{"title":"How Avatars Influence User Behavior: A Review on the Proteus Effect in Virtual Environments and Video Games","authors":"Anna Samira Praetorius, Daniel Görlich","doi":"10.1145/3402942.3403019","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1145/3402942.3403019","url":null,"abstract":"The Proteus Effect suggests that users of a virtual environment adapt their behavior to the characteristics of their respective avatars. The effect was introduced by Yee & Bailenson in 2007. Since then, a number of studies and experiments regarding the Proteus Effect have been conducted. Based on a review and comparison of their findings and conclusions about the theoretical framework of the effect and its explanatory approaches such as self-perception theory and priming, we are classifying these studies with regard to self-similarity, wishful identification and embodied presence. This allows for revealing parallels to the processes of self-identification, as these components represent first-order dimensions of the user-avatar bond. The results show that self-similarity can enhance the effect, as it can lead to a higher personal relevance of the avatar and thus facilitates mental rapprochement between user and avatar. Desirable characteristics of the avatar are integrated into the self-concept, whereas undesirable characteristics can be a barrier to the occurrence of the effect. Embodiment is particularly important with regard to self-perception theory and can represent a threshold for self-perception from the perspective of the avatar.","PeriodicalId":421754,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings of the 15th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games","volume":"54 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-09-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125665267","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":"Spatial Layout of Procedural Dungeons Using Linear Constraints and SMT Solvers","authors":"E. Whitehead","doi":"10.1145/3402942.3409603","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1145/3402942.3409603","url":null,"abstract":"Dungeon generation is among the oldest problems in procedural content generation. Creating the spatial aspects of a dungeon requires three steps: random generation of rooms and sizes, placement of these rooms inside a fixed area, and connecting rooms with passageways. This paper uses a series of integer linear constraints, solved by a satisfiability modulo theories (SMT) solver, to perform the placement step. Separation constraints ensure dungeon rooms do not intersect and maintain a minimum fixed separation. Designers can specify control lines, and dungeon rooms will be placed within a fixed distance of these control lines. Generation times vary with number of rooms and constraints, but are often very fast. Spatial distribution of solutions tend to have hot spots, but is surprisingly uniform given the underlying complexity of the solver. The approach demonstrates the effectiveness of a declarative approach to dungeon layout generation, where designers can express desired intent, and the SMT solver satisfies this if possible.","PeriodicalId":421754,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings of the 15th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-09-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114590639","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":"LeGACy Code: Studying How (Amateur) Game Developers Used Graphic Adventure Creator","authors":"John Aycock, K. Biittner","doi":"10.1145/3402942.3402988","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1145/3402942.3402988","url":null,"abstract":"How did game programmers use early game development tools, and how does this fit into the bigger picture of how humans use tools and technology? To help answer these questions, we embark on an interdisciplinary collaboration between archaeology and computer science. Graphic Adventure Creator (GAC) was released in the mid-1980s for a number of microcomputers; we focus here on the 1986 version for the ZX Spectrum, a popular UK computer of that era. GAC was a game-development tool for creating text adventure games, optionally with graphic images. We have amassed a corpus of nearly all known GAC-produced games for the Spectrum – over 130 – and reverse-engineered the game format. We extracted out all the games’ data, and built a software framework to perform static and dynamic analysis of all these games at scale. This empirical data, plus contextual information from some interviews we conducted, gives us unique insight into the nature of how this tool was used to make games.","PeriodicalId":421754,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings of the 15th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games","volume":"21 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-09-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127715935","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":"Formalizing Casual Tabletop Games for Language Teaching","authors":"Stamatia Savvani","doi":"10.1145/3402942.3409792","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1145/3402942.3409792","url":null,"abstract":"Game-based learning has received considerable attention for the teaching of subjects such as Math and Science. For the teaching of foreign languages, however, the field is still in its infancy as the proliferation of gamification topples meaningful and transformative gameful teaching practices. The overuse of gamified quizzes and applications in language education has established games as trivia practices, which sugar-coat the challenging task of language learning through rewards. Although motivating students is an important step to engage them in the learning process, games have the potential to solicit communication and social skills which are much needed in language learning. The paper calls for a game-enhanced approach to language learning, which treats games as authentic materials that immerse students in meaningful communication and teachers in creative practice. Examples of casual, vernacular games are visited and their formal application in the language classroom is discussed in order to meet the mandated foreign language curricula. Formally linking games to curriculum objectives is essential for teachers to appreciate the motivational and pedagogical value of non-educational games and inform their practice creatively.","PeriodicalId":421754,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings of the 15th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games","volume":"13 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-09-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124843448","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":"Crafting Game-Based Learning: An Analysis of Lessons for Minecraft Education Edition","authors":"David Bar-El, Kathryn E. Ringland","doi":"10.1145/3402942.3409788","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1145/3402942.3409788","url":null,"abstract":"Digital games have long been of interest to Game Studies communities, but relatively few have examined how teachers design with and incorporate commercial digital games in their teaching in K-12 classrooms. In this paper, we examine a corpus of 627 online lesson plans designed for Minecraft Education Edition. First, we provide descriptive statistics about the authors, language, subject areas, skills, and intended student age of the lessons. We then share our work-in-progress to analyze lessons uploaded by 16 power users. With this analysis, we hope to work towards a taxonomy of teachers’ designs with sandbox games. Our work contributes a snapshot of the current landscape of uses of Minecraft Education Edition as an educational tool and begins exploring how teachers design with a sandbox game for