The purpose of this thesis is to propose an alternative type of interface for mobile software being used while walking or running. Our work addresses the problem of visual user interfaces for mobile software be- ing potentially unsafe for pedestrians, and not being very immersive when used for location-based games. In addition, location-based games and applications can be dif- ficult to develop when directly interfacing with the sensors used to track the user’s location. These problems need to be addressed because portable computing devices are be- coming a popular tool for navigation, playing games, and accessing the internet while walking. This poses a safety problem for mobile users, who may be paying too much attention to their device to notice and react to hazards in their environment. The difficulty of developing location-based games and other location-aware applications may significantly hinder the prevalence of applications that explore new interaction techniques for ubiquitous computing. We created the TREC toolkit to address the issues with tracking sensors while developing location-based games and applications. We have developed functional location-based applications with TREC to demonstrate the amount of work that can be saved by using this toolkit.In order to have a safer and more immersive alternative to visual interfaces, we have developed ambient audio interfaces for use with mobile applications. Ambient audio uses continuous streams of sound over headphones to present information to mobile users without distracting them from walking safely. In order to test the effectiveness of ambient audio, we ran a study to compare ambient audio with handheld visual interfaces in a location-based game. We compared players’ ability to safely navigate the environment, their sense of immersion in the game, and their performance at the in-game tasks. We found that ambient audio was able to significantly increase players’ safety and sense of immersion compared to a visual interface, while players performed signifi- cantly better at the game tasks when using the visual interface. This makes ambient audio a legitimate alternative to visual interfaces for mobile users when safety and immersion are a priority. / Thesis (Master, Computing) -- Queen's University, 2012-01-31 23:35:28.946

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

The objective of this research is to develop the framework of empirical-evidence equilibria (EEEs) in stochastic games. This framework was developed while attempting to design decentralized controllers using learning in stochastic games. The overarching goal is to enable a set of agents to control a dynamical system in a decentralized fashion. To do so, the agents play a stochastic game crafted such that its equilibria are decentralized controllers for the dynamical system. Unfortunately, there exists no algorithm to compute equilibria in stochastic games. One explanation for this lack of results is the full-rationality requirement of game theory. In the case of stochastic games, full rationality imposes that two requirements be met at equilibrium. First, each agent has a perfect model of the game and of its opponents strategies. Second, each agent plays an optimal strategy for the POMDP induced by its opponents strategies. Both requirements are unrealistic. An agent cannot know the strategies of its opponents; it can only observe the combined effect of its own strategy interacting with its opponents. Furthermore, POMDPs are intractable; an agent cannot compute an optimal strategy in a reasonable time. In addition to these two requirements, engineered agents cannot carry perfect analytical reasoning and have limited memory; they naturally exhibit bounded rationality. In this research, bounded rationality is not seen as a limitation and is instead used to relax the two requirements. In the EEE framework, agents formulate low-order empirical models of observed quantities called mockups. Mockups have unmodeled states and dynamic effects, but they are statistically consistent; the empirical evidence observed by an agent does not contradict its mockup. Each agent uses its mockup to derive an optimal strategy. 1Since agents are interconnected through the system, these mockups are sensitive to the specific strategies employed by other agents. In an EEE, the two requirements are weakened. First, each agent has a consistent mockup of the game and the strategies of its opponents. Second, each agent plays an optimal strategy for the MDP induced by its mockup. The main contribution of this dissertation is the use of modeling to study stochastic games. This approach, while common in engineering, had not been applied to stochastic games.

This study aims to explore the influence of video games on youth identity in 21st century in two aspects, personal identity and social identity. First, through playing video games, young players can create new personal identities and merge their own identity with their avatars’ identity. Second, video games help young players transform from culture receivers to culture producers. Based upon the open coding from the data, two themes are analyzed, which are the awareness of influence on identity and the impact of consoles and other media/devices on the influence of video games. / Graduate / 0515 / 0710 / lxycaesar@gmail.com

In this study, we investigate various lighting applications in a virtual environment, where we compare between light based in naturalism (natural light) and pictorialism (artistic light). The purpose of this study is to gain further knowledge in lighting, which is increasingly important for game graphics. Theory are examined to gather information and recommendations on how to use various light settings that convey different emotions. We then use this information to illuminate the environment that we have built. The environment is presented in Unreal 4 for respondents who are allowed to move around freely in the environment. Then we carry out qualitative, semi-structured interviews at the respondents to find out what they thought of the light. The result showed that natural light did not give the same narrative effect as unnatural light.

It is suggested that commercial video games and gambling activities make use of similar types of intermittent reinforcement schedules. This research seeks to examine the nature of this relationship amongst children and adolescents. One hundred and four children from grades 4, 6, and 8 participated. A questionnaire exploring issues related to video game playing and gambling behavior was completed and a computerized blackjack game was individually administered. High frequency video game players are compared to low frequency video game players with respect to their gambling performance on the blackjack gambling task as well as on information gathered from the questionnaire. Findings suggest that high frequency video game players nor only gamble more than low frequency video game players but report that gambling makes them feel more important. Furthermore, they appear to be taking greater risks on the blackjack gambling task. Males exhibited greater risk-taking tendencies on the blackjack task than did females.

Today’s video game players sit in front of their screens immersing themselves within the fictional environment of the video game. They connect their physical self to the game-controller and their cerebral self to the game-world. The video game medium becomes a cybernetic and psychological appendage, a prosthesis that allows game players to share their consciousness across actual and virtual realities. Such an appendage has the ability to expand the personal spatial environment of the game players as they navigate the spaces of an increasingly complex, digitally constructed extension of the imagination. The thesis begins with an autobiographical summary of personal experiences in the suburbs and the resultant escape from suburbia that video games provide. The thesis then presents a series of experiential diaries generated from gameplay. This is followed by a conceptual analysis that uses six meditations to discuss the spaces and experiences presented in the diaries. The purpose of the conceptual analysis is to investigate how the narrative and spatial experiences of single player role playing video games expand our perceptions of architecture and space beyond the real-world. The spaces of these games represent a new way of thinking about, experiencing and creating architecture.