This research aims to fill a research gap by examining video games to explore whether gender, age, or hours played per week would exert any influence on the information of those who may or may not play video games. Mood Management Theory and Uses and Gratification Theory were used as the theoretical foundation for this study. Four-hundred-three East Tennessee State University students who received the survey via email were asked to voluntarily participate in a survey about their motivations behind playing video games. Results from MANOVA showed that the motivations of male participants on video games were significantly higher than were female participants on video games. Moreover, those who claimed to play five or more hours of video games per week were significantly higher than those who claimed to play zero hours per week.

Die Qualität der Schnittstelle eines Videospiels kann wesentlich zu dessen kommerziellen Erfolg beitragen. Dennoch beschränkt sich die entsprechende Evaluation primär auf die Auswertung qualitativer Daten, die etwa in Nutzertests erhoben werden. Inferenzstatistische Verfahren kommen bisher mangels theoretischer Grundlagen kaum zum Einsatz. Die vorliegende Arbeit stellt daher ein theoretisches Framework zur quantitativen Analyse verschiedener Dimensionen der Schnittstellengestaltung in Videospielen zur Verfügung. Dabei wird ausgehend von spielwissenschaftlichen Überlegungen und einer Erweiterung von Huizingas Konzept des „magic circle“ ein Bogen von perzeptiven, psychologischen und soziologischen bis hin zu kulturellen Aspekten gespannt. Methodisch handhabbar wird dieses Konstrukt durch eine Ausrichtung am Genre-Begriff, der für den Bereich der Videospiele diskutiert wird. So entsteht ein ganzheitliches Modell, das den Grundstein zu einem zielgruppenspezifischen und quantitativen Messinstrument für Interfaces in Videospielen legt. / The quality of a videogame’s interface is a decisive factor to its commercial success. However, the current evaluation methods focus primarily on qualitative research data like those generated in usability tests. Methods of inferential statistics are not common yet because of a lack of theoretical fundamentals. To address this issue, this paper provides a theoretical framework for quantitative analysis on different dimensions of interface design in videogames. Aspects of perception, psychology, sociology as well as culture are dealt with in this context and the associated scientific concepts are conflated by a theoretical extension of Huizinga’s “magic circle”. The technical term “genre” in regard to videogames is also discussed in this paper and it proves to be a basis for connecting the various concepts methodically. As a result, this paper presents a holistic model, which can be applied in future audience-specific and quantitative measuring instruments for interfaces in videogames.

