Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Iowa, 2005. / Supervisor: Nicholas Colangelo. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 149-155).

Video game players demand a volume of content far in excess of the ability of game designers to create it. For example, a single quest might take a week to develop and test, which means that companies such as Blizzard are spending millions of dollars each month on new content for their games. As a result, both players and developers are frustrated with the inability to meet the demand for new content. By generating content on-demand, it is possible to create custom content for each player based on player preferences. It is also possible to make use of the current world state during generation, something which cannot be done with current techniques. Using developers to create rules and assets for a content generator instead of creating content directly will lower development costs as well as reduce the development time for new game content to seconds rather than days. This work is part of the field of computational creativity, and involves the use of computers to create aesthetically pleasing game content, such as terrain, characters, and quests. I demonstrate agent-based terrain generation, and economic modeling of game spaces. I also demonstrate the autonomous generation of quests for online role playing games, and the ability to play these quests using an emulated Everquest server.

This thesis examines the production process for "Camp, Vamp and Femme Fatale," performed at the University of North Texas in April of 1997. The first chapter applies Henry Jenkins's theory of textual poaching to the authors' and cast's reappropriation of cultural narratives about female vampires. The chapter goes on to survey the narrative, cinematic and critical work on women as vampires. As many of the texts were developed as part of the fantasy role-playing game Vampire: The Masquerade, this chapter also surveys how fantasy role-playing develops unpublished texts that can make fruitful ground for performance studies. The second chapter examines the rehearsal and production process in comparison to the work of Glenda Dickerson and other feminist directors.

Developing video games is an iterative and demanding process. It is difficult to achieve the goal of most video games — to be enjoyable, engaging and to create revenue for game developers — because of many hard-to-evaluate factors, such as the different ways players can interact with the game. Understanding how players behave during gameplay is of vital importance to developers and can be uncovered in user tests as part of game development. This can help developers to identify and resolve any potential problem areas before release, leading to a better player experience and possibly higher game review scores and sales. However, traditional user testing methods were developed for function and efficiency oriented applications. Hence, many traditional user testing methods cannot be applied in the same way for video game evaluation. This thesis presents an investigation into the contributions of physiological measurements in user testing within games user research (GUR). GUR specifically studies the interaction between a game and users (players) with the aim to provide feedback for developers to help them to optimise the game design of their title. An evaluation technique called Biometric Storyboards is developed, which visualises the relationships between game events, player feedback and changes in a player's physiological state. Biometric Storyboards contributes to the field of human-computer interaction and GUR in three important areas: (1) visualising mixedmeasures of player experience, (2) deconstructing game design by analysing game events and pace, (3) incremental improvement of classic user research techniques (such as interviews and physiological measurements). These contributions are described in practical case studies, interviews with game developers and laboratory experiments. The results show this evaluation approach can enable games user researchers to increase the plausibility and persuasiveness of their reports and facilitate developers to better deliver their design goals. Biometric Storyboards is not aimed at replacing existing methods, but to extend them with mixed methods visualisations, to provide powerful tools for games user researchers and developers to better understand and communicate player needs, interactions and experiences. The contributions of this thesis are directly applicable for user researchers and game developers, as well as for researchers in user experience evaluation in entertainment systems.

The Gamer Who Destroyed the World and Other Stories from my Life is the framework of a memoir about the extrapolation of utopic ideology upon bodies. It chronicles the author's life and lineage, examining themes of family, gaming, technology, gender, domestic violence, and economics. The memoir is divided into a prologue, three chapters, and an epilogue. The prologue is a scene depicting the teenaged author at a Live Action Role Play ("larp") game. The first chapter focuses upon the author's family history and her childhood experience of growing up in low-income housing in the 1990s, during which she creates meaning by working for money, until her childhood is disrupted by two expulsions: the expulsion of meaning from the "franchise" workplaces of her teens, and an abrupt expulsion from her childhood home. The second chapter flips between two realities: the author's anxiety as she struggles with homelessness while pushing herself through the American university system, and her adventures in the nerd subculture of the 2000s, focusing on her transition from cosplay (pretending to be fictional characters at genre conventions) to larp (pretending to be part of a fictional universe with others at a campground, dance club, or other physical location). The third chapter jumps forward to the authors' life in a Bay Area cooperative house during the Occupy Movement in 2011. The epilogue jumps back in time to 2006 to describe the author's final experiences larping, and the text concludes with her reflections on the concepts of consent and utopia.

