I Play, Therefore I Believe

2019 ◽  
pp. 73-89
Author(s):  
Vincenzo Idone Cassone ◽  
Mattia Thibault
Keyword(s):  
Video Games ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Religious Experience ◽  
Digital World ◽  
Player Game ◽  
Belief Dynamics ◽  
Complex Phenomena ◽  
Digital Simulations

Religious topics are increasingly common in video games, frequently addressing issues such as spirituality and transcendence. Yet this is only the surface of more complex phenomena, deeply tied to religious experience itself in interactive digital simulations. The aim of the chapter is to highlight the implications of the ties between religion and belief dynamics in video games. First, it focuses on different kinds of player–game belief relationships, which take the forms of agreements (symmetrical) and self-givings (asymmetrical). Then, it addresses the process of institution of belief: the necessity for players not only to pretend to believe in the digital world, but to experience the act of believing itself while playing. Lastly, it presents a series of case studies (Planescape Torment, Nier: Automata, The Talos Principle, and The Stanley Parable) to show different peculiar dynamics involved in the relationships between religio, belief, and the ludic experience.

Human-Agent Team Game Analysis Framework: Case Studies

2021 ◽  
Vol 65 (1) ◽  
pp. 1146-1150
Author(s):  
Nathan Sepich ◽  
Michael C. Dorneich ◽  
Stephen Gilbert
Keyword(s):  
Video Games ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Analysis Framework ◽  
Systematic Method ◽  
Game Analysis ◽  
Human Agent ◽  
Working Together ◽  
Team Game ◽  
Different Dimensions ◽  
Agent Intelligence

This research details the development of a human-agent team (HAT) analysis framework specifically aimed at video games. The framework identifies different dimensions of interest related to humans and software agents working together. Video games have a variety of user-tested interaction paradigms that may offer useful insights into HAT dynamics, but it can be difficult for researchers to know which games are relevant to their research without a systematic method of characterizing HAT relationships. The framework was developed based on previous literature and gameplay analysis. This paper offers three case studies, applying the framework to the games Madden 21, Call to Arms, and Civilization V. Possible trends related to agent intelligence, team structures, and interdependence are discussed.

scholarly journals The Experience Machine: Existential Reflections on Virtual Worlds

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefano Gualeni
Keyword(s):  
Video Games ◽  
Virtual Worlds ◽  
Philosophy Of Technology ◽  
Thought Experiment ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Robert Nozick ◽  
Experience Machine ◽  
Technical Reproducibility ◽  
Self Discovery ◽  
Digital Simulations

Problems and questions originally raised by Robert Nozick in his famous thought experiment ‘The Experience Machine’ are frequently invoked in the current discourse concerning virtual worlds. Having conceptualized his Gedankenexperiment in the early seventies, Nozick could not fully anticipate the numerous and profound ways in which the diffusion of computer simulations and video games came to affect the Western world.This article does not articulate whether or not the virtual worlds of video games, digital simulations, and virtual technologies currently actualize (or will actualize) Nozick’s thought experiment. Instead, it proposes a philosophical reflection that focuses on human experiences in the upcoming age of their ‘technical reproducibility’.In pursuing that objective, this article integrates and supplements some of the interrogatives proposed in Robert Nozick’s thought experiment. More specifically, through the lenses of existentialism and philosophy of technology, this article tackles the technical and cultural heritage of virtual reality, and unpacks its potential to function as a tool for self-discovery and self-construction. Ultimately, it provides an interpretation of virtual technologies as novel existential domains. Virtual worlds will not be understood as the contexts where human beings can find completion and satisfaction, but rather as instruments that enable us to embrace ourselves and negotiate with various aspects of our (individual as well as collective) existence in previously-unexperienced guises.

