The aims of the thesis were to study relationships between the effects of online gaming and gambling and negative social consequences and ill health among adolescents and to determine whether gaming and gambling activities occur together. The papers in this thesis used epidemiological methods to obtain self-report information from Swedish adolescents aged 13–18 years. Time spent in online gaming was associated with negative social consequences, and this relationship was explained by online gaming motives. Gaming for fun and social motives was associated with a reduced risk of negative social consequences, whereas gaming to escape problems, gain status, or meet demands from others was associated with an increased risk. Increased online gaming time on weekdays increased the probability of having depressive, musculoskeletal, or psychosomatic symptoms, and was related to online gaming motives. The probability of ill health was low in those who reported gaming for fun or social motives. Adolescents with symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) were more sensitive to gambling frequency and to developing a gambling problem. However, among those identified as susceptible, adolescents with ADHD were equally affected compared with other susceptible participants in terms of their gambling frequency. Boys had a higher probability than girls of participating in online gambling in association with online gaming. Having at least one parent born outside Scandinavia was associated with a higher probability of online gambling, especially among girls. The effect of alcohol use as a factor contributing to online gambling was greater among boys than among girls. The results of this thesis contribute new knowledge about sex differences in online gaming and gambling behaviours and add to the limited research on online gaming and online gambling behaviours among adolescent girls. Gaming motives may be helpful for identifying online gamers needing support to reduce their unhealthy gaming behaviour. Information about factors related to gaming and gambling problems may be of interest to clinicians in psychiatry, psychology and social work, as well as to policymakers, parents and teachers involved in adolescent health and development. Effect preventive strategies should consider the sex differences in gaming and gambling behaviour in adolescents.

Background: A computer game based Telerehabilitation platform has been developed to provide a seamless system for hand exercise and assessment in home settings for people with arthritis. The exercise program involves task-oriented training of real life object manipulation tasks performed with computer gaming. The platform will also be integrated with a telemonitoring, computer game based hand function assessment application. Objectives: 1) To determine test-retest reliability and convergent validity of the assessment application protocol in people with rheumatoid arthritis or hand osteoarthritis, 2) To conduct a pilot randomized controlled trial for assessing the feasibility, and therapeutic effects of the task-oriented training compared to conventional hand exercises, and 3) To qualitatively evaluate participants’ experiences on their respective exercise programs. Methods: Performance during three different object manipulation tasks was evaluated by the assessment application protocol on 40 people with arthritis. The performance measures were correlated with other common hand function measures. A six-week pilot randomized trial was conducted on 16 individuals with arthritis. The Arthritis Hand Function Test (AHFT), the Disabilities of Arm, Shoulder and Hand (DASH) questionnaire, exercise compliance and task performance during three object manipulation tasks were the clinical outcomes. Focus group interviews were conducted on seven participants who had before received their home exercise programs. Results: The protocol demonstrated moderate to high test-retest reliability (ICCs between 0.5-0.84) of performance measures. Spearman correlation coefficients (rho) between task performance measures and other measures of hand function were low to moderate (0.4 < rho < 0.5 to 0.7). The pilot trial was not successful in terms of participant recruitment but demonstrated feasibility of study procedures, resources, and management. Except for two dexterity sub-scales of the AHFT, there were no significant differences in other clinical measures. Exercise compliance was >85% in both groups. The qualitative study provided initial evidence on the appropriateness, acceptance, perceived benefits, and a few practical difficulties in performing each exercise program. Conclusions: The hand function assessment application warrants validation in a variety of object manipulation tasks and in different patient populations. In order to proceed to a full-fledged trial, additional recruitment strategies, and revisions in the inclusion criteria must be considered. / February 2015

