The following is a list of Master's and Doctoral theses that have been completed that have to do with serious games (and in some cases more broadly with digital games). Doctoral Theses are marked in bold. You can get more info on each thesis by clicking on the associated 'details' link.
Note: I am just starting to develop this list. So far, almost all the theses are Canadian ones. If anyone has a thesis they would like me to add, please let me know the following: Name, Title, Year, Degree, Country, Institution, Department, Abstract, URL to the thesis (If you are willing, I'd like your nationality too). (Please see the bottom of this page for a template.)
Please send info on theses that are about DIGITAL GAMES ONLY (I am not interested in theses about Game Theory (i.e. math), ELearning, Virtual Spaces, Social Websites, Blogging, Graphics, AI, … UNLESS they specifically focus on applications to or for digital games).
For those who, like me, like to have things be convenient, here is a set of links directly to the year pages.
| Daviault, Christine | Look who's pulling the trigger now : a study of girls'/women's relationship with video games | Daviault, Christine |  |
| Theses 2001 | Games and Simulations in Workplace eLearning | Ahdell, Rolf and Andresen, Guttorm |  |
| Theses 2002 | Design and evaluation of Java game programming environment | Dong, Ying | |
| Details | Parallelization and performance of interactive multi-player game servers | Abdelkhalek, Ahmed | |
| Details | The meanings and experiences of virtual reality | Brayton, Jennifer | |
| Details | It's just really fun to play! : a constructionist perspective on violence and gender representations in violent video games | Delamere, Fern M. | |
| Details | Interactive and adaptive audio for home video game consoles | Fish, Jonathan B. | |
| Details | Player as author : digital games and agency | Poremba, Cindy | |
| Details | A visual tool for generative scripting in computer role-playing games | Redford, James Michael | |
| Details | The phenomenology of play with The Sims | Scissons, Hannah C. (Hannah Colleen) | |
| Details | Virtual communities and team formation | Zhang, Yanru | |
| Details | Computer interfaces using vision-based gesture recognition | Baumback, Mark | |
| Details | What Educators Can Learn from Multiplayer Computer Gaming: a study of who is playing and their perceptions of learning. | Beedle, Jonathan Barry | | |
| Details | Cheat controlled synchronization schemes for online multiplayer games | Chen, Bei Di | | |
| Details | Learning in games : an experimental analysis of how learning takes place in games with stable and unstable Nash equilibria | Luyendyk, Megan | | |
| Details | Fantasy Play-Worlds: A Study Of Culture, Communication And Technology As They Intersect In Computer Fantasy Roleplaying Games | Schut, Kevin | | |
| Details | Informatization of a nation : a case study of South Korea's computer gaming and PC-Bang culture | Stewart, Kym | | |
| Details | What do we learn when we change the way we play? : augmenting the computer gameplay experience | Bojin, Nis Andre | |
| Details | Video game playing : effects of an audience and player personality | Bolton, Amanda Geraldine | |
| Details | The design, development and assessment of an educational sports-action video game: implicitly changing player behaviour | Ciavarro, Chad | |
| Details | Modeling user emotion in interactive play environments : a fuzzy physiological approach | Mandryk, Regan Lee | |
| Details | Network software architectures for real-time massively-multiplayer online games | McFarlane, Roger Delano Paul | |
| Details | Cultural Influences On Video Games [electronic resource] : players' preferences in narrative and game-play | Ngai, Anita Ching Yi | |
| Details | Semi-automated gameplay analysis for role-playing games | Newton, Jonathan | |
| Details | Cognition and Learning in Massively Multiplayer Online Games: a critical approach | Steinkuehler, Constance | |
| Details | Pervasive learning : always on education | Thomas, Siobhan | |
| Details | Adolescents and video games: What I discovered about authentic learning and video games | Tisa, Lynda Giselle | |
| Details | Infinite regress : the blurring of an architectural game-space | Boron, Dariusz Jacob | |
| Details | Locality aware dynamic load management for massively multiplayer games | Chen, Jin | |
| Details | Full spectrum propaganda: the United States military, video games, and the genre of the military-themed shooter | Clearwater, David A | |
