The field of education is constantly evolving, and digital technology in the classroom is commonplace and includes the utilization of films, internet, computer aided instruction, educational video games, presentation software, edutainment, digital photography, cinematography, and computer aided drafting. As technology has advanced, so have the opportunities for its use in the classroom. This is particularly the case with serious games.<p> Serious games are generally defined as games whose primary intent is training or learning with definable learning goals, instead of being primarily intended for entertainment (Hartz & Stern, 2008). Closely related to educational video games and often used synonymously, serious games commonly incorporate simulations and role play. The design and focus of serious games are being recognized by a widening array of audiences including educators of primary and secondary education.<p> Much of the past research on serious games has focused largely on supporting the use of digital games in education. Little research has been done not only on why and how the games are effective, but also on how to incorporate the games into the curriculum (Becker, 2007). As the availability of serious games increases, it is important to build studies around specific games, exposing their potential and usability for specific curricular areas.<p> This case study utilizes the serious game <i>Building Homes of Our Own</i>, which has been created to educate students on the processes of planning, building, and selling a house. The study involved 18 Grade eleven students who were enrolled in Practical and Applied Arts (P.A.A.) and were engaged in the construction portion of their course. Three methods of data collection were used to explore four basic research questions: 1) How well does the game teach curriculum objectives? 2) How well does the game facilitate higher-order thinking? 3) What kind of environment is created by serious gaming in teaching construction? and, 4) What do students think about using serious games in the classroom? Research methods included the administration and evaluation of pre- and post-tests, administration and evaluation of critical thinking questions, direct observation of the serious gaming learning environment, and the utilization of a focus group interview.<p> Findings in the study provide important information that serves to answer the main question addressed by this study, namely, what is the potential of serious games for teaching high-school construction technologies? The findings report how effectively the serious game <i>Building Homes of Our Own </i>supports Saskatchewans construction curriculum objectives. Findings also include relevant information on a variety of critical-thinking skills learned as a result of playing this particular serious game. The researcher and his assistant made significant observations of the learning environment created by this serious game, and, finally, the students provided important information regarding the strengths and weaknesses of using <i>Building Homes of Our Own</i> and serious games in general, for learning in the context of P.A.A.

Uppsatsen handlar om retoriken i tv-spel. I tv-spelsforskningen pågår en debatt mellan ludologin och narratologin där ludologin menar att spel ska ses som spel och inget annat – exempelvis som en fotbollsmatch där spelet självt är det huvudsakliga innehållet och där ingen frågar efter ytterligare mening. Narratologin menar att spel i grunden är berättande eller bär på berättande drag – att en fotbollsmatch följer en överskådlig dramaturgi och berättande mönster. I denna uppsats för jag in retoriken till denna diskussion. Spel idag är ofta en blandning av regelbaserade spelmoment och ett narrativ, och denna blandform bär på sin egen retorik. Genom att analysera tv-spelet Uncharted 2 via klassisk retorik vill jag åskådliggöra de övertygande grepp som spelet har gemensamt med äldre kulturformer och den muntliga kulturens särdrag som de definieras av Walter J. Ong. Syftet är att hitta ”tv-spelets retorik” – den retorik som används inom spelet för att göra spelet självt spelbart, attraktivt, övertygande, meningsfullt och underhållande för spelaren.

The focuses of this paper are narrative structures and mythological elements in the video game Chrono Trigger. A qualitative method was used to code the game world's seven eras into themes of symbolism, quest-themes, and, characters. These themes were compared with Northrop Frye's archetypal myth theory from Anatomy of Criticism. The results show that each age relates to a season and moves due to the player's influence according to a cyclical pattern. Six out of seven epochs show high correlation to Frye's archetypal model whereas options such as to discard the main hero illustrates the player's control. The seventh era pictures a more female symbolism than the male dominant template proposed by Frye. A hypothesis is presented with the concept of a fluent surface which argues that the player manipulates the basic story to build a personal narrative. Furthermore, the hypothesis emphasizes that the specific game mechanics stimulates the player's sensitivity to the narrative elements when constructing an individual ideal story.

