Este trabalho tem como intuito trazer luz a elementos que possibilitem o claro entendimento dos conceitos responsáveis pelo envolvimento do jogador com o jogo, em especial, as regras e o gameplay, que consideramos como primordiais para a construção de sua experiência de jogar. Neste intento, partimos do entendimento do conceito de jogo, buscando identificar os elementos que são importantes para que um jogo se constitua como tal, derivando os que consideramos ser essenciais ao jogo. Discutimos os conceitos de regras e gameplay, seus tipos e elementos, e as relações e as influências que se estabelecem entre eles. Observamos que quando o jogo apresenta um desafio ao jogador, que o coloca imerso no ambiente do jogo, a manipulação das mecânicas e da combinação das regras lhe permitirá experimentar a emergência de novos elementos, decorrentes de sua agência, e capazes de lhe porporcionar uma experiência gratificante e prazerosa. / The work is concerned primarily to point out some elements that can clarify the understanding of the concepts responsible by the player engagement with the game; the rules and the gameplay are the elements, considered as principal, to construct the experience of playing. Comprehending the concept of the game, we tried to identify the elements responsible for that. The rules and the gameplay concepts, types and elements, and their interrelations have been discussed. The challenge proposed by the game can create an immersive condition to the player; the mechanics manipulation and the rules combination will evoke the emergence of new elements and turn this experimentation enjoyable and grateful.

This thesis analyzes the ideological functions of gameplay mechanics in five mobile and online girl games. The subjects of close reading in this study are Tampon Run, Wonder City, Barbie Fashionistas, Style Studio, and Central Park Wedding Prep. First, a review of the literature is presented. Video game studies and ludology, identity in game studies, and performativity and game studies are examined as the central areas of literature from which the thesis draws. The thesis then explores the historical context of the problem, investigating politics and ideology in gaming spaces and considering the activist and educational games Tampon Run and Wonder City. Finally, the thesis analyzes three traditional girl games: Barbie Fashionistas, Style Studio, and Central Park Wedding Prep. This study argues that activist games rely on limiting mechanics to convey feminist ideologies, while traditional games rely on the perceived mechanics-based empowerment of their players to convey patriarchal ideologies.

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.

Os videogames são hoje uma das formas de entretenimento mais populares em todo o mundo. Muito desse sucesso só foi possível graças à tradução, a qual, por meio de versões localizadas para os mais diversos idiomas, contribuiu decisivamente para que os videogames alcançassem um número cada vez maior de mercados e chegassem a milhões de lares ao redor do planeta. Esta dissertação, de caráter eminentemente historiográfico, tem por objetivo examinar a relação entre a tradução/localização e os videogames desde seu início até os dias de hoje. Além disso, pretende também, por meio da análise de alguns jogos, traçar um panorama acerca de como se dá esta relação sob o contexto brasileiro, abordando as características e especificidades que a localização de games tem apresentado no Brasil ao longo do tempo. A análise desses jogos está fundamentada sob duas perspectivas: a) uma perspectiva histórica, em que se buscará situar as épocas em que foram lançados às etapas de evolução dos videogames e sua relação com a tradução/localização em cada momento; e b) uma perspectiva descritiva, em que se realizará uma análise dos aspectos acerca da tradução/localização observados nesses jogos, fundamentada sob as bases teóricas utilizadas nesta dissertação: o conceito de domesticação/estrangeirização (Venuti, 1995), a teoria funcionalista do Skopos (Vermeer, 1986) e o conceito de Gameplay Experience (Souza, R.V.F., 2014). / Video games are today one of the most important forms of entertainment worldwide. Much of this success was only made possible due to translation, which, through localized versions into various languages, contributed decisively for video games to achieve a growing number of markets and reach millions of homes across the globe. This dissertation, of an eminently historiographical nature, aims to examine the relation between translation/localization and video games from their beginning until the present day. Furthermore, it also intends, through the analyses of a number of games, to provide an overview on how this relation works under the Brazilian context, addressing the characteristics and specificities that video game localization has been showing over time. The analysis of such games is founded upon two perspectives:a) a historical perspective, which will seek to situate the times when they were released to the stages of evolution of video games and their relation with translation/localization in each moment; and b) a descriptive perspective, which will undertake an analysis of translation/localization aspects observed in such games, founded upon the theorical basis utilized in this dissertation: the concept of domestication/foreignization (Venuti, 1995), the functionalist Skopos theory (Vermeer, 1986) and the concept of Gameplay Experience (Souza, R. V. F., 2014).

