Cette étude porte sur la communauté des joueurs amateurs de poker en France. Qui sont-ils ? En quoi consistent leurs pratiques du jeu ? Comment se représentent-ils le poker ? Comment apprennent-ils à jouer le jeu ? Et qu’apprennent-ils en jouant ? Si ces questions de recherche renvoient essentiellement à la pratique et aux apprentissages du jeu lui-même, il s’agit bien in fine d’interroger les apprentissages associés à cette pratique dans la vie quotidienne des joueurs. Or, pour répondre à cette dernière question, encore nous fallait-il préalablement déconstruire l’idée selon laquelle le jeu est une activité séparée de la vie quotidienne. Tel fut l’enjeu du premier chapitre de notre thèse. Partant du traitement de la question du jeu dans l’histoire des idées, nous nous sommes d’abord tournés du côté des définitions socio-anthropologiques qui ont promu cette idée-force d’une séparation du jeu et de la vie courante. Un travail d’analyse critique fut alors nécessaire pour resituer le jeu dans l’économie des pratiques quotidiennes. Dans un second chapitre, nous nous sommes plus particulièrement intéressés au traitement de la question des jeux d’argent dans la littérature scientifique, en nous penchant sur la façon dont le poker y était étudié. Contrairement aux différentes études qui abordent la pratique de ce jeu d’argent sous l’angle de l’addiction ou de la déviance, nos propres recherches auprès des joueurs amateurs de poker nous conduisaient alors à étudier cette pratique sous l’angle du jeu lui-même. Dans un troisième chapitre, nous nous sommes donc intéressés à l’histoire et aux représentations du poker pour découvrir comment ce jeu avait progressivement produit sa propre mythologie, sa propre culture, ses propres médias, etc., jusqu’à ce qu’il devienne un loisir de masse pour des centaines de milliers de joueurs, notamment en France. Après cette plongée dans l’histoire du jeu, nous avons présenté, dans une deuxième partie de la thèse, le processus qui préside à la réalisation de notre enquête auprès des joueurs amateurs de poker. Sous la forme d’une ethnographie réflexive, nous sommes d’abord revenu sur l’enquête exploratoire que nous avons réalisée entre 2006 et 2007 auprès des joueurs de notre entourage (chapitre 4), alors que nous étions nous-même joueur de poker. Puis, nous avons successivement présenté les deux enquêtes menées en 2010 et 2011 sur les sites de poker en ligne et lors d’un tournoi de poker à grande échelle (chapitre 5). La troisième partie de notre thèse s’appuyait alors sur l’analyse des données empiriques issues de cette dernière enquête pour tenter de décrire la population des joueurs rencontrés sur le terrain (chapitre 6). Grâce à une analyse approfondie de leur trajectoire d’apprentissage et de leur récit de pratique, nous avons progressivement cherché des réponses à nos questions de recherche en nous interrogeant, d’une part, sur la façon dont ces joueurs amateurs apprennent à jouer au poker (chapitre 7) et, d’autre part, ce qu’ils en retirent dans leur vie quotidienne (chapitre 8). Nos analyses nous amènent finalement à remettre en question les définitions du jeu présentées dans la première partie de la thèse et à penser un nouveau cadre théorique pour penser les pratiques et les apprentissages du jeu. / This study focuses on the community of amateur poker players in France. Who are they? What do their practices of the game consist in? How do they picture poker? How do they learn to play the game? And what do they learn as they play? Although these research questions mostly refer to practicing and learning the game itself, they do ultimately aim at questioning the learning associated with this practice in the players’ everyday lives. But answering this question involved a previous deconstruction of the idea that the game is an activity apart from everyday life. That was what the first chapter of this dissertation has been about. Based on how the question had been addressed in the history of ideas, we first turned to the socio-anthropological definitions promoting this key idea of a separation between game and everyday life. Then a critical analysis was needed to place the game in the economy of everyday practices. In the second chapter we dealt with how the question of gambling was handled in scientific literature, looking into the way poker was studied there. Unlike various studies approaching the practice of this gambling game from the standpoint of addiction or deviance, our own research with amateur poker players led us to study this practice from the standpoint of the game itself. Thus, in the third chapter, we examined the history of poker to find out how the game had gradually built up its own mythology, culture, media, etc., until it became a mass entertainment for hundreds of thousands of players, especially in France. After this journey deep into the history of the game, in the second part of the dissertation we have set out the process through which our survey with amateur poker players was conducted. As a reflexive ethnography we first went back to the exploratory survey we had performed in 2006-07 with players we knew (chapter 4) at a time when we would play poker ourselves. Then we have successively shown the two surveys we did in 2010-11 about on-line poker sites as well as during a large-scale poker tournament (chapter 5). The third part of the dissertation is based on an analysis of the empirical data from the latter survey in an effort to describe the population of players we met in the field (chapter 6). Through an in-depth analysis of their learning trajectories and accounts of practice we have gradually tried to answer our research questions wondering how these amateur players learn playing poker on the one hand (chapter 7) and what they are gaining from it in their everyday lives on the other hand (chapter 8). Finally our findings led us to challenge the definitions of the game as set out in the first part of the dissertation and to offer a new theoretical framework for considering the practices and learning of the game.

