Cheating in video games has been prevalent ever since the days of Pong. Games have evolved much since then and the ways in which people play together have changed as well. Older systems required people to play together in the same room, but with the advent of the internet, gaming consoles allow us to play games together with people located all over the globe. Cheating has evolved as well, since gamers no longer have the luxury of monitoring the person sitting next to them; anti-cheating mechanisms are built into most online systems and suspicious behavior is monitored by gaming companies. Most of the current research has surrounded ways in which players cheat and their reasoning for doing so. This is only half of the equation however, what happens after a gamer is caught cheating? What are the repercussions for being caught cheating and how does being caught influence future decisions to cheat? By putting gamers in a situation where they are caught cheating, three different responses were revealed: those who are determined to cheat no matter what, those who scale back their cheating in the hopes of remaining undetected, and those who stopped cheating altogether. / Master of Science

Game-space presents the development of a student game-hall on the campus of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Virginia. The architectural theory that guided the development asserts that an intelligent translation of a building's physical and conceptual needs into a matrix of well defined layers provides a strong foundation for the creation of a cultivated space. / Master of Architecture

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.

Civilization games can depict imaginative and sophisticated perspectives on the future. Yet some scholars have critiqued civilization games for their replication of dominant, limited ideologies. Game designers often learn about design directly or indirectly from frameworks, such as the Mechanics-Dynamics-Aesthetics (MDA) framework which contains a very idiosyncratic definition of aesthetics. Given that aesthetic thinking can unlock the sociological imagination, the aim of this dissertation was to discover opportunities to expand civilization game design by understanding the aesthetic experience of designers. A qualitative interview study was conducted of 13 game designers who created at least one civilization game based in the future. The interview and analysis had an ontological focus, to better understand how aesthetics fit into the existing puzzle of game design knowledge. The findings showed that designers employ their perspective in game design; this sense of self and perspective is not captured by current ontologies of game design. Furthermore, designers are limited in their ability to explore the boundaries of civilization games by task complexity, emotionality, and reliance on player experience. Resultantly, they may focus intensely on known aspects of game design in order to deliver a product. The dissertation proposes two primary solutions. Firstly, a game design framework that integrates the self into game design and more clearly delineates the game as an artifact. Secondly, cultivate truer senses of vision in game design for those who want to push civilization games and games as a whole, while understanding the practical realities of game design. These implications can be used by educators to reconsider game design program curricula, as well as affirm game designers’ pursuit of their own perspective.

The purpose of this project on game design and development is to experiment with actual technology tools used in computer games and get experience in three deminsional game development using 3D Studio Max and Microsoft XNA.

With  the  ever  expanding  development  and  use  of  technology,  smartphones  enjoy  an increase in use mainly as people’s personal devices. This study aims to turn smartphones into  co-located  devices  through  a  serious  game  with  the  goal  of  breaking  the  ice  when groups meet for the first time. A prototype for a game named ICE (Interactive Co-located Events) was made and evaluated with a group of 14 people in a laboratory setting. Through questionnaires,  a  focus  group  and  observations,  it  became  clear  that  the  game  works  to break down barriers between people, but didn’t succeed in supporting people to truly get to know each other. This was mainly due to the competitive aspect of the game and the time limit  set  for  it.  Future  implementations  of  the  game  could  have  these  removed  to  see  if games  like  these  can  take  the  next  step  and  go  beyond  breaking  down  barriers  between people.

published_or_final_version / Sports Science / Master / Master of Science in Sports Science

CHDS State/Local / Approved for public release, distribution is unlimited / This thesis proposes the development of a Massively Multiplayer On-Line Game (MMOG) to deliver Weapons of Mass Destruction Training to the nation's first responders and civilians. MMOG technology offers a cost effective alternative to existing training methodologies. Existing first responder WMD training often uses traditional in-residence classes. These current training methods are expensive, lack standardization, and do not have provable outcomes. Scaling up existing training to meet the needs of millions of responders would be cost prohibitive. Modern information technologies such as MMOGs offer a safe, efficient, effective and fun alternative mechanism to deliver training. MMOGs could scale to meet the volume of training need at a fraction of the cost of traditional methods. The DoD has proven the effectiveness of simulation games as a training tool, and the use of gaming and simulations is recognized in academia. / Captain, Seattle Fire Department

