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Petri Lankoski, Satu Heliö, Inger Ekman

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CHARACTERS IN COMPUTER GAMES: TOWARD UNDERSTANDING INTERPRETATION AND DESIGN

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Volume: 2 ISBN / ISNN: ISSN 2342-9666
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Interpretation of characters is a fundamental feature of human behavior. Even with limited information available, people will assign personality – even to inanimate objects. Characters in computer games will be attributed personality based on their appearance and behavior. The interpretation of these characters affects the whole game experience. Designing the protagonist character in computer games is different from the design of static characters (e.g. film or literature), because the player’s actions will affect the nature of the character. There are, however, many ways to control and guide the actions of the protagonist and thus the character’s nature. By setting goals, scripting pre-defined actions and choosing what kind of actions to implement, the game designer can restrict the player’s freedom. This, together with the characterization of the character, will affect the interpretation of the character.

 

Simon Egenfeldt-Nielsen

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EXPLORATION IN COMPUTER GAMES — A NEW STARTING POINT

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Volume: 2 ISBN / ISNN: ISSN 2342-9666
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Space, vast lands and dungeons… It is no coincidence that Space War and Adventure are among the best known of the first computer games. Both clearly appeal to the player’s curiosity, and desire to explore unknown territory. When exploration ceases, the game comes to a stop … For some time it has been clear to me that the importance of exploration has remained largely unexplored by game research. Sometimes it is used as a subset of a larger theory or analysis. However, I believe there are strong reasons for giving it more attention. The case I want to make in this paper is that exploration is an essential part of computer games. I will concentrate my argumentation on exploration as a basic drive for playing computer games. To achieve this I will look at exploration in computer games from two different perspectives: A player perspective and a system perspective. The argument is that each perspective is a different set of optics for the perception of the exploration of the game. The system perspective denotes the rules necessary to play a game, and the player’s exploration of them. The player perspective explains the phenomenological game experience, where meaning is central to the exploration. Succinctly, my argument will be as follows: All computer games start with the player building a state of tension (a conflict), which gradually subsides through the ongoing exploration of the game universe. A computer game is characterized by an ability to support different optics of explorative activities. The primary goal of this article is the description of those two sets of optics.

 

Berry Eggen, Loe Feijs, Mark de Graaf, Peter Peters

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Breaking the flow: Intervention in computer game play through physical and Intervention in computer game play through physical and on-screen interaction

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Volume: 2 ISBN / ISNN: ISSN 2342-9666
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This article investigates issues of controlling the amount of time during computer game play and potential solutions to help prevent excessive gaming. The study incorporates the realization of three different variants. Two screen based solutions and one based on a physical agent, outside the computer screen, provide notification and additionally even “intervention” to the user. The three realizations have been put to the test and the results, both quantitative and qualitative are presented. The physical agent-based solution was most attractive.

 

Tor Endestad & Leila Torgersen

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Endestad & Leila Torgersen 
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The relationship between videogames and violent behaviour was analysed in a representative sample of 9889 Norwegian youth ageing from 13 to 18 years. Videogames were separated in eight different categories. A hypothesis of the relationship between videogames and violence was put forward as a starting – point for reasoning. A unique correlation between violent videogames, specifying first person shooters and action games, and violent behaviour was found. By controlling for age and gender, the effect of first person shooter games disappeared for youth in – between 9th to 12th grades, and the action videogames remained as the significant predictor. Only first person shooter was a significant predictor in 8th grade.

Simon Egenfeldt-Nielsen

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This paper examines the relation between eye-hand coordination and computer games, specifically Super Monkey Ball. The study is exploratory and focuses on theoretical background and method problems. At the end of the paper the results from the pilot study is briefly presented. The results from the study are inconclusive in regard to the two main questions: Is there a connection between good skills in playing computer games and eyehand coordination? Do avid computer game players have better eye-hand coordination than others?

Mirjam Eladhari & Craig Lindley

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PLAYER CHARACTER DESIGN FACILITATING EMOTIONAL DEPTH IN MMORPGS
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Mirjam Eladhari & Craig Lindley
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How can we create computer games facilitating emotional depth in the playing experience? When entering into a persistent virtual game world the player leaves the body behind. It is up to the game designer to create a virtual body with skills, needs and drives necessary for survival and pleasure in the game world. Would it be sensible also to create a virtual mind for the player to possess and evolve? Can models like Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and ‘being-values’, or the personality trait model popularly called ‘the big five’ be used for character design in a way that suits massive multi-player game form? Based upon a view of the player character as the concentrated mirror of the functionality of an RPG game and adding features inspired from psychology, cognitive science and behavior science, this paper presents the high-level system design of a virtual mind for the player to possess in a MMORPG. The mind model is being implemented in a research demonstration game in which game play emphasizes emotional engagement and dramatic interaction. This research is conducted in the Zero-Game Studio within the frame of the open research MMORPG Ouroboros.

Martin Ericsson

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ENCHANTING REALITY: A VISION OF BIG EXPERIENCES ON SMALL PLATFORMS
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Ericsson Martin

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Games for mobile platforms (phones and PDA) tend to be simple remakes or clones of gaming hits like Snake and Defender or in the case of high end-devices, Starcraft and Myst. Only a very small number of games use the unique properties of mobile computing. These location-based or mixed reality games represent a game form in its infancy, struggling to find functional gameplay models. Is it possible to create powerful immersive game experiences using the mobile platforms unique properties? How can technical limitations like limited display size, resolution and sound quality be made to work with the game instead of against it? What challenges face designers of games played on handheld devices in a real physical setting? Using the functional Visby Under prototype as a starting point this paper presents a novel approach to location- based mobile games. The mobile gamers presence in physical space, his ability to move though and interact with it, is seen as the central quality of the game-form. Using experiences from live-action-roleplaying design the paper explores the possibilities of using the real world as the primary user interface for deep mobile games. The device is used as the engine for story-progression and gameplay without breaking the illusion of the fiction, transforming everyday reality into an engaging multi-player game space.

Laura Ermi & Frans Mäyrä

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The primary aim of this paper is to look into the game related practices and significances of games. This perspective is applied to examining the pleasures derived from different games and to analyse the different strategies developed by children and their families to situate and control game playing. Research was conducted among 10–12-year-old children in Finland during spring and summer 2003. Sample of 284 survey questionnaires filled out by children and their parents provides an overview on the subject and the basis for 15 thematic interviews. It is hard to point towards any single element in games as the most powerfully engaging one, but the imaginary worlds provided by games seem to have an important role in offering children possibilities for experiencing things otherwise impossible. In terms of control, there does not seem to be any severe conflicts or serious troubles currently surrounding games in homes.