This thesis examines the topic of representation of totalitarianism in videogames. It aims to show how the totalitarianism is depicted in selected games and whether the videogame as a medium has some influence on this depiction. Theoretical part introduces and examines all sorts of different approaches, based on which one can study videogame as a medium. An argument about the videogames as a medium of control is presented further on and is also discussed in relation with totalitarianism. Second half of theoretical chapter focuses on definition of totalitarianism which is used in the case studies later on. Empirical part analyzes four games - Half-life 2, Papers, please, Wolfenstein: the New Order and BioShock with focus on representation of totality or dystopia. The games are analyzed both with regards to their rules and fiction. The conclusion shows that totalitarianism was represented mostly by its outer activities rather than ideology which were usually represented rather marginally. However, in all cases there could be found some examples of how was the representation of totalitarianism used to merge with system of control in games.

An automobile is one of the most important phenomenons of modern technology. Since its origins, it has profoundly shaped our physical, economic, politic, social, cultural and media habitat. The objective of this Master thesis is to analyze the evolution of the role of the car in the popculture from the 60s onwards and its dimensions, with a primary focus on Anglosaxon culture, with excursions to Asia and continental Europe, primarily Czechoslovakia/Czech Republic. The core foundation of the thesis lies in the analysis of the popcultural genres, selected films, TV series, computer games and comic books. The main purpose of the thesis is to reflect upon the identity and conceptual shifts of car, going from a mere transport machine through a vehicle of product placement towards the concept of the icon, a narrative hero of popculture. The hypothesis to verify is that the car has become an essential part of the popculture itself, reflected in many various dimensions: car as a toy, car as a friend, car as a status symbol, car as a narrative extension of the hero and finally, car as a hero and subject. The thesis is divided into five separate chapters, all including case studies. Following an introduction summarizing cultural, economic and historic factors of the car industry, the first chapter describes...

The thesis deals with the image of gamers in Czech media, specifically in the most read daily newspapers. Videogames are still a rather marginal topic within the Czech society, gamers are perceived as weird and socially isolated individuals, and in the worst case they are described as addicted and aggressive. Predictions for the future say that digital games will become a regular part of our lives, but before this happens, I set myself the goal to find out how contemporary Czech media depict people who like to play videogames. This task is important because, whether we want it or not, media represents a reflection of our society and it is also an element that can influence public opinion to some extent. However, if there is a goal to educate public sphere or change the perception of the gaming community, it is necessary to find out what is the current situation among the Czech society. In the theoretical part I deal with the environment in which the media texts are created and their impact on the recipients of the given content. At the same time, I also explain to the reader how gamers really look like. The practical part examines the seven most widely read Czech newspapers Aha!, Blesk, E15, Hospodářské noviny, Lidové noviny, Mladá fronta DNES and Právo. These are the best newspapers when it comes...

