpose of this study is to investigate what causes the players to remain in the game during a game session. The gaming market can be divided into two types of games, either Open World games where the user can freely roam in a virtual world and is given considerable freedom in choosing how to achieve their goals or linear games where the user is guided by start and end scenes. It is very common in the design of the second type (linear games) that the user himself, actively chooses to start the next round. To limit the scope of this study has the study has been focused on linear games where the user actively chooses to start a new round and examples of game types that are often included in linear games are MOBA, Battle Royal or First-Person Shooter. This decision has been made to compare the results with other studies on binge behavior. Binge is a concept many have not heard about today but as it is more and more common. The term is often used to describe consumers who is watching an excessive amount of TV series but has also started to apply to several activities when doing something exaggerated during a period. To answer the question "What factors encourage the user’s binge behavior?" Have I chosen to look at the problem from two different angles and divided this into two work issues "What external factors outside the game's design affect the user?" And "What implemented functions affect the user?" The result of the interview study shows that the social environment that computer games offers, but which is also created by the user himself by building a social circle in the gaming environment, affects the user to continue playing. During the interviews, the interviewees gave for example that you have so much fun playing together that you do not want to interrupt, this will lead to them continuing to play. The study also showed a great importance of the design implementation grinding, the ability to, by playing longer, unlocking new things, increasing in levels or climbing in a ranked system. One conclusion after this interview study is that there is a binge behavior in relation to computer games, exactly in what form and to what degree it occurs depends on how one defines binge. It is also possible to demonstrate that grinding and the social aspect of the games greatly contribute to the fact that the gaming sessions are longer than the people first planned

This study aims to answer the research question: How does the academic accounts of user profiling compare to how practitioners of game development use user profiling? Knowing one’s users is a key part of designing a product, so that you know which features to prioritise. This is of course also true for video games. One way to achieve this is to categorise the users based on key characteristics, such as their age or their motivations. This is also known as user profiling and is commonly discussed in academic literature. However, it is not known how user profiling is used within the industry of game development; if even at all. To research this, two UX/UI designers at a Swedish game development studio have been observed and interviewed, which has resulted in a list of differences in how the academic literature says about user profiling and how practitioners use user profiling. This can be used to bridge the gap between the two, which could aid in designing and researching for a better user experience in video games.

Alimenté par le développement continu d’une compréhension matérialiste de la circulation de la culture dans le circuit sociotechnique du jeu vidéo, ce mémoire se consacre à la notion d’idéologie en tant qu’appareil de reproduction sociale et son articulation au sein de ce circuit. Héritière d’un système économique global historiquement bâti pour conduire à une accumulation polarisée des ressources globales vers des métropoles impérialistes, la culture vidéoludique, principalement adressée à un public occidental, tend à renforcer les subjectivités nécessaires pour assurer la continuité de cette matrice coloniale du pouvoir. Par l’introduction des contributions formelles et activistes du troisième cinéma et de l’art du Black Panther Party, tel la cultivation d’une compréhension diagnostique, la proximité avec la formation d’une organisation politique et la conscience de la possibilité d’alternatives, ce mémoire s’intéresse aux possibilités d’alimenter de nouveaux usages de vieux radicalismes. Le mémoire se clôt sur des interventions issues du milieu du jeu vidéo qui entretiennent des similitudes avec ces arts engagés, soit par des plateformes alternatives qui permettent l’émergence de telles contre-histoires, soit par des actions sur les représentations effectuées par des créateur·rices qui délimitent des segments au sein desquels il devient possible d’opérer. De tels espaces critiques participent à faciliter l’accès à un processus de conscientisation. / Influenced by the continuous development of a materialist understanding of the circulation of culture within the socio-technical circuit of video games, this dissertation is dedicated to the notion of ideology as an apparatus of social reproduction and its articulation within this circuit. Inherited from a globally built economic system historically designed to lead to a polarized accumulation of global resources towards imperialist metropolises, video game culture, primarily directed at a Western audience, tends to reinforce the subjectivities necessary to ensure the continuity of this colonial matrix of power. By introducing the formal and activist contributions of the Third Cinema and the Black Panther Party's art, such as cultivating a diagnostic understanding, proximity to the formation of political organization, and awareness of the possibility of alternatives, this dissertation explores the possibilities of fueling new uses of old radicalisms. The dissertation concludes with interventions from the gaming milieu that bear similarities to these engaged arts, either through alternative platforms that enable the emergence of such counter-histories or through actions on representations carried out by creators which delimit segments within which it becomes possible to operate. These critical spaces can then facilitate the process of conscientization.

Digital games have been used mostly for entertainment but recently researchers have started to use digital games in other areas such as education and training. Researchers have shown that digital games can provide a compelling, creative, and collaborative environment for learning. However, the popularity of computers and the Internet brings this question to mind: Are the assessment methods falling behind and remaining traditional? Will the traditional methods of learning and knowledge assessment be sufficient for this new generation who are starving for new technology? This study investigates the effectiveness of using a digital interactive game as an assessments method - in this case a mini-game that was designed to assess the student's knowledge on basic Boolean logic. The study reports on the performance differences of the students who participated in this study and correlations between the performance of these students in a digital interactive game, written tests and their in-class performance to examine the effectiveness of using a digital game as a new knowledge assessment method.

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