online games
Neopian Economics of Play: Children's Cyberpets and Online Communities as Immersive Advertising in Neopets.com
Thu, 08/07/2010 - 20:54 | 
smgrimes
New entry in Digiplay games research bibliography:
This article examines NeoPets, an online community for children where members create or adopt a virtual pet. The NeoPets Corporation is examined, with attention paid to their practice of ‘immersive advertising’ amidst concerns over the increasing commercialization and branding of children's web-based content and culture. Ethical issues explored include privacy and intellectual property.
186 reads | 
Tags: Advertising, children's media commercialization, children's online communities, Communication, immersive advertising, Internet forums, Leslie Regan
Source, marketing to children, Mass media, Neopets, Online game, online games, Technology, Technology, The NeoPets Corporation, Virtual community, virtual pets, Virtual pets, Virtual reality
Kids’ Ad Play: Regulating Children's Advergames in the Converging Media Context
Thu, 08/07/2010 - 20:38 | smgrimes
New entry in Digiplay games research bibliography:
This article explores possibilities for regulating emerging forms of advertising within children’s online culture, focusing specifically on the rising phenomenon of advergames. An immensely popular form of entertainment among children and teens, advergames integrate advertising and market research strategies directly into the fabric of online games and environments. I begin by situating advergames within broader traditions of advertising to children. I then present and discuss four potential “points of entry” for the regulation of these new media advertising practices, which include media regulation, consumer protection law, industry self regulation and contract law. As media regulation in Canada and the US share many similarities, and because children’s digital media is most often transnational with a large proportion of content originating from the US, the discussion draws upon both Canadian and US legislation, providing comparisons where relevant. I discuss different courses of action that could potentially establish clearer restrictions on marketers’ interactions with children online, as well as enforce regulation of the role of advertising in children’s online games. The aim of this paper is to explore the Canadian government’s position that existing regulatory frameworks can be effectively extended to digital media, as well as demonstrate the necessity of enhanced coordination and integration if these regulatory regimes are to remain relevant within the converging media context.
104 reads | Tags: Administrative law, Advergames, Advergaming, Advertising, Business, Canada, children's media, cross-cultural study, Marketing, Mass media, online games, Regulation, Regulation, Sara M.
Source
Development and Validation of a Game Addiction Scale for Adolescents
Tue, 19/01/2010 - 08:26 | Jason Rutter
New entry in Digiplay games research bibliography:
The aim of this study was to develop and validate a scale to measure computer and videogame addiction. Inspired by earlier theories and research on game addiction, we created 21 items to measure seven underlying criteria (i.e., salience, tolerance, mood modification, relapse, withdrawal, conflict, and problems). The dimensional structure of the scale was investigated in two independent samples of adolescent gamers (N = 352 and N = 369). In both samples, a second-order factor model described our data best. The 21-item scale, as well as a shortened 7-item version, showed high reliabilities. Furthermore, both versions showed good concurrent validity across samples, as indicated by the consistent correlations with usage, loneliness, life satisfaction, social competence, and aggression.
Exploring user experiences as predictors of MMORPG addiction
Wed, 13/01/2010 - 10:40 | Jason Rutter
New entry in Digiplay games research bibliography:
The overuse of Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPGs) is becoming a significant problem worldwide, especially among college students. Similar to Internet addiction, the pathological use of MMORPG is a kind of modern addiction that can affect students' lives on both a physical and a psychological level. The purpose of this study is to understand MMORPG addiction from a user experience design approach. We first developed a complete model that includes eleven factors (challenge, fantasy, curiosity, control, reward, cooperation, competition, recognition, belonging, obligation and role-playing) to represent users' experience in MMORPGs. After that, we design a questionnaire to measure student' gaming experience and level of addiction. Students' demography information, including gender and game playing habits, was also collected. Four hundred and eighteen Taiwanese college students aged 18-25 years old took part in this online survey. Regression analysis was then conducted to evaluate the relative explanatory power of each variable, with addiction score as the dependent variable and the eleven user experience factors as the independent variables. The results of regression analysis reveal five critical factors (curiosity, role-playing, belonging, obligation and reward) that can be used to predict MMORPG addiction. In addition, this study also infers possible casual mechanisms for increasing college students' level of addiction. The implications of our findings for both design and educational practitioners were also discussed.
Add new comment | 287 reads | Tags: Addiction, Behavior, Computer games, environments, exploration, human factors, Internet, internet addiction, Internet addiction disorder, Massively multiplayer online game, Massively multiplayer online role-playing game, online games, Personal computer game, Play, Psychology, taiwanese adolescents, Technology, Technology, usage, Video game genres, virtual reality
Game design as marketing: How game mechanics create demand for virtual goods
Tue, 04/08/2009 - 16:15 | Juho Hamari
New entry in Digiplay games research bibliography:
Selling virtual goods for real money is an increasingly popular revenue model for massively-multiplayer online games (MMOs), social networking sites (SNSs) and other online hangouts. In this paper, we argue that the marketing of virtual goods currently falls short of what it could be. Game developers have long created compelling game designs, but having to market virtual goods to players is a relatively new situation to them. Professional marketers, on the other hand, tend to overlook the internal design of games and hangouts and focus on marketing the services as a whole. To begin bridging the gap, we propose that the design patterns and game mechanics commonly used in games and online hangouts should be viewed as a set of marketing techniques designed to sell virtual goods. Based on a review of a number of MMOs, we describe some of the most common patterns and game mechanics and show how their effects can be explained in terms of analogous techniques from marketing science. The results provide a new perspective to game design with interesting implications to developers. Moreover, they also suggest a radically new perspective to marketers of ordinary goods and services: viewing marketing as a form of game design.
