Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Video Games based on Manga'

The goal of this study was to explore the potential of using video games with binaural beats as an alternative to regular binaural beat therapy. As previous studies have shown, music therapy, binaural beat therapy, and video games have been used for relaxation purposes to varying success. To prove this, three types of therapies were held in order to test their effectiveness. 16 students participated in the test in which their goal was to partake in one of the three therapy sessions, with two interviews before and after the therapy session. The results showed that a video game therapy with binaural beats could work as an alternative to a standard music therapy session, and that the binaural beats improved the relaxing factor in a video game. However, this area of study is quite new, which means more studies would be needed to ascertain the effectiveness of this kind of therapy.

Det finns övrigt digitalt material (t.ex. film-, bild- eller ljudfiler) eller modeller/artefakter tillhörande examensarbetet som ska skickas till arkivet.

Context: This is a study about investigating if playing video games can improve any skills and characteristics in a software engineer. Due to lack of resources and time, this study will focus on designing a study that others may use to measure the results and if video games actually can improve software engineers. Objectives: The main objectives are finding the benefits of playing video games and how those benefits are discovered. Meaning what types of games and for how long someone needs to play in order to be affected and show improvements. Another objective is to find out what skills are requested and required in a software engineer. Then it is time to design the study based on the information gathered. Methods: There is a lot of literature studying involved. The method is parallel research which is when reading about the benefits of playing video games, then also reading and trying to find corresponding benefits in what is requested and required in software engineers. Results: There are many cognitive benefits from video games that are also beneficial in software engineers. There is no recorded limit to how long a study can go on playing video games that it proves to have negative consequences. That means that the study designed from the information gathered is very customizable and there are many results that can be measured. Conclusions: There is a very high chance that playing video games can result in better software engineers because the benefits that games provide are connected to skills requested and required by employers and other expert software engineers that have been in the business for a long time and have a high responsibilities over other teams of software engineers.

In this thesis an architecture, similar to subsumption architectures, is presented which uses low level behaviour modules, based on combinations of machine learning techniques, to create teams of autonomous agents cooperating via shared plans for interaction. The purpose of this is to perform effective single plan execution within multiple scenarios, using a modern team based first person shooter video game as the domain and visualiser. The main focus is showing that through basic machine learning mechanisms, applied in a multi-agent setting on sparse data, plans can be executed on game levels of varying size and shape without sacrificing team goals. It is also shown how different team members can perform locally sub-optimal operations which contribute to a globally better strategy by adding exploration data to the machine learning mechanisms. This contributes to the reinforcement learning problem of exploration versus exploitation, from a multi-agent perspective.

Video gaming has always been a blooming industry. With the emergence of online multi- player video games , this industry’s worth have sky rocketed. Online multiplayer video games store data of player’s credentials, in-game progress, in-game virtual assets and payment details etc. Which mean security threats to these systems are nothing new and securing these games have always meant to protect player’s data from unauthorized breach. Integration of Blockchain technology in online multiplayer video games apart from other amazing features, provides a way to prove digital ownership of virtual assets with their verifiable scarcity. Trade of these in-game virtual assets have always been a goal for online multiplayer gaming companies, but there was none enough trust-able infrastructure available which can be relied on. Blockchain just solved that problem. It provided a platform for these asset’s secure and transparent transaction between players. Topic for our research not only consider the security challenges in online games but specifi- cally blockchain based online multiplayer games. This adaptation is still new and there is need of consideration of new security challenges. In this dissertation we try to bring out some important challenges related to security of blockchain based online multiplayer video games. There are currently no studies around security concerns and challenges of the integration of the online multiplayer video games in the emerging blockchain systems. In order to fill in the gap, this dissertation discusses and identifies two main security concerning questions related to this domain. Also this dissertation provides basic steps for expanding future research and application in this joint domain.

Democratic theorists argue that democratic institutions thrive when the citizens of the society robustly participate in governance (Galston, 2004; Barber, 2001). A traditional indicator of democratic participation is voting in elections or referendums. However, democratic apologetics posit that humans need to be trained in democratic processes in order to be democratic citizens (Dewey, 1916; Gutmann, 1990; Sehr, 1997; Goodlad, 2001). Citizens need to know not only the protocol of participation, they also need to be trained in the processes of mind (Dewey, 1916; 1927). Educational systems in this country have been the traditional place where democratic training has been vested (Spring, 2001). It seems, though, that the methods that educators are using to train young people fail to meet this challenge as voting rates among the youngest citizens (under 30) have never been higher than slightly more than half of eligible voters in the age group. To remedy this situation, Congress and several private civic-education organizations have called for changing curricular approaches to engage more youth. One such method that may hold promise is the use of video game technology. The current generation of youth has grown up in a digital world where they have been labeled “Digital Natives” (Prensky, 2001a). They are “tech savvy” and comfortable with their lives being integrated with various forms of digital technology. Significantly, industry research suggests that over 90% of “Digital Natives” have played a video game in the last 30 days, and business is booming to the level that video games pulled in more money than the movie industry did in 2008 (ESA, 2009). As early as the 1970s, educational researchers have looked at the use of video game technology to engage student learning; however, this research has been limited at best. More recently, educational scholars such as James Gee (2003; 2007) and Kurt Squire (2002; 2003; 2006) have sought to make the academic conversation more mature with regard to using video games as a classroom supplement. This study continues that conversation by using quantitative methods to investigate whether or not different groups of middle school students self-report a greater propensity to be civically engaged as a result of civic-themed video gameplay. The investigator collected data from middle school students who were given access to civic-themed video games to see if there were statistically significant differences in self-reported civic-engagement scores as a result of gameplay. This investigation was conducted at a large, urban middle school in the Southeast region of the United States.
ID: 031001528; System requirements: World Wide Web browser and PDF reader.; Mode of access: World Wide Web.; Adviser: William B. Russell III.; Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Central Florida, 2012.; Includes bibliographical references (p. 111-117).
Ph.D.
Doctorate
Education and Human Performance
Education; Social Science Education

I offer this thesis as an original and substantial contribution to knowledge in virtual natural environment design practice within computer and video games, by identifying areas of strong/weak practice and to develop a new design framework that utilises a cross-disciplinary approach for practitioners/students/researchers. The thesis combines theoretical frameworks as well practical guidance within a new design framework for virtual natural environment design. The themes relating to this work were examined through a contextual review that focused on previous professional practice as well as critical games produced during the last 30 years. The contextual review involved a detailed textual and visual-based historical survey of virtual landscapes, resulting in a practice-based exploration of virtual natural environment design in computer and video games. One of the main artefacts produced in this research, a three-volume book series titled Virtual Landscapes, presents for the first time these virtual spaces in a digitally enhanced manner through high-resolution panoramic imagery. A review of existing literature and current practice revealed that virtual natural environment design has so far been driven by mainly aesthetic principles and hinted that future emergent design practice should involve a cross/multi-disciplinary approach. The research proposes a new design framework for the creation of virtual landscapes that uses Landscape Character Assessments amongst other elements of environmental design. ShadowMoss Island is a practice-based exploration of how virtual natural environmental design can incorporate elements from Environmental Psychology and Geology, as well as personal reflections and observational analysis based on a field trip. The research proposes that psychological elements added to this new design framework can radically improve the success and impact of the final virtual natural environment. Another practice-based artefact, MindFlow, was created as a pre-production tool for the purpose of environmental design. The proposed tool enables the direct visualisation of collated multimedia (audio, images, video, annotations, design and decisions) in much more natural setting of a single visual space, allowing designers/artists to draw and influence the design and creation of virtual natural environments by bringing together all the different aspects in an intuitive and user-friendly manner. MindFlow helps solve the problem of designers/artists having to retain mental maps of image repositories structure by creating a single visual non-folder tree hierarchy virtual space. The research has significance to both professional and pedagogic practitioners working in the area of computer and video game natural environment design.

