In this thesis I analyse the reward systems of cooperative and competitive Multiplayer games – the games I have chosen were built for a Single-player campaign with Multiplayer as additional content. My main focus is on the Multiplayer and the reward systems of that game mode. The reward systems are important to consider when designing a game for fans of Multiplayer games, as a faulty reward system might hinder the aspect which makes Multiplayer games special – to be playing together and go for the same goals with other people whether it is of a competitive or cooperative nature.The games I research are as recent as they were first released in 2012. These games are Kid Icarus: Uprising and Resident Evil: Revelations – the latter receiving a port to the HD consoles in 2013. The games were primary made for a single-player experience and therefore may not be fully implemented to support social needs of a Multiplayer game.To do my research I have played and tested the reward systems of the games myself and analysed how they may influence player behaviour and what effects that may have on the Multiplayer experience.

Läroplanen i engelska beskriver hur undervisningen ska anknyta till elevnära och vardagliga situationer. Studien utgår därför ifrån de vardagliga situationer där eleverna möter engelska. Flertalet av dagens elever är bekanta med och har deltagit i online-spel, det är därför intressant att undersöka användandet av online-spels inverkan på elevernas engelska språkutveckling. Målgruppen för undersökningen är elever som studerar engelska som andraspråk. Syftet med studien är att undersöka ‘Massive Multiplayer Online’-spels påverkan på elevers språkutveckling i engelska som andraspråk och är en litteraturöversikt på forskning inom området. Materialet består av vetenskapliga artiklar samt en forskningsrapport. Kommunikationsmiljöerna i spelen ses som mer autentiska än de i klassrummet, vilket i sin tur anses leda till ökad språkinlärning och ett stort intresse för att kommunicera hos eleverna. Elever som aktivt spelar ‘Massive Multiplayer Online’-spel på fritiden visar även enligt studierna en högre kommunikativ och vokabulär förmåga inom engelska som andraspråk. Användandet av spelen lämpar sig inte för elever med begränsade engelskkunskaper och används främst av pojkar. Slutsatsen av studien är att MMO-spel i sin nuvarande form inte bör föras in i klassrummet som en allmängiltig undervisningsmetod, utan att spelen ska ses som ett komplement till engelsk språkutveckling.

Earlier research has suggested that online gaming can be an effective way of acquiring English as a second or foreign language. It can both increase language proficiency (vocabulary or oral proficiency) and have a positive impact on affective filters such as motivation or willingness to communicate. The present study further investigates if habitual playing of massively multiplayer online (MMO) games results in achieving higher grades in English as a foreign language (EFL) for the Swedish upper secondary students. Possible gender differences regarding the acquisition of English and grades in the subject are also investigated to see if the female students play MMOs to the same extent as the males do and if the female students’ higher grades can be connected to gaming. 78 upper secondary school students answered a questionnaire about their English-language-related activities in their spare time and their online gaming habits in particular. The students’ most recent grades in the English subject were gathered to see if the habitual gamers achieved higher grades.   The results show that most of the males play MMOs and that most of the females do not. The males also engage more in other English-language-based activities in their spare time than the females do. Still, the informants’ English grades are similar between the genders. Females seem to learn more English in school and the males more in their spare time. However, the group of gamers playing MMOs 4-8 hours a week or more achieved higher grades than the rest of the student informants.

Zugl.: München, Univ., Diss., 2009

Online multiplayer is the focus of gameplay for a majority of games released in this day and age, and at the core of multiplayer lies the network code. This means that bad networking code can be ruinous for an entire game. A Sweet Studio is a small game studio that both works as a consultant in the industry as well as develop their own games. But with limited time and money to spend on their own projects, it can be difficult to develop new games. The purpose of this paper is to cover how a multiplayer base can be developed in Unity, iterated on, and how to build it for reusability in a way best, that implementing it in new projects is as simple as possible. The end result is a library with broad functionality and a simple layout. / I majoriteten av datorspel som släpps nuförtiden, är flerspelar gameplay ett av de största fokusen, och i kärnan av den funktionen finns nätverkskoden. Detta betyder att dålig nätverkskod kan förstöra upplevelsen helt och hållet. A Sweet Studio är en mindre spelstudio som både gör konsultarbete inom industrin, och utvecklar sina egna spel. Men med begränsad tid och begränsade pengar att spendera på sina egna projekt, kan det bli tufft att skapa nya spel. Mening med den här rapporten är att gå över hur en flerspelarbas kan utvecklas i Unity, itereras över och hur den bäst byggs för återanvändning, så att det lätt går att implementeras i nya projekt. Slutresultatet är ett bibliotek med bred funktionalitet och en simpel layout.