This essay researches video games and learning. The academic interest in video games is steadily growing and this teacher‟s degree unifies interactive game play with the learning possibilities of the media. The study compares the Swedish upper secondary school curriculum Lpf94 with Gee‟s educational theory. The correlations are analyzed for compatibility, and Bioware‟s 2007 video game Mass Effect is applied to see what elements are capable to teach playing students English. A qualitative methodology is used according to Malterud‟s template analysis style and follows a top-down fashion. The material is analyzed through a triangulation system where each piece is read as a text and is compared and interpreted. The results show that Lpf94 and Gee‟s theory has a generally high compatibility. English learning is viable since Mass Effect provides the player with a language simulator that puts the language in a logical environment. Although the game script is static, the study shows that Mass Effect includes vocabulary training, a pragmatic understanding of language, and a tool for class room teaching.

Abstract The video game consoles was accompanied with players for decades, from the video game consoles of the first generation that have simple screen and hardware, to the video game consoles of the seventh generation that have exquisite screen, online functions, and excellent hardware, players have deep impressions on these video game consoles of every generation. In the market of new generation video game consoles, Wii was favored with consumers after Nintendo began to sale it, because we could use the motion controller to control the games. However, the gap of the quantities of new generation video game consoles was narrowed by the SONY and Microsoft after they started to offer motion controllers, the Playstation Move for PS3 and Kinect for XBOX 360. Therefore, understandingthe factors that affect the intention of X and Y generation consumers, the main consuming group of video game consoles, to purchase new generation video game consoles is the important thing for corporations. We add perceived playfulness and portraits of the new generation into Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and modify TAM to discuss the factors to affect the intention of X and Y generation consumers to purchase new generation video consoles. The total research effective tests are 202 copies. The conclusions of this study are presented as follows: 1. X generation consumers pay more attention to perceive usefulness, and Y generation consumers pay more attention to perceived playfulness. 2. Variables that affect X and Y generation consumers most are perceived usefulness, perceived playfulness, portraits of video game consoles and intention of use. 3. TAM is confirmed that it¡¦s suitable for the study on video game consoles.

The video game industry has developed into a multibillion dollar industry. As the rise of social media and other online networks has enabled consumers to more easily express their opinions and critique about the products, these platforms become important when it comes to obtaining customer knowledge. The responsibilities of a community manager includes to obtain this knowledge and share it further with the game developers. Hence, a shared effort between the firm and the online communities of the firm can help create value for the customers in the long run. This study aims to gain a deeper understanding of the community manager's role within the process of transferring information from the communities into knowledge for the company, and also to explore how it differs in different sized companies. Theory regarding knowledge transfer and conversion, as well as customer knowledge management theory have be covered and in addition also theories on online communities. To achieve the aim of the study a qualitative and exploratory research was undertaken by selecting four case companies. Gathering the empirical findings, it became clear that one company had the most interesting community out of the four cases and therefore it became the main focus in the analysis. A community manager’s role is different depending on the company and its size. Larger firms are more concerned with a social media presence and smaller firms are more concerned with maintaining close relationships. Reaching a conclusion, it was clear that the community manager at Expansive Worlds, had several different roles within the process of knowledge transfer, in terms of acquiring, combining, and sharing knowledge.