Um dos desafios da Inteligência Artificial aplicada em jogos é o aprendizado de comportamento, em que o objetivo é utilizar estatísticas obtidas da interação entre jogador e jogo de modo a reconhecer características particulares de um jogador ou monitorar a evolução de seu comportamento no decorrer do tempo. A maior parte dos trabalhos na área emprega modelos previamente aprendidos, por meio da utilização de algoritmos de Aprendizado de Máquina. Entretanto, são poucos os trabalhos que consideram que o comportamento de um jogador pode evoluir no tempo e que, portanto, reconhecer quando essas mudanças ocorrem é o primeiro passo para produzir jogos que se adaptam automaticamente às capacidades do jogador. Para detectar variações comportamentais em um jogador, são necessários algoritmos que processem dados de modo incremental. Esse pré-requisito motiva o estudo de algoritmos para detecção de mudanças da área de Mineração em Fluxos Contínuos de Dados. Entretanto, algumas das características dos algoritmos disponíveis na literatura inviabilizam sua aplicação direta ao problema de detecção de mudança em jogos. Visando contornar essas dificuldades, esta tese propõe duas novas abordagens para detecção de mudanças de comportamento. A primeira abordagem é baseada em um algoritmo incremental de agrupamento e detecção de novidades que é independente do número e formato dos grupos presentes nos dados e que utiliza um mecanismo de janela deslizante para detecção de mudanças de comportamento. A segunda abordagem, por outro lado, é baseada na comparação de janelas de tempo consecutivas utilizando espectrogramas gerados a partir dos dados contidos em cada janela. Os resultados experimentais utilizando simulações e dados de jogos comerciais indicam a aplicabilidade dos algoritmos propostos na tarefa de detecção de mudanças de comportamento de um jogador, assim como mostram sua vantagem em relação a outros algoritmos para detecção de mudança disponíveis na literatura / One of the challenges of Artificial Intelligence applied to games is behavior learning, where the objective is to use statistics derived from the interaction between the player and the game environment in order to recognize particular player characteristics or to monitor the evolution of a players behavior along time. The majority of work developed in this area applies models that were previously learned through the use of Machine Learning techniques. However, only a few pieces of work consider that the players behavior can evolve over time and, therefore, recognizing when behavior changes happen is the first step towards the production of games that adapt to the players needs. In order to detect changes in the behavior of a player, incremental algorithms are necessary, what motivates the study of change detection algorithms from the area of Data Stream Mining. However, some of the characteristics of the algorithms available in the literature make their application to the task of change detection in games unfeasible. To overcome these difficulties, this work proposes two new approaches for change detection. The first approach is based on an incremental clustering and novelty detection algorithm which is independent of the number and format of clusters and uses a mechanism for change detection based on sliding windows. The second approach, on the other hand, is based on the comparison of consecutive time windows using spectrograms created from the data inside each window. Experimental results using simulations and data from commercial games indicate the applicability of the proposed algorithms in the task of detecting a players changing behavior, as well as present their advantage when compared to other change detection algorithms available in the literature

O crescimento explosivo no número de usuários de Internet levou arquitetos de software a reavaliarem questões relacionadas à escalabilidade de serviços que são disponibilizados em larga escala. Projetar arquiteturas de software que não apresentem degradação no desempenho com o aumento no número de acessos concorrentes ainda é um desafio. Neste trabalho, investigamos o impacto do sistema operacional em questões relacionadas ao desempenho, paralelização e escalabilidade de jogos interativos multi-usuários. Em particular, estudamos e estendemos o jogo interativo, multi-usuário, QuakeWorld, disponibilizado publicamente pela id Software sob a licença GPL. Criamos um modelo de paralelismo para a simulação distribuída realizada pelo jogo e o implementamos no servidor do QuakeWorld com adaptações que permitem que o sistema operacional gerencie de forma adequada a execução da carga de trabalho gerada. / The explosive growth in the number of Internet users made software architects reevaluate issues related to the scalability of services deployed on a large scale. It is still challenging to design software architectures that do not experience performance degradation when the concurrent access increases. In this work, we investigate the impact of the operating system in issues related to performance, parallelization, and scalability of interactive multiplayer games. Particularly, we study and extend the interactive, multiplayer game QuakeWorld, made publicly available by id Software under GPL license. We have created a new parallelization model for Quake\'s distributed simulation and implemented that model in QuakeWorld server with adaptations that allows the operating system to manage the execution of the generated workload in a more convenient way.