This thesis examines the concept of different rules within large multiplayer games, how we play thegames and what leads to different rules within a game. It establishes that rules can be explicit andimplicit, as well as based on digital hard rules, softer rules, such as community or social rules and thatplayers will design and build their own games out of these rules.The thesis performs a case study on World of Warcraft: Classics game mechanic, “World Buffs”.Extremely strong buffs that players set-up logistics and organizational tools to have access to during playsessions. As the game progressed through its 6 phases, it became more and more apparent that to raid, orparticipate in “End-Game” content, players had to collect these world buffs, which was costly, either ingold or time.In this thesis, a set of semi-structured interviews were conducted on a couple of “end-game” raidingguilds, to determine why they used world buffs in this content, what drove them to spent the resources tocollect these world buffs, even with the fragility of them, as well as if they enjoyed this practice or not.Interviewed players were both allowed to answer in public and private forms, to examine if there was asocial pressure to oblige, either way.The thesis found that there were three large themes of players, players who enjoyed world buffs, but hadproblems with implementation, players who used world buffs to save in-game resources in some wayshape or form, and players who felt they had a social obligation to bring world buffs to be allowed toparticipate. There were no players who did not take world buffs that were interviewed and only playerswho felt that they did have a social obligation answered in private.The thesis then discusses these results and what implications this can have for multiplayer design andtries to identify further studies on how we can think when designing multiplayer games in the future. Thethesis concludes that yes, players are bound not only to game rules, but also to social rules while they play these games, sometimes even at the cost of their own enjoyment.

The traditional way to coordinate multiple clients in a multiplayer based game on multiple platforms is to create an implementation on a per-platform basis - resulting in often four different implementations, one for each major platform - ie. iOS, Android, Windows, and Linux based operating systems. This report examines the possibility of replacing multiple so called “native apps” with a single web based implementation - granting users access on all devices that supports modern browsers, and discusses what tools were used in the development of the application and why. / Det vanliga sättet att hantera multipla klienter i spel med flerspelarlägen är att utveckla unika implementationer på en per-plattform basis - alltså att samma applikation kräver en unik implementation för var plattform som skall stödjas. Vanligtvis görs en unik implementation för iOS, Android, Windows och Unix-baserade operativsystem vardera. Denna rapport undersöker möjligheten att ersätta dessa implementationer med en unison webbaserad implementation som tillåter alla enheter ​med stöd för moderna webbläsare att använda applikationen och diskuterar vilka verktyg som använts och varför.

Tese de mestrado integrado. Engenharia Informática e Computação. Universidade do Porto. Faculdade de Engenharia. 2012

From an organisational perspective, the potential benefits of enhancing workplace cohesion are many, amongst which an increase in employee performance would be the most tangible and possibly the most desirable. The primary aim of the present research was to explore the capacity to increase levels of cohesion, and therefore facilitate team building, through the use of cooperative multiplayer computer gaming (CMCG). Study 1, involving 26 male and 23 female university students, required participants to play two, twenty minute, games of the commercially available computer game QUAKE(tm) as teams of 3 or of 4, against an equal number of computer generated artificial intelligence opposition. The interpersonal attraction and task focus facets of Cohesion, as well as Stress and Mood State, were measured using self-report questionnaires at both the pre- and post-test stages of the experiment. Results supported the prediction that exposing individuals to a computer game of a cooperative and interdependent nature would increase self-rated levels of cohesion, on both the interpersonal attraction and task focus sub-scales. Study 2 aimed to expand upon the findings of study 1, increasing the generalisability of the study 1 findings by surveying existing teams engaging in CMCG via the Internet. Those surveyed were individuals who currently played the Team Fortress module of QUAKE�, and who belonged to a Team Fortress Clan - the CMCG equivalent of a social sporting team. Individuals playing QUAKE(tm) via the Internet were found to be as cohesed with their team members as were the laboratory participants after the CMCG intervention. Further, important group dynamic factors evident in Team Fortress Clans, such as success being linked with higher levels of cohesion, were consistent with literary considerations regarding conventional, non-CMCG teams. Additional research exploration is required regarding the utility of CMCG, however, the present research indicates that such an exploration is warranted and should produce positive and practical results.

<p>Detta arbete syftar till att undersöka hur Csikszentmihalyis teorier kring optimala upplevelser, eller <em>flow</em>-upplevelser, kan appliceras på praktisk speldesign. I arbetet kombineras Csikszentmihalyis definition av begreppet flow med Jenova Chens riktlinjer för flow-uppmuntrande design i singleplayerspel för att ge underlag för framtagandet av ett brädspel i vilket applicerbarheten hos deras teorier och riktlinjer på multiplayerspel undersökts. För att teorierna och riktlinjerna effektivt skulle kunna undersökas utvecklades det tre olika versioner av brädspelet som alla innehåller olika element som, enligt Csikszentmihaly och Chen, bör alstra flow. Ett flertal spelgrupper fick spela dessa tre versioner och via enkätundersökningar och intervjuer förmedla hur de upplevde de olika versionerna, både som individuella produkter och i jämförelse med varandra. De data som erhålldes från dessa undersökningar indikerade på att nivån av kontroll spelaren har över sin spelsituation spelar en väldigt avgörande roll i hur han eller hon upplever spelaktiviteten i sin helhet.</p>