<p>Det här arbetets slutgiltiga uppgift har varit att skapa ett första utkast till enövergripande plan för en jämn fördelning av spelmoment för spelet Testament, ett spel som utvecklas för Svenska Kyrkan med syfte att användas inom konfirmandundervisning. Med spelmoment menas exempelvis story, miljö, utrustning och liknande.</p><p>Arbetet ger inledningsvis en kort översikt över hur leveldesignen inom dataspel har utvecklats och går därefter in på det mer specifika området gameplay progression, utvecklat av Mike Lopez, som ger en översyn över vad som krävs för att skapa ett spel med en jämn fördelning av spelmoment.Därefter används denna metod för att analysera det redan befintliga spelet The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, för att testa Lopez metod, innan arbetet med att skapa en egen plan tar vid.</p><p>Resultatet av uppsatsen har nått målet med en övergripande plan för en jämnfördelning av spelmoment för spelet Testament, en plan som dock kommer att behöva ses över och omarbetas under det att utvecklingen av det faktiska spelet tar vid, men som ger en bra överblick över vilka delar som fungerar väl och vilka som kan behöva extra arbete i den stundande utvecklingen.</p>

<p>Denna uppsats undersöker hur olika nivåer av gameplay i spel påverkar motivationen hos testpersoner som deltagit i en undersökning där de fått spela olika serious games framtagna med syfte att lära ut det japanska skriftsystemet kanji. Metoden för undersökningen är baserad på teorier och tidigare undersökningar av bland andra Owston, Wideman, Sinitskaya Ronda och Brown (2009), <em>De Grove, Merchant och</em> Van Looy (2009) och Csikszentmihalyi (1990).</p><p>I undersökningen har 27 testpersoner fått testa tre olika spel med olika nivå av gameplay, och har sedan i ett frågeformulär fått redogöra för bland annat hur underhållande och utmanande de fann spelen.</p><p>Resultatet av undersökningen är ickesignifikant, men visar ändå indikationer på att mer gameplay ger mer underhållning. Den största slutsatsen undersökningen ger är dock att olika varianter av gameplay är att föredra, då olika personer ofta har olika smak baserat på tidigare spelvana m.m.</p>

<p>Syftet med uppsatsen är att försöka determinera vilken effekt mer avancerade gameplaymoment i serious games har på inlärning. Bakgrunden går igenom nyckelbegreppen gameplay och varför mer avancerat gameplay kan leda till mer effektiva lärospel tack vare förbättrat flow. Skriftspråket kanji förklaras kort och de problem som människor som försöker lära sig det ofta stöter på.En studie har utförts med hjälp av fyra olika spel med syftet att lära ut kanji. Tre av dessa spel har designats så att de endast skiljer sig i hur avancerat deras gameplay är. Dessa spel har testats mot varandra för att se om de var olika effektiva på att lära ut kanji. Testpersoner fick efter de spelat igenom spelen och lärt sig 50 kanji utföra ett glostest för att visa på hur mycket de lärt sig. Den data som samlats in har analyserats och ingen signifikant skillnad i inlärningen mellan de olika spelen har visat sig.Slutsatsen pekar på att det går att implementera mer avancerat gameplay utan att negativt påverka inlärningen. Mer avancerat gameplay kan dock tillföra andra fördelar för användare i form av ökad motivation. Vissa testpersoner föredrog de enklare spelen så en annan slutsats blir att om det går att ge användare möjligheten att själva kontrollera nivån av gameplay så kan detta leda till den mest effektiva slutprodukten.</p>

This thesis explores the ways in which suspension of disbelief works in digital games. Primarily concerned with how players relate imaginatively to the often major dissonance between gameplay and narrative in digital games, this thesis questions how the literate players of games reconcile these complex texts imaginatively. Proposing that Samuel Taylor Coleridge's concept of suspension of disbelief is a complicated process often cited rhetorically rather than given its theoretical due, this thesis aims to rehabilitate the term and turn it into a useful, sharpened tool for games studies. Digital games themselves are also seen to be an intense new realm of possibilities for the suspension of disbelief, and textual analysis of games which approach the fourth wall or the suspension of disbelief on their own terms helps to make this clear. Beginning by defining the differences of games compared to other media, the thesis goes on to define suspension of disbelief in both its historical and modern contexts and see how it fits with games, isolating three key problems with uniting the concept with the medium. The three chapters which follow looked in more depth at the problems of the skilled reader, fundamental activity and dissonance through investigations into games’ textual construction, the mindsets they engender in players and their reformulation of the fourth wall. The final section looks at the conclusions working together to achieve the dual aims of proposing a new model for game reading which centres around a willed disavowal of presence on the part of the gamer combined with the gamer's taking up of a role offered by the game-text, and rehabilitating both the term and the concept of suspension of disbelief.