This thesis deals with creating application for PDA for multimedia stream presentation and processing. Introduction of the thesis is devoted to the theoretical explanation of terms such as PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) and Windows Mobile 6.0. Readers will be acquainted with the technology of .NET Framework and also with its version for mobile equipment .NET Compact Framework. Advantages as well as disadvantages of .NET technology are dealt with in this section together with the same phenomena of C# programming language, which is the basic language used for running our application. Next chapters of the thesis deal with my own design of multimedia application, especially from the point of view of classes. For better orientation and understanding UML diagram is used. UML (Unified Modeling Language) is a graphic language intended for visualization and documentation of programming systems. Except of general description of the classes there is also a detailed explanation of individual attributes and application methods. Their function and purpose are explained here as well. In the next part of the thesis attention is paid to the network communication of the application, both in terms of individual multimedia files transmission and stream transmission. Principles of connection and disconnection between client and server are analyzed in this part. Client’ s part of the application is designed for the mobile equipment with Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.0 operation system and server’s part of application is designed for computers, where Microsoft Windows XP operation system is installed. A concise manual for operating both the applications is included. This part also describes some exceptions which may occur in case of problems with connection. Last chapters describe synchronization of mobile equipment or emulator with a desktop computer and provide the reader with the summary of supported audio formats in multimedia application. All achieved results are summarized in the concluding part of the thesis.

Rezultatai ir išvados: Yra dvi žaidėjų perėjimų rūšys: 1) perėjimas už kurį mokama kompensacija dėl kontrakto nutraukimo ir 2) perėjimas, vykstantis pasibaigus galiojančiam žaidėjo kontraktui. Besiformuojant dabartinei perėjimų sistemai atsirado priklausomybė tarp nacionalinių ir tarptautinių perėjimų sistemos reglamentų. Išanalizavus ekonominės raidos aspektus matoma, kad konkurencinio balanso stoka sukuria nelygias galimybes sporto klubams įsigyti norimus žaidėjus, perėjimo mokesčio vertei nustatyti neįmanoma sukurti vieno standarto, o perėjimų kaina kasmet auga, įrodant šio fenomeno didėjančią svarbą. Išskiriamos trys žaidėjų perėjimų sukeliamos problemos: socialinės problemos prekiaujant jaunais žaidėjais arba žaidėjais iš trečiojo pasaulio šalių, pinigų plovimas tarptautiniuose perėjimuose ir rungtynių rezultato išankstinis sutarimas. / Legal regulations and economic development impact on player transfer system in Lithuania.

