Theses 2006

TITLE: Infinite regress : the blurring of an architectural game-space

Year:	2006
Country:	Thesis:Canada	Candidate:
Degree:	M.Arch.
Institution:	Carleton University
Department:	School of Architecture
URL:	http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20060411/boron.pdf

Abstract: STUDENT ABSTRACT: Architecture and gaming have always been unconnected. Architecture uses a vast array of tools as a means to an end, to show information. The computer gaming industry however, creates virtual worlds for its experiential potential. While this disjunction is explicit I believe that the gaming industry presents architecture with a medium from which to expand its expression. I explore the redundant nature of the space created when two or more spatial conditions are imbedded/layered within each other. By investigating the separate industries of architecture and gaming, I hope to blur and possibly alleviate the distinctions between the tools that architects and game designers use. With growth in gaming technologies and superior compatibility, architects should have the capacity to work between these two worlds. With such technologies architects or designers can further enhance their design by experiencing their designs through a virtual, immersive and interactive real-time environments.

TITLE: Locality aware dynamic load management for massively multiplayer games

Year:	2006
Country:	Thesis:Canada	Candidate:
Degree:	M.Sc.
Institution:	University of Toronto
Department:	Department of Computer. Science
URL:	http://www.cs.toronto.edu/~jinchen/ppopp.pdf

Abstract: Most massively multiplayer game servers employ static partitioning of their game world into distinct mini-worlds which limits cross-server interactions between players. We have designed and implemented an architecture in which the partitioning into regions is transparent to players and interactions are not limited to objects and players in a single region or server. This allows a finer grain partitioning, which combined with a dynamic load management algorithm allow us to better handle transient crowding. Our load balancing algorithm is aware of the spatial locality in the virtual game world. It balances the load and reduces the cross-server communication, while avoiding frequent reassignment of regions. Our results show that locality aware load balancing reduces the average user response time by up to a factor of 4 compared to global algorithms that do not consider spatial locality and by up to a factor of 6 compared to static partitioning.

TITLE: Full spectrum propaganda: the United States military, video games, and the genre of the military-themed shooter

Year:	2006
Country:	Thesis:Canada	Candidate:
Degree:	Ph.D.
Institution:	McGill University
Department:	Department of Art History and Communication Studies
URL:

Abstract: This dissertation explores the emerging relationship between the U.S. military and the commercial video game market. Specifically, this study situates this relationship in terms of the U.S. military's evolving role in a variety of media-such as Hollywood feature films, television, and television news-for the purposes of propaganda and the influencing of public opinion. Consequently, an analysis and critique of the U.S. military's production and commissioning of commercial video games will be advanced that takes into account contemporary analyses and media critiques with respect to war and representation. Since these games are also a part of the larger field of entertainment and cultural production, this study will attempt to understand these products for the complex ways they combine cultural expression, modern spectatorship and the desire to influence or mediate popular conceptions of war. Consideration will also be given to situating these products within the emerging field of video game studies and aesthetics, as well as questions concerning genre, realism, historical revisionism, and the ethics of simulation.

TITLE: Engagement and learning in a computer role play game : Neverwinter nights in Antarctica

Year:	2006
Country:	Thesis:Canada	Candidate:
Degree:	M.A.
Institution:	Carleton University
Department:	Psychology
URL:

Abstract: This thesis analysed how people learn when playing a computer role play game (RPG) using activity theory's concepts of contradictions and activity systems. Contradictions, defined as blocks or obstacles in an activity system, can be used to point out discrete actions within the activity system of a RPG that can be observed and analyzed. Four actions and two conditions, with and without contradictions, were identified, which were then evaluated against Csikszentmihalyi's (1975) theory of flow. Significant differences were found between actions with and without contradiction on flow. The findings demonstrated that activity theory can be used as a valid framework for game design and that actions and contradictions can be manipulated to affect player engagement and learning. Exploratory and observational results, as well as potential for educational applications for future research, are also discussed.

