Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-29T14:23:17Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Carlos Augusto Pinheiro de Sousa.pdf: 807423 bytes, checksum: acb6baf5371f4d9b5d445fff6a41e41b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-10-25 / This research aims to investigate immersion and presence in FPS as qualitative approach. This investigation is done by taking in account the two decades of successes on the FPS genre in the games industry in which has been observed paradigm transformations that include control mappings, depth of interaction, graphic realism, considerable expansion in multi-user environments etc. The methodology has been an heuristic one with such an ontological focus situated between the relations of the specific FPS genre and virtual reality done by an organization of bibliographic references and a discussion with professionals from the international industry. From the selected survey which has been organized and selected as a qualitative approach withing the academic literature in both virtual reality and digital games to establish a synthesis of factors to be observed in case studies and evaluated by invited developers from the FPS games industry. This way, it relates the concepts, situating immersion in the field of the convincing experience of the game and that of being in the game . In parallel, the term virtual reality (as a support), by which multi-form definitions emplaces it between device configurations or setups related to sensorial perception and of psychological experiences provided by this medium, the extra-sensorial reach, reflects the development of a projected immersive reproduction by which users of this medium describe the sense of presence, of being in another place or another world. It is believed that the result of this work should contribute to fulfill of studies in the specific FPS genre field, within the own virtual reality studies and possibly in the aiding of design for the development of the FPS games / A pesquisa investiga os conceitos de imersão e presença nos jogos FPS (First-Person Shooters, Jogos de Tiro em Primeira Pessoa) a partir de uma perspectiva qualitativa. Realiza uma investigação tomando o fenômeno dos jogos FPS em duas décadas de sucesso na indústria dos jogos, dentro da qual observou-se transformações paradigmáticas que incluem mapeamentos de controle, à profundidade de interação, realismo gráfico, expansão considerável de ambientes multi-usuário (multijogador), etc. A metodologia foi heurística com enfoque ontológico, situando-se nas relações entre o específico gênero de jogo FPS e realidade virtual, a partir de uma organização da bibliografia e discussão com profissionais da indústria internacional. A partir dos levantamentos realizados organiza e apresenta uma análise qualitativa através da literatura acadêmica tanto em realidade virtual quanto em jogos digitais para estabelecer uma síntese de fatores a serem observados em estudos de caso e avaliados por desenvolvedores convidados da indústria de jogos FPS. Deste modo, relaciona os conceitos, situando a imersão no campo experiência convincente de jogo e de se estar no jogo . Paralelamente, o termo realidade virtual (como suporte), cuja descrição multiforme situa-o entre configurações de dispositivos relacionados à percepção sensorial e de experiências psicológicas providas por este meio, do alcance extra-sensorial, reflete o desenvolvimento projetado para a reprodução imersiva no qual participantes relatam a sensação de presença, de estarem em outro ambiente ou outro mundo. Acredita-se que o resultado deste trabalho poderá contribuir para suprir uma carência de estudos no campo do genêro FPS, dentro dos atuais estudos sobre realidade virtual e possivelmente no auxílio para design e desenvolvimento de jogos FPS

When player skill levels differ widely in a competitive First-Person Shooter (FPS) game, enjoyment suffers: weaker players become frustrated and stronger players become less engaged. Player balancing techniques attempt to assist the weaker player and make games more competitive, but these techniques have limitations for deployment when skill levels vary substantially. In this thesis, we developed new player balancing schemes to deal with a range of FPS skill difference, and tested these techniques in a series of five studies using a commercial-quality FPS game developed with the UDK engine. Our results showed that our balancing techniques (Combo and Delay) are extremely effective at balancing, even for players with large skill differences. These techniques also led to higher enjoyment of the game by players of all skill levels. Our studies are the first to show that player balancing can work well in realistic FPS games, providing developers with a way to increase the audience for this popular genre. In addition, our results demonstrate the idea that successful balancing is as much about the way the technique is applied as it is about the specific manipulation.

The current models of skill in video games make one of two impositions on players: either to provide an estimate of their own skill, or complete several games before they can be properly assessed. However, in order to experience the most enjoyment and greatest sense of immersion, players need to play against the right difficulty. In order to assign the appropriate difficulty, the player's skill must first be captured accurately and quickly, before the player gets frustrated or bored. Rather than relying on game results that need to be averaged over several games, this thesis proposes predicting a player's skill from their behaviour within the first game. In order to do this, we explore methods for measuring skill in both a multiplayer and single-player game and methods for extracting appropriate information from the player's behaviour. The resulting predictions can then be used to automatically assign an appropriate difficulty to the player. In a multiplayer environment, we first demonstrate that a player's final rank canbe predicted within the first 30 seconds of a game with a correlation of over 0.8.This process is transferred to a single-player first-person shooter, where our modelis shown to assign difficulties comparable to a player's own assessment of theirskill within the first 30 seconds of a campaign. We argue that these methods forcapturing skill in a first-person shooter are transferable to other genres, and havethe potential to improve difficulty selection systems.