Introduction: Parkinson's disease is a progressive degenerative disorder of norepinephric dopaminergic neurons, resulting in motor dysfunction, respiratory dysfunction, poor quality of life and depression. The performance of physical exercises minimizes and delays the evolution of motor signs and symptoms in subjects with Parkinson's disease, providing an increase in motor function and possible improvement of physical, respiratory, quality of life and depression. Among physical exercises, functional training and exergame are new modalities in the physical training of individuals with neurological diseases, demonstrating significant results in the improvement of motor function. Objectives: To verify the influence of physical exercises and motor function on respiratory capacity, as well as evaluate the effects of physical training with exergame and functional training on respiratory capacity, motor function, perception of quality of life and the perceived state of depression in individuals with Parkinson's disease. Results: The study is organized in four manuscripts. (1) The results of this systematic review demonstrate that exercise improves respiratory capacity in individuals with Parkinson's disease; (2) It has been shown that loss of motor function negatively influences the perception of quality of life and respiratory capacity in individuals with Parkinson's disease; (3) It was observed that the exergame group and the functional training group increased the strength of the respiratory muscles and the distance covered in the 6-minute walk test after the intervention. It was also observed that the control group decreased mean forced expiratory flow after the intervention; (4) Physical training with exergame and functional training were found to increase motor function, perception of quality of life and decrease the perceived state of depression in subjects with Parkinson's disease. The perception of quality of life decreased in the control group after 1 month of not performing physical exercises. Conclusions: Physical exercises promote improvement in respiratory capacity in individuals with Parkinson's disease. It was also observed that motor function influences respiratory capacity and perception of quality of life in this population. And, exergame physical training and functional training promoted improvement in respiratory muscle strength, distance from the 6-minute walk test, motor function, perceived quality of life status, and depression in subjects with Parkinson's disease. / Introdução: A doença de Parkinson é uma desordem degenerativa progressiva dos neurônios dopaminérgicos nigroestriatais, resulta em disfunções motoras, respiratórias, baixa qualidade de vida e depressão. A realização de exercícios físicos minimiza e retarda a evolução dos sinais e sintomas motores em sujeitos com doença de Parkinson, proporcionando aumento da função motora e possível melhoria da capacidade física, respiratória, qualidade de vida e depressão. Dentre os exercícios físicos, o treinamento funcional e o exergame são modalidades novas no treinamento físico de indivíduos com doenças neurológicas, demonstrando resultados significativos na melhora da função motora. Objetivo geral: Verificar a influência dos exercícios físicos e da função motora na capacidade respiratória, assim como avaliar os efeitos do treinamento físico com exergame e do treinamento funcional na capacidade respiratória, função motora, percepção de qualidade de vida e no estado percebido de depressão em indivíduos com doença de Parkinson. Resultados: O estudo está organizado em quatro manuscritos. (1) Os resultados desta revisão sistemática demonstram que os exercícios físicos melhoram a capacidade respiratória em indivíduos com doença de Parkinson; (2) Evidenciou-se que a perda da função motora influencia negativamente à percepção da qualidade de vida e a capacidade respiratória em indivíduos com doença de Parkinson; (3) Foi observado que o grupo exergame e o grupo treinamento funcional aumentaram a força dos músculos respiratórios e a distância percorrida no teste de caminhada de 6 minutos após a intervenção. Constatou-se também que o grupo controle diminuiu o fluxo expiratório forçado médio após a intervenção; (4) Verificou-se que o treinamento físico com exergame e o treinamento funcional aumentaram a função motora, percepção da qualidade de vida e diminuíram o estado percebido de depressão em sujeitos com doença de Parkinson. Já a percepção de qualidade de vida diminuiu no grupo controle após 1 mês da não realização de exercícios físicos. Conclusões: Os exercícios físicos promovem melhora na capacidade respiratória em indivíduos com doença de Parkinson. Também foi observado que a função motora influencia na capacidade respiratória e na percepção de qualidade de vida nesta população. E que, o treinamento físico com exergame e o treinamento funcional promoveram melhora na força dos músculos respiratórios, distância do teste de caminhada de 6 minutos, função motora, estado percebido de qualidade de vida e de depressão em sujeitos com doença de Parkinson. / São Cristóvão, SE

