Video games are one of the largest cultural industries in the world and an important part of life for billions of people. This medium offers much more than just entertainment and that is especially true for the field of cultural heritage, although there has not been sufficient research of video games from this perspective. This work sets out to explore the medium of roleplaying video games from the point of view of their players as a key to access and understand cultural heritage, looking into the forms cultural heritage plays in video games, the advantages of engaging with cultural heritage in this way and offering an outlook into its implications regarding its significance for the field of cultural heritage. The core of this thesis is formed by an analysis of a topical survey created by the author that has been completed by 564 players, followed by a discussion of results and other written sources. Using the results of the survey this thesis concludes that roleplaying video games are a valuable asset for cultural heritage. It is an improved (interactive, immersive, captivating) storytelling medium with a great potential for benefiting its users' cultural knowledge and skills, as well as conserving, sustaining, and sharing the value of cultural heritage, and the field should acknowledge it as such and take advantage of it.

No description available.

Interventions for children and their families have traditionally stemmed from two interrelated frameworks: play-based child therapies, and family therapies (Gil, 2015). Integrated family play therapy frameworks aim to capitalize on the strengths of both approaches by combining meaningful engagement of children through play, and systems-level insights into patterns of family functioning and interaction (Gil, 2015). A virtually unexplored avenue for play-based therapeutic applications of role-play that may lend themselves to an integrated family play therapy framework are tabletop role-playing games (TRPGs); cooperative and narrative-based games wherein players adopt the role of fictional characters as they navigate a fantasy setting arbitrated by a game master. Case studies on the use of TRPGs with children and young adults have yielded initial evidence of their potential therapeutic utility (e.g., Blackmon, 1994; Enfield, 2007; Rosselet & Stauffer, 2013), however, research on their application is limited, particularly with families. The current study pilot tested an original TRPG module (“The Family Tabletop Adventure”) for use with families to establish the module’s potential therapeutic utility and identify targets for further refinement. A sample of three family groups (N = 11) were recruited to participate in six weekly online sessions (a 1-hour introductory session, four 1.5- to 2-hour game sessions, and a 1-hour exit interview). A variety of mixed-method measures were used to assess family functioning at baseline and post-game, including observational coding, self-report, and qualitative group interviews. Exploratory analyses of the findings indicated the module’s feasibility of implementation and ease of use, low iatrogenic risk, perceptions by families as fun and engaging, and potential utility across a range of family processes relevant to therapeutic contexts, including communication and problem solving, positive interactions and relationship building, and the generation of novel insights about family members. Family feedback was used to identify several targets for additional refinement of the game module to improve families’ comprehension and engagement with the game. The implications of these findings and their relevance to the use of TRPGs in family intervention contexts are discussed. / Graduate / 2023-08-26

O Ensino de Física em um mundo democrático requer mais práticas curriculares que abordem as implicações sociais da Ciência e da Tecnologia (C&T). Buscando articular uma visão marxista com pressupostos do movimento CTS, o presente trabalho de conclusão reporta uma experiência de ensino de máquinas térmicas que apresenta dois diferenciais: (1) situa a máquina térmica no contexto histórico da revolução industrial inglesa; (2) promove um jogo de interpretação de papéis (Roleplaying Game – RPG). A fundamentação teórica está baseada em três fontes principais: o referencial curricular CTS, a teoria do desenvolvimento de Lev Vygotsky1 e a reconstrução histórica de Eric Hobsbawm para a Revolução Industrial. O trabalho foi aplicado em duas turmas da 2ª série do Ensino Médio. Foi elaborado um produto educacional em hipermídia, voltado para professores. Nossos resultados sugerem que a proposta favoreceu que os alunos: (1) percebessem que a máquina térmica, situada em um palco de conflitos sociais, não pode ser compreendida somente como um aparato tecnológico; (2) vivenciassem os conflitos de uma posição social diferente da sua própria (a posição do operário de uma fábrica, por exemplo). / Physics teaching in a democratic world requires more curricular practices addressing social implications of Science and Technology (S&T). Intending to interweave a Marxian stance along with STS ideas, this text reports an experience of teaching thermal machines with two main distinctions: (1) it situates thermal machines in the context of British industrial revolution; (2) it involves a Roleplaying Game (RPG). The theoretical framework is based on three sources: STS curriculum design, Lev Vygotsky’s developmental psychology and Eric Hobsbawm’s account for Industrial Revolution. This experience was enacted twice with high school students. The emerging educational product (directed to other science teachers) was elaborated on hypermedia. The results suggest that this experience favored students’: (1) acknowledging that thermal machine, located in a stage of social conflicts, is not only a technological apparatus; (2) lived the conflicts of a different social position (eg., the role of an industry employee).