The most basic requirement for any computer controlled game agent in a video game is to be able to successfully navigate the game environment. Pathfinding is an essential component of any agent navigation system. Pathfinding is, at the simplest level, a search technique for finding a route between two points in an environment. The real-time multi-agent nature of video games places extremely tight constraints on the pathfinding problem. This study aims to provide the first complete review of the current state of video game pathfinding both in regards to the graph search algorithms employed as well as the implications of pathfinding within dynamic game environments. Furthermore this thesis presents novel work in the form of a domain specific search algorithm for use on grid-based game maps: the spatial grid A* algorithm which is shown to offer significant improvements over A* within the intended domain. Copyright
Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2011.
Computer Science
unrestricted

In modern times, procedural content generation sees frequent use in video games, producing anything from graphics to maps and quests. This study focuses on how these techniques can be used to produce forest maps for tactical role-playing games, and how this is applied in particular to Starshard, one such game. The main points addressed are how well the forestry growth simulation algorithm previously implemented in Starshard compares to algorithms based on other popular techniques, how to utilise evaluation and optimisation to produce correct and strategically interesting maps without human interference, and whether or not players can easily perceive a difference between procedural maps and maps designed by humans. With high demand for new algorithms to automate content generation in order to help smaller teams of developers and maintain interest in content post release, there is much value in delving further into less frequently explored aspects such as tile-based maps or player perception of procedural content. In order to answer the research problems, a controlled experiment comparing four forestry generation algorithms was performed, in addition to a study of literature to implement evaluation and optimisation algorithms, and a survey to gauge player reactions to the produced maps. Ultimately, the growth simulation proves to be more successful than alternative algorithms in reducing number of errors in maps. In addition, the results of the survey showed that while players are capable of reliably picking out human created maps, their ratings for procedurally generated maps were not much lower than these and they could frequently mistake procedural maps as being produced by humans.

Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited
This thesis proposes the development of a video game platform to increase the publics knowledge of required protective actions in the event of a nuclear terrorism attack. Current scientific analyses have identified elementary steps the public should take to increase the likelihood of survival in the event of a nuclear terrorism incident; however, a knowledge gap currently exists with regard to the publics understanding of these required actions. Unfortunately, todays preparedness initiatives do not have the efficacy required to impact significant improvements in this area. Video games, more specifically a sub-genre of games known as serious games, are uniquely postured to address this knowledge gap. Not only do video games provide a motivating, enriching and engaging educational medium, but also they are unique in that they address the emerging educational needs of todays games generation, which desires more interactive educational environments since they have been immersed in technology for the majority of their lives. As such, leveraging this technology can help close the current knowledge gap and increase the nations resilience to nuclear terrorism.

The aim of this essay is to distinguish whether the activity of playing video and online computer games as a leisure activity could be considered to be a learning situation. With the focus on vocabulary, this study investigates the possibility that gamers could improve their language proficiency while playing video and online computer games. The methodology is based on qualitative observations (Patel & Davidson 2011) and on interviews with seven players of five different games. The observations mainly considered the vocabulary used in the games and how the players used the English language while playing. The interviews are constructed with the methodology mentioned by Kylén (2004). The interview questions aimed to answer if the players had been noticing an improvement of their vocabulary. The data are mainly acquired from the observations and interviews. The background sections build on studies relating to computer-based language learning and on the previous research on ELF, primarily from Barbara Seidlhofer (2011). Even though the data acquired from the observations and interviews are limited, it is apparent that video and online computer games have a noticeable impact on language development, regarding vocabulary. The main conclusion of this study is that the games do not influence the players’ language proficiency as considerably as the engaging in the functions in conjunction with the games.

An increasing amount of attention has been brought to language learning through digital games. Incidental learning through different media types such as in print and online have also seen an increased amount of research done in recent years. This study examines the amount of incidental learning that occurs across three media types (in print, online, and in a digital simulation game) as well as participants' perceptions of how enjoyable and helpful these media types are. Results suggest that of the three media types, incidental learning occurred most through the online reading. Furthermore, although not statistically significant, participants in the present study found the reading in print to be most enjoyable and helpful.

Video games have become a new platform for social interaction. I review the sociality of video games and the relationship between virtual- and real-world behaviors. I review and address the pros and cons of methods of measuring social behavior. Finally, I present two studies drawn from internet populations. In Study 1 (N = 250), I develop a scale, The Sociality in Multiplayer Online Games Scale (SMOG), which measures the frequency of social gaming behaviors in team-based, multiplayer online games. I hypothesized these to align on dominance and affiliation dimensions of social interaction (Kiesler, 1982). In Study 2 (N = 104), I conduct a confirmatory factor analysis, which supports a two-factor structure—Destructive and Constructive social behavior, resulting in the SMOG-6. I examine construct validity using measures of dominance and affiliation. Controlling for age, gender, and frequency of game-play, both factors predict dominance. SMOG-Destructive negatively, and SMOG-Constructive positively, predicted affiliation.

The use of online courses continues to increase despite the small amount of research that exists on the effectiveness of online educational environments. The little research that has been conducted has focused on evaluating factors taken into consideration during the adoption of online learning environments. One notable benefit often cited is the ability to incorporate multimedia such as video games. Although game researchers and developers are pushing for the use of video games for educational purposes, there is a lack of research on the effectiveness of serious video games. When paring the increasing use of online educational environments, the push to use serious video games, and the lack of research on the effectiveness of online learning environments and video games, there is a clear need for further investigation into the use of serious video games in an online format. Based on current literature, no other known study has conducted an analysis comparing a serious game-based and non-game based online course; making this a unique study. The purpose of this study was to compare student learning experiences and outcomes between a serious game-based and non-game based online American History course. The data sources were data provided from Florida Virtual School (FLVS) and student and teacher interviews. Random samples of 92 students were statistically analyzed. A group of 8 students and 4 teachers were interviewed. FLVS data provided were analyzed using an independent t-test and the Mann-Whitney test and the student and teacher interview were analyzed using thematic analysis. Results of an independent t-test revealed that there was a significant (p < .01) difference in the mean number of days necessary to complete the course (MGB = 145.80, SDGB = 50.64, MNGB = 112.63, SDNGB = 49.60). The Mann-Whitney results indicated a significant difference between course performance and the type of American history course (Z = -5.066, p < .01); students in the serious game-based online course had an A average whereas students in the non-game-based online course had a B average. The thematic analysis of the relationship between student performance and motivation in both courses indicated that students and teachers of the game-based online course provided more reasons for student motivation than the students and teachers in the non-game-based online course. The thematic analysis of what aspects do students perceive as helpful and/or hindering to their learning indicated that students and teachers of the game-based online course provided more desirable, more helpful, less undesirable, and less hindering aspects for their course than the students and teachers in the non-game-based online course. As a result of the unique nature of this study, the findings provide new information for the fields of research on online learning, serious video gaming, and instructional design as well as inform instructional-designers, teachers, education stakeholders, serious video game designers, and education researchers.
Ph.D.
Other
Education
Education PhD

Context. Procedurally generated content is a common way for companiesto save time and resources when creating modern video games.However, with generation of content there is often many variables controllingthe outcome that is tricky to get right. Objectives. The aim of this thesis is to research how people perceivethe branch density of trees used in video games. This will be done bycreating a foliage generation tool that is based on the functionality ofan L-system. The tool will be used to generate 12 trees with differentbranch densities which will be used for the questionnaire in the userexperiment. Method. A foliage generation tool has been created to be able togenerate trees with different branch and twig densities. The trees generatedwith the tool have been used in a user experiment in order tocome to a conclusion on how people perceive different branch densityin virtual trees. Result. Trees with higher branch and twig densities were rated higherthan trees with lower ones. The best rated tree in all regards was atree in the group with the second most main branches and had 0.6 intwig density. Conclusions. The results show that trees with a higher branch densitymade participants rate it as better looking in the user experiment.Although, trees with a high number of main branches and low twigdensity got the lowest score.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2008.
The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file (viewed on August 13, 2009) Includes bibliographical references.

