This thesis contributes to the field of Game Studies by presenting the hypothesis that the player(s) and soundscape(s) in the first-person shooter (FPS) game, and the relationships between them, may be construed as an acoustic ecology. It explores the idea that the single-player FPS game acoustic ecology has the basic components of player and soundscape and that the relationships between these two lead to the creation and perception of a variety of spaces within the game world constituting a significant contributing factor to player immersion in that world. Additionally, in a multiplayer FPS game, these individual acoustic ecologies form part of a larger acoustic ecology which may be explained through autopoietic principles. There has been little written on digital game sound (much less on FPS game sound) and so the research contained within this thesis is an important contribution to the Game Studies field. Furthermore, the elaboration of the hypothesis provides insight into the role of sound in the perception of a variety of spaces in the FPS game, and player immersion in those spaces, and this has significance not only for Game Studies but also for other disciplines such as virtual environment design and the study of real-world acoustic ecologies. A text-based methodology is employed in which literature from a range of disciplines is researched for concepts relevant to the hypothesis but, where necessary, new concepts will be devised. The aim of the methodology is to construct a conceptual framework which is used to explicate the hypothesis and which may, with future refinement, be used for the study of sound in digital game genres other than FPS.

Submitted by Marcos Henrique de Paula Dias da Silva (dificildedizer@gmail.com) on 2018-04-28T15:54:48Z No. of bitstreams: 1 manuscrito final.pdf: 4342596 bytes, checksum: 522ff3d650a621ed75287beb6d1bb43d (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Lucilene Cordeiro da Silva Messias null (lubiblio@bauru.unesp.br) on 2018-05-03T13:06:37Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 silva_mhpd_me_bauru.pdf: 4342596 bytes, checksum: 522ff3d650a621ed75287beb6d1bb43d (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-05-03T13:06:37Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 silva_mhpd_me_bauru.pdf: 4342596 bytes, checksum: 522ff3d650a621ed75287beb6d1bb43d (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-03-02 / A experiência em participar de dois grupos pouco associados e perceber que juntos teriam potencial de construir excelentes jogos digitais para ensino de Matemática, foi o motor desta pesquisa. Este trabalho focou nas dificuldades de um licenciado em Matemática, com poucos recursos e baixa experiência em computação, imerso de forma amadora e individual no meio do game design digital. Iniciou-se com uma revisão da literatura explicando sobre diversas teorias conceituadas relacionadas com jogos, sendo estas, abordagens que variavam desde a Psicologia, o Jornalismo, a Matemática, o Ensino, o Game design entre outras. Então, apresentamos o processo de documentação utilizado para registro das experiências, recursos e caracterização do sujeito, como seus computadores, uma breve biografia, a estruturação do seu diário, os objetivos dos questionários e as versões do jogo digital Handles produzido no período de estudo. Por fim, reunimos todos os desafios de Handles dentro de problemas Matemáticos generalizados, e contextualizados dentro da instância de jogo com soluções sugeridas. Também analisamos os dados de 27 crianças do Ensino Fundamental I e 142 estudantes do Ensino Médio Técnico, que jogaram, e em ambos os grupos houve uma visível aprendizagem dos conceitos Matemáticos envolvidos. Então associamos a experiência narrada no diário com as diversas teorias relacionadas a jogos, revisadas anteriormente, indicando os pontos onde cada uma melhor contribui nesta prática. Encerra-se o texto com a construção de um percurso, baseado neste estudo, por onde licenciados em Matemática em condições semelhantes ao nosso sujeito, possam criar com maior facilidade seus próprios jogos digitais para ensino de Matemática em um nível de sofisticação similar ao Handles. / The experience of participating in two little associated groups and realizing that, combined, they would have the potential to construct excellent digital games for teaching mathematics was the driver of this research. This study focused on the difficulties of a mathematical education graduate, with few resources and little computing experience, engaged in an amateur and individual fashion in the digital game design milieu. It began with a review of the literature explaining the many conceptual theories related to games, with approaches including psychology, journalism, mathematics, education, and game design. We then present the documentation process used to record the subject’s experiences, resources and characterization, such as his computer, a brief biography, the structure of his diary, the questionnaire goals, and the versions of the digital game Handles produced during the study period. Finally, we combine all the challenges related to Handles within the generalized math problems, put into context within the game’s instance with the suggested solutions. We also analyzed the data of 27 Elementary School I children and 142 Technical High School students who played the game, with each group showing a visible learning of the math concepts involved. We then associate the experience presented in the diary with the different theories related to games, which have been previously revised, indicating at which points each theory best contributes to this practice. The text ends with the construction of a path, based on this study, according to which mathematics education graduates, in conditions similar to our subject’s, may more easily create their own digital games for teaching mathematics on a sophistication level similar to Handles.