Add new comment | 941 reads | Tags: Business model, captology, Electronic commerce, Marketing, online games, php, social networking, sustainability, Virtual good, virtual goods, Virtual reality, Virtual world, Virtual world
Building effective online game websites with knowledge-based trust
Mon, 10/03/2008 - 23:49 | Jason Rutter
New entry in Digiplay games research bibliography:
Knowledge-based trust is trust that is grounded in knowledge about another party developed through repeated interaction. Knowledge-based trust is especially important for online business environments where there are repeated transactions between fixed pairs of consumers and merchants. Building on previous studies of trust, this paper examines the proposition that players' knowledge about website characteristics (i.e., security and interface design) and about website outputs (i.e., online game quality and service quality) has an effect on the development of trust in the context of online game websites. The impact of trust on building an effective online game website is also investigated. A conceptual model of knowledge-based trust is tested with questionnaire responses of 253 online game players. Overall, the results indicate that all of these four classes of knowledge engender trust and that trust helps develop effective online game websites. \copyright2007 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.
Add new comment | 2734 reads | Tags: e-Commerce, Ethics, Interface design, Knowledge-based trust, Law, online games, QUALITY, security, Technology, Technology, Trust
The Digital Dollhouse: Context and Social Norms in The Sims Online
Sat, 22/12/2007 - 06:28 | Curtis Conkey
New entry in Digiplay games research bibliography:
This article investigates the relationships between norms and the rich visual environment of the multiplayer game The Sims Online (TSO). Literature suggests that people exhibit normative behavior in online environments. The complex actions and interactions possible with the game’s avatars and a minimal game structure make TSO an evocative online space in which to examine social interaction. Through participation and observation, we examined conversation and avatar conduct in TSO and found norms for verbal and nonverbal behavior that governed both text and avatar use. These norms are related to offline expectations of politeness and etiquette associated with visiting and hosting in people’s homes, and they correspond with the visual dollhouse-like environment of TSO and its characters. This game is a special context where social norms are clear and powerful, affecting not only players’ game play but also their social interaction.
Add new comment | 1042 reads | Tags: Avatar, avatar use, Game, Multiplayer games, Norm, online games, Sim, social norms, The Sims, The Sims ONLINE courses, Video game culture, Windows games
Project massive: Self-regulation and problematic use of online gaming
Mon, 03/12/2007 - 09:10 | Jason Rutter
New entry in Digiplay games research bibliography:
A longitudinal design was employed to collect three waves of survey data over a 14 month period from 2790 online gamers. Respondents were asked questions about their gaming activity, motivations, personality, social and emotional environment, and the effect gaming has had on their lives. Prospective analysis was used to establish causal and temporal linkages among the repeatedly measured factors. While the data provide some indication that a player's reasons for playing do influence the development of problematic usage, these effects are overshadowed by the central importance of self-regulation in managing both the timing and amount of play. An individual's level of self-regulatory activity is shown to be very important in allowing them to avoid negative outcomes like problematic use. The role of depression is also discussed. With responsible use, online gaming appears to be a healthy recreational activity that provides millions of people with hours of social entertainment and adaptive diversion. However, failure to manage play behavior can lead to feelings of dependency.
Add new comment | 853 reads | Tags: Addiction, Depression, MMORPG, Online game, online games, Play motivation, Self-regulation, Social integration, Technology, Technology, Transaction authentication number
Identifying MMORPG bots: A traffic analysis approach
Sun, 14/10/2007 - 11:17 | Jason Rutter
New entry in Digiplay games research bibliography:
MMORPGs have become extremely popular among network gamers. Despite their success, one of MMORPG's greatest challenges is the increasing use of game bots, i.e., auto-playing game clients. The use of game bots is considered unsportsmanlike and is therefore forbidden. To keep games in order, game police, played by actual human players, often patrol game zones and question suspicious players. This practice, however, is labor-intensive and ineffective. To address this problem, we analyze the traffic generated by human players vs. game bots and propose solutions to automatically identify game bots.Taking Ragnarok Online, one of the most popular MMOGs, as our subject, we study the traffic generated by mainstream game bots and human players. We find that their traffic is distinguishable by: 1) the regularity in the release time of client commands, 2) the trend and magnitude of traffic burstiness in multiple time scales, and 3) the sensitivity to network conditions. We propose four strategies and two integrated schemes to identify bots. For our data sets, the conservative scheme completely avoids making false accusations against bona fide players, while the progressive scheme tracks game bots down more aggressively. Finally, we show that the proposed methods are generalizable to other games and robust against counter-measures from bot developers.
Some positive effects of online gaming
Sun, 14/10/2007 - 11:17 | Jason Rutter
New entry in Digiplay games research bibliography:
We believe that Internet and computing technology have reached the stage where online games can offer an experience that is qualitatively different to what has gone before. To test how exposure to modern games could be of benefit to players, we recruited 12 subjects to play the MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) "Nobunaga no Yabou Online", collecting data over two months. We evaluated subjects before and after playing, using psychological tests and tests of communication skill, typing skill and knowledge of the Internet and of online games. While the psychological tests showed no significant changes in the subjects' state of mind, there were measurable improvements in online communication skill, typing skill and knowledge, with the largest increases experienced by the subjects with least Internet experience.
Digiplay Bibliography Updates
- 'It's in the Game' and Above the Game: An Analysis of the Users of Sports Videogames
- Theoretical Consoles: Concepts for Gadget Analysis
- Avatar motion control by natural body movement via camera
- Adoption of Mobile Games as Entertainment Technology : A Test of Extended Technology Acceptance Model
- Serious Video Games for Health: How Behavioral Science Guided the Development of a Serious Video Game
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