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Bachelors
Education
Elementary Education

Commercially available military-themed virtual simulations have been developed and sold for entertainment since the beginning of the personal computing era. There exists an intense interest by various branches of the military to leverage the technological advances of the personal computing and video game industries to provide low cost military training. By nature of the content of the commercial military-themed virtual simulations, a large overlap has grown between the interests, resources, standards, and technology of the computer entertainment industry and military training branches. This research attempts to identify these commonalities with the purpose of systematically designing and evaluating a common component-based software architecture that could be used to implement a framework for developing content for both commercial and military virtual simulation software applications.
Ph.D.
Other
Engineering and Computer Science
Modeling and Simulation

Quel est le lien entre de jeunes et indomptables vampires de la Nouvelle-Orléans, une créature frankensteinienne avec des ciseaux à la place des mains, Alice combattant la Reine Rouge dans un Wonderland effroyable et un ange déchu nommé Cain, version japonaise ? Ténèbres, rébellion et jeunesse semblent se rejoindre dans le même filon. L'objectif de cette thèse de littérature comparée n'est pas simplement de rappeler que les manifestations de la sous-culture Goth est toujours d'actualité mais aussi démontrer le caractère trans-médiatique et transculturel de ce que nous appelons la culture des ténèbres, dans quatre médias différents. Divisé en quatre grands chapitres, ce travail analyse l'importance du premier « vampire moderne », Dracula de Bram Stoker, dans l'émergence de la figure de l'outcast vampirique dans The Vampire Lestat de Anne Rice et Lost Souls de Poppy Z Brite. Le second chapitre étudie la créature frankensteinienne dans le film de Tim Burton, Edward Scissorhands, lequel a su imposer sa propre conception tout en étant sensiblement lié à l'œuvre de Mary Shelley. Le troisième se consacre à l'analyse de la ré-imagination personnelle d'Alice in Wonderland par le concepteur American McGee dans les jeux vidéos American McGee's Alice et Alice Madness Returns. Enfin, nous proposons une étude de la série de manga Goth Cain écrit par Yuki Kaori dans un dernier chapitre
What is the link between young wild vampires in New Orleans, a frankensteinian creature with scissors for hands, Alice fighting the Red Queen in a twisted Wonderland and a japanese version of a fallen angel named Cain ? Darkness, rebellion and youth seem to converge in the same stream. The purpose of this thesis is not only to recall that Goth subculture is still fashionable but also to discuss on the dark culture transmedia and transculturalism in four different medias. Divided in four chapters, this study analyses the importance of the first « modern » vampire, Bram Stoker's Dracula's in the coming-up of the vampire outcast in Anne Rice's Vampire Lestat and Poppy Z Brite's Lost Souls. The second chapter focuses on the creature in Tim Burton's movie Edward Scissorhands which presents an original conception while dealing with Mary Shelley's Frankenstein at the same time. The third chapter analyses American McGee's personal vision of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland in the video games American McGee's Alice and Alice Madness Returns. The last chapter explores Yuki Kaori's Cain Goth manga series

Aujourd'hui, l'intelligence artificielle (IA) est une composante essentielle d'un jeu vidéo et de plus en plus d'efforts sont portés sur cet aspect afin de rendre les jeux plus ludiques et plus immersifs. Cette amélioration va cependant de pair avec une augmentation sans cesse croissante des ressources informatiques nécessaires au fonctionnement de l'IA. De fait, il arrive que ces besoins soient si importants qu'ils dégradent le taux de rafraîchissement (TR) du jeu et ainsi la qualité d'expérience (QoE) du joueur. Dans ce contexte, notre objectif est de de maintenir le TR au dessus d'un certain seuil en modulant la quantité de ressources requises par l'IA. Pour ce faire, nous proposons de donner la possibilité au programmeur de définir plusieurs niveaux de détails pour l'IA (Level Of Details LOD), à l'instar de ce qui se fait pour afficher une scène graphique.Les travaux utilisant ce type d'approches proposent généralement d'utiliser des critères de distance à la caméra et de visibilité. Cependant, élaborés dans le contexte du rendu graphique, ces critères sont finalement assez peu adaptés au contexte IA car ils ne permettent pas toujours de rendre compte de l'importance réelle d'un personnage pour le joueur. Dans cette thèse, nous proposons d'utiliser des concepts organisationnels tels que le groupe et le rôle pour définir l'importance d'un personnage pour l'IA. De cette façon, un jeu vidéo est considéré comme une société d'agents (les personnages du jeu) dont l'importance individuelle ou collective est déterminée en fonction de leurs positions dans l'organisation, ce qui permet de déterminer une distribution des ressources de calcul disponibles adaptée : les entités les plus importantes dans l'histoire du jeu sont privilégiées.Notre approche a été implémentée et intégrée au moteur de jeu AGDE (Moteur Agent de développement du jeu). L'évaluation expérimentale a été réalisée à l'aide d'un système de mesures répétées pour évaluer la différence entre les QoE d'un jeu avec et sans notre approche
In recent years there have been many efforts to develop original video games by improving both their aesthetic and mechanics. The more the mechanics is rich and realistic, the more advanced models of programming are required. However, using advanced models of programming such as agent-oriented programming often comes with an overhead in terms of computational resources. Furthermore, this overhead on computational resources may degrade the frame rate and subsequently quality of experience (QoE) for the players.In this context, our aim is to propose the QoE support means for ensuring that, in any case, the frame rate does not fall below a given lower bound. We suggest adapting the amount of time allocated for agents depending upon the importance of their organization roles. In this regard, we use a level of detail (LoD) approach to compute the dynamics of the game.LoD in game AI is based on the idea to use the most of the computational effort on the game characters that are the most important to the player(s). One critical issue in LoD for game AI is to determine the criterion for defining the importance of game characters. Existing work propose to use the criteria of camera distance and visibility. However such criteria have been developed from the perspective of graphics. In this thesis, we have used the roles played by the game characters (in the context of a video game) as the criterion for determining their importance. In this way, a video game has been considered as an agent society, where the game characters get priority and relatively higher share in distribution of the computational resources based on their relative importance in the game story.Our approach has been implemented and integrated to the AGDE (Agent Game Development Engine) game engine. The experimental evaluation has been carried out using a repeated measure scheme to assess the difference in QoE metrics between a game implemented our approach and a control game. The null hypothesizes have been rejected using t-paired test: the players have found significant positive difference in the QoE

The purpose of this non-positivistic mixed-methods study is to examine parental attitudes towards the use of computer and video games in their child’s classroom and to investigate how the sociocultural contexts in which parents live affect those attitudes. The research was conducted using a mixed-methods triangulation design, including both quantitative and qualitative techniques. First, the study tried to identify which groups of parents were better positioned to accept and support digital game-based learning and which groups were less likely to have a positive attitude toward integrating digital games into the classroom. This study tried to determine if socioeconomic status, age, education level, and/or cultural background could serve as a predictor of parental attitudes toward digital game-based learning. Second, the study tried to recognize how social and cultural contexts in which parents live affect their attitudes toward digital games in the classroom. Many researchers agree that parents play an important role in students’ and eventually, educators’ attitudes toward gaming. It has been argued that if parents accept a certain non-traditional (digital) learning tool, then their children would most likely have a similar attitude toward it. Parents might be the support system that educators need in order to ensure that students are able to see the educational value of video games and are willing to think critically and draw connections between what they learn in a gaming environment and core subject areas.

