The remarkable growth of the video game industry has triggered an interest for the capabilities that video game companies need in order to seize opportunities in the market. Companies that continuously provide product innovations are arguably better equipped to succeed in the dynamic, digitized video game landscape. Market sensing capabilities have been brought forward as particularly useful in environments with these characteristics and research suggests that user communities could be critical sources of external knowledge for video game companies. Hence, the aim of this study is to provide a framework where these concepts are combined into a unified dynamic capability, Community Sensing Capability, and to quantitatively test its effect on product innovativeness. An interview-administered questionnaire was used to gather data, resulting in a sample of 72 observations. The capability builds on three different sub-processes; sensing, sensemaking and response. Reliable measurements were developed for Community Sensing Capability, sensing and response respectively. The regression analysis indicate that sensing and response are positively related to product innovativeness, while Community Sensing Capability is not significantly related. This study contributes to literature by shedding light on a new phenomenon and giving initial insights to how the Community Sensing Capability can be exploited in innovation processes.

O objetivo deste trabalho é investigar as relações entre a representação da História e os jogos eletrônicos (Videogames) através da análise dos jogos da série, produzidos entre 2007 e 2015, Assassins Creed. A série representou múltiplos tempos históricos em narrativas, jogabilidades e espaços virtuais que reconstituíram cenários do passado para exploração e interação de um jogador que controla o avatar de um Assassino. Nossa investigação pretende compreender este produto, ainda pouco estudado nas ciências humanas, em sua especificidade, estabelecendo sua posição dentro da Indústria Cultural em seus suportes materiais e distintos gêneros e em relação a outros jogos. Utilizamos um dos episódios em específico, Assassins Creed III (2012), para nos aprofundarmos sobre o desenvolvimento da narrativa de acontecimentos, a elaboração do espaço, a interatividade proposta, para então compreender como as várias temporalidades são sistematizadas em uma estrutura narrativa e lúdica no conjunto da série, que expressa uma determinada visão sobre o multiculturalismo e a História. / The goal of this work is to investigate relations between the representation of History and electronic games (Videogames) by analyzing the game series Assassins Creed (between 2007 and 2015), which has representations of multiple historic times in narratives, gameplays and virtual spaces that reconstitute sceneries of the past for a player to explore and interact controlling the character of an Assassin. Our investigation intends to understand this product, which has been very little studied in the Humanities, within its specificity, and to pinpoint its position within the Culture Industry with its material supports and many genres as well as in relation to other games. One specific episode of the game, Assassins Creed III (2012), has been used for in-depth analysis of the narrative development of events, the creation of space and the proposed interactivity, so as to understand how the many temporalities are systemized in a ludic and narrative structure throughout the whole series, which expresses a specific view on multiculturalism and History itself.

Embasado no processo artístico, este estudo reflete e descreve a preparação dos arranjos e de um recital de músicas de videogames como repertório de concerto. Os referenciais teóricos são discussões a respeito da música nos videogames, tecnologias de áudio referentes, discussões sobre pesquisa artística, textos sobre performance e sobre o concerto como evento. Os documentos desenvolvidos pelo autor durante o processo são partituras de arranjos autorais, cartazes e logomarcas que desenhei. Hoje em dia, as músicas de videogames não mais estão restritas aos jogos, constituem um repertorio que vem sendo interpretado por orquestras e solistas em diversos lugares do mundo. De um ruído que pretendia ilustrar o som da batida de uma bolinha no jogo Pong (1972) aos materiais sinfônicos presentes nos jogos de hoje, podemos perceber uma história de evoluções tecnológicas, demandas de mercado, práticas interpretativas e a possibilidade de uma nova janela a ser aberta no campo de estudos da música. Neste trabalho, apresento o relato sobre as diferentes etapas para a preparação de um concerto com músicas de videogame, envolvendo a escolha do repertório, preparação dos arranjos, realização dos cartazes para divulgação e as decisões interpretativas. / Based on the artistic process, this research reflects and describes the preparation of arrangements and a recital of music from videogames as a concert repertoire. The theoretical references are discussions about music in videogames, related audio technologies, discussions about artistic research, texts about performance and about the concert as an event. The documents developed by the author during the process are scores of arrangements, posters and logos that I drew. Nowadays, video game music is no longer restricted to games, it is a repertoire that has been played by orchestras and soloists in different parts of the world. From a noise that was intended to illustrate the sound of the beating ball in the Pong (1972) game to the symphonic materials present in the games of today, we can perceive a history of technological evolutions, market demands, interpretive practices and the possibility of a new window to be open in the field of music studies. In this work, I present the report on the different stages for the preparation of a concert with video game music, involving the choice of repertoire, preparation of the arrangements, realization of posters for dissemination and interpretative decisions.

