Denna studie handlar om pojkars beskrivningar av att använda digitala spel och hur detta kan bidra till språklig kunskapsutveckling i skolans verksamhet. För att få studiens frågeställningar besvarade har intervjuer med fem pojkar i tio års ålder analyserats med utgångspunkt i socialsemiotiska teorier och begrepp. Pojkarnas beskrivningar visar tecken på att digitala spel kan användas som en resurs i utveckling av barns verbala och skriftligt språk. Pojkarna beskriver att utvecklingen av språklig och verbal kunskap kan äga rum dels individuellt och dels i grupp genom att använda digitala spel. Resultatet visar även att skolans verksamhet inte har erbjudit pojkarna möjlighet att använda digitala spel för att utveckla sina språkliga kunskaper.

The creative industries have recently been identified as an exemplar of enterprising activity with workers in the sector being described as a 'creative class of entrepreneurs'. The digital sector is seen at the heart of these debates as political and media rhetoric has illustrated the wealth of opportunity, flexibility, freedom and control available to digital workers willing to take up entrepreneurial activity. However, contrasting accounts of enterprise are apparent in the creative industries that highlight unstable and insecure labour market conditions for all but 'star' performers. High levels of job insecurity prevalent in the creative industries are also visible in the digital games sector as project work, flexible employment models, and changes in the structure of the sector leave employment in the sector, at best, fragile and unstable for many workers. In the context of contrasting accounts of the impact of precarious labour market conditions on creative workers, the aim of this thesis is to examine the experiences of a cohort of digital game developers in the North West of England, in a sector that is, by contemporary prescription, both creatively empowered and entrepreneurial. Using in-depth interviews and an ethnography of networking events it will consider the consequences for work and employment in the local sectoral labour market. Empirical research reveals the exploitative and precarious nature of work in the experiences of self-employed digital game developers and charts the responses of developers to unstable and insecure working conditions. It is clear that the typical response to increasing instability in the labour market is to adopt more enterprising and entrepreneurial behaviour in order to find work. Using the Pongratz and Voß (2003) framework of the 'entreployee' this work illustrates the consequences for developers by highlighting examples of self-exploitation which has been fuelled by a passion and a dedication to the work but at the same time has led to long working hours, unpaid work, and a blurring of work-life boundaries. Faced with accounts which explain individuals' acceptance of self-exploitation through self-actualisation, a love of their craft, or a gift of autonomy, this thesis offers an additional understanding of self-exploitation by examining how individualistic values of passion, self-discipline, enterprise, and a strong sense of belonging have acted as a control structure and have given a convincing rationale for individuals to engage in these self-exploitative practices. Furthermore, this thesis demonstrates how the occupational community socialises developers' motivations towards sociality, altruism and enterprise. It is argued that the unintended consequences of these motivations have led to the normalisation and acceptance of self-exploitative practices.

This dissertation builds on Wenner's (Wenner, L.A. (1989). Media, Sports and Society: The Research Agenda. In L. A. Wenner (Ed.), Media, Sports and Society (pp. 13-48). Newbury Park, CA: SAGE Publications Inc.) claims about how the culture of sport is changed as it is mediated by examining the mediation of sport through four digital sports games produced by Electronic Arts--Fight Night Round 2, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2004, MVP Baseball 2005, and John Madden Football 2005. Following the example of digital game scholars, I employ a multi-level method of textual analysis in engaging the representation and gameplay of these respective titles. The dissertation uses three case studies to tease out the ideological implications of these games as they position their users. The fourth case study examines how the digital sports game audience responds to the ideologies and positioning identified in the textual analysis sections. In responding to the broader optimism of new media theorists, I argue for a consideration of the specific context of the digital sports game as a way into measuring the validity of their positions. In looking at the mediation of the body in Fight Night Round 2, golf and its attendant culture in Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2004, the ubiquitous quantification of MVP Baseball 2005, and audience responses to John Madden Football 2005, I argue that the potential freedom certain strands of new media theory proclaim is constrained by the ideologies resident in the texts examined here and the ways in which these digital sports games position their users. As such, scrutinizing these specific new media contexts reveals we should ultimately be cautious about the degree to which they offer the kinds of progressive freedoms advocated by celebratory new media scholarship.

