The phenomena that we collectively refer to as “play” form a significant part of life at numerous levels. According to the play scholar, Johan Huizinga, play has not only been part of all human societies, it is also at the root of the development of numerous cultural activities, including structured games and sports, certain judicial and legal activities, war, and numerous forms of art. Despite its importance, play, with its various manifestations, is often relegated to being a children’s activity or an occasion of pure waste, and is a surprisingly marginalized topic in academic scholarship. In part to remedy this deficit, my aim in this thesis is to explore the comparatively new phenomenon of video games as a particular form of play. While there are undoubtedly many philosophical approaches that can respond to different aspects of the “problem” of video games, I propose that Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari’s philosophy of “difference” and “becoming” is particularly useful. On the one hand, Deleuze and Guattari’s philosophy provides a viable framework through which to determine the limitations of the current prominent theories in the field of video game studies, which include “narratology”, “ludology”, and the more recent “hybrid approach”. On the other hand, their philosophy enables one to extend the creative and transformative potential that is inherent to a philosophical “problem”, in this case the “problem” of video games. By adapting selected Deleuzian and Deleuzoguattarian philosophical concepts, including “assemblage”, “percept”, “affect”, “transversal becoming”, and “becoming-imperceptible”, I aim to establish a philosophical framework through which different forms of play, and different video games, can be analyzed in terms of their capacity to generate “difference” and “becoming”. More specifically, I argue that video games can be understood as particular kinds of “play assemblages” that can potentially open the player to “transversal becomings”. The video games that I analyze as play assemblages that can generate “transversal becomings” are Thatgamecompany’s Flower (2009) and Journey (2012). Importantly, “transversal becomings”, understood in this instance as the “becoming-other” of human individuals, have the potential to contribute to the individual’s capacity for creative thought and action. Therefore, I argue that video games, far from being activities of pure waste, can potentially open the player to various forms of “becoming-other”, which can, in turn, increase the player’s capacity to think differently, to become different and to create differences. Ultimately, I aim to promote the value of play and video games on the one hand, and the value of Deleuze and Guattari’s philosophy on the other hand, for the aim of extending the questioning power of life, and increasing our capacity to effectively respond to a continuously changing world of problems.

Digital video games are an immensely popular form of entertainment. The meaningful positive experiences that games facilitate are fundamental to the activity; players are known to invest a lot of time playing games in search of those experiences. Digital games research is polarized. Some studies find games to be a healthy hobby with positive effects; games promote well-being through regular experience of positive psychological experiences such as flow and positive emotions. Others have identified rare problematic use in those players who devote excessive amounts of time to gaming, associating them with social dysfunction, addiction, and maladaptive aggression. While it remains unclear if games cause these effects, or merely coincide with play, the negative effects historically receive more attention in both popular media and academia. Some authorities attempt to reduce the harms associated with games to such an extent that their methods have become national policy affecting all players including those who exhibit no negative outcomes. In South Korea and Taiwan, policing authorities employ a behaviour policy that sets strict daily limits on session length, thereby controlling the amount of time people spend playing games each day. In China, the General Administration of Press and Publication employ a design policy requiring that games service-providers fatigue their games’ mechanics after a period to coax them to take a break sooner than they ordinarily would. Both policy types alter player interaction with games in any given session and it is unclear how these policies affect players in general. This research aims to compare sessions affected by the behaviour policy, design policy, and policy-free sessions in terms of session length, measurable subjective user-experience, the player's intention to return to the game, and their reasons for choosing to stop playing in a particular session. For use in a repeated-measures experiment, we modified the action RPG Torchlight II to simulate both policies. Participants had one session at the same time each week for three consecutive weeks. In varied sequences, participants played a control session unaffected by policy, a onehour shutdown session representing behaviour policy, and a fatigue session representing design policy. After each session, we recorded their session's length, their user-experience in terms of flow and affect, their intention to return to the game, and their reason for ending the current session. We found that our shutdown condition successfully decreases session length, when compared to the other conditions. The condition facilitates strong flow, moderate positive-affect, and weak negative-affect. The shutdown event does not appear to degrade positive experiences and makes participants slightly more upset (statistically significant) than they would be after choosing to stop playing. This is because players do not get to make that decision, and because players are unable to complete the goals they have set for themselves. Most players intended to play the game again immediately or sometime later in that same day, much sooner (statistically significant) iii Word Template by Friedman & Morgan 2014 than they would after choosing to stop. This also may be due to satisfaction associated with choosing to stop, or being unable to complete their self-set goals. We found that our fatigue condition increases session length when compared to the other conditions. This result contradicts the intentions associated with design policies: shorter sessions. The fatigue mechanics make the game more difficult, which increases the time required for players to complete the goals they have set for themselves, whether it is to complete a level, quest, or narrative sequence. The condition facilitates high levels of flow, moderate positive-affect and low negativeaffect; the condition does not appear to degrade these positive experiences, nor increase negative experience. Most players intended to take the longest breaks between sessions of at least one day, and although we observed that these were longer than the control condition, the differences is not statistically significant. We found that most participants chose to stop playing when the game stopped providing them with positive experiences, or begins to generate discomfort. A large group of participants chose to stop because another activity took priority. Few participants chose to stop because they were satisfied with their session. Less than one third of players explicitly referenced the fatigue mechanics in their decision to stop. Neither policy is holistically better than the other. Both provide strong positive experiences, and have different effects on session length. Whereas it appears that the fatigue condition fails to reduce session length, it also appears that players intend taking longer breaks between sessions, which may reduce total play-time across all sessions. Similarly, the shutdown condition may increase total play time, or at least bring it closer to normal amounts of play-time while also making players more upset. Our operational definition of user-experience is bi-dimensional, and does not include many experiential constructs commonly associated with digital games. During this research, several reliable and valid, and more representative experience measures became available. Any future work on this topic should make use of one of these. Our experiment tested the effects of player experience associated with a single game, genre, and context. Future research should reduce the variation of player factors by focusing on single personalities, typologies, or risk-factors rather than generalizing to all players. We tested out participants only as they played in the early stages of Torchlight II. It is possible that the game's narrative elements, rather than the gameplay mechanics fatigued by the design policy, motivated continued play. We suggest a longitudinal study of the individual policies to explore their effects over many sessions.

