Submitted by Nayara Passos (nayara.passos@ufpe.br) on 2015-03-06T13:51:21Z No. of bitstreams: 2 DISSERTAÇÃO MIRELA PAIVA.pdf: 2971445 bytes, checksum: 0cce082cd5a3ae0cc76583c942214511 (MD5) license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-03-06T13:51:21Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 DISSERTAÇÃO MIRELA PAIVA.pdf: 2971445 bytes, checksum: 0cce082cd5a3ae0cc76583c942214511 (MD5) license_rdf: 1232 bytes, checksum: 66e71c371cc565284e70f40736c94386 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013 / Neste trabalho investigamos como os modelos de inovação através do design propostos por Roberto Verganti e Tim Brown poderiam ser aplicados para analisar o impacto no mercado de ações inovadoras na indútria de consoles de games. A partir das comunalidades entre as propostas dos dois autores, desenvolvemos um modelo de análise de elementos de inovação que aplicamos para avaliar o desenvolvimento dos consoles Nintendo Wii (exemplo citado por ambos os autores) e seus principais concorrentes, o Playstation 3 da Sony e o Xbox 360 da Microsoft. Através da análise foi possível perceber um dos motivos no posicionamento nas vendas de cada console através da investigação de três elementos de inovação: significado, tecnologia e negócio. Observamos dados quantitativos a partir destes elementos, entendendo assim o investimento que cada empresa fez em busca da inovação desde o lançamento dos consoles até o desenvolvimento da nova versão que encerra a vida útil do modelo analisado. Foi possível notar as ações de inovação de cada empresa em seu console a fim de se manter ou se tornar líder de vendas da sua categoria. O que se pode perceber é que o modelo desenvolvido para a aplicação em consoles de videogames sugere, também, a sua utilização em outros artefatos, considerando o contexto histórico dos mesmos. Entretanto, para viabilizar essa sugestão é necessário testar em diferentes situações o modelo proposto para então chegar a uma conclusão de fato.

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Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-26T18:16:43Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Diego O de Assis.pdf: 587332 bytes, checksum: 11a87924a5208f2de4c11fbc9b87819f (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007-10-26 / The goal of this study is to analise the actual stage of games journalism and point to new perspectives regarding its critical approach. Even though recognized as one of the most promising sectors of the entertainment industry in the new millenium, the universe of the videogames is still receiving a not so representative attention from the mass communication vehicles if compared to more traditional forms such as cinema and music. Nowadays, a great portion of the coverage of videogames is still confined to specialized publications and technology sections of newspapers and magazines. To pursue this analysis it will at first be necessary to trace a historical panorama of the development of electronic games. Created almost 50 years ago, in an atempt to turn computers into something fun, videogames have been gaining complexity with successive technological advances until they have transformed into one of the most intriguing cultural objects from the turn of the 20th to the 21st century. Present in the lives of young people from all kind of societies in the last two decades, games have started to influence and to be influenced by other aesthetical languages from the pop culture, like movies, music, cartoons and comic books. Today, as stated by authors such as Chris Crawford, Steven Poole and Henry Jenkins, games represent a new and autonomous cultural cathegory, with specific features that demand its own theories and concepts. After going into the cultural and technological evolution of videogames, we will then look at some of the main publications dedicated to the subject, including segmented magazines, like Electronic Gaming Monthly, news and reviews websites, such as GameSpot.com and IGN.com, and blogs and internet services that have recently joined what is called games journalism. Still on this issue, we intend to show the major problems faced by games journalism in order to refrain from performing a mere utilitary role which it traditionally did and start dealing with the cultural, social and economical layers that have stick to the universe of videogames in the last decades. (Something that, paradoxically, publications of the non-specialized media, such as The New York Times and Wired have performed way more efficiently.) At last, we will be listing a few examples of how a well-informed games criticism practice can benefit