Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Video game literacy'

[ES] Los videojuegos modernos son complejos, diversos, inmersivos y muy extendidos, y su influencia en la sociedad y en las personas es muy profunda. Al principio, los videojuegos y sus impactos fueron demonizados, pero con el tiempo los estudios empezaron a evaluar sus efectos positivos en las competencias y habilidades relacionadas con las destrezas del siglo XXI, entre las que se encuentra la alfabetización cultural. Esta tesis sigue esta tendencia y examina el modo en que los juegos de entretenimiento comerciales, los juegos serios, los juegos educativos y las simulaciones pueden ayudar a los jugadores en su aprendizaje y en la adquisición de destrezas que mejoran su alfabetización cultural. Un análisis de las tendencias comunes en las destrezas y competencias necesarias para tener éxito en el siglo XXI (estudiadas por la UNESCO, el British Council, IBM, Google, LinkedIn y el Foro Económico Mundial) reveló que para vivir en un mundo VUCA (volátil, incierto, complejo y ambiguo) hace falta un modelo nuevo y actualizado de la alfabetización cultural. Esta tesis propone tal modelo. Se hizo una revisión de la literatura reciente sobre el impacto y los resultados de los videojuegos. Dicha revisión mostró que los videojuegos pueden reforzar o debilitar los estereotipos, que ayudan a adquirir conocimientos culturales y a desarrollar la alfabetización intercultural, la alfabetización sociocultural, la conciencia cultural, la autoconciencia y el entendimiento cultural de diferentes espacios geopolíticos, y que hasta cierto punto facilitan el desarrollo de las habilidades interculturales. El corazón de la tesis es una investigación sobre la efectividad de los videojuegos en el abordaje de problemas sociales difíciles como son los movimientos migratorios y la crisis de refugiados. Se realizaron dos estudios, uno cuantitativo y otro cualitativo, que obtuvieron resultados alentadores para los creadores de videojuegos de empatía. Muchos participantes informaron que sintieron más empatía y menos rechazo hacia los migrantes y refugiados, así como una mayor motivación para ayudar de forma activa a gente necesitada. Se hizo, además, una encuesta amplia que dio a conocer los géneros de entretenimiento AAA, los personajes, los elementos de juego y las características que los nativos digitales encuentran atractivos, así como los que echan en falta y que les gustaría ver en el futuro. Los hallazgos también confirmaron que los juegos no son solamente una fuente de diversión, sino también de mucho aprendizaje. El inglés, las bases de la informática, el pensamiento estratégico, la geografía y la historia, el trabajo en equipo, conocimientos culturales, el cambio de perspectiva y la creatividad... todo esto se aprende y refuerza con los videojuegos. Las evidencias presentadas en esta tesis sugieren que hay una demanda para herramientas que faciliten la educación intercultural. El punto culminante de esta tesis es el diseño de Chuzme, un juego educativo digital que pretende elevar la autoconciencia (cultural) y el reconocimiento del sesgo cultural con el fin de generar actitudes positivas hacia los migrantes, refugiados y expatriados. En resumen, esta tesis apoya la idea de que los videojuegos facilitan la adquisición de la alfabetización cultural y aporta pruebas de que los videojuegos proporcionan beneficios culturales, sociales y comunicativos que espere animen a los profesores a integrar activamente los videojuegos en su práctica docente. Descriptores: investigación sobre videojuegos, impacto de los videojuegos, comunicación intercultural, aprendizaje basado en juegos, alfabetización cultural
[CAT] Els videojocs moderns són complexos, diversos, immersius i molt estesos, i la seva influència en la societat i en les persones és molt profunda. Al principi, els videojocs i els seus impactes van ser demonitzats però amb el temps els estudis van començar a avaluar els seus efectes positius en les competències i habilitats relacionades amb les destreses del segle XXI, entre les quals es troba l'alfabetització cultural. Aquesta tesi segueix aquesta tendència i examina la manera en què els jocs d'entreteniment comercials, els jocs seriosos, els jocs educatius i les simulacions poden ajudar els jugadors en el seu aprenentatge i en l'adquisició de destreses que milloren la seva alfabetització cultural. Una anàlisi de les tendències comunes en les destreses i competències necessàries per tenir èxit en el segle XXI (estudiades per la UNESCO, el British Council, IBM, Google, LinkedIn i el Fòrum Econòmic Mundial) va revelar que per viure en un món VUCA (volàtil , incert, complex i ambigu) cal un model nou i actualitzat de l'alfabetització cultural. Aquesta tesi proposa aquest model. Es va fer una revisió de la literatura recent sobre l'impacte i els resultats dels videojocs. La dita revisió va mostrar que els videojocs poden reforçar o debilitar els estereotips, que ajuden a adquirir coneixements culturals i a desenvolupar l'alfabetització intercultural, l'alfabetització sociocultural, la consciència cultural, l'autoconsciència i l'enteniment cultural de diferents espais geopolítics, i que fins a cert punt faciliten el desenvolupament de les habilitats interculturals. El cor de