The freemium business model, initially popular in mobile gaming, has gained significant traction in the PC gaming arena during the last few years. This study explores the increasing prevalence of freemium models, i.e., free-to-play games with in-game monetization, in PC games and investigates how players' perceived value plays a crucial role in determining the appeal of these games. The research focuses on examining how players' perceived value influences the appeal of freemium PC games, concentrating on continued use intention (retention) and in-game purchases (monetization). The paper introduces a modified PERVAL framework, drawing inspiration from Hamari (2020), which includes four dimensions: emotional value, social value, economic value, and enjoyment. Through surveys and data analysis, the study uncovers insightful findings. It reveals that emotional and social values play a positive role in shaping players' intentions to keep playing and invest in in-game purchases. While economic value is linked to playing intentions, it doesn't directly impact the purchase of premium content. Moreover, enjoyment is positively associated with playing intentions but exhibits a negative relationship with the acquisition of in-game items. The study underscores the importance of perceived value, particularly emotional value, in influencing player engagement and generating revenue in the context of freemium PC games.

The main objective of this thesis is the description and characterization of media content generated within the community around the game League of Legends inside the phenomenon of e-sports. The central issue is the definition of metagame term and anchoring its functions in different types of media content rising in the community around the game League of Legends. The output of this work is analysis of different types of media content, in which the term metagame is designed, interpreted and transmitted to the audience.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the technical implementation of common game design theory in successful PC games today. The study uses a quantitative study to analyze 23 modern successful PC games to identify common success factors which are connected to Arrasvuors et al. (2009) theory of the Playful Experiences Framework, Sutton-Smiths (2001) seven rhetorics of play and Max-Neefs (1991) human needs matrix. The results is a practical checklist of 63 success factors for use in game development. These success factors are present in the successful games and described for implementation in game design for the PC platform. These success factors are then divided into the 7 categories: freedom, immersion, challenge, multiplayer, personal, preference and human needs to provide a better overview of the success factor checklist and connect them to proven game design theory.

Main goals of this work are to present game development process and game engine Unity3D and develop game server with application programming interface including framework for using the server. The first part of this work is tageted on history of game genres and game development process. The second part of the thesis is dedicated to describing Unity3D game engine with focus on Unity3D networking. Development tools used in implementation and server desing included framework for use of the server are described in the third part of the thesis. In the last chapter of this work are described most important classes used in developed application.

The goal of this thesis is to describe the issue of computer game creation and to develop a race game for people connected to the Virtual World using Unity 3D game engine. The first part of this thesis is dedicated to the history of video games, platforms and to describing of development processes and development tools. The next part is about Unity 3D game engine, which was used for creating the game. The resulting application is described in the last part.

Using the method of qualitative content analysis, my research is focused on the visual and ideological representation of antagonists in eight PC games of first-person shooter genre (FPS), released between 2007 and 2019. The analysis is based on the identification of the stereotypical antagonistic representations. Its main attention is devoted to the ethnic and national stereotypes, because antagonists are ethnic and national Others in relation to protagonists. I aimed to define another summarizing and defining criterion of antagonistic representation, apart from the categories of othering already mentioned. In my thesis, I also describe ideological aspects which frame antagonistic representation. For the analysis of ideological content, I use Pötzsch's selective realism, which, by means of the four filters (violence, consequence, character and conflict) excludes negative and controversial aspects of war from FPS games. Not only does selective realism presents war selectively, it represents antagonistic actions selectively, too. In the text, I identify the stereotypical representations of three ethnic-national groups - orientalism and Cold War stereotypes in the case of Russians, neo-orientalism in the case of Middle Eastern antagonists and techno-orientalism in the case of East Asians. The ideology...

