No description available.

Based on previous research on spatial attributes in foley and the concept that auditory immersion in first-person perspective computer games is enhanced by believable sound effects, this study explores if there is a connection between stereo foley and the believability of the first-person perspective, and regardless, if there is a preference to either mono or stereo foley. An interactive listening test was created in unreal engine 4, where 20 subjects, all considered gamers, played three levels that differed visually and in auditory content. In these levels, subjects auditioned two versions of avatar-related foley sounds. One version was mono, the other stereo. The test prompted the subjects to complete two tasks for each level, whereupon the foley version changed upon completion of the first task. The subjects then answered questions in between each level, regarding the foley version. They were asked to rate believability and choose a preference, as well as provide motivations for their choices. The quantitative data showed next no evidence that either mono or stereo was generally perceived as more believable or preferred. However, the qualitative data indicates that the majority of players tend to prefer and rate stereo foley as more believable in certain game environments. Furthermore, the data indicates that some subjects prefer a sensory replication of reality in foley. It is also shown that preference for stereo width vary between subjects and therefore argued that there cannot be a perfect standardized setting for stereo foley.

The video game industry has in three decades gone from a garage hobby to a global multi-billion euro media industry that challenges the significantly older and established cultural industries. After decades of explosive growth the industry surprisingly finds itself in a crisis – in terms of sales, future trajectories and creative paradigms. The global gaming culture receives substantial attention from society, media and academia – but the industry itself appears in comparison as an enigmatic terra incognita with astonishingly little dedicated research. This thesis aims to amend this situation by presenting a study at the cross-section of the video game industry, game studies, literary theory, cultural industries and business studies. It deals with the following question: how does the global game industry relate to its own product, in terms of communication and media dimensions, and what are the (business) consequences, in terms of production, strategy and commercial/creative innovation, of this relationship? This study’s departure point is constituted by a comprehensive description of the industry’s structure, dynamics and processes, based on extensive interviews with industry professionals. It is followed by an examination and comparison of the game industry with other media/cultural industries in relation to their economy and business dynamics. With inconclusive answers regarding the medium-industry relation, this study proceeds by exploring literary theories from the field of game studies, in order to gain insights into the dynamics of medium and industry. Literary theories from ludology and narratology provide rewarding perspectives on this inquiry, since it is found that the ontological dichotomy of simulation vs. respresentation present in the interpretational realm of the game medium is also reflected in the industry and its dynamics. This has pivotal consequences for the analysis of the game industry. This study concludes by positing the current critical condition of the industry as an extremely decisive moment in its history: will it become a truly universal mass-medium, or will it continue down its subcultural path? Subcultural “interactive cinema” meets mass-cultural media of simulation – how will the industry evolve? / QC20100708

I mitten av 1990-talet närmare bestämt 1996 gjordes en film kallad Diary of a Camper. Filmen handlade om en person som satt och lurpassade på sina fiender i ett datorspel. Det som var speciellt med denna film var inte handlingen eller något fantastiskt kameraarbete. Nej det som var speciellt var det faktum att filmen spelades in i ett datorspel. Denna film anses vara startskottet för machinimakulturen som idag omfattar flera tusen utövare världen över.Det var personerna bakom Diary of a camper som myntade uttrycket machinima som är en sammanslagning av de engelska orden ”machine” och ”animation” alltså maskin och animation. Det finns en annan tolkning där ordets andra stavelse är ”cinema” istället för ”animation” men den officiella ska vara det tidigare. Vad än ordet machinima är ihopsatt av är det en filmteknik där kreatören eller producenten spelar in sin historia i ett TV- eller datorspel. I denna uppsats tittar vi närmare på machinimakulturen och vad för regler, attityder och förhållningssätt som finns i denna tilldags dato, anno 2010, något outforskade arena.