TITLE: The name of the game: building methodologies for the study of video game theory

Year:	2006
Country:	Thesis:Canada	Candidate:
Degree:	M.A.
Institution:	Concordia University
Department:	Communication Studies
URL:	http://www.cjc-online.ca/index.php/journal/thesis/view/97

Abstract: The study of the video game as a medium is characterized by several problems characteristic of new domains of study, as the projects, methods, terminologies and assumptions of other disciplines have been carried into discussions of this form. These epistemological assumptions have both confounded the nature of the video game and led to circular debates on the relevance of particular approaches in video game research. This has led to a relative dearth in academic inquiries that is disproportionate to the importance and growth of this medium in everyday life. This thesis aims to address this debate and promote theoretically-sound methodologies that adequately describe the traits of the video game. The research first identifies the key fields mobilized within the current literature and then investigates the epistemological roots of each field, thereby identifying the relevant aspects of particular disciplines and the elements that obscure the unique nature of the medium. The research also involves case studiesof several different games, which allows for the proposal of methodological approaches that are open to scholars from varying fields and premised upon rigorous theoretical examination of both the form and traditional approaches to media.

TITLE: This Might Be a Game: Ubiquitous Play and Performance at the Turn of the Twenty-First Century

Year:	2006
Country:	Thesis: USA	Candidate:
Degree:	PhD.
Institution:	University of California, Berkeley
Department:	Performance Studies
URL:	http://www.avantgame.com/McGonigal_THIS_MIGHT_BE_A_GAME_sm.pdf

Abstract: ABSTRACT

TITLE: If you write it down, does it really mean you remember it? : the effects on explicit versus implicit memory of peripheral brand placements in a video game context

Year:	2006
Country:	Thesis:Canada	Candidate:
Degree:	M.Sc.
Institution:	University of Guelph
Department:	Department of Marketing and Consumer Studies
URL:	http://www.mcs.uoguelph.ca/graduate_thesis.html

Abstract: This thesis investigated the memory effects associated with peripheral brand placements in video games. Two memory constructs were measured. Implicit memory was characterized as an incidental form of retention, rarely impacted by tested manipulations. Conversely, explicit memory was defined as retention achieved through associations with spatio-temporal contexts and easily deteriorated by experimental treatment. Specifically, this research attempted to address how players process brand information and which type of memory was most commonly used to retrieve this peripheral information from a competitive video game? Two hundred and twenty-eight males played a sports video game for 15-minutes and then conducted a virtual survey in a laboratory setting at the University of Guelph. The dependent variables were the two key memory constructs: implicit memory (as measured by word stem completion, word fragment completion and anagram solution tests) and explicit memory (as measured by unaided brand recall, brand name recognition and brand logo recognition tests). The independent variables manipulated were attention-orienting instruction to the peripheral brands and motivation to win. Results showed that both implicit and explicit memory constructs were improved with the addition of attention-orienting instructions. While only explicit memory was reduced under the competitive motivation. This research suggests that explicit measurement of advertising effectiveness has understated its overall impact.

TITLE: Learning to play: the design of in-game training to enhance videogame experience

Year:	2006
Country:	Thesis:Canada	Candidate:
Degree:	M.A.
Institution:	Simon Fraser University
Department:	School of Interactive Arts and Technology
URL:	http://ir.lib.sfu.ca/handle/1892/3759

Abstract: As the videogame industry continues to boom, the increase in production resources and game design experience has led to the development of increasingly more complicated games. Current videogames require the manipulation of complex physical and virtual interfaces. In-game training is now critical to the enjoyment of sophisticated and challenging game experience. The thesis first reviews the process of discovery that identified the types and capabilities of a variety of in-game training strategies. It then details the development and testing of an effective in-game training system that improves player performance without negatively affecting the experience of play. Two critical success factors are highlighted: the type of training and the timing of the training. Finally, the thesis positions games as examples of training systems that effectively engage users, and therefore as sources for educational design concepts that can increase our potential to make learning a truly rewarding experience. 'Keywords.' training; videogames; play; learning; game design; instructional design.

TITLE: Beyond fun in games : the serious leisure of the power gamer

Year:	2006
Country:	Thesis:Canada	Candidate:
Degree:	M.A.
Institution:	Concordia University
Department:	Department of Sociology and Anthropology
URL:

Abstract: Over recent years, considerable scholarly attention has aimed at exploring the forms of played sociality emerging out of the digital spaces of Massive Multiplayer Online Games. Yet, a central limitation of the research thus far is the tendency to generalize to the experience of a 'casual gamer', while the radically different experience of the more extreme player type known as the 'power gamer' has gone virtually undocumented. Blurring the line between work and leisure, power gamers take their play very seriously. They demonstrate such intense levels of commitment and perseverance, that they are often cast as deviants, seen as all too willing to compromise every basic valued moral and personal principle, along with several bodily necessities such as sleeping, eating and exercise, all in exchange for success and personal gain in a video game. Yet, how can we explain their intense level of perseverance? What are their motivations? How can we explain the development of such intense commitment to a social world where participants almost never meet face to face? By using concepts from sociology, social psychology, and leisure studies, my project aims at understanding some of the processes at work which may help to provide some answers to these questions. Through my ethnography of 'Everquest ', using both participant observation and interviews, I explore the intense culture of commitment of the power gamer as it is shaped through a digitally mediated serious leisure pursuit.

