Este estudo analisa os efeitos colaterais indesejados de avaliações externas quando combinadas a políticas de responsabilização (accountability) escolar no Brasil. Estes efeitos colaterais, denominados \"peiragênicos\" por Madaus e Russell, são previsíveis, indesejados e decorrem da manipulação (gaming) das regras do sistema pelos agentes envolvidos, levando à inflação de escores, vieses nos resultados reportados e interferências indevidas nos processos escolares que se pretendiam monitorar. Este estudo completa uma lacuna na literatura nacional, visando a medir a extensão de dois destes efeitos: a exclusão não aleatória de alunos de baixa proficiência de avaliações e a incidência de fraudes ingênuas, em desacordo aos protocolos de aplicação das avaliações. Duas abordagens são apresentadas. Para estimar as exclusões de alunos de baixa proficiência é proposta uma análise baseada na assimetria de distribuições de proficiência, usando distribuições normais truncadas. Para avaliar a extensão de fraudes ingênuas, definidas como a divulgação de respostas aos alunos testados sem levar em conta a existência de cadernos de itens ou permissividade com \"colas\" entre alunos, é introduzida uma abordagem baseada na contagem de blocos impróprios maximizadores. Ambos os algoritmos são aplicados à Prova Brasil, de 2013 e 2015. As medições obtidas são confrontadas com variáveis explicativas associadas às pressões da responsabilização, mediante modelos hierárquicos lineares. As pressões consideradas neste trabalho resultam de programas estaduais de bonificação docente e de acompanhamento do Indicador de Desenvolvimento da Educação Básica (Ideb), assim como variações em rankings do Ideb nos municípios. Os resultados indicam que tanto a exclusão de alunos de baixo desempenho quanto fraudes ingênuas ocorrem em associação a estas pressões. O gaming parece mais intenso em unidades da federação com políticas high-stakes, assim como em escolas com Ideb baixo verificado na avaliação anterior. Tendências de variação do Ideb, distâncias deste indicador às metas, ou mudanças em posições no ranking resultam não correlacionados significativamente às pressões. Exclusões medidas são menores em UFs com avaliações próprias para cálculo de bonificação. Um substancial aumento nas indicações de fraudes em 2015, versus 2013, pode estar associado às mudanças na participação mínima de alunos exigida nestas avaliações. Conclui-se que há necessidade dos formuladores de avaliações tomarem cuidados para controlar os dois efeitos estudados. / This survey analyzes the undesired side effects of standardized assessments when combined with accountability policies, in public schools in Brazil. These effects, identified as \"peiragenics\" by Madaus and Russell, are predictable, undesired and unplanned for, and arise from agents engaging in \"gaming the system\", leading to score inflation, biased reported results and undue interference in the schooling processes under assessment. This survey attempts to fill a void in Brazilian literature regarding the measurement of two side effects: exclusion of low performing students from assessments and undue interference of teachers or testers in the assessment protocols (cheating). To this effect, two analytic approaches are presented. To estimate non-random exclusions of low performing students from testing, a model based on the observed asymmetry of proficiency results, using truncated normal distributions, is proposed. A second model, to assess the extension of naive teacher cheating, defined as attempts to share common answers regardless of differences in test booklets or turning a blind eye to students\' copying answers from classmates, counts unexpected appearances of improper score-maximizing blocks, introduced in this study. Both algorithms are applied to Prova Brasil\'s 2013 and 2015 data sets, a federal assessment of mathematics and reading skills. Measurements are confronted with explanatory variables to test for accountability pressures and gaming-inducing drivers, using two-level hierarchical linear models. The pressures considered in this survey arise from teacher bonus programs adopted by several Brazilian states, performance tracking and rankings of the Ideb indicator (a nationwide metric of the development of elementary and middle-school public education). Results indicate that both selective exclusions of low performing students and naive teacher cheating occur, in patterns associated with pressures. Gaming behavior appears to be more intense in states with high-stakes linked to the assessment, in schools with lower Ideb ratings. Past trends and gaps versus targets in Ideb and changes in local rankings result not significantly correlated with gaming behavior. Lowest exclusion measurements occur in states where alternative assessments are used for bonus payments. A substantial increase in cheating indications in 2015 over 2013 was measured, possibly reflecting increased minimum participation requirements stressing schools to maintain performance through cheating attempts. In conclusion, the need for care in design of assessment policies to control for the two effects measured is made evident.

