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Uncertainty

Uncertainty and engagement with learning games

Jason Rutter - Wed, 13/01/2010 - 10:40
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New entry in Digiplay games research bibliography:

Uncertainty may be an important component of the motivation provided by learning games, especially when associated with gaming rather than learning. Three studies are reported that explore the influence of gaming uncertainty on engagement with computer-based learning games. In the first study, children (10-11 years) played a simple maths quiz. Participants chose their preferred reward for a correct answer prior to seeing each question. They could either receive a single point or toss an animated coin to receive 2 points for heads or none for tails. A preference for the uncertain option was revealed and this increased during the quiz. The second study explored the discourse around learning when pairs of participants (13-14 years) competed against the computer in a science quiz. Progress depended on the acquisition of facts but also on the outcomes of throwing dice. Discourse was characterised by a close intermingling of learning and gaming talk without salient problematic constructions regarding fairness when losing points due to gaming uncertainty. A final experiment explored whether, in this type of game, the uncertainty provided by the gaming component could influence players' affective response to the learning component. Electrodermal activity (EDA) of 16 adults was measured while they played the quiz with and without the element of chance provided by the dice. Results showed EDA when answering questions was increased by inclusion of gaming uncertainty. Findings are discussed in terms of the potential benefits of combining gaming uncertainty with learning and directions for further research in this area are outlined.

Playfulness-based design in educational games: a perspective on an evolutionary contest game

Jason Rutter - Wed, 13/01/2010 - 10:40
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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.

PickPocket: A computer billiards shark

Jason Rutter - Mon, 03/12/2007 - 09:10
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New entry in Digiplay games research bibliography:

Billiards is a game of both strategy and physical skill. To succeed, a player must be able to select strong shots, and then execute them accurately and consistently on the table. Several robotic billiards players have recently been developed. These systems address the task of executing shots on a physical table, but so far have incorporated little strategic reasoning. They require artificial intelligence to select the 'best' shot taking into account the accuracy of the robot, the noise inherent in the domain, the continuous nature of the search space, the difficulty of the shot, and the goal of maximizing the chances of winning. This article describes the program PickPocket, the winner of the simulated 8-ball tournaments at the 10th and 11th Computer Olympiad competitions. PickPocket is based on the traditional search framework, familiar from games such as chess, adapted to the continuous stochastic domain of billiards. Experimental results are presented exploring the properties of two search algorithms, Monte-Carlo search and Probabilistic search.

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