Denna undersökning har fokuserat på kvinnliga spelare och deras uppfattning och val av kvinnliga spelkaraktärer då representationen av kvinnliga karaktärer i spel är mindre varierad än den av manliga. Målet med undersökningen var att undersöka vilken av de fyra karaktärerna i undersökningen de valde baserat på utseende, och spelklass, samt ifall de kände sig representerade av någon av karaktärerna och hur de motiverade sina val. Detta för att undersöka vad av utseende och spelklass som väger tyngst hos kvinnliga spelare och, ifall utseende väger tyngre; vilka designval de anser mest viktiga hos karaktären. Resultaten av undersökningen tyder på att spelklass är viktigare vid val av karaktär men att det även finns en efterfrågan gällande en bredare representation av kvinnliga spelkaraktärer.

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Orientador: Prof. Dr. Adriano Heemann / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal do Paraná, Setor de Artes, Comunicação e Design, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Design. Defesa: Curitiba, 05/02/2016 / Inclui referências : f. 108-117 / Área de concentração : Design / Resumo: Esta dissertação descreve a relação entre colaboração e jogos eletrônicos. Os jogos eletrônicos são considerados uma mídia nova de interação humano-computador (IHC) em relação à história da computação e do design. Seu potencial como ambiente colaborativo entre pessoas ainda não foi suficientemente estudado e esclarecido. A questão que orienta a pesquisa é como favorecer a colaboração dentro de um jogo eletrônico. O universo dos jogos é amplo e subdividido, por essas razões o presente estudo está delimitado a jogos com múltiplos jogadores (multiplayers), mais especificamente modalidade MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena). Tal modalidade foi escolhida por englobar dinâmicas de equipes e por ser considerada a modalidade de jogo mais utilizada atualmente. O processo de desenvolvimento da pesquisa se deu inicialmente por uma investigação bibliográfica sistemática, depois assistemática com maior definição da busca, intuindo a complementação da bibliografia também foi utilizada a pesquisa documental. O objetivo dessas primeiras etapas foi o estabelecimento da fundamentação teórica da pesquisa bem como o desenvolvimento do protocolo de ensaio de interação. Após o cumprimento destes procedimentos metodológicos e coleta de dados, por meio do ensaio de interação, realizou-se uma comparação entre dados na forma de triangulação. Este procedimento culminou na redação de observações acerca do jogo Dota 2 visando fornecer bases para o Game Design com incentivo a colaboração entre jogadores MOBA". As observações poderão servir de auxílio a profissionais que atuam no desenvolvimento de jogos eletrônicos (Game Design) cujo ofício impacta diretamente em aspectos de usabilidade de novos jogos. Palavras-chave: Colaboração, MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena), Jogos Eletrônicos, Game Design. / Abstract: This dissertation describes the relationship between collaboration and electronic games. Electronic games are considered a new human-computer interaction (HCI) media in relation to the history of computing and design. The potential of this media as a collaborative environment among people has not been sufficiently studied and understood. The question that guides the research is to foster collaboration within a video game. The world of games is wide and subdivided, for these reasons this study is delimited to multiplayer games mode specifically MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena). That method was chosen to encompass dynamic teams and for being considered the game mode most commonly used today. The research development process was initially for a systematic literature search, then unsystematic higher definition search, intuiting the completion of the literature documentary research was also used. The goal of these first steps was the establishment of the theoretical foundation of the research and the development of interaction assay protocol. After the fulfillment of these methodological procedures and data collection, through the interaction test, it was performed a comparison between data in the form of triangulation. This process culminated in the drafting of observations on the Dota2 game aiming to provide bases for the Game Design with encouraging collaboration between MOBA players. "The remarks may serve to aid the professionals working in the development of electronic games (Game Design) whose office impacts directly usability aspects of new games. Keywords: Collaboration, MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena), Electronic Games, Game Design.

As live streaming of video games has become easier, electronic sports have grown quickly and they are still increasing as tournaments grow in viewers and prizes. The purpose of this paper is to examine the theory Metagame Bounds by applying it to League of Legends and Dota 2, to see if it is a valid way of looking at character balance in the Multiplayer Online Battle Arena game genre. The main mode of both games consist of matches played on a map where a team of five players is up against another team of five players. Characters in the games generally have four abilities and a number of attributes, making them complex to compare without context. We gathered character data from websites and entered the data into a file that we used with the Metagame Bounds application. We compared the graphs that the data yielded with how often a character wins and how often it is played. To examine whether the characters were balanced we also played the games and analysed the characters in depth. All statistical data gathered was retrieved over the span of a few hours on the 21st of April 2015 from the websites Champion.gg for League of Legends and Dotabuff for Dota 2. Sirlin’s (2001) definition of multiplayer game balance is “A multiplayer game is balanced if a reasonably large number of options available to the player are viable – especially, but not limited to, during high-level play by expert players.” and with the data we see that these games are balanced in terms of characters according to that definition. Overall we believe that Metagame Bounds is a valid way of looking at balance within the genre, but the data is not completely reliable on its own and should be compared with other statistics.