The primary purpose in this case study was to explore the use of three-dimensional virtual spaces via the use of the game Minecraft as a teaching tool. The case study examined the effectiveness, self-efficacy, and social interaction of students when using such a tool in the teaching and learning process. The research analyzed knowledge acquisition through various deliverables such as benchmark pre and post exams, student discourse, and tangible objects created from the lessons by the students. Students were enrolled and participated in a summer camp offered from Arts and Technology Institute in North Texas. The camp utilized Minecraft to teach architecture types. Students learned about pyramids (Egyptian and Aztec), Roman/Greek architecture, Gothic architecture, and Post-Modern Architecture. Each day students were exposed to a different them of architecture and were tasked with building a world that was in the theme of an assigned type of architecture. Fifty-nine school age students ranging in ages from eight to twelve years old participated fully in the study. The students were not grouped by age, but instead self-selected partners with which to work during the course of their creations. Results show that students who participated in the Minecraft driven course were highly engaged and reported a positive experience during the course of learning. Participants worked cohesively to achieve common goals and problem solve during the course of project completion. Participants freely participated in discourse that was on the topic of the lesson, as well as, offered suggestions for improvement and solicited ideas from other participants. Pre and posttest results yielded an improvement in knowledge acquisition regarding general knowledge of architecture types. Many students frequently used the word “Fun” to describe their learning experience as cited in their daily blog entries. The research strived to show that using Minecraft as a teaching tool can create an environment in which students are highly engaged and are afforded an opportunity to learn material in a way that students can see as an applicable reason for learning. Results of this research evidence Minecraft as a tool in learning yields an atmosphere in which students take ownership of their learning and work in concert with other members of the classroom to yield positive learning outcomes.

Abstract. Autonomous agents, also known as AI agents, are staples in modern video games. They take a lot of roles, everything from being quest-givers in roleplaying games, to opposing forces in action- and shooter games. Crafting an AI that is not only easy to create, but also retains humanlike and believable behavior, has always represented a challenge to the development industry, and has in several cases ended up with open world games using AI systems that limit the AI agents to simple moving patterns. In this thesis, a form of AI systems more commonly used in simulation games such as The Sims video game series, are taken and implemented in an environment that could possibly be seen in an open world game. After the implementation, a set of tests were performed on a group of testers which resulted in the insight that a majority of the testers, when asked to compare their experience to other games, found this implementation to feel more lifelike and realistic.

[Truncated abstract] This descriptive study identified correlates of electronic media use among pre-adolescent children (10-12 year olds). It specifically focused on the potential influence of individual factors and the social and physical environment within the family home setting. The prevalence of overweight/obesity in children is escalating. Sedentary behaviour in the form of electronic media use (comprised of television (TV) and video/DVD viewing, video and computer gaming, and computer use) is a contributing and a modifiable risk factor for overweight/obesity. To date, research focused on sedentary behaviour has been largely derived from physical (in)activity data where the absence or observed low levels of physical activity participation or TV viewing only has been used as a proxy for sedentariness. Little is known about the specificities of children's electronic media use; its impact on children's overall leisure and screen-time; and, the potential influencing factors that may operate at the home level. The family home is a context-specific setting where electronic media use is a daily practice for most children. To better understand electronic-based sedentary behaviour among children the following specific aims were addressed; 1) To describe children's leisure time, particularly time spent with electronic media. 2) To explore children and parents' perceptions about electronic-based sedentary behaviour. 3) To determine the prevalence of children's electronic-media use at home. 4) To examine the influence of individual, family social and home physical factors associated with different levels of electronic media use by children. ... The availability and accessibility of a variety of electronic equipment at home, especially in the child's bedroom (particularly among boys), was also associated with children's screen behaviour. Physical aspects of the family home (i.e., lay-out and yard size) had a mixed effect on children's electronic media use. Overall, the nature of electronic media use among children is complex and is influenced by dimensions that present at children's individual, family social and physical home level. The knowledge generated from this study about specific correlates of electronic media use has extended the understanding about its impact on children's discretionary time. Future prospective longitudinal research is warranted given that most studies investigating electronic media and sedentary behaviour are of cross-sectional design. Including other forms of sedentary behaviour such as sitting and talking with friends and family, reading and/or using telephones may provide a more comprehensive measure of sedentariness in the future. Further studies should use multivariate statistical analyses (i.e., modelling) to improve clarity of relationships between multiple variables and gauge mediating factors. This study also calls for future intervention research. Findings on gender-specific correlates of electronic media use provide superior information for the development of tailored behaviour modification strategies aimed at girls and boys respectively. Active involvement of household members in the intervention is also warranted. Utilising this study's findings may strengthen intervention outcomes towards a more directed and sustained behaviour change

In this thesis, the Adaptative Hypermedia Systems (AHS) are used to generate e-Learning processes that consider the characteristics of university students who suffer from Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Overall, it was proposed a solution that ranges from symptoms detection to academic intervention. Specifically, it was developed a student model based on personal, demographic, academic, behavioral conduct, background and cognitive performance information to create personal student profiles, which indicate if an e-Learning student could have ADHD symptoms. Afther that, considering preferences and strengths of university students suffering from ADHD, three didactic strategies were integrated in the academic environment with the aim of obtaining a better e-Learning experience and academic performance, these strategies are: a serious game, a reusable learning object based on gamification and the use of Universal Design for Learning (UDL).
En esta tesis, los Sistemas Hipermedia Adaptativos (SHA) son usados para generar procesos de formación e-Learning que consideran las características de los estudiantes universitarios que sufren del Trastorno por Déficit de Atención e Hiperactividad (TDAH). De manera general, se desarrolló un proceso que va desde la detección de síntomas hasta al apoyo académico. Específicamente, se desarrolló un modelo del estudiante que considera información personal, demográfica, académica, comportamental, histórica y cognitiva para identificar si un estudiante e-Learning puede tener síntomas del TDAH. Después de ello, considerando las preferencias y fortalezas de los estudiantes con TDAH, se integraron dos estrategias didácticas en el proceso académico, una basada en videojuegos y otra en gamificación. Adicionalmente, se desarrolló una tercera estrategia basada en la implementación del Diseño Universal para el Aprendizaje (DUA) considerando su filosofía de contribuir a disminuir las barreras que no permiten procesos de formación de calidad para todos.

This dissertation investigates the development and use of self-images in augmented reality systems for learning and learning-based activities. This work focuses on self- modeling, a particular form of learning, actively employed in various settings for therapy or teaching. In particular, this work aims to develop novel multimedia systems to support the display and rendering of augmented self-images. It aims to use interactivity (via games) as a means of obtaining imagery for use in creating augmented self-images. Two multimedia systems are developed, discussed and analyzed. The proposed systems are validated in terms of their technical innovation and their clinical efficacy in delivering behavioral interventions for young children on the autism spectrum.

