Eludamos: Journal for Computer Game Culture最新文献

{"title":"Steps towards a Phenomenology of Video Games—Some Thoughts on Analyzing Aesthetics and Experience","authors":"J. Bakels","doi":"10.7557/23.6354","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7557/23.6354","url":null,"abstract":"This paper aims at conceiving a heuristic framework for analyzing video game aesthetics as well as the ways in which these aesthetics are experienced. As the main point of departure for the thoughts laid out throughout the article, I turn to phenomenological contributions to film, media and game studies—with a special emphasis on approaches to kinaesthesia. After discussing essential papers on the kinaesthetic experience of playing video games as well as drawing on a phenomenological approach to the intersubjective sharing of affects by means of kinaesthesia conceived within the field of developmental psychology, I turn to a series of brief game-analytical sketches that are supposed to highlight certain aspects of experiencing time, space, and materiality while playing video games. Finally, the specific quality of interactive intersubjectivity in video gaming is discussed, resulting in the introduction of the theoretical concept of auto-affectivity.","PeriodicalId":247562,"journal":{"name":"Eludamos: Journal for Computer Game Culture","volume":"147 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-09-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132913025","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The Game Studies Crisis: What Are the Rules of Play?","authors":"Mark A. Ouellette, S. Conway","doi":"10.7557/23.6360","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7557/23.6360","url":null,"abstract":"Though no field or discipline’s historical vector presents itself as a strictly linear building of knowledge, the historical trajectory of Game Studies is problematic: certainly not linear, yet also not even multiplicious or rhizomatic. Instead, we are cyclical. Past debates often re-emerge, zombie-like, muttering the same arguments, often encased in binaries as endemic to our field as they are to the objects we study: unbridgeable disagreements on fundamental concepts; incompatible ontologies and epistemologies; incommensurability writ large. We view this as a chronic issue which has of late culminated in a crisis, exacerbated by changing institutional prerogatives championing multidisciplinary approaches and demands for “public impact”. This article takes a metaphysical approach, performing a meta-review to search for the root cause of our field’s cyclical nature. We identify and explore a key issue, namely our continuing status as pre-paradigmatic field, and ask questions designed to provoke ways forward, to provide more inflection points and fewer endless loops.","PeriodicalId":247562,"journal":{"name":"Eludamos: Journal for Computer Game Culture","volume":"54 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-09-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132185941","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"On the Philosophy of Computer Games. Special Issue","authors":"J. Bakels, S. Wiemer","doi":"10.7557/23.6181","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7557/23.6181","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":247562,"journal":{"name":"Eludamos: Journal for Computer Game Culture","volume":"12 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131334937","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The Ontology of Incremental Games: Thinking Like the Computer in Frank Lantz’s Universal Paperclips","authors":"M. Schmalzer","doi":"10.7557/23.6174","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7557/23.6174","url":null,"abstract":"Incremental games merge the game's system and guise, casting the player in the role of a computer. This paper analyzes incremental games to show how the specific features of the genre cause the player to engage in machinic thinking. It begins with a brief overview of the incremental game genre. Then shifts to an analysis of one game in particular: Frank Lantz’s Universal Paperclips (2017). Universal Paperclips puts the player in the role of an AI tasked with producing paperclips, making it a perfect example to show how the player learns to think like the machine through the overlapping roles of the player and computer, which will be elaborated through a comparison of the ways both incremental games and slot machines encourage what Natasha Dow Schüll’s (2012) calls the “machine zone” in players. The study concludes by complicating these arguments with an examination of the ways in which, despite the machinic thinking that incremental games engender, the player and computer actually withdraw from each other which makes incremental games a critique of human computer interactions and a meta-game about the construction of videogames, instead of purely a speculative ontological representation of computers.","PeriodicalId":247562,"journal":{"name":"Eludamos: Journal for Computer Game Culture","volume":"210 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-04-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116665197","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"How Gamification Affects Crowdsourcing: The Case of Amazon Mechanical Turk","authors":"L. De Lellis","doi":"10.7557/23.6170","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7557/23.6170","url":null,"abstract":"Since its very first appearance the concept of crowdsourcing has undergone major variations, coming to include highly heterogeneous phenomena such as Google’s data mining, exchanges on sharing economy platforms (e.g. Airbnb or eBay), contents production within creative communities online (e.g. Wikipedia) and much more. If one assumes a very broad perspective, it is eventually possible to extend the