Rollspel är en form av sällskapsspel som går ut på att deltagarna tillsammans berättar en historia, som ofta utspelar sig i fiktiva världar och utgår från perspektivet av den enskilda spelarens skapade rollperson. En av deltagarna är spelledare och är den som skildrar spelets miljöer och karaktärer. I studien diskuteras rollspelens identitetsskapande och sociala funktion samt rollspel som kunskaps- och färdighetsfrämjande, med utgångspunkt i tanken att rollspel kan skapa ett intresse för och främja bearbetandet av existentiella frågor. En enkät utdelad till trettio rollspelare samt fem mer djupgående intervjuer av erfarna spelare visar att rollspelsdeltagare genom spelet utforskar och behandlar existentiella frågor, samt att spelare själva rapporterar om rollspelandets positiva inflytande på det individuella och sociala livet samt spelandets kunskaps-, färdighets- och intressefrämjande förmåga.

No description available.

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.

Submitted by JOSETE BISPO RIBEIRO (josetebisporibeiro@gmail.com) on 2016-09-08T10:48:46Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Tese JOSETE BISPO RIBEIRO.pdf: 1208356 bytes, checksum: 9aea1bbdc5a48aa8bd8070c08b2b5d99 (MD5) / Rejected by Maria Auxiliadora da Silva Lopes (silopes@ufba.br), reason: Prezada Josete, Preencha os campos somente com as iniciais maiúsculas, exceto os nomes próprios. Saudações, Auxiliadora on 2016-09-08T16:37:56Z (GMT) / Submitted by JOSETE BISPO RIBEIRO (josetebisporibeiro@gmail.com) on 2016-09-09T01:45:30Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Tese JOSETE BISPO RIBEIRO.pdf: 1208356 bytes, checksum: 9aea1bbdc5a48aa8bd8070c08b2b5d99 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Maria Auxiliadora da Silva Lopes (silopes@ufba.br) on 2016-09-09T17:50:54Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Tese JOSETE BISPO RIBEIRO.pdf: 1208356 bytes, checksum: 9aea1bbdc5a48aa8bd8070c08b2b5d99 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-09-09T17:50:54Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Tese JOSETE BISPO RIBEIRO.pdf: 1208356 bytes, checksum: 9aea1bbdc5a48aa8bd8070c08b2b5d99 (MD5) / Esta investigação estuda a funcionalidade dos jogos digitais como instrumentos pedagógicos voltados para promover aprendizagem colaborativa em segurança pública. Para isso, focalizou a abordagem sobre os jogos do tipo Role Playing Game (RPG), para construir uma aplicação pedagógica, numa versão digital, denominada RPG Digital PMBA, voltada para utilização nos processos instrucionais da Polícia Militar da Bahia (PMBA). Identificou-se uma representação virtual e operabilidade lógica mais adequada à apresentação de ocorrências policiais militares, que, face à perspectiva decisória, promovessem nos profissionais policiais militares aperfeiçoamento de competências profissionais inerentes ao seu modus operandi. Este instrumento pedagógico, construído colaborativamente entre analistas cognitivos e especialistas em segurança pública, foi aplicado para teste de efetividade com os policiais militares do Batalhão Especializado de Polícia Turística (BEPTUR), unidade operacional vinculada à PMBA. Por se tratar de uma pesquisa aplicada, foram realizados experimentos reais, através de simulações virtuais de ocorrências policiais militares similares, em conteúdo especifico e narrativas usuais, àquelas encontradas no campo de atuação natural dos sujeitos da comunidade de prática. Considerando trata-se de uma investigação sobre tecnologias educativas, utilizou-se da abordagem metodológica Design Based Research (DBR), como método de pesquisa e dos pressupostos da Praxiologia, como concepção epistemológica, tendo em vista a indissociável relação formativa e instrucional entre o conhecimento teórico e a experiência prática, típica de profissionais da área de segurança pública. / ABSTRACT This investigation studies the funcionality of digital games how pedagogical instrument to promove collaborate knowledge in public security. Then, the focused approach about the games how role playing games (RPG), to build one pedagogical application, in a digital version, meaning RPG PMBA digital, to use instructions process of military police of Bahia (PMBA). It identified a virtual representation and logic operation more appropriate to submit police reports that, given operative perspective, to promote improvement of professional competencies inherents to yours. This pedagogical tool built collaboratively between cognitive analysts and public security experts, was applied to effectiveness test with militaries polices of special touristic police group (BEPTUR), operation linked to the PMBA, because it is an applied research, real experiments were performed through virtual simulations of similar military police reports, on specific content and the usual narratives, those found in the natural field of activity of the subjects of the community practice. Whereas it is a research on educational technology was used the methodological approach (DBR), as research method and praxeology of assumptions, such as epistemological conception, in view of the indissoluble training and institutional relationship between theoretical knowledge and practical experience, typical public stafety professionals area.

