Tese de mestrado. Tecnologia Multimédia, perfil Engenharia. Faculdade de Engenharia. Universidade do Porto, Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Porto.Instituto Politécnico do Porto. 2008

This thesis contributes to the field of academic game studies by reworking and updating the established theories of Espen Aarseth, Janet Murray and Marie-Laure Ryan in understanding the path in videogames. It also draws upon the more recent theoretical discussions of figures such as Jesper Juul, Lev Manovich, Frans Mäyrä and James Newman in order to explore the player’s experience along these paths in the gameworld. By defining a vocabulary of routes through space, the thesis uses the maze in particular as a way of understanding the paths of videogames. The research starts by examining our cultural understanding of the maze within videogames. Various mazes around the UK were walked in order to understand their design and how this may translate into the virtual world of the videogame. The thesis examines the uses of real world mazes through the work of Penelope Doob, and Herman Kern to discuss how the videogame may rework our cultural understanding of the maze due to its increasingly ubiquitous nature. This enables a discussion of maze-paths found within many videogames that are not necessarily categorised by what is often discussed as the maze genre of games. A morphology of maze-paths is devised through comparing the mazes of the real world and the virtual mazes of the videogame. This is achieved by breaking down the maze into separate path types and shows how these paths may link to one another. The thesis argues that the paths of the videogame are generated by the player’s actions. Therefore the focus of this thesis is on the player’s experience along these paths and the objects found at points on them. In acknowledging how to overcome obstacles along the path it is also possible to understand the role of the path in the player’s learning and mastery of the gameworld. This leads to discussions of different types of play experienced by the player in the videogame. Play is separated into what I term purposeful play, being the activities intended by the designer, and appropriated play which is the play formed out of the player’s exploration of the game system. These two terms help to understand player’s incentives for playing along the ruled paths of the gameworld as well as exploring the game’s system further to find new types of play outside of the pre-determined rules. As this thesis is concerned with videogames involving the player’s avatar having a direct relationship with the path, the research also investigates what happens when certain devices break these paths. It was discovered that warp devices reconstruct both temporal and narrative elements within the gamespace, and cause the player’s avatar to temporarily move on tracks through the gameworld. In defining a vocabulary of movement through space on a fixed track, as opposed to a player-determined path, there is a further understanding of the player experience related to each type of route taken in the game. Through an understanding of the maze and defining a vocabulary of maze-paths, tracks and objects found along them, this thesis adds a new contribution to knowledge. It also acknowledges the importance of different types of play within videogames and how these can shape the player experience along the paths of the game.

Author's first name and surname: BSc. Josef Hovorka Title of the master thesis: ETHICS IN SPORT Department: Institute for Sociology, Philosophy and Ethics Supervisor: Prof. PhDr. Anna Hogenová, CSc. Year of presentation: 2012 Abstract: The aim of the thesis is to present a new approach to the topic "Ethics in Sport", to initiate a change in the attitude to sport, to create a preventive-educative programme and to change the approach to the education not only of athlets, but also of chidren and the youth in general in the Czech Republic. Keywords: Game, Whole, Tune, Olympism, Doping, Fair Play I agree the thesis to be lent within the library service.

This study follows students from two Swedish elite upper secondary schools with different profiles when they participate in a parliamentarian role-play game. The game lacks a teacher authority and is not a graded activity, putting the students in a position where they must negotiate what constitutes winning and losing. The game is used as an ethnographic site to investigate what it means to be a ‘successful’ elite school student and how it is embodied. The aim is to explore concrete processes of habitus formation, extending the knowledge regarding elite socialization in the Swedish case. The findings suggest that the game puts notions of what it means to be a ‘successful’ student to its head, giving rise to conflicts between students from the two differently profiled schools. The conflicts articulate differences between schools within the elite school category with regard to student formation. Further, the game singles out a few students and make them feel entitled to become leaders. The study shows that the intersection of students’ school affiliation, gender and social class background is important in order to understand whether they feel entitled or not, as well to understand their more encompassing experiences in this elite school game.