The HUD is what allows players to interact with the game world and therefore thevisual representation of it is of importance to usability. Usability being broken down intothree components: effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction. To study the subject athird person action game was made for the purpose. The game contained two differentHUD versions to test different approaches to UI design. Results for the study were, inrelation to usability, inconclusive due to a lack of participants and varying degrees ofexperience within the pool of participants. Preferences were gathered however, andpreferences towards the stylized HUD were shown. Further study is promising as othergenres could more easily adapt theories from other software fields.

The HUD is what allows players to interact with the game world and therefore the visual representation of it is of importance to usability. Usability being broken down into three components: effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction. To study the subject a third person action game was made for the purpose. The game contained two different HUD versions to test different approaches to UI design. Results for the study were, in relation to usability, inconclusive due to a lack of participants and varying degrees of experience within the pool of participants. Preferences were gathered however, and preferences towards the stylized HUD were shown. Further study is promising as other genres could more easily adapt theories from other software fields.

The use of educational digital games as a method of instruction for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics has increased in the past decade. While these games provide successfully implemented interactive and fun interfaces, they are not designed to respond or remedy students’ negative affect towards the game dynamics or their educational content. Therefore, this exploratory study investigated the frequent patterns of student emotional and behavioral response to educational digital games. To unveil the sequential occurrence of these affective states, students were assigned to play the game for nine class sessions. During these sessions, their affective and behavioral response was recorded to uncover possible underlying patterns of affect (particularly confusion, frustration, and boredom) and behavior (disengagement). In addition, these affect and behavior frequency pattern data were combined with students’ gameplay data in order to identify patterns of emotions that led to a better performance in the game. The results provide information on possible affect and behavior patterns that could be used in further research on affect and behavior detection in such open-ended digital game environments. Particularly, the findings show that students experience a considerable amount of confusion, frustration, and boredom. Another finding highlights the need for remediation via embedded help, as the students referred to peer help often during their gameplay. However, possibly because of the low quality of the received help, students seemed to become frustrated or disengaged with the environment. Finally, the findings suggest the importance of the decay rate of confusion; students’ gameplay performance was associated with the length of time students remained confused or frustrated. Overall, these findings show that there are interesting patterns related to students who experience relatively negative emotions during their gameplay.

The research reported here is a qualitative case study aimed to identify the position of digital game-based learning (DGBL) in the public and private preschools of Stockholm. The research is placed within the broader framework of digital game-based learning and the practical implementation of digital games in education, while the emphasis of the study is given to the role of the teachers in the practical implementation of digital games into the classroom. The research examines the attitude of the teachers towards digital games and investigates the role of these attitudes in the implementation of DGBL. The empirical findings of the study are analyzed and discussed through the prism of the existing literature on the field.The study shows that the perception of teachers on digital games and on the use of technology in early childhood education is the main factor that influences the implementation of digital games in preschools. The attitudes of the teachers can be distinguished in two categories: the positive teachers and the sceptical teachers. Furthermore, there are several other barriers that prevent the spreading of DGBL in the education institutions. Regardless of the teachers’ stance and the existing barriers, teachers are aware of the existence of digital games applicable to the early childhood education and many of them do make use of them. In this study, the ways of implementation of the digital games are also presented. However, teachers do not discuss digital games with the parents, while the discussion among colleagues is limited. The lack of information and appropriate training reveal a gap between the research community and the educational practice of DGBL.