la tesi és una investigació sobre l'efectivitat dels videojocs en l'abordatge de problemes socials difícils com són els moviments migratoris i la crisi de refugiats. Es van realitzar dos estudis, un quantitatiu i un altre qualitatiu, que van obtenir resultats encoratjadors per als creadors de videojocs d'empatia. Molts participants van informar que van sentir més empatia i menys rebuig cap als immigrants i refugiats, així com una major motivació per ajudar de forma activa a gent necessitada. Es va fer, a més, una enquesta àmplia que va donar a conèixer els gèneres d'entreteniment AAA, els personatges, els elements de joc i les característiques que els nadius digitals troben atractius així com els que troben a faltar i que els agradaria veure en el futur. Les troballes també van confirmar que els jocs no són només una font de diversió, sinó també de molt aprenentatge. L'anglès, les bases de la informàtica, el pensament estratègic, la geografia i la història, el treball en equip, coneixements culturals, el canvi de perspectiva i la creativitat ... tot això s'aprèn i reforça amb els videojocs. Les evidències presentades en aquesta tesi suggereixen que hi ha una demanda per a eines que facilitin l'educació intercultural. El punt culminant d'aquesta tesi és el disseny de Chuzme, un joc educatiu digital que pretén elevar l'autoconsciència (cultural) i el reconeixement del biaix cultural amb la finalitat de generar actituds positives cap als migrants, refugiats i expatriats. En resum, aquesta tesi dóna suport a la idea que els videojocs faciliten l'adquisició de l'alfabetització cultural i aporta proves que els videojocs proporcionen beneficis culturals, socials i comunicatius que esperi animin els professors a integrar activament els videojocs en la seva pràctica docent. Descriptors: investigació sobre videojocs, impacte dels videojocs, comunicació intercultural, aprenentatge basat en jocs, l'alfabetització cultural
[EN] Modern video games are complex, diverse, immersive and pervasive, and their influence on society and people is far-reaching. Video games and their impacts were initially demonised, but over time research started assessing the positive effects of games on competencies and abilities connected to twenty-first-century skills that include cultural literacy. In line with this trend, this thesis examines how entertaining commercial titles, serious games, educational games and simulations can support players in learning and in acquiring skills that enhance cultural literacy. An analysis of the common trends for the skills and competencies needed for success in the twenty-first century ¿studied by UNESCO, the British Council, IBM, Google, LinkedIn, and the World Economic Forum, among other,¿ revealed that living in a VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity) world requires a new, updated model of cultural literacy. This thesis proposes such a model. A review was made of the recent literature on the impact and outcomes of video games, showing that video games can reinforce or weaken stereotypes; help to acquire cultural knowledge and develop intercultural literacy, socio-cultural literacy, cultural awareness, self-awareness, and the cultural understanding of different geopolitical spaces; and to some extent also facilitate the development of intercultural skills. The heart of the thesis is an investigation into the effectiveness of video games for tackling difficult social issues such as migratory movements and the refugee crisis. Two studies were conducted one quantitative and the other qualitative that obtained heartening results for producers of empathy video games. Many participants reported feeling more empathy and less rejection towards migrants and refugees, as well as being more motivated to actively help people in need. Additionally, a broad survey revealed the AAA entertainment game genres, characters, and in-game elements and features that digital natives find attractive and those they miss and would like in the future. The findings also confirmed that games produce not only fun but also a great deal of learning. The English language, the basics of informatics, strategic thinking, geography and history, teamwork, cultural knowledge, perspective change, and creativity are all learnt and reinforced during video game play. The evidence presented in this thesis suggests there is a demand for tools facilitating intercultural education. The high point of the thesis is the design of Chuzme, an educational digital game that focuses on raising cultural self-awareness and the acknowledgement of cultural bias in order to generate positive attitudes towards migrants, refugees and expatriates. In summary, this thesis supports the idea that video games facilitate the acquisition of cultural literacy and provides evidence on the cultural, social and communication bene¿ts of gaming that hopefully encourages scholars to actively integrate video games in their teaching practice. Keywords: games studies; intercultural communication, impact of video games, games-based learning, cultural literacy
Shliakhovchuk, O. (2019). Cultural literacy acquisition through video game environments of a digitally born generation [Tesis doctoral no publicada]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/130848
TESIS