category of crowdsourcing to cover whatsoever phenomena involving the participation of the crowd online, as in fact has been done. On the contrary, I will argue that crowdsourcing – and in particular its microwork branch – represents the specific practice of extending outsourcing processes to a large, low-cost, scalable and flexible workforce, in order to generate greater added value for a supply chain. To develop this analysis, I will especially focus on the case of Amazon Mechanical Turk, and on how the operations carried out on this platform are primarily intended to manage the huge flow of information which spans across a supply chain. The practice of subcontracting to the crowd tasks previously carried out by employees or third-party suppliers highlights how crowdsourcing involves a reshaping of the supply chain, further extending it to a large network of individuals. Through crowdsourcing processes, companies are either able to replace or train AI, integrating human computation skills in algorithmic structures through simple, and oftentimes tedious, microtasks. In this context, processes of gamification are capable to put further downward pressure on already small piece-wages, as long as crowdworkers are rather willing to earn an even lower economic compensation, if it’s associated to challenging tasks; thus, to make a task more enjoyable through gamification could be an effective way to further reduce a supply chain’s expenditures in crowdsourcing, pushing forward labor exploitation practices structurally embedded in this phenomenon.","PeriodicalId":247562,"journal":{"name":"Eludamos: Journal for Computer Game Culture","volume":"46 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-04-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124563715","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The Development of Decision Support Systems in the 1960s as Antecedent of “AI-Rationality”","authors":"Rolf F. Nohr","doi":"10.7557/23.6173","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7557/23.6173","url":null,"abstract":"The decision making process in a given game is usually organized in binary form and oriented toward a final and finite set of goals. This determinative action shapes the game on both formal and ludological levels. At the same time, however, the computer (or better, the algorithm) is also a decision making machine: the deeply logical calculus of the code and the program do not seem to know any 'perhaps'—the system works (literally) according to the logic of 'or', which represents one of the central elements of digital computing. The decision rationality of computers (at the heart of computer games) is characterized by simplification, reduction, symbolic coding, and also by a dynamic of action and reaction (in the sense of decision and consequence). Such observations about the consequential logic of game-based AI inevitably lead to one grand question: Who is the primary decision maker in games—the player or the machine?","PeriodicalId":247562,"journal":{"name":"Eludamos: Journal for Computer Game Culture","volume":"214 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-04-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115749737","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Design Foundations for Emotional Game Characters","authors":"Geneva M. Smith, J. Carette","doi":"10.7557/23.6175","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7557/23.6175","url":null,"abstract":"Recent Computer Role Playing Games such as Bethesda’s The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and Nintendo’s The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, have entranced us with their expansive, complex worlds. However, the Non-Player Characters (NPCs) in these games remain stale and lackluster outside of scripted events. This is, in part, because game engines generally do not simulate emotions in their NPCs while they wander in the world. Wouldn't these games be much more interesting, potentially even more re-playable, if NPCs reacted more appropriately to the situations they find themselves in?To be able to do this, designers need an engine that models emotion, based on inputs available in the game world and from other designer-defined character elements such as personality, goals, and mood. A full-fledged cognitive architecture could fulfill this task, but it would likely be much too inefficient for use in a real-time environment like a game.There are many psychological models of emotion but only a few have been explored for video game applications. A game requires an emotion engine which generates believable results to enhance NPC agency and player engagement. Unlike AI agents and simulations of cognitive psychology theories, an emotion engine for games does not need to be correct or even justifiable. This enables the exploration of a variety of emotion theories that have not been actively considered for games. One such theory is Plutchik's psychoevolutionary synthesis. He proposes a method of organizing emotions into a cone, where the intensity of an emotion increases as one moves up the sides. It also postulates that primary emotions in the model can be arranged in opposing pairs and that other emotions can be composed from the primary emotions and their intensities. This allows for greater flexibility in the number and type of emotions to include, whereas most models that have been used before define a closed set of emotion types—a serious constraint on designer's freedom. A second theory, Lazarus's cognitive appraisal, better describes emotion elicitation and behaviour selection, and appears to integrate well with Plutchik's work.An emotion engine based on simplified versions of psychoevolutionary synthesis and cognitive appraisal is an understudied approach towards emotional NPCs. Together with readily identifiable elements of