2014 6th International Conference on Games and Virtual Worlds for Serious Applications (VS-GAMES)最新文献

{"title":"APE: End User Development for Emergency Management Training","authors":"Zeno Menestrina, A. D. Angeli, P. Busetta","doi":"10.1109/VS-Games.2014.7012030","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/VS-Games.2014.7012030","url":null,"abstract":"Serious games are pedagogical tools used in many domains and considered a viable solution to professional training. Core elements for the construction of effective serious games are the Non-Player Characters (NPCs) which, depending on the quality of the Artificial Intelligence (AI), can make the training scenarios more realistic and engaging. One of the main issues with existing games concerns the limited possibility to edit their content. These tools are usually delivered as closed products with no, or minimal, customization features. The modification of the virtual environment is strongly constrained and the behavior of NPCs is fixed to a predefined set of actions. Therefore it becomes hard for trainers to adapt the training according to different requirements. In this paper we propose a solution for the customization of AIs, aimed at allow non-technical users to edit complex behavioral models through a new high-level approach. The Actors' Programming Environment (APE) has been developed on the base of a user-centered design and a preliminary evaluation was conducted with eight experts in computer science and interaction design, serving as evaluators. The results suggest that the approach is suitable for this context and might prove to be a good basis for future developments.","PeriodicalId":428014,"journal":{"name":"2014 6th International Conference on Games and Virtual Worlds for Serious Applications (VS-GAMES)","volume":"25 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-09-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124471944","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":"A Serious Game Engine for Interview Simulation: Application to the Development of Doctor-Patient Communication Skills","authors":"Jing Guo, N. Singer, R. Bastide","doi":"10.1109/VS-Games.2014.7012026","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/VS-Games.2014.7012026","url":null,"abstract":"In this paper we present the architecture of a conversation engine aimed to simulate an interview process between a human and a computer player. This component is a central element of many serious games where educational goal is to develop player communication skills. We demonstrate the use of our engine in AgileDoctor, a serious game project for training medical students and general practitioners to communicate with their patients, so as to improve their long-term relationship and provide a higher quality health care. Our proposed conversation engine uses a generic method to combine the game scenario and the educational objectives. The game scenario is described by an instance of a model that formalizes the general doctor-patient interview process and the skills to develop. The conversation engine is able to use this model to engage a challenging dialogue with a human player where missing skills are focused. The proposed design methodology is not bound to the health domain and is transferable to a large range of educational usages.","PeriodicalId":428014,"journal":{"name":"2014 6th International Conference on Games and Virtual Worlds for Serious Applications (VS-GAMES)","volume":"136 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116655292","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":"Evaluating Digital Applications for Language Learning: Outcomes and Insights","authors":"Inke Schmidt","doi":"10.1109/VS-Games.2014.7012157","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/VS-Games.2014.7012157","url":null,"abstract":"Background The use of digital media for foreign language learning has been an important topic for years. The possibility of learning with authentic audio-visual material, of communicating with native speakers and being nearly location- and time-independent is a great advantage [Lehner et al., 2008] for learners. Moreover, the number of teenagers who regularly play digital games has grown significantly in the last few years [JIM, 2012]. The project HeaLinGO (Health and Language Integrated Gaming Online), a European-funded initiative established at the Leuphana University (Lueneburg) in 2013, has initiated an evaluation of digital games for foreign language learning (Becker, 2005; Cornollie, 2012; Gee, 2009; Prensky, 2007; Rama, 2012; Sørensen, 2007; Thorne, 2001). In this context \"games\" are defined as any application with game elements, accordingly the term includes learning platforms and a range of \"apps\" (Deterding et al., 2011, Werbach, 2012). The first goal of the project was to develop a comprehensive evaluation tool to facilitate the examination of existing applications in this field in terms of both foreign language didactics and digital game-based pedagogy. In addition to providing initial insights into the available digital tools, this data will be made available in a public database for potential language learners, parents, teachers, and researchers to find appropriate language learning programs for their individual purposes. Methods The HeaLinGO researchers developed a survey with more than 80 items (a combination of multiple choice questions and those with open-ended response fields ) identifying the special characteristics of applications for foreign language learning. The questionnaire examined issues in the following categories: background information, didactic analysis, game design, usability, multimedia