Games Institute

We have all heard the phrase 'publish or perish' but what does perishing actually look like? Are you publishing and still perishing? In this article, Vossen probes into the complexity of academic publishing from her perspective as both a poor PhD student and the editor-in-chief of Game Studies publication First Person Scholar. Vossen argues that academic publishing (examining both journal articles and academic manuscripts) exploits the labour of grad students and contract workers by encouraging them to publish their work without compensation in the hopes of attaining tenure-track employment in the future. This 'work for exposure' method is dependent on the optimism of young scholars, the majority of whom will not attain tenure-track positions. Vossen focuses specifically on how academic journal articles function as both currency and commodity, devaluing alternative forms of research sharing (such as the work published in First Person Scholar) which is seen as 'academic waste' that doesn't 'count'. Academic journal articles are intrinsically linked to an academics 'worth' both culturally and financially and therefore, many untenured academics feel they can't take the financial risk of publishing outside of traditional venues for fear of furthering their descent into debt and poverty. Vossen and the staff of First Person Scholar have attempted to remedy the system in their field of Game Studies by both paying academics for their writing and firmly rejecting opportunities to become an academic journal to instead be considered a 'middle state publication'. Lastly, Vossen discusses opting out of the publish or perish game as a grad student and what you lose when you decide not to play.

Many millennial Animal Crossing players will experience the joy of paying off their beautiful three-floor in-game home only to have that joy cut short by the crushing realization that they may never experience homeownership in real life. Who do we then take that anger and disappointment out on? The capitalists with a stranglehold on the housing market? The governments and companies holding our lives hostage for student loan debt? Our landlords who take most of our income each month so we can keep a roof over our heads? Our bosses who are criminally underpaying us for our labour? Or is it a fictional racoon? Arguments about the ethics of Animal Crossing’s non-playable character Tom Nook are inescapable in online discussions about the Animal Crossing series. These discussions generally have two sides: either Tom Nook is a capitalistic villain who exploits the player’s labour for housing, or he is a benevolent landowner who helps the player out in hard times. Vossen first sets the stag...

This dissertation uses intersectional feminist theory and Autoethnography to develop the concept of "cultural inaccessibility". Cultural inaccessibility is a concept I've created to describe the ways that women are made to feel unwelcome in spaces of game play and games culture, both offline and online. Although there are few formal barriers preventing women from purchasing games, playing games, or acquiring jobs in the games industry, this dissertation explores the formidable cultural barriers which define women as "space invaders" and outsiders in games culture. Women are routinely subjected to gendered harassment while playing games, and in physical spaces of games culture, such as conventions, stores, and tournaments. This harassment and abuse is intensified toward female journalists, developers and academics who choose to speak publicly about sexism within the culture, particularly since the 2014 rise of Gamergate. This dissertation illustrates the parallel development of games culture and women's continued exclusion from it, from the exclusionary sexism of J. R. R. Tolkien's writing to the development of the "Gamer" as a fixed (and stereotypically cis-male) identity in the pages of video game magazines of the 1980s and '90s, to the online "Gamer activism" of today. At the same time, I also explore my own experiences as a female gamer and academic in the 2010s, using projects I have been a part of as a means of reflecting on developments in the broader culture. I first discuss a short machinima (a film made within a video game) that Elise Vist and I created within the 2007 Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game Lord of the Rings Online entitled Lady Hobbits. Lady Hobbits becomes an entry point to consider the historical cultural inaccessibility of women's representations in seminal male-dominated media such as The Lord of the Rings. I then discuss the gender and games advocacy group that I co-founded at the University of Waterloo, The Games Institute Janes (GI Janes), and the many gaming events that v we ran, comparing the experience of our gender-integrated and women-only game nights. The challenges I experienced organizing GI Janes fuels my analysis of the cultural inaccessibility of game play for girls and women, as demonstrated by the tangled gender dynamics at play in the eSports community and Super Smash Brothers fandom. Lastly, I discuss my experiences as a staff member, and eventual first female editor-in-chief, of game studies publication First Person Scholar (FPS). This chapter interrogates the cultural inaccessibility of writing and publishing about games for women in the academic field of game studies, and the ways in which game studies' links to gamer identity replicate games culture's troubling sexism. The dissertation concludes with a discussion of the more recent connections between games culture, Gamergate, and conservative political groups such as the Alt-right. The conclusion asks how women can study games culture and the politically-motivated violence with which it is has recently been linked if doing so puts us at risk of becoming a target of harassment and abuse. It underscores the importance of future social justice-oriented work in academia and at large. In summary this dissertation moves from examining the historical inaccessibility of representation and participation (chapter 2), to the inaccessibility of game play (chapter 3), to the inaccessibility of participation in the discourse of games culture (chapter 4), before finally moving to a conclusion about Gamergate and politics in 2018 and how cultural inaccessibility has become a problem that is much larger than just games culture (chapter 5).