This creative project focuses on the research, planning, design and field-testing of a kit of basic architectural elements that can be used to build simple spaces and small constructions. These elements are reusable, easy to handle, and allow for a nearly infinite number of configurations.The environment in which the system was developed is a setting of an improvisational outdoor theatre, called 'Live-Action-Role-playing-Games'- (LARP). Therefore the system does not provide a high quality indoor space, but rather focuses on the critical requirements of theatrical stages, such as flexibility, ease of erection and variety. Additionally, the system dealt with the pragmatic issues of affordability and cost-effectiveness.The design process commenced with great attention being paid to the very special requirements of LARP and attempting to test initial assumptions. It included two surveys of LARP participants and use of charrettes to incorporate users input into the design process. Prototype elements were then constructed and field-tested during a full-scale replication of an actual LARP-event over afour-day testing period.Following this an evaluation was made, lessons were learned, and the information gained was incorporated in to the final design.This document then records the entire design process and concludes with extensive documentation of the system. / Department of Architecture

Fundamentada em pressupostos teóricos como Platão, Vygotsky, Ferdinand de Saussure e Émile Benveniste, esta pesquisa investiga se o Role-playing Game (RPG), também conhecido como Jogo de Representação de Papéis, constitui uma ferramenta favorável, no âmbito escolar, no apoio à constituição da alteridade por parte de alunos. A alteridade diz respeito ao reconhecimento do outro como parte constituinte de si mesmo, que, para Delors (1998), é uma das competências necessárias aos cidadãos do século XXI. O RPG, por ser um jogo falado, no qual os jogadores narram suas ações e constroem, em conjunto, uma história, só funciona por meio da enunciação, e esse é o caráter explorado nesta pesquisa. O estudo desenvolve-se a partir de uma abordagem interacionista, reunindo em seu corpus teórico autores da Linguística, da Filosofia e da Educação, tencionando compreender se as situações enunciativas, proporcionadas pelo RPG, podem ser utilizadas por educadores como forma de auxiliar seus alunos na compreensão do outro e da interdependência que caracteriza as relações pessoais. O RPG apresenta-se como um jogo que não está fundamentado na disputa, como a maioria dos jogos, mas no triunfo coletivo, por meio da cooperação. Essa natureza cooperativa do jogo é o que me permite investigar possíveis aplicações do Role-playing Game, no contexto escolar, de modo a potencializar a constituição da alteridade. / Submitted by Ana Guimarães Pereira (agpereir@ucs.br) on 2016-12-08T16:51:54Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Rafael Ramires Jaques.pdf: 3160481 bytes, checksum: a51f747d1b0a8f1bb7381cf3e2b0dd7f (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-12-08T16:51:54Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Rafael Ramires Jaques.pdf: 3160481 bytes, checksum: a51f747d1b0a8f1bb7381cf3e2b0dd7f (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-12-08 / Fondée sur des présuppositions théoriques comme Platon, Vygotsky, Ferdinand de Saussure et Émile Benveniste, cette recherche explore si le Role-playing Game (RPG), aussi appelé Jeu de Rôle, constitue un outil favorable, dans un cadre scolaire, en support de la constitution de l’altérité par les étudiants. L’altérité concerne la reconnaissance de l’autre comme partie de soi même et, d’après Delors (1998), est une des compétences nécessaires aux citoyens du XXIème siècle. Le RPG, étant un jeu parlé, dans lequel les joueurs racontent leurs actions et construisent, en groupe, une histoire, ne fonctionne qu’au moyen de l’énonciation, et ceci est le caractère exploré dans cette recherche. L’étude se développe à partir d’une approche interactionnelle, joignant dans son corpus théorique des auteurs de la Linguistique, de la Philosophie et de l’Éducation, tout en essayant de comprendre si les situations énoncées, crées par le RPG, peuvent être utilisées par les éducateurs pour aider leurs élèves à comprendre l’autre et l’interdépendance qui caractérise les relations personnelles. Le RPG se présente comme un jeu qui n’est pas basé sur la dispute, comme la majorité des jeux, mais sur le triomphe collectif, grâce à la coopération. Cette nature coopérative du jeu me permet d’étudier les applications possibles du Role-playing Game, dans un contexte scolaire, afin d’améliorer la constitution de l’altérité.