In this thesis a new solution concept is developed for n-player, nonzero sum games. The solution concept is based in reinterpreting the n-player nonzero sum game into 2-player zero sum games. The n-player nonzero sum game is first rewritten as an n + 1 player coalition game. The definition of zero sum payment is that one player pays the other what he gets in a given outcome (coalition of the n + 1 player game). Who pays whom depends on the coalition. More than one 2-player zero sum interpretation game always results from the procedure, and criteria are established to select one of the zero sum interpretation games. The solution concept defines results identical to the minimax concept when applied directly to zero sum 2-player games. When applied to 2-player prisoner’s dilemma games, the solution procedure assigns mixed strategies to the prisoners, thereby “resolving” the dilemma. The mixed strategies vary with the payoffs (up to a linear transformation). For prisoner’s dilemma matrices which have been used in large numbers of gaming experiments, the solution concept predicts dynamically, i.e., by play number, the “fraction of cooperative choices” for (approximately) the first 30 plays. In addition, the mixed strategy appears in a game between each subject (prisoner) and the n + 1st player (district attorney), suggesting that the subjects have been playing against the experimenter. Empirical evidence for this conclusion is given. A theorem is proved for n-player prisoner’s dilemma games. Game theory is reviewed to show the roots of this solution concept in the heuristic use of zero sum n-player games in the von Neumann and Morgenstern theory, and in rational decision making models, e.g., “games against Nature.” The empirical and formal difficulties of the equilibrium point solution concept for nonzero sum games are discussed. Detailed connections between game theory and cybernetics are discussed.

Using data from the 2006 – 2013 English Premier League (EPL) seasons, this paper finds evidence that the Home Grown policy does not provide a differential effect. As a consequence of the ruling, however, EPL clubs have generally acquired more English players. While English players are detrimental to a club’s ability to achieve a top 4 finish in the pre-policy period, this paper finds that English players positively influence top clubs in the post-policy period. More specifically, a successful club in the pre-policy period is 18% more likely to achieve a top 4 finish in the post-policy period by acquiring more English players in response to the Home Grown ruling. Furthermore, these top clubs are able to maintain their pre-policy competitiveness by outspending their counterparts to acquire the most talented Englishmen. As such, this paper also finds that increasing club transfer expenditures favors EPL club success in the post-policy period.

This thesis studies a few established design principles which were implemented in a developed fast-action puzzle game prototype. The aim was to study how several design principles affected the performance of players. The prototype was described as a Time-Based Memory Mashup with six different ”presets” based on the established design principles in which small changes occur. All participants in the study played through all six presets. Gameplay data was gathered from the participating users and were automatically recorded into a database in order to determine which preset was the most successful. Participants also filled in a survey to answer questions regarding on how they would judge their own performance, engagement and enjoyment of each played preset. Collected gameplay data from the participants were compared and ranked to determine which presets and design principles were the most effective. Surveys, observations and interviews have been studied to see if it matched the statistical data. Participants had higher performances with a fixed or more forgiving timer, which participants preferred the most. Downgraded graphics and sound were enjoyed the least, however did not led to much worse performances. An increased difficulty had the most effect in lowering performances. Design principles such as Pacing, Difficulty, Feedback, Interface Design and Foreground had the most potential to lower performances among participants.

