Most computer games and more generally entertainment applications use implicitly or explicitly a user model as a reference for the gameplay and dramaturgy progression. with mixed reality technology and ubiquitous computing, user-centered design is required now more than ever to provide an adaptable and personal content at any time and in any context. The goal of our research is to provide a narration model correlated to a user model in the design of mixed reality entertainment. In this paper we give a brief survey of the current researches on user model for adaptation and personalization of services and some empirical studies of user model in games and interactive narration. We propose three possible levels of the user model: generic, localized and personalized and three types of narration scheme. We will describe that the user model and narration schemes can be used in a mixed reality system. Read more...

As virtual worlds and games grow in both personal and cultural importance, present limitations in access to them is increasingly limiting their ability to achieve their potential. Transmedial access, in which a given player's access to a game is made possible across different devices, offers a promising solution to this problem. It also inaugurates a new category of interaction design: transmedial interaction. This workshop explores the state of the art of transmedial interaction in games, which today unfortunately is often at most mere afterthought. It provides a participatory environment in which attendees can chart new paths forward, from developing viable business models and understanding the technical infrastructure to developing critical vocabularies and evaluative frameworks. Read more...

Background: Neck-shoulder pain (NSP) and low back pain (LBP) increased among adolescents in the 1990s and the beginning of 2000. A potential risk factor for this increase is the use of information and communication technology. We studied how the use of computers, the Internet, and mobile phones, playing digital games and viewing television are related to NSP and LBP in adolescents. Methods: Mailed survey with nationally representative samples of 14-, 16-, and 18-year-old Finns in 2003 (n = 6003, response rate 68%). The outcome variables were weekly NSP and LBP. Results: NSP was perceived by 26% and LBP by 12%. When compared with non-users, the risk of NSP was 1.3 (adjusted odds ratios) when using computers > 2-3 h/day, and 1.8 when using 4-5 h/day; 2.5 when using computers >= 42 h/week, and 1.7 when using the Internet >= 42 h/week. Compared with non-users, the risk of LBP was 2.0 when using computers > 5 h/day, 1.7 when using >= 42 h/week, 1.8 when using the Internet >= 42 h/week, and 2.0 when playing digital games > 5 h/day. Times spent on digital gaming, viewing television, and using mobile phones were not associated with NSP, nor were use of mobile phones and viewing television with LBP after adjusting for confounding factors. Conclusions: Frequent computer-related activities are an independent risk factor for NSP and LBP. Daily use of computers exceeding 2-3 h seems to be a threshold for NSP and exceeding 5 h for LBP. Computer-related activities may explain the increase of NSP and LBP in the 1990s and the beginning of 2000. Read more...

Streaming real-time multimedia content over the Internet is gaining momentum in the communications, entertainment, music and interactive game industries as well as in the military. In general, streaming applications include IP telephony, multimedia broadcasts and various interactive applications such as multi-party conferences, collaborations and multiplayer games. Successfully realizing such applications in a highly mobile environment, however, presents many research challenges. In order to investigate such challenges and demonstrate viable solutions, we have developed an experimental indoor and outdoor testbed laboratory. By implementing standard IETF protocols into this testbed, we have demonstrated the basic functionalities required of the mobile wireless Internet to successfully support mobile multimedia access. These requirements include signaling, registration, dynamic configuration, mobility binding, location management, Authentication Authorization and Accounting (AAA), and quality of service over a variety of radio access network (RAN) technologies (e.g. 802.11b, CDMA/GPRS). In this paper, we describe this testbed and discuss important design issues and tradeoffs. We detail the incorporation and inter-relation of a wide catalog of IETF protocols-such as SIP, SAP, SDP, RTP/RTCP/RTSP, MGCP, variants of Mobile-IP, DRCP, HMMP, PANA, and DSNP-to achieve our goals. We believe that the results and experiences obtained from this experimental testbed will advance the understanding of the pertinent deployment issues for a Mobile Wireless Internet. Read more...

We analyse a randomized pursuit-evasion game played by two players on a graph, a hunter and a rabbit. Let G be any connected, undirected graph with n nodes. The game is played in rounds and in each round both the hunter and the rabbit are located at a node of the graph. Between rounds both the hunter and the rabbit can stay at the current node or move to another node. The hunter is assumed to be restricted to the graph G: in every round, the hunter can move using at most one edge. For the rabbit we investigate two models: in one model the rabbit is restricted to the same graph as the hunter, and in the other model the rabbit is unrestricted, i.e., it can jump to an arbitrary node in every round. We say that the rabbit is caught as soon as hunter and rabbit are located at the same node in a round. The goal of the hunter is to catch the rabbit in as few rounds as possible, whereas the rabbit aims to maximize the number of rounds until it is caught. Given a randomized hunter strategy for G, the escape length for that strategy is the worst case expected number of rounds it takes the hunter to catch the rabbit, where the worst case is with regard to all (possibly randomized) rabbit strategies. Our main result is a hunter strategy for general graphs with an escape length of only O(n log(diam(G))) against restricted as well as unrestricted rabbits. This bound is close to optimal since Omega(n) is a trivial lower bound on the escape length in both models. Furthermore, we prove that our upper bound is optimal up to constant factors against unrestricted rabbits. Read more...