[pt] O principal objetivo desta tese é compreender a produção de sentidos realizada por um grupo de adolescentes que gostam de jogar videogames, a partir das interações sociais ocorrentes através destes jogos online e off-line, individuais e coletivos. O problema de pesquisa foi delineado com vistas à exploração de aspectos da cultura que permeiam o uso dos videogames e da ação própria das tecnologias, que enfatizam ou negligenciam certos valores e princípios a partir de ambientes que transformam e são transformados pelos/as seus/suas usuários/as. O quadro teórico utilizado constitui-se pelas perspectivas teórico-metodológicas da Ecologia das Mídias e dos Game Studies, tematizadas em posição dialógica aos Estudos das Mídias na perspectiva da Educomunicação e da Alfabetização Midiática Informacional (AMI). A partir de pesquisa qualitativa, a coleta de dados foi realizada em 2020, utilizando a técnica de grupos focais, em ambiente escolar, com participantes na faixa etária de 12 a 18 anos, estudantes de escola pública no Rio de Janeiro. As categorias de análise emergiram dos relatos dos sujeitos participantes, a partir da observação de padrões resultantes da sistematização das recorrências encontradas. Os dados permitiram a estipulação de quatro categorias analíticas relacionadas à interação social, infraestrutura tecnológica, família, identidades culturais, gênero e representação, a saber: Jogar o jogo: tecnologia e diversão; Interações sociais: vivendo e aprendendo a jogar; Gamer: ser ou não ser; e Avatares: representação e gênero. / [en] The main purpose of this thesis is to understand the production of meanings carried out by a group of teenagers who like to play video games, about the social interactions that occur through these online and offline games, individual and collective. The research problem was delineated to explore the aspects of culture that permeate the use of video games and the proper action of technologies, which emphasize or neglect certain values and principles from environments that transform and are transformed by its users. The theoretical framework used is constituted by the theoretical-methodological perspectives of Media Ecology and Game Studies, which are discussed in a dialogical position with Media Studies from the perspective of Educommunication and Media and Information Literacy (MIL). Based on qualitative research, data collection was carried out in 2020, using the focus groups technique in a school environment with students from public schools in Rio de Janeiro aged 12 to 18 years. The analysis categories emerged from the reports of the participating subjects, based on the observation of patterns resulting from the systematization of the recurrences found. The data allowed the stipulation of four analytical categories related to social interaction, technological infrastructure, family, cultural identities, gender and representation, namely: Playing the game: technology and fun; Social interactions: living and learning to play; Gamer: to be or not to be; and Avatars: representation and gender.

In this essay I analyze the ways in which gender and space are shaped and made sense of through digital gameplay. Specifically in the turn based strategy game XCOM: Enemy Within for the MacBook Air with a computer mouse as the primary input device. Using a mixed methods approach consisting of gameplay sessions of XCOM and qualitative interviews with two players regarding their gameplay I argue that earlier research on space within game studies has overlooked the ways in which the shaping of space in gameplay is also gendered. Developing a theoretical framework influenced by gender studies, critical theory, affect theory, assemblage theories of space, and game theory, I argue for how the shaping of space and gender in game-play is interdependent. This in that the shaping of space and gender in digital gameplay is in constant relation and tension with societal norms and the affective capacities of bodies and digital games. In conclusion, I reflect on the possibilities to develop more empirical research based on the the theoretical framework explored in the essay.

The development of the video game industry and the increasing popularity of the medium as a form of entertainment have led to significant developments in the discipline of game studies and a growing awareness of the cultural significance of video games as cultural artefacts. While much work has been done to understand the narrative aspect of games, there are still theoretical gaps on the understanding of how video games generate their narrative experience and how this experience is shaped by the player and the game as artefact. This interdisciplinary study investigates how meaning is created in Western Role Playing Games (WRPGs) video games by analysing the narrative strategies they employ in relation to those commonly used in Heroic Epic and Fantasy narratives. It adopts the Bakhtinian concepts of chronotope and dialogue as the main theoretical tools to examine the creation and integration of narratives in WRPGs with a special focus on the time-space perspective. Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and Dragon Age Origins were chosen as representatives of the WRPG video game genre while Beowulf and the tale of Sigurd, as it appears in the Poetic Edda and the Volsung Saga, were chosen as representatives of the Heroic Epic poetic tradition. References are also made to Fantasy novels, especially the work of J.R.R. Tolkien. Textual analysis along with some techniques employed by researchers working with visual methodologies and compositional interpretation were used to analyse relevant aspects of the texts and games. The findings suggest that intertextual and genre materials considerably shape the narrative of WRPGs and exercise a profound dialogical effect on the ludonarrative harmony of the games investigated through their interaction with the game world and gameplay systems. This relationship is most visible in the chronotopic (time-space) aspect of the chosen games. The findings also suggest that Epic material dialogically orients the WRPG players' experience and adjusts their expectations and understanding of the fictional world. This study as well as the refining of chronotopic analytical tools to encompass chronotopic awareness, transportation, and flow may be of use in further chronotopic investigations of different games, literary genres, and/or other media artefacts.