from literature, as is the case with the controversial new games journalism, and also from concepts that are being debated in the Academy such as narrative (Murray), simulation (Frasca), meaningful play (Salen and Zimmerman) and software (Galloway, Manovich) / O objetivo desta dissertação é analisar o estágio atual do jornalismo de games e apontar novas perspectivas para sua abordagem crítica. Mesmo reconhecido como um dos setores da indústria de entretenimento mais promissores neste novo milênio, o universo dos videogames tem recebido ainda uma atenção proporcional pouco representativa nos meios de comunicação de massa se comparados a formatos mais tradicionais como o cinema e a música. No contexto atual, boa parte da cobertura de games permanece confinada a publicações especializadas e a cadernos de informática. Para levar adiante esta análise será necessário antes de tudo traçar um panorama histórico do desenvolvimento dos jogos eletrônicos. Surgidos há quase 50 anos, numa tentativa de transformar os computadores em algo divertido, os videogames foram ganhando complexidade com os sucessivos avanços tecnológicos até se transformarem em um dos objetos culturais mais instigantes da virada do século 20 para o 21. Presentes na vida dos jovens de praticamente todas as sociedades nas últimas duas décadas, os games passaram a influenciar e a serem influenciados por outras linguagens estéticas da cultura popular, como o cinema, a música, os desenhos animados e as histórias em quadrinhos. Hoje, como defendem à sua maneira autores como Chris Crawford, Steven Poole e Henry Jenkins, os games representam uma categoria cultural autônoma, com características específicas que exigem formulações teóricas e conceituais própria. Após um passeio pela evolução tecnológica e cultural dos videogames, iremos nos debruçar sobre as principais publicações do gênero, que incluem revistas especializadas, como a Electronic Gaming Monthly, sites de notícias e reviews (ou resenhas), como GameSpot.com e IGN.com, além de blogs e outras ferramentas de internet que mais recentemente se juntaram ao chamado jornalismo de games. Ainda nesse segmento, pretendemos apontar os principais problemas enfrentados para que o jornalismo de games deixe de desempenhar o papel meramente utilitário que tradicionalmente ocupou e passe a dar conta das camadas culturais, sociais e econômicas que se atrelaram ao universo dos jogos nas últimas décadas. (Algo que, paradoxalmente, veículos da imprensa não-especializada, como The New York Times, Wired e outros tem realizado com maior eficiência). Por fim, relacionaremos também alguns exemplos de como uma crítica bem informada de games pode se beneficiar de recursos formais da literatura, como é o caso do controverso new games journalism, além de conceitos que vem sendo debatidos na Academia como narrativas (Murray), simulação (Frasca), meaningful play (Salen e Zimmerman) e software (Galloway, Manovich)

The purpose of this thesis is to explore methods of learning and teaching cultural theory that differs from the traditional classroom-based methods. Using Jacques Derrida’s “Structure, Sign and Play,” I designed and created a videogame prototype that engages Derrida’s ideas in an interesting and accessible way. This thesis explores how the concept of play can be applied to theory, and how the use of play can allow a deeper and more thorough understanding of theory. These methods were born from a criticism of the elitism witnessed in both contemporary society and academia, as well as a desire to make theory, especially cultural theory, accessible to a wider audience. / Graduate

This study explores how representations of John F. Kennedy’s assassination in videogames inform our present and future. I argue that videogames have the potential to sway a player’s sense of politics and history through image, sound, and interactive capabilities: these games leave what we might call “residue” in a player’s mind, even if he or she is not conscious of those effects. I hope that my analysis, drawing upon player experiences and close readings of two games, will uncover how this residue might reconfigure a player’s sense of Kennedy’s assassination as well as his or her political ideologies and anxieties. I focus on two games released in the past ten years: the low-selling but controversial JFK: Reloaded, released in 2004, and the wildly popular Call of Duty: Black Ops, released in 2010. These games present the narrative in starkly different ways. The former invites players to reenact repeatedly the assassination from the vantage point of Oswald in the Book Depository while the latter presents an alternative history