Submitted by Claudinei Chelles null (claudineichelles@yahoo.com.br) on 2017-02-09T22:18:32Z No. of bitstreams: 1 TESE DOUTORADO Chelles, Claudinei.PDF: 1171287 bytes, checksum: 09558669a7e12f737f6068da0dd890ae (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by LUIZA DE MENEZES ROMANETTO (luizamenezes@reitoria.unesp.br) on 2017-02-14T17:56:33Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 chelles_c_dr_prud.pdf: 1171287 bytes, checksum: 09558669a7e12f737f6068da0dd890ae (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-02-14T17:56:33Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 chelles_c_dr_prud.pdf: 1171287 bytes, checksum: 09558669a7e12f737f6068da0dd890ae (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-12-12 / Esta tese está vinculada à linha de pesquisa “Práticas e Processos Formativos em Educação” no Programa de Pós-graduação em Educação na Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade Estadual Paulista, campus de Presidente Prudente. A importância sociocultural do futebol, nossa própria experiência profissional nesta modalidade e a escassez de estudos com uma abordagem psicanalítica do futebol que contemplasse o “processo formativo do/no futebol” de crianças, adolescentes e jovens, constituíram o cenário em que se deu o ponto de partida deste estudo. Nosso objetivo geral foi verificar as possibilidades de contribuição da psicanálise no “processo formativo do/no futebol”. A incursão inicial nos domínios da psicanálise proposta por Sigmund Freud levou a identificar, de um lado, o tema do “desejo de jogar”, e de outro, a relação entre o aluno-atleta e o professor-treinador, o que nos levou a destacar os conceitos de sublimação e (contra) transferência. Buscamos então responder aos seguintes questionamentos específicos: como e por que o jogo de futebol poderia contemplar (propiciar) a sublimação? Qual a contribuição do saber (contra) transferencial na atuação do professor-treinador na condição de educador? Verificamos que a prática do jogo de futebol pode ser agente relevante para ocorrência da sublimação das forças pulsionais, possibilitando sua ocorrência de modo socialmente aceitável, o que torna compreensivo o "desejo de jogar". Em relação ao aspecto sublimatório, o alento pulsional está intimamente relacionado à “pulsão de morte”, caracterizada como uma energia que se direciona à realização do ato de jogar futebol. Detectamos que, ao menos parcialmente, o prazer em jogar fica limitado quando o futebol submete-se à formatação do que se denomina "esporte", caracterizando o recalque no ato de jogar, devido o rigor e enquadramento às regras. Outro aspecto relevante nesta investigação acena ao saber (contra) transferencial que se instala na atuação do professor-treinador em sua relação com o aluno-atleta, pautada pela mediação entre o permitido e o proibido a este último. Ou seja, o professor-treinador atua no fortalecimento do superego, para que condutas para além da prática do futebol sejam também acolhidas. Por fim, sugerimos as grafias "professortreinador" e "alunoatleta" para indicar nosso entendimento de por que e como o profissional do esporte deve operar na compreensão psicanalítica do “ato pedagógico”, o que exige ir além dos aspectos biomecânicos, fisiológicos e pedagógicos da modalidade, em direção a uma compreensão da existência do inconsciente. / This doctoral thesis has been developed at the research line “Practices and Formative Processes in Education”, Postgraduate Program of Education, in the Faculty of Sciences and Technology at the State University of São Paulo (UNESP), Presidente Prudente campus. The sociocultural importance of football, our own professional experience in this sport modality and the lack of psychoanalytic approach studies on football that have contemplated children’s, adolescents’ and youngsters’ “educative process of/in football” constituted this study starting point scenario. Our general objective was to verify the possibilities of contribution from psychoanalysis to the “educative process of/in football”. The initial incursion into psychoanalysis, as proposed by Sigmund Freud, led us to identify, on the one hand, the theme of the “desire to play”, and on the other, the relationship between the student-athlete and the teacher-coach, which led us to highlight the concepts of sublimation and (counter) transference. Then, we try to answer the following specific questions: how and why could the football game contemplate (propitiate) sublimation? What is the contribution of (counter) transferential knowledge in the teacher-coach performance as educator? We verified that football game practice can be a relevant agent for the occurrence of drive forces sublimation, allowing its occurrence in a socially acceptable way, which makes the “desire to play” comprehensive. In relation to the sublimatory aspect, the drive is closely related to the “death drive”, characterized as an energy that is directed to the accomplishment of the act of playing football. We have found that, at least partially, the pleasure of playing is limited when football undergoes the formatting of what is called “sport”, characterizing constraint in the act of playing, given the rigor and compliance with the rules. Another relevant aspect in this investigation is the (counter) transference knowledge that is installed in the teacher-coach performance in relation to the student-athlete, guided by the mediation between the allowed and the prohibited to the latter. That is, the teacher-coach acts in strengthening the superego, so that beyond the football practice conducts are also welcomed. Finally, we suggest the words “teachercoach” and “studentathlete” to indicate our understanding that the sports professional must operate in the psychoanalytic understanding of the “pedagogical act”, which requires going beyond the biomechanical, physiological and pedagogical aspects of sport, towards an understanding of the unconscious existence.