Os ambientes virtuais de aprendizagem estão cada vez mais populares e estão recebendo cada vez mais atenção das pesquisas acadêmicas devido ao avanço tecnológico na última década e na modernização das escolas e ambientes de ensino. Diversos estudos apontam que alunos que utilizam sistemas educacionais melhoram o seu desempenho e aprendem mais. Entretanto, problemas importantes que dificultam sua utilização ainda precisam ser investigados. Dentre eles, um dos principais problemas encontrados é o uso inadequado destes sistemas por parte dos alunos. O tédio, desinteresse, monotonia, a falta de motivação, entre outros fatores, acabam por fazer com que o aluno se comporte inadequadamente ao interagir com o sistema. O comportamento inadequado mais conhecido é trapacear o sistema (do Inglês \"gaming the system\"). Ao externalizar este comportamento, o aluno tenta identificar formas de resolver os exercícios mecanicamente, sem levar em consideração o que precisa ser aprendido. Nesse contexto, esse trabalho tem por objetivo estudar e definir uma alternativa para diminuir o comportamento indesejável nos sistemas por meio do uso de técnicas de Gamificação. Essas técnicas permitem \"persuadir\" o aluno a interagir de forma correta com o sistema. Este trabalho apresenta o desenvolvimento de um sistema educacional gamificado (E-Game) a fim de comprovar se os elementos de jogos auxiliam na diminuição de comportamentos como gaming the system nos alunos, aumentando a motivação deles durante a atividade. O sistema educacional foi submetido a experimentos empíricos em ambientes reais de aprendizagem para que fosse possível obter diferentes tipos de dados para análise. Dessa forma, um outro sistema educacional foi desenvolvido, sem técnicas de gamificação, a fim de obter dados comparativos. Um experimento foi realizado numa escola estadual de São Carlos com o total de 60 alunos. Observou-se, a partir do experimento, que há uma diferença estatisticamente significativa quando se usa os sistemas gamificado e não gamificado. Empiricamente, os resultados comprovam que há uma diminuição do comportamento externalizado gaming the system com o uso de sistemas educacionais gamificados. Além disso, foi observada uma diferença nos resultados relacionada aos gênero dos alunos, até então desconhecida pela literatura. Foi detectado que o gênero masculino externalizou menos trapaças durante o uso do sistema educacional gamificado, em relação ao gênero feminino. Por outro lado, o gênero feminino externalizou menos trapaças no ambiente não gamificado, em comparação ao ambiente gamificado. / Researches in Virtual Learning Environments are getting increasing attention from the research community due to the technological advances of the last decade, the modernization of schools and teaching environments. Several studies indicate that students who use virtual learning environments improve their performance and learn more. However, there are important problems that hinder their use and need to be further investigated. Among them, one of the main problems is the inappropriate use of these systems by students. The boredom, lack of interest, monotony, lack of motivation, among other factors, ultimately causes the student to behave inappropriately when interacting with these systems. The best known improper behavior is Gaming the System, which makes the student to ignore the content to be learned and find ways to perform mechanically the activities proposed by the system. In this content, this project aims to study and define an alternative to reduce the appearance of this undesirable behaviors through the use of gamification techniques, where it can persuade the student to interact with the system in a proper way. This work presents the development of a gamified educational system (E-Game) in order to prove if the game elements can reduce the behavior such as Gaming the System, increasing the motivation in the students during the activity. The educational system was submitted to empirical experiments in real virtual learning environments, in order to get real data to analyze. Also, another educational system was developed, without the game elements, in order to get comparative data. One of the experiments was executed in a school in São Carlos city, with 60 students in the sixth grade. The results of the experiment showed that statistically there is a significative difference during the use of gamified and non-gamified educational systems. Empirically, the results proved that the externalization of undesirable behaviors decreased during the use of gamified educational systems. Furthermore, it was observed a difference in the results related to the students gender, so far not noticed in the literature. It was detected that the male gender externalized less undesirable behaviors in the gamified systems, than the female gender. On the other hand, the female gender practiced less gaming the system in the non-gamified environment, compared to the gamified environment.

Mobile Gaming entwickelte sich innerhalb des letzten Jahrzehnts rasant, was vor allem mit der Verbreitung und Weiterentwicklung des Smartphones und des drahtlosen Internetzugangs zusammenhängt. 85% der Gamer geben mittlerweile an, dass sie mit dem Smartphone Videospiele spielen. Das Smartphone hat sich demnach als primäres Endgerät für Mobile Gaming etabliert und bietet mit seiner Sensorik und Performance neue Möglichkeiten des Spielens. ... Diese Arbeit untersucht im Rahmen einer quantitativ explorativen Studie den Einfluss des Spiels auf die physische Aktivität der Nutzer sowie deren soziale Zugehörigkeit über das Spiel. Dazu werden nach einer Einordnung des Spiels über Spielmechaniken und ortsbezogene Elemente die Ergebnisse der deutschlandweiten Onlineumfrage dargestellt. [... aus dem Text]