The growing popularity of game addiction discourse has necessitated study of how video game critics rhetorically construct addiction. In the following thesis, I analyze contemporary examples of texts that link game addiction to drug abuse. I use Robert Cover’s analysis of how game addiction stereotypes form in conjunction with Aristotle’s rhetorical principles to isolate the persuasive appeals used by authors to rhetorically construct game play as addictive. These addiction arguments, however, are rooted in a larger historical context, and I present examples of game guidebooks and comic books published in the late 1970s and early 1980s to illustrate their rhetorical responses to game addiction rhetoric. I found addiction arguments utilize fear appeals combined with ethos, pathos, and logos to persuade audiences to reject games as potentially dangerous and worthless virtual pursuits. The authors of early game texts use ethos, pathos, and logos to dismantle fear appeals and present video games as a new genre that can be mastered through skill and practice rather than a meaningless virtual experience. This research provides ground for further explorations of game addiction rhetoric, and implications for the continued study of video games.

Thesis--(M.A.)Cleveland State University, 2009
Abstract. Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on June 11, 2009). Includes bibliographical references (p. 42-44). Available online via the OhioLINK ETD Center. Also available in print.

Research shows that teens (Generation Z) are not as information literate as required to function effectively in an information society. Yet many teens are gamers and succeed at game-related tasks that require information literacy skills. This thesis examines the potential that the online game Minecraft, and one of its related affinity spaces, may have in the development of information literacy skills in teens. This case study unfolded in three phases: a video game analysis of Minecraft, a discussion forum analysis and an interpretive report of interviews with eight teen gamers. Findings suggest that Minecraft’s design induces players to seek out game related information in affinity spaces, select appropriate sources, evaluate the information shared by fellow gamers and decide what best satisfies their information need. Further research could determine whether the specific information literacy skills in this gaming context can be generalized to other gaming environments and to non-gaming contexts.

Tv-spel är något som en signifikant andel av populationen ägnar mycket tid åt. Idag är inte tv- spel enbart något som personer har som fritidssyssla, utan kan även spelas professionellt. Vissa aspekter av tv-spel har det forskats kring, men det tycks finnas en del outforskade områden. Syftet var att beskriva och diskutera interaktionsritualer i förhållande till ”video game literacy”, genom att undersöka hur individer beskriver att de har lärt sig att spela tv-spel samt genom att diskutera kring hur spelandet kan förstås som en social interaktionsritual. Metoden har varit av kvalitativ karaktär, med semi-strukturerade intervjuer som metod för empiriinsamling. Resultatet från studien visade att spelandet av tv-spel tillsammans med andra individer kan förstås som interaktionsritualer, om de innehåller vissa element. Vidare visade studien att individer kan utveckla sina kunskaper kring tv-spel genom att delta i denna typ av interaktioner, men även att det är möjligt för individer att utveckla sina kunskaper enskilt.
Video games are something a significant portion of the population spend a lot of time playing. Today, video games aren’t something people solely play in their spare time, but also something played professionally. Some aspects of video games have been researched, however a few unexplored areas still appear to exist. The aim of this study was to describe and discuss interaction rituals in relation to “video game literacy” through examining how individuals describe how they’ve learned to play video games, as well as through discussing how playing video games can be considered an interaction ritual. This essay has utilized a qualitative approach with semi-structured interviews as the method for gathering empirical data. The results from this study suggest that the playing of video games together can be considered a form of interaction ritual, if the interaction contains certain elements. Furthermore, the study showed that it is possible for individuals to develop their understanding of video games through participating in these types of interactions, however it is also possible for individuals to increase their knowledge individually.

