This dissertation examines the role of negotiations in different institutional settings. In chapter one, I study how voluntary disclosure of information affects outcomes in plea bargaining. A prosecutor negotiates a sentence with a defendant who is privately informed about whether he is guilty or innocent. During negotiations, the prosecutor can investigate for evidence regarding the defendant’s type. If prosecutor and defendant do not reach an agreement, they go to trial and obtain payoffs that depend on the prosecutor’s evidence. Voluntary disclosure gives rise to endogenous second-order belief uncertainty. A purely sentence-motivated prosecutor might disclose exculpatory evidence. Voluntary disclosure leads to inefficient outcomes as parties might fail to reach an agreement. Mandatory disclosure is socially preferable: there is always agreement, and the defendant is better off if he is innocent and worse off if he is guilty. Furthermore, the prosecutor is better off under mandatory disclosure. In chapter two, I study how bargaining power affects bargaining outcomes between an entrepreneur and a venture capitalist who provides funds. Entrepreneur and venture capitalist openly disagree about noncontractible future decisions. The contract specifies control rights and cash-flow rights for each party. Noncontractible decisions are made by the party with control rights. When the entrepreneur has greater bargaining power and the investment value is large, she optimally relinquishes control rights. When the venture capitalist has more bargaining power, she always retains control rights. In general, greater disagreement makes the entrepreneur less likely to retain control rights. In chapter three, I study a bilateral bargaining model with endogenous recognition probabilities and endogenous surplus. At each period, players exert two types of costly effort: productive effort, which increases the surplus size, and unproductive effort, which affects the probability of being recognized as the proposer. I characterize how differences in the cost of exerting efforts affects outcomes. Advantages in unproductive effort affect the provision of both types of effort, but advantages in productive effort only affect the provision of that effort. Differences in time preferences only affect productive efforts when the probability of recognition is not persistent.

This thesis examines the corporate merger process as a bargaining game, under the assumption that the two companies are essentially in conflict over the single issue of the price to be offered by the acquirer to the target. The first part of the thesis deals with the construction and testing of analytical game-theoretic models to explain the proportion of the synergy gains accruing to the target company under different assumptions about the players' a priori knowledge. Assuming full certainty amongst the players about the pre- and post-merger values of the companies, the distribution of gains between target and acquiring companies that would be consistent with the Nash-Kalai axioms is determined in principle. The resulting model depends on the players' utility functions, and is parameterised by the relative bargaining strength of the players and their risk aversion coefficients. An operational version of the model is fitted to empirical data from a set of 24 recent mergers of companies quoted on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. The model is shown to have good predictive power within this data set. Under the more realistic assumption of shared uncertainty amongst the two players about the post-merger value of the combined company, a Nash-Kalai bargaining model incorporating this uncertainty is developed. This model is an improvement over those with complete certainty in that it offers improved model fit in terms of predicting the total amount paid by an acquirer, and is able to dichotomise this payment into a cash amount and a share transfer amount. The theoretical model produced some results of practical value. Firstly, a cash-only offer is never optimal. Conditions under which shares only should be tendered are identified. Secondly, the optimal offer amount depends on the form of payment and the level of perceived risk. In a share-only offer the amount is constant regardless of risk, whilst if cash is included an increase in risk will imply a decrease in the optimal amount of cash offered. The Nash-Kalai model incorporating shared uncertainty is empirically tested on the same data set used previously. This allows a comparison with earlier results and estimation of the extent of the uncertainty. An extension of this model is proposed, incorporating an alternative form of the utility functions. The second part of the thesis makes use of ideas from negotiation analysis to construct a dynamic model of the complex processes involved in negotiation. It offers prescriptive advice to one of the players on likely Pareto-optimal bargaining strategies, given a description of the strategy the other party is likely to employ. The model describes the negotiating environment and each player's negotiating strategy in terms of a few simple parameters. The model is implemented via a Monte Carlo simulation procedure, which produces expected gains to each player and average transaction values for a wide range of each of the players' strategies. The resulting two-person game bimatrix is analysed to offer general insights into negotiated outcomes, and using conventional game-theoretic and Bayesian approaches to identify "optimal" strategies for each of the players. It is shown that for the purposes of identifying optimal negotiating strategies, the players strategies (described by parameters which are continuous in nature) can be adequately approximated by a sparse grid of discrete strategies, providing that these discrete strategies are chosen so as to achieve an even spread across the set of continuous strategies. A sensitivity analysis on the contextual parameters shows that the optimal strategy pair is very robust to changes to the negotiating environment, and any such changes that have the players start negotiating from positions more removed from one another is more detrimental to the target. A conceptual decision support system which uses the model and simulated results as key components is proposed and outlined.