abstract: This dissertation describes Space Vector 1 and Space Vector 2, two video games that introduce Newtonian mechanics concepts. Space Vector 1 is a side-scrolling game, in which players choose to drop bombs or supplies. Players had to identify if the physics was correct during a mission, or they had to plot the trajectory of a falling object, which was then simulated. In Space Vector 2, players were given velocity and acceleration values and had to plot the trajectory of a spaceship across a grid, or players were given a trajectory of a spaceship on a grid and had to program the velocity and acceleration values to produce the trajectory. Space Vector 1 was evaluated with 65 college undergraduates. Space Vector 2 was evaluated with 18 high school students. All participants were given a subset of the Force Concept Inventory, a standard assessment tool in physics education, as a pretest and posttest. Space Vector 1 was evaluated with a single group pretest-posttest design. Space Vector 2 was evaluated with a 2 x 2 ANOVA, where the factors were game mechanic (prediction mechanic or programming mechanic) and bonus questions (bonus question after a mission or no bonus question). Bayesian statistical methods were used for the data analysis. The best estimate for the average change in test scores for Space Vector 1 was a score gain of 1.042 (95% Highest Density Interval (HDI) [0.613, 1.487]) with an effect size of 0.611 (95% HDI [0.327, 0.937]). The best estimate for the grand mean of change scores in Space Vector 2 was an increase of 0.78 (95% HDI [-0.3, 1.85]) with an effect size of 0.379 (95% HDI [-0.112, 0.905]). The prediction/no bonus question version produced the largest change in score, where the best estimate for the mean change score was an increase of 1.2. The estimation intervals for the Space Vector 2 results were wide, and all included zero as a credible value. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Educational Technology 2014

O mercado de videogames brasileiro e internacional apresenta forte crescimento e oportunidades de geração de emprego e renda. Este trabalho propõe um modelo de análise para a indústria de videogames brasileira que permita, tanto aos dirigentes do setor como ao governo, analisar políticas e ações que contribuam para o desenvolvimento da indústria de jogos eletrônicos no Brasil. Partindo do conceito de Economia Criativa, foram encontrados aspectos que impactam diretamente o desenvolvimento das indústrias criativas e os resultados que são esperados deste desenvolvimento. Numa pesquisa exploratória, sete destes aspectos (Tecnologia, Demanda, Governo, Propriedade Intelectual, Capital Humano, Empreendedorismo Criativo e Clusters Criativos) foram selecionados para o modelo como variáveis latentes e três foram as resultantes propostas (Faturamento, Emprego e Exportação). O resultado mostra que estas sete macrovariáveis do modelo e seus subitens são importantes para a indústria criativa de videogames e têm impactos diferenciados. A criação de um Índice permitiu identificar as variáveis prioritárias e sugerir políticas, com resultados esperados de curto e longo prazo. Tais resultados abrem portas para estudos comprobatórios, como a utilização de variáveis que possam operacionalizar modelos quantitativos de análise, assim como servem para que os dirigentes do setor possam entender melhor a necessidade de coordenação, ação conjunta e políticas de apoio ao crescimento de emprego, renda e exportações do setor. / The growth of the video game market in Brazil and globally is growing strongly and creating employment and income opportunities. This thesis presents an analytical model for the Brazilian video game industry allowing both industry leaders and the government to analyze policies to develop the local video game industry. Based on Creative Economy concepts, an exploratory survey identified seven of these aspects (Technology, Demand, Government, Intellectual Property, Human Capital, Creative Entrepreneurship and Creative Clusters) were selected for the model as latent variables and three were studied as resulting (dependent) variables (Revenue, Employment and Exports). The results shows that the seven variables of the model and its items are considered important for the creative videogame industry and have different impacts on it. An indicator allowed us to separate the variables according to perceived importance and suggest priority policies, with their expected short and long term results. These results open doors for empirical studies of variables that can operationalize quantitative models, as well as serving industry policymakers to better understand the need for coordination and supporting government policies to promote industry competitiveness, job creation and exports.