This work aims to discuss the women´s exclusion from the design of soccer videogames. We investigated two of the best-selling videogames in Brazil titled Pro Evolution Soccer and FIFA Soccer. The research developed in three stages. First we observed the gameplay of five students, four males and a female, from a public school to analyze both the game design and the relationship between the game and the players. Then we conducted a bibliographical study in order to identify why these videogames exclude women´s soccer. It was possible to identify various contexts that contribute directly or indirectly to such exclusion. Finally, we proposed an activity on the exclusion of women´s soccer to the students in the same school to investigate how they understood this exclusion in the physical and digital soccer. The work had the research of Consalvo (2013) and Bryce, Rutter and Sullivan (2006), Crawford (2009), and Crawford and Gosling (2005) on gender identity and sports videogames as the main reference. We understood that the exclusion of women´s soccer cannot be attributed to a single reason. Both videogames seek to replicate the reality of soccer and the transmission broadcast of it on television but from contexts where women´s soccer has been marginalized. Moreover, the female audience has not been considered by the producers as an ideal market, despite its great consuming potential. As a result of the exclusion of women´s soccer from the design of videogames, soccer videogames are perceived as a male amusement, this could lead to a disengagement from practice for the women. Moreover, as a result of this exclusion, students had little knowledge about the women´s game. Therefore, it is necessary to reframe soccer videogames beyond mere amusement, as they may contribute to consolidate traditional values and concepts that position women at a disadvantaged place in sports and society. / Este trabalho tem por objetivo discutir a exclusão feminina do design dos videogames de futebol. Para isso investigamos os dois jogos mais vendidos no Brasil intitulados Pro Evolution Soccer e FIFA Soccer. A pesquisa se desenvolveu em três momentos. Primeiro observamos a prática de jogo de quatro alunos e uma aluna de uma escola pública a fim de analisar o design do jogo e sua relação com os jogadores. Em seguida fizemos um estudo bibliográfico, buscando identificar porque tais jogos excluem o futebol feminino. Foi possível evidenciar diversos contextos que contribuem direta ou indiretamente para essa exclusão. Por último, propusemos uma atividade sobre a exclusão do futebol feminino para os alunos da mesma escola para investigar como eles entendiam essa exclusão no futebol físico e no futebol digital. O trabalho teve como principais referências as pesquisas de Consalvo (2013) e Bryce, Rutter e Sullivan (2006), Crawford (2009) e Crawford e Gosling (2005) sobre identidade de gênero e videogames esportivos. Percebemos que a exclusão do futebol feminino não pode ser atribuída a um fator isolado. Os dois videogames buscam reproduzir a realidade do futebol e a transmissão do esporte pela televisão a partir de contextos em que o futebol feminino tem sido marginalizado. Além disso, o público feminino não tem sido considerado pelas empresas produtoras como um público-consumidor ideal, apesar de seu grande potencial de consumo. Como consequência da exclusão do futebol feminino do design dos videogames de futebol, os jogos eram percebidos como diversão masculina, afastando as mulheres da prática de jogo e os alunos-jogadores tinham pouco conhecimento a respeito da modalidade feminina. Portanto, é preciso ressignificar os videogames de futebol para além da mera diversão, pois eles podem contribuir para consolidar valores e conceitos tradicionais que colocam a mulher em posição desvantajosa no esporte e na sociedade.

La presente investigación, es de naturaleza exploratoria no experimental, de enfoque mixto así mismo, tiene como objetivo confirmar si las variables apoyo gubernamental, capital humano, networking, asociatividad, innovación, marketing y calidad influyen positivamente en la internacionalización de las PYMES de la industria del videojuego en Lima Metropolitana al año 2020. Para lograr el objetivo, se recurrió a la revisión de la literatura existente tanto nacional como internacional para entender el problema a profundidad. Así mismo, se realizó recolección de data mediante expertos en el tema y profesionales del gobierno, para luego con ayuda de las herramientas Atlas.Ti y SPSS analizar la importancia de los factores en la internacionalización; la data que hemos obtenido se dio a través de entrevistas a profundidad y un cuestionario en Google Forms a los desarrolladores de videojuegos de Lima Metropolitana. Respecto a los análisis utilizados, en el caso del análisis cualitativo se realizó una red de enlace para poder ver como se relacionan las variables entre sí y por el lado cuantitativo se realizó un análisis descriptivo y factorial. Finalmente, los resultados obtenidos muestran que los factores más determinantes en la internacionalización son la calidad, innovación, marketing, networking y el capital humano. Siendo los menos determinantes el apoyo del gobierno y asociatividad. / This research is of an exploratory, non-experimental nature, with a mixed approach, and it aims to confirm whether the variables government support, human resources, networking, associativity, innovation, marketing and quality positively influence the internationalization of SMEs in the industry. of the video game in Metropolitan Lima by 2020. To achieve the objective, a review of the existing national and international literature was used to understand the problem in depth. Likewise, data collection was carried out by experts on the subject and government professionals, and then with the help of the Atlas.Ti and SPSS tools to analyze the importance of factors in internationalization; The data we have obtained was given through in-depth interviews and a questionnaire in Google Forms to the videogame developers of Metropolitan Lima. Regarding the analyzes used, in the case of qualitative analysis, a link network was carried out to see how the variables are related to each other and on the quantitative side, a descriptive and factorial analysis was carried out. Finally, the results obtained show that the most determining factors in internationalization are quality, innovation, marketing, networking, and human resources. The least decisive being the support of the government and associativity. / Tesis