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?

A thesis submitted in fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of phisophy in the Faculty of Arts, in the Department of IsiZulu naMagugu at the University of Zululand, South Africa, 2005. / Lolu cwaningo IwethuIa ingqikithi yomlando ngemveIaphi yamagama okuqanjwe ngawo izindawo ezingaphakathi esiqiwini saseffiuhIuwe - Urnfolozi. Isahluko sokuqaIa siqukethe isethulo socwaningo jikelele. Lesi sahIuko simumethe isingeniso socwaningo .Siqukethe nentshisekelo yocwaningo okuyiyona evuse ivuso nesidingo sokuba kuthundIazwe Ie nyathuko . Sibuka izinhIosongqangi zawo wonke 10 msebenzi, Kubukwa izindlela zokuqhuba ucwaningo kanye nemidiyo yakhona nhlangothi zonkana Isipikili sibethelwe ngalabo abazohIomuIa kuIolu cwaningo kanye naIaboasebeke baphosa itshe esivivaneni. Isahluko sesibili sigxiIe kumveIaphi yamagama jikelele . lsisekelo sakho konke okukuIesi sahIuko sisemithethweni eyahIukehIukene yokulotshwa kwamagama ezilimi ngezilimi Lezo zilimi zithinta isiBhunu , isiDashi, isiNgisi, ezaBathwa kanye nezaboMdabu . Lesi sahluko sewukela nasokhaIweni Iongqondongqondo nongoti kwezokuqanjwa kwamagama lsahIuko sesithathu sibIaziya imvelaphi yamagama asesiqiwini saseffiuhIuwe uvtfolozi . La magama ahIaziywa esuswa emthonjeni womlando ngokufika kwabantu bengabade ezimfundeni zeMfolozi kanye nokuzalwa kwesiqiwu uqobo Iwaso.Ngokweqiniso lesi siqiwu saseffiuhIuwe sidala kunazo zonke iziqiwu ezikhona lapha kweiakwaMthaniya . Isiqiwu saseffiuhImve sasunguIwa ngonyaka we - 1894. Lesi siqiwu sasibubanzi obtmgamahekma ayizinkuIungwane ezingamashumi amabili • nantathu (23 000 ha). Kuze kwaba ngunyaka we -1990 Iapho lesi siqiwu sibIanganiswa nesaseMfolozi esasibubanzi base babungamahektha ayizinkuIungwane ezingamashumi ayisikhombisa nantathu (73 000 ha), Sezihlanganisiwe zibe sezakha amahektha ayizinkulungwane ezingamashumi ayisishiyagalolunye nesithupha (96 000 ha). Lezi ziqiwu zenganyelwe ngabongi bezemvelo ngaphansi kwe:t'<'hIangano okuthiwa Ezemvelo. Isahfuko sesine sigxile kuliso elinzulu Iengabade ngemvelo endaweni ethintekayo okuyisiqiwu saseHIuhIuwe - Umfolozi . Iso IesiNtu Iijule ngobunjalo bendawo nemvelo okuphatha uknjula,ukuphakama , amawathanga , amawa , imifula , izingoxi , imithi , amatshe , amanzi , ilanga , inyanga , izinyoni , iziIwane , izimvuIa , izimpi , izifo , imibala nokunye okuningi, Konke Iokhu kucacisa ngokuthe bha ngokungathekisa nokufanisa kwesintu ngezindlela ezahlukahlukene, Kouke Iokhu kuzinze enjuleni nengqikithi abantu bendabuko abalabalabela ukuba iklezwe iphindelelwe ngisho umpheblu yimiznkulu yezizukulwane ngezizukulwane zesizwe kanye nezomb1abajikelele. Isahluko .sesiblanu sijula ngokhaIo Iokublaziywa kocwaningo jikelele . Lapha kucofiywa ngononina ukusuka nokuhlala komsebenzi wengqikithi nomongo wala magama akulesi siqiwu. Ngaphezn kwalokho kwethulwa izincomo jikelele ngokuphathwa ngobumnene nangezandla zozibili kwamagugu engabade kuble kwezikhali zamaNtungwa Ekugcineni kwalo msebenzi ojule ngokwedlulele u1.'UZe ube isivivane nobani nobani ayolangazelela ukuphonsa kuso )tshe qede sibe ngumfelandawonye wesimakade.

