scholarly journals Crisis' as Tool in the Digital Games Industry: Resistance or Command and Conquer?

eTopia ◽  
2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Owen Livermore
Keyword(s):  
Economic Crisis ◽  
Digital Games ◽  
Significant Degree ◽  
Media Discourse ◽  
Digital Game ◽  
Moral Panics ◽  
Game Development ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
Current State ◽  
Business Failures

From media-driven moral panics to colossal business failures, digital games have historically been rife with crisis, defining the games industry and its practices to a significant degree. More recently, media discourse regarding the very aggressive global economic crisis is host to an ideological game where the form and context of crisis is shaped into a number of disparate and sometimes contradictory conclusions about the current state of digital game development. I will provide an overview pinpointing some of the recent claims made about the digital games industry and relate this discursive context to the ongoing challenges of the peoplewho work within it. Additionally, in an effort to address the title and theme of the Intersections2009 Conference, I wish to highlight the ways in which crisis can be “disruptive”, but also manipulable and productive in ways that reveal both hegemonic industry mandates and opportunities for bottom-up mobilization.

The Development Of Visual Aspects In Video Games Over The Years

2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 18-22
Author(s):  
Christian Aditya
Keyword(s):  
Video Games ◽  
Game Design ◽  
Visual Quality ◽  
Digital Games ◽  
Digital Game ◽  
Game Engine ◽  
Game Development ◽  
History Of ◽  
Game Console

This report investigates the importance of creating a realistic environment in order to create an immersive world in digital games. The discussion will start from the history of Digital game development until now, discussing on the limitations of gaming consoles from time to time, and how game designers nowadays keep pushing the boundaries of the visual aspects of their game. Then focusing the discussion on the technical and art aspect of digital game design. By doing the analysis in this report, we can conclude that there are several reason that affects the visual quality of video games, such as the technology of the game console, the limitation of game engine, and also the skill of the game artist itself. Key words : Video Games, Digital Games, Game Console, Environment, Game Engine.

scholarly journals Defining Digital Game-Based Learning for STEM: A New Perspective on Design and Developmental Research (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shahrul Affendi Ishak ◽  
Rosseni Din ◽  
Umi Azmah Hasran
Keyword(s):  
Stem Education ◽  
Digital Games ◽  
Digital Game ◽  
Game Based Learning ◽  
Game Development ◽  
Process Output ◽  
New Perspective ◽  
Output Stages ◽  
Graphical System

UNSTRUCTURED In modern digital age, digital games being used as informal media for STEM education and medical therapy through digital game-based learning (DGBL). Digital game serves learners with a graphical system of interaction that allows them to enhance scientific concepts with an enjoyable environment. The vastly increasing number of digital games produce in the market affects the quality of the STEM digital games while requiring multidisciplinary experts. This paper proposes a framework for STEM digital game-based learning throughout input-process-output stages. Several literatures have been reviewed from the early 2000s and present studies to discuss the new viewpoint on design and developing digital games particularly for STEM. This proposed framework consists of digital game development as input, experience as a process, and constructs involved as output to ensure the game's output is a universal research product. The simple and precise framework will lead to a universal product used for various types of learners. This paper presents the new perspective on the framework for design and developing STEM digital games in DGBL. This framework can be used as a guideline for game designers, developers, and STEM experts to develop STEM digital games for various purposes to achieve better learning or learning outcome when designing digital games for STEM.

Analyzing User Behavior in Digital Games

2011 ◽  
pp. 1-28
Author(s):  
Anders Drachen ◽  
Alessandro Canossa
Keyword(s):  
Behavior Analysis ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
User Behavior ◽  
Digital Games ◽  
User Research ◽  
Game Development ◽  
Current State ◽  
Modern Methods ◽  
Player Game ◽  
Novel Approaches

User research in digital game development has in recent years begun to expand from a previous existence on the sideline of development, to a central factor in game production, in recognition that the interaction between user and game is crucial to the perceived user experience. Paralleling this development, the methods and tools available for conducting user research in the industry and academia is changing, with modern methods being adopted from Human-Computer Interaction (HCI). Ubiquitous tracking of player behavior and player-game interaction forms one of the most recent additions to the arsenal of user-research testers in game development and game research. Player behavior instrumentation data can be recorded during all phases of game development, including post-launch, and forms a means for obtaining highly detailed, non-intrusive records of how people play games. Behavioral analysis is a relatively recent adoption to game development and research. However, it is central to understanding how games are being played. In this chapter, the current state-of-the-art of behavior analysis in digital games is reviewed, and a series of case studies are presented that showcase novel approaches of behavior analysis and how this can inform game development during production. The case studies focus on the major commercial game titles Kane & Lynch: Dog Days and Fragile Alliance, both developed by IO Interactive/Square Enix Europe.

When passion isn’t enough: gender, affect and credibility in digital games design

2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (5) ◽  
pp. 492-508 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alison Harvey ◽  
Tamara Shepherd
Keyword(s):  
Game Design ◽  
Digital Games ◽  
Women's Work ◽  
Creative Industry ◽  
Digital Game ◽  
Game Development ◽  
Women’S Work

Recent controversies around identity and diversity in digital games culture indicate the heightened affective terrain for participants within this creative industry. While work in digital games production has been characterized as a form of passionate, affective labour, this article examines its specificities as a constraining and enabling force. Affect, particularly passion, serves to render forms of game development oriented towards professionalization and support of the existing industry norms as credible and legitimate, while relegating other types of participation, including that by women and other marginalized creators, to subordinate positions within hierarchies of production. Using the example of a women-in-games initiative in Montreal as a case study, we indicate how linkages between affect and competencies, specifically creativity and technical abilities, perpetuate a long-standing delegitimization of women’s work in digital game design.