As video games and other gaming has become a popular media form, with 60% of Americans playing games daily (Entertainment Software Association [ESA], 2018), gaming communities have increased in size and participation. While scholarly research has consistently found that women are marginalized in these communities, little research has looked at how men see these communities. Research on homosociality shows that men use communities and relationships with other men to access masculinity (Bird, 1996; Dellinger, 2004; Houston, 2012). Building on game studies and masculinity studies, this research looks at the way men in tabletop roleplaying game communities understand their involvement and the ways their involvement connects with masculinity. Tabletop gaming communities give men access to a form of masculinity they may be denied, primarily by providing access to other ways of building social capital and relationships with other men.

In a time of 'Big Data,' 'Personal Informatics' and 'Infographics' the definitions of data visualization and data analytics are splintering rapidly. When one compares how Fortune 500 companies are using analytics to optimize their supply chains and lone individuals are visualizing their Twitter messages, we can see how multipurpose these areas are becoming. Visualization and analytics are frequently exhibited as tools for increasing efficiency and informing future decisions. At the same time, they are used to produce artworks that alter our perspectives of how data is represented and analyzed. During this time of turbulent reflection within the fields of data visualization and analytics, digital games have been going through a similar period of data metamorphosis as players are increasingly being connected and tracked through various platform systems and social networks. The amount of game-related data collected and shared today greatly exceeds that of previous gaming eras and, by utilizing the domains of data visualization and analytics, this increased access to data is poised to reshape, and continue to reshape, how players experience games. This dissertation examines how visualization, analytics and games intersect into a domain with a fluctuating identity but has the overall goal to analyze game-related data. At this intersection exists play analytics, a blend of digital systems and data analysis methods connecting players, games and their data. Play analytic systems surround the experience of playing a game, visualizing data collected from players and act as external online hubs where players congregate. As part of this dissertation's examination of play analytics, over eighty systems are analyzed and discussed. Additionally, a user study was conducted to test the effects play analytic systems have on a player's gameplay behavior. Both studies are used to highlight how play analytic systems function and are experienced by players. With millions of players already using play analytics systems, this dissertation provides a chronicle of the current state of play analytics, how the design of play analytics systems may shift in the future and what it means to play with data.

Built upon symbiotic flow, that is a merging of flow theory (Csikzentmihalyi, 1975) and situated cognition (Gee, 2007) this dissertation presents the findings from a 6-month qualitative study of an elite gamer and his practices and experiences with video games. The study used mediated discourse analysis and case study methods to answer the following question: What does it mean to be an elite gamer, to one life-long player of video games? In addition, the following sub-questions were considered: a) What aspects of elite gaming are important and meaningful to one particular gamer? b) What moments of play does this gamer identify as significant? c) What does sustained play look like for one him? Data sources included interviews, observations of significant gaming (that is gaming in heightened states of enjoyment and success), observation de-briefs, co-analysis interview, and a research journal. The researcher coded observational data for elements of symbiotic flow and in response to interview data. Data are presented in narrative, expository, and graphic forms across the study. This inquiry has resulted in the creation of the Model of Nested Transaction in order to articulate and understand the nature of significant gaming experiences. Additional significant findings include: a) Time is the primary resource and commodity in this particular player's elite gaming world, because it represents a level of dedication and insider status; b) this gamer values particular affordances in his gaming, namely experiences that develop knowledge and skills that can then be applied instantaneously in gaming contexts and be harnessed for longitudinal participation; c) video games provide the participant, and gamers like him, with possibilities for greatness, an aspect of his identity that is both critically important to him and often strikingly absent outside of games. The study argues for productive consideration of video games as a mediational tool of both meaningful learning and powerful identity exploration.