O Ensino de Física em um mundo democrático requer mais práticas curriculares que abordem as implicações sociais da Ciência e da Tecnologia (C&T). Buscando articular uma visão marxista com pressupostos do movimento CTS, o presente trabalho de conclusão reporta uma experiência de ensino de máquinas térmicas que apresenta dois diferenciais: (1) situa a máquina térmica no contexto histórico da revolução industrial inglesa; (2) promove um jogo de interpretação de papéis (Roleplaying Game – RPG). A fundamentação teórica está baseada em três fontes principais: o referencial curricular CTS, a teoria do desenvolvimento de Lev Vygotsky1 e a reconstrução histórica de Eric Hobsbawm para a Revolução Industrial. O trabalho foi aplicado em duas turmas da 2ª série do Ensino Médio. Foi elaborado um produto educacional em hipermídia, voltado para professores. Nossos resultados sugerem que a proposta favoreceu que os alunos: (1) percebessem que a máquina térmica, situada em um palco de conflitos sociais, não pode ser compreendida somente como um aparato tecnológico; (2) vivenciassem os conflitos de uma posição social diferente da sua própria (a posição do operário de uma fábrica, por exemplo). / Physics teaching in a democratic world requires more curricular practices addressing social implications of Science and Technology (S&T). Intending to interweave a Marxian stance along with STS ideas, this text reports an experience of teaching thermal machines with two main distinctions: (1) it situates thermal machines in the context of British industrial revolution; (2) it involves a Roleplaying Game (RPG). The theoretical framework is based on three sources: STS curriculum design, Lev Vygotsky’s developmental psychology and Eric Hobsbawm’s account for Industrial Revolution. This experience was enacted twice with high school students. The emerging educational product (directed to other science teachers) was elaborated on hypermedia. The results suggest that this experience favored students’: (1) acknowledging that thermal machine, located in a stage of social conflicts, is not only a technological apparatus; (2) lived the conflicts of a different social position (eg., the role of an industry employee).

O Ensino de Física em um mundo democrático requer mais práticas curriculares que abordem as implicações sociais da Ciência e da Tecnologia (C&T). Buscando articular uma visão marxista com pressupostos do movimento CTS, o presente trabalho de conclusão reporta uma experiência de ensino de máquinas térmicas que apresenta dois diferenciais: (1) situa a máquina térmica no contexto histórico da revolução industrial inglesa; (2) promove um jogo de interpretação de papéis (Roleplaying Game – RPG). A fundamentação teórica está baseada em três fontes principais: o referencial curricular CTS, a teoria do desenvolvimento de Lev Vygotsky1 e a reconstrução histórica de Eric Hobsbawm para a Revolução Industrial. O trabalho foi aplicado em duas turmas da 2ª série do Ensino Médio. Foi elaborado um produto educacional em hipermídia, voltado para professores. Nossos resultados sugerem que a proposta favoreceu que os alunos: (1) percebessem que a máquina térmica, situada em um palco de conflitos sociais, não pode ser compreendida somente como um aparato tecnológico; (2) vivenciassem os conflitos de uma posição social diferente da sua própria (a posição do operário de uma fábrica, por exemplo). / Physics teaching in a democratic world requires more curricular practices addressing social implications of Science and Technology (S&T). Intending to interweave a Marxian stance along with STS ideas, this text reports an experience of teaching thermal machines with two main distinctions: (1) it situates thermal machines in the context of British industrial revolution; (2) it involves a Roleplaying Game (RPG). The theoretical framework is based on three sources: STS curriculum design, Lev Vygotsky’s developmental psychology and Eric Hobsbawm’s account for Industrial Revolution. This experience was enacted twice with high school students. The emerging educational product (directed to other science teachers) was elaborated on hypermedia. The results suggest that this experience favored students’: (1) acknowledging that thermal machine, located in a stage of social conflicts, is not only a technological apparatus; (2) lived the conflicts of a different social position (eg., the role of an industry employee).