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Performance
New entry in Digiplay games research bibliography:
In the present study, we tested the hypothesis that adolescents might underestimate time while playing a video game. To test this hypothesis, 116 adolescents (14-15 years old) had to judge prospectively or retrospectively the duration of three consecutive tasks: a 8 min and a 24 min task of playing video game (Tetris) and an 8 min task of reading on a computer screen (control task). The main hypothesis received support: for a same duration, the video game task was estimated as shorter than the reading task. Moreover, participants with a game-inclined profile showed a stronger underestimation of time while playing. Finally, the short durations were overestimated and the long duration underestimated. The main findings are accounted for by an attention-based explanation.
New entry in Digiplay games research bibliography:
Computer games are tremendously successful and this is why the potential of using this medium for educational purposes is increasingly recognized and researched. However, as new learning technologies need to be appropriate for all students and ensure equal learning opportunities, it is important to take into account evidences on gender differences in the context of computer games. This paper reviews relevant research results on gender aspects. Aiming for the realization of gender-based adaptation in digital educational games, a model incorporating research evidences on gender aspects is elaborated and implications for adaptation are derived. Adaptation principles and game design are illustrated by means of the 80Days project.
New entry in Digiplay games research bibliography:
Virtual environments are synthetic 3D worlds typically viewed from a first-person point of view with many potential applications within areas such as visualisation, entertainment and training simulators. To effectively develop and utilise virtual environments, user-centric evaluations are commonly performed. Anecdotal evidence suggests that factors such as prior experience with computer games may affect the results of such evaluations.This paper examines the effects of previous computer gaming experience, user perceived gaming ability and actual gaming performance on navigation tasks in a virtual environment. Two computer games and a virtual environment were developed to elicit performance metrics for use within a user study. Results indicated that perceived gaming skill and progress in a First-Person-Shooter (FPS) game were the most consistent metrics showing significant correlations with performance in time-based navigation tasks. There was also strong evidence that these relations were significantly intensified by the inclusion of participants who play FPS games. In addition, it was found that increased gaming experience decreased spatial perception performance.
New entry in Digiplay games research bibliography:
Most estimates suggest that American youth are spending a large amount of time playing video and computer games, spurring researchers to examine the impact this media has on various aspects of health and psychosocial functioning. The current study investigated relationships between frequency of electronic game play and obesity, the social/emotional context of electronic game play, and academic performance among 219 college-aged males. Current game players reported a weekly average of 9.73 hours of game play, with almost 10% of current players reporting an average of 35 hours of play per week. Results indicated that frequency of play was not significantly related to body mass index or grade point average. However, there was a significant positive correlation between frequency of play and self-reported frequency of playing when bored, lonely, or stressed. As opposed to the general conception of electronic gaming as detrimental to functioning, the results suggest that gaming among college-aged men may provide a healthy source of socialization, relaxation, and coping.
New entry in Digiplay games research bibliography:
Autonomous synthetic characters have the potential to promote the social engagement of users in virtual environments, enhancing their interaction experience. In computer games, for example, poor interaction with game characters can drastically detract from the gaming experience, making the design of autonomous synthetic characters an important issue. In particular, in Role Playing Games (RPGs), for example, users and autonomous characters often perform in a group. Usually, the role of such characters is very limited since they lack the social skills to perform coherently in group scenarios.The goal of the work presented here is to endow autonomous synthetic characters with social skills that allow them to perform in groups with human members. However, to successfully achieve this, it is not enough to assure that the characters behave in a coherent manner from an individual perspective or that they are able to perform the group task optimally. It is also necessary that the autonomous characters exhibit behaviours that are coherent with the group's composition, context and structure.For this reason, we have developed a model to support group dynamics of autonomous synthetic characters (SGD model) inspired by theories developed in human social psychological sciences. This model defines the knowledge that each individual should build about the others and the group, and how this knowledge drives their interactions. The model was used in a collaborative computer game that was tested with users. The results showed that the model had a positive effect on the users' social engagement, namely. on their trust and identification with the group. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
New entry in Digiplay games research bibliography:
Playfulness steering is an emerging approach in educational game design and play. The integration of arithmetical computation, game strategy, and teamwork into one game allows players to interactively steer the playfulness and enhance learning. In this paper an evolutionary contest game was designed and implemented to examine the influencial factors. Using action research, focus groups and hermeneutic methods, this study suggest that the playfulness design of an evolutionary game is influenced by the degree of uncertainty and flexibility in decision-making, the level of challenge, equal conditions for fair play, opportunities to compete/cooperate, and the level of interactivity.
New entry in Digiplay games research bibliography:
Two studies were conducted in order to determine the impact computer games had on the cognitive performance. Study 1 evaluated a measure of cognition, which incorporates aspects of short-term working memory, visual attention, mathematical decision making, and auditory perception. Study 2 measured the cognitive performance between those who did not play video games versus those who played either a violent or non-violent video game. Results from Study 1 indicate participants needed approximately four trials to reach asymptotic performance on the cognitive measure. Results of Study 2 showed that participants who did not play any video game did not have a change in their cognitive performance, while those who played either a violent or non-violent video game had an increase in their cognitive performance.
New entry in Digiplay games research bibliography:
This article considers the social importance of sports-themed video games, and more
specifically, discusses their use and role in the construction of gaming and wider
social narratives. Here, building on our own and wider sociological and video games
studies, we advocate adopting an audience research perspective that allows for consideration
of not only narratives within games but also how these narratives are used
and located within the everyday lives of gamers. In particular, we argue that sportsthemed
games provide an illustrative example of how media texts are used in identity
construction, performances, and social narratives.
New entry in Digiplay games research bibliography:
This article investigates the Grand Theft Auto videogame series in order to demonstrate the potential of a folkloristic, ethnographic approach for the analysis of digital games. I discuss Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas as a story collection, a frame for performance, a virtual museum of vernacular culture, and a widely circulated pop culture artifact whose double-voiced aesthetic has given rise to diverse interpretive communities. This case study suggests that digital gameplay should be regarded as a form of performance practice with the capacity to invoke traditional folkloric genres and engender new traditions.
New entry in Digiplay games research bibliography:
The effects of frame rate and resolution on users' perception of digital media are a growing
concern. This paper looks at the effects of these two factors on users' performance in movement
related tasks in first person shooter games. In a user study, participants played several custom
maps in Quake 3 Arena at different frame rates and resolutions and their performance was
measured. It was found that lower frame rates and resolutions lowered users' overall
performance in the video game.
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