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This thesis examines the unique representation of death in independent videogames. Specifically, in three titles: That Dragon, Cancer, Spiritfarer, and A Mortician's Tale. These three games break traditional norms of death in video games and how death is presented in other more traditional mediums. These unique perspectives are more concerned with the personal and societal side of death, the reflection, and confrontation of our mortality. Each game is a stand-out example of a growing trend in independent titles coined as "death positive" games. These types of games are made with the intent to approach death differently, potentially providing comfort to those struggling with death fear and anxiety. Through a close play of each game, analyzing their developer's design intentions and how they were received by audiences, I am to illustrate how independent games have become an ideal space to confront and manage death fear and anxiety. This is achieved through their unique ability to occupy a moment in ludic space and time, where a player can rest, reflect, and give up – an experience I call meaningful death reflection. This thesis offers a meaningful look at a potentially growing trend in various forms of media to present the topic of death in new contexts, distancing itself from traditional presentations in mainstream Western media. This trend would appear to be filling an audience's desire to engage with content that allows them the opportunity to think about their mortality in new ways.

The term immersion has become ubiquitous in descriptions of entertainment activities, including theme park attractions, virtual reality experiences, video games, and more. In nearly all cases, an expectation is that immersion in an activity is a desired outcome. However, this implication is challenged by a lack of research into the relationship between immersion and enjoyment. A further challenge is presented by the lack of a consensus among researchers regarding a precise definition of immersion. This dissertation explores the immersion-enjoyment relationship by first examining the construct of immersion itself, followed by an exploration of the myriad concepts surrounding immersion, including engagement, presence, and flow. From this analysis, a comprehensive definition of immersion was generated. To test immersion's relationship with enjoyment, the context of video games was selected. A wide array of survey tools that study immersion in gaming were examined, which led to the creation of the Immersion-Enjoyment Model and the Immersion-Enjoyment Survey. Experienced players of the game Assassin's Creed Valhalla were recruited to take the survey, which reported on their feelings of immersion and enjoyment in the game, as well as their motivations for game-playing in general. Results of the survey led to several conclusions. First, for participants in this survey there is a weak positive correlation between immersion and enjoyment. Second, narrative and moral self-reflection are moderators to this relationship. And finally, a broader implication is that one of the core tenets of the definition of immersion – lowered awareness of outside stimuli like a phone ringing – was far less frequently experienced by these participants. The conclusion drawn from this study is that while immersion and enjoyment are positively related in this context, the definitional approach to immersion might benefit from a reevaluation

A comprehensive study in the processes of animation in various forms, from concept to simple layout animation to complex overlapping action and splining, and even lighting and texturing, I will be using a popular podcast musical as a basis to study the pipeline that’s used to create an industry animation.

Literature indicates that the United States has fallen behind other countries in the world in terms of creativity. At the same, children's self-motivated gaming and involvement in gaming communities have grown as a major pass time. The literature is inconsistent on the relationship between games and creativity with some indicating benefit while others indicate harm. Might the observed level of creative thinking among children be associated with the level of a priori self-motivated engagement with creative games and associated social media? Given the wide spectrum of the kinds of games, this research considers the "builder" (e.g. Minecraft) genre and related social media. The research question examined is, given a STEM-oriented middle and high school student population, what is the strength of the correlation between the observed level of creative thinking and the level to which a student plays and/or succeeds in a builder game and engages in its social media culture? Level of play is measured in terms of time and level of achievements within Minecraft. Level of engagement is measured in terms of posting and sharing behavior on Minecraft forums, YouTube and other social media platforms. The level of creative thinking is measured by Urban's Test for Creative Thinking – Drawing Production test. Correlations with TCT-DP and time spent, achievements in the games, and social media engagement levels were found to be statistically insignificant across all factors. However, a closer inspection of the individual distributions found evidence that supports an alternative perspective on the role of Minecraft in the play engagement of children.