Videogame tinkerers, players, and activists of the 21st century are continuing, yet redefining, the avant-garde art and literary movements of the 20th century. Videogames are diverging as a social, cultural, and digital medium. They are used as political instruments, artistic experiments, social catalysts, and personal means of expression. A diverse field of games and technocultural play, such as alternate reality games, griefer attacks, arcade sculptures, and so on, can be compared and contrasted to the avant-garde, such as contemporary tactical media, net art, video art, Fluxus, the Situationists, the work of Pollock or Brecht, Dada, or the Russian Formalists. For example, historical avant-garde painters played with perspectival space (and its traditions), rather than only within those grid-like spaces. This is similar in some ways to how game artists play with flow (and player expectations of it), rather than advancing flow as the popular and academic ideal. Videogames are not only an advanced product of technoculture, but are the space in which technoculture conventionalizes play. This makes them a fascinating site to unwork and rethink the protocols and rituals that rule technoculture. It is the audacity of imagining certain videogames as avant-garde (from the perspective of mainstream consumers and art academics alike) that makes them a good candidate for this critical experiment.

This thesis focuses on sibling interaction and children’s everyday media practices in their homes. Ten sibling pairs, aged four to nine years, have been followed in their homes during a six-month period with media ethnographic methods. The data mainly consist of video recorded sibling interactions. The thesis draws on sociocultural theories, cultural sociological perspectives and insights from social interaction research. The analyses are grounded in the social interaction and meaning making acts that take place in media activities in the home settings. However they also extend to a broader societal context, in order to show how social structure and social action are constantly interwoven in children’s lives. The thesis documents how the media represent an important part of the child's everyday culture. Media create key reference frames and common platforms for the children’s games and play activities. The siblings use media and various artifacts to negotiate, challenge or assume desirable positions. Media artefacts can also be used as a way to present oneself. The younger siblings progressively work their way into the older siblings’ media landscapes, and the elder siblings become guides or role models in handling video games, music, and YouTube activities. In addition to purely practical skills when it comes to handling the technical equipment, the older siblings also mediate local taste hierarchies, norms, and values. The thesis also describes how children are social actors who interpret and reinterpret the constant ongoing movements in the media landscape. Moreover, the thesis highlights how consumption is closely linked to media practices. Mobiles, games consoles and membership on virtual gaming sites become highly valued phenomena and status markers in children’s media worlds. / Detta arbete undersöker hur syskon samspelar och skapar mening och social ordning inom ramen för olika mediepraktiker. Med hjälp av medieetnografiska metoder har 14 barn i åldrarna fyra till nio år (tio olika syskonkonstellationer) följts i hemmiljö under en halvårsperiod. Materialet består främst av videoinspelad interaktion. Avhandlingen bygger på sociokulturella och kultursociologiska perspektiv, där individen ses som en aktiv, meningsskapande och samspelande aktör som påverkar och påverkas av sin sociala och kulturella kontext. Analysen är i huvudsak relaterad till de handlingar som äger rum i lokalt situerade aktiviteter och undersöker vad syskonen gör med medier i olika verksamheter, men visar även hur samhällelig kontext och barns aktörskap är parallella aspekter i barns liv. Avhandlingen synliggör hur medier utgör en stor och viktig del av barns vardagskultur. Medier är självklara referensramar och skapar gemensamma plattformar för barnens samtal och lekar. Syskonen använder medier och olika artefakter för att förhandla, utmana eller fördela positioner. Småsyskonen tar sig successivt in i de äldre syskonens medielandskap, medan de äldre ofta blir ledstjärnor eller ger sig själva tolkningsföreträde. Vidare visas hur kunskapsförmedling är ett väsentligt inslag mellan syskon. Utöver rent praktiska färdigheter i hur de tekniska apparaterna ska hanteras, förhandlas även smak, normer, värderingar och tillgång till symboliskt kapital. Spel, musik, TV, YouTube och medieartefakter används som resurser för självpresentation.  Analyserna pekar på barnens aktörskap; barnen tolkar, omtolkar, utmanar och förhandlar innebörder och föreställningar om vad som är kultur för barn. Avhandlingen belyser även hur konsumtion intimt hänger samman med mediepraktiker. Mobiler, spelkonsoler och medlemskap på virtuella spelsidor blir åtråvärda artefakter och statusmarkörer i barnens medievärldar.