TITLE: Plans and Purposes: How Videogame Goals Shape Player Behaviour

Year:	2006
Country:	Thesis: Denmark	Candidate:
Degree:	PhD.
Institution:	IT University of Copenhagen
Department:	Center for Computer Games Research
URL:	http://jonassmith.dk/weblog/wp-content/dissertation1-0.pdf

Abstract: ABSTRACT

TITLE: Teaching children about Internet safety : an evaluation of the effectiveness of an interactive computer game

Year:	2006
Country:	Thesis:Canada	Candidate:
Degree:	M.A.
Institution:	University of Ottawa
Department:	School of Psychology
URL:	http://www.socialsciences.uottawa.ca/psy/eng/thesisdetails.asp?ID=884

Abstract: The effectiveness of an interactive computer game designed to alert children to dangers on the Internet and to encourage them to develop their own guidelines for Internet safety is assessed. Pre- and post-test data were collected from a treatment ('n' = 181) and comparison group ('n' = 157) of Grade 6 and 7 students from 8 elementary schools in and around a large Western Canadian city. Reported frequencies of risky online behaviours, Internet safety-related attitudes, and number of Internet safety guidelines were measured in a questionnaire format. Initial frequencies of risky online behaviours and attitudes were quite low, making it difficult to demonstrate change due to playing the computer game. Subjects who had played the game, however, wrote more Internet safety guidelines than did those who had not. These positive results for the safety guidelines provide promising initial evidence that this computer game can be used effectively as part of an Internet safety program in schools. Methodological limitations are discussed to provide direction for future research in this area.

TITLE: The exploration of video games as a tool for problem solving and cognitive skills development

Year:	2006
Country:	Thesis:Canada	Candidate:
Degree:	M.Ed.
Institution:	University of Alberta
Department:	Education
URL:

Abstract: Video games have changed the way we view, think about, and participate in recreation, entertainment, and play. However, with over 25 years of research, there is still little empirical evidence of the long-term effects of video games on problem solving and cognitive skills development. Sixty-five students from the University of Alberta, 34 Gamers and 31 Non-gamers, were tested using the Canadian Test of Cognitive Skills. The results showed that Gamers scored significantly higher in the areas of sequencing, non-verbal, and overall cognitive skills. The PARI cognitive task analysis was used to compare eight Gamers and eight Non-gamers problem solving strategies in a video game environment. Although no significant difference was found, both groups showed the ability to adapt their cognitive strategies as they progressed in the game. The results of the study suggest that video games are an effective tool for problem solving and cognitive skills development.

TITLE: PNFG: a framework for computer game narrative analysis

Year:	2006
Country:	Thesis:Canada	Candidate:
Degree:	M.Sc.
Institution:	McGill University
Department:	School of Computer Science
URL:	http://gram.cs.mcgill.ca/theses/martineau-06-pnfg.pdf

Abstract: Narratives play a significant role in many computer games, and this is especially true in genres such as role-playing and adventure games. Even so, many games have narratives which possess a certain number of flaws that can deteriorate the playing experience. This less than satisfying gameplay experience can obviously affect the commercial success of a given game. Our research originates from the need to identify these narrative flaws. In response to this need, we present a, framework for computer game narratives analysis. Our work focuses on Interactive Fiction games, which are textual, command-line and turn-based games. We first describe a, high level computer narrative language, the 'Programmable Narrative Flow Graph' (PNFG), that provides a high level, user-friendly interface to a low level formalism, the ' Narrative Flow Graph', (NFG) [38]. The PNFG language is delivered with a set of enhancements and low level optimizations that reduce the size of the generated NFG output. As part of our work on the analysis of narrative structures, we developed a proof of concept heuristic solver that attempts to automatically find solutions to games from a lightweight, high level representation. We also define narrative game metrics and present a, metrics framework that simplifies the measurement and development of such metrics. These metrics contribute to broadening our general knowledge about game narratives.