Genuine Forschungsdesigns zum Thema Social Presence in spielbasierten Lernumgebungen lagen bisher noch nicht im Fokus der Wissenschaft oder entsprechenden Forschungs‐ und Entwicklungsabteilungen der Hersteller von Game-Based-Learning-Software. Die vorhandenen Untersuchungen zu diesem Themenkomplex bezogen sich bislang entweder auf Social Presence in Computerspielen oder auf Social Presence in virtuellen Lernumgebungen, die nicht als Spiel umgesetzt worden sind. Spiel und Lernen wurden also bereits getrennt voneinander auf Social Presence untersucht, aber beide Konzepte empirisch noch nicht hinreichend zusammengebracht. Zukünftige Projekte müssen versuchen, diese Aspekte zu integrieren, um die Bedeutung von Social Presence im Kontext des spielbasierten Lernens valide einordnen zu können. Nachfolgend werden als Einführung zunächst Konzepte und Ergebnisse aus den Bereichen Social Presence im Videospiel und Social Presence beim Lernen vorgestellt, um im Anschluss daran erste Implikationen für die Gestaltung von GBL-Umgebungen abzuleiten.

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Universidade Federal de Sao Carlos
Virtual reality (VR) has been considered an important tool for rehabilitation of children with cerebral palsy (CP). Nevertheless, although there is some evidence about its positive effects in rehabilitation by means of existent systematic reviews, its important to investigate the methodological quality of these reviews, providing an update and also enabling practice based on evidence. Thus we developed the Study 1, with the objective of synthetize in a descriptive way the results of the existent studies and evaluate the methodological quality of the existent systematic reviews which employed VR as a tool in the rehabilitation of children with CP. The results of this first study allow us to identify the lack of primary studies in the evaluated reviews presenting a good level of evidence as well as an adequate methodological design. Moreover, the use of reliable outcome measures such as the quantitative measure of postural oscillation by means of force plate and validated scales and questionnaires might help in a reliable investigation of the effects of VR in rehabilitation of CP children. Thus, taking into account the lack of studies with good levels of evidence about the effects of the use of VR in rehabilitation, we developed the Study 2 with the aim of evaluate the effects of an intervention using VR in children with CP on their levels of postural oscillation, gross motor function and assiduousness to the therapy. Methods: In the Study 1 we searched the databases PubMed, Science Direct, Web of Science, Scopus, Lilacs, Scielo, PEDro and Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews using the following keywords: child, children, virtual reality , videogame system and cerebral palsy . We selected 5 studies which meet the inclusion criteria and evaluated it using the Overview Quality Assessment Questionnaire. Study 2 was a randomized controlled trial with longitudinal design and clinical purposes. Fifteen children with CP (10±3 years) with levels I and II of Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS), regularly inserted in physical therapy programs participated in the study. We did not include children with deficits that could compromise their performance in the proposed activities in virtual environment. The sample was shared in two groups by chance: Intervention Group (IG=7) and Control Group (CG=8). GI was submitted to a VR intervention protocol using an active videogame (Xbox 360º Kinect) which lasted 8 weeks with 45 sessions twice a week. CG was instructed to keep their traditional rehabilitation activities. We used four games with demands of balance, motor coordination, jumps, squats and latero-lateral weight shifts. All the children were evaluated in the beginning and after the end of the intervention protocol using the force platform and the Gross Motor Function Measure (GMFM) in the dimensions D and E. The analyzed variables in force platform were total oscillation of the center of pressure (TO of CoP), medio-lateral and antero-posterior amplitude of CoP displacement (ML and AP Amp of CoP), area and velocity of CoP oscillation (Vel of CoP). We calculated the clinically significant changes in GMFM (> 1%) and assiduousness to the therapy. Statistical analysis was conducted using MANOVA with repeated measures to verify differences between the groups before and after the intervention protocol to postural oscillation and Wilcoxon test to verify differences between before and after the intervention to variables of GMFM. Results: Study 1: Primary studies of the reviews were published between 1995 and 2011. The most used databases were CINAHL, EMBASE e PEDro. The most used instrument to evaluate quality of the reviews was American Academy for Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine. The main used equipment was Mandala Gesture XTreme e Rehabilitation Exercise System. The quality assessment of the reviews have showed one study with minimums methodological failures, three studies with small ones and one paper presented small defects. Study 2: We observed a significant difference pre and post intervention. We only verified clinically significant changes in the dimensions D and E of GMFM for the IG. All participants in GI completed the eight weeks of intervention with an assiduousness of 85,1% ±8,7%. We did not find significant differences for the force platform variables related to postural oscillation. Conclusions: Study 1: VR has been widely employed in the rehabilitation of children with CP. We identified a growing trend in the interest for this issue in literature. Although we have found systematic reviews with good methodological quality, the level of evidence of the primary studies was low. Study 2: Rehabilitation using VR by means of videogame was able to improve gross motor function in children with CP levels I and II of GMFCS and also keep high levels of assiduousness to therapy. However, we could not find similar results in the patterns of postural oscillation. These results enable us to use VR as an adjuvant therapy in physical rehabilitation of children with CP.
A realidade virtual (RV) tem se destacado como ferramenta de reabilitação para crianças com Paralisia Cerebral (PC). Entretanto, embora haja evidências sobre o seu efeito, é importante investigar a qualidade das revisões sistemáticas produzidas, atualizando o conhecimento e viabilizando a prática baseada em evidência. A partir dessa necessidade foi desenvolvido o Estudo I com objetivo de sintetizar os resultados dos estudos de forma descritiva e avaliar a qualidade metodológica das revisões sistemáticas que utilizaram a RV como ferramenta na reabilitação para crianças com PC. A partir desse estudo foi identificado que uma das lacunas sobre os efeitos da terapia baseada em RV relaciona-se ao baixo nível de evidencia dos estudos primários e a necessidade de um forte delineamento metodológico. Ainda, medidas de desfecho confiáveis, como a avaliação das oscilações corporais em plataforma de força e escalas funcionais de avaliação, podem auxiliar na busca por efeitos da reabilitação por RV. Em vista do exposto, foi desenvolvido o Estudo II com objetivo de avaliar o efeito da intervenção com RV na oscilação corporal e função motora grossa de crianças com PC. Métodos: No Estudo I, as bases de dados pesquisadas foram PubMed, Science Direct, Web of Science, Scopus, Lilacs, Scielo, PEDro e Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews com os seguintes termos: child, children, virtual reality , videogame system e cerebral palsy . Cinco artigos foram selecionados e avaliados segundo o Overview Quality Assessment Questionnaire. O Estudo II foi um ensaio clinico randomizado e controlado, com avaliador cego, de caráter longitudinal e com objetivos clínicos. Quinze crianças com PC (10±3 anos) níveis I e II de Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS), frequentando regularmente reabilitação fisioterapêutica participaram deste estudo. Não foram incluídas crianças com quaisquer déficits potencialmente limitantes ao desempenho das atividades propostas em ambiente virtual. A amostra foi estabelecida ao acaso em grupo intervenção (GI: n = 7) e grupo controle (GC: n = 8). As crianças do GI passaram por intervenção com RV utilizando um videogame ativo (Xbox 360º Kinect), por um período de oito semanas, duas vezes por semana durante 45 minutos. As crianças do GC foram instruídas a continuar em suas atividades de reabilitação convencionais. Foram utilizados quatro jogos com demandas de equilíbrio, coordenação motora, saltos, agachamentos e deslocamento lateral do corpo. Todas as crianças foram avaliadas em plataforma de força (Bertec portátil FP4060-05) para aquisição das variáveis: Oscilação Total, Amplitude de Deslocamento, Área de Oscilação e Velocidade Média de Oscilação do centro de pressão (CoP) e por meio da Gross Motor Function Measure (GMFM) nas dimensões D (em pé) e E (andar, correr e pular) no início e após o término da intervenção. Foram calculadas as alterações clinicamente significativas da GMFM (> 1%) e a frequência à terapia durante a intervenção. Para o cálculo estatístico foi utilizada a MANOVA com medidas repetidas para verificar as diferenças entre os grupos antes e após o período de intervenção para as oscilações corporais e o teste não paramétrico de Wilcoxon para verificar a diferença entre Pré e Pós intervenção nas dimensões do GMFM. Resultados: Estudo I: O período de publicação dos estudos primários foi de 1995 a 2011. As bases mais utilizadas foram CINAHL, EMBASE e PEDro. O instrumento mais utilizado para avaliação da qualidade foi American Academy for Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine. Os principais equipamentos utilizados foram Mandala Gesture XTreme e Rehabilitation Exercise System. Quanto à avaliação da qualidade, um artigo demonstrou mínimas falhas. Pequenas falhas são apontadas em três artigos e pequenos defeitos em um artigo. Estudo II: Para o GMFM houve diferença significativa na análise intragrupo considerando Pré e Pós intervenção nas dimensões D e E. Foram identificadas alterações clinicamente significativas para ambas as dimensões do GMFM somente no GI. Todos os participantes GI completaram as oito semanas de reabilitação com uma frequência à terapia de 85,1% ±8,7%. Não foram identificadas diferenças significativas para as variáveis referentes à oscilação corporal. Conclusões: Estudo I: A realidade virtual é utilizada na reabilitação de crianças com paralisia cerebral e uma tendência crescente no interesse em estudar tal ferramenta foi identificada. Os estudos primários possuem baixo nível de evidencia, no entanto, nas revisões sistemáticas foram identificadas mínimas falhas, sugerindo a boa qualidade de seu delineamento. Estudo II: A intervenção baseada em RV por meio de um videogame ativo é capaz de melhorar a função motora grossa de crianças com PC, níveis de GMFCS I e II. Entretanto, não foi capaz de melhorar as variáveis relativas à oscilação corporal nessa população. A partir de tais conhecimentos, é possível viabilizar a utilização clínica da RV como coadjuvante na reabilitação de crianças com PC, preenchendo lacunas da literatura a respeito da qualidade das evidencias, do efeito da intervenção na oscilação corporal e na função motora grossa.