Η Διπλωματική αυτή εργασία είχε ως στόχο τον σωστό προγραμματισμό της τεχνητής νοημοσύνης που χρησιμοποιείται στα ηλεκτρονικά παιχνίδια σήμερα. Η νοημοσύνη αυτή γίνεται αντιληπτή από τους παίχτες μέσω των ενεργειών των χαρακτήρων που υπάρχουν και ελέγχονται από το σύστημα του κάθε παιχνιδιού. Οι χαρακτήρες αυτοί ονομάζονται ευφυείς πράκτορες και θα πρέπει να ”φαίνονται”, δηλαδή να σκέφτονται και να ενεργούν, ορθολογικά και ανθρώπινα. Επίσης στα πλαίσια αυτής της εργασίας σχεδιάστηκε, υλοποιήθηκε και ενσωματώθηκε στην ήδη υπάρχουσα μηχανή παιχνιδιών Hive3D, μία μηχανή τεχνητής νοημοσύνης που μπορεί να δημιουργήσει έξυπνες συμπεριφορές πλοήγησης των πρακτόρων στον κόσμο του παιχνιδιού μας, ανεξάρτητα από τον τύπο του (π.χ στρατηγικής, περιπέτειας κ.α.). Προκειμένου όμως να γίνει αυτό εφικτό επικεντρωθήκαμε στα κοινά στοιχεία νοημοσύνης που χρειάζονται όλοι αυτοί οι τύποι παιχνιδιών. / This thesis aimed to correct programming of artificial intelligence used in computer games nowadays. Intelligence is perceived by the players through the actions of the game characters that are controlled by the system of each game. These characters are called intelligent agents and should be ”look like”, ie to think and act, rationally and humanly. Also as part of this work was designed, implemented and incorporated in existing game engine Hive3D, an artificial intelligence engine that can generate intelligent behaviors to navigate agents through the world of our game, regardless of its type ( e.g. strategy, adventure, etc). But in order to make this possible we focused on common elements of intelligence that all of these types of games are needed.

This study investigated the normalisation of gambling within the New Zealand context to explore whether an ausugenic environment exists, using qualitative interviews in combination with a self-ethnography. An ausugenic environment is one where gambling has become embedded in the cultural attitudes and behaviour of a society to the extent that it is no longer considered to be an abnormal or noteworthy activity. In order to investigate this two phases of qualitative interviews were conducted with the first being with members of the public who were also asked to record a diary of gambling related things they noticed over the course of a weekend. To better understand the results for diary participant responses, the researcher underwent the same diary keeping process during the same weekend while also revisiting locations described by the participants to validate their reports. The second phase involved interviews with counsellors from the Problem Gambling Foundation of New Zealand to explore their attitudes towards gambling and experiences that their clients who were most affected by gambling in New Zealand. The outcomes of this research were two conceptual models that propose how individuals normalise gambling behaviour personally as well as how society both creates and perpetuates an ausugenic environment. This study also discusses the concept of environmental normalisation as a development upon advertising wearout theory. It suggests that individuals may become blind to attitudes and stimuli within their environment after prolonged periods of exposure through many different sources. The idea that this may be not simply something that advertisers seek to avoid as is classically thought, but implemented as a deliberate strategy for organisations seeking to gain wide acceptance of their product or service is also proposed. The study ten seeks to make significant contributions towards the betterment of society through use of the findings to recommend policy alterations the New Zealand Government should implement and suggest alternative ways that the treatment of problem gambling is addressed in future.

Magistro baigiamajame darbe „Teisinės atsakomybės problemos azartinių lošimų teisiniame reguliavime“ yra nagrinėjama teisinė atsakomybė apskritai, identifikuojamos pagrindinės teisinės atsakomybės azartinių lošimų teisiniame reguliavime problemos, jos nagrinėjamos teisės aktų ir teisminių precedentų kontekste. Verslas, paslauga, pramoga, liga, nuodėmė – tai asociacijos, kurias sukelia žodžių junginys „azartiniai lošimai“. Ilgą laiką drausti, bet nelegaliai organizuoti, galiausiai Lietuvoje buvo legalizuoti ir teisiškai reglamentuoti nuo 2001 m. liepos 1 d. Įsteigtos lošimus organizuojančios bendrovės, priimtas lošėjus aptarnaujantis personalas, atidarytos lošimų vietos, teikiama paslauga – visa tai turi vykti pagal teisės aktuose nustatytą tvarką. Kur yra nustatyta tvarka, neišvengiamai atsiranda tos tvarkos pažeidimai, o tai savo ruožtu reiškia teisinę atsakomybę pažeidėjams. Teisinė atsakomybė yra neigiama valstybės reakcija į neteisėtą elgesį. Tokia valstybės reakcija sukelia teisės aktais nustatytas neigiamas pasekmes teisės pažeidėjui. Atsižvelgiant į teisės normas, kurios nustato atsakomybės taikymą, teisinė atsakomybė skirstoma į rūšis: baudžiamąją, civilinę, administracinę, drausminę ir materialinę. Azartinių lošimų organizavimo santykiuose, pažeidus teisės aktų reikalavimus, galimos visos teisinės atsakomybės rūšys, o tam tikrais atvejais viena neteisėta veika pažeidėjui gali užtraukti kelias atsakomybės rūšis vienu metu. / In the final Masterwork “Problems of legal responsibility in the legal regulation of gaming” legal responsibility in general will be analysed, main problems of the legal responsibility in legal regulation of gaming will be identified. They are researched in the context of legal acts and judicial precedents. Business, service, entertainment, disease, sin – these definitions are associated with the word “gaming”. For long time prohibited but organised illegal gaming was legalized and is legal regulated since 1 July 2001 in Lithuania. Gaming companies were established, players service staff was engaged, gaming locations were opened, service is provided. And all this shall be organized following the established order and requirements. Where is an order established, violations of this order are unavoidable, and it means legal responsibility for offender. Legal responsibility is negative response of the state to illegal behaviour. Such response of the state causes for the offender negative consequences established by legal acts. Considering legal rules, establishing application of responsibility, legal responsibility can be sorted into: criminal responsibility, civil responsibility, administrative responsibility, disciplinary responsibility and pecuniary responsibility. By violation of legal acts in gaming operation relationship all kinds of legal responsibility are possible. One unlawful act can carry several kinds of responsibility at one time for the offender in some cases. ... [to full text]