Music in Video Games

2016 ◽  
pp. 160-182
Author(s):  
Dimitrios Margounakis ◽  
Ioanna Lappa
Keyword(s):  
Video Games ◽  
Research Field ◽  
Musical Composition ◽  
Science Field ◽  
Algorithmic Music ◽  
Player Game ◽  
Art Research ◽  
High Level ◽  
Algorithmic Music Composition

The industry of video games has rapidly grown during the last decade, while “gaming” has been promoted into an interdisciplinary stand-alone science field. As a result, music in video games, as well as its production, has been yet a state-of-the-art research field in computer science. Since the production of games has reached a very high level in terms of complication and cost (the production of a 3-d multi-player game can cost up to millions of dollars), the role of sound engineer / composer / programmer is very crucial. This chapter describes the types of sound that exist in today's games and the various issues that arise during the musical composition. Moreover, the existing systems and techniques for algorithmic music composition are analyzed.

Architextuality and Video Games

2016 ◽  
pp. 253-272
Author(s):  
Maria Katsaridou ◽  
Mattia Thibault
Keyword(s):  
Video Games ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Genre Theory ◽  
Literary Genres ◽  
Horror Genre

Even though literary genres are instrumental for the study and analysis of video games, we should also take into consideration that, nowadays, the boundaries of literature have been crossed and we have to deal with a broader transmedia reality. Approaching it can be quite challenging and, in addition to the already existing genre theory, it requires the implementation of appropriate analytic tools, both adaptable to different languages and media and able to reconstruct and motivate the isotopies woven into the net. In the authors' opinion, semiotics is particularly suitable for this task, for many reasons. The aim of this chapter, then, is to propose a semiotic methodology, oriented toward the analysis of the architextual aspects of video games. Two case studies will be taken into consideration, in order to shed some light on the inner working of architexts featuring video games, as one of their most relevant components: the horror genre and the high fantasy genre.

“Level Up”: Leveraging Skill and Engagement to Maximize Player Game-Play in Online Video Games

2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 927-947 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yan Huang ◽  
Stefanus Jasin ◽  
Puneet Manchanda
Keyword(s):  
Video Games ◽  
Game Play ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Second Stage ◽  
Player Game ◽  
Multiplayer Video Games ◽  
High Engagement ◽  
Online Video Games ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Play Experience

We propose a novel two-stage data-analytic modeling approach to gamer matching for multiplayer video games. In the first stage, we build a hidden Markov model to capture how gamers' latent engagement state evolves as a function of their game-play experience and outcome and the relationship between their engagement state and game-play behavior. We estimate the model using a data set containing detailed information on 1,309 randomly sampled gamers' playing histories over 29 months. We find that high-, medium-, and low-engagement-state gamers respond differently to motivations, such as feelings of achievement and need for challenge. For example, a higher per-period total score (achievement) increases the engagement of gamers in a low or high engagement state but not those in a medium engagement state; gamers in a low or medium engagement state enjoy within-period score variation (challenge), but those in a high engagement state do not. In the second stage, we develop a matching algorithm that learns (predicts) the gamer's current engagement state on the fly and exploits that learning to match the gamer to a round to maximize game-play. Our algorithm increases gamer game-play volume and frequency by 4%–8% conservatively, leading to economically significant revenue gains for the company.

scholarly journals New business models for advertisers: The video games sector in Spain. Advergaming Vs Ingame Advertising

2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 256 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Sebastián Morillas ◽  
Marian Núñez Cansado ◽  
Daniel Muñoz Sastre
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Video Games ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Research Methodology ◽  
Business Models ◽  
Brand Awareness ◽  
Qualitative Research Methodology ◽  
New Business ◽  
Depth Interviews ◽  
New Business Models

The article aims the advertising efficiency video games have in Spain, which is of the<br />utmost importance considering results from latest studies on effectiveness. Video games<br />have become one of the most valuable platforms used by advertisers when looking for<br />new ways to reinforce brand awareness. This study seeks to explain the reasons why<br />brands are using the advergaming and ingame advertising in order to have their advertising<br />messages being effectively reached by the target audience. The topic proposed<br />in this paper deploys a qualitative research methodology focused on a bibliographic<br />review, in-depth interviews and the analysis of several case studies. Results obtained by<br />this research may help companies to develop effective marketing and communication<br />strategies.

