The Emergence of Bujold Studies

Author(s):  
Regina Yung Lee ◽  
Una McCormack

This introductory essay provides the context for the present volume, establishing Lois McMaster Bujold as a multiple award-winning writer of science fiction and fantasy worthy of scholarly attention; providing an overview of extant scholarship; and identifying the twin aims of the book, to extend scholarship on Bujold’s fantasy novels, and to account for the wealth of cultural production inspired by Bujold’s corpus (e.g. fan fiction, fan discussion or meta, and the GURPS: Vorkosigan role-playing game in depth). The essay concludes by identifying gaps that might be fruitfully explored in ‘Bujold Studies’: perspectives from Indigenous science fiction studies on The Sharing Knife series; critical engagement with wider scholarship on race in sf; analysis of artworks inspired by Bujold’s writing, both ‘official’ cover art and fan art; and comparative analysis of her reception beyond Anglophone countries, particularly the immense fannish engagement from Eastern Europe.

The aim of this study is to examine the influence of gamers’ avatar self-identification in massively multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG) play on their real lives. By proposing the concepts of avatar self-identification, this study explores a model that develops the antecedents of avatar self-identification and the role in influencing gamers’ real lives. For empirical analysis, this study gathered data from 228 university students in South Korean by a survey method and analyzes the data with AMOS 24. The results show as follows. First, social interaction and social support that gamers perceive in MMORPGs increase their avatar self-identification. Second, the gamers’ avatar self-identification increases their social capital and self-esteem in real lives. Finally, social interaction that gamers perceive in MMORPGs increases their social capital in real lives through their avatar self-identification. And, social support that gamers perceive in MMORPGs increases their self-esteem in real lives through their avatar self-identification. The research contribution on game research is to pay scholarly attention to the positive effect of MMORPGs in the perspective of avatar self-identification


Author(s):  
Cerys Elizabeth Eckersley

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (CD Projekt Red, 2019) is an award-winning role-playing video game (RPG); the third instalment of The Witcher game series inspired by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski’s fantasy novels. Centring upon the protagonist Geralt of Rivia, The Witcher 3 has been praised for developing a complex, authentic, and immersive game environment that combines magic and fantasy elements within a broadly medieval setting. A central aspect of the game’s success is its soundtrack – the fusion of music, sound, and voice – which further contributes to building the game’s overall narrative and the complex construction of its central characters. This paper explores how The Witcher 3’s soundtrack constructs identity, focusing in particular on its use of neo-medievalist signifiers and its contrasting representations of masculinity and femininity. Neo-medievalist sounds are a central concept in building the game’s identity; these sounds draw on folkloristic elements surrounding the choice of instrumentation and the recurrence of folk music throughout the game’s narrative, thus increasing the player’s immersion within The Witcher 3’s world. Regarding gender, female vocalisations are used within the soundtrack to add depth and emotion to male characters – particularly Geralt of Rivia, who due to his mutations lacks in conventional emotional capabilities. Despite the inclusion and emphasis of female voices on the soundtrack, the placement of women in influential roles is limited through other musical scoring techniques, which effectively reduces the agency of these characters, thus suggesting an imbalanced treatment towards gender. Through exploring these aspects, I argue that the soundtrack is a crucial part of how gender and identity are constructed throughout The Witcher 3, further exploring how these elements affect the player’s overall in-game immersion.


2014 ◽  
Vol 19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanna Kucharska ◽  
Piotr Sterczewski ◽  
Bartłomiej Schweiger ◽  
Joanna Płaszewska ◽  
Justyna Janik

An analysis of Polish science fiction, fantasy, and role-playing game fandom brings to the fore problems of Polish identity and patriotism, as well as views on Polish fandom as a specific local phenomenon and as a part of global pop culture. Polish fandom may be framed as a semiperipheral culture, with fans expressing Polish identity and engaging in strategies of negotiating the global and the local.


2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 28-33
Author(s):  
Iu. V. Amelina ◽  
R. V. Amelin

The article discusses the prospects of role-playing games in the educational process to increase students’ motivation and involvement, as well as the possibility of modern information technologies (primarily social networks) for constructing innovative forms of such games. The author’s format of the live-action role-playing game is presented. It was developed and tested at the Saratov State University. It involves the integration of numerous educational tasks into a single plot, within which each participant plays a role and communicates with other participants to complete tasks. The main interaction, plot development and group activities occur in dialogs, conversations and groups of social networks. This approach has shown its viability in teaching legal disciplines, and also has prospects for use in IT education.


2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Mustofa Mustofa ◽  
Sidiq Sidiq ◽  
Eva Rahmawati

Perkembangan dunia yang dinamis mendorong percepatan perkembangan teknologi dan informasi. Dengan dorongan tersebut komputer yang dulunya dibuat hanya untuk membantu pekerjaan manusia sekarang berkembang menjadi sarana hiburan, permainan, komunikasi dan lain sebagainya. Dalam sektor hiburan salah satu industri yang sedang menjadi pusat perhatian adalah industri video game. Begitu banyaknya produk video game asing yang masuk ke dalam negeri ini memberikan tantangan kepada bangsa ini. Tentunya video game asing yang masuk ke negara ini membawa banyak unsur kebudayaan negara lain. Ini semakin membuat kebudayaan nusantara semakin tergeserkan dengan serangan kebudayaan asing melalui berbagai media. Maka dari itu peneliti mencoba untuk menerapkan Finite State Machine dalam merancang sebuah video game RPG (Role-Playing game) yang memperkenalkan kebudayaan. Dalam perancangan video game ini peneliti menggunakan metode GDLC(Game Development Life Cycle) agar penelitian ini berjalan secara sistematis. Dalam suatu perancangan video game tedapat banyak elemen, pada penelitian ini penulis lebih fokus pada pengendalian animasi karakter yang dimainkan pada video game ini. Dari perancangan yang dilakukan, disimpulkan bahwa Finite State Machine dapat digunakan untuk pengendalian animasi yang baik pada video game RPG. Diharapkan video game ini dapat menjadi salah satu media untuk mengenalkan kebudayaan nusantara


