Ce m??moire porte sur les jeux de r??le participatifs en environnement virtuel (JRPEV), un ph??nom??ne qui, dans le champ des game studies, n???a jamais ??t?? d??fini jusqu???ici. Une d??finition est donc apport??e afin d?????tablir leur sp??cificit?? au regard des environnements virtuels, des jeux vid??o, des MMOG et des jeux de r??le traditionnels (sur table et grandeur nature) tout en mettant en lumi??re les dimensions qui en font un hybride mi-jeu vid??o, mi-jeu de r??le. Pour ce faire, les JRPEV seront d??finis en tant que jeux, jeux de r??le, pratiques repr??sentatives de la culture participative (Jenkins 2006) et environnements virtuels. ?? la suite de cette d??finition, un mod??le th??orique flexible sera d??crit qui rendra compte de l???exp??rience vid??oludique des joueurs au sein des JRPEV. Pour ce faire, des alternatives aux notions pol??miques et polys??miques de ??cercle magique?? et ??d???immersion??, tr??s pr??sentes dans la litt??rature scientifique portant sur les jeux de r??le et les jeux vid??o, sont d???abord apport??es : le cadrage de l???exp??rience vid??oludique et l???allocation des ressources attentionnelles. De plus, le mod??le int??gre les styles de jeu et les postures interpr??tatives privil??gi??es par les joueurs sur les ??uvres dont les JRPEV constituent une adaptation vid??oludique ou sur les textes appartenant ?? l???architexte (Genette 1982) de ces JRPEV. En effet, ces styles de jeu et ces postures interpr??tatives contribuent ?? structurer l???exp??rience vid??oludique. Enfin, ce mod??le inclura la dynamique sociale dans laquelle est v??cue l???exp??rience vid??oludique sur les JRPEV en mobilisant le concept de ??communaut?? herm??neutique conflictuelle??. Cette entreprise conjoint les perspectives herm??neutique et sociocritique dans l?????tude de jeux per??us comme une m??diation ludique (Genvo 2011) (Henriot 1989), soit comme la rencontre d???une attitude et d???une structure ludiques. Elle repose ?? la fois sur un travail m??tath??orique et sur l???observation des jeux de r??le gor??ens, des JRPEV organis??s sur Second Life qui illustreront de mani??re concr??te les sp??cificit??s de ce ph??nom??ne vid??oludique.

Die vorliegende Dissertation untersucht am Beispiel von Online-Rollenspielen, wie sich prosoziales Verhalten in virtuellen Umgebungen im Vergleich zu dem in realen Umgebungen unterscheidet. Ausgangspunkt für die Untersuchungen sind die Modelle zum und Einflussgrößen auf das prosoziale Verhalten, die als Ergebnisse der einschlägigen Forschung realer Hilfesituationen vorliegen. Unter Berücksichtigung der Charakteristika und Besonderheiten von Online-Rollenspielen werden verschiedene Variablen wie Attraktivität des Hilfeempfängers, Ähnlichkeit zwischen Helfer und Hilfeempfänger, die Schwere der Notsituation und Gruppenzugehörigkeit auf ihre Auswirkung auf das prosoziale Verhalten in virtuellen Szenarien getestet. Um ein maximales Maß an externer Validität zu gewährleisten, kommt dabei die Methode der In-situ-Untersuchung zum Einsatz, bei der das Verhalten der Probanden in natürlichen Spielsituationen erfasst wird. Die Ergebnisse zeigen bei weiblichen Avataren einen signifikanten Einfluss der Attraktivität bei männlichen Helfern, wohingegen es bei fehlender Verfügbarkeit von Attraktivitätsmerkmalen keine Geschlechtsunterschiede gibt. Kein Einfluss auf prosoziales Verhalten kann bei den Variablen Schwere der Notsituation und perzeptueller Ähnlichkeit nachgewiesen werden. Darüber hinaus wird mittels einer Fragebogenstudie der Einfluss dispositionaler Merkmale, die unter dem Begriff prosoziale Persönlichkeit zusammengefasst werden, auf prosoziales Verhalten untersucht. Dabei zeigt sich, dass die positiven Prädiktoren empathic concern, other-oriented moral reasoning und der negative Prädiktor personal distress einen signifikanten Einfluss auf das Auftreten prosozialen Verhaltens in realen und in virtuellen Szenarien haben. Allerdings unterscheidet sich die Höhe des Einflusses dieser Variablen in Abhängigkeit der Zielpersonen des prosozialen Verhaltens (Ingroup vs. Outgroup) sowie des Umgebung (real vs. virtuell).

This thesis aims to find out the usage of colour in the game called Journey (2012). It is a case study which focuses on three different scenes in the game and how their colour scheme affects the game both emotionally and the storyline progress. The question that will be answered is: How does the choice of colour affect the players perception on an emotional level? This thesis talks about how different colours affect us in different ways and why this plays a major part in gameplay situations and how the drastic change of colour portraits different emotions. The colour choice is of great importance since it affects humans on an emotional level that enhances the experience felt by players during different scenes.

