This paper introduces the concept of an augmented learning environment into the field of game-based learning. An augmented learning environment (ALE) combines principles of on-line multi-player computer games with social, role-playing games in order to facilitate the development of key skills and transfer of knowledge. Fundamental features of ALE are discussed through the educational game paradigm, Europe 2045, which has been developed and successfully implemented in a number of secondary schools in the Czech Republic during 2008. On a more general level this paper aims to establish a theoretical and case-study-based methodological framework for game researchers and designers, involved in similar future projects, which capitalizes on the notion of ALE. Read more...

Gaming 2.0 – Computer Games and Cultural Production Participation Analysis of Computer Gamers in a convergent Media Culture and taxonomy of ludic artefacts This text thesis aims to examine media products which are produced by computer game players. Players approach these games in a non-trivial way and are part of cooperative and intensive communication project-communities. Within these communities they generate ludic artefacts in form of videos, images and real objects, produced out of games and by playing. Beginning with a very general discussion of the term game, the thesis continues with examining concepts of the computer game, web participation and convergent media culture. Additionally, a series of case studies is collected and described. The examinations lead to a taxonomy of ludic artefacts, which is divided into six main groups. Each of them contains further six subcategories, which explain the motivations for the production of such pieces of art, as well as different ways of using the medium computer game. The proposal of this taxonomy of ludic artefacts aims to support the understanding of gamers who produce media artefacts, which transport and communicate the mental state and emotions of the gaming community. Convergent media culture, which incorporates participation of users and collective intelligence, enables a very special way of creativity. Thereby, the gamer is transformed into a prosumer and team player, who is able to articulate and express himself as an individual through these artefacts, travelling between the fields of popular culture and art. Therefore, the social type of the gamer is a co-creative representative of an avantgardistic gaming-, creation-, and networking-community, which uses the computer game as a platform and a creative programme. Read more...

Modern psychophysiological game research faces the problem that for understanding the computer game experience, it needs to analyze game events with high temporal resolution and within the game context. This is the only way to achieve greater understanding of gameplay and the player experience with the use of psychophysiological instrumentation. This paper presents a solution to recording in-game events with the frequency and accuracy of psychophysiological recording systems, by sending out event byte codes through a parallel port to the psychophysiological signal acquisition hardware. Thus, psychophysiological data can immediately be correlated with in-game data. By employing this system for psychophysiological game experiments, researchers will be able to analyze gameplay in greater detail in future studies. Read more...

Designing and evaluating gameplay experience comes to life after measures for player experience have been found. This paper describes a pilot study measuring game experience with a set of game stimuli especially designed for different player experiences. Gameplay experience is measured using self-report questionnaires after each play session. Results of the questionnaires are then separately compared to design intentions and player evaluations. Our experiment shows that gameplay experience can be assessed with a high reliability for certain gameplay features. Read more...

Schema theory provides a foundation for the analysis of game play patterns created by players during their interaction with a game. Schema models derived from the analysis of play provide a rich explanatory framework for the cognitive processes underlying game play, as well as detailed hypotheses for the hierarchical structure of pleasures and rewards motivating players. Game engagement is accounted for as a process of schema selection or development, while immersion is explained in terms of levels of attentional demand in schema execution. However, schemas may not only be used to describe play, but might be used actively as cognitive models within a game engine. Predesigned schema models are knowledge representations constituting anticipated or desired learned cognitive outcomes of play. Automated analysis of player schemas and comparison with predesigned target schemas can provide a foundation for a game engine adapting or tuning game mechanics to achieve specific effects of engagement, immersion, and cognitive skill acquisition by players. Hence, schema models may enhance the play experience as well as provide a foundation for achieving explicitly represented pedagogical or therapeutic functions of games. Read more...

Understanding gameplay requires a consideration of basic epistemological questions about the nature of understanding. Grounded in a tradition of philosophical hermeneutics, it is possible to approach the understanding of gameplay as a matter of generating mappings to explanatory frameworks in alternative interpretation paradigms. It is especially useful to consider gameplay from perspectives of cognitive science, semiotics, consciousness studies and aesthetics. Each of these approaches provides a different but compatible perspective on understanding play. Integrating these perspectives without losing their differences provides a comprehensive theoretical framework for play analysis. Read more...

This is an updated and revised version of the Dutch article 'Here be Dragons: Voorgeschiedenis en ontstaan van adventure games.' The article traces the history of adventure games from the birth of the fantasy genre in William Morris' work and the origins of the Kriegspiel, through Tolkien's fantasy world and Dungeons and Dragons to the early text adventures and the first graphical adventures. Read more...