Esta pesquisa concentra-se, fundamentalmente, no conceito de gameplay, tendo como objetivo principal compreender como as materialidades próprias da situação de jogo, as mecânicas e dinâmicas de jogo influenciam e caracterizam o gameplay a partir de experiências com o jogo digital Brothers – A Tale of Two Sons (Starbreeze Studios, 2013). O referencial teórico é divido em quatro partes: na primeira se faz um breve histórico sobre os Game Studies; na segunda é feita uma articulação entre os conceitos de jogar e jogabilidade em busca da compreensão das confluências destes no gameplay; na terceira são apresentados os principais conceitos e perspectivas sobre gameplay, assim como uma reflexão sobre as relações corporais e espaciais, as regras, o sentimento de prazer e a narrativa na mediação entre interfaces; e na quarta são tratadas questões entre as associações entre humano e máquina, assim como mecânica e dinâmica de controle nos jogos digitais. Na investigação empírica optou-se por adotar um procedimento metodológico divido em quatro etapas: a pré-análise, utilizando técnicas de observação participante, autorrelato, registro em caderno de campo e pesquisa documental a fim de experimentar Brothers; a captura de dados, na qual quatro voluntários jogaram as três fases iniciais do game – sob o registro de câmeras e observação da pesquisadora – e participaram de uma entrevista qualitativa semiestruturada sobre a atividade; a análise dos materiais coletados e, enfim, a construção de conclusões a partir dos resultados obtidos. Em termos gerais, concluiu-se que seria possível definir gameplay como uma mediação que engloba a interseção entre jogabilidade (máquina) e jogar (humano), de corpos e espaços percebida física e visualmente como um acontecimento pelo jogador que, através das possibilidades agenciadas pelas interfaces gráficas e de controle, age sobre este sistema sob a tutela das regras. / This research focuses on the gameplay’s concept with the main objective to understand how the materiality of game situation, and game’s mechanics and dynamics, influence and characterize the gameplay from experiences with the digital game Brothers - A Tale of Two Sons (Starbreeze Studios, 2013). The theoretical framework is split into four parts: the first is a brief history of the Game Studies; the second does a link between the concepts of play and playability in pursuit of understanding of these confluences in the gameplay; The third presents key concepts and perspectives on gameplay, as well as a reflection about the body and spatial relationships, the rules, the feeling of pleasure and the narrative mediate between interfaces; and the fourth handles questions between the associations on human and machine, as well as mechanical and dynamic control in the digital games In the empirical research it was decided to adopt a methodological procedure divided into four steps: the pre-analysis, using participant observation techniques, self-report, logs onto field notes and documentary research in order to try Brothers; the data capture, in which four volunteers played the game’s the three initial phases – under camera’s register and researcher’s observation – and participated in a qualitative semi-structured interview about the activity; the analysis of the collected material, and finally the elaboration of conclusions from analysis results. Broadly, it was concluded that is possible to define gameplay as a mediation, that wraps the intersection of playability (machine) and play (human), of bodies and spaces perceived physical and visually as a happening by the player that, through the possibilities agencied by graphical and control interfaces, acts on this system under the rules tutelage.

Esta Tese possui como objeto teórico de investigação a experiência de jogo a partir de um viés fenomenológico, compreendendo o fenômeno lúdico e suas manifestações – no caso, o jogo – em nós, humanos, em seus aspectos ontológicos e relacionados à nossa capacidade de estabelecermos relações significativas com nosso próprio ser, com os outros e com as coisas do mundo em sua totalidade enquanto um processo de abertura de mundo. Partimos das premissas fenomenológicas e, em especial, da obra de Martin Heidegger, para caracterizar a existência, a natureza e a estrutura da experiência de jogo como um processo de afinação do homem no que chamamos de tonalidade afetiva ou Stimmung lúdica. O percurso teórico é iniciado pela abordagem do fenômeno lúdico e do jogo como problema ontológico, relacionado aos modos a partir dos quais estamos no mundo; em seguida, apresentamos o Ingress (2012), LARG utilizado para exemplificar e aplicar os possíveis efeitos que a afinação lúdica que a Stimmung pode desencadear na experiência de jogo em relação ao contexto urbano material, social, espacial e temporal no qual o jogo digital em questão ocorre. Deste modo, abordamos a experiência e a percepção também a partir da fenomenologia, principalmente relacionadas à espacialidade humana Para demonstrar o efeito que a Stimmung lúdica pode desencadear no Ingress, situamos o processo de desencantamento do mundo e suas tensões em relação às possibilidades de reencantamento a partir das experiências do jogador neste LARG. Ao aprofundar o conceito de tonalidade afetiva em Heidegger, também estabelecemos a sua estrutura existencial tríplice: um a priori lúdico; o comprometimento humano com o fenômeno lúdico enquanto antecipação futura; e a concretização da experiência de jogo na afinação da tonalidade afetiva lúdica enquanto atualização dos dois primeiros. Após, apresentamos o exercício de aplicação do conceito de Stimmung lúdico no Ingress, identificando possibilidades de reencantamento, utilizando uma metodologia inspirada na etnografia, com um questionário online e entrevistas presenciais com outros jogadores, além do relato do autor em relação ao mesmo. Por fim, são apresentadas as considerações finais e as referências bibliográficas consultadas para a realização desta Tese. / This Thesis has, as theoretical object of investigation, the experience of play from the phenomenological bias, comprising the play phenomenon and its manifestations - in this case, the game - in us, humans, in their ontological aspects and related to our ability to establish meaningful relationships with our own being, with others and with the things of the world as a process of world-opening. We start from the phenomenological premises, and especially from the work of Martin Heidegger, to characterize the existence, the nature and the structure of the game experience as a process of man's attunement in what we call playful attunement or Stimmung. We start our theoretical framework approaching the play phenomenon and the game as an ontological problem, related to the ways from which we are in the world; and so we introduce the LARG Ingress to exemplify and apply the possible effects that the playful Stimmung can trigger in the players’ experience in relation to the material, social, spatial and temporal urban context in which this game occurs. Therefore, we approach the experience and the perception also from the phenomenology, mainly related to the human spatiality In order to characterize the effect that the playful Stimmung can trigger in Ingress (2012), we approach the idea of the disenchantment of the world promoted by Modernity and situate its tensions in relation to the possibilities of re-enchantment from the players’ experiences in relation to this LARG. With the presentation of the concept of Stimmung in Heidegger, we establish the existential threefold structure of the same: an a priori ludic; the human commitment to the playful phenomenon as future anticipation; and the realization of the game experience as an attunement of the playful Stimmung as an concretion of the first two. After this, we present an exercise of application of the concept of playful Stimmung in the Ingress (2012), identifying the ways in which the re-enchantment it can trigger in the players’ experience, using an methodology inspired by ethnography, with an online survey and also interviews with other players, in addition to the author's report in relation to it. Finally, we present the final considerations and bibliographical references consulted for the accomplishment of this Thesis.