by Chan Wai-lun, Albert. / Includes questionnaire in Chinese. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1994. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 71-73). / abstract --- p.iii / TABLE OF CONTENTS --- p.iv / LIST OF TABLES --- p.vi / ACKNOWLEDGEMENT --- p.vii / Chapter / Chapter I. --- INTRODUCTION --- p.1 / Chapter II. --- MARKET ANALYSIS --- p.2 / Product Definition --- p.2 / Analytical Framework --- p.2 / Microenvironment --- p.3 / Company --- p.3 / Marketing Intermediaries --- p.7 / Major Competitor -- Sega --- p.15 / Concerns from Parents & the public --- p.18 / Macroenvironments --- p.19 / Demographic Environment --- p.19 / Economic Environment --- p.20 / Technological Environment --- p.21 / Legal Environment --- p.25 / Chapter III. --- CUSTOMER RESEARCH --- p.28 / Research Method --- p.29 / Qualitative Research --- p.29 / Focus Group --- p.30 / Interview with the Shopowner of a Retail Outlet --- p.32 / Survey Research --- p.34 / Chapter IV. --- MARKETING STRATEGY & CONCLUSION --- p.53 / Marketing Strategy --- p.53 / Product --- p.53 / Positioning --- p.57 / Distribution --- p.58 / Pricing --- p.60 / Conclusion --- p.61 / APPENDIX --- p.63 / BIBLIOGRAPHY --- p.71

