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- Volume 9, Issue 1, 2017
Journal of Gaming & Virtual Worlds - Volume 9, Issue 1, 2017
Volume 9, Issue 1, 2017
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Digital games and moral packaging: The impacts of in-game decisions on public pedagogical deliberation
Authors: James W. Malazita and Alexander JenkinsAbstractThis article examines the impact of the use of moral game designs in mainstream games upon public discourse. Rather than interviewing players about their moral experiences after gameplay, this article reads moral engagement through the pedagogical lens of Freire: that moral engagement must be measured through pedagogical action in the public sphere. Through discourse analysis, this article examines the presence and quality of moral deliberation and pedagogical action in online message boards surrounding three morally charged games: Mass Effect 3, Modern Warfare 2 and Civilization V. In the cases examined, players rarely adopted the ‘moral point of view’ or engaged in public pedagogy, opting instead to frame moral scenarios as ‘play’. A notable exception occurs when the content of the moral scenarios has already been explicitly framed in the public sphere as a matter for public moral debate.
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The effects of digital games on hedonic, eudaimonic and telic entertainment experiences
Authors: Anna Sophie Kümpel and Julian UnkelAbstractThis study extends current research on media entertainment by examining the effects of (perceived) game characteristics on hedonic, eudaimonic and telic entertainment experiences. Furthermore, differentiating between meaningful and non-meaningful games, we investigated whether these game types lead to the experience of different gaming-related emotions and what determines their discontinuation. Building on an online survey with 325 German gamers, we found a game’s narrative, its mechanics, the satisfaction of basic needs and perceived cognitive and affective challenge to be associated with the three entertainment experiences in distinct ways. In addition, the results suggest that meaningful and non-meaningful games induce specific emotions and are discontinued due to different considerations. The study furthers our theoretical understanding of (interactive) media entertainment and shows how the interplay of factors internal and external to a game shapes the overall game entertainment experience.
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A model of non-player character believability
Authors: Henrik Warpefelt and Harko VerhagenAbstractIn this study we aim to describe in what ways the behaviour of non-player characters (NPCs) affects to what extent the player finds the game experience to be believable. To this end, we have conducted an online survey, where respondents were asked to classify and describe NPCs. Furthermore, we also examined recordings of NPCs in games. These data sources were analysed using a model for NPC social believability in order to describe the effects of NPC behaviour in relation to how different types of NPCs are perceived as being believable. Based on this we were able to construct a model of NPC believability, which describes the NPC’s level of complexity and ability to handle a mutable social context. As described by the model, NPCs are currently less capable of handling changing social contexts. They do, however, show promise, and given current emerging technologies it is feasible that new types of more socially capable NPCs will arise within the near future.
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Da-Sein design: Linking phenomenology with Self-Determination Theory for game design
Authors: Steven Conway and Bradley ElphinstoneAbstractIn this article we propose a phenomenological foundation for the application of Self-Determination Theory (SDT) in game design. While SDT provides much value in describing why a person engages with and is motivated to continue engaging with games (of all types) as meaningful experiences, it currently lacks an overt definition of meaning and how it occurs. We argue that the Heideggerian phenomenology offers an explicit delineation of meaning in the human experience, and, furthermore, is already implicit in the conceptualization of SDT’s core needs, as we demonstrate. Finally, we show how this understanding of meaning (phenomenology) and needs (SDT) can be fruitfully linked to provide a robust set of theoretical concepts for comprehending the experience of gameplay through a short case study of the camera system as designed within digital games.
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The golden (hands) rule: Exploring user experiences with gamepad and natural-user interfaces in popular video games
Authors: Nicholas David Bowman, Daniel Pietschmann and Benny LieboldAbstractThis research report sought to understand how gamers experienced recent gaming sessions using traditional game controllers (gamepads) or natural user interfaces (NUIs, such as the Nintendo Wiimote). A secondary qualitative analysis of N=238 open-ended comments to a larger game controller experience survey were analysed for emergent themes, with χ2 tests used to compare the frequency of their mention between the two controller types. While the same eleven discussion themes emerged when players described either gamepad or NUI experiences, participants discussing gamepads were more likely to comment on the controller’s precision, comfort, success using the controller, and their past experience with the controller. Likewise, participants discussing NUIs were more likely to comment on the controller’s lack of precision, feeling unnatural, having less success during the game session, and seeing the controller as more novel. No differences in controller simplicity or the overall enjoyment were found. Additionally, game genre differences were found suggesting shooting games (first- and third-person shooters) to be more frequently played with gamepads and sports games to be more frequently played with NUIs, and gamepad session were as much as 50 per cent longer on average. This research supports and extends prior findings which suggest that NUIs might not be as natural and intuitive as they are designed to be.
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Review
By Eoin MurrayAbstractThe Supplementary Relationship of Games
Video Games and Storytelling: Reading Games and Playing Books, Souvik Mukherjee (ed.) (2015)
New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 239 pp.,
ISBN: 9781137 525055, h/bk, $95.00 (USD)
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