Some video games offer, today, high-level competitive performance in the form of esports – a discipline recognized as a performance domain in need of investigation within a sport psychological perspective. Tilt, described as severe frustration resulting in suboptimal performance, is a common, yet still under-investigated performance debilitating phenomenon in esports. The aim of the present study was to gain an understanding of factors and processes relating to tilt in the esports of League of Legends. To that end, a qualitative method was applied using thematic analysis to explore (1) antecedents of tilt, (2) the effects of tilt on performance, and (3) players’ strategies to manage tilt-inducing situations. Findings show players experience antecedents of tilt to be teammates failing to meet the expectations of the players, teammates’ toxic behaviour, players failing to meet their own expectations, and negative emotions. These events can result in the players experiencing a sense of discouragement, a loss of control, misplaced attention, as well as displaying toxic behaviour. Lastly, the players resort to managing tilt-inducing situations by muting the in-game chat, redirecting attention towards controllable actions, and acceptance of mistakes and situations in general. These findings suggest tilt processes to be partly influenced by the players’ teammates’ actions, thus different social contexts may influence the experience of tilt. Further, findings indicate the players’ experience of discouragement when under tilt as an additional factor related to tilt, which is discussed as potentially unique to the context of players in LoL.

Electronic sport or esport is a trend that involves playing competitive video games professionally. Traditional sports and esport have been compared to each other because of their similarities. Esport has grown in terms of viewership. Every year more spectators get interested and the number rises. One popular genre played in esports is MOBA. It stands for Multiplayer Online Battle Arena. Two teams face each other, and the goal is to destroy the enemy’s base with the help of their selected character, in-game mechanics and objectives. There are several focus points to highlight for the spectator. Hence, a dedicated spectator interface in the esports scene helps understand the progression of the game while watching. Developers might want to market their MOBA game into the esports scene, but it is hard to know what spectators want within the interface. This study investigates the major factors to consider when designing a spectator interface for a gaming genre; multiplayer online battle arena games (MOBA) in a competitive setting. The methods used to achieve the results were literature studies that include spectatorship, cognitive theories, and game interface theories. Analysing a popular MOBA game spectator interface and redesigned the interface of a game named League of Legends. Redesigns will go through an iterative process with the help of feedback, using questionnaires and interviews on the target group. Results discovered factors that could provide the spectator with a better viewing experience and contributed to producing a guideline for designers. The study concluded the guideline could help future work or contribute to previously established guidelines for general competitive games. However, further investigations are required to explore and validate the proposed guidelines in practice. / Elektronisk sport eller esport är en trend som handlar om att spela tävlingsinriktade videospel professionellt. Traditionella sporter och esport har ofta jämförts med varandra på grund av likheterna. Esport har vuxit enormt när det gäller tittarskap. Varje år blir fler åskådare intresserade och antalet stiger. En populär genre som spelas i esports heter MOBA. Det står för Multiplayer Online Battle Arena. Två lag möter varandra och målet är att förstöra fiendens bas med hjälp av spelmekanik och spelmål. Det finns flera fokuspunkter som ska visas för åskådaren. Därför används ett dedikerat åskådargränssnitt i esport-scenen för att hjälpa förstå spelets utveckling medan åskådaren tittar på. Utvecklare vill möjligtvis marknadsföra sitt MOBA-spel i esport-scenen, men det kan vara svårt att veta vad åskådarna vill ha inom gränssnittet. Denna studie undersöker de viktigaste faktorerna som ska beaktas när man utformar ett åskådargränssnitt för en spelgenre; flerspelarspel online (MOBA) i en tävlingsinriktad miljö. Metoderna för att uppnå resultaten var litteraturstudier som inkluderar åskådarskap, kognitiva teorier och spelgränssnittsteorier. Analys av ett populärt MOBA-spel åskådargränssnitt och redesignade gränssnittet för spelet som heter League of Legends. Det omformade gränssnittet kommer att gå igenom en iterativ process med hjälp av feedback med hjälp av frågeformulär och intervjuer på målgruppen. Resultaten upptäckte faktorer som kunde ge åskådaren en bättre

Multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) games and games in general offer developers opportunities to design and test AI to further push research within the area. MOBA is a genre that has seen an increase in popularity during recent years alongside a rapidly growing esports scene.  The game's main purpose is ultimately to be enjoyed and played by human players, who often come up with and are encouraged to create their own strategies in order to beat the game or win out over their opponents.  This thesis will explore how mimicking human behavior in AI and using statistics from human players can be beneficial to AI design. The AI will be developed in a framework similar to that used by the Conference of Games for their Dota 2 5v5 AI competition. Three different strategies will be created, each of which will mimic some aspect of human behaviour, and then tested against the built-in AI in Dota 2. All the developed AI’s managed to win with varying results. The results showed some support for the notion that human gameplay and statistics can be beneficial to AI design. There are, however, difficulties with the complexity of the game that is Dota 2.

Multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) games have properties that make them suitable for research in artificial and computational intelligence. MOBA games are generally played team vs team meaning planning and organizing the team is one of the most important aspects. This makes it suitable for research in artificial intelligence agent cooperation. This paper presents a literature review performed in the area of artificial and computational intelligence regarding MOBA games. The findings are that there is little or no research made in the area. The research found concerning MOBA games is in the context of player behaviour and toxic behaviour in the MOBA game league of legends. What is found is encouragement on developing frameworks supporting 5v5 matches in MOBA games which this paper also presents, a 5v5 framework for bot-matchmaking in DotA 2 making it possible for users to develop bots to be run versus the in-game AI.

This thesis covers the history of the MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) genre by creating a chronological historical timeline of some of the most catalytic titles. It also delves deeper into the dynamic between modders and companies and how that dynamic changed as the genre evolved. All of this is analyzed through a political economy lens, to see how the power structure and monetization plan for the games in the genre has changed over the years. The research was conducted by piecing together relevant academic papers, with popular sources to construct a credible thesis on the MOBA genre's evolution. One of the key points from this research is how monetization has changed from the beginning of the genre to how it is today. Roughly 20 years ago, when the genre first started, monetization was more straightforward, a one-time purchase for the game. Today, most games in the genre are free-to-play, while containing in-game purchases such as cosmetics and character unlocks.

Det senaste decenniet har esporter växt förvånansvärt mycket i popularitet. Fenomenet esport har lett till utvecklingen av en hel uppsjö olika genrer, som alla har sina distinkta problem hos deras användarvänlighet i dess olika gränssnitt [22]. Den här studiens metod baseras på Nielsens tumregler för utvärdering av användarvänlighet i användargränssnitt, samt en kombination av både Turunen [5] och Quintans [2] uppsättning av frågor som även de är baserade på Nielsens tumregler, för att hitta vilka likheter och skillnader som finns i användarvänligheten hos tre olika spel som varje tillhör tre distinkta genrer, specifikt FPS (First Person Shooter), MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) och RTS (Real-Time Strategy). De korresponderande spelen som undersöks är Counter Strike global offensive (CSGO), League of legends (LoL), respektive Starcraft II (SC2). Undersökningens resultat visar bland annat att SC2, spelet som representerar RTS, hade flest problem i användarvänligheten medan LoL och CSGO hade betydligt färre problem. HUD:en (Heads-Up Display) var gränssnittet som stod ut mest för SC2 eftersom det antog flest antal problem. Detta resultat kan anses som logiskt när man ser till spelets popularitet jämfört med de övriga två, då de andra är mycket populärare sett till antal visningstimmar. Dock är genrerna RTS och MOBA mycket lika i sin utformning och man hade därför kunnat förvänta sig att LoL och SC2 skulle haft ett flertal likheter, vilket de inte hade. Studien visar generellt sett på en mångfald i skillnader hos deras problem och även en mångfald i styrkor. / In the last decade, esports has been continuously exceeding expectations in its popularity. The phenomenon of esports has led to the development of a whole lot of different genres, which all have their own distinct problems/strengths in the usability of their user interfaces [22]. Inspired by Nielsen’s heuristics for user interface inspection, as well as using a combined set of questions from Turunen [5] and Quintans [2] to evaluate the usability of a user interface, this study aims to see which similarities and differences there are in the usability of distinctly chosen user interfaces of three esport games from three different genres, specifically FPS (First Person Shooter), MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) and RTS (Real-Time Strategy) corresponding to Counter Strike global offensive (CSGO), League of legends (LoL) and Starcraft II (SC2) respectively. The result of the study shows many findings, one of the more amazing findings was that SC2, the game that represents the RTS genre, had the most usability problems in its user interfaces, whilst both CSGO and LoL had significantly fewer problems. The HUD (Heads-up display) was the interface that stood out the most for SC2 because it adopted the most problems. This result makes sense when looking at the popularity of the game compared to the others, but since the RTS and MOBA genres are partially alike, one could expect LoL to have similar problems, which it did not for the most part. The study also shows a lot of specific differences in usability problems between the various games. In addition, there were many similarities in usability strengths and very few specific similarities in usability problems between various games mentioned before.