Video games are experience-based products and user satisfaction is key for their popularity. To design for as strong an experience as possible, game developers incorporate evaluation methods that help to discover their users’ expectations and needs. Despite such efforts, problems still occur with the game design that lower the user experience. To counter these problems, the evaluation methods should be investigated and improved. To address this need, I have explored various design tools and user experience theories. Applying these in a game evaluation context, I have analyzed user-created game reviews and conducted longitudinal user interview- and game diary studies in connection to playing a newly released game, in other words different methods to take advantage of users' expectations, opinions, attitudes and experiences. One result of the analysis of the obtained data is a set of “slogans” that illustrate how and why users lose interest in a game. A second result is a method for extracting user attitudes from pre-produced user reviews and how this can be used in game development. Thirdly, I introduce an alternative model, aimed at game user experience development, the Playsona. The Playsona is a lightweight tool that introduces a variant of the Persona-method, specifically for video game design. / <p>At the time of the doctoral defense, the following paper was unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 4: Manuscript.</p>

Ce travail transdisciplinaire, à l’intersection de la praxéologie motrice, de la sociologie du sport et des sciences du jeu, a pour objectif d’apporter un éclairage sur le phénomène du « sport électronique » (Wagner, 2006 ; Taylor, 2012), à travers l’exemple du jeu vidéo de combat Mortal Kombat X. La première partie de la thèse vise à questionner la pratique compétitive du jeu vidéo au regard de quatre critères objectifs régulièrement utilisés pour définir le sport : la pertinence motrice de l’activité, l’organisation des compétitions, le système réglementaire et le dispositif institutionnel (Parlebas, 1999). Afin de rendre compte des caractéristiques intrinsèques partagées par ces deux pratiques contemporaines, notre analyse s’appuie sur une méthodologie qualitative axée autour d’observations directes lors d’entraînements et de compétitions e-sportives (n = 9), et d’entretiens semi-directifs avec des joueurs amateurs et semi-professionnels (n = 4), ainsi qu’avec un organisateur d’événements compétitifs (n = 1). Les données collectées (photographies, notes de terrains et entretiens) se focalisent d’une part, sur l’organisation des événements (organisme en charge, espace et matériel à disposition, format de la compétition, médiatisation et diffusion…), et d’autre part, sur les usages des joueurs (comportements et discours, répartition et appropriation du temps et de l’espace, interactions avec les autres joueurs et avec le matériel de pratique…). Dès lors, si le sport électronique peut être assimilé à une activité sportive, la pratique compétitive du jeu vidéo, au contenu notamment violent, comme c’est le cas de notre objet d’étude, encourage-t-elle les comportements agressifs des joueurs ? Et pour autant favorise-t-elle les interactions sociales entre pratiquants ? Le phénomène de sportification (Parlebas, 1999) du jeu vidéo compétitif précédemment mis à jour, permet alors d’induire dans la deuxième partie, une réflexion indirecte sur les thèmes de la violence dans le sport et dans les jeux vidéo, par le biais du concept d’agressivité motrice (Collard, 2004 ; Dugas, 2011). En nous inspirant des travaux de Collard (2004), nous avons établi une typologie des différentes formes d’agressivité ayant lieu dans la pratique du sport électronique, et avons ainsi mis à jour une agressivité « réelle », se déroulant hors ou autour de l’écran, majoritairement illicite ou au mieux consentie, parallèlement à une agressivité « virtuelle », mise en scène dans l’univers simulationnel du jeu, cette fois-ci licite ou au pire tolérée. Notre analyse quantitative s’appuie sur des observations filmées en temps de pratique lors d’entraînements (n = 1) et de compétitions e-sportives (n = 3) de 29 joueurs réguliers et compétitifs (28 hommes et 1 femme). Nous avons ainsi observé 33 affrontements de joueurs à l’aide de deux caméras GoPro, orientées à la fois sur le joueur réel et à la fois sur sa représentation virtuelle à l’écran. Sur les 6 heures 40 d’images analysées, nous avons enregistré plus de 18 250 occurrences d’agressivité virtuelles licites, un peu moins de 300 occurrences d’agressivité virtuelles et réelles tolérées, pour aucune occurrence d’agressivité réelle illicite. Les résultats montrent ainsi qu’à l’instar des pratiques sportives, le sport électronique procède à un façonnage d’un certain type d'agressivité, en suivant cependant la logique d’évolution des jeux orientée vers un adoucissement des risques corporels encourus par une mise à distance des corps. Enfin, la dernière partie traite des formes de sociabilités (Simmel, 1981) en jeu dans la pratique du sport électronique. Les regroupements en « communautés », « clans » ou « équipes » mettent en lumière les interactions existantes entre joueurs compétitifs. Nous avons procédé à une analyse par questionnaire sous forme de comparaison par paires (Condorcet, 1785). (...) / This transdiciplinary work, at the intersection of motor praxeology, the sociology of sports and game studies, seeks to understand the phenomenon of “electronic sport” (Wagner, 2006; Taylor, 2012), using the fighting game Mortal Kombat X as its primary focus. The first chapter of this dissertation examines the competitive video gaming practice under four objective and operational criteria commonly used to define a sport: the physicality, the organization of competitions, the regulatory system and the institutional device (Parlebas, 1999). In order to understand more clearly the characteristics shared by these two contemporary practices, our analysis is based on a qualitative methodology centered on direct observations during training and e-sport competitions (n = 9) and semi-directive interviews with amateurs, semi-professional gamers (n = 4) and with an organizer of competitive events (n = 1). The collected data (photographs, field notes and interviews) focus on one hand on the event’s organization (governing bodies, space and equipment, competition format, broadcasting) and on the other hand on player interactions (behavior and speech, appropriation of time and space, interactions with other players and with the material). With this data in mind, we asked if e-sports can be considered as a sport, does competitive video gaming, especially with violent content, encourage aggressive behavior? And if so, does it promote social interactions among players? The sportization process (Elias & Dunning, 1986) of competitive video gaming, allows in the second chapter of our study for an indirect reflection on the themes of violence in sports and video games, aided by the concept of motor aggression (Collard, 2004; Dugas, 2011). Drawing on the work of Collard (2004), we have established a typology of different forms of aggression often occurring in e-sports. Here, we distinguished “real aggression,” taking place outside of the game, mostly illegal or at best permitted, from “virtual aggression,” which takes place in the virtual environment and is lawful or at worst tolerated. The quantitative analysis is based on recorded observations during training (n = 1) and competitions (n = 3). We filmed 29 regular and competitive players (28 men and one woman). During the observation of 33 fights, two cameras were oriented toward both the real player and its virtual representation on screen. The results show more than 18,250 occurrences of lawful aggression, a little less than 300 occurrences of tolerated aggression, and no occurrence of illegal aggression. Like sports, e-sports simultaneously result in a certain form of aggression while following the evolutionary logic of games oriented toward a decrease of the risk of physical injury. The final chapter deals with the forms of sociability (Simmel, 1981) present in the practice of e-sport. The groupings of competitors into “communities” or “teams” highlight these interactions among competitive players. We conducted a questionnaire analysis as a paired comparison (Condorcet, 1785). We asked 207 players (196 men and 11 women) to class six reasons why they practice e-sports: competition, social interactions, recognition, skill development, graphics and sensations procured by participation. Results reveal that 63% (130/207) rankings are transitive, showing that individual choices are consistent and the preferences are structured. Collective choices indicate a high homogeneity. Although the competitive aspect is the main reason for playing e-sports, social interactions are the second factor, leading us away from popular ideas of a socially isolated player. Just as with “real-life” sports, e-sports mirror the societies in which they are created. The sportization of competitive video gaming is a good indicator of the social and cultural developments of our time. (...)