learning.","PeriodicalId":421754,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings of the 15th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games","volume":"26 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-09-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122256668","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":"Strategy Games: The Components of A Worthy Opponent","authors":"Daniel Gomme, R. Bartle","doi":"10.1145/3402942.3403018","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1145/3402942.3403018","url":null,"abstract":"What distinguishes a good AI opponent from a bad one in the eyes of players? To answer this question, hundreds of opinions were analysed, as expressed by strategy-game players in forums; from these, a grounded theory was formed. It was found that the AI’s role as an opponent in a game shapes player expectations, and that not breaking these is instrumental to players’ enjoyment. The expectations include: keeping a tension between the player and AI; maintaining a level playing field; and more subtle expectations involving closure and the ability to rectify behaviour. The nature of these expectations are explored, as well as how they might be upheld.","PeriodicalId":421754,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings of the 15th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games","volume":"32 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-09-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"121352372","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}
Sofia Eleni Spatharioti, Borna Fatehi, Melanie Smith, A. Rosenbloom, J. Miller, M. S. El-Nasr, S. Wylie, Seth Cooper
{"title":"Tile-o-Scope AR: An Augmented Reality Tabletop Image Labeling Game Toolkit","authors":"Sofia Eleni Spatharioti, Borna Fatehi, Melanie Smith, A. Rosenbloom, J. Miller, M. S. El-Nasr, S. Wylie, Seth Cooper","doi":"10.1145/3402942.3403002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1145/3402942.3403002","url":null,"abstract":"Crowdsourcing games involving image labeling tasks are commonly digital, played online, and have rules set by designers. In this work we explore the potential of tabletop image labeling games, incorporating physical elements, in-person community-based gameplay, and support for customizable rules. We developed an augmented reality game toolkit called Tile-o-Scope AR and conducted two studies. The first study demonstrates how the toolkit can facilitate in-person discussions through collaborative image labeling, and the toolkit’s potential adaptability to other games and applications. The second study, using three different activities designed for the toolkit, demonstrates the toolkit’s flexibility for creating customized experiences for audiences of different backgrounds.","PeriodicalId":421754,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings of the 15th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games","volume":"137 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-09-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115465453","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":"Civilizing Civilization (and beyond)","authors":"Kirk Lundblade","doi":"10.1145/3402942.3402977","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1145/3402942.3402977","url":null,"abstract":"Historical game studies is a nascent field formed around the study of games which engage with discourses about history and the past. Beginning with a prominent object of study in wider games scholarship, Sid Meier's Civilization, historical game studies gradually cohered around several key discursive threads anchored by a small set of focal texts. Out of these core texts, historical game studies developed its own metalanguage, critical discourses, and taxonomic structures which enabled a broad cross-pollination across scholarship engaging with games and the past. As a distinct field closely associated with wider game studies scholarship, historical game studies affords games scholars numerous methodological and theoretical contributions which aid in studying digital games; it also represents a valuable interdisciplinary scholarly community connecting games scholars with research in history, education, heritage studies, and numerous other disciplinary spaces. As such, this historiographic review of historical game studies is intended to highlight the evolution of scholarship in the field, presenting key scholarly works, discursive shifts, objects of study, field sub-groupings, and theoretical contributions in order to facilitate further interdisciplinary scholarship oriented around history and digital games.","PeriodicalId":421754,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings of the 15th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games","volume":"10 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-09-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116483554","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":"Do Game Bots Dream of Electric Rewards?: The universality of intrinsic motivation","authors":"P. Sweetser, Matthew Aitchison","doi":"10.1145/3402942.3402965","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1145/3402942.3402965","url":null,"abstract":"The purpose of this paper is to draw together theories, ideas, and observations related to rewards, motivation, and play to develop and question our understanding and practice of designing reward-based systems and technology. Our exploration includes reinforcement, rewards, motivational theory, flow, play, games, gamification, and machine learning. We examine the design and psychology of reward-based systems in society and technology, using gamification and machine learning as case studies. We propose that the problems that exist with reward-based systems in our society are also present and pertinent when designing technology. We suggest that motivation, exploration, and play are not just fundamental to human learning and behaviour, but that they could transcend nature into machine learning. Finally, we question the value and potential harm of the reward-based systems that permeate every aspect of our lives and assert the importance of ethics in the design of all systems and technology.","PeriodicalId":421754,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings of the 15th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games","volume":"63 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-09-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114833439","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":"Analysing Mobile VR Games for Learning a Sport: A Pistol Target Shooting VR Game Use Case","authors":"Marcelle C. Grech, Owen Sacco","doi":"10.1145/3402942.3409791","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1145/3402942.3409791","url":null,"abstract":"In recent years, Virtual Reality (VR) technology has gained popularity and has seen a rise in the amount of different VR headsets for personal use. In this regard, research in the use of VR have started to explore the benefits of this technology both for entertainment purposes and for non-entertainment purposes. In this paper, we analyze the effectiveness of mobile VR games for learning a sport. We present our prototype VR game for evaluating whether one can learn or improve their skill at pistol target shooting. We conduct several experiments, including on-site pistol target shooting at a shooting range to assess and compare the performance of those who have played the VR game and those who haven’t. The results from these experiments are presented in this paper.","PeriodicalId":421754,"journal":{"name":"Proceedings of the 15th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-09-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130932108","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}