One aspect of the internet that has been discussed in relation to identity creation is whether we can transcend our physical selves when we enter an online environment, thus potentially creating the internet as a space where we could leave our bodies when performing our identity. The purpose of this master thesis is to investigate the accomplishment of membership categorization within the domain of online gaming and through it identity in an online gaming environment. This thesis argues that the discourse within Dota2 constructs the identity of the unsuccessful gamer as an outsider or deviant in terms of nationality, sexuality, and mental capability. Games of Dota2 have been observed and the interaction via the in game chat system has been transcribed and analyzed using Membership Categorization Analysis. The study found that membership was not commonly assigned but when it was, it was associated with the incumbent being on one’s own team and performing lower than expected. Also, in the cases where categories were assigned to players, these were assigned to unsuccessful players (This interactive feature is supported previous research by Eklund (2011) and Linderoth & Olsson (2010) in that they created the game as male centric western European space. The expectations of a successful player were not accomplished in order to inform the identity creation process of successful gamers. The results suggest that identity in Dota2 is structured around a players displayed skill and that the identity created is often based on stereotypes associated with certain nationalities, genders and mental capabilities. The use of MCA offered a holistic approach to how identities were created in online gaming that allowed the researcher to approach the subject without any preconceptions as to what would be found. The study also showed that the use of MCA may be useful when it comes to identity creation within virtual worlds.

Gamification is now a household word, but it remains at the top of the lists of emerging technology and expected trends for the future of instructional design. If this is true, how can we take gamification to a level beyond badges and points? This paper argues that narrative is a key element that has not yet been fully realized in gamification, reviewed through its prior successes in entertainment-education, game-based learning, project-based learning, and digital storytelling. It suggests that Alternate Reality Games may be the true future of gamification as we know it today.

When vestibular sense organs suffer damage functional problems arise such as imbalance and falls as well as difficulty with gaze control, resulting in blurred vision, dizziness and feelings of disorientation. A novel computer-based rehabilitation program has been developed. Using the Gyration TM motion-sense mouse, attached to a headband, to control computer applications and games, the participants were able to interact with targets in computer games through head motion, allowing different gaze exercises to be carried out. Balance exercises can be incorporated simultaneously and progressively into the rehabilitation program. The main findings of this study revealed that using head rotation to interact with computer games coupled with demanding balance conditions resulted in substantial improvements in gaze control, standing balance and walking performance. These observations provide support that a low-cost home computer-gaming rehabilitation program is well suited to train gaze control through active and passive head motion and to concomitantly train standing balance.

Research in the field of gaming and the gaming culture shows that the culture is characterized by sexism and hypermasculinity, however a majority of this research is conducted in an Anglo-Saxon context. Therefore the aim of this study was to elucidate the Swedish gaming discourse in relation to gender, gendered norms and stereotypes. We also sought to examine the relationship between the editorial content and the blog comments. The study was based on a critical discourse analysis with a gender perspective, applied to five Swedish gaming blogs. By implementing power theory and encoding/decoding theory, we have concluded that there is a discursive struggle, where one part of the gaming culture is characterized by male dominance, while the other part of the discourse is showing signs of resistance to this hypermasculinity. We found that there is a gap between how gender is portrayed among the blog comments in relationship to the editorial content.

When vestibular sense organs suffer damage functional problems arise such as imbalance and falls as well as difficulty with gaze control, resulting in blurred vision, dizziness and feelings of disorientation. A novel computer-based rehabilitation program has been developed. Using the Gyration TM motion-sense mouse, attached to a headband, to control computer applications and games, the participants were able to interact with targets in computer games through head motion, allowing different gaze exercises to be carried out. Balance exercises can be incorporated simultaneously and progressively into the rehabilitation program. The main findings of this study revealed that using head rotation to interact with computer games coupled with demanding balance conditions resulted in substantial improvements in gaze control, standing balance and walking performance. These observations provide support that a low-cost home computer-gaming rehabilitation program is well suited to train gaze control through active and passive head motion and to concomitantly train standing balance.

No description available.

On multiline slot machine games, small “wins” often amount to less than the spin wager, resulting in a monetary loss to the gambler. Nevertheless, these monetary losses are still accompanied by “winning” (and potentially reinforcing) audio-visual feedback. Dixon, Harrigan, Sandhu, Collins, and Fugelsang (2010) termed these potentially reinforcing losses as losses disguised as wins, or LDWs. Dixon et al. previously showed that novice gamblers appear to somatically miscategorize LDWs as wins rather than correctly categorizing these outcomes as losses. Two studies are presented which investigated whether novice gamblers would psychologically miscategorize LDWs as wins as well. In both studies, we investigated participants’ categorizations of LDWs using two measures. First, we asked participants to recall how many times they had won during a playing session and predicted that if participants miscategorize LDWs as wins, then they should conflate LDWs and wins in memory. In Study 1, participants played 200 spins on a real slot machine game with either relatively fewer or relatively many expected LDWs. We found that participants who experienced more LDWs during the playing session recalled winning significantly more often than participants who experienced fewer LDWs, despite how many actual wins the participant experienced, or how much they won or lost overall. In Study 2, we found that participants recalled winning significantly more often in simulator games with more rather than fewer LDWs, despite identical numbers of real wins and identical payback percentages in both games. We referred to this type of memory error as the LDW overestimation effect. The second measure we used to investigate participants’ categorizations of LDWs was more immediate and direct. We evaluated whether participants would miscategorize LDWs as wins or correctly categorize these outcomes as losses by simply asking them to verbally label slot machine spin outcomes. In both studies, we found that the majority of participants miscategorized LDWs as wins rather than correctly categorizing the outcomes as losses. Implications for problem gambling are discussed.

Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka upplevelser av hur sociala nätverk byggs och upprätthålls genom deltagande i flerspelar digitala spel över internet, så kallade online gaming. Detta har gjorts genom att studera spelare inom genren MMO. Studien har använt sig av Bourdieus kapital teori för att studera om det sker någon utväxling av socialt kapital från online till offline. Den har även sig av Consalvos begrepp gaming kapital för att studera om kunskap i spel kan övergå till ett socialt kapital. Empirin har samlats in genom kvalitativa semistrukturerade intervjuer med fem informanter.Resultatet visar att socialt kapital sällan utväxlas från online till offline. Informanterna har skapat breda kontaktnät online men det är endast vid ett tillfälle i studien då det lett till ett möte offline. Resultatet visar även att gaming kapital kan övergå till socialt kapital. Då det anses som någonting önskvärt inom spelen blir det en resurs som andra spelare efterfrågar och kontakt uppsöks.Slutsatsen är att vänskap bildas genom online spel men är oftast av svagare band och saknar djupare emotionella utbyten. Uppsatsen bidrar med en ökad förståelse av skapande och upprätthållande av vänskap och gemenskap genom online spel och en ökad förståelse i bryggan mellan online och offline.

Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPGs) have evolved from traditional video games in that they embrace both the technology of the Internet and video games. The massive “exodus” from the physical offline world to online gaming communities brings with it not only a number of unique and exciting opportunities, but also a number of emerging and serious risks. This research set out to examine the unique opportunities and risks to vulnerable individuals, namely, young adults, teenagers and young children; all of whom are considered by many to be priority groups in the protection from harm. The purpose was to examine the reality of vulnerable individuals encountering these opportunities and risks. This research combined a number of methodologies supported by underpinning qualitative and quantitative theories. Questionnaires, semi-structured interviews and focus groups gathered information from teenagers, adults and children in order to critically examine the unique opportunities and risks encountered in Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games. The findings from these interactions identified specific examples of opportunities and risk posed to vulnerable individuals. The findings demonstrated that there was a need for a support and protection mechanism that promoted the identification and awareness of the potential risk among vulnerable individuals. Emerging from these findings was a set of concepts that provided the evidence base for a Novel Taxonomy of Opportunities and Risks in Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game environments that was designed to assist in the assessment of risk. Validation of the proposed taxonomy was achieved by means of an ethnographic study of (World of Warcraft) online gamers’ behaviour and social interactions through unobtrusive video capture of gaming sessions. The Novel Taxonomy of Opportunities and Risks provided a basis for the development of a proof-of-concept Decision Support System; the purpose of which was to assist both social work practitioners and individuals to identify and reduce risks. Representatives from both user groups were consulted for evaluation of the acceptability of such an approach. Favourable responses from participants demonstrated acceptability of the aforementioned approach. The evaluation process also demonstrated how the prototype would serve as a useful tool to make individual users aware of potential dangers. This research presents three novel facets: (1) it advances understanding of the unique opportunities and risks within MMORPG environments; (2) provides a framework for the assessment of risks in MMORPGs through the Novel Taxonomy and (3) demonstrates a novel Decision Support System to assist in the identification and reduction of risk through a proof-of-concept prototype.

O presente estudo tem como objetivo pesquisar as condições de possibilidade para o surgimento e sustentação de uma cena cultural independente de criadores/as de jogos digitais queer. Levando em consideração que os jogos digitais têm como público reconhecido principalmente homens, cissexuais, heterossexuais e brancos – e de que a manutenção de uma exclusividade é importante tanto para a indústria de jogos quanto para a manutenção de uma “identidade nerd” centrada nessas características - interrogo de que maneira seria possível uma produção nessa culturas fora dessas posições de sujeito. Compreendendo que a cis-heteronormatividade é uma entidade organizadora de discursos e visibilidades, que os dispõe e organiza em nossa cultura, produzindo assim processos de subjetivação e possibilidades materiais que compõem como legítimos e privilegia sujeitos cissexuais e heterossexuais. Contudo, sendo essas organizações contingentes, as possibilidades de sujeitos que se estabelecem à margem dessa é de negociar com suas regras e ao mesmo tempo subverte-las, podendo assim produzir subjetivações e materializações diferenciais. Dessa maneira, investigo contextualmente como jogos produzidos dentro da cena de jogos digitais da Baía de San Francisco negociam, resistem, deslocam e desarticulam a cis-heteronormatividade e as próprias singularidades dos jogos digitais, compreendendo uma produção que legitimaria sujeitos, vivências e coletivos que não se enquadram na cis-heteronormatividade. Por fim, enfoco nos impactos que essas produções diferencias tem nas organizações de coletivos dentro dessas culturas – tanto queer quanto na mainstream - promovendo então novas potencialidades éticas, estéticas e políticas. / This dissertation’s objective is to research the conditions of possibility for the existence of a digital gaming indie queer cultural scene. Taking into consideration that white, straight cisexual men are recognized as the digital games’ public – and that this exclusivity gaming is an important statement for the industry and the maintenance of a “nerd identity” alike – this project inquiries about viable possibilities for access and production of other subject positions within this cultures. The cis-heteronormativity is an organizing entity that regulates discourses and visibilities, creating subjectivation processes and material possibilities that produce heterosexuality and cissexuality as the only legitimate and privileged subject positions. However, being these processes and possibilities contingent positions, the possibility of living at its margins is to both negotiate and subvert the legitimacy gender / sexuality norms. Being so, this project investigates the San Francsico Bay Area queer gaming scene, and how this scene negotiates, resists, desidentifies and rearticulates both the cis-normativity and digital gaming customs, producing non-normative gaming collectives and experiences. At least, this project focus on the impacts of these productions in the queer and mainstream digital gaming, and how they can promote new reflections about ethics, aesthetics and political meanings in the culture.