This dissertation examines rhetorics of heroism and immortality as they are negotiated through a variety of (new) media contexts. The dissertation demonstrates that media technologies in general, and videogames in particular, serve an existential or “death denying” function, which insulates individuals from the terror of mortality. The dissertation also discusses the hero as a rhetorical trope, and suggests that its relationship with immortality makes it a particularly powerful persuasive device. Chapter one provides a historical overview of the hero figure and its relationship with immortality, particularly within the context of ancient Greece. Chapter two examines the material means by which media technologies serve a death denying function, via “symbolic immortality” (inscription), and the McLuhanian concept of extension. Chapter three examines the prevalence of the hero and villain figures in propaganda, with particular attention paid to the use of visual propaganda in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Chapter four situates the videogame as an inherently heroic, death denying medium; videogames can extend the player’s sense of self, provide quantifiable victory criteria, and allow players to participate in “heroic” events. Chapter five examines the soldier-as-hero motif as it appears in two popular genres, the First Person Shooter, and Role-Playing Game. Particular attention is paid to the Call of Duty series and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Chapter six outlines an “epistemological exercise,” which attempts to empirically test the claims made in the previous chapters via Terror Management Theory, an experimental paradigm which examines the relationship between mortality, self-esteem, and ideology. The conclusion discusses how videogames can contest prevailing views of the heroic, and calls for a departure from contemporary game design practices.

This dissertation examines rhetorics of heroism and immortality as they are negotiated through a variety of (new) media contexts. The dissertation demonstrates that media technologies in general, and videogames in particular, serve an existential or “death denying” function, which insulates individuals from the terror of mortality. The dissertation also discusses the hero as a rhetorical trope, and suggests that its relationship with immortality makes it a particularly powerful persuasive device. Chapter one provides a historical overview of the hero figure and its relationship with immortality, particularly within the context of ancient Greece. Chapter two examines the material means by which media technologies serve a death denying function, via “symbolic immortality” (inscription), and the McLuhanian concept of extension. Chapter three examines the prevalence of the hero and villain figures in propaganda, with particular attention paid to the use of visual propaganda in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Chapter four situates the videogame as an inherently heroic, death denying medium; videogames can extend the player’s sense of self, provide quantifiable victory criteria, and allow players to participate in “heroic” events. Chapter five examines the soldier-as-hero motif as it appears in two popular genres, the First Person Shooter, and Role-Playing Game. Particular attention is paid to the Call of Duty series and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Chapter six outlines an “epistemological exercise,” which attempts to empirically test the claims made in the previous chapters via Terror Management Theory, an experimental paradigm which examines the relationship between mortality, self-esteem, and ideology. The conclusion discusses how videogames can contest prevailing views of the heroic, and calls for a departure from contemporary game design practices.

This research measures the change in Army ROTC cadets' tactical performance when up to 75% of their tactical live training is replaced with training done on a computer. An ROTC instructor from any of the 270 programs across the nation can take this research and implement a training plan utilizing a relatively cheap off the shelf computer game and save their program: cadet and cadre time, training dollars, and transportation/equipment/training area resources, while seeing no degradation in their cadets' performance. Little research has been done on the effect of replacing live simulation with virtual simulation. With this in mind, six groups of individuals were run through the experiment for over five months at various levels of virtual/live training and scored across 16 leadership skills. These results were then formulated into a guideline defining how much training should be virtual training and how much live, to optimize an individual's performance.

Electronic sports (esports) is an activity in which players compete against each other in video games. It could be beneficial for the esports industry if players were to perform more consistently. The user interface in the game is one aspect that could impact player performance. In this study, the six user interface element types defined by Fagerholt and Lorentzon in 2009 were used as the context for comparing player performance. The purpose of this thesis was to discover how the graphical user interface of competitive first-person shooter (FPS) games affect the player’s ability to perform mechanically and comprehend information, as well as determining what players value in such user interfaces. This was achieved through the use of experiments and interviews in the context of a game that was developed for this study. In the game, the participants played through levels with different user interfaces in which player performance was tracked. This study discovered that the diegetic user interface performed the best in mechanical performance and information comprehension. Meta-perception resulted in some of the worst mechanical performance. More cluttered user interfaces appeared to worsen reaction times. There was also a vague indication suggesting that more cluttered user interfaces worsen information comprehension. In terms of user preferences, the non-diegetic user interface was the most preferred. In contrast, the participants preferred the geometric user interface the least. Through the thematic analysis, it was discovered that various factors may be beneficial to consider when designing user interfaces using different types of elements. The factors are beneficial to consider because they may affect player performance. The factors are concerned with the following: information balance, contrast, clutteredness, use of numbers, position of elements, use of health bars, element sizes and presentation of ammunition stacks. However, further studies generating statistically significant results would be required to confirm these insights.