Art and Archaeology

2017 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. 90-93
Author(s):  
Nigel Spivey
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Religious Experience ◽  
Fifth Century ◽  
Classical Antiquity ◽  
Divine Agency ◽  
Gustave Courbet ◽  
The Status ◽  
Spiritual Phenomena ◽  
Regular Practice

The nineteenth-century French painter Gustave Courbet famously declared that he did not paint angels because he had never seen one. If artists of classical antiquity were ever troubled by such scruples regarding depictions of the supernatural, it is not (so far as I know) documented. This is not to say that the question of how an artist could represent, say, an Olympian deity, went completely unheeded: Dio Chrysostom's Olympic Discourse of ad 97 is one serious attempt to address that topic, with significant implications for the status of an artist (in this case, Pheidias) famed for ‘imagining’ the divine. Yet evidently the task of visualizing spiritual phenomena devolved no less to humble ‘craftsmen’ – as Hélène Collard shows in her monograph, Montrer l'invisible. This gathers a catalogue of 164 Athenian vases, mostly of the fifth-century bc, as case studies of the various formulations devised to show religious experience – many of them images upon objects, such as white-ground lekythoi, that may once have been used in particular rites and observances. Graphic traditions of mythology, and an established series of personification (e.g. Nike, Eros, Hypnos), assisted the process. However, many of the scenes collected by Collard do not apparently attempt to ‘show the invisible’. They seem, rather, to evoke the realities of regular practice – processions, libations, sacrifice, adornment of a stele. Such scenes only become ‘paranormal’ when invested with some extra knowing detail: for example, a large owl alighting upon an altar (presumably indicating the favour of Athena). And sometimes we simply have to look a little closer to apprehend the signs of divine agency. So a herm-head appears to lean forwards – as if to sip at the kantharos held up in propitiation – while the phallus of another herm seems distinctly to elongate in the presence of two ecstatic women.

The Socio-Technical Arrangement of Gaming

2019 ◽  
pp. 52-86
Author(s):  
Harald Waldrich
Keyword(s):  
Video Games ◽  
Video Game ◽  
Historical Development ◽  
Digital Games ◽  
Actor Network ◽  
Reciprocal Relationships ◽  
Player Game

This chapter focuses on the home console dispositive of the Sony Playstation in relation to digital games. The concept of the “dispositive” functions as a basis for the conceptualization of video games as an actor-network or a socio-technical arrangement, respectively. This allows for an analysis and a description of various actors and their reciprocal relationships as well as the mutual process of fabrication of these actors in such video game networks. The historical development of the Sony Playstation system will serve as the primary example for these heterogeneous ensembles, whereby the main focus will be placed on one single-player game series, Grand Theft Auto, and one multiplayer game series, the soccer simulations of the FIFA series.

Videogames and Sensory Theory

2021 ◽  
pp. 162-183
Author(s):  
Kaila Goode ◽  
Sheri Vasinda
Keyword(s):  
Video Games ◽  
Video Game ◽  
Physical World ◽  
Literacy Skills ◽  
Instructional Tool ◽  
Digital World ◽  
Sound Effects ◽  
The World ◽  
Visual Text ◽  
Classroom Use

The act of playing video games is a multimodal experience, immersing the gamer in a sensorial experience in the digital world. Video games incorporate sensory literacies such as haptics, graphics, sound effects, music, auditory dialogue, visual text, and character movement. The sensory literacies allow gamers to connect the digital world to the physical world, becoming engrossed in the world and story of the video game. Thus, due to the multimodal and sensorial nature of video games, they have the potential to be a beneficial tool for increasing student engagement within the classroom and assisting students in further increasing literacy skills and content knowledge. In addition, a review of literature of classroom use of video games as an instructional tool found increased engagement, use of video games as texts, cross-literacies that supported traditional literacy processes and skills.

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