emotion processing, such as attention and action selection, an engine can be designed and customized to meet the needs of game designers with minimal impact on computational resources.We will present an overview of some existing cognitive architectures and emotion engines followed by a description of key elements in psychoevolutionary synthesis and cognitive appraisal. Next we list some requirements for an emotion engine for NPCs and how our selected emotion theories meet them. Finally, we propose a design and a collection of game-oriented test scenarios to illustrate how our design handles various facets of NPC emotional responses","PeriodicalId":247562,"journal":{"name":"Eludamos: Journal for Computer Game Culture","volume":"76 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-04-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124677036","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Alive: A Case Study of the Design of an AI Conversation Simulator","authors":"E. Walsh","doi":"10.7557/23.6177","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7557/23.6177","url":null,"abstract":"This article offers a case study of a game designed to encourage its players to reflect on the implications of Artificial Intelligence (AI) by considering the impact that advancements in AI might have on them personally or on the world more broadly. Alive is a conversation simulator in the vein of the Lifeline series of games, where the player responds to messages from a newly created AI in a manner simulating the rhythm of a conversation vis phone texts. Player decisions directly influence how the AI develops over time and the values it chooses to adopt. Throughout the narrative, the game explores a variety of topics relevant to the creation of AI, such as the potential differences between how an AI and a human would view the world, the capacity of an AI to evolve or change over time, and the risks inherent in the creation of a self-aware AI. In this article, I describe the development of a working prototype of my game, made freely available to accompany this piece. After first establishing the basic principles of conversation simulators based on an analysis of existing examples, I chronicle the design decisions I made and offer my rationale for them. I also discuss the difficulties I encountered in covering this topic and propose what I see as helpful design takeaways for creating other games in a similar vein. It is my hope that this article provides practical tools to scholars and designers interested in both creating and interrogating complex topics such as AI through games.","PeriodicalId":247562,"journal":{"name":"Eludamos: Journal for Computer Game Culture","volume":"141 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-04-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"113968848","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Games and AI: Paths, Challenges, Critique","authors":"Mathias Fuchs, Andreas Sudmann","doi":"10.7557/23.6168","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7557/23.6168","url":null,"abstract":"In 2006, the first-person shooter F.E.A.R. makes headlines in the gaming world. One feature in particular attracts much attention: the non-playable characters seem to behave intelligently to a degree yet unseen in computer games. From earlier productions like No One Lives Forever 1 & 2 (2000, 2002), players were already familiar with NPCs that are able to seek cover under fire and to leave it at random in order to shoot back at the player. In F.E.A.R. that happens too, but in a much more realistic manner. Computer-controlled enemies attack players in a coordinated way. If one member of the enemy team comes closer, he gets supportive fire by his team members. If the player attacks them, enemy forces remain in cover until they are immediately threatened.Ten years later, an AI system called AlphaGo beats the human world champion Kim Sung Yong in the ancient board game Go in five rounds—final score: 4-1. The global community of Go players is perplexed, almost shocked, even though the victory did not totally come out of the blue. Already in October 2015, an earlier version of AlphaGo was able to beat the European Go champion Fan Hui. However, Hui’s playing level was significantly lower than that of Kim Sung Yong (2-dan out of possible 9-dan levels).As these introductory examples illustrate, the relationship between artificial intelligence (AI) and games can basically be studied from two perspectives: The first is the implementation of AI technologies in games, in order to improve the game experience in one way or another, for example with the intention to make it more believable, more immersive, or simply more enjoyable. The second is the use of games as a benchmark, a learning or test environment to evaluate, but also demonstrate, the current state of AI technologies. Both perspectives have gained enormous importance in recent years—technically, but also culturally and economically.","PeriodicalId":247562,"journal":{"name":"Eludamos: Journal for Computer Game Culture","volume":"15 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-04-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127803292","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Study of Artificial Intelligent Algorithms Applied in Procedural Content Generation in Video Games","authors":"Martín González-Hermida, E. Costa-Montenegro, Beatriz Legerén-Lago, A. Pena-Gimenez","doi":"10.7557/23.6171","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7557/23.6171","url":null,"abstract":"<jats:p>-</jats:p>","PeriodicalId":247562,"journal":{"name":"Eludamos: Journal for Computer Game Culture","volume":"2006 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-04-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125608935","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}