This study aimed to explore which philosophies and opinions professionals within the Chinese indie game industry hold in relation to the indie concept. Indie is a short form of the word "independence”, and is used to describe certain products and creative practices within media such as video games. The term’s exact definition is however subject to discussion. This study aims to include Chinese game professionals in this discussion. The study was carried out in China through Game Hub Scandinavia (Game Hub Scandinavia, 2018) and in cooperation with Indienova. The participants that were interviewed in this study were all professionals within the Chinese game industry. The research tools developed for these interviews were two playable demos and a survey. The answers provided constituted as basis for the study’s concluding analysis. The data indicated that the Chinese indie developers define indie as a creative endeavour which products and underlying ambitions contrasts the commercially motivated game industry in China. / <p>2018-08-23 14:25, G203, svenska</p><p>Högskolevägen 1, 541 28, Skövde</p>

I denna rapport dokumenteras en studie som undersöker hur spelare reagerar på en interaktiv cutscene jämfört mot hur de reagerar på en icke-interaktiv cutscene. Studien undersöker också huruvida en cutscene påverkar spelarens immersion. För att samla in information används en kvalitativ studie, där deltagarna observeras och sedan intervjuas i samband med att de spelar igenom en kort artefakt. Artefakten är uppbyggd som ett plattformsspel som innehåller två cutscenes, varav en är interaktiv och den andra icke-interaktiv. Resultatet av studien visar att en interaktivcutsceneinte stör spelaren likamycket som en icke-interaktiv cutscene, och att spelaren därför föredrar interaktiva cutscenesi de spel de spelar. Studien visar även att cutscenesinom ett spel inte stör spelarens immersion nämnvärt.

Arbetet redogör för konsekvensers inverkan på spelares agerande i moraliska dilemman i dataspel. Arbetet försöker även underlätta framtida debatt inom området genom att definiera begreppen svart-vita dilemman, grå dilemman, moraliska konsekvenser och praktiska konsekvenser. Tidigare statistik visar att ungefär 15 % av spelare agerar omoraliskt i spel som inte ger några incentiv till att göra så, arbetet testar hypotesen att andelen spelare som agerar omoraliskt ökar om spelet uppmuntrar omoraliskt beteende. Arbetet lät åtta testpersoner spela ett spel där de ställdes inför åtta svart-vita dilemman, undertiden samlades data in om deras agerande i spelet. Resultatet visade att testpersonerna agerade omoraliskt 17 % av gångerna, alltså ingen signifikant ökning från 15 %. Slutsatsen blev att ungefär 15 % av alla spelare agerar omoraliskt i moraliska dilemman och att den siffran är svår att förändra, även när omoraliskt beteende uppmuntras genom praktiska konsekvenser. Slutligen diskuteras svagheter med arbetet och potentiell framtida forskning, inklusive liknande arbeten med större fokus på skillnaderna mellan könens agerande i moraliska dilemman.

komerční hry. Zaměřuje se na jejich korespondenci s prezentovanými historickými událostmi a výukový potenciál. Práce vznikala v roce 2017 na základě vědeckých prací Bogosta, Chapmana, Juula a dalších, či vlastním výzkumem podpořeným dotazováním respondenty. V úvodní části se autor zaměřuje na dostupnou teorii a poznání jednak v oblasti výuky u her, jednak v oboru herních studií. V následující části se zabývá metodologií diplomové práce, průběhem vlastního výzkumu a dotazníkem. Autor se snaží komerčních her, vnějších vlivů, které formují jejich podobu a přístupu hráčů k tomuto žánru her. Zároveň se snaží zodpovědět otázky "do jaké míry jsou tituly série vzdělávací a jaký je vztah hráče a komerčního obsahu?" V předposlední části diplomové práce autor pracuje s historií prezentovanou akademickými odborníky. Následně podrobuje herní verzi srovnání a zabývá se také reprezentací historie v dalších typech médií. Na závěr seznamuje autor s povídá vytyčené otázky. V neposlední řadě pak na základě výsledků dotazování prezentuje vztah a vliv vybraných her na hráče.