Orientador: Afonso Antonio Machado / Banca: Roberto Tadeu Iaochite / Banca: Eloísa Hilsdorf Rocha Gimenez / Resumo: Nas últimas duas décadas do século XX e nesse início de século XXI temos visto um crescimento acentuado de crianças que se utilizam da nova tecnologia dos videogames para se divertirem, quer seja com amigos, familiares ou mesmo sozinhas. Quando surgiram, os videogames eram jogados pelos jovens e adultos, mas esta tendência modificou-se e agora os videogames começaram a ser jogados pelas crianças. Os estados emocionais são pouco estudados na relação entre criança e videogame. As emoções são imprescindíveis nas tomadas de decisões, das mais simples as mais complexas. Elas são fundamentais também para a sociabilidade, além de organizar a forma como os dados e os acontecimentos são armazenados na memória. O objetivo deste estudo foi compreender as influências do videogame Wii® na vida da criança, de modo a identificar, descrever e analisar os motivos e as emoções declaradas por crianças usuárias de jogos virtuais do tipo Wii®, tentando ainda compreender a relação estabelecida entre o real e o virtual, pela criança, diante dos tais jogos virtuais. Para tanto, a metodologia utilizada foi embasada na pesquisa qualitativa onde coletamos os dados através da observação sistemática de crianças jogando Wii®, fornecendo o registro naquilo que chamamos de caderno de campo e o segundo instrumento de coleta de dados presente em nosso trabalho foi a entrevista. Esta técnica diz respeito à prestação de informações ou opiniões sobre determinada temática, feita de forma oral, pelo entrevistado. Foi possível constatar que, os sujeitos desta pesquisa não reconhecem aspectos relacionados com a vida real nos jogos de Wii®. Concluímos que as razões mais evidentes para as crianças jogarem Wii® são: a diversão e o prazer; a sensação de serem capazes de alcançar objetivos e, deste modo, sentirem... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: In the last two decades of the 20th century and early 21st century have seen a dramatic growth of children who use the new technology of video games to enjoy themselves, whether with family, friends or even alone. When surfaced, the video games were played by young people and adults, but this trend has changed and now video games began to be played by children. Emotional States are little studied in the relationship between child and videogame. Emotions are indispensable in decision-making, from the most simple to the most complex. They are also fundamental to sociability, in addition to organizing the way data and events are stored in memory. The objective of this study was to understand the influences of videogame Wii® in the child's life, to identify, describing, and analyzing the reasons and declared emotions by child users of virtual Games Wii® type, still trying to understand the relationship established between the real and the virtual, by the child, in the face of such virtual games. For this purpose, the methodology used was based on qualitative research where we collect data through systematic observation of children playing Wii®, providing the record what we call field notebook and the second data collection instrument present in our work was the interview. This technique relates to the provision of information or opinions on a particular subject, made orally, for the respondent. It was possible to see that the subject of this survey do not recognize aspects related to real life Games Wii®. We conclude that the most obvious reasons for children playing Wii® are fun and pleasure, the feeling of being able to reach goals and thus feel that are good things; the possibility of interaction with the other factor that allows... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre

Video games, as the fastest growing media, need set usability design standards. In this context, this study was motivated by the following kinds of questions: What makes a standard console game good? What makes it too frustrating to play? Each company has developed its own standards which can vary greatly. Game producers learn from experience what to do and what not to do. However, smaller companies that may have only produced a few games are left to chance. Moreover, startup game companies may fail at a game that would have otherwise succeeded if they had only had a set of standards to follow. Companies like Microsoft, Capcom and Electronic Arts rule the gaming industry mainly due to the fact that they have discovered what works. This study employs usability analysis to identify standards for assessing video game effectiveness, efficiency and player satisfaction. Experienced video game players participated in an online questionnaire. Conclusions about effective, efficient, and satisfying video games are derived from questionnaire results. Of several major findings presented in this analysis, this study reveals that the beginning of the game is an imperative experience that can determine if a player continues the game. / Department of Telecommunications

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Georgia State University, 2008. / Title from file title page. Dominic Parrott, committee chair; Tracie Stewart, Cynthia Hoffner, Heather Kleider, Eric Vanman, committee members. Electronic text (94 p. : ill.) : digital, PDF file. Description based on contents viewed July 2, 2008. Includes bibliographical references (p. 81-88).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2009. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 88-95).