Fundamentada em pressupostos teóricos como Platão, Vygotsky, Ferdinand de Saussure e Émile Benveniste, esta pesquisa investiga se o Role-playing Game (RPG), também conhecido como Jogo de Representação de Papéis, constitui uma ferramenta favorável, no âmbito escolar, no apoio à constituição da alteridade por parte de alunos. A alteridade diz respeito ao reconhecimento do outro como parte constituinte de si mesmo, que, para Delors (1998), é uma das competências necessárias aos cidadãos do século XXI. O RPG, por ser um jogo falado, no qual os jogadores narram suas ações e constroem, em conjunto, uma história, só funciona por meio da enunciação, e esse é o caráter explorado nesta pesquisa. O estudo desenvolve-se a partir de uma abordagem interacionista, reunindo em seu corpus teórico autores da Linguística, da Filosofia e da Educação, tencionando compreender se as situações enunciativas, proporcionadas pelo RPG, podem ser utilizadas por educadores como forma de auxiliar seus alunos na compreensão do outro e da interdependência que caracteriza as relações pessoais. O RPG apresenta-se como um jogo que não está fundamentado na disputa, como a maioria dos jogos, mas no triunfo coletivo, por meio da cooperação. Essa natureza cooperativa do jogo é o que me permite investigar possíveis aplicações do Role-playing Game, no contexto escolar, de modo a potencializar a constituição da alteridade. / Fondée sur des présuppositions théoriques comme Platon, Vygotsky, Ferdinand de Saussure et Émile Benveniste, cette recherche explore si le Role-playing Game (RPG), aussi appelé Jeu de Rôle, constitue un outil favorable, dans un cadre scolaire, en support de la constitution de l’altérité par les étudiants. L’altérité concerne la reconnaissance de l’autre comme partie de soi même et, d’après Delors (1998), est une des compétences nécessaires aux citoyens du XXIème siècle. Le RPG, étant un jeu parlé, dans lequel les joueurs racontent leurs actions et construisent, en groupe, une histoire, ne fonctionne qu’au moyen de l’énonciation, et ceci est le caractère exploré dans cette recherche. L’étude se développe à partir d’une approche interactionnelle, joignant dans son corpus théorique des auteurs de la Linguistique, de la Philosophie et de l’Éducation, tout en essayant de comprendre si les situations énoncées, crées par le RPG, peuvent être utilisées par les éducateurs pour aider leurs élèves à comprendre l’autre et l’interdépendance qui caractérise les relations personnelles. Le RPG se présente comme un jeu qui n’est pas basé sur la dispute, comme la majorité des jeux, mais sur le triomphe collectif, grâce à la coopération. Cette nature coopérative du jeu me permet d’étudier les applications possibles du Role-playing Game, dans un contexte scolaire, afin d’améliorer la constitution de l’altérité.

This study examines the social organization of Gaiscíoch, a large online gaming community that exists within the simulated world of a massively multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG). It provides an ethnographic account of an online gaming community that is open to any player without skill or time commitment requirements, but still maintains high status within the game world. This project identifies eight elements that make this inclusive, friendly, and casual community successful in virtual worlds that tend to be dominated by communities that have a competitive, strict, and exclusive approach to online gaming (social interaction, code of values, leadership, rank system, events, community building, population size, gameplay). Lastly, this project briefly inquires about the nature of the border between the virtual and the physical and establishes that gamers can be considered pseudo-border-inhabitants that are in control of the community they place adjacent to them in the cyber world. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2015. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Many multiplayer games feature teams, and whether they are pitted against each other or against the game itself it seems likely that the way these teams bond will affect the players' experience. What are the factors that influence the experience of being a team member in a game? To what extent can the game designer manipulate the cohesion of the teams by changing the game design? How does the satisfaction of the player with their team relate to their feeling of cohesion? How does cohesion differ between tabletop and online games? These issues become particularly important where the group dynamic is central to the desired outcome of the game e.g. educational games aiming to place the players in specific social situations. Four studies were conducted on four similar simulation games (two tabletop, two online) used for teaching in International Development Studies. These games explore farming in sub-Saharan Africa and require 12-30 players to play in small groups. The group dynamics are important for the learning outcomes. Similar groups of participants (all students of International Development Studies) played one game each. Each group played for 3 hours before completing a questionnaire about their experience and wrapping up with a full-group reflective discussion. Results from the two tabletop games suggested that, as expected, altering the rules of the game manipulated levels of team cohesion. However, the lack of significant result from the two online games suggests that careful design is required to achieve the same outcomes in the online environment. This suggests that seemingly small changes between tabletop and online implementations may impact the game play experience in unanticipated ways. The team cohesion reported by the players was found to correlate strongly with the team member satisfaction levels of the players. The gender composition of the teams was shown to have a large impact on both team cohesion and team member satisfaction: having one or more females in the group significantly increased both measures.