Entertainment Technologies

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Craig Hayden
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Virtual Worlds ◽  
Social Action ◽  
Mass Communication ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
International Studies ◽  
Role Playing Games ◽  
Networking Technologies ◽  
The Impact

Entertainment technologies are not new, and neither is their relevance for international studies. As studies evidence, the impact of entertainment technologies is often visible at the intersection of “traditional” international relations concerns, such as national security, political economy, and the relation of citizens to the nation-state, and new modes of transnational identity and social action. Thus the study of entertainment technologies in the context of international studies is often interdisciplinary—both in method and in theoretical framework. Moreover, the production, regulation, and dissemination of these technologies have been at the center of controversies over the flow of news and cultural products since the dawn of popular communication in the nineteenth century. These entertainment technologies include video games, virtual worlds and online role-playing games, recreational social networking technologies, and, to a lesser degree, traditional mass communication outlets. In addition, there are two primary emphases in the scholarly treatment of entertainment technologies. At the level of audience consumption and participation, media outlets considered as entertainment technologies can be discussed as means for acquiring information and cultivating attitudes, and as a “space” for interaction. At the more “macro” level of social relations and production, representation can work to reinforce modes of belonging, identity, and attitudes.

Kronisk sygdom som biografisk hændelse - et studie af bypassopererede kronisk hjertesyge menneskers biografiske arbejde

1970 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 85-98
Author(s):  
Rasmus Antoft
Keyword(s):  
Heart Disease ◽  
Everyday Life ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Social Action ◽  
Chronically Ill ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
Self Presentation ◽  
Self Identity ◽  
Chronic Heart Disease ◽  
Ability To Act

Chronic illness as biographical occurrence – a study on bypass operated individuals and their biographical work. The primary focus of this article is on bypass operated chronically ill peoples attempt to re-establish their biographical work, their everyday life. The everyday life experiences based on routines and obviousness are subjugated by the chronicle illness influence on the life narrative, its future character and the way in which it affects the shaping of identity, the biographical work. Two different themes are central in individual’s narratives about their everyday life with a chronic heart disease. These themes concern their self-presentation in inter-action with others and their anxiety directed at the future life with the illness, with the anxiety of death. This study shows that every bypass operated and chronically ill participant have experienced difficulties in reshaping their normal biographical work. Their ability to regain social action as part of the biographical work and their shaping of self-identity, has been altered significantly. In various situations this leads to potential stigmatisation, but also to a lack of acceptance in the role-playing of a chronic ill, be that in interaction with strangers or intimate social relations. This causes identity dilemmas, paradoxes in self-presentation and, as a consequence, self-deception in everyday life. The existential problem of anxiety and its subjugating character in the lifeplaning and biographical work is to be explained by the risk of reoccurrence of the heart disease, and by the latency of the possible terminal nature of the disease. The nature of the illness ruptures routines and the predictability of everyday life, thus manifesting itself in key situations of everyday life. In addition to this, the anxiety generates a lack of ability to act actively, that is, the individuals ability actively shape its lifeplaning and its biographical work.

Interoperability, Learning Designs and Virtual Worlds

2010 ◽  
pp. 193-206
Author(s):  
Helen Farley
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Worlds ◽  
Second Life ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
World Of Warcraft ◽  
Role Playing Games ◽  
Collaborative Activities

Given the relatively high costs associated with designing and implementing learning designs in virtual worlds, a strategy for the re-use of designs becomes imperative. IMS LD has emerged as the standard for the description and expression of learning designs. This chapter explores some of the issues associated with using the IMS LD specification for learning designs in virtual worlds such as Second Life and multi-player online role playing games such as World of Warcraft. The main issues relate to the inadequate description of collaborative activities and the inability to alter the design ‘on-the-fly’ in response to learner inputs. Some possible solutions to these problems are considered.

The Impact of Role-Playing Games on Culture

2018 ◽  
pp. 172-187 ◽  
Author(s):  
Esther MacCallum-Stewart ◽  
Jaakko Stenros ◽  
Staffan Björk
Keyword(s):  
Role Playing ◽  
Role Playing Games ◽  
The Impact

scholarly journals An Exploration of Entrepreneurship in Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games: Second Life and Entropia Universe

2010 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Stéphane Kieger
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Worlds ◽  
Second Life ◽  
Necessary Conditions ◽  
New Technology ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
Current Paper ◽  
Venture Creation ◽  
Role Playing Games ◽  
The Future ◽  
Massively Multiplayer