Backround: In Czech Republic, the addiction on computer games is an unexplore area. Unlike abroad, There exist only few research focused specifically on the typology of game players and also on the treatment methodes Aims: The aim of this thesis was to map clients present in treatment of addiction on computer games, as it's seemed by clinicians (psychiatrists, psychologists, psychotherapists and educational workers) working with clients with non-substance addiction. Another aim is to discover which games are prefered by Czech players, who are present in treatment with addiction on computer games, and what is their motivation to play them. Finally I want to describe therapeutic procedures, used by clinicians during the treatment of this clients. Methods: Qualitative methods were used for data collection - semistructured interview based on questionnaire. Data analysis was performed by inductive analysis, using method of contrast and comparison and method of formation of clusters. Sample: The basic sample was made up of employees of ambulances, the pedagogical and Education Care Centers in Czech Republic. The overall number of facilities that participed this research was 72. Results: There is only 18% of facilities, in which there are clinicians who have some experience with clients with computer...

This diploma theses focuses on the issue of game studies and examines its connection with the news media. The relationship between these areas is analysed on the case study of the computer game Kingdom Come: Deliverance that reached international success. This study uses content analysis to identify the presence and way of presentation of this game project in the Czech Television news since 2014 to 2019. Regarding the international success of the game, I presume that not only the game itself but also the gaming industry as such might been more captured in the news. In addition to the analysis of media mentions of the game, the work also focuses on their contextual framework and context in which the Czech project was discussed. In addition to quantitative research on Czech Television news, the work is supplemented by a comparison of Czech and foreign reviews, which provides a broader view not only of a different approach to the game in the Czech Republic and the world, but also outlines the importance and relevance of the game itself. Key Words Kingdom Come: Deliverance, Game studies, Czech PC Games, media analysis, quantitative research

Uppsatsen tar sig – med utgångspunkt i en analys av spelet Tomb Raider (2013) – an frågan om hur karakterisering genomförs inom interaktiva dataspel. Wahlsten väljer att använda sig dels av Sonja K Foss metod för narrativ analys, dels av Ian Bogosts procedurala retorik för att visa hur karaktären Lara Croft konstrueras under loppet av spelet. Dessa två metoder används för att kartlägga verktygen med vilka spelets narrativ presenteras, såväl de interaktiva som de icke-interaktiva. Uppsatsen visar tydligt och med många exempel att det finns en spänning mellan narrativets krav och spelarens intressen som ifrågasätter idén om att interaktiva spel i första hand påverkar genom immersion - tvärt om är spelen uppbyggda på så sätt att spelaren förutsätts dels identifiera sig med huvudkaraktären, dels ta avstånd från och använda denna som ’en virtuell leksak’ under loppet av spelet. Därmed pekar också Wahlsten ut ett tämligen okänt men mycket intressant forskningsområde för retorikvetenskapen. Wahlsten är medveten om att hans val av studieobjekt inte är självklart inom retoriken, men argumenterar väl för behovet av att studier av spel/Virtual Reality är och i synnerhet i framtiden bör vara, ett centralt område inom retorikforskningen / The essay asks the question how characterization in video games is accomplished, with the subject of analysis being the video game Tomb Raider (2013). Wahlsten chooses to use the methodology of Sonja K Foss for the narrative analysis, in addition to Procedural Rhetoric coined by Ian Bogost. These two methodologies are used to map out the tools used to construct the narrative of the game, which includes interactive one as well as non-interactive ones.   The essay clearly shows that there is a definite tension between the demands of the narrative on the player that puts into question the idea of interactive games mainly influencing through immersion. On the contrary, the game is constructed in such a way that the player is expected to identify with the playable character, while also motivating the player to distance itself from the character and use it as a sort of “virtual plaything”. Wahlsten thus highlights a fairly obscure but also highly interesting field of study within the Rhetorical sciences. Wahlsten is aware the object of study is not an obvious one within the field Rhetoric, but argues for the need of studies of games and Virtual Reality, and the importance of them for Rhetorical sciences in the future.

In recent years, microtransactions have become a norm for monetization and a standardbusiness model in free-to-play games. This is something that affects multiple individuals andhas caused quite a stir among players. Through this research, we want to gain anunderstanding of why some microtransaction types might be considered more acceptable thanothers. In addition, to gaining potential data that could possibly give us a look into the futureof the design of microtransactions. We have gathered our data by conducting online chatbased semi-structured interviews with current and former university students studying gamedesign at Uppsala University.The research found that game design students have a predominantly negative opinion aboutmost microtransactions, especially when they were affecting the gameplay, contrary to whenthey were not.