In terms of both production and consumption, video games and gaming are a significant phenomenon in Russia, a fact acknowledged by the authorities and mainstream media. Although internet use in Russia has been a point of academic interest over the past few years, scholars have been slower to research video games despite their increasingly popular position in the media ecology of the region. Similarly, despite the abundance of theory and data on gaming in North America and Europe, game studies researchers have hardly skimmed the surface of the cultures, preferences and activities of gamers further afield. This dissertation investigates the online gaming sphere in Russia, presenting an empirical study of the industry, providing insight into gamers themselves, and analysing the media and political discourses surrounding gaming in Russia. In this study, I draw upon survey data, forum, website, and blog posts, user comments from gaming forums and analyses of local games to construct a picture of gaming activity and identity amongst gamers. In particular, I show how Russian-speaking gamers present themselves as members of a distinct subcultural group. Online gamers who participated in this study are shown to consume and discuss games in ways that can differ from elsewhere in the world, but they still retain common beliefs about the importance of expertise, taste and self-discipline within the gaming community. They display a great deal of knowledge about the games and communities available to them locally, while also consuming foreign games in selective and critical ways. For the reader conversant with game studies work, the dissertation constitutes a challenge to West-centric theories of gaming and gamers and demonstrates the importance of cultural context in shaping gaming practice. Throughout the dissertation, interactions between global and local, media and subcultural definitions of ‘gamer’ are crucial to understanding how gaming plays out in a Russian context. The self-definition of gamers differs greatly from mainstream media concepts of gamers. I contextualise discourses of the gaming self within an analysis of how the Russian media presents gamers as young people in need of moral and emotional guidance. Moreover, I show how contemporary media assessments of games and gamers have much in common with earlier moral panics about Western-inflected media and subcultures, such as rock music and style. Ultimately the gaming landscape in Russia is shown to be full of tensions, and the task of this dissertation is to identify, assess and compare these disparate discourses.

This study examined the relationships between the six benefit types and customer loyalty through trust and satisfaction in integrated resorts. A self-administered survey was developed based on previous studies in customer loyalty and was distributed through e-Reward online survey panel. The findings showed that only financial gaming benefits, functional gaming benefits, and psychological non-gaming benefits had impacts on customer attitudinal loyalty and customer behavioral loyalty through trust and satisfaction in integrated resorts. Besides, functional gaming benefits had the most influence on customer loyalty through trust and satisfaction. This study extended existing literature in integrated resorts by showing that benefit types in a loyalty program can build customer attitudinal loyalty and customer behavioral loyalty in integrated resorts. This study also examined different types of benefits affect customer loyalty in different degrees. For operators of integrated resorts, understanding how different benefits of a loyalty program affect customer loyalty will allow them to modify their loyalty programs effectively to increase revenue and maintain customers.

Can you teach someone to be a video game designer? This was the principal question behind the experimental class "Game Design & Testing" taught summer 2009 and again in 2010 at East Tennessee State University. The class did not attempt to encompass the technical aspects of video game modeling or scripting. It was focused on the possibilities of teaching students how to recognize, create and critique distinct game elements, then design interesting games around the concepts they learned. What makes a game fun, what makes some games memorable, what does it take to create balance in a game, what goes into making a game that is easy to learn and difficult to master, these were some of the questions set to the students throughout the semester?

Any activities where English can be encountered in outside of school, have been labeled by Sundqvist (2009) as “extramural English activities”. One of these activities is playing games (both digital and board games), which in accordance to the research by Sundqvist (2009) and Sundqvist and Sylvén (2012) has a great impact on the learner’s English proficiency. In accordance to these prior findings, the focus of this degree project is on the gaming habits of year three students in Swedish elementary school. After presenting a theoretical background and key elements from earlier research, I examine to what extend the students play digital games, what type of games are played and most importantly; do students in year three play digital games in English? Further on, I investigate the student’s vocabulary proficiency and connect the two parts of my research together, searching for correlations between time spent gaming and vocabulary depth. This degree project also includes a gender aspect and compares gaming habits and vocabulary proficiency of girls and boys, along with interviews with four teachers and their perception on students’ participation in extramural activities and English motivation.