As video game designers focus on immersive interactive stories, the number of game object interactions grows exponentially. Most games use manually-programmed scripts to control object interactions, although automated techniques for generating scripts from high-level specifications are being introduced. For example, ScriptEase provides designers with generative patterns that inject commonly-occurring interactions into games. ScriptEase patterns generate scripts for the game Neverwinter Nights. A kind of generative pattern, the quest pattern, generates scripting code controlling the plot in story-based games. I present my additions to the quest pattern architecture (meta quest points and abandonable subquests), a catalogue of quest patterns, and the results of two studies measuring their effectiveness. These studies show that quest patterns are easy-to-use, substantially reduce plot scripting errors, and their catalogue is highly-reusable between games. These studies demonstrate ScriptEase generative quest patterns are a desirable alternative to manual plot scripting in commercial, story-based games.

碩士
亞洲大學
休閒與遊憩管理學系碩士在職專班
106
As the technology improves every day, video games have also changed rapidly. From the early home consoles to the modern online games, high quality home consoles, and mobile game etc. Our government has officially legislated to protect the rights of playing video games. We can obviously realize the universality and significance of video games among modern society. However, most studies of video games are negative. It can rarely be seen to research how the history-based video games influence the cultural understanding to the players. This study is mainly to clarify the players’ cultural experiences through history-based video games. The purposes of the study are the following three, analyze the content and the design of history-based video games, describe the players’ involvement of history-based video games, and research how the history-based video games influent the cultural understanding of the players. Qualitative method is employed to analyze and understand. In-depth interview is used as research in this study. Interviewing ten history-based video games players through semi-structured interview. The conclusions of this study are as follows: First, the content and the design of history-based video games have to be concerned about the curiosity, operation interface, and degree of freedom of the history according to the players. Also, the design of historical characters must not be stereotyped. To satisfy the desire for players of collecting the historical roles is a must, too. The connection between the players and the historical roles are important as well. Visual, hearing, and the whole background design are important factors to draw the players keep playing the games, too. Second, the players’ involvement to history-based video games causes three results, spend too much time playing them, become much more emotional, and learning guides the achievement. Third, history-based video games improve the cognitive critical thinking through cultural experiences of the players. They also reflect on job choosing in two sides: self-discipline or selectivity; positive and negative influences to lives and relationship are affected as well. In conclusion, history-based video games that incorporate technology and design vividly provide a leisure and puzzled platform to recognize, interpret, and recreate history to the players. Although the players will also face some potential crisis which cause negative influence, their ability of critical thinking of history, strategic thinking, and intelligence and creativity can be deeply affected.

Path search algorithms, i.e., pathfinding algorithms, are used to solve shortest path problems by intelligent agents, ranging from computer games and applications to robotics. Pathfinding is a particular kind of search, in which the objective is to find a path between two nodes. A node is a point in space where an intelligent agent can travel. Moving agents in physical or virtual worlds is a key part of the simulation of intelligent behavior. If a game agent is not able to navigate through its surrounding environment without avoiding obstacles, it does not seem intelligent. Hence the reason why pathfinding is among the core tasks of AI in computer games. Pathfinding algorithms work well with single agents navigating through an environment. In realtime strategy (RTS) games, potential fields (PF) are used for multi-agent navigation in large and dynamic game environments. On the contrary, influence maps are not used in pathfinding. Influence maps are a spatial reasoning technique that helps bots and players to take decisions about the course of the game. Influence map represent game information, e.g., events and faction power distribution, and is ultimately used to provide game agents knowledge to take strategic or tactical decisions. Strategic decisions are based on achieving an overall goal, e.g., capture an enemy location and win the game. Tactical decisions are based on small and precise actions, e.g., where to install a turret, where to hide from the enemy. This dissertation work focuses on a novel path search method, that combines the state-of-theart pathfinding algorithms with influence maps in order to achieve better time performance and less memory space performance as well as more smooth paths in pathfinding.
Algoritmos de pathfinding são usados por agentes inteligentes para resolver o problema do caminho mais curto, desde a àrea jogos de computador até à robótica. Pathfinding é um tipo particular de algoritmos de pesquisa, em que o objectivo é encontrar o caminho mais curto entre dois nós. Um nó é um ponto no espaço onde um agente inteligente consegue navegar. Agentes móveis em mundos físicos e virtuais são uma componente chave para a simulação de comportamento inteligente. Se um agente não for capaz de navegar no ambiente que o rodeia sem colidir com obstáculos, não aparenta ser inteligente. Consequentemente, pathfinding faz parte das tarefas fundamentais de inteligencia artificial em vídeo jogos. Algoritmos de pathfinding funcionam bem com agentes únicos a navegar por um ambiente. Em jogos de estratégia em tempo real (RTS), potential fields (PF) são utilizados para a navegação multi-agente em ambientes amplos e dinâmicos. Pelo contrário, os influence maps não são usados no pathfinding. Influence maps são uma técnica de raciocínio espacial que ajudam agentes inteligentes e jogadores a tomar decisões sobre o decorrer do jogo. Influence maps representam informação de jogo, por exemplo, eventos e distribuição de poder, que são usados para fornecer conhecimento aos agentes na tomada de decisões estratégicas ou táticas. As decisões estratégicas são baseadas em atingir uma meta global, por exemplo, a captura de uma zona do inimigo e ganhar o jogo. Decisões táticas são baseadas em acções pequenas e precisas, por exemplo, em que local instalar uma torre de defesa, ou onde se esconder do inimigo. Esta dissertação foca-se numa nova técnica que consiste em combinar algoritmos de pathfinding com influence maps, afim de alcançar melhores performances a nível de tempo de pesquisa e consumo de memória, assim como obter caminhos visualmente mais suaves.