scholarly journals Reconsidering passivity and activity in children’s digital play

2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 237-254 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marleena Mustola ◽  
Merja Koivula ◽  
Leena Turja ◽  
Marja-Leena Laakso
Keyword(s):  
Digital Games ◽  
Digital Game

The discussion around children’s digital game culture has resulted in two contradictory images of children: the passive, antisocial children uncritically and mechanically consuming digital game content and the active, social children creatively using and interacting with digital game content. Our aim is to examine how these seemingly contradictory ideas of “active” and “passive” children could be considered. By means of empirical examples of children playing digital dress-up and makeover games, we will point out that for the successful use of these concepts, they need to be thoroughly contextualized. By discussing the context and referent of activity and passivity, it is possible to overcome the unnecessary polarization of the discourses on children’s digital game culture. If the purpose is to advance the multidisciplinary discussion on digital games and childhood, the naive or careless use of the concepts of activity and passivity should be avoided.

The older player of digital games: A classification based on perceived need satisfaction

2014 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bob De Schutter ◽  
Steven Malliet
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Video Games ◽  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Digital Games ◽  
Need Satisfaction ◽  
Digital Game ◽  
Game Play ◽  
Perceived Need ◽  
Freedom Fighters ◽  
Larger Sample

AbstractThe current study aims to integrate the findings of previous research on the use of video games by older adults by applying the Uses & Gratifications (U&GT) paradigm (Blumler and Katz, 1974). A qualitative study was performed with 35 participants aged between 50 and 74, who were selected from a larger sample of 213. Based upon their primary playing motives and the gratifications they obtain from digital game play, a classification was developed, resulting in five categories of older adults who actively play games: “time wasters”, “freedom fighters”, “compensators”, “value seekers” and “ludophiles”.

scholarly journals Affect and willingness to communicate in digital game-based learning

ReCALL ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 38-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hayo Reinders ◽  
Sorada Wattana
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Classroom Practice ◽  
Digital Games ◽  
Willingness To Communicate ◽  
Digital Game ◽  
Game Based Learning ◽  
Learning Program ◽  
Barriers To Learning ◽  
Learning And Teaching

AbstractThe possible benefits of digital games for language learning and teaching have received increasing interest in recent years. Games are said, amongst others, to be motivating, to lower affective barriers in learning, and to encourage foreign or second language (L2) interaction. But how do learners actually experience the use of games? What impact does gameplay have on students’ perceptions of themselves as learners, and how does this affect their learning practice? These questions are important as they are likely to influence the success of digital game-based language learning, and as a result the way teachers might integrate games into the curriculum. In this study we investigated the experiences of five students who had participated in a fifteen-week game-based learning program at a university in Thailand. We conducted six interviews with each of them (for a total of 30 interviews) to identify what impact gameplay had in particular on their willingness to communicate in English (MacIntyre, Dörnyei, Clément & Noels, 1998). The results showed that gameplay had a number of benefits for the participants in this study, in particular in terms of lowering their affective barriers to learning and increasing their willingness to communicate. We discuss the implications of these results in terms of further research and classroom practice.

scholarly journals Digital Games and Mindfulness Apps: Comparison of Effects on Post Work Recovery

10.2196/12853 ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (7) ◽  
pp. e12853 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily Collins ◽  
Anna Cox ◽  
Caroline Wilcock ◽  
Geraint Sethu-Jones
Keyword(s):  
Field Study ◽  
Job Strain ◽  
Digital Games ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Digital Game ◽  
Work Recovery ◽  
Mixed Analysis ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Game Condition

Background Engagement in activities that promote the dissipation of work stress is essential for post work recovery and consequently for well-being. Previous research suggests that activities that are immersive, active, and engaging are especially effective at promoting recovery. Therefore, digital games may be able to promote recovery, but little is known about how they compare with other popular mobile activities, such as mindfulness apps that are specifically designed to support well-being. Objective The aim of this study was to investigate and compare the effectiveness of a digital game and mindfulness app in promoting post work recovery, first in a laboratory setting and then in a field study. Methods Study 1 was a laboratory experiment (n=45) in which participants’ need for recovery was induced by a work task, before undertaking 1 of 3 interventions: a digital game (Block! Hexa Puzzle), a mindfulness app (Headspace), or a nonmedia control with a fidget spinner (a physical toy). Recovery in the form of how energized participants felt (energetic arousal) was compared before and after the intervention and how recovered participants felt (recovery experience) was compared across the conditions. Study 2 was a field study with working professionals (n=20), for which participants either played the digital game or used the mindfulness app once they arrived home after work for a period of 5 working days. Measures of energetic arousal were taken before and after the intervention, and the recovery experience was measured after the intervention along with measures of enjoyment and job strain. Results A 3×2 mixed analysis of variance identified that, in study 1, the digital game condition increased energetic arousal (indicative of improved recovery) whereas the other 2 conditions decreased energetic arousal (F2,42=3.76; P=.03). However, there were no differences between the conditions in recovery experience (F2,42=.01; P=.99). In study 2, multilevel model comparisons identified that neither the intervention nor day of the week had a significant main effect on how energized participants felt. However, for those in the digital game condition, daily recovery experience increased during the course of the study, whereas for those in the mindfulness condition, it decreased (F1,18=9.97; P=.01). Follow-up interviews with participants identified 3 core themes: detachment and restoration, fluctuations and differences, and routine and scheduling. Conclusions This study suggests that digital games may be effective in promoting post work recovery in laboratory contexts (study 1) and in the real world, although the effect in this case may be cumulative rather than instant (study 2).

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