This thesis addresses the gender-specific game access inequalities that exist between male and non-male children. To do this, it proposes a conceptual workshop design named SpielRaum, which aims to offer teens of marginalized genders a safe space to access games. By curating games for free play and combining it with guided discussions and self-reflection exercises, the workshop hopes to facilitate game literacy in a play-centric way. This sets it apart from other game-related workshops for non-male teens, which are also examined. It is found that they tend to be development-centric. Leading up to the workshop design, the game access disparities are put into context. It is found that implicit and explicit exclusion of non-male people in the games domain leads to a vicious circle of non-participation and non-representation. This in turn contributes to the socialized perception of games as a male medium and disadvantages non-male players in the context of gaming. Further, game literacy is determined as an important game access condition and way of self-defense against marginalizing game content. This is why SpielRaum aims to raise non-male participants’ awareness for their own marginalization and show them that they can unapologetically claim gaming for themselves.
Detta arbete tittar på könsspecifika ojämlikheter vad gäller tillgång till videospel som finns mellan manliga och icke-manliga ungdomar. I undersökningen föreslås en konceptuell workshop som heter SpielRaum, som siktar på att ge tonåringar som tillhör marginaliserade könsgrupper en säker miljö för att därmed göra videospel mer tillgängliga. Genom att samla spel för fritt spelande och kombinera guidade diskussioner med självreflekterande övningar, hoppas workshopen kunna ge ökad kunskap om spel på ett spelfokuserat sätt. Detta gör att den skiljer sig från andra workshop-miljöer för icke-manliga tonåringar, vilket även behandlas i arbetet. Vad som upptäcktes var att de tenderar att varautvecklingsorienterade. Under arbetet med workshop-designen sattes skillnaderna runt speltillgänglighet i fokus: det fastställdes att implicit och explicit uteslutning av icke-manliga spelare leder till en ond cirkel av icke-deltagande och icke-representation. Detta bidrar sedan till den sociala uppfattningen att spel är ett medium för män och att icke-män är missgynnade vad gäller spel. Dessutom är kunskap om spel nödvändigt om man ska kunna delta i spel, och kan användas som ett sätt att försvara sig själv mot marginaliserande innehåll i spel. Detta är anledningen till att SpielRaum siktar på att öka icke-mäns medvetenhet för sin egen marginalisering och för att visa att de kan delta i spelvärlden utan att be om lov först.

This thesis is the first attempt to construct a standardized measure of literacy for the medium of video games, filling a gap in the literature by synthesizing various items of skills, behaviors, and affective components from existent studies and determining their correlations through analyzation of survey data. The five categories that were derived from conceptual review and factor analysis have high measures of internal consistency: Information and Systems Management; Exploration and Enjoyment; Teamwork; Design; and Socialization. To test for external consistency and reliability, the proposed gaming literacy model was compared to the Novak and Hoffman (1997) construction of flow, using the three primary components of Challenge, Skill, and Play. Flow is the ultimate level of optimal experience possible with any activity, so it was assumed that high levels of self-reported literacy would coincide with similarly elevated scores in concern with the flow phenomenon. The data shows that, indeed, there is a positive and statistically significant relationship between the two constructs. Nomological validity tests between males and females were conducted post-hoc, using the available data. The intended use for this scale is to establish a baseline measurement system for self-report methods of assessing literacy with video games. Future research should attempt to correlate the scale to actual gaming activity, test the importance of each component in an experimental setting, and determine the discriminate validity by comparing it to scales that have been established for other forms of digital literacy.

Critical media literacy (Kellner & Share, 2005) may better equip children to interpret videogame content and to create games that are nonviolent and socially just. Videogames are growing in popularity in classrooms. Yet educators and parents have concerns about the violent and stereotypical content they include. An earlier study based on the curriculum Beyond Blame: Challenging Violence in the Media (Webb, Martin, Afifi, & Kraus, 2009) examined the value of a media awareness curriculum. In this mixed-method study, I explored the effectiveness of a critical media literacy program that incorporated collaboratively creating nonviolent or sociallyjust games in teaching fourth-grade students the factors of awareness of violence, marketing, and critical media literacy. Qualitative data collected from teacher reflection notes, student journals, Scratch projects, and interviews revealed the positive effects of the program. Quantitative data supported these conclusions. This highlights the need for schools to engage students in computer programming as a means to learn academics, while educating students in critical media literacy to better enable them to navigate wisely the media saturated world in which they live. In learning programming, students engage in collaborative work, their interactions helping them to collectively create meaning for the symbols they create. Set in a framework of critical media literacy and symbolic interactionism (Blumer, 1969; Mead, 1934), this study provides an innovative model for teaching computer programming and critical media literacy skills to students.