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.

Digital tabletop computers are an ideal platform for games with the social advantages of traditional tabletop games, such as board games and card games, combined with the more streamlined and automated gameplay of video games. Implementing a board game digitally allows for aspects of the game, such as routine in-game activities, rule enforcement and game progression, to be automated. However, the effect of this automation on the players’ social experience and enjoyment is poorly understood. To explore this question, a mixed-method study was carried out in which 24 groups of participants played either the abstract strategy board game Checkers or the cooperative board game Pandemic using three different interfaces: the original physical game; a digital tabletop interface which provided minimal automation in an attempt to replicate play of the original game; and a digital tabletop interface which automated many in-game activities, enforced the rules and managed the progression of the game. The study revealed that while automation does have the potential to reduce the overhead to play the game, it can lead to player frustration in several ways. Automating routine in-game activities and game progression can lead to severe awareness deficits. Automation of rule enforcement and management of the game state can streamline gameplay, but can lead to scenarios where players would prefer more control over the game. The negative space around the active game area is important to consider for storage of digital artifacts and physical objects above the table. Finally the digitization and automation of the games did not reduce social interaction, making digital tabletops a promising platform for social games. / Thesis (Master, Computing) -- Queen's University, 2012-01-08 10:32:08.405

Innovations in computer game interfaces continue to enhance the experience of players. Affective games - those that adapt or incorporate a player’s emotional state - have shown promise in creating exciting and engaging user experiences. However, a dearth of systematic exploration into what types of game elements should adapt to affective state leaves game designers with little guidance on how to incorporate affect into their games. We created an affective game engine, using it to deploy a design probe into how adapting the player’s abilities, the enemy’s abilities, or variables in the environment affects player performance and experience. Our results suggest that affectively adapting games can increase player arousal. Furthermore, we suggest that reducing challenge by adapting non-player characters is a worse design choice than giving players the tools that they need (through enhancing player abilities or a supportive environment) to master greater challenges.