The cultural ubiquity of The Lord of the Rings has shaped our contemporary assumptions about what the fantasy genre looks like, and these assumptions have in turn determined to a great extent what video games look like both historically and today. The Lord of the Rings and video games are, sadly, both well known for their lack of diversity, and this article argues that that is no coincidence. Focusing on the impact of the life and work of J. R. R. Tolkien, it traces fantasy media from the birth of the genre to the present day to discuss how exclusion is remediated, normalized, and justified. It challenges the racism of the "historical accuracy" fallacy and details how very old sexist literary tropes are continually remediated into contemporary fantasy video games. It asks: What can past discourses surrounding diversity in fantasy media tell us about the resistance to diversity in video games in the present? KEYWORDS fantasy, gender, Lord of the Rings, remediation, video games

Researching experiential phenomena is a challenging undertaking, given the sheer variety of experiences that are described by gamers and missing a formal taxonomy: flow, immersion, boredom, excitement, challenge, and fun. These informal terms require scientific explanation, which amounts to providing measurable criteria for different experiential states. This paper reports the results of an experimental psychophysiological study investigating different traits of gameplay experience using subjective and objective measures. Participants played three Half-Life 2 game modifications while being measured with electroencephalography, electrocardiography, electromyography, galvanic skin response and eye tracking equipment. In addition, questionnaire responses were collected after each play session. A level designed for combat-oriented flow experience demonstrated measurable high-arousal positive affect emotions. The positive correlation between subjective and objective indicators of gameplay experience shows the great potential of the method presented here for providing real-time emotional profiles of gameplay that may be correlated with self-reported subjective descriptions.

Player immersion is the holy grail of computer game designers particularly in environments such as those found in first-person shooters. However, little is understood about the processes of immersion and much is assumed. This is certainly the case with sound and its immersive potential. Some theoretical work explores this sonic relationship but little experimental data exist to either confirm or invalidate existing theories and assumptions.

This paper summarizes and reports on the results of a preliminary psychophysiological experiment to measure human arousal and valence in the context of sound and immersion in first-person shooter computer games. It is conducted in the context of a larger set of psychophysiological investigations assessing the nature of the player experience and is the first in a series of systematic experiments investigating the player's relationship to sound in the genre.

In addition to answering questionnaires, participants were required to play a bespoke Half-Life 2 level whilst being measured with electroencephalography, electrocardiography, electromyography, galvanic skin response and eye tracking equipment. We hypothesize that subjective responses correlated with objective measurements provide a more accurate assessment of the player's physical arousal and emotional valence and that changes in these factors may be mapped to subjective states of immersion in first-person shooter computer games.

This paper presents a brief review of current playability and game usability models. This leads to the conception of a high-level game usability framework model that integrates current usability approaches in game industry and game research.

This thesis focuses on game development and educational benefits gained from teaching games to university students. First, it sketches the complex pipeline of tasks inherent in game development with focus on used tools. Classifying the many diverse tools used by different kinds of game developers helps to identify areas of employment within game development.

A discussion of educational facilities and the specific niches of game development that they focus on, allows the conclusion that many games created there only reach up to a prototypic level. Thus, requirements for a game prototyping tool are derived.

The author then provides estimated solutions for these needs with an extraordinary focus on the usefulness for computer science students.
This leads to an implementation of a game prototyping tool, which brings the applications of the multimedia environment SQUEAK into play. After showing the educational benefits of Squeak, one can find out about some examples of educational game development with its help. This brings further information on the game engine that was used as an essential part of the prototyping tool created for this thesis.

Finally, an analysis of advantages and disadvantages of using Squeak for educational game development is done. Also, prospects and possibilities for extending the prototyping tool are discussed

Gameplay research about experiential phenomena is a challenging undertaking, given the variety of experiences that gamers encounter when playing and which currently do not have a formal taxonomy, such as flow, immersion, boredom, and fun. These informal terms require a scientific explanation. Ludologists also acknowledge the need to understand cognition, emotion, and goal- oriented behavior of players from a psychological perspective by establishing rigorous methodologies. This paper builds upon and extends prior work in an area for which we would like to coin the term “affective ludology.” The area is concerned with the affective measurement of player-game interaction. The experimental study reported here investigated different traits of gameplay experience using subjective (i.e., questionnaires) and objective (i.e., psychophysiological) measures. Participants played three Half-Life 2 game level design modifications while measures such as electromyography (EMG), electrodermal activity (EDA) were taken and questionnaire responses were collected. A level designed for combat-oriented flow experience demonstrated significant high-arousal positive affect emotions. This method shows that emotional patterns emerge from different level designs, which has great potential for providing real-time emotional profiles of gameplay that may be generated together with self- reported subjective player experience descriptions.