Earcons are commonly used by sound designers in order to support visual cues in a game andto make a gaming experience more enjoyable. This study covers two earcons’ attributes: rhythm and timbre. Rhythm and timbre attributes were chosen according to the earcon sounddesign guidelines from the previous studies. An experiment in a form of a video game was conducted in order to research whether one of the conditions can increase a players’performance. A subject had to choose the correct key to the door in order to go to the next location. There were 3 different locations and there were totally 5 different own-designed earcons: 1 incorrect earcon in the both conditions and 2 different correct earcons in each condition. 20 subjects with various gaming experience from the Luleå University of Technology participated in the experiment. The subjects were randomly divided into two groups with different conditions: rhythm and timbre. The amount of wrong trials and completion time were analyzed for each condition and the results were given with the help of Mann-Whitney U-test and t-test calculations. The results of U-test showed that there was a significant difference between two groups in terms of the wrong trials amount. Group with rhythm condition showed better performance in terms of the wrong trials amount. The t-test showed a significant difference between the two groups in terms of completion time. Group with timbre condition showed better timing performance, although considering the analysis it did not increase their performance in terms of making correct choices. Further research might be recommended on comparing various earcon attributes in different ecologically valid scenarios.

The use of computer games has grown exponentially in the past few years and StarCraft II is one of the most popular e-sports today, played by millions of people worldwide. This study investigates the game’s effect on skills, as perceived by the players of StarCraft II. The study was conducted by using an empirical survey and interviews. The skills being investigated were both physical and mental in their nature. The conclusion was that the majority of players perceived that their skills regarding reaction speed, multitasking, APM, analysis and strategy were increased the most, while there was a smaller change in social skills and language skills. Additionally, people who played team games of StarCraft II did, however, feel that their teamwork, conflict management and leadership capabilities increased. / Under de senaste åren har användandet av datorspel vuxit explosionsartat. StarCraft II är ett utav dagens mest populära e-sporter och spelas av miljontals människor runt om i världen. Studien undersöker om spelare uppfattar kompetensförändringar av att spela StarCraft II. Studien utfördes med hjälp utav en enkät och intervjuer. Kompetenserna vi undersökte var av både fysiska och mentala i sin karaktär. Av resultaten kan man se att majoriteten av spelarna uppfattade en ökad kompetens inom reaktionshastighet, multitasking, APM, analytisk- och strategisk förmåga, medan man ser en mindre förändring inom social kompetens och språklig kompetens. Resultaten visar även att de som valde att spela lagspel uppfattade en ökad kompetens inom samarbete, konflikthantering och ledarskap.

Diploma thesis The Relationship between the Computer Game and its Audiovisual Pattern deals with the similarities and differences between the computer games and audiovisual works. The thesis presents some theories reflecting different points of view to the influence and blending of these media forms. Those theories are the base for a suggestion of typology of games and movies adaptations that were made according to a pattern. In each of three suggested categories, there are mentioned some particular examples of computer games that were inspired by movie or series and also examples of movies that were inspired by computer game. The final chapter is a case study which compares the computer game Lost: Via Domus to its audiovisual pattern - series Lost.

Computer Games as a New Media Phenomenon Jan Rylich 1 1 [ T H E S I S ] Jan Rylich Abstract: This thesis is focused on the development of computer games and video games, evolution of gaming and game technologies and their impact on our society. In addition to an important historical context and practical and theoretical analysis of game genres and potential of games, key chapters of this thesis are devoted to the importance of games and their impact on various aspects of our lives, from economic and demographic factors to influence on our culture and contemporary art. This thesis also aims to introduce computer games and video games in the context of "neglected media" and the theory of "remediation".