that ultimately positions a fictional character as Kennedy’s assassin. These games, however, invite players to arrive to similar conclusions about the ways that people engage with historical narratives when playing historically-inspired games. In different ways, both Reloaded and Black Ops divorce the player’s engagement with the assassination on a political level, framing Kennedy’s death as a simple act of violence. Players, then, might understand history as driven more by discrete acts of violence than by complex political practices. The two games diverge in how they treat the player’s relationship to official accounts of history as well. Reloaded enables deviation from the prescribed story of Kennedy’s assassination offered by the Warren Commission while Black Ops presents an alternative historical account that highlights the flimsiness of memory when memories are tainted by traumatic experience. Both suggest that the official narrative is faulty. Yet these games at once open a space for a new historical narrative and fail to provide a plausible alternative history. The games ultimately render history itself an uncertain enterprise, fraught with flawed memories and official reconfigurations of how events actually transpired. / text

A thematic analysis was conducted in order to reveal and identify central themes composing the motivational aspects of the popular Let’s Play media phenomenon. Nine informants with various connections to Let’s Plays were interviewed online through the use of a 17-item interview survey developed by the researcher. A total of five major recurring themes were discovered relating to the informants’ motivational reasons for making and viewing Let’s Plays as part of their spare time activities. Based on these discoveries, it can be assumed that the Let’s Play phenomenon contributes to modern-day need fulfillment relating to online socialization, entertainment, technological competence, commercialization and interpersonal relations between the media audience and the media personalities they follow. It was concluded that the Let’s Play phenomenon, and the communities contained within it, holds potential for the future development of videogame industry as a whole as well as being an interesting new arena for media research in general. Implications for further research within the field of Let’s Plays are therefore made in order to ensure the possibility of expanding the scientific knowledge surrounding this media phenomenon.

Orientador: Marcos Eduardo Scheicher / Banca: Danielle dos Santos Cutrim Garros / Banca: Karina Gramani Say / Resumo: Introdução: O envelhecimento populacional mundial crescente tem gerado consequências aos sistemas de saúde, resultando em sobrecarga na saúde e qualidade de vida da pessoa idosa, estendendo-se desde idosos na comunidade às Instituições de Longa Permanência (ILP's). A realidade virtual surge como uma proposta inovadora de interação capaz de atingir todas as idades e como uma potente ferramenta a ser utilizada por profissionais de saúde. Objetivos: Verificar a presença de melhora do equilíbrio e mobilidade em idosos institucionalizados submetidos ao treinamento com tecnologia do Nintendo Wii no controle de equilíbrio e mobilidade. Métodos: Os idosos participantes (n=10) da pesquisa serão avaliados antes e após o protocolo de treinamento com realidade virtual com duração de 8 semanas. A mobilidade funcional será avaliada pelo teste Time Up and Go, enquanto a força de reação ao solo será avaliada pela plataforma de força AMTI. Após verificação da normalidade, serão adotados testes estatísticos apropriados para análise dos dados. Em todos os testes estatísticos, serão adotados o nível de significância de p < 0,05. Resultados: Ao avaliar os resultados pré e pós intervenção com Wii, enquanto o equilíbrio estático avaliado pela Plataforma de Força não apresentou diferença significativa, enquanto que no Timed Up and Go para avaliar a mobilidade funcional foi encontrada diferença significativa (p= 0,03). Conclusão: os resultados demonstraram que a intervenção com Nintendo Wii foi capaz de melhorar a mobilidade funcional e sugeriu melhora clínica no equilíbrio estático de idosos institucionalizados / Abstract: Introduction: Growing global population aging has had consequences for health systems, resulting in an overload on the health and quality of life of the elderly, ranging from elderly in the community to Long-term Institutions (ILPs). Virtual reality emerges as an innovative proposal of interaction capable of reaching all ages and as a powerful tool to be used by health professionals. Objectives: To verify the presence of improved balance and