Apprendre à lire est une activité complexe qui s'appuie sur différentes capacités cognitives, dont l'attention visuelle. Absente des programmes scolaires, le rôle de l'attention visuelle pour l'apprentissage de la lecture est pourtant largement documenté dans la littérature scientifique. Dans cette thèse, nous avons donc conçu un logiciel éducatif original d'entraînement de l'attention visuelle, Evasion, et évalué l'impact de son utilisation au sein de la classe.Pour ce faire, une revue de littérature a été menée pour identifier plus précisément quelles sont les dimensions de l'attention visuelle impliquées en lecture et comment les entraîner au mieux. Un cadre conceptuel théorique que nous avons développé permet d'interpréter ces éléments et suggère que les dimensions à cibler sont la quantité totale d'attention visuelle et sa dispersion dans l'espace. Ces deux dimensions semblent particulièrement bien entraînées par les jeux vidéo d'action, dont l'effet sur l'attention visuelle a été lui aussi expliqué dans le cadre de notre modèle.Pour les entraîner au mieux au sein d'Evasion, nous avons mêlé les tâches, dont l'effet sur ces dimensions a été validé, avec les propriétés des jeux vidéo d'action. Notre logiciel prend la forme de quatre mini-jeux, dont les propriétés s'ajustent au niveau de l'élève grâce à un algorithme d'adaptation de la difficulté développé par notre équipe. Evasion devait être utilisé en classe pendant 10~h au total, à raison de 3 sessions hebdomadaires de 20 minutes. L'expérimentation a porté sur 730 élèves de CP répartis en deux groupes d’entraînement. Les deux groupes étaient appariés quant à leurs compétences cognitives avant entraînement. En post-entraînement, les performances du groupe Evasion ont été comparées à celles du groupe contrôle, qui recevait un entraînement de la compréhension orale en anglais.Les résultats de cette expérience écologique montrent que les capacités d'attention visuelle et de lecture ne progressent pas davantage suite à l'utilisation d'Evasion que suite à l'utilisation d'un entraînement contrôle. Des analyses supplémentaires révèlent que le protocole a été peu suivi en classe, et que le temps d'entraînement est un facteur expliquant l'amplitude de l'amélioration des dimensions attentionnelles ciblées. Par ailleurs, il semblerait que les entraînements proposés aient été trop faciles. Ces résultats ouvrent de nouvelles perspectives sur les améliorations à apporter à notre logiciel et, plus généralement, sur les conditions de mise en oeuvre d'expériences écologiques dont les besoins sont spécifiques. / Learning to read is a complex activity that relies on different cognitive abilities, including visual attention. The role of visual attention in learning to read is widely documented in the scientific literature but absent from school curricula. In this thesis work, we designed an original educational software, called Evasion, for visual attention training in the classroom and we evaluated its impact on beginning readers' performance.A literature review was first conducted to identify the dimensions of visual attention that are involved in reading and how best to train them. We then propose a conceptual framework which allows us to interpret these results. We conclude that the dimensions to be targeted are the total amount of visual attention resources and attention spatial dispersion. These two facets of attention seem to be particularly well driven by action video games, whose effect on visual attention has also been characterized in our model.To train visual attention resources and dispersion as well as possible within Evasion, we have mixed the tasks known to improve these attentional dimensions with the properties of action video games. Our software includes four training mini-games and an adaptive difficulty algorithm developed by our team to adjust the game properties online to the child needs. The training program was provided in classroom over a period of ten weeks at a rate of three 20-minute sessions a week. It was proposed to a large sample of 730 beggining readers for reading difficulty prevention.The impact of Evasion was assessed before and after training as compared to a control group that used an intervention program conceived to improve oral comprehension in English. The results of this ecological experiment show that visual attention and reading did not improve more following Evasion than control training. Additional analyses revealed that training time was poorly respected while this factor relates to the magnitude of improvement in the attentional dimensions we targeted. The analyses further suggest a problem in the level of difficulty of the mini-games. Overall, our work opens up new perspectives on the improvements to be made to our software and, above all, on the conditions for successful implementation of ecological experiments.