Project deals with the development of a 2D, roleplaying videogame for the computer platform. Theoretical part of the thesis is focused on background of pixelart in videogames, as well as game and storytelling cliche, while both of these aspects are used in the final project. Practical part is the design of characters, enviroment and scenes, and the complete realization of a prototype for pixelart videogame named ENOUGH, with the visual of retro games for old platforms. Its story is being shown as a cliche as well, though with the strong symbolism refering to authors psychique and on the mental health or memories.

The aim of the present study is to examine two pupils’ interaction when playing the language learning game Sweet City together on tablet. The game is used for teaching Swedish as a second language and it is designed as an adventure game. Special interest is focused on how the pupils use the opportunities for translating labels into other languages, a function built into the game. Translanguaging, that is, how the pupils’ assembled linguistic resources benefit them in the game, is another focus of the study. The method used was observation, with filming of the pupils´ playing. The material was then analysed with the aid of the Exchange Structure Model. The result showed that playing video games leads to a context-linked conversation with many short exchanges. The pupils are engaged in the game and the cooperation that is required to make progress in it. The pupils take advantage of the potential to translate the game dialogue, but the concrete consequences of that are not clearly detectable.

The purpose of this study was to explore the variables that might affect the learning outcomes of a serious game for disaster preparedness. Literature review in the field has revealed a number of variables that might have effects on the learning outcome with serious games, including: prior knowledge, in game guidance, gaming frequency, and playing skills. However, there has been no study on the relationships and effects between the types of knowledge (i.e., declarative, or procedural) used in serious games and the intended learning outcomes. Using disaster preparedness as a learning context, this study examines the two types of knowledge: (1) declarative (i.e., learners’ ability to retain facts and information), and (2) procedural knowledge (learners’ ability to perform actions and procedures), and their relationships with the learning outcomes of a serious game. The research question was: “To what extent do: prior knowledge, in-game guidance, and gaming frequency, predict the learning outcomes, in the forms of declarative and procedural knowledge of a disaster preparedness serious game?”