mobility in institutionalized elderly subjects submitted to training with Nintendo Wii technology in balance and mobility control. Methods: Elderly participants (n = 10) of the research will be evaluated before and after the virtual reality training protocol lasting 8 weeks. Functional mobility will be evaluated by the Time Up and Go test, while the ground reaction force will be evaluated by the AMTI force platform. After checking for normality, appropriate statistical tests shall be adopted for data analysis. In all statistical tests, the significance level of p <0.05 will be adopted. Results: When evaluating the pre and post intervention results with Wii, while the Static Balance evaluated by the Strength Platform did not present a significant difference, whereas in the Timed Up and Go to evaluate the functional mobility, a significant difference was found (p = 0.03) . Conclusion: the results demonstrated that the intervention with Nintendo Wii was able to improve functional mobility and suggested clinical improvement in the static equilibrium of institutionalized elderly / Mestre

Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro de Ciências da Educação, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Educação, Florianópolis, 2016. / Made available in DSpace on 2017-04-18T04:17:42Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 344841.pdf: 5483464 bytes, checksum: 309d156f026f09a2a42d8978277fbe07 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016 / Esta tese investiga a problemática da desviância social nos videogames, os quais foram concebidos como alegorias lúdico-digitais do crime. Partiu-se da hipótese de que os jogos digitais podem atuar como representações concretas de ideias abstratas que, nesse caso, acionam temáticas como a delinquência e a violência urbana, cuja abordagem vem se distanciando cada vez mais de enfoques binários e maniqueístas. Caracteriza-se como um estudo de caso sobre a série Grand Theft Auto, a qual foi escolhida não só por sua popularidade mundial, mas também por ser o centro de inúmeras polêmicas e objeto de um pânico moral recorrente. No tocante à construção dos dados, opera na perspectiva da análise formal do gameplay (LANKOSKI; BJÖRK, 2015) em diálogo com a análise narrativa voltada aos games (RYAN, 2006), dirigindo-se ao desenvolvimento da referida franquia no plano das mecânicas de jogo e das histórias, buscando identificar continuidades e rupturas no que diz respeito aos componentes dos sistemas de jogo empregados para representar a condição delinquente/desviante. Em termos teóricos, apropria-se da noção de alegoria (KOTHE, 1986; HANSEN, 2006), do realismo estético (JAGUARIBE, 2007; GALLOWAY, 2005) e dos estudos da criminologia (BECKER, 2008b; CUSSON, 2011). O processo de análise foi dimensionado em função dos eixos constitutivos do fenômeno criminal, a saber: a) o criminoso; b) as vítimas; c) os controles sociais. Cada um deles revelou indícios de que os games da série analisada vêm lapidando a cada episódio o seu entendimento sobre o crime, preocupando-se cada vez mais em retratar as carreiras delinquentes com enfoque em suas ambiguidades, contradições, dilemas e escolhas morais. Pelas lentes do realismo estético, tais manifestações cotidianas ligadas ao banditismo e à violência urbana também podem ser interpretadas como recursos retórico-estilísticos empregados (nesses jogos) com a finalidade de ilustrar, sob ótica de atores periféricos, o processo de desmanche social que ocorre nas grandes metrópoles. Por fim, reflete sobre as condições de possibilidade para uma pedagogia eletrolúdica do mau exemplo ou do outsider , enquanto conjunto de experiências formativas imersivas que desestabilizam sistemas normativos hegemônicos e dilatam aptidões sensíveis e cognitivas mediante uma teatralidade performática concernida em personagens desviantes, modos de vida limítrofes e mundos virtuais inspirados em cenários reais da contemporaneidade.<br> / Abstract : This thesis investigates the problem of social deviance in video games, which were conceived as recreational and digital allegories of crime. It is based on the hypothesis that digital games can act as concrete representations of abstract ideas that, in this case, trigger issues like crime and urban violence, whose approach has increasingly distanced itself from binary and manichean approaches. It is characterized as a study case on the Grand Theft Auto series, which was chosen not only for its worldwide popularity, but also for being the center of countless controversies and the object of a recurring moral panic. Regarding the data construction, it operates from the perspective of formal