Aim The main purpose of this study was to compose and test the validity of a cognitive test battery to determine e-sport athletes’ strengths and weaknesses. The second purpose was to investigate their physical fitness. Hypothesis 1: The elite players will perform better in a number of cognitive and fine motor tasks compared to recreational gamers. Hypothesis 2: The elite players’ aerobic capacity cannot be very low (&lt;2,5 VO2 L/min for 20-29 year olds) according to Andersson since that would affect their e-sport performance negatively. Hypothesis 3: A great number of the elite players will not be able to match the demands (&gt;198 seconds) for a healthy back in the Biering-Sørensen test. Method 25 male test subjects were divided into three groups, elite players (E) [10], recreational players (R) [10] and non-players (N) [5]. The elite group consisted of two professional e-sport teams á five persons, one Counter Strike: Global Offensive-team (CS) and one League of Legends-team (LOL), ranging between 17 and 25 years of age (mean age 21,5). R ranged between 21 and 29 years of age (mean 24,9) had all played fighting games, MOBA, online-FPS, online-3PS or RTS games minimum once a week in a 6 month period or more but never competed in them. N ranged between 25 and 32 (mean 28, 4) years of age and had at a maximum tried these kinds of games but never used them for recreational purposes. E, R and N performed a test battery for reaction speed, strategy, perception, situation awareness, keyboard stamina, hand-eye coordination, spatial orientation and anticipatory skill. E was also tested for physical fitness through Ekblom-Bak submaximal cycle ergometer test and back strength with Biering-Sørensens (BS) test. Results E estimated VO2max was 3,83 L/min (SD = 0,38) and E’s mean result from BS back test was 133 s (SD = 54). The elite players did not perform significantly better in any of the cognitive or fine motor task than the recreational players. Conclusion The elite player’s results from the BS test confirms hypothesis 3 and indicates unhealthy backs. The only significant difference within the cognitive tests between E and R is to the E groups disadvantage; surprisingly they showed inferior results in the anticipatory skill test. Their aerobic capacity confirms hypothesis 2, the elite players VO2max was not very low, placing the E group in the upper half of the average in their age group. Furthermore, the test battery cannot be used for talent scouting but could possibly be used to determine cognitive weaknesses. / Syfte Huvudsyftet med denna studie var att sammansätta och testa validiteten i ett kognitivt testbatteri för att bestämma e-sportatleters styrkor och svagheter. Det andra syftet var att undersöka deras fysiska status. Hypotes1: Elitspelarna kommer att prestera bättre i en rad kognitiva och finmotoriska uppgifter jämfört med rekreationsspelare. Hypotes 2: Elitspelarnas aeroba kapacitet kan inte vara mycket låg (&lt;2,5 VO2 L/min för 20-29åringar) eftersom det skulle påverka deras e–sportprestation negativt. Hypotes 3: Ett stort antal av elitspelarna kommer inte att kunna matcha kraven för en frisk rygg (&gt;193 sekunder) i Biering-Sørensentestet. Metod 25 män delades in i tre grupper, elitspelare (E) [10], rekreationsspelare (R) [10] och icke-spelare (N) [5]. Elitgruppen bestod av två professionella e-sportslag á fem personer och ett Counter Strike: Global Offensivelag (CS) och ett League of Legends-lag (LOL), ålder mellan 17 och 25 år (medelålder 21,5 ). R-gruppen varierade mellan 21 och 29 år (medelvärde 24,9 ) hade alla spelat fightingspel, MOBA, online-FPS, online-3PS eller RTS-spel minst en gång i veckan under en 6 månaders period eller mer men aldrig tävlat i dem. Grupp N varierade mellan 25 och 32 år (medel 28,4) och hade som högst provat dessa typer av spel, men aldrig använt dem i rekreationssyfte. Grupp E, R och N utförde ett testbatteri för reaktionshastighet, strategi, perception, situationsmedvetenhet , tangentbord uthållighet, öga-handkoordination, spatial förmåga och antecipatorisk skicklighet. Grupp E också testades fysiskt genom Ekblom-Bak submaximala cycle ergometertest och ryggstyrka genom Biering-Sørensens (BS) test. Resultat Grupp E:s beräknade VO2max var 3,83 l/min (SD = 0,38) och elitgruppens medelresultat av BS ryggtest var 133 s (SD=54). E presterade inte signifikant bättre i någon av de kognitiva eller finmotoriska uppgifterna än R. Slutsats Elitspelarnas resultat från BS-testet bekräftar hypotes 3 och påvisar ohälsosamma ryggar. Den enda signifikanta skillnaden inom de kognitiva testerna mellan E och R är till E-gruppens nackdel, överraskande visade de sämre resultat i det antecipatoriska skicklighetstestet . Deras aeroba kapacitet bekräftar hypotes 2, elitspelarnas VO2max var inte mycket låg, E-gruppen placerade sig i den övre hälften av genomsnittet för sin åldersgrupp. Testbatteriet kan inte användas för talangscouting men eventuellt för att upptäcka kognitiva svagheter.

The political sovereignty of indigenous Southern Californians has deep history of disenfranchisement and paternalism. A steady decline characterized the political authority and autonomy from the 18th century to 1850 when indigenous tribes of Southern California were in proximity of Spanish Missionaries and later, Mexican ranchers. Following the inclusion of California into the Union, this decline turned into a sharp drop. This paper looks at the history of these people under the three above-mentioned time frames and then analyzes how tribal gaming is effecting the current political sovereignty of Southern Californian Tribes. Special attention is given to the Barona Casino in San Diego to put into context, how tribal gaming is serving as a catalyst for change in the relationship between the California state government and tribal governments.