New entry in Digiplay games research bibliography:

This article reports the development and evaluation of a computer game (RightWay Cafe) as a special medium to promote a healthy diet for young adults. Structural features of computer games, such as interactive tailoring, role playing, the element of fun, and narrative, were operationalized in the RightWay Cafe game to afford behavior rehearsal in a safe and entertaining way. Theories such as the health belief model, social cognitive theory, and theory of reasoned action guided the content design of the game to influence mediators of behavior change, including self-efficacy, perceived benefits, perceived barriers, and behavior change intention. A randomized controlled evaluation study with pretest, posttest, and follow-up design demonstrated that this game was effective in teaching nutrition and weight management knowledge and increasing people's self-efficacy and perceived benefits of healthy eating, as well as their intention to be on a healthy diet. Limited long-term effects were also found: participants in the game-playing group had greater self-efficacy than participants in the control group after 1 month. This study validates the computer game-based approach to health promotion for young adults. Limitations and implications are also discussed.

New entry in Digiplay games research bibliography:

This study aims at critically reviewing recently published scientific literature on the use of computer and video games in Health Education (HE) and Physical Education (PE) with a view: (a) to identifying the potential contribution of the incorporation of electronic games as educational tools into HE and PE programs, (b) to present a synthesis of the available empirical evidence on the educational effectiveness of electronic games in HE and PE, and (c) to define future research perspectives concerning the educational use of electronic games in HE and PE. After systematically searching online bibliographic databases, 34 relevant articles were located and included in the study. Following the categorization scheme proposed by [Dempsey, J., Rasmussen, K., & Lucassen, B. (1996). The instructional gaming literature: Implications and 99 sources. University of South Alabama, College of Education, Technical Report No. 96-1], those articles were grouped into the following four categories: (a) research, (b) development, (c) discussion and (d) theory. The overviewed articles suggest that electronic games present many potential benefits as educational tools for HE and PE, and that those games may improve young people's knowledge, skills, attitudes and behaviours in relation to health and physical exercise. Furthermore, the newly emerged physically interactive electronic games can potentially enhance young people's physical fitness, motor skills and motivation for physical exercise. The empirical evidence to support the educational effectiveness of electronic games in HE and PE is still rather limited, but the findings present a positive picture overall. The outcomes of the literature review are discussed in terms of their implications for future research, and can provide useful guidance to educators, practitioners and researchers in the areas of HE and PE, and to electronic game designers.

New entry in Digiplay games research bibliography:

One of the core courses in the undergraduate mechanical engineering curriculum has been completely redesigned. In the new numerical methods course, all assignments and learning experiences are built around a video/computer game. Students are given the task of writing computer programs to race a simulated car around a track. In doing so, students learn and implement numerical methods content. The design of the course, around a video game, is rooted in commonly accepted theories of how people learn. The article describes a study to assess the effectiveness of the video game-based course. Results show that students taking the game-based course, on average, spend roughly twice as much time, outside of class, on their course work. In a concept mapping exercise, students taking the game-based course demonstrate deeper learning compared to their counterparts taking traditional lecture/textbook-based numerical methods courses.

New entry in Digiplay games research bibliography:

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.

New entry in Digiplay games research bibliography:

This paper discusses how learning material in the form of computer games in the area of ICT security affect ICT security usage. The findings from a conducted user-study show that computer games can be efficient learning environments when using security tools in terms of accessibility, safety, and speed. By replicating an earlier usability study, in which the participants utilised security tools to send and receive encrypted emails, the practical consequences of learning via a Game-Based Instruction were evaluated; the findings show that none of the participants who were given the chosen computer game as an instruction before the actual assignment did make any serious error when applying their security knowledge in contrast to the participants who did not receive any instruction in forehand. They also finished the assignment faster than the corresponding participants. To be able to evaluate the "practical knowledge" acquired, a model for Vital Security Functions was created that allows for comparison of security usage between high-level security applications.

New entry in Digiplay games research bibliography:

Computer games may be an effective tool for teaching health-related knowledge and skills. This study evaluates the effect of a novel computer game about the glycemic index (GI) on knowledge, self-efficacy, and behavioral intention for adopting a lower GI diet. A pretest-posttest, nonequivalent control group design was employed. Students aged 18-30 years (n = 65) either completed the GI computer game or reviewed US Department of Agriculture's MyPyramid Web site regarding healthy eating guidelines. Participants completed a GI knowledge test, a self-efficacy instrument, and a questionnaire that assessed intentions to choose lower GI food choices. The computer game group showed greater gains than the control group in knowledge (P < .001) and self-efficacy scores (P < .01). Scores regarding behavioral intention also were significantly higher (P < .001) for the game group. A game-based approach may be effective in facilitating the adoption of lower GI food choices.

New entry in Digiplay games research bibliography:

While numerous studies have reported learning of perceptual- motor skills by amnesic patients, few if any have documented the eventual acquisition of expertise on a given task. This paper recounts the learning of the computer game Tetris by a hippocampal amnesic,whose acquisition of the task in a formal evaluation was somewhat slower than that of a comparison group, but who after many hours of self-paced practice achieved expert-level play.

New entry in Digiplay games research bibliography:

New entry in Digiplay games research bibliography:

Player-created game movies have been an outlet for creative expression by World of Warcraft (WoW) players since the beta version of the game. The proliferation of players, clans, Web sites, and community forums for creating, consuming, and commenting on WoW movies is remarkable. Linking multiplayer game communities and the making of animated movies is not unprecedented. It has been a characteristic of machinima for more than a decade. In this article however, the author hopes to show that the context, content, and consumption of game movies based on massively multiplayer games raises new questions about contributions game-based performances make to player communities. The author connects the brief history of WoW movies to the history of machinima and other game movies, illustrates the variety of impulses behind WoW movies through three quickly recounted examples, and gathers together salient themes around one movie in particular: Tristan Pope's Not Just Another Love Story.

New entry in Digiplay games research bibliography:

A chorus of proclamations have arisen in recent years about the potential of games and simulations to facilitate learning. Yet few discussions focus on the fundamental issue surrounding the implementation of games and simulations: to what learning objectives and pedagogical strategies are they most relevant? Through an examination of perspectives on the suitability of games for learning, as well as recent examples of digital game-based training in two vocational settings, this paper examines the design of authentic learning experiences as a way of thinking about the appropriateness and unique potential of games and simulations in a range of educational and training settings.