El objetivo de esta investigación fue explorar las motivaciones de las mujeres hacia la práctica de videojuegos online en Lima. El estudio utilizó una metodología cualitativa descriptiva en donde se escogió a la entrevista semiestructurada como herramienta para obtener la información. Se escogió una muestra de 7 estudiantes universitarias que juegan videojuegos online como Defense of the Ancients 2 y League of Legends. Las respuestas de las estudiantes se agruparon en tres ejes que explican su motivación hacia la práctica de videojuegos; el primer eje se concentra en la motivación extrínseca, el segundo eje en la motivación intrínseca y el tercer eje en el entorno. En conclusión, las motivaciones de las chicas se mantienen a lo largo de su vida que va, en su mayoría, desde su niñez o primer contacto con un videojuego. La motivación intrínseca se presenta en mayor medida que la extrínseca porque están atraídas por los videojuegos debido a la satisfacción que sienten al jugar solas y/o con sus pares, por el diseño y novedades del videojuego y el sentido de competencia para practicarlo. Dentro de su experiencia, también encontraron un ambiente discriminador y/ o acosador que invalida la participación de las mismas en los videojuegos. / The aim of this investigation is to explore the motivations of women towards the practice of online video games in Lima. The study used a qualitative descriptive methodology in which the semi-structured interview was chosen as a tool to obtain the information. A sample of 7 university students who play online games such as Defense of the Ancients 2 and League of Legends was chosen. The students' responses were grouped into two axes: intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation. There is also a third axis: the environment, since it influences the experience that the participants have had to play video games. The motivations of the girls are maintained throughout their life that goes, mostly, from childhood or first contact with a video game. Intrinsic motivation is presented to a greater extent than extrinsic motivation because they are attracted to video games because of the satisfaction they feel when playing alone or with their peers, because of the design and novelties of the videogame and the sense of competence to practice it. Within their experience, they also found a discriminating and / or harassing environment that invalidates their participation in video games. / Tesis

Within the context of culture, disability has long existed as a stigmatizing quality (Goffman, 1963). As a result, people with disabilities are often overlooked or completely omitted from various, cultural artifacts. This exclusion of people with disabilities is largely recognized as unproblematic because their disabilities imply an inevitable failing. Through my own experiences as a disabled gamer, I have recognized that video games have also framed gamers with disabilities as problematic. Video games are largely constructed in a one-size-fits-all mentality (Grammenos, 2014), where very specific people, with very specific kinds of bodies, are granted access to play them. Since disabled gamers are not necessarily capable of playing video games in similar ways that able-bodied gamers can, it is assumed that we can't play video games and that we shouldn't want to. By using autoethnography as theory, I venture through a few stories from my life in which my own disability has rendered gaming either difficult or impossible. I seek to use these autoethnographic pieces as living examples of the problems involved with a traditional discussion of accessibility for people with disabilities. This thesis is a call for a renegotiation of "accessibility," and how generalized formulations of this concept are still capable of excluding people who are disabled in very particular ways. In accordance with Shakespeare's (2006) interactive model, I use my stories to show how my disability is a culmination of both the material and social qualities of my body. It is from this model that I seek transcendence from thinking of disabled bodies in either a medical or social model (Oliver, 1990) approach. Accessibility should be regarded as an interactive and cyclical process, which takes place between the individual, her body, the environment, and back again. An assessment of video game accessibility should be referred to in a similar way, where developers may attempt to be inclusive to people of varying kinds and levels of disability, rather than focusing solely on able-bodied modes of gaming.

This thesis examines single-player video gaming. It is an analysis of video game play: what it is, how it functions, and what it means. It is an account of how players learn to play. This is done through a set of close readings of significant video games and key academic texts. My focus is on the mechanisms and forces that shape gameplay practices. Building on the existing fields of ludology and media-studies video-game analysis, I outline a model of video game play as a cultural construction which builds upon the player's existing knowledge of real world and fictional objects, scenarios and conventions. I argue that the relationship between the video game player and the software is best understood as embodying a precise configuration of power. I demonstrate that the single-player video game is in fact what Michel Foucault terms a 'disciplinary apparatus'. It functions to shape players' subjectivities in order to have them behave in easily predicted and managed ways. To do this, video games reuse and repurpose conventions from existing media forms and everyday practices. By this mobilisation of familiar elements, which already have established practices of use, and by a careful process of surveillance, examination and the correction of play practices, video games encourage players to take on and perform the logics of the game system. This relationship between organic player and technological game, I suggest, is best understood through the theoretical figure of the 'Cyborg'. It is a point of intersection between human and computer logics. Far from the ludological assumption that play and culture are separate and that play is shaped entirely by rules, I show video game play to be produced by an array of complex cultural and technological forces that act upon the player. My model of video game play differs from others currently in circulation in that it foregrounds the role of culture in play, while not denying the technological specificity of the video gaming apparatus. My central focus on power and the construction of player subjectivities offers a way to move beyond the simplistic reliance on the notion that rules are the primary shaping mechanism of play that has, to date, dominated much of video game studies.