碩士
國立成功大學
工程科學系碩博士班
96
In this thesis, a novel TV commercial detection scheme for sports videos is proposed. Firstly a sport video is partitioned into shots and then the scoreboard detection method is applies to each individual shot to determine if any scoreboard existed in the shot. If the shot contains scoreboard, then the shot belongs to a program shot. Next, the key-frame of a shot without scoreboard would be compared with that with scoreboard. If high similarity is achieved between them, then a SVM classifier based on the features of the shot is used to determine if the shot belongs to a commercial one. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed scheme can effectively differentiate commercial shots from programs ones. The high detection rate shows the feasibility of the proposed scheme for practical applications.

Older adults in residential care often lead sedentary lifestyles despite physical and cognitive activities being crucial for their well-being. Care facilities face the challenge of encouraging their residents to participate in leisure activities, but as the impact of age-related changes grows, few activities remain accessible. Video games in general – and motion-based games in particular – hold the promise of providing mental, physical and social stimulation for older adults. However, the accessibility of commercially available games for older adults is not considered during the development process. Therefore, many older adults are unable to obtain any of the benefits. In my dissertation, this issue is addressed through the development of motion-based game controls that specifically address the needs of older adults. The first part of this thesis lays the foundation by providing an overview of motion-based game interaction for older adults. The second part demonstrates the general feasibility of motion-based game controls for older adults, develops full-body motion-based and wheelchair-based game controls, and provides guidelines for accessible motion-based game interaction for institutionalized older adults. The third part of this thesis builds on these results and presents two case studies. Motion-based controls are applied and further evaluated in game design projects addressing the special needs of older adults in long-term care, with the first case study focusing on long-term player engagement and the role of volunteers in care homes, and the second case study focusing on connecting older adults and caregivers through play. The results of this dissertation show that motion-based game controls can be designed to be accessible to institutionalized older adults. My work also shows that older adults enjoy engaging with motion-based games, and that such games have the potential of positively influencing them by providing a physically and mentally stimulating leisure activity. Furthermore, results from the case studies reveal the benefits and limitations of computer games in long-term care. Fostering inclusive efforts in game design and ensuring that motion-based video games are accessible to broad audiences is an important step toward allowing all players to obtain the full benefits of games, thereby contributing to the quality of life of diverse audiences.

The ability for humans to hear, attend to, and understand incoming sounds is affected, at least, by environmental, morphological, and cognitive factors. Conversely, current implementations of audition in virtual characters often only consider as constraint to the auditory process the distance between the sound emitter and the sound receiver. To cope with this limitation, this dissertation presents a novel framework, directed to game developers interested in implementing non-player characters with noisy, characterspecific, and context-dependent auditory perception. The framework is prepared to be integrated with games developed in Unity's game engine, providing custom made Unity scripts that simplify the integration into Unity games. A First Person Shooter game named Fortress was developed, which was integrated with the framework in order to test the mechanisms for sound transmission and perception provided by the framework. The framework allows developers to enable the ability for virtual characters to perceive sound from their surroundings, while keeping the ability of perception closely binded to the current context the virtual character is in. The developer may then customize each virtual character's physical and psychological traits that react the way the virtual character perceives sound from its surroundings. Consequently, the level of immersion for players is increased, as the characters from the virtual world react to sound from their surroundings in a more human way.
A capacidade humana de ouvir, percepcionar e compreender sons é afetada, no mínimo, por fatores ambientais, físicos e cognitivos. Implementações atuais de audição em agentes virtuais apenas consideram a distância entre o emissor do som e o seu receptor como fator influenciador da sua receção. De forma a superar essa limitação, esta dissertação apresenta uma framework direcionada a programadores de jogos de vídeo interessados em dotar os seus personagens virtuais de audição reactiva a ruído, às características do agente e dependente do contexto. A framework é direcionada a jogos desenvolvidos para o motor de jogo Unity, através da disponibilização de ferramentas que facilitam a integração em jogos do motor de jogo Unity. Um jogo do tipo First Person Shooter , Fortress, foi desenvolvido com o objectivo de integrar e testar as funcionalidades de transmissão e percepção de som disponibilizadas pela framework. Os programadores de jogos de vídeo passam a poder dotar as suas personagens virtuais de perceção de sons provenientes do ambiente virtual, relacionando a capacidade de perceção com o contexto do personagem virtual. Os programadores podem costumizar os atributos físicos e psicológicos que afetam a capacidade de perceção do som por parte dos personagens virtuais. Em consequência da melhor aproximação da capacidade auditiva dos personagens virtuais com a capacidade auditiva humana, os personagens apresentaram um comportamento mais el à realidade, aumentando a imersão do jogador no mundo do jogo.

There is no doubt that the video game industry is undergoing a major upheaval, yet in spite of the recent reconceptualization of video games, educational games as a whole remain the pariah of the industry. Very little has been done in the wake of recent social and industry trends to adapt instruction of academic subjects, especially foreign language, for delivery through video games. Prior studies discussing the potential of games developed specifically for language learning have focused primarily on general principles and have offered no recommendations for platform, genre, or other aspects of design. Through an online survey as well as qualitative analysis of gaming forum discussions and student evaluations of an existing educational language game, this study goes straight to the learners and players themselves in order to determine the opinions and behavioral intentions of potential customers. By synthesizing these insights into consumer demand with theory and industry trends, this study argues that mobile or casual games that are intrinsically social and communicative hold the most potential for success, both in academia and in the industry.

碩士
淡江大學
課程與教學研究所碩士班
102
Tones are a difficult challenge for native English speakers who want to learn Mandarin. In this mixed methods empirical study, the theoretical lens of cognitive Load Theory is adopted to interpret this challenge, and two simple video games were developed to help novice and intermediate level native English speaking Mandarin learners practice their Chinese tone-awareness. Ten participants were drawn from the pool of native English speakers who are learning Mandarin in Taiwan. The participants were given a chance to play the games, and interviewed after playing. They were also tested for tone perception capability before and after playing the games to measure learning effectiveness. The participants’ responses, attitudes, and the benefits and challenges encountered with this video game based approach to CLF tone learning is discussed, and inferential statistics are applied to interpret the quantitative data. The qualitative findings from this study confirm that the participants liked the idea of video games for practicing Chinese, and felt that these games enhance motivation, and provide useful practice. The quantitative results support the research hypothesis—that the games can help learners improve their tone perception. However, whereas the intermediate level CFL learners did show improvement on the post-tests, the beginner level participants did not. The conclusions explain this result in terms of CLT as an example of the so-called ‘expertise reversal effect.’