elements and academic basis. The researchers tested 50 applications and conducted further research into available data about individual programs and tools. Their findings contributed to the development a comprehensive data set for further analysis. This data, analyzed with SPSS 21, forms the basis of results discussed below. Results Preliminary results from the 50 applications tested reveal a number of trends that give insights into the existing state of digital games for foreign language learning. Given that the majority of games and gamified applications emphasize receptive over productive skills, it is questionable whether existing offerings can instruct across the entire range of competencies necessary for second language acquisiton. The overwhelming emphasis on vocabulary and grammar instruction reflects behaviourist pedagogical methods that ignore the situative, task-based, and authentic learning contexts found in progressive foreign language classrooms. Existing platforms, games, and apps struggle with combining strong game design with effective educational design. Conclusion The development of educational games is a comple","PeriodicalId":428014,"journal":{"name":"2014 6th International Conference on Games and Virtual Worlds for Serious Applications (VS-GAMES)","volume":"104 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124634081","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":"Cyberball3D+: A 3D Serious Game for fMRI Investigating Social Exclusion and Empathy","authors":"Evangelia Mavromihelaki, J. Eccles, N. Harrison, Thomas Grice-Jackson, J. Ward, H. Critchley, K. Mania","doi":"10.1109/VS-Games.2014.7012032","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/VS-Games.2014.7012032","url":null,"abstract":"This paper presents a 3D interactive gaming paradigm for the secluded space of an fMRI scanner. The Cyberball3D+ game is a virtual ball-toss game in which the participant is either excluded or not from ball tossing played by three virtual players and the subject in the scanner. It has been used in simple sketch mode by neuroscientists for research on ostracism, social exclusion or rejection as well as discrimination and prejudice. The game proposed is designed to render an interactive Virtual Environment (VE) on an fMRI display, enabling the conduct of formal neuroscientific experiments and investigating the effects of social exclusion, empathy and different level of anthropomorphism on human brain activity. Although, here, the focus is on the technical implementation of the system, the goal is to use this system to explore whether the pain felt by someone when socially excluded is the same when observing other people get socially excluded and whether there are differences in relation to empathy for friends and strangers. Moreover, for the first time, we propose a validated neuroscientific measure of character believability and emotional engagement. The system was developed in close collaboration between the Technical University of Crete where the technical implementation took place and the Brighton and Sussex Medical School where the initial fMRI experiments were conducted using the system proposed. A broader aim of this work is to assess whether such powerful social-psychological studies could be usefully carried out within VEs advancing cognitive neuroscience and computer graphics as well as serious gaming research.","PeriodicalId":428014,"journal":{"name":"2014 6th International Conference on Games and Virtual Worlds for Serious Applications (VS-GAMES)","volume":"96 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123446878","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 Potential of Serious Games Based on Literary Plots to Develop Knowledge, Skills and Habitual Patterns","authors":"Daniela Vaseva","doi":"10.1109/VS-Games.2014.7012168","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/VS-Games.2014.7012168","url":null,"abstract":"The ever growing need for widely available, lifelong, personalized education induces researchers to discuss how the design and implementation of game-based learning systems can address the problem. This group case study aims to explore the potential of serious games based on literary plots to develop knowledge, skills and habitual patterns. Specifically, the research project will focus on the question how the design and content of serious games affect their potential to form knowledge, skills and habitual patterns in middle school students. Therefore, we will observe the selected students before, after, and during playing a serious game based on a literary plot, analyze their essays, tests and surveys, and finally interview some of them to learn more about the students' perception of the games and the changes in their skills, behaviors and knowledge. As a result, the findings should provide directions for the development and use of serious games featuring literary works that will support a playful, effective, and personalized learning process.","PeriodicalId":428014,"journal":{"name":"2014 6th International Conference on Games and Virtual Worlds for Serious Applications (VS-GAMES)","volume":"45 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116332707","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":"Designing Reality Guides","authors":"Tomi Mäntylä, Ilmari Lahti, H. Ketamo, Mika Luimula, J. Smed","doi":"10.1109/VS-Games.2014.7012154","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/VS-Games.2014.7012154","url":null,"abstract":"Reality guides aim at assisting, teaching or supporting the user in the real world. Among other things they are used to illustrate history, to educate students or to provide services to