analysis of gameplay (LANKOSKI; BJÖRK, 2015) in dialogue with the narrative analysis focused on games (RYAN, 2006), addressing the development of that franchise in the game mechanics and stories dimension in order to identify its continuities and ruptures with respect to the game system components used to represent criminal or deviant condition. In theoretical terms, it appropriates the notion of allegory (KOTHE, 1986; HANSEN, 2006), the aesthetic realism (JAGUARIBE, 2007; GALLOWAY, 2005) and criminology studies (BECKER, 2008b; CUSSON, 2011). The analysis process was designed according to the constitutive axes of the criminal phenomenon, namely: a) the criminal; b) victims; c) social controls. Each of them has showed signs that games of the analyzed series have been polishing episode by episode its understanding on the crime and increasingly worrying in portraying the delinquent careers focusing on its ambiguities, contradictions, dilemmas and moral choices. Through the lens of aesthetic realism, such everyday events related to banditry and urban violence can also be interpreted as a rhetorical-stylistic resources used (in these games) with the purpose to illustrate the process of social dismantling that occurs in big cities by the peripheral actors perspective. Finally, reflect on the conditions of possibility for a eletroludic pedagogy of "bad example" - or outsider - as a set of immersive and formative experiences that destabilize normative systems and dilate sensitive and cognitive skills through a performative theatricality concerned in deviant characters, borderline lifestyles and virtual worlds inspired by nowadays scenarios.

Videogame adaptations have been a staple of cinema and television since the 1980s and have had a consistent presence despite receiving overwhelmingly negative reactions. Recognising the perseverance of videogame adaptations, I examine some of the key issues and debates surrounding the genre with in-depth analysis of the source material, the machinations of the film and videogame industries, and the films themselves, specifically relating to three prominent onscreen videogame adaptations. Following an introduction to the various theories and areas of study already performed in this field, all of which I incorporate into an intricate, blended methodology, I explore issues of fidelity, localisation, and evolution that occur when adapting Sonic the Hedgehog out of the confines of its limited narrative. In examining adaptations of Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter, I explore how cinematic genres (such as the Hong Kong martial arts and American action movies) have influenced the creation of videogames and the production of their film and television adaptations. Finally, I delve into the history of zombie horror films, which influenced the Resident Evil franchise. As this became the longest-running (and, by extension, most successful) live-action videogame franchise, I explore the complex production of videogame adaptations, their critical and financial reception, and their ability to evolve into multimedia franchises. Overall, my work is designed to take videogame adaptations seriously by examining them through in-depth analysis, exploring how they convey the gameplay mechanics of their source material, analysing why they remain so popular despite their negative reputation, and by establishing an academic framework by which to discuss them with the same reverence afforded to literary adaptations.

This paper defends the claim that videogame playing interaction (VGI) is a distinctive kind of interaction compared with other interactive practices. This claim is not grounded in the fact that videogame playing is a digital experience, nor the claim that videogame playing is a video example of gameplay, but rather in two unique characteristics of videogame playing experiences: the controlled identity of players and the temporal continuity. In my view, both Aaron Smuts (2009) and Dominic Lopes (2001)’s theories on interactivity have omitted to discuss these issues sufficiently. By distinguishing between three kinds of interactions according to involved participants and ranking them in the order from weakest to strongest we find: i) interactions between humans and interactive objects, ii) interactions between humans, iii) videogame playing interactions (VGI). In this paper I reflect on the theoretical framework of interactivity and forecast that the strongest form of interaction should be the interaction between human and artificial intelligence supported by technical devices in which human interactors lose overall authority of the continuous interaction.