Die Qualität der Schnittstelle eines Videospiels kann wesentlich zu dessen kommerziellen Erfolg beitragen. Dennoch beschränkt sich die entsprechende Evaluation primär auf die Auswertung qualitativer Daten, die etwa in Nutzertests erhoben werden. Inferenzstatistische Verfahren kommen bisher mangels theoretischer Grundlagen kaum zum Einsatz. Die vorliegende Arbeit stellt daher ein theoretisches Framework zur quantitativen Analyse verschiedener Dimensionen der Schnittstellengestaltung in Videospielen zur Verfügung. Dabei wird ausgehend von spielwissenschaftlichen Überlegungen und einer Erweiterung von Huizingas Konzept des „magic circle“ ein Bogen von perzeptiven, psychologischen und soziologischen bis hin zu kulturellen Aspekten gespannt. Methodisch handhabbar wird dieses Konstrukt durch eine Ausrichtung am Genre-Begriff, der für den Bereich der Videospiele diskutiert wird. So entsteht ein ganzheitliches Modell, das den Grundstein zu einem zielgruppenspezifischen und quantitativen Messinstrument für Interfaces in Videospielen legt. / The quality of a videogame’s interface is a decisive factor to its commercial success. However, the current evaluation methods focus primarily on qualitative research data like those generated in usability tests. Methods of inferential statistics are not common yet because of a lack of theoretical fundamentals. To address this issue, this paper provides a theoretical framework for quantitative analysis on different dimensions of interface design in videogames. Aspects of perception, psychology, sociology as well as culture are dealt with in this context and the associated scientific concepts are conflated by a theoretical extension of Huizinga’s “magic circle”. The technical term “genre” in regard to videogames is also discussed in this paper and it proves to be a basis for connecting the various concepts methodically. As a result, this paper presents a holistic model, which can be applied in future audience-specific and quantitative measuring instruments for interfaces in videogames.

Dans les jeux vidéo de rôle japonais (JRPG), si le héros est généralement un personnage masculin hétérosexuel se battant à l’arme blanche pour sauver le monde, le personnage de soutien principal est une jeune femme éprise du protagoniste et dotée de divers attributs associés au féminin (apparence soignée, mais peu adaptée au combat, tendance à occuper un rôle de soutien…). À partir du constat selon lequel la plupart des analyses féministes occidentales ne prennent pas en considération le contexte culturel spécifique japonais qui voit naître les JRPG, ce mémoire construit un cadre conceptuel pour mieux décrire et comprendre les tendances historiques de l’évolution des personnages féminins de ces objets vidéoludiques. Il fait appel au concept de l’agentivité, utilisé à la fois en études du jeu et en études féministes littéraires, pour établir des liens entre le genre d’un personnage et la jouabilité qui lui est associée, puis à des travaux japonais sur les phénomènes otaku pour s’assurer d’intégrer un point de vue non-occidental sur ces objets culturels. ll se termine par une analyse des rôles en combat et dans le récit des personnages féminins de la série Tales of. / In Japanese role-playing games (JRPGs), if the typical protagonist is a male brunet swordsman saving the world, the typical support character is a young good-looking woman, enamored with the protagonist, and whose fighting style focuses on supporting him rather than offense. From the observation that most occidental feminist analysis in game studies do not take into consideration the specific cultural context in which JRPGs are born, this master thesis builds a theoretical framework to allow a deeper understanding of the historical dynamics that have guided the evolution of female characters in these videogames. This thesis examines the uses of the concept of agency in both game studies and literary gender studies, in order to bridge gameplay and gender. It then integrates Japanese perspectives of female characters in otaku cultural objects, such as mangas and animes. The thesis ends by depicting of the evolution of female characters in the Tales of series, more specifically their combat roles and importance in the story.