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:29:48Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2012-08-16Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T18:59:36Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 schiavon_mk_me_rcla.pdf: 295710 bytes, checksum: 944c25e1bc76493c6a7a42b86a71810f (MD5) / Nas últimas duas décadas do século XX e nesse início de século XXI temos visto um crescimento acentuado de crianças que se utilizam da nova tecnologia dos videogames para se divertirem, quer seja com amigos, familiares ou mesmo sozinhas. Quando surgiram, os videogames eram jogados pelos jovens e adultos, mas esta tendência modificou-se e agora os videogames começaram a ser jogados pelas crianças. Os estados emocionais são pouco estudados na relação entre criança e videogame. As emoções são imprescindíveis nas tomadas de decisões, das mais simples as mais complexas. Elas são fundamentais também para a sociabilidade, além de organizar a forma como os dados e os acontecimentos são armazenados na memória. O objetivo deste estudo foi compreender as influências do videogame Wii® na vida da criança, de modo a identificar, descrever e analisar os motivos e as emoções declaradas por crianças usuárias de jogos virtuais do tipo Wii®, tentando ainda compreender a relação estabelecida entre o real e o virtual, pela criança, diante dos tais jogos virtuais. Para tanto, a metodologia utilizada foi embasada na pesquisa qualitativa onde coletamos os dados através da observação sistemática de crianças jogando Wii®, fornecendo o registro naquilo que chamamos de caderno de campo e o segundo instrumento de coleta de dados presente em nosso trabalho foi a entrevista. Esta técnica diz respeito à prestação de informações ou opiniões sobre determinada temática, feita de forma oral, pelo entrevistado. Foi possível constatar que, os sujeitos desta pesquisa não reconhecem aspectos relacionados com a vida real nos jogos de Wii®. Concluímos que as razões mais evidentes para as crianças jogarem Wii® são: a diversão e o prazer; a sensação de serem capazes de alcançar objetivos e, deste modo, sentirem... / In the last two decades of the 20th century and early 21st century have seen a dramatic growth of children who use the new technology of video games to enjoy themselves, whether with family, friends or even alone. When surfaced, the video games were played by young people and adults, but this trend has changed and now video games began to be played by children. Emotional States are little studied in the relationship between child and videogame. Emotions are indispensable in decision-making, from the most simple to the most complex. They are also fundamental to sociability, in addition to organizing the way data and events are stored in memory. The objective of this study was to understand the influences of videogame Wii® in the child's life, to identify, describing, and analyzing the reasons and declared emotions by child users of virtual Games Wii® type, still trying to understand the relationship established between the real and the virtual, by the child, in the face of such virtual games. For this purpose, the methodology used was based on qualitative research where we collect data through systematic observation of children playing Wii®, providing the record what we call field notebook and the second data collection instrument present in our work was the interview. This technique relates to the provision of information or opinions on a particular subject, made orally, for the respondent. It was possible to see that the subject of this survey do not recognize aspects related to real life Games Wii®. We conclude that the most obvious reasons for children playing Wii® are fun and pleasure, the feeling of being able to reach goals and thus feel that are good things; the possibility of interaction with the other factor that allows... (Complete abstract click electronic access below)

Theses (M.A.(Media Studies)) --University of Limpopo, 2014 / The purpose of this study was to outline the effects of violent films and video games on children in Giyani. The study used both qualitative and quantitative methods. Data collection was done using three methods, namely: structured questionnaires, interviews and observations. Participants for this study were sixty (60) children from four selected villages, namely Ndhambhi, Mageva , Bambeni and nwamarhanga. Twenty (20) parents from the same villages were also selected. Films and video games remain the source of entertainment for media consumers although they have effects. Such effects may be seen through long and short time exposures. There are positive and negative effects of media violence exposure. The effectiveness of effects on children may be determined by several factors such as: cognitive development of one’s mind, time spent consuming violent films and video games, age and interpretation attached to messages portrayed by the media. The findings reveal that children’s perceptions of the reality may be affected by media violence. Furthermore, parents do not always monitor what their children consume on daily basis. Repeated exposure of violence on children might result in aggressiveness and the syndrome world effects. Children should be taught about the importance of age restrictions and television guidelines.

This dissertation examines early adopters of mass-marketed Virtual Reality (VR), as well as other immersive technologies, and the playful processes by which they incorporate the devices into their lives within New York City. Starting in 2016, relatively inexpensive head-mounted displays (HMDs) began to be manufactured and distributed by leaders in the game and information technology industries. However, even before these releases, developers and content creators were testing the devices through “development kits.” These de facto early adopters, who are distinctly commercially-oriented, acted as a launching point for the dissertation to scrutinize how, why and in what ways digital technologies spread to the wider public. Taking a multimethod approach that combines semi-structured interviews, two years of participant observation, media discourse analysis and autoethnography, the dissertation details a moment in the diffusion of an innovation and how publicity, social forces and industry influence adoption. This includes studying the media ecosystem which promotes and sustains VR, the role of New York City in framing opportunities and barriers for new users, and a description of meetups as important communities where devotees congregate. With Game Studies as a backdrop for analysis, the dissertation posits that the blurry relationship between labor and play held by most enthusiasts sustains the process of VR adoption. Their “playbor” colors not only the rhetoric and the focus of meetups, but also the activities, designs, and, most importantly, the financial and personal expenditures they put forth. Ultimately, play shapes the system of production by which adopters of commercial VR are introduced to the technology and, eventually, weave it into their lives. Situating play at the center of this system highlights that the assimilation of digital media is in part an embodied and irrational experience. It also suggests new models by which future innovations will spread to the public.