The work focuses on finding which factors motivate players to play online video games and what are the consequences of playing with direct focus on Fortnite and League of Legends. This paper relays on scientific literature, two primary studies: netnography research and survey, together with available secondary research data. The last part of the work presents industry and selected gaming companies’ recommendations. The most important industry game factors are enjoyment, competition, friendship, and emotion catalyst. The main findings for Fortnite include extension of promotional activities to older players; and for League of Legends, extending game accessibility to a new platform.

A depressão representa um grande encargo econômico na Europa e em todo o mundo, é esperado que se torne a segunda doença mental mais comum em todo o mundo até 2020. Os tratamentos de primeira linha incluem medicação e psicoterapia, os quais podem produzir efeitos colaterais indesejáveis, ou serem ineficazes por várias razões que vão da escassez de profissionais treinados, até ao desconforto dos pacientes com os resultados. Terapias alternativas, como a música e terapias baseadas em tecnologia, têm sido propostas como tratamentos alternativos. Esta tese propõe o uso de um jogo casual afim de ajudar pessoas com sintomatologia depressiva. Foi realizado um estudo inicial com uma amostra de indivíduos com sintomas de depressão, leve a moderada, para entender a sua relação com videojogos, tendências de jogos e qual o tipo preferido de jogos. Concluímos que jogando no seu tempo livre, sozinhos e num computador ou dispositivo móvel tiveram maior preferência. Com base na informação coletada, criamos um jogo para dispositivos móveis chamado Symphony, baseado em resolver puzzles e audição musical, como meio de fornecer dicas para o bem-estar mental. Tentamos também promover a estimulação cognitiva, a melhoria de humor, e estratégias de regulação de emoções. Um teste de usabilidade foi realizado com 5 indivíduos da população geral para testar sua jogabilidade, onde eles preencheram questionários pré e pós-intervenção para avaliar seu humor e perceção do jogo. Uma experiência final foi realizada com uma amostra da população-alvo de 8 voluntários, que também completaram questionários pré e pós-intervenção para avaliar o impacto de jogar Symphony em seus níveis de depressão, humor e também para conhecer sua perceção do jogo. Os dados dos questionários e os comentários e observações informais dos terapeutas, revelaram respostas emocionais positivas e mudanças de humor resultantes de jogar Symphony. As quais, sugerem melhorias para tornar Symphony mais eficaz e adaptável a cada indivíduo.
Depression is a heavy economic burden in Europe and worldwide, and it is expected to reach second place as the most common mental illness worldwide by 2020. First-line treatments include medication and psychotherapy, but they may either bring undesirable side-effects or be ineffective for several reasons that go from the shortage of trained practitioners to lack of compliance. Alternative therapies, such as music and technology based therapies, have been proposed as adjunctive treatments. This thesis proposes using a casual-game to aid people with depressive symptomatology. We conducted an initial study with a sample of individuals with mild to moderate depression symptoms to understand their regards to video-games, gaming tendencies, and preferred type of games. Playing in their free time, alone and on a computer or mobile device were mostly preferred, so we created a mobile casual game called Symphony based on puzzle-playing and music-listening to give tips for their mental well-being, promote cognitive stimulation, mood improvement, and emotion regulation strategies. A usability test conducted with 5 individuals from the general population was conducted to test its playability, where they completed pre- and post-intervention questionnaires to assess their mood and perception of the game. A final experiment was conducted with a sample of the target population of 8 volunteers, who also completed pre- and post-intervention questionnaires to assess the impact of playing Symphony on their depression levels, mood, and also to gather their perception of the game. Questionnaire data and therapists’ informal comments and observations reveal overall positive emotional responses and mood changes resulting from playing Symphony, and suggest improvements to make Symphony more effective and adaptable to each individual.

碩士
國立雲林科技大學
資訊管理系碩士班
99
Owing to the expansion of media, attention has been turning into a kind of scarce resource. Product placement, a way that increases customers’ exposure to advertisements, is therefore a choice in the limelight today. Previous studies usually put emphasis on recall, recognition and attitude. On the contrary, the goal of this study is to determine the difference of the influence on the players’ product attitude and willingness to pay with different product placement styles in video games. Another goal of this study is to determine whether there is a difference between the short-term influence and the long-term influence on these two factors. In order to increase the validity, this study chose a popular game style instead of the one in previous study. The game made for this experiment has two different versions — the one with prominent placement and the other with subtle placement. The IAT is applied to the measurement of product attitude, and an evaluation game is applied to the measurement of willingness to pay. According to the result, there is no statistical significance between influences of different placement style — neither in long-term test nor in short-term test. In conclusion, the contribution of this study is obtaining a result differs from the previous ones using a popular game style for placement study with a new factor added — the willingness to pay.

博士
國立交通大學
資訊科學與工程研究所
104
Digital game-based learning (DGBL) has become a viable instructional option in the past decade due to its support of learning motivation, the development of cognitive skills and construction of knowledge. In recently years, rather than developing games specifically designed for instructional purposes, a growing number of researchers and educators are looking at ways to repurpose pre-existing commercial games for education because of the benefits in terms of the accurate simulation of “real-world” experience and phenomena. Especially, many commercial physics games position player activities within authentic and meaningful contexts, and offer opportunities for understanding of complex physical concepts, which increase interesting pedagogical opportunities for physics education. However, commercial physics games don’t appear to help students make the leap from tacit understanding to more formalized knowledge because they are usually designed for entertainment in essence. Therefore, our goal is to explore more instructional potentials and purposes of commercial games with appropriate teaching designs. This study uses three experiments with quasi-experimental design to investigate the effects of existing commercial games on learning outcomes of physical concepts at two learning stages (i.e. before-class and after-class) based on flipped classroom instruction model and cognitive elaboration strategy. In the first experiment we describe our proposal for a flipped game-based learning (FGBL) strategy containing core features of both digital-game based learning and flipped classroom instruction. Our two primary research in this experiment focuses are the effects of the proposed strategy on (a) pre-learning outcomes prior to formal classroom presentation of information, and (b) overall learning outcomes. The focus of the second experiment is the effects of commercial games as tutorial tools after class on the cognitive elaboration of physical concepts that students have already learned, and the third experiment was designed to further investigate the effects of commercial video games on cognitive structures of students when used to review physical concepts. Our results suggest that a) the commercial games can be used to promote active pre-class learning; b) the FGBL-strategy students achieved better learning outcomes than the lecture-based instruction students; c) the games supported the elaboration potential of learned physical concepts; d) concept maps are more suitable than multiple-choice tests for estimating the effects of commercial games on cognitive elaboration; e) the game promoted the creation of motion concept hierarchies and consolidated both relationships and cross-links among existing physical concepts; f) an internalization time factor must be taken into account when analyzing the effects of a game on cognitive structures as measured by concept maps. Several key design features of commercial games that can support the two instructional strategies for the learning of physical concepts are discussed.

Music can positively affect game play and help players to understand underlying patterns in the game, or the effects of their actions on the characters. Conversely, inappropriate music can have a negative effect on players. While game makers recognize the effects of music on game play, solutions that provide users with a choice in personal music have not been forthcoming. I designed and evaluated an algorithm for automatically adapting any music track from a personal library so that is plays at the same rate as the user plays the game. I accomplish this without access to the video game's souce code, allowing deployment with any game and no modifications to the system.