No description available.

S’intéressant aux différents rôles du son dans les jeux vidéo d’horreur, ce mémoire vise à exposer le travail cognitif effectué par le joueur lors de son activité de jeu. De la structuration des sons jusqu’à la production de sens à partir de leurs fonctions, cette recherche mesure l’implication du phénomène sonore dans la mise en scène de la peur vidéoludique. Dans cette optique, elle présente, critique et développe une pluralité de concepts portant sur la jouabilité, les postures d’écoute, la diégèse, les générateurs sonores, les fonctions sonores systémiques et immersives ainsi que sur la création de la peur à l’aide de différentes stratégies sonores. / Focusing on the different roles of sound in horror videogames, this master thesis aims to expose the cognitive process of a gamer during his gameplay activity. From the structure of the soundscape to the production of meaning through the sound’s functions, this research measures the implication of audio in the creation of a mise en scène of videoludic fear. As a means to do so, it presents, evaluates and develops a plurality of concepts about gameplay, modes of listening, diegesis, sound generators, systemic and immersive audio functions, and the building of fear with different sound strategies.

Comment rendre compte des transformations opérées dans le champ culturel par les technologies numériques ? Au-delà des grands récits technicistes, quelle entrée choisir pour observer les mutations induites par le numérique dans les rapports qu’entretiennent les publics avec les objets culturels ? Sur quels terrains se placer pour tenter de saisir les transformations issues de l’émergence d’une technologie hybride et protéiforme, sans pour autant faire de l’informatique une pratique culturelle « comme les autres » ou verser dans le déterminisme médiatique ?En pointant les doutes et les hésitations ayant marqué ce travail de thèse, en les examinant et en les contextualisant diachroniquement, il s’est agi de contribuer à l’analyse de la réception et des dynamiques culturelles en lien avec les technologies numériques. Cette réflexion, construite sur une longue durée, s’est attachée à l’exploration d’usages du numérique qui, en leur temps, semblaient devoir s’imposer comme radicalement « modernes ». Ainsi, en trois temps et trois focales nous avons choisi d’étudier des objets apparemment hétéroclites mais qui devaient témoigner des profonds changements culturels engagés par l’émergence des technologies de l’information et de la communication. Ce cheminement nous a conduit à étudier des pratiques aux statuts sociaux et scientifiques divers, depuis les lectures en bibliothèques jusqu’aux jeux vidéo en passant par les écritures intimes sur les sites de rencontres ou les blogs. Cette méthodologie nous a finalement conduit à isoler un élément transversal aux objets étudiés, et dont le déploiement est favorisé par les technologies numériques : l’essor des capacités réflexives des publics de la culture. / How to demonstrate how the cultural arena has been changed by the digital technologies? Beyond the pro-technologies discourses, how to examine the variation (inferred by the digital technologies) between the audiences and the cultural objects? Which field to choose to try to understand the transformations resulting from the emergence of an hybrid and protean technology, without saying that computing is a cultural practice like the others?Describing the doubts and hesitations of this thesis, examining and contextualize them over time, make possible to contribute to the reception analysis and the cultural dynamics, in connection with the digital technologies. This long work has been exploring the uses of digital which, in their time, seemed to have to grow on as radically “modern”. So, in three times and three focal length, we chose to study three objects, apparently heterogeneous, but which must show the deep cultural changes due to the emergence of information and communication technologies. So, we have been studying some practices with different social and scientific status, from the readings in libraries to the videogames, along with dating sites or blogs.This methodology has finally led us to isolate a cross-disciplinary element of the studying objects and which the display is favored by the digital technologies: the rapid development of reflexive abilities of cultural audiences.