2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 1289-1299
Author(s):  
Daniel Victor Martins de Araújo ◽  
Cleire Lima Da Costa Falcão

A utilização de novas metodologias em sala de aula é um assunto recorrente dentro das discussões sobre o ensino de geografia. Possuindo isso em mente, como produto da disciplina de Oficina em Geografia II da Universidade Estadual do Ceará (UECE) foi elaborado um material didático alternativo com objetivo de auxiliar os docentes na construção de um ensino contextualizado de Geografia. Essa pesquisa objetiva apresentar uma metodologia alternativa para o ensino de Geografia que visa praticar além da ação cognitiva de memorizar um conceito, trabalhando a interdisciplinaridade, a criatividade, o emocional e a cooperação. A proposta foi construir um RPG (Role Playing Game), que é um jogo que se utiliza da interpretação de personagens para criar e contar histórias coletivamente nas quais todos os agentes se tornam ativos dentro desse processo. Realizaram-se os seguintes procedimentos: revisão bibliográfica, seleção e adaptação do sistema de regras. Por fim, produziu-se a aventura de RPG intitulada “A busca pelo arco de Gelo”, que trabalha alguns aspectos físicos do nordeste brasileiro principalmente do estado do Ceará. Após a elaboração do material constatou-se a importância de trabalhar perspectivas para além do conteudismo. Sentiu-se a necessidade de aplicar no ensino básico para mensurar seu real impacto. Palavras-chave:  Recurso Didático. RPG. Geografia Física. ABSTRACTThe use of innovative methodologies in the classroom is a recurring subject in discussions about geography teaching. With that in mind, as a result of the discipline Workshop in Geography II from the State University of Ceará (UECE) was created, an alternative didactic material with the aid of teachers in the construction of a contextualized geography teaching. This research looks to show an alternative perspective for the teaching of geography that aims to practice beyond the cognitive action of memorizing the concept, but also working on interdisciplinary, creativity, the emotional and cooperation. The proposal was to build an RPG (Role Playing Game), which is a game that uses character interpretation to create and tell stories collectively in which all agents become active within that process. The following procedures were executed: bibliographic review, selection and adaptation of the rules system. At the end, it produced an adventure of RPG "The search for the arc of Ice" that works on physical aspects from the Brazilian northeast, focusing on the state of Ceará. After the material elaboration, it was clear the importance to work on perspectives beyond content. It felt the need to apply the didactic resource to measure its real impact. Keywords: Didactic Resource. RPG. Physical geography.     RESUMEN El uso de metodologías innovadoras en el aula es un tema recurrente en los debates sobre la enseñanza de la geografía. Con eso en mente, como resultado de la disciplina Taller de Geografía II de la Universidad Estatal de Ceará (UECE), se creó un material didáctico alternativo con la ayuda de los maestros en la construcción de una enseñanza de geografía contextualizada. Esta investigación busca mostrar una perspectiva alternativa para la enseñanza de la geografía que tiene como objetivo practicar más allá de la acción cognitiva de memorizar el concepto, pero también trabajando en la interdisciplinaria, la creatividad, lo emocional y la cooperación. La propuesta era construir un juego de rol (RPG), que es un juego que utiliza la interpretación de personajes para crear y contar historias colectivamente en las que todos los agentes se vuelven activos dentro de ese proceso. Se ejecutaron los siguientes procedimientos: revisión bibliografico, selección y adaptación del sistema de reglas.   Palabras clave: Recurso didáctico. RPG Geografía Física.  


2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (5) ◽  
pp. 293-296
Author(s):  
Kevin Yi-Lwern Yap ◽  
Shawn Ignatius Boon Heng Tan ◽  
Kai Zhen Yap ◽  
John Yin Gwee Yap

BackgroundAn in-house three-dimensional (3D) multiplayer online role-playing game was developed for professional skills training of pharmacy students. Students play the game in a post-apocalyptic world to save humankind from zombies. They solve virtual patient encounters through visual and motion-capture technologies. Their gaming perceptions and experiences were investigated.MethodA self-administered questionnaire obtained participants’ demographics, gaming interests, perceptions of game effectiveness, preferences on gaming elements and gameplay experience through the Game Engagement Questionnaire (GEQ). Pre-gameplay and post-gameplay assessments were tracked to assess student learning. Descriptive statistics and paired sample t-tests were used for analysis.ResultsFifty-five students were recruited. Two-thirds of the gameplay group (67.9%) liked the post-apocalyptic fantasy settings and heroic storyline (66.0%). Three quarters liked the modern setting (73.1%), authentic plots (73.5%) and plot animations (72.3%). Participants felt the game was effective in training health communication and patient history-taking skills (81.8%). Participants’ test scores for counselling increased from 66.1%±7.6% (pre-gameplay) to 70.3%±8.0% (post-gameplay, p=0.004). The highest scoring GEQ dimension was sensory and imaginative immersion (2.92±0.74).ConclusionStudents found the game useful for pharmacy professional skills training. With proper implementation, this game can become a useful tool to enhance student learning and gear them towards clinical practices.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 464-474
Author(s):  
Sha Zhao ◽  
Yizhi Xu ◽  
Zhiling Luo ◽  
Jianrong Tao ◽  
Shijian Li ◽  
...  

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