Virtual worlds represent a new market with a distinct economy andmany individuals are trying to exploit this very new technology in thesearch of profitable opportunities. The current paper proposes to studyentrepreneurship in the Massively Multiplayer Online Role-PlayingGames (MMORPG) Second Life® and Entropia Universe® in whichmonetary trades are possible. A survey was proposed to the community of players of both games, and from a sample of 244 players, nineteenentrepreneurs were contacted for a second survey. The traits of theentrepreneurs were compared to those of the players andentrepreneurship was observed in Second Life® and Entropia Universe®.  In fact, all the necessary conditions are present for entrepreneurship: a new technology giving new sources of revenues, an entrepreneur willing to invest money in order to increase his wealth, and a market with an economy well understood. The different entrepreneurs have developed successful ventures in several markets, and they had well defined the strategy they wanted to adopt. They have examined the different markets in which they have entered although they did not use all the tools known in the marketing fields. Further, some steps in the process of creation of the venture may not be important and some may be done relatively swiftly, thus the venture creation in MMORPG may be relatively easy. In conclusion, the venture creation may be relatively undemanding in virtual worlds, and this opens new possibilities for the future.

Critical Theory of International Relations

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven C. Roach
Keyword(s):  
Critical Theory ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Social Action ◽  
International Political Economy ◽  
Social Research ◽  
Communicative Action ◽  
Historical Materialism ◽  
Frankfurt School ◽  
Ir Theory

Max Horkheimer, one of the founders of the Frankfurt Institute of Social Research established in 1923, coined the term critical theory in 1937. While the school failed to produce what could be called a systematic theory, it drew on, and interweaved, various philosophical strands and prominent themes of political and social thought, including historical materialism (Marxism/Western Marxism), Freudian analysis, cultural disenchantment, Hegelian dialectics, and totality. Yet by the 1940s, many of the first-generation Frankfurt school thinkers sought to counter the emasculation of critical reason, dialectics, and self-conscious theory with a focus on the negativity of dialectics. Later critics would claim that they had abandoned the progressive platform of the Enlightenment, or the project of emancipation from social and political oppression. In the 1980s, Jürgen Habermas’s communicative action theory would provide a so-called critical turn in Frankfurt school critical theory by resituating reason and social action in linguistics. It was during this time that international relations (IR) theorists would draw on Habermas’s theory and that of other critical theorists to critique the limits of realism, the dominant structural paradigm of international relations at the time. The first stages of this critical theory intervention in international relations included the seminal works of Robert Cox, Richard Ashley, Mark Hoffman, and Andrew Linklater. Linklater, perhaps more than any other critical IR theorist, was instrumental in repositioning the emancipatory project in IR theory, interweaving various social and normative strands of critical thought. As such, two seemingly divergent critical IR theory approaches emerged: one that would emphasize the role of universal principles, dialogue, and difference; the other focusing predominantly on the revolutionary transformation of social relations and the state in international political economy (historical materialism). Together, these critical interventions reflected an important “third debate” (or “fourth,” if one counts the earlier inter-paradigm debate) in IR concerning the opposition between epistemology (representation and interpretation) and ontology (science and immutable structures). Perhaps more importantly, they stressed the need to take stock of the growing pluralism in the field and what this meant for understanding and interpreting the growing complexity of global politics (i.e., the rising influence of technology, human rights and democracy, and nonstate actors). The increasing emphasis on promoting a “rigorous pluralism,” then, would encompass an array of critical investigations into the transformation of social relations, norms, and identities in international relations. These now include, most notably, critical globalization studies, critical security studies, feminism, postmodernism, and postcolonialism.

Personality Impressions of World of Warcraft Players Based on Their Avatars and Usernames

2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 58-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriella M. Harari ◽  
Lindsay T. Graham ◽  
Samuel D. Gosling
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Worlds ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
Model Analysis ◽  
World Of Warcraft ◽  
Accurate Information ◽  
Lens Model ◽  
Role Playing Games ◽  
The World ◽  
Massively Multiplayer

Every week an estimated 20 million people collectively spend hundreds of millions of hours playing massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs). Here the authors investigate whether avatars in one such game, the World of Warcraft (WoW), convey accurate information about their players' personalities. They assessed consensus and accuracy of avatar-based impressions for 299 WoW players. The authors examined impressions based on avatars alone, and images of avatars presented along with usernames. The personality impressions yielded moderate consensus (avatar-only mean ICC = .32; avatar plus username mean ICC = .66), but no accuracy (avatar only mean r = .03; avatar plus username mean r = .01). A lens-model analysis suggests that observers made use of avatar features when forming impressions, but the features had little validity. Discussion focuses on what factors might explain the pattern of consensus but no accuracy, and on why the results might differ from those based on other virtual domains and virtual worlds.