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T19:42:32Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Vanessa Dohme.pdf: 2538756 bytes, checksum: d51aa4031e5c4d60a18027a1d172d357 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-08-13 / The present work investigates the user s understanding when in contact with a digital game. Making use of semiotic s tools, the work proposes a language of games the Gamish, that carries three possible levels of communication between the gamer and the game: Perception Level; Contact Level; and Interaction Level. Each of these represents a degree of the gamer s involvement with the game. Understanding Gamish is a way to try to explain what makes a gamer keep playing, instead of looking for some other form of entertainment. For the present disertation, the casual digital games were the object chosen for study; these games pervade daily life activities, among people of all ages. A theoretical foundation is presented to reinforce the idea that non-digital and digital games equally have the same characteristics at their core. This work shows na evolution of these games and their signs, making a semiotic reading of these signs. Finally, it shows how one plays nowadays, easier and with more acceptance than ever before, decoding the information carried in the games. It concludes that games are more played because more people speak gamish. / O trabalho investiga a linha de entendimento do usuário ao entrar em contato com o jogo digital. Fazendo uso das ferramentas da semiótica, foi proposta uma linguagem dos jogos o Joguês, que apresenta três níveis possíveis de comunicação do jogador com o jogo: Nível de Percepção; Nível de Contato; e Nível de Interação. Cada um deles representa um grau de envolvimento do jogador com o game. Entender o Jogues é um caminho para tentar explicar o que faz com que o jogador continue jogando, ao invés de procurar outra forma de entretenimento. Para a presente dissertação, o objeto escolhido para estudo foram os jogos digitais casuais, que permeiam atividades cotidianas de pessoas de todas as idades. Apresenta-se uma fundamentação teórica para reforçar a ideia de que tanto os jogos não digitais como os eletrônicos têm as mesmas propriedades em sua base. O presente trabalho apresenta uma evolução desses jogos e de seus signos, fazendo uma leitura semiótica e de linguagem desses signos. Finalmente, mostra como é que, com mais facilidade e aceitação do que outrora, se joga hoje em dia, decodificando as informações que os jogos trazem. Conclui-se que se joga mais porque mais pessoas falam o joguês.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-29T14:23:34Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Winna Hita Iturriaga Zansavio.pdf: 14845152 bytes, checksum: 174a69bfd1ed18cabe069f7e7e111397 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-02-05 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The research reflects about digital games as a product and object of culture construing the elements of its constitution from the psychoanalysis point of view as happened previously in the literature, the theater and the cinema. It construes its methodological course from Arlete dos Santos Petry reflection in "Heavy Rain or What We can Experience with Narratives in Digital Games" (2011), in which digital games and their constituent structures are thought of as enablers agents of subject emotional experiences and fundamental reflections, both for the players and for developers. I will present the concepts and content defined by Freudian Psychoanalysis base that may be present in digital games, applying them on the elements present in a digital game that starts as the point of the work of Lewis Carroll, the game "Alice Madness Returns". Based on the connexion between the concepts organized by Psychoanalysis and the development of the game performed by the developer/author, the search goes so far as to consider the elements present in the digital games as symbolic structures that are part of culture and human development. It concludes with the need for further study of relations between games, culture, design and narrative with the Psychoanalysis knowledges about art in general / A pesquisa reflete acerca dos jogos digitais enquanto produto e objeto da cultura construindo os elementos de sua constituição a partir do ponto de vista da psicanálise, tal como se sucedeu anteriormente com a literatura, o teatro e o cinema. Constrói seu percurso metodológico a partir da reflexão de Arlete dos Santos Petry, em "Heavy Rain ou o que Podemos Vivenciar com as Narrativas nos Jogos Digitais" (2011), na qual os jogos digitais e suas estruturas constituintes são pensados como agentes possibilitadores de experiências emocionais subjetivas e de reflexões fundamentais, tanto para os jogadores como para os desenvolvedores. Apresentará os conceitos e conteúdos delimitados pela psicanálise de base freudiana que podem estar presentes nos jogos digitais, aplicando-os sobre os elementos presentes em um jogo digital que tem por ponto de partida a Obra de Lewis Caroll, o jogo "Alice Madness Returns". Com base na relação entre os conceitos organizados pela psicanálise e o desenvolvimento do jogo realizado pelo desenvolvedor/autor, a pesquisa chega ao ponto de considerar os elementos presentes nos jogos digitais como estruturas simbólicas que fazem parte da cultura e da formação humana. Conclui pela necessidade de um estudo mais aprofundado das relações entre jogos, cultura, design e narrativa com os conhecimentos da psicanálise sobre a arte em geral

The field of education is constantly evolving, and digital technology in the classroom is commonplace and includes the utilization of films, internet, computer aided instruction, educational video games, presentation software, edutainment, digital photography, cinematography, and computer aided drafting. As technology has advanced, so have the opportunities for its use in the classroom. This is particularly the case with serious games.<p> Serious games are generally defined as games whose primary intent is training or learning with definable learning goals, instead of being primarily intended for entertainment (Hartz & Stern, 2008). Closely related to educational video games and often used synonymously, serious games commonly incorporate simulations and role play. The design and focus of serious games are being recognized by a widening array of audiences including educators of primary and secondary education.<p> Much of the past research on serious games has focused largely on supporting the use of digital games in education. Little research has been done not only on why and how the games are effective, but also on how to incorporate the games into the curriculum (Becker, 2007). As the availability of serious games increases, it is important to build studies around specific games, exposing their potential and usability for specific curricular areas.<p> This case study utilizes the serious game <i>Building Homes of Our Own</i>, which has been created to educate students on the processes of planning, building, and selling a house. The study involved 18 Grade eleven students who were enrolled in Practical and Applied Arts (P.A.A.) and were engaged in the construction portion of their course. Three methods of data collection were used to explore four basic research questions: 1) How well does the game teach curriculum objectives? 2) How well does the game facilitate higher-order thinking? 3) What kind of environment is created by serious gaming in teaching construction? and, 4) What do students think about using serious games in the classroom? Research methods included the administration and evaluation of pre- and post-tests, administration and evaluation of critical thinking questions, direct observation of the serious gaming learning environment, and the utilization of a focus group interview.<p> Findings in the study provide important information that serves to answer the main question addressed by this study, namely, what is the potential of serious games for teaching high-school construction technologies? The findings report how effectively the serious game <i>Building Homes of Our Own </i>supports Saskatchewans construction curriculum objectives. Findings also include relevant information on a variety of critical-thinking skills learned as a result of playing this particular serious game. The researcher and his assistant made significant observations of the learning environment created by this serious game, and, finally, the students provided important information regarding the strengths and weaknesses of using <i>Building Homes of Our Own</i> and serious games in general, for learning in the context of P.A.A.