Believable Non-Player Characters (NPCs) help motivate player engagement with narrative-driven games. An important aspect of believable characters is their contextually-relevant reactions to changing situations, which emotion often drives in humans. Therefore, giving NPCs "emotion" should enhance their believability. For adoption in industry, it is important to create processes for developing tools to build NPCs "with emotion" that fit with current development practices. Psychological validity—the grounding in affective science—is a necessary quality for plausible emotion-driven NPC behaviours. Computational Models of Emotion (CMEs) are one solution because they use at least one affective theory/model in their design. However, CME development tends to be insufficiently documented such that its processes seem unsystematic and poorly defined. This makes it difficult to reuse a CME’s components, extend or scale them, or compare it to other CMEs. This work draws from software engineering to propose three methods for acknowledging and limiting subjectivity in CME development to improve their reusability, maintainability, and verifiability: a systematic, document analysis-based methodology for choosing a CME’s underlying affective theories/models using its high-level design goals and design scope, which critically influence a CME’s functional requirements; an approach for transforming natural language descriptions of affective theories into a type-based formal model using an intermediate, second natural language description refining the original descriptions and showing where and what assumptions informed the formalization; and a literary character analysis-based methodology for developing acceptance test cases with known believable characters from professionally-crafted stories that do not rely on specific CME designs. Development of EMgine, a game development CME for generating NPC emotions, shows these methods in practice. / Dissertation / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / Video games can deeply engage players using characters that appear to have emotionally-driven behaviours. One way that developers encode and carry knowledge between projects is by creating development tools, allowing them to focus on how they use that knowledge and create new knowledge. This work draws from software engineering to propose three methods for creating development tools for game characters “with emotion”: a process for analyzing academic emotion literature so that the tool’s functions are plausible with respect to real-life emotion; a process for translating academic emotion literature into mathematical notation; and a process for creating tests to evaluate these kinds of development tools using narrative characters. The development of an example tool for creating game characters "with emotion", EMgine, demonstrates these methods and serves as an example of good development practices.

Expression and identification through virtual characters in MMORPGs has actively been, and is still being studied throughout the 21st century, and with the growing industry of video games, these studies become more and more relevant than ever. However, the same cannot be said about the subject of self-expression in terms of wearable items of clothing in MMORPGs. How players use the equipment/clothing available to create their own identity in the game, rather than solely rely on their character appearance in terms of the shape of the face or body. This study has chosen to focus its effort to first explore the relevance of player expression through fashion in MMORPGSs, and whether active players in the popular fantasy roleplaying game Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn participate in player fashion activities or gameplay features. For this reason, a hypothesis was also created for this specific study, which states that ‘Player fashion in MMORPGs positively impacts player retention’. The results of this study have shown that the gameplay feature/activity of player fashion does indeed impact how often players tend to come back to the same game, and keep on playing it for years. The result of this study opens the possibility for future studies to explore other areas in player fashion and could also serve as an interesting contrast between games of the same genre, and whether the same result could be said for those games as well.

Background. As video games increase in popularity and more people look to them as their primary source of entertainment, discussions around how they can affect players’ engagement become more important. One such discussion is around player agency, a player’s sense of control over the games that they play. Within this discussion, a new type of thinking regarding player agency has started emerging, where it gets divided into the amount of control a player experiences and the amount of control that they actually have. One way to see the difference between the two types of player agency is to look at linear and branching narratives. In a branching narrative, the player’s choices dictate the flow of the story, while in a linear narrative, the player chooses how to react, but the story itself is unaffected. Objectives. Our objective with this study was to explore how player engagement differs between a linear narrative and a branching narrative, and if there is a difference when going from one to the other. Methods. This was done by creating a game demo that contains both a linear narrative, as well as a branching narrative and conducting a user study where participants played the game and answered a questionnaire on their experience. Results. In our findings, no significant difference in engagement was observed through Pearson’s chi-square tests between the different narratives. However, there was a significant difference based on what order the narratives were presented. Participants that played the linear narrative first had significantly higher engagement levels than the participants that played the branching narrative first. Conclusions. We conclude that more research should be made, but we find there is a positive effect on engagement when both a linear and branching narrative presented in the same experience, and the linear narrative is presented first.

The personality traits of NPC characters are key elements in the complex interactions within games. This study, based on the Big Five personality theory, aims to explore how the perceived personality of NPC characters influences player choices. In the initial phase of the experiment, we designed two original NPC characters based on theories such as the Big Five personality model and presented them to the participants through textual stories and visual images. Subsequently, they were given imagined game tasks that we designed, and they had to choose the NPC character they were more inclined towards in each task. Through analysis, we found connections between certain Big Five personality traits of NPC characters and different tasks. We also discovered discrepancies between the intended personality design of the characters and their actual perceived personalities, with variations observed in the exhibited differences of each personality. In conclusion, the perceived personality traits of NPC characters have various influences and connections to player choice behavior.