scholarly journals Analyzing the Effect of TCP and Server Population on Massively Multiplayer Games

2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mirko Suznjevic ◽  
Jose Saldana ◽  
Maja Matijasevic ◽  
Julián Fernández-Navajas ◽  
José Ruiz-Mas
Keyword(s):  
Network Traffic ◽  
Window Size ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
Traffic Model ◽  
Traffic Flows ◽  
Role Playing Games ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Real Traffic ◽  
Player Behaviour ◽  
Massively Multiplayer

Many Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs) use TCP flows for communication between the server and the game clients. The utilization of TCP, which was not initially designed for (soft) real-time services, has many implications for the competing traffic flows. In this paper we present a series of studies which explore the competition between MMORPG and other traffic flows. For that aim, we first extend a source-based traffic model, based on player’s activities during the day, to also incorporate the impact of the number of players sharing a server (server population) on network traffic. Based on real traffic traces, we statistically model the influence of the variation of the server’s player population on the network traffic, depending on the action categories (i.e., types of in-game player behaviour). Using the developed traffic model we prove that while server population only modifies specific action categories, this effect is significant enough to be observed on the overall traffic. We find that TCPVegasis a good option for competing flows in order not to throttle the MMORPG flows and that TCP SACK is more respectful with game flows than other TCP variants, namely,Tahoe, Reno,andNew Reno. Other tests show that MMORPG flows do not significantly reduce their sending window size when competing against UDP flows. Additionally, we study the effect of RTT unfairness between MMORPG flows, showing that it is less important than in the case of network-limited TCP flows.

scholarly journals Game Balance: Designed structure and consumer agency in an online game

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Elizabeth Haynes
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Worlds ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Role Playing ◽  
Physical World ◽  
For Profit ◽  
Consumer Identity ◽  
Role Playing Games ◽  
The North ◽  
Game World ◽  
Consumer Movements

<p>Massively multi-player online role-playing games (MMORPGs) attract millions of people every year and are now a major industry. Using the internet, these games connect players and give them goals to pursue within virtual worlds. This thesis examines the early life of one such game, the North American version of TERA, based on participant observation on a player vs. player server. TERA’s players met and interacted within a virtual game world controlled by the company which developed the game, and although players constructed their own social groups and factions within this world they were constrained by software that they could not change. Everything from the combat rules to the physics of the environment was designed, and players could only take actions that were accounted for and allowed by that design.  However, TERA launched as one of many available MMORPGs which were competing for the attention of the same audience. Its players tended to be experienced and well-informed about the genre, and used their knowledge to evaluate and critique TERA both privately and in public forums. Aware that game companies’ chief concern was for profit, players exercised agency by embracing a consumer identity and pressuring developers in their own commercial terms. To retain players’ loyalty and continue receiving their fees, companies were obliged to appease their customers. This allowed players to see the game world develop and change in accordance with their desires despite the fact that they lacked the access or the expertise to change it themselves. I link this approach to agency to the rise of consumer movements in capitalist societies, and show how the virtual world of TERA can serve as an example for other situations in the physical world where contemporary technologies are used to both enable and constrain agency.</p>

HEURISTIC POTENTIAL OF GENDER THEORETICAL APPROACHES IN THE STUDY OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 55-62
Author(s):  
VALERY MIKHAYLENKO ◽  
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
State Violence ◽  
Russian Science ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
Femininity And Masculinity ◽  
Gender Theories ◽  
The Impact

Gender research in international relations is a relatively young branch of scientific knowledge. In Russian science, the largest number of studies is aimed at studying gender balance, gender behavior in the social environment, the changing status of women in modern society. Among the few Russian works dealing with the topic of gender in international relations are the publications of T.V. Zonova. At the same time, gender approaches open up new opportunities for studying the influence of social relations on international relations. They do not replace the role of the main actor - State in international relations, but endow them with new characteristics from the sciences that study the behavioral forms and norms of social subjects. The proposed article sets the following tasks: to identify the features of gender theoretical approaches; determine the subject fields of international relations, where gender approaches can manifest their heuristic potential; give specific examples of the effective use of gender theories in the study of international relations. The article contains a brief analysis of the history of the formation of gender theories; the role of gender on the agenda of international institutions and the impact of the coronavirus epidemic on it; femininity and masculinity in politics; gender approaches to the issues of war and peace, state violence, construction of regions.

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