Introduction: The American Psychiatric Association included Internet gaming disorder (IGD) in the 5th Edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, and the World Health Organization included gaming disorder in the 11th revision of the International Classification of Diseases. These recent updates suggest significant concern related to the harms of excessive gaming. Areas covered: This systematic review provides an updated summary of the scientific literature on treatments for IGD. Inclusion criteria were that studies: 1) evaluate the effectiveness of an intervention for IGD or excessive gaming; 2) use an experimental design (i.e. multi-armed [randomized or nonrandomized] or pretest-posttest); 3) include at least 10 participants per group; and 4) include an outcome measure of IGD symptoms or gaming duration. The review identified 22 studies evaluating treatments for IGD: 8 evaluating medication, 7 evaluating cognitive behavioral psychotherapy, and 7 evaluating other interventions and psychosocial treatments. Expert opinion: Even with the recent uptick in publication of such clinical trials, methodological flaws prevent strong conclusions about the efficacy of any treatment for IGD. Additional well-designed clinical trials using common metrics for assessing IGD symptoms are needed to advance the field.

En esta investigación analizaremos como se construye un posfeminimo y una posverdad en la hipersexualización de la mujer, para ser más específicos de las titty streamers, en la plataforma de YouTube. En los últimos años, la plataforma concentró la atención de los jóvenes por la transmisión en vivo de videojuegos de streamers que monetizaban sus contenidos. No obstante, las mujeres streamers usaban la sensualidad como recurso para atraer la atención del público joven asiduo a la plataforma. Esta práctica se ha convertido en un modelo para obtener mayor visualización y monetización en la gran mayoría de directos de la plataforma. El diseño de la investigación es Interpretativo, donde se aplicaría un método cualitativo. Se aplicará la técnica de análisis de contenido a la muestra de videos recopilatorios de las Titty streamers más conocidas por los usuarios de YouTube en Latinoamérica. / In this research we will analyze how a post-feminine and a post-truth is constructed in the hypersexualization of women, to be more specific of titty streamers, on the Twitch platform. In recent years, the platform focused the attention of young people by the live transmission of video games from streamers who monetized their content. However, female streamers used sensuality as a resource to attract the attention of the young audience that was a regular on the platform. This practice has become a model to obtain greater visualization and monetization in the vast majority of live broadcasts on the platform. The research design is Interpretive, where a qualitative method would be applied. The content analysis technique is applied to the compilation video sample of the titty streamers best known by YouTube users in Latin America. / Trabajo de investigación