The field of education is constantly evolving, and digital technology in the classroom is commonplace and includes the utilization of films, internet, computer aided instruction, educational video games, presentation software, edutainment, digital photography, cinematography, and computer aided drafting. As technology has advanced, so have the opportunities for its use in the classroom. This is particularly the case with serious games.<p> Serious games are generally defined as games whose primary intent is training or learning with definable learning goals, instead of being primarily intended for entertainment (Hartz & Stern, 2008). Closely related to educational video games and often used synonymously, serious games commonly incorporate simulations and role play. The design and focus of serious games are being recognized by a widening array of audiences including educators of primary and secondary education.<p> Much of the past research on serious games has focused largely on supporting the use of digital games in education. Little research has been done not only on why and how the games are effective, but also on how to incorporate the games into the curriculum (Becker, 2007). As the availability of serious games increases, it is important to build studies around specific games, exposing their potential and usability for specific curricular areas.<p> This case study utilizes the serious game <i>Building Homes of Our Own</i>, which has been created to educate students on the processes of planning, building, and selling a house. The study involved 18 Grade eleven students who were enrolled in Practical and Applied Arts (P.A.A.) and were engaged in the construction portion of their course. Three methods of data collection were used to explore four basic research questions: 1) How well does the game teach curriculum objectives? 2) How well does the game facilitate higher-order thinking? 3) What kind of environment is created by serious gaming in teaching construction? and, 4) What do students think about using serious games in the classroom? Research methods included the administration and evaluation of pre- and post-tests, administration and evaluation of critical thinking questions, direct observation of the serious gaming learning environment, and the utilization of a focus group interview.<p> Findings in the study provide important information that serves to answer the main question addressed by this study, namely, what is the potential of serious games for teaching high-school construction technologies? The findings report how effectively the serious game <i>Building Homes of Our Own </i>supports Saskatchewans construction curriculum objectives. Findings also include relevant information on a variety of critical-thinking skills learned as a result of playing this particular serious game. The researcher and his assistant made significant observations of the learning environment created by this serious game, and, finally, the students provided important information regarding the strengths and weaknesses of using <i>Building Homes of Our Own</i> and serious games in general, for learning in the context of P.A.A.

In der Diplomarbeit wird der Angebotsmarkt digitaler Spiele des Jahres 2009, im Besonderen für die Altersgruppe der Jugendlichen, strukturiert abgebildet. Dazu sollen zu Beginn die Begriffsbestimmung für „Jugendliche“ aus juristischer, entwicklungspsychologischer, persönlichkeitspsychologischer und soziologischer Sicht sowie dem Spieleverhalten der Altersgruppe nach der JIM-Studie (Jugend, Information (Multi-) Media) 2009 vorgenommen werden. Anschließend wird der Angebotsmarkt anhand der Kategorisierung nach Plattformen wie PC, Konsolen und Handhelds und Genres beschrieben. Mithilfe von erfassten Daten der USKDatenbank sind dabei Spiele (bis auf einige Ausnahmen), welche von der USK geprüft wurden, tabellarisch gelistet und werden für statistische Auswertungen genutzt. Anhand dieser Erfassungen wird u.a. belegt, wie hoch der „geeignete“ Anteil an Spielen des Jahres 2009 für Jugendliche Nutzer ist. Ebenso werden die USK-Genres und die Altersfreigabe für die einzelnen Plattformen untersucht und verglichen. Zudem sind Daten zu den beliebtesten und am besten bewerteten Spielen erfasst. Auf den Hauptteil der Arbeit aufbauend, werden unterschiedliche Distributionsformen sowie die mit digitalen Spielen verbundenen Akteure beschrieben, und weitergehende Trends und Prognosen vorgestellt. Der Basis der vorgestellten Daten zugrundeliegend, sollen im Ergebnis Handlungsempfehlungen für Bibliotheken im Umgang mit digitalen Spielen gegeben, sowie zukünftige Herausforderungen benannt werden. Zur Unterstützung zielgerichteter Entscheidungen in Bibliotheken sind zusätzlich im Anhang bibliothekarische wie nichtbibliothekarische Informationsmittel, von Einrichtungen und Publikationen über Veranstaltungen bis hin zu Preisen und informativen Seiten im Internet, rund um das Digitale Spiel enthalten.