Orientador: Marcelo El Khouri Buzato
Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Estudos da Linguagem
Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-18T21:27:52Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 DePaula_GustavoNogueira_M.pdf: 2882806 bytes, checksum: 642ba700c3611b5045218648ecb729ad (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011
Resumo: Este trabalho objetivou caracterizar a prática de jogar videogame como um novo letramento, apontando quais os principais saberes necessários para uma utilização crítica desse meio de comunicação, e delineando uma possível linha para a atuação da escola no intuito de aproximar os letramentos escolares daqueles praticados e apreciados pelos alunos em seu cotidiano. O componente teórico caracteriza o videogame enquanto objeto de pesquisa e tipo de mídia, resumindo as principais pesquisas realizadas sobre o tema até então. Estabelece também parâmetros para uma caracterização da prática de jogar videogames como um letramento específico. Argumenta-se a favor da necessidade de incorporar, na escola, para ação pedagógica consciente por parte dos professores, saberes sobre o videogame e sobre as maneiras como eles são lidos pelos alunos em suas práticas extra-classe em contraste com outros tipos de leitura. Tal argumento é ilustrado por meio de um estudo empírico que visou registrar e analisar os tipos de conhecimento e habilidades acionados por sujeitos jogadores em idade escolar ao utilizarem dois jogos de tipos diferentes que abordavam um mesmo tema de relevância histórica (o 11 de setembro) sobre o qual os sujeitos também obtiveram informações por meio de um texto escrito. O método empregado para a geração dos dados foi um protocolo de pensar alto complementado com entrevistas e questionários. Os resultados mostraram que os sujeitos não foram capazes de compreender o sentido semântico dos jogos, e, por conseguinte, não realizaram uma leitura minimamente crítica de seus conteúdos e dos argumentos veiculados pelos jogos, apesar de terem demonstrado plena capacidade e habilidade suficiente para jogá-los. Em vista de tais resultados, defende-se que a escola se engaje mais diretamente com a educação para este tipo específico de letramento e propõe-se que o conhecimento do objeto reunido neste trabalho seja útil como subsídio para tal tarefa
Abstract: This study aimed to characterize the practice of playing video games as a new literacy, pointing out that the key knowledge required for a critical use of this medium, and outlining a possible course of action for the school in order to bring the school literacies practiced and appreciated those by the students in their daily lives. The theoretical component characterizes the game as a research subject and media type, summarizing the key research on the topic so far. It also sets parameters for a characterization of the practice of playing video games as a specific literacy. It argues for the need to incorporate, in school, teaching conscious action by teachers, knowledge about the game and on the ways they are read by students in their extra-class practices in contrast to other types of reading. This argument is illustrated through an empirical study that aimed to record and analyze the types of knowledge and skills driven by subjects of school age players to use two different types of games that addressed the same topic of historical significance (Sept. 11) on which the subject also obtained information through a written text. The method used to generate the data was a think aloud protocol supplemented with interviews and questionnaires. The results showed that the subjects. children were not able to understand the semantic meaning of games, and therefore did not undergo minimally critical reading of its contents and arguments conveyed by games, despite having demonstrated full capacity and enough skill to play them. In view of these results, it is argued that the school engage more directly with education for this specific type of literacy and proposes that the knowledge of the subject gathered in this work is useful as an aid for this task
Mestrado
Linguagem e Tecnologia
Mestre em Linguística Aplicada

The video game industry has in three decades gone from a garage hobby to a global multi-billion euro media industry that challenges the significantly older and established cultural industries. After decades of explosive growth the industry surprisingly finds itself in a crisis – in terms of sales, future trajectories and creative paradigms. The global gaming culture receives substantial attention from society, media and academia – but the industry itself appears in comparison as an enigmatic terra incognita with astonishingly little dedicated research. This thesis aims to amend this situation by presenting a study at the cross-section of the video game industry, game studies, literary theory, cultural industries and business studies. It deals with the following question: how does the global game industry relate to its own product, in terms of communication and media dimensions, and what are the (business) consequences, in terms of production, strategy and commercial/creative innovation, of this relationship? This study’s departure point is constituted by a comprehensive description of the industry’s structure, dynamics and processes, based on extensive interviews with industry professionals. It is followed by an examination and comparison of the game industry with other media/cultural industries in relation to their economy and business dynamics. With inconclusive answers regarding the medium-industry relation, this study proceeds by exploring literary theories from the field of game studies, in order to gain insights into the dynamics of medium and industry. Literary theories from ludology and narratology provide rewarding perspectives on this inquiry, since it is found that the ontological dichotomy of simulation vs. respresentation present in the interpretational realm of the game medium is also reflected in the industry and its dynamics. This has pivotal consequences for the analysis of the game industry. This study concludes by positing the current critical condition of the industry as an extremely decisive moment in its history: will it become a truly universal mass-medium, or will it continue down its subcultural path? Subcultural “interactive cinema” meets mass-cultural media of simulation – how will the industry evolve?
QC20100708

