Thesis advisor: Eileen Sweeney / This paper combines principles from aesthetic cognitivism with phenomenological embodiment as explained by Maurice Merleau-Ponty in order to construct both an argument for video games as a form of art as well as a method for appreciating them. I argue that the unique status of video games as interactive fictions warrants an adjusted set of aesthetic criteria. My proposed method of examination involves the concept of "fictional embodiment" in which an appreciator imaginatively undergoes the experiences of the video game character. After establishing this framework the paper applies it to narrative and emotion in video games before moving on to extended examples. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2014. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: College Honors Program. / Discipline: Philosophy.

Thesis advisor: Michael Malec / The purpose of my research is to bring an academic understanding to the phenomenon of online gaming communities, the sociological effect of technology looking at online communities. Using World of Warcraft (Blizzard Entertainment, 2001) as an online medium, I analyzed the online experience on its own terms and discovered the culture that exists in this virtual world and the community that has developed around and inside of what some would call an "alternate reality". I wanted to bring more awareness to the sociological community as to the extent of this massive video gaming population. There is a depth and complexity of these online relationships that need a voice within the sociological field, especially with regards to the need for involvement in community developing technologies, at the level of video game entertainment, as well as the idea of embodiment that this reality comes to represent to the user. My research explains how online communities are interacting within mediums using World of Warcraft as an example. The research identifies, some of these users, their individual and collective experiences, and shows that this is an embodied experience through an in-depth analysis of different aspects of the game. Despite the outdated persona of an anti-social socially awkward "geek" that is connected to people that play World of Warcraft, these players represent a part of a larger cultural shift that society is making from traditional communities that do not use electronic mediums to stay connected to those that utilize the online realm as a social vehicle. / Thesis (MA) — Boston College, 2013. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Sociology.

Video games are currently stigmatized in general culture as a lesser form of entertainment, and much of the current scholarly debate on them is unable to identify those games that also function as works of literature and to perform appropriate critical analysis. This thesis aims to rectify the above through two separate engagements. The first engagement demonstrates that the current scholarly debate over avatars can be redirected into a more productive debate on perspectives: the way in which a player is situated within a game and how this alters how the game story is told. The second engagement is with Espen Aarseths concept of ergodic literature, and thus demonstrate how this unique property of video games allows for the traversal of a video games narrative. These two issues when considered together provide a method for determining whether a video game is attempting to also be literature.

Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There have and continue to inspire many adaptations since their publication. The purpose of this thesis is to compare the treatment of the narrative, characters and dialogue of Alice in different forms of media. I will be looking at Frank Beddor’s The Looking Glass Wars, Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland, Nick Willing’s Alice, American McGee’s Alice, and Madness Returns.

Video games are currently stigmatized in general culture as a lesser form of entertainment, and much of the current scholarly debate on them is unable to identify those games that also function as works of literature and to perform appropriate critical analysis. This thesis aims to rectify the above through two separate engagements. The first engagement demonstrates that the current scholarly debate over avatars can be redirected into a more productive debate on perspectives: the way in which a player is situated within a game and how this alters how the game story is told. The second engagement is with Espen Aarseths concept of ergodic literature, and thus demonstrate how this unique property of video games allows for the traversal of a video games narrative. These two issues when considered together provide a method for determining whether a video game is attempting to also be literature.

Att spela tv- och datorspel är idag en stor del av många människors liv. Ioch med en förfinad teknik hos spelen, med bättre spelmiljö och artificiellintelligens skapas det en större realism och funderingar kan uppstå hur dettakan påverka en utövare. Den här undersökningen testade sambandet mellanempati och graden av våldsamhet i spelen hos en utövare. Det var 64gymnasieelever som deltog i en enkätundersökning, varav 16 var män. Föratt mäta empati användes Davis-IRI. Samtliga studerade vid ettsamhällsvetenskapligt program. Resultatet visade att män spelade mer, ochvåldsammare spel än kvinnor. Personer som spelade var mindre ängsliga ändem som inte spelade. Minst ängsliga var de som spelade våldsammast spel.Däremot hade de som spelade mindre våldsamma spel mer empatiskomtanke och perspektivtagande. Empatin var alltså lägre hos de somspelade våldsammare spel. Det kan dock ej fastställas om empatinivåernaberor på spelen eller utövaren.

An underlying goal of designers of some exercise video games is to increase people's motivation to exercise. Research in the field of exercise psychology shows that performing physical activity in groups increases exercise participation and adherence. However it is unclear whether the benefits of grouping apply to video games involving physical activity. This research investigates whether the motivational benefits of grouping translate to exercise games. We experimentally validate three properties of collaborative exercise games. Experiments were performed using a custom exercise game, designed with game requirements intended to increase exercise motivation. We discovered that the exercise enjoyment and engagement benefits of grouping do translate to exercise games: players preferred collaborative over single-player exercise games, and found our collaborative exercise game equally enjoyable and engaging in both co-located and distributed settings. Most interesting, non-exercisers and exercisers found the game equally enjoyable and engaging. These results indicate that collaborative exercise video games are a promising approach to helping with exercise enjoyment and engagement, and that developers should consider incorporating multiplayer support into their exercise games. / Thesis (Master, Computing) -- Queen's University, 2008-06-23 15:44:59.46

Multiplayer games have to support activities which have differing usability requirements. The usability of the system is directly influenced by the choice of consistency maintenance algorithm. These algorithms must accommodate usability requirements while ensuring shared data is accurately replicated. We demonstrate that consistency maintenance in games can be organized around the AMP properties which state that separate nodes can maintain their instances of shared data using different algorithms (asymmetry), multiple consistency maintenance algorithms can be used within an application (multiplicity), and that consistency maintenance algorithms should be created as modular components (plug-replaceability). The motivation for AMP is outlined with a review of examples from commercial 3D games and related research. Consistency maintenance algorithms are shown to exist in a usability trade-off space. A set of usability metrics is introduced and used to experimentally explore this space. Our results imply that no single algorithm is suitable for every in-game situation. The thesis concludes with an informal evaluation of the AMP based on our experience using the Fiaa.NET as an AMP framework. We found that AMP had several weaknesses, but that these were outweighed by the benefits for the developer. / Thesis (Master, Computing) -- Queen's University, 2008-01-14 23:11:30.657

Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There have and continue to inspire many adaptations since their publication. The purpose of this thesis is to compare the treatment of the narrative, characters and dialogue of Alice in different forms of media. I will be looking at Frank Beddor’s The Looking Glass Wars, Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland, Nick Willing’s Alice, American McGee’s Alice, and Madness Returns.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Alberta, 2009. / Title from PDF file main screen (viewed on Sept. 9, 2009). "A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, Department of Computing Science, University of Alberta." Includes bibliographical references.