Denna kandidatuppsats syftade till att undersöka hur en Head-Up Display kan utformas för att förbättra spelupplevelsen för ett fantasyspel inom MOBA-genren.

Social games have become a digital phenomenon over the last few years, affecting a lot of peoples everyday life. This paper focuses on how social games can affect workplace relationships. Through qualitative interviews I investigate how people who play with their colleagues experience the social games and their influence on the social interaction in the workplace. 10 interviews were carried out with people from four different organizations. The findings from these interviews were then put in relation to previous research and existing theories concerning workplace relationships and social games. The findings suggests that social games help to maintain and enhance existing relationships between colleagues. The research also show that although only a few of the interviewed believe that their relationships has been affected noticeably, the games become a common interest between the colleagues, resulting in increased conversation and more non-workrelated topics.

This diploma theses focuses on the issue of game studies and examines its connection with the news media. The relationship between these areas is analysed on the case study of the computer game Kingdom Come: Deliverance that reached international success. This study uses content analysis to identify the presence and way of presentation of this game project in the Czech Television news since 2014 to 2019. Regarding the international success of the game, I presume that not only the game itself but also the gaming industry as such might been more captured in the news. In addition to the analysis of media mentions of the game, the work also focuses on their contextual framework and context in which the Czech project was discussed. In addition to quantitative research on Czech Television news, the work is supplemented by a comparison of Czech and foreign reviews, which provides a broader view not only of a different approach to the game in the Czech Republic and the world, but also outlines the importance and relevance of the game itself. Key Words Kingdom Come: Deliverance, Game studies, Czech PC Games, media analysis, quantitative research

This thesis aim was to find the answer the following research question: What do queer gamers think of the game Monster Prom. The material gathered for this thesis was through a participant observation with four people from the LGBTQIA+ community playing the game Monster Prom and a subsequent focus group interview with these people. The material was analysed using Queer Game Studies research. In this paper I came to the conclusion that representation does matter to queer gamers. According to my interviewees, there is a need for representation in games and that it needs to be diverse and made undramatic. The interviewees brought forward how and why this design of an avatar system gives the player freedom, queer possibilities, and being positively received by queer players. The interviewees also brought forward how and when one should/shouldn't write a story surrounding the representation of queer oppression from a queer player´s point of view.

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La présente recherche propose d’établir un cadre théorique approprié pour décrire l’expérience du ressenti subjectif de la violence naissant dans un jeu vidéo violent, soit l’esthétique de la violence vidéoludique. Pour ce faire, nous adapterons une définition de la violence et étudierons le concept dans ses implications diverses soutenant la pensée occidentale qui s’immisce dans les mythes, récits, cultures et sociétés, formant la lentille cognitive qui en dicte l’expérience et qui guide sa représentation et son esthétisation dans l’art. Ensuite, nous examinerons la notion d’esthétique vidéoludique, qui n’est pas encore tout à fait bien établie en études du jeu vidéo. Ce qui nous portera, au troisième chapitre, à pouvoir établir l’esthétique de la violence vidéoludique à proprement parler, d’observer comment elle se déploie en l’exemplifiant et l’analysant dans des jeux violents. Cet appareillage théorique sera alors redéployé pour analyser la série DOOM (1993-2021) dans son ensemble, en s’attardant spécifiquement sur les deux derniers opus de DOOM (id Software, 2016) et DOOM Eternal (id Software, 2020), que nous présentons comme incarnant particulièrement bien l’esthétique de la violence vidéoludique. / This master’s thesis proposes to establish a theoretical framework in order to understand the subjective experience arising in a violent videogame, namely the aesthetic of videoludic violence. To do so, we will adapt a definition of violence and study the implication of the concept as a whole in the Western mindset, its influence on myths, narratives, cultures, and societies, forming the cognitive lens which dictates its experience and guides its representation and its aestheticizing in the arts. After that, we will address the notion of videoludic aesthetic, or video game aesthetic, which has yet to be properly defined and used in video game studies. This will enable us, in the third chapter, to establish the aesthetic of videoludic violence properly speaking and to observe how it comes to be by exemplifying and analyzing it in different violent video games. Our framework will then serve to analyse the DOOM (1993-2021) franchise as a whole, with a specific attention to its two latest titles DOOM (id Software, 2016) and DOOM Eternal (id Software, 2020) as an apt embodiment of the aesthetic of videoludic violence.

In this research paper, I develop a conceptual framework through which I identify two ways in which historical practices, events, and spaces are represented and engaged with in video games. The concepts I propose are historical accuracy to reflect well-established narratives and a high fidelity to factual data, and historical authenticity to reflect lesser known narratives and a more complex and sometimes abstract interpretation of history. The research concentrates on the modalities in which history is represented in mainstream video games, what similarities or dissimilarities can be drawn from the analysis of various historical digital games, and how can these games be designed to foster diversity and fair representation.