This study examines correlations between player choice and identification in a multiple protagonist video game, seeking to determine whether a player’s identification with one or more player characters affects the way they make choices while playing. It discusses various definitions and types of identification as well as ways to create a successful narrative with multiple protagonists. The artefact created for the study is a text-based game with a branching narrative, where the player is required to make choices for three different characters, and a qualitative research method based on interviews with a small group of participants. The results show that players seek to identify with the player character even when there are more than one, and often use this as a basis for the choices they make, either by imagining themselves in the situation of the main character or by imagining that they are the main character. They do not usually base their choices while playing as a character on their identification or lack thereof with another, and regardless of how they made choices, most players made more or less the same ones. However, it did show that lack of identification made making choices more difficult for that character, which lessened their enjoyment of that storyline.

Artefakten som användes i arbetet utvecklades i samarbete med Amanda Thim

In recent years, having evolved beyond solely play-based interactions, it is now possible to analyze video games alongside other narrative forms, such as novels and films. Video games now involve rich stories that require input and interaction on behalf of the player. This level of agency likens video games to a kind of modern hypertext, networking and weaving various narrative threads together, something which traditional modes of media lack. When examined from the lens of reader-response criticism, this interaction deepens even further, acknowledging the player’s experience as a valid interpretation of a video game’s plot. The wide freedom of choice available to players, in terms of both play and story, in 2007’s Mass Effect, along with its critical reception, represents a turning point in the study of video games as literature, exemplifying the necessity for player input in undergoing a narrative-filled journey. Active participation and non-linear storytelling, typified through gaming, are major steps in the next the evolution of narrative techniques, which requires the broadening of literary criticism to incorporate this new development.

abstract: Game design and product design are natural partners. They use similar tools. They reach the same users. They even share the same goal: to provide great user experiences. This thesis asks, "Can game design build better product learning experiences, and if so, how?" It examines the learning situations created by and necessary for product design. It examines the principles of game learning. Then it looks for opportunities to apply game learning principles to product learning situations. The goal is to create engaging and successful product learning experiences, without turning products into games. This study uses an auto-ethnographic evaluation of a gameplay session as well as participant observation and interviews with gamers to gather qualitative data. That data is sorted with an A(x4) framework and used to create user experience profiles. The final outcome is a toolkit that identifies areas where game design could improve the design of product user experiences, especially for product learning.
Dissertation/Thesis
Masters Thesis Design 2016

Built upon symbiotic flow, that is a merging of flow theory (Csikzentmihalyi, 1975) and situated cognition (Gee, 2007) this dissertation presents the findings from a 6-month qualitative study of an elite gamer and his practices and experiences with video games. The study used mediated discourse analysis and case study methods to answer the following question: What does it mean to be an elite gamer, to one life-long player of video games? In addition, the following sub-questions were considered: a) What aspects of elite gaming are important and meaningful to one particular gamer? b) What moments of play does this gamer identify as significant? c) What does sustained play look like for one him? Data sources included interviews, observations of significant gaming (that is gaming in heightened states of enjoyment and success), observation de-briefs, co-analysis interview, and a research journal. The researcher coded observational data for elements of symbiotic flow and in response to interview data. Data are presented in narrative, expository, and graphic forms across the study. This inquiry has resulted in the creation of the Model of Nested Transaction in order to articulate and understand the nature of significant gaming experiences. Additional significant findings include: a) Time is the primary resource and commodity in this particular player's elite gaming world, because it represents a level of dedication and insider status; b) this gamer values particular affordances in his gaming, namely experiences that develop knowledge and skills that can then be applied instantaneously in gaming contexts and be harnessed for longitudinal participation; c) video games provide the participant, and gamers like him, with possibilities for greatness, an aspect of his identity that is both critically important to him and often strikingly absent outside of games. The study argues for productive consideration of video games as a mediational tool of both meaningful learning and powerful identity exploration.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)
Video games are increasingly recognized as powerful tools for learning in classrooms. However, they are widely neglected in the field of English, particularly as objects worthy of literary study. This project argues the place of video games as objects of literary study and criticism, combining the theories of Espen Aarseth, Ian Bogost, Henry Jenkins, and James Paul Gee. The author of this study presents an approach to literary criticism of video games that he names “player-generated narratives.” Through player-generated narratives, players as readers of video games create loci for interpretative strategies that lead to both decoding and critical inspection of game narratives. This project includes a case-study of the video game Undertale taught in multiple college literature classrooms over the course of a year. Results of the study show that a video game introduced as a work of literature to a classroom increases participation, actives disengaged students, and connects literary concepts across media through multimodal learning. The project concludes with a chapter discussing applications of video games as texts in literature classrooms, including addressing the practical concerns of migrating video games into an educational setting.