| Details | Engagement and learning in a computer role play game : Neverwinter nights in Antarctica | Hadziomerovic, Aida | |
| Details | The name of the game: building methodologies for the study of video game theory | Harvey, Alison | |
| Details | This Might Be a Game: Ubiquitous Play and Performance at the Turn of the Twenty-First Century | McGonigal, Jane Evelyn | |
| Details | 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 | Mehmi, Deepak Ajit | |
| Details | Learning to play: the design of in-game training to enhance videogame experience | Paras, Bradley Stephen | |
| Details | Beyond fun in games : the serious leisure of the power gamer | Silverman, Mark | |
| Details | Plans and Purposes: How Videogame Goals Shape Player Behaviour | Smith, Jonas Heide |  |
| Details | Teaching children about Internet safety : an evaluation of the effectiveness of an interactive computer game | Trinneer, Anne | |
| Details | The exploration of video games as a tool for problem solving and cognitive skills development | Zaparyniuk, Nicholas Eugene | |
| Details | PNFG: a framework for computer game narrative analysis | Martineau, Felix | |
| Details | The Effects of Video Game Playing on Perceptual and Cognitive Abilities | Boot, Walter | |
| Details | Interest management for massively multiplayer games | Boulanger, Jean-Sebastien | |
| Details | Pixels, parts & pieces: constructing digital identity | Boudreau, Kelly | |
| Details | Computer gaming for vision therapy | Carvelho, Tristan | |
| Details | A distributed server architecture for massively multiplayer online games | Khan, Nadeem | |
| Details | Characteristics of early narrative experience: connecting print and digital game | Madej, Krystina S | |
| Details | Quest patterns in Computer Role-Playing Games | Onuczko, Curtis Aaron | |
| Details | Massively Multiplayer Online Game Virtual Environments: a potential locale for intercultural training | Pirius, Landon Kenneth | |
| Details | Educational Video Game Design , a research/design methodology | St-Pierre, René | |
| Details | Adversarial planning in RTS games through simulation | Sailer, Frantisek | |
| Details | Dialogue patterns in computer role-playing games | Siegel, Jeffrey D | |
| Details | Applications of CSP solving in computer games (camera control) | Ali, Mohammed Liakat | |
| Details | The invention of good games: understanding learning design in commercial video games | Becker, Katrin | |
| Details | Gamers as learners: Emergent culture, enculturation, and informal learning in massively multiplayer online games | Chu, Sarah | |
| Details | Video games and second language acquisition: The effect of interactivity with a rhythm video game on second language vocabulary recall, cognitive load, and telepresence | deHaan, Jonathan |  |
| Details | Consistency Maintenance for Multiplayer Video Games | Fletcher, Robert D. S | |
| Details | Homeless: It's No Game - Measuring the Effectiveness of a Persuasive Videogame | Lavender, Terrance | |
| Details | The “Heat Game”: an augmented reality game for scientific literacy | Rees, Carol | |
| Details | Beyond Fun and Games:
Interactive Theatre and Serious Videogames with Social Impact | Shyba, Lori | |
| Details | Believability, Adaptivity, and Performativity: Three Lenses for the Analysis of Interactive Storytelling. | Tanenbaum, Joshua Glen | |
| Details | Adolescent problem gambling: relationship with affect regulation, Internet addiction, and problematic video game playing | Taylor, Robyn N | |
| Details | Video game expertise and visual search and discrimination | Wu, Sijing | |
| Details | Computer-aided exercise | Yim, Jeffrey W.H | |
| Details | Making Sense of Video Games: An Ethnographic Case Study on the Meaning-making Practices of Asian Adolescents | Hung, Aaron Chia Yuan | |
| Details | The Potential of Serious Games for Teaching High School Construction Technologies: A Case Study | Kardynal, Jeffrey P. | |
This is the template I use to format the entries. If you fill in the blanks, it will make my life much easier. It will also increase the likelihood I will get around to posting your thesis sooner rather than later. (Thanks)
===== Last name, First Name =====
[size=120%]**//TITLE: <put your title here>//**[/size]
^ Year:|<the year> ||
^ Country:|Thesis: <institution's country> |Candidate: <candidate's nationality (if desired)> |
^ Degree:|<the degree awarded> ||
^ Institution:|<name of institution> ||
^ Department:|<name of department or school> ||
^ URL:|<url to the thesis> ||
**Abstract: **
<place your abstract here. Please be sure to leave a blank line between each paragraph.>