This paper examines social aspects of computer and video gaming, includingplayers' perceptions of socialization surrounding gaming, its importance to theplayers, as well as factors that can lead to bad behavior online. In addition, adesign process based on the research results is showcased. The research issummarized and used as a basis for the design decisions. The purpose of thispaper is to contribute to the knowledge surrounding gaming and its impact onsocialization, with the goal of bettering our understanding of gaming in a social context. Through an analysis of existing literature together with empirical data collectedfrom users and other online platforms, this report aims to provide insights into thecauses and consequences of toxic behavior. The results indicate that severalfactors contribute to the occurrence of toxicity, e.g. anonymity, disinhibition,competition and other social dynamics in gaming environments. In addition, theconsequences of these negative interactions and how it affects players, such asmood and general experience, are examined. In addition, potential measures toreduce toxicity are discussed, along with the importance of promoting positivesocietal norms, implementing effective reporting and moderation systems, andpromoting empathy and inclusivity. Finally, a design proposal is presented thatrepresents an idea for an interface that facilitates the process of finding likeminded players, which previously has not displayed signs of toxicity. In conclusion, this report highlights the complex issue of toxic behavior in gaming. Delving into its causes and effects, this paper could provide valuableinsights for researchers and game developers to address and combat toxicity,ultimately fostering a more positive and inclusive climate around gaming. / Denna rapport undersöker sociala aspekter av dator- och TV-spelande, inklusivespelares uppfattning om socialisering kring spelandet, dess betydelse för spelarnaoch faktorer som kan leda till dåligt beteende online. Dessutom presenteras endesignprocess som baseras på forskningsresultaten. Forskningen sammanfattasoch används som grund för designbeslut. Syftet med rapporten är att bidra tillkunskapen om spelande och dess påverkan på socialisering, med målet att ökaförståelsen för spelande i en social kontext. Genom en analys av befintlig litteratur tillsammans med empiriska data somsamlats in från användare och andra plattformar online, ämnar denna rapport geinsikter i orsaker och konsekvenser av toxic behavior. Resultaten pekar på att flerafaktorer bidrar till att toxicitet uppstår, e.g. anonymitet, disinhibition, konkurrensoch andra sociala dynamiker i spelmiljöer. Utöver det undersöks konsekvensernaav dessa negativa interaktioner och hur det påverkar spelarna, som humör ochgenerell upplevelse. Dessutom presenteras potentiella åtgärder för att minskatoxicitet, samt diskuteras vikten av att främja positiva samhällsnormer,implementering av effektiva rapporterings- och modereringssystem, ochfrämjandet av empati och inkludering. Till sist presenteras ett gestaltningsförslagsom representerar en idé för ett gränssnitt som underlättar processen av att hittalikasinnade spelare som inte har uttryckt tecken på toxicitet. Sammanfattningsvis belyser denna rapport den komplexa frågan om toxicbehavior i spel. Genom att fördjupa sig i dess orsaker och effekter kan detta gevärdefulla insikter för forskare och spelutvecklare för att ta itu med och bekämpatoxicitet, för att i slutändan främja ett mer positivt och inkluderande klimat kringgaming.

The research in this study examined the nature of college student gambling (N=201) and whether general gaming education can influence meaningful changes in college students’ gambling attitudes, behaviors, and perceptions. A group of college students from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Casino Management class, received general gaming education while two comparison groups, one from the same university and one from Worcester State College, Massachusetts, did not. Assessment of the participants’ attitudes toward gambling, gambling fallacy perceptions, ability to calculate gambling odds, and gambling behaviors were examined before and after exposure to gaming education. Seventy five percent of the students surveyed as the baseline group reported gambling within the past 12 months, with a minority gambling weekly or more, or gambling large amounts of money. At the semester end, follow-up findings showed that the students who received the gaming education intervention demonstrated significant improvement in their ability to calculate gambling odds and resist common gambling fallacies. Unexpectedly however, this improved knowledge was not associated with any decreases in their gambling attitudes or time and money spent on gambling activities. The implication drawn from this research is that knowledge gained from a general gaming class, including gaining improvements in odds calculations and fallacy perceptions, may not be enough of a factor to effect significant changes in college students’ gambling attitudes and behaviors.

Growing concern for the problematic use of video games has prompted new research in a now growing field of literature. Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) is a proposed behavioral addiction in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fifth edition (DSM-5). To examine the proposed criteria for IGD, a self-report problematic gaming behavior scale (PGBS) was developed for adults residing in the United States. One hundred eighty-nine participants completed an online questionnaire comprised of demographic items, general gaming information, the PGBS, and the Internet Gaming Disorder-20 Test (IGD-20 Test). Statistical analyses conducted at the conclusion of the study were consistent with previous research on the PGBS. Cronbach’s alpha was .908 for the 19-item PGBS, one item was removed to improve reliability. Exploratory factor analysis strongly indicated a 1-factor structure to the PGBS. Logistic regression models were fit to analyze the predictive value of the PGBS total score. The PBGS total score did not predict positive endorsement of any of the four outcome items.