Σκοπός της παρούσας διπλωματικής εργασίας είναι η παρουσίαση ενός σοβαρού εκπαιδευτικού ηλεκτρονικού παιχνιδιού και η αξιολόγηση από τη χρήση του από Έλληνες χρήστες και συγκεκριμένα από μια διαδικτυακή ελληνική κοινότητα του Second Life. Αυτή η εργασία ξεκινάει αναλύοντας θεωρίες για περιβάλλοντα μάθησης και μιας γενικότερης θεωρίας μάθησης στην έννοια των εν λόγω περιβάλλοντων μάθησης. Οι απαιτήσεις που παρουσιάζονται, συγκεντρώνονται σε μια ολοκληρωμένη λίστα για ένα εκπαιδευτικό περιβάλλον. Παρουσιάζονται εκπαιδευτικές θεωρίες, μοντέλα και μεθοδολογίες, μαζί με μερικούς πιθανούς τρόπους όπου το ηλεκτρονικό παιχνίδι θα μπορούσε να ενισχύσει την εφαρμογή τους. Αναφέρονται διαφορετικοί τρόποι μάθησης και οι απαιτήσεις από την έρευνα για τα μαθησιακά περιβάλλοντα. Στη συνέχεια αναλύεται η καταλληλότητα των ηλεκτρονικών παιχνιδιών ως εκπαιδευτικά εργαλεία με μεγαλύτερη αξιοπιστία σε συνδυασμό με τις απαιτήσεις για τα μαθησιακά περιβάλλοντα. Αναφέρονται οι κοινωνικές πτυχές των εν λόγω παιχνιδιών που λαμβάνουν περισσότερη προσοχή κατά την αξιολόγηση των εκπαιδευτικών τους προσόντων. Έπειτα, παρουσιάζεται το σοβαρό εκπαιδευτικό ηλεκτρονικό παιχνίδι Second Life, τα τεχνικά χαρακτηριστικά του, το περιβάλλον του, ο τρόπος λειτουργίας του καθώς και το μοντέλο μαθητή που εμφανίζεται μέσα στο παιχνίδι. Τέλος, παρουσιάζονται τα αποτελέσματα της έρευνας που έγιναν για Έλληνες χρήστες του Second Life, τα βασικά χαρακτηριστικά τους μέσα στον εικονικό κόσμο αλλά και πως ο εικονικός αυτός κόσμος αποτελεί ένα ιδιαίτερο χώρο ανάπτυξης κοινωνικών σχέσεων, ο οποίος εκφράζοντας μια δική του δυναμική, ως χώρος έκφρασης της ελεύθερης φαντασίας, στη συνέχεια επηρεάζει και έχει αποτελέσματα και στο φυσικό κόσμο και τις εκεί κοινωνικές σχέσεις και την εκπαίδευση. / The aim of this thesis is to present a serious educational computer game and the evaluation of its use by Greek users and specifically from a Greek online community of Second Life. This master thesis begins by analyzing theories about learning environments and a general learning theory in the sense of these learning environments. The requirements which are presented, they are collected together under a comprehensive list for an educational environment. There are presented educational theories, models and methodologies, with some possible ways in which computer gaming could strengthen their application. There are mentioned different ways of learning and the requirements from the research on learning environments. Then, the suitability of computer games is analyzed as educational tools with greater reliability combined with the requirements for the learning environments. Also, are mentioned the social aspects of these games where we give more attention in the evaluation of their educational qualifications. Also, it is presented the serious educational computer game Second Life, its technical characteristics of its environment, the way it works and the student model that appears in the game. Finally, there are presented the results from research of Greek users of Second Life, their basic features within the virtual world and how this virtual world is a particular area of development of social relations, which expressed its own dynamic, as a space that can be expressed the imagination and then influences and have effects on the natural world, in social relationships and in education.

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.