The creative possibilities of video games have been energized by the continual advancement of technology in the twenty-first century. Extensive research has been conducted to better understand the effects of video game audio-visual components, gaming platforms, and computer-mediated communication. The research that has investigated the influence of narrative elements has focused primarily on their interaction with aggressive game play and increased aggression. After investigation into the literature pertaining to narrative, human motivation, and arousal, this thesis discusses study results indicating a subtle, yet significant, influence character motivation manipulation has increasing audience arousal, specifically in a narrative involving a near future war plotline. Additionally, the results indicating that the localization of a narrative’s setting does not increased audience arousal any more so than a narrative setting ambiguously defined. These concepts can be useful to advertising strategists interested in developing advergames or product placements within video games, and therefore the implications of this thesis’ results and future research suggestions will be presented. / text

This dissertation examines how commercially successful military-themed video games produced after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks are crafted, marketed, and played with the goal of understanding the interlocking technological, cultural, and social practices that contribute to their interactive pleasures. The systematic inquiry into the production and experience of media pleasure carries with it vexing questions about how such affect is created and how it is situated within broader cultural fields. This interdisciplinary project accordingly utilizes multiple methods including close textual readings of seminal games, a critical discourse analysis of marketing materials, and an ethnography and focus group of a war gaming fan community to track how these sites of practice give post-9/11 military-themed gameplay its distinctive experiential character and cultural import. The case studies examined herein reveal that the affective dimensions of militarized gameplay are intimately linked to the political and cultural forces undergirding their production, marketing, and reception, and that the games industry mobilizes anxieties about terrorism to entice gamers into virtually striking back against foreign aggressors. / text

I study the impact of the used goods market on pricing and profits in the video game industry and the implications of resale restrictions. I develop a modeling framework that incorporates (a) heterogeneous consumers who are forward looking in their buying an selling behaviors, (b) a strategic game producer who prices its products considering both inter-temporal price discrimination and price competition with used goods, (c) rational expectations on future prices by both consumers and the firm, and (d) market equilibria for both new and used-goods markets. Without observing sales data, I use equilibrium pricing solutions in my model and the varying rate of price decrease after a game's release to identify the sales volume of a game in every period as a percentage of its total demand. I develop a computationally tractable utility specification to solve the computational challenge comes with modeling the supply side equilibrium. I construct the demand function for a game from heterogeneous consumers whose valuations distribute on an interval, and partially characterize the consumers' decisions and reduce the dimensionality of the state space. Applying the model to a unique dataset of game prices collected from the Internet, I estimate the game-specific demand for multiple games released in the U.S. market. The results show significant variation across games in terms of shapes of valuation distributions, expected play time, degrees of consumers' preference for new over used games, and price sensitivities. Policy simulations show that the effects of prohibiting resale largely depend on the shape of a game's demand distribution, because most of the profits are gained from higher-valuation consumers who purchase the game when the price is high. Prohibiting resale does not dampen their willingness to pay for the game because their high utility from playing it. Moreover, higher expected future prices in the absence of the used-game market further reduces their incentives to wait. I find the predicted profit increase is significant for most games when reselling is prohibited. However, games with demand consisting mostly of low valuation consumers benefit less from this structural change, because (a) early sales increase only slightly given a much smaller proportion of high valuation consumers and (b) losing the option to resell significantly decreases the willingness to pay for low valuation consumers, forcing the firm to slash its prices dramatically over time. I find empirical evidence that a firm can be better off with the used game market. This suggests that though eliminating the resale market is generally optimal for popular games, retaining it can be more profitable for some games. / text

This paper deals with the Swedish computer and video game industry. The aim is toreach a better understanding of why it has been so successful and why it has seen such a largegrowth during the years 2008-2015. In the paper, this is shown by looking at Sweden’s computerand video game sector as a cluster, as defined by Porter. The analysis is based on a model usingnational systems of innovation. The paper presents a narrative of the development of theSwedish video game industry as well as cases describing specific companies in more detail.The reasons for the growth during the period are found to be primarily three different aspects ofthe sector: (1) success of the Swedish game Minecraft (2) the specific market conditions (3) acycle of growth in the Swedish game industry. The conditions allowing the Swedish gameindustry to be successful are found to be tradition, international focus, the Swedish nationalwelfare system, all supported by well-developed technical educations.