This research investigates the responses of three individuals engaging with the Super Mario World (SMW) platform videogame glitches, and how they learned to solve the problem without formal help. This investigation was chosen because it explores connections between media literacy, critical thinking, and play in adults in the context of responding to unexpected technological errors. At the core of this study is the question of how encounters with arbitrary glitches can motivate and elicit critical thinking. Following a case study model, data were collected as the three subjects played SMW and encountered glitches. Questions regarding the (glitchy) game play experience were addressed in the first interview immediately following. The subjects were asked to create a visual essay and keep personal journals, which were gathered after 30 days, and a second interview at that time focused on the overall experience. Several results emerged from the data. Each of the subjects identified and solved for glitches in a way that suggested critical thinking processes. In addition, they all reflected in various ways on the challenges that glitches presented, making connections to larger issues and their everyday lives. The data also showed the importance of memory in these processes. The results suggest that while subjects approached and solved a technological glitch in SMW game play, they simultaneously acquired, developed, and—at least for the duration of the study—sustained new literacy skills and expanded their proficiency with critical thinking. This holds some potential implications for the value of incorporating glitch experiences both inside and outside the classroom, suggesting that videogame play—and particularly glitches in play—can be considered valuable opportunities for learners and teachers alike.

Master of Arts
Department of Modern Languages
Melinda Cro
Many recent video games feature complex narratives that contain increasing amounts of written and spoken language. There has thus been growing need for them to be localized into other languages; that is, translated and adapted for markets where languages other than the video game’s language of development are spoken. While the localization process shares many similarities with other projects of translation, because the primary goal of a video game is to be entertaining, video game localization teams are allowed certain creative liberties in translating video games in order to maximize entertainment for players in target markets. Non-literal translation techniques, including transposition, modulation, equivalence, and adaptation, are used to avoid mistranslating in-game language. However, Mangiron and O’Hagan identify in their 2006 analysis of the English localization of Final Fantasy X certain “transcreation” techniques that are used by localization teams in order to make video games more entertaining for players in other markets. These transcreation techniques include the addition of linguistic variation, the re-naming of in-game terminology, the re-creation of wordplay, “contextualization by addition”, and the deliberate use of regional expressions. These transcreation techniques not only serve to make the localized version of a video game more entertaining for a target market, but also make the gameplay experience more original for players in these markets. This study will analyze non-literal translation techniques and “transcreation” techniques in the French localization of BioShock Infinite: Burial at Sea Episode 2 to determine how these translation techniques may be used to maximize entertainment and to create a more original gameplay experience for francophone players, followed by a discussion of how video game localizations may be implemented in second language acquisition contexts for the purposes of exploring certain L2 linguistic and cultural phenomena.

The topic of video games is expansive, encompassing numerous domains that have yet to be thoroughly examined within a scholarly context. Modern games, especially those in the adventure and role-playing genres, are oftentimes heavily laden with text, and therefore serve as excellent subjects when formulating hermeneutical models for simulated virtual contexts. Furthermore, many games belong under the umbrella of literary studies due to their reliance upon text to forge interactive, fictional narratives. While this means many games possess qualities that render them germane to academics within the sphere of English studies, they remain neglected outliers due to manifold factors, ranging from outmoded biases against the medium, to a lack of established evaluative methodologies. As a result, the field is largely bereft of consensus strategies for engaging digital works featuring literary exposition and dialogue in the form of on-screen text; however, existing theories, including more abstruse ones relating to ergodic literature, hypertext and cybertext, provide a foundation on which to construct new modalities for assessing texts that exist within virtual environs. Research indicates that audience experiences in text-driven games are markedly different than those offered by analog texts due to their interactivity and non-linearity, thus reinforcing the need for the expansion of existing models. Of additional concern, analyses of modern text-oriented games prefigure some important implications for the areas of pedagogy and textual information conveyance in general. These considerations all coalesce to illustrate the exigency for a new or updated theory for understanding and interpreting text in digital substrates, ultimately allowing for inchoate and emergent art facilitated by technology to be recognized as academically relevant.