This thesis draws on Michel Foucault's late work on the practices of the self to ask whether the ascetic practices and patterns of action suggested by contemporary computer games, which afford players the opportunities to pursue their own self-set goals, further what might be called a 'wandering' away from ourselves, a 'transformation' or 'transfiguration' of what we are. If self-formation is now a terrain on which power and resistance plays out, it is critical to be able to identify pernicious practices that may bind us to the individualising techniques of power, as opposed to transformative ones that enable us to refuse who we are in the move towards freedom. Broaching this question leads to considerations of the implicit ethical foundations presupposed by Foucault's anti-normative ethico-aesthetics, and the limitations of its appeal to a coherence or style seemingly without rules. These considerations have implications for the way in which we understand the practices of self-constitution in computer games. I question whether there is an isomorphism between the way in which power - understood through Foucault's concept of 'governmentality' - works in the present, and the way in which computer games set the conditions under which player practices take place. We are prompted by both to develop a non-coercive relation to a 'truth' through an impetus that originates from us. Computer games are about our identification with processes, which are strengthened by the feedback loops in the game and by the mode of being we elect to adopt as a hexis. Such a structure, however, is insufficiently rigid for computer games to produce discrete subjectivities, and analyses of them must be sensitive as to whether there are any systematic concatenation of player responses. To this end, I suggest a framework, based on Foucault's orthogonal understanding of power-subject, for uncovering the 'rationalities' within games, which are the conditions under which players' practices of the self take place, and which give rise to certain practices of self-constitution over others. It depends on our being able to find or infer player typologies, which are then analysed for their similar patterns of action. This framework is applied to a case study: levelling-up in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. On the basis of six typologies, a prominent structure of calculative anticipation and deferral emerges, as well as the existence of what is called a super-instrumental approach. In order to disambiguate these findings with respect to their transformative potential, I turn to the transcendental signifiers in Foucault's work and consider the practices of the self as seeking a balance between reason and sense - they are revisited through the lens of Schiller's play drive. This concretises the argument that if the practices of the self are thought capable of moving us towards freedom, we must assume the existence of non-cognitive faculties within us that, when engaged, enable us to be able to distinguish between positive and pernicious self-formation. Given that these judgments cannot be cognitively communicated, we ought to refrain from prescriptivism, yet do have recourse to standards. However, our efforts to cognitively understand this aesthetic interplay between reason and sense are certainly not without importance.

Many multiplayer games feature teams, and whether they are pitted against each other or against the game itself it seems likely that the way these teams bond will affect the players' experience. What are the factors that influence the experience of being a team member in a game? To what extent can the game designer manipulate the cohesion of the teams by changing the game design? How does the satisfaction of the player with their team relate to their feeling of cohesion? How does cohesion differ between tabletop and online games? These issues become particularly important where the group dynamic is central to the desired outcome of the game e.g. educational games aiming to place the players in specific social situations. Four studies were conducted on four similar simulation games (two tabletop, two online) used for teaching in International Development Studies. These games explore farming in sub-Saharan Africa and require 12-30 players to play in small groups. The group dynamics are important for the learning outcomes. Similar groups of participants (all students of International Development Studies) played one game each. Each group played for 3 hours before completing a questionnaire about their experience and wrapping up with a full-group reflective discussion. Results from the two tabletop games suggested that, as expected, altering the rules of the game manipulated levels of team cohesion. However, the lack of significant result from the two online games suggests that careful design is required to achieve the same outcomes in the online environment. This suggests that seemingly small changes between tabletop and online implementations may impact the game play experience in unanticipated ways. The team cohesion reported by the players was found to correlate strongly with the team member satisfaction levels of the players. The gender composition of the teams was shown to have a large impact on both team cohesion and team member satisfaction: having one or more females in the group significantly increased both measures.

No description available.