As the game industry matures and games become more and more complex, there is an increasing need to develop scientific methodologies for analyzing and measuring player experience, in order to develop a better understanding of the relationship and interactions between players and games. This panel gathers distinguished European playability and user experience experts to discuss current findings and methodological advancements within player experience and playability research.

Assessing gameplay experience for gaze interaction games is a challenging task. For this study, a gaze interaction Half-Life 2 game modification was created that allowed eye tracking control. The mod was deployed during an experiment at Dreamhack 2007, where participants had to play with gaze navigation and afterwards rate their gameplay experience. The results show low tension and negative affects scores on the gameplay experience questionnaire as well as high positive challenge, immersion and flow ratings. The correlation between spatial presence and immersion for gaze interaction was high and yields further investigation. It is concluded that gameplay experience can be correctly assessed with the methodology presented in this paper.

There is a call in industry and research for objective evaluation of player experience in games. With recent technological advancements, it is possible to automatically log numerical information on in-game player behavior and put this into temporal, spatial, and psychophysiological context. The latter is done using biometric evaluation techniques, like electromyography (EMG), electroencephalography (EEG), and eye tracking. Therefore, it is necessary to discuss experimental results in academia and best practices in industry. This panel brings together experts from both worlds sharing their knowledge using conventional and experimental, qualitative and quantitative methods of player experience in games.

In recent years, an aging demographic majority in the Western world has come to the attention of the game industry. The recently released “brain-training” games target this population, and research investigating gameplay experience of the elderly using this game form is lacking. This study employs a 2×2 mixed factorial design (age group: young and old×game form: paper and Nintendo DS) to investigate effects of age and game form on usability, self-assessment, and gameplay experience in a supervised field study. Effectiveness was evaluated in task completion time, efficiency as error rate, together with self-assessment measures (arousal, pleasure, dominance) and game experience (challenge, flow, competence, tension, positive and negative affect). Results indicate players, regardless of age, are more effective and efficient using pen-and-paper than using a Nintendo DS console. However, the game is more arousing and induces a heightened sense of flow in digital form for gamers of all ages. Logic problem–solving challenges within digital games may be associated with positive feelings for the elderly but with negative feelings for the young. Thus, digital logic-training games may provide positive gameplay experience for an aging Western civilization.

Psychophysiological methods provide covert and reliable measurements of affective user experience (UX). The nature of affective UX in interactive entertainment, such as digital games, is currently not well understood. With the dawn of new gaming consoles, scientific methodologies for studying user interaction in an immersive entertainment context are needed. This paper reports a study on the influence of interaction modes (Playstation 2 game controller vs. Wii remote and Nunchuk) on subjective experience assessment and brain activity measured with electroencephalography (EEG). Results indicate that EEG alpha and delta power correlate with negative affect and tension when using regular game controller input. EEG beta and gamma power seem to be related to the feeling of possible action in spatial presence with a PS2 game controller. Delta as well as theta power correlate with self-location using a Wii remote and Nunchuk.

All games are cognitive learning environments. A cognitive approach to understanding games and gameplay emphasises the analysis and understanding of these learning functions and how game design features facilitate them. The experience of gameplay is one of interacting with a game design in the performance of cognitive tasks, with a variety of emotions arising from or associated with different elements of motivation, task performance and completion. Psychophysiological techniques provide empirical methods for investigating play that provide a foundation for developing plausible models of what those cognitive decision processes are, how they relate to design features and how emotions integrated with task performance lead to rewards of play, creating an experience of 'fun'.

Gaze visualizations represent an effective way for gaining fast insights into eye tracking data. Current approaches do not adequately support eye tracking studies for three-dimensional (3D) virtual environments. Hence, we propose a set of advanced gaze visualization techniques for supporting gaze behavior analysis in such environments. Similar to commonly used gaze visualizations for two-dimensional stimuli (e.g., images and websites), we contribute advanced 3D scan paths and 3D attentional maps. In addition, we introduce a models-of-interest timeline depicting viewed models, which can be used for displaying scan paths in a selected time segment. A prototype toolkit is also discussed which combines an implementation of our proposed techniques. Their potential for facilitating eye tracking studies in virtual environments was supported by a user study among eye tracking and visualization experts.