In 2K Games’ Bioshock (2007) the player, as the protagonist Jack, is thrown into a dystopian, futuristic alternate history of America. Rapture is an underwater city saturated in music: popular songs from the mid twentieth century; classical-style soundtrack pieces composed by Garry Schyman; characters humming, singing, whistling or playing instruments; musical vending machines; and even the sounds of whales and other creatures all participate in forming a textured soundscape. The songs from the 1930s - 50s used throughout Bioshock recall a real-world cultural environment—a popular music culture that is both comfortably recognizable yet strangely unfamiliar. They occur within the game world and are heard by the player and game characters, and thus the songs are diegetic or “screen music.” In Bioshock, such music is an explicit component of narrative production, game environment creation, and player immersion. Significantly, diegetic music participates in the construction of narrative through a constant interplay or negotiation with the video game’s other elements—visual, textual, ludic—and ultimately functions as a distinct discourse able to mediate for Jack/the player between contesting factors, via established conventional codes of musical, cultural, film, and now video game signification. Bioshock’s use of music initiates a pre-game discourse during installation and prior to every game session in the disc-loading scenes, and this musical discourse is continued throughout the narrative. The story’s opening and descent into Rapture further establishes and “naturalizes” the presence of diegetic music as part of the story being told, and as a vital component of the audio-visual environment enhances player immersion. At the same time, these opening instances and subsequent occurrences of diegetic music at significant points in the story demonstrate that music’s culturally encoded emotive potential produces ironic and poignant effects, while its lyrical intertextuality generates narratological and ludic commentary in various song/scene pairings.

Cette thèse examine en profondeur la nature et l’application du concept de genre en jeu vidéo. Elle se divise en trois parties. La première fait l’inventaire des théories des genres en littérature et en études cinématographiques. Les propriétés essentielles du genre comme concept sont identifiées : il s’agit d’une catégorisation intuitive et irraisonnée, de nature discursive, qui découle d’un consensus culturel commun plutôt que de systèmes théoriques, et qui repose sur les notions de tradition, d’innovation et d’hybridité. Dans la deuxième partie, ces constats sont appliqués au cas du genre vidéoludique. Quelques typologies sont décortiquées pour montrer l’impossibilité d’une classification autoritaire. Un modèle du développement des genres est avancé, lequel s’appuie sur trois modalités : l’imitation, la réitération et l’innovation. Par l’examen de l’histoire du genre du first-person shooter, la conception traditionnelle du genre vidéoludique basée sur des mécanismes formels est remplacée par une nouvelle définition centrée sur l’expérience du joueur. La troisième partie développe l’expérience comme concept théorique et la place au centre d’une nouvelle conception du genre, la pragmatique des effets génériques. Dans cette optique, tout objet est une suite d’amorces génériques, d’effets en puissance qui peuvent se réaliser pourvu que le joueur dispose des compétences génériques nécessaires pour les reconnaître. Cette nouvelle approche est démontrée à travers une étude approfondie d’un genre vidéoludique : le survival horror. Cette étude de cas témoigne de l’applicabilité plus large de la pragmatique des effets génériques, et de la récursivité des questions de genre entre le jeu vidéo, la littérature et le cinéma.
This thesis provides an in-depth examination of the nature and application of the concept of genre for the video game. It is divided in three parts. Part one features an overview of genre theory in literature and film studies. The essential properties of genre as a concept are identified: it is an intuitive and “thumbnail” classification method, discursive rather than systemic in nature, and that owes its existence to a common cultural consensus rather than theoretical divisions. More importantly, the notions of tradition, innovation and hybridity are found to be central to genre. In part two, these findings are applied to the case of video game genre. A few typologies are examined to show that authoritative classifications are impossible. A model of the development of genres is laid out, based on three modalities: imitation, reiteration and innovation. By studying the history of the first-person shooter, the traditional conception of genre being based on formal mechanics is replaced by a new definition centered on player experience. Part three details experience as a theoretical concept and places it at the center of a new conception of genre, the pragmatics of generic effects. In this view, any object is a matrix of generic anchors bound to become generic effects, provided the player possesses the generic competences required to recognize them. This new approach is demonstrated through an examination of the survival-horror videogame genre. This case study showcases the potential of the pragmatics of generic effects for other fields, and provides a testimony for the recursion of the questions of genre between the video game, literature, and film.