Desde os primeiros filmes realizados em jogos digitais nos anos 1990, a noção de machinima vem sendo associada às convenções do cinema clássico. Com isso, ela falha em abranger a diversidade das obras audiovisuais produzidas em ambientes virtuais interativos em tempo real. Assim, o presente estudo busca contribuir com uma melhor compreensão dessa noção, através da análise interpretativa dos seus filmes experimentais e da bibliografia específica. Ele também pretende colaborar com a sua expansão como meio de comunicação e expressão artística. Em um primeiro momento, busca-se evidenciar a associação da noção de machinima com o cinema clássico, através da apresentação dos filmes relevantes durante a sua história e também de uma análise interpretativa das primeiras publicações teóricas. A partir dessa constatação, são apresentadas práticas audiovisuais precedentes e filmes experimentais realizados nos seus anos iniciais. Em seguida, pretende-se demonstrar que o afastamento da narrativa representado pelas obras experimentais de machinima abre espaço para a identificação de outros elementos que possam colaborar com um entendimento mais aprofundado da sua noção. Dessa forma, as seguintes características são apresentadas e analisadas em relação a essa ideia: a performance, a intervenção e o registro. Essa aproximação é prosseguida pela análise interpretativa dos filmes Formation (Difference and Repetition), de Baden Pailthorpe, 30 Seconds or More One Animation a Day, de Victor Morales e Abstract Livecoded Machinima (Missile Command), de David Griffiths. Ao enfatizar as obras experimentais de machinima, a proposta deste estudo é evidenciar que há uma diversidade de caminhos, entre a narrativa e a experimentação, a serem percorridos pelos artistas com machinima e que a sua noção deve abranger a pluralidade dessas produções audiovisuais. / Since the first films accomplished in digital games in the 1990s, the concept of machinima has been associated to the conventions of classical cinema. Therewith, it fails to embrace the diversity of audiovisual works produced in real-time interactive virtual environments. Therefore, this study aims to contribute to a deepen comprehension of this concept through an interpretative analysis of its experimental films and also of the specific bibliography. It also intends to collaborate with its expansion as a communication and an artistic expression medium. First, it is aimed to evince the association of the idea of machinima with the classical cinema, through the presentation of the relevant films of its history and also through an interpretative analysis of the first theoretical publications. From this verification, the previous audiovisual practices and experimental movies accomplished in its first years are presented. Then, it is intended to demonstrate that the distance from narrative represented by the experimental works in machinima makes room for the identification of other features that may collaborate to a deepening understanding of its concept. Thus, the following features are presented and analyzed in relation to this idea: the performance, the intervention, and the record. This approximation is followed by the interpretative analysis of the films Formation (Difference and Repetition), by Baden Pailthorpe, 30 Seconds or More One Animation a Day, by Victor Morales, and Abstract Livecoded Machinima (Missile Command), by David Griffiths. By emphasizing the experimental works in machinima, the proposal of this study is to evince that there is a diversity of paths, between the narrative and the experimentation, to go through by the artists with machinima. Thus, its concept must include the plurality of these audiovisual productions.

<p><!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"Cambria Math"; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:1; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-format:other; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:0 0 0 0 0 0;} @font-face {font-family:Garamond; panose-1:2 2 4 4 3 3 1 1 8 3; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:647 0 0 0 159 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; line-height:150%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Garamond","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language:SV;} p.Standard, li.Standard, div.Standard {mso-style-name:Standard; mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-next:Normal; margin:0cm; margin-bottom:.0001pt; text-align:justify; line-height:150%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Garamond","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language:SV;} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; font-size:10.0pt; mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;} @page Section1 {size:612.0pt 792.0pt; margin:72.0pt 72.0pt 72.0pt 72.0pt; mso-header-margin:36.0pt; mso-footer-margin:36.0pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --><!--[if gte mso 10]> <mce:style><! /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} > <! [endif] ></p><p>This paper focuses on the female gender position in World of Warcraft. The paper analyses the game, the gamer community and female gamers own experiences of play in a male-dominated arena. The subject is approached using semiotics, online ethnography and semi-structured interwiews. The results show that World of Warcraft is far from the worst example of stereotypical gender representations in games, although the game enforces stereotypical structures. The culture in the gaming community is extremely male dominated and heteronormative. The female respondents seem to thrive in the game via a negotiated reading of the gamer culture. Their goals and motivations in the game differ widely.</p><p> < ><--></p>