visitors. In this paper, we introduce three concept applications for reality guides related to history, entertainment and education. We reflect their design to theoretical frameworks on gameness and narrativity. We also present practical considerations related to the quality of content that affect the implementation of reality guide applications.","PeriodicalId":428014,"journal":{"name":"2014 6th International Conference on Games and Virtual Worlds for Serious Applications (VS-GAMES)","volume":"47 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116624816","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":"High-Fidelity Graphics for Dynamically Generated Environments Using Distributed Computing","authors":"Keith Bugeja, K. Debattista, Sandro Spina, A. Chalmers","doi":"10.1109/VS-Games.2014.7012160","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/VS-Games.2014.7012160","url":null,"abstract":"In many serious games and applications, increasing visual fidelity enhances immersion. While physically-based renderers can produce highly realistic imagery by correctly simulating light propagation, these are impractical in the context of interactive applications due to lengthy computations. For real-time applications, several rasterisation-based techniques have been developed to augment the visual realism in a scene, such as the inclusion of shadows and ambient occlusion. These techniques however, come at the cost of additional compute resources from GPUs. This paper describes a novel technique which takes advantage of the distributed computational resources available at peers participating in a serious game to precompute the light distribution in the virtual environment. This additional information is then included within the vertex geometry of the scene and used at no extra costs whilst rendering. Experimental evaluation shows that the rendered virtual environments are much more realistic and more closely match reference imagery generated by physically-based renderers.","PeriodicalId":428014,"journal":{"name":"2014 6th International Conference on Games and Virtual Worlds for Serious Applications (VS-GAMES)","volume":"15 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134196682","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":"IndustrySim: Finding the Fun in Industrial Simulations","authors":"Ilmari Lahti, Tomas Rosin, Pekka Qvist, Ville Vuorela, Mika Luimula, J. Smed","doi":"10.1109/VS-Games.2014.7012162","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/VS-Games.2014.7012162","url":null,"abstract":"This paper introduces IndustrySim, a game attempting to combine truly engaging gameplay with state-of-the-art industrial simulation that would suit education and casual gaming alike. We present the concept of the game and then discuss challenges and insights encountered so far regarding the asset management, programming and game design behind its implementation.","PeriodicalId":428014,"journal":{"name":"2014 6th International Conference on Games and Virtual Worlds for Serious Applications (VS-GAMES)","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129519613","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":"LawVille: A Collaborative Serious Game for Citizenship Education","authors":"C. Lorenzini, R. Brondi, M. Carrozzino, Michele Nistico, C. Evangelista, F. Tecchia","doi":"10.1109/VS-Games.2014.7012163","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/VS-Games.2014.7012163","url":null,"abstract":"This paper presents LawVille, a Web-Based Collaborative 3D Serious Game aimed at teaching citizenship and the Italian Constitution to secondary school students, by making them the protagonists of a fantasy story meant to solicit their direct involvement in a series of political questions.","PeriodicalId":428014,"journal":{"name":"2014 6th International Conference on Games and Virtual Worlds for Serious Applications (VS-GAMES)","volume":"5 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130543762","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 Potential Use of Neurophysiological Signals for Learning Analytics","authors":"M. Ninaus, S. Kober, E. V. Friedrich, C. Neuper, Guilherme Maia de Oliveira Wood","doi":"10.1109/VS-Games.2014.7012169","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/VS-Games.2014.7012169","url":null,"abstract":"Learning analytics is a very promising field for improving education, teaching and learning by collecting user data in serious games. However, the research on the use of physiological traces in learning analytics is sparse. Therefore, in this empirical explorative study we used functional near-infrared spectroscopy to examine if neurophysiological measurements can help to identify if a user is learning during playing a simple game. We identified increased brain activation in fronto-parietal areas while users actively learned rules or applied knowledge during gaming. In contrast, in a random condition, where users only reacted to the game without the possibility to learn or apply knowledge, increased brain activation was observed in central motor areas of the brain, reflecting the motoric interaction with the game per se. This preliminary neurophysiological empirical study showed that it is possible to use neurophysiological data to get insight on user learning during playing a very simple game. Future studies have to examine this effect in a more complex learning situation.","PeriodicalId":428014,"journal":{"name":"2014 6th International Conference on Games and Virtual Worlds for Serious Applications (VS-GAMES)","volume":"38 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124031308","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}