La tesi si propone di indagare il processo di “ludicizzazione del reale”, cui viene dedicata sempre maggiore attenzione negli studi mediali contemporanei. Tale processo si declina in forme diverse, passando indiscriminatamente dall'idea di gamification, legata al marketing e all’affermazione del potere del gioco in senso pervasivo e critico, alla più ampia considerazione dell’universo mediale contemporaneo come ambiente ideale per il realizzarsi di un fare “ludico”. Si procederà dunque a un'osservazione morfologica di stampo sociosemiotico del fenomeno, utilizzando al contempo i contemporanei studi mediologici sulla transmedialità e gli ecosistemi, la semiotica esperienziale e le teorie del gioco tradizionali. Scopo finale sarà quello di distinguere caratteristiche oggettive e soggettive, affordance e utilizzi specifici del gioco: da un lato presentando una serie di nodi che problematizzino la definizione generale di “ludico” attraverso il riconoscimento dei suoi tratti a livello transmediale e storico; dall’altro ipotizzando una possibile descrizione della situazione contemporanea attraverso l'idea di “semi-ludico” e l'analisi di alcuni casi di studio significativi che evidenzino come il processo di “semi-ludicizzazione” rinunci alla natura processuale ed emergente del gioco in favore di rigide strutture formali. / Aim of this work is to further observe the process of “ludicization of the real” described by many contemporary media studies. This kind of process takes different forms: from the concept of “gamification”, connected to marketing strategies and to the critical and pervasive power of play, to a broader idea of contemporary mediascape as the ideal context for ludic practices. We propose a morphological observation of socio-semiotics kind, using at the same time works on transmediality and ecosystems, studies of semiotics of experience and traditional game theories. The final objective will be to distinguish different qualities, affordances and specific uses of the “game/play” dichotomy: on the one hand presenting a series of critical nodes that call into question the general definition of “ludic” through the recognition of its traits in a transmedial and historical context; on the other hand hypothesizing a description of the contemporary media environment through the concept of “semi-ludic” and the analysis of twenty meaningful case studies that demonstrate how the “semi-ludicization” process rejects the emergent and processual nature of play in favor of rigid and formal structures.

Free-to-play gamers' spending habits are crucial for game developers to generate revenue in games. The unique thing about free-to-play business model games is that players don't have to pay to play the game, but need to make in-game purchases if they want a better gaming experience. The users are diverse，the trend to personalise services for users based on their diversity has become unavoidable, but identifying user needs is a large and complex problem, so an in-depth understanding of players' spending behaviour in games is essential. This thesis assists researchers in addressing this issue by constructing a game user profile based on player consumption patterns. In order to build a profile of a game's users, a great amount of data needs to be collected. However, simply providing raw data may not be of value to the development. For this reason, this thesis explores a methodology for effectively analysing and communicating survey data. This methodology collects data from user surveys, analyses the data using the author's proposed logic for creating user profiles based on consumer behaviour, and uses a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods to create a realistic game user profile. On this basis, through the application of the proposed logic, four categories of player consumption archetypes could be identified: players with Positive attitude(POSA), Moderate attitude (MODA), Reluctance attitude (RELA), and Negative attitude (NEGA). Subsequently, these archetypes could then be used to establish design guidelines for creating game mechanics and services to better encourage in-game purchases. However, as these methods have not been put into practice, the effectiveness of using them is open to question.

The suspension of disbelief is integral to the performing arts. We ask our actors to see couches made of three chairs, designers to create cities in empty spaces, and most of all; we ask audiences to believe the stories and relationships that are figurative and often abstract. This level of critical and creative engagement is assumed to develop in spaces of higher education. However, with an ever-changing world and increasing conversions and integrations of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in spaces of higher education, it has become even more apparent that students need to develop their creative and critical thinking skills earlier on in their development. By recontextualizing learning through imaginative immersive game systems, such as Dungeons & Dragons and similar tabletop role-playing games (TTRPGs), I have found that students experience categories of significant learning synergistically through experiential gameplay. This immersive storytelling relies entirely on the player-performers to spend their disbelief and immerse themselves in their imagination, termed theatre of the mind. The gamification of role-play acts as a means of challenging students to activate their development of collaborative improv, storytelling/playwriting, and dramaturgy skills. Through research and play testing, I have developed a gamified drama-focused role-play educational tool utilizing many of the core gameplay mechanics in the world's most popular TTRPGs. In this thesis, I present the game structure and reflect upon my experiences implementing this work. Additionally, I explore the cross sections between game design and immersive theatre practice and consider how this intersection is utilized in gamified performance and pedagogy. Finally, I consider how a theatre-of-the-mind-based pedagogy can be utilized in subjects outside of the theatre classroom.

This thesis introduces the basic concepts of the game theory. Necessary models and solution concepts are described. Follows the summary of the computational complexity of these concepts and corresponding algorithms. Poker is formalized as one of the game theory game models. State of the art algorithms for the ex- tensive form games are explained with the application to the Poker. The thesis also introduces the Annual Computer Poker Competition and participating pro- grams. Finally, new result about the extensive form games with many actions is presented. Keywords: Game theory, Poker, Nash equilibrium, Extensive form games

THE THESIS STUDY AIMS TO UNDERSTAND AND INVESTIGATE THE ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN PROCESS BY UTILIZING THE CHARACTERISTICS AND TYPES OF ANOTHER FIELD, GAME. THE STEPS TAKEN IN ORDER TO ACCOMPLISH THIS AIM ARE &#039 / ANALYZING GAME, ITS PROPERTIES, AND TYPES&#039 / , &#039 / RE-READING AND UNDERSTANDING ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN PROCESS BY INVESTIGATING THE SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES WITH GAME TYPES IN ORDER TO END UP WITH INFORMATIVE, UNDERSTANDABLE TABULAR RESULTS&#039 / , RESPECTIVELY.