Esta pesquisa tem como escopo geral um fenômeno que articula espetáculo e jogos digitais, chamado de eSport. Trata-se de uma cena competitiva de jogos digitais, composta de torneios, partidas transmitidas online e ao vivo para milhares de espectadores, além de patrocinadores e rotinas de treinamento. Dependendo do jogo em questão, diferentes competências são exigidas para um desempenho vitorioso, como reflexos rápidos, leitura e interpretação de informações que emergem durante uma partida, e comunicação para a coordenação de um time. Sobretudo, é uma expressão cultural que reverbera em aspectos sociais e tecnológicos diversos, sendo que interessa aqui deter-se sobre a subjetivação acerca dos jogadores quando se leva em conta os algoritmos de um jogo digital (o audiovisual produzido por eles, compondo espacialidades diversas, e as regras, que moldam a temporalidade de uma sessão de jogo). Argumenta-se que os jogadores, de modo geral, integram uma densa máquina social e tecnológica, onde a produção de mercadoria e de subjetividades acontece tanto na aquisição de periféricos e jogos quanto na própria atividade que engendra o jogo. Essa máquina se faz mais visível no nicho dos eSports, onde exploramse as lógicas que compõem o jogo e as capacidades do jogador. Entre as rotinas de treinamento dos jogadores profissionais e o parâmetro intangível que decide o sucesso de um jogo, a diversão, há uma zona cinzenta, já evidente em técnicas de gamification, onde atividade laboral e entretenimento embaralham-se. Daí a necessidade de se abordar criticamente que tipo de usuário resulta dessa relação específica com as tecnologias envolvidas em jogos digitais. / The scope of this research is a phenomenon that articulates spectacle and digital games, called eSport. eSport is a competitive scene comprising digital games, championships, sponsors, training routines and matches transmitted online and live to a crowd of hundreds of thousands. Depending on the game, different skills are required to achieve a competitive performance, such as sharp reflex, reading and interpretation of information that emerges during a match, and communication to ensure the team\'s coordination. Above all, it is a cultural expression that echoes in a multitude of social and technological aspects, emphasizing here the subjectivation of the players, considering the algorithms (that is, the audiovisual produced by them and the rules, that shape the temporality of a game session) that compose them. It argues that the players, broadly speaking, are part of a dense social and technological machine, where the production of commodities and subjectivities happens when someone purchases equipments and digital games, but also during and within the very activity that comprises the game.This machine makes itself more visible at the eSports niche, where the logics that compose the game and the capacities of the player are exploited. Between the training routines and the intangible parameter which decides the success of the game, called fun, there is a grey area, clear enough in gamification techniques, where labor and entertainment are shuffled. Hence the need to critically engage the type of user that results from this specific relation with technologies involved in digital games.