The domestic playing of videogames is examined through a series of extended dialogues with male adolescents. The research process was grounded in a theorisation of audience activity in communication studies which sees meanings emerging from the boys’ engagements with kinetic texts in terms of refigurative activity. This encapsulates reading, interpretation, and a cultural productivity whereby the kinetic text is returned to the everyday world, primarily through a relation of mimicry. The cultural fertility of videogames is traced through this mimicry to reveal a series of themes: a de-stabilising of the distinction between work and play spaces; the fragmentation of audiences of the small screen in the home through the establishment of gendered playspaces; the instilling of competitive relations within male community; and the melding of fantasy and discipline. An investigation of the significance of soundtrack to videogame play leads to the conclusion that in videogame playing a new cultural competency is taking shape in the form of a postmodern literacy, which lays stress on a continuous circumlocution, a destabilizing of narrative time, and middles rather than beginnings or endings. The findings contradict many ideas regarding videogame playing: that players are addicts; that videogame play is mindless; or that players are fickle. Videogame playing is implicated as an identity-making discursive project considered central to the business of being a male adolescent. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Master of Visual Arts / Digital/video games1 have entertained for 40 years and are a medium with the ability to reach a vast audience. In an article published in the Sydney Morning Herald, Charles Purcell reports that; “Globally, Halo 2 has sold more than 7 million copies. Both in the US and Australia it broke the film box-office record for the most earnings in the first 24 hours of release. The worldwide Halo 2 community on X-box Live has about 400,000 players… at the World Cyber Games in Seoul. Last year, gold medallist Matthew Leto won $US20,000 ($AUS27,0000) after his second consecutive Halo title.” 2. Game consoles have become a part of many lounge rooms just as the television did before them. Games are even commonplace in many coat pockets and carrying bags. This dissertation is concerned with the medium of digital/video games in relation to its effect on Game Art. It is also concerned with the concept of my studio work that deals with “evil” and the “uncanny” which are discussed in chapter four. My research looks at games and how they have developed and the relationship to contemporary art. A history of this development is explored in chapter two. My research will help me in developing an interactive piece. Throughout my current research the thoughts of author of The Second Self: Computers and the Human Spirit Sherry Turkle resonate: “…not what will the computer be like in the future, but instead, what will we be like? What kind of people are we becoming?” 3 It is interesting to consider the video/digital games as experiments of who we are or who we would like to be, little fantasies of empowerment. In a game we are able to live out our frustrations or fantasies in a closed and predictable experience.

Thesis (M.A.)--Ohio University, June, 2007. / Title from PDF t.p. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Georgia State University, 2005. / Title from title screen. Naveen Donthu, committee chair; Kenneth Bernhardt, Sevgin Eroglu, Detmar Straub, committee members. Electronic text (154 p. : ill. (some col.)). Description based on contents viewed Apr. 25, 2007. Includes bibliographical references (p. 139-154).

A high level of programming knowledge is needed in order to script a video game. This prevents video game design from being accessible to non-programmers. ScriptEase is a tool that was designed to solve this problem. While ScriptEase has been shown to be accessible to 10th grade English students there remains areas for further simplication. This thesis focuses on changing the way authors set options within ScriptEase by introducing a new technique called Describers. Describers allow authors to adapt plain English sentences to provide a description of each option. A user study was conducted that compared Describers against the original technique of using denitions. The participants were able to complete signicantly more statements and showed a preference for the Describer. Simplications such as the Describers will lower the entrance bar for an author. The underlying structure of the Describer can be used to simplify creating conditional statements.

In this paper, I argue that there are some video games which are art. I begin my paper by laying out several objections as to why video games could not be art. After laying out these objections, I present the theory of art I find most persuasive, Berys Gaut’s cluster concept of art. Because of the nature of Gaut’s cluster concept, I argue that video games, as a medium of expression, do not need to be defended as a whole. Rather, like all other media of expression, only certain works are worthy of the title art. I then introduce and defend several games as art. After, I return to the initial objections against video games and respond in light of my defended cases. I conclude that video games, as a medium of expression, are still growing, but every day there are more examples of video games as art.

Massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs) are a popular type of online video game. While these games and their players have been studied previously, there is gap in the literature that examines the relationship between one’s motivation to play MMOGs and loneliness, depression, and problematic use. For this study, 440 players of World of Warcraft (WoW), a popular MMOG, completed a demographics questionnaire and four measures, including Williams, Yee, & Caplan’s (2008) motivation measure, Peter’s & Malesky’s (2008) World of Warcraft-specific Problematic Usage-Engagement Questionnaire, UCLA’s Loneliness scale, and The Depression Anxiety Stress Scales. Results from quantitative analyses suggest that MMO players who are motivated to play for reasons of achievement and immersion are more likely to experience problematic use than those persons who play for social motivations. Loneliness and depression were only positively related with immersion motivated players, and there exists a significant negative relationship between social motivation and depression. These results suggest that gamers who play WoW for immersive reasons are the most at-risk in comparison to their peers. Implications for counseling, limitations, and directions for future research are discussed.