This study is an intervention study conducted on students in the middle years of a Swedish suburban school. The aim of the study is to examine students’ cooperative skills in ball games in the subject of physical education. The study’s questions focus on what emerges in activity and in conversation when students receive cooperative tasks that they must complete together in ball games, and how these conversations and activities change during the learning process. The study also focuses on the patterns that occur in the game room when students must help each other cooperate, and on the consequences of these patterns for the learning of cooperation in ball games. The intervention consisted of three game laboratories, created as special tasks by means of cooperation, which were orchestrated. The study is based on and can be understood through John Dewey's pragmatic epistemology. It has a  constructionist basis which means that learning and development is seen as an active process where individuals creat meaning in cooperation with others. Furthermore, the theoretical framework implies that students and the environment are seen as constantly interacting, creating each other in a mutual transactional process. A practical epistemology analysis (PEA) was used for the analysis of `talk and action´ in order to explore students' constructions and reconstructions of meaning making and learning about cooperation in ballgames. The empirical material consists of 24 games played and 24 rounds of talks. The first game laboratory focuses on what students are doing and talking about when they are asked to achieve the first pass. The second game laboratory focuses on what they do and talk about in order to succeed together in getting across the field’s halfway line before they get to shoot at goal. The third game laboratory focuses on what students should do to achieve the final pass before shooting at goal. The analysis of the game laboratories shows that it is not enough to pass or to create space as, own rooms in order to achieve cooperation in ballgames. The students’ actions and agreements during talks must also harmonise with the purpose of the task in order to allow learning to cooperate in ballgames to occur. The patterns that emerged in the game room were convergence and divergence; students created their own rooms as well as isolated rooms. Furthermore, densified game room was observed to hinder cooperation, and thinned room to favour cooperation. / Forskningslinjen Utbildning

Esta dissertação estabelece um \"Estado da arte\" sobre os Games a partir do banco de teses e dissertações da CAPES entre os anos de 1987 e 2010, e tem como principal objetivo mapear e discutir a produção acadêmica brasileira cujo objeto de estudo ou tema central são estes recursos tecnológicos, em seu estatuto comunicacional, lúdico e educacional. A problematização da pesquisa propõe a discussão sobre a forma em que os games são entendidos nessas práticas educacionais, meios de comunicação na sua mediação tecnológica com os distintos setores do conhecimento. A hipótese levantada diz respeito a se o Game, como objeto de pesquisa, pode se constituir como uma estratégia de comunicação relevante para formação, no que se refere aos estímulos e motivações considerados em tais processos. Portanto, a principal contribuição deste trabalho consiste em estabelecer uma base informacional que responda aos aspectos e dimensões que vêm sendo destacadas e privilegiadas no período assinalado e nos lugares em que têm sido produzidas. A metodologia subjacente toma como princípio uma análise bibliográfica e documental, assim como uma exaustiva análise quantitativa dos dados oferecidos. Deste modo, a estrutura da dissertação contempla um primeiro capítulo que aborda o surgimento do game no contexto da \"sociedade em rede\", contextualizada na era digital da informação em tempos de globalização, assim como, no conceito de interatividade mediada pelo computador diante da eminência da tecnologia no mercado brasileiro. Em um segundo capítulo trata-se do game a partir das diferentes classificações tomando como referência principal suas finalidades no âmbito social, psicológico e comunicacional. Por fim, o terceiro capítulo trata especificamente do \"estado da arte\" da pesquisa dos Games no Brasil. Configurando assim, a sistematização e categorização dos resultados: como crítica aos meios de comunicação digital; à relação entre games e saúde físico-motora; aos elementos constitutivos do jogo; à sua inserção nos processos educacionais; e, à conectividade com as redes mundiais. Por fim, discute-se a produção científica stricto sensu no Brasil que cruza o Game com a educação. / This dissertation establishes a \"state of the art\" on the Games from the database of theses and dissertations from CAPES between the years 1987 and 2010, and has as main objective to map and discuss the Brazilian academic production, whose object of study or theme is these technological resources, their status in communication, entertainment and education. The problematic of research proposes a discussion about the way games are understood in these educational practices, the media in its technological mediation with the distinct sectors of knowledge. The hypothesis relates to the game, as a research subject can be constituted as a communication strategy relevant to training, with regard to incentives and motivations considered in such cases. Therefore, the main contribution of this paper is to establish an information base that responds to the aspects and dimensions that have been highlighted and privileged in the indicated period and in places that have been produced. The principle underlying methodology takes as a literature review and documentary, as well as a comprehensive quantitative analysis of the data provided. Thereby, the structure of the dissertation includes a first chapter that discusses the rise of the game in the context of the \"network society\", contextualized in the digital age of information in times of globalization, as well as the concept of computer mediated interactivity on the brink technology in the Brazilian market. In a second chapter covers up the game from different classifications with reference to their main purposes in the social, psychological and communicational. Finally, the third chapter deals specifically with the \"state of the art\" research of the Games in Brazil. Setting thus the systematization and categorization of results such as criticism of digital media, the relationship between games and health-physical fitness; the constituent elements of the game, its inclusion in the educational processes, and connectivity to global networks. Finally, we discuss the strictly scientific production in Brazil which crosses the Game with education.