| 1. |
- Azadvar, Ahmad, 1988-, et al.
(författare)
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Aging Agents : Cross Generational Analysis of Behavior and Need Satisfaction Among Players of Tom Clancy’s The Division 2
- 2020
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Ingår i: The Computer Games Journal. - : Springer. - 2052-773X. ; 9, s. 245-262
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This research investigated the effect of age on players of an online multiplayer shooter. Through combining the data from two large scale surveys, we collected information regarding age, gaming habits, game rating and psychological need satisfaction for 8120 players of Tom Clancy’s The Division. Behavioral data extracted from the game’s tracking engine was then cross-referenced for different age groups to indicate motivational, behavioral and habitual characteristics of each age group. To find the importance of measured factors we employed a rank-based model for comparing independent sample means for intergenerational analysis (Kendall’s tau for non-parametric correlations) as well as multiple Machine Learning algorithms. Results found that different measures of playtime vary significantly among generations. Baby Boomers showed significantly higher playtime, days played and group playtime. Intergenerational comparison of perceived need satisfaction also found that older gamers feel more agentic, present in the narrative, closer to non-playable characters but less competent at the game. Percentage of group playtime also showed a decrease in older generations. Future research may expand cross generational analysis to other game types and include more granular behavioral measures.
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| 2. |
- Berg Marklund, Björn, 1988-, et al.
(författare)
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What Empirically Based Research Tells Us About Game Development
- 2019
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Ingår i: The Computer Games Journal. - : Springer. - 2052-773X. ; 8:3-4, s. 179-198
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper reviews empirically grounded research on practices in game development with the intent to give a comprehensive overview of contemporary development practices used in the video game industry. While there are many intangible elements that inform game development processes, this review specifically covers the more immediate practical challenges. The review covers a total of 48 papers published between 2006 and 2016, which were all subjected to thematic analysis by three reviewers. The results of the review show that an almost universal characteristic of game development is that it is almost impossible to accurately plan a development project in detail, largely due to the soft requirements inherent in game production which emerge mid-process during development projects, during when testing is coupled with continuous ideation and refinement. Practicing game developers have created their own frameworks that accommodate for this lack of planning. They include flat hierarchies, democratic decision-making, creative autonomy, and informal communication, which are designed to create an environment that maintains creativity and openness to product changes long into the production process. These frameworks vary significantly between studios and often between individual projects. This review also shows that the term ‘Agile’, while often used by both researchers and developers to characterize the process of game development, is not an apt descriptor of how game developers actually work. Agile is used as shorthand for unstructured and flexible development, rather than serving as a descriptor of a definable or unified work method. Finally, as companies develop more complicated hierarchies of stakeholders and staff, the desired flexibility and autonomy of game development becomes increasingly complicated to maintain, and often necessitates more formalized management processes and company structures. In these cases, inherent tensions of game development become more pronounced, and continuous creativity is hard to maintain due to a growing need to formalize processes.
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| 3. |
- Engström, Henrik, 1968-, et al.
(författare)
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Prototyping Tools for Game Writers
- 2018
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Ingår i: The Computer Games Journal. - : Springer. - 2052-773X. ; 7:3, s. 153-172
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A game is best evaluated by playing it and prototyping is therefore an important activity in game development. Game writers and narrative designers are responsible for the narrative structure of a game, which may have a varying degree of interactivity to it. The aim of this paper is to analyse the role of prototyping tools for game writers. There is a limited range of such tools available, of which Twine is one of the most established. Most of these tools have a text-based programming interface for modelling of game mechanics. This paper presents Deig—a proto- typing tool for creating point-and-click adventure games. In Deig, game mechanics is modelled graphically using nodes from a set of primitives. We present an interview study where game writing students reflect on their experience of using Deig and Twine as prototyping tools. The result shows that both tools have their merits and complement each other. Deig was found to be intuitive for modelling of game mechanics, which lead students to create interactive narratives. Twine was found to be more useful for experimental writing. The conclusion of this work is that there is a need for a diverse set of prototyping tools to support game writing.
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| 4. |
- Havukainen, Martti, et al.
(författare)
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A Case Study on Co-designing Digital Games with Older Adults and Children : Game Elements, Assets, and Challenges
- 2020
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Ingår i: The Computer Games Journal. - : Springer. - 2052-773X. ; 9:2, s. 163-188
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Digital games have traditionally been targeted at younger generations, although the proportion of older adult players is increasing. However, the design processes of digital games often do not consider the special needs of older adults. Co-design is a potential method to address this, but there is little research on co-designing games with older adults. In our study, we proposed a co-design process model that considers the intergenerational perspective. Using this model, eight older adults (two males and six females aged 47–80) and 22 sixth graders (11 males and 11 females aged 12–13) co-designed a digital game. The content of the game was based on old concepts used by the designers during their childhood. Similarly, game content involving new words and concepts were produced by the sixth graders. We collected data using semi-structured interviews and observations during the co-design process over a period of 24 months and then processed the data using grounded theory. The results indicated that the older adults identified seven game elements as essential to make games fun—appearance and aesthetics, competition, manageability of gameplay, social impact, familiarity, unpredictability, and intergenerational gameplay. Furthermore, we identified six assets that older adults have as game co-designers and five challenges that co-designing games with older adults may entail.
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| 5. |
- Kelly, Stephen, et al.
(författare)
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Digital Supply Chain Management in the Videogames Industry : A Systematic Literature Review
- 2021
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Ingår i: The Computer Games Journal. - : Springer. - 2052-773X. ; 10:1-4, s. 19-40
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- As industries mature, they rely more heavily on supply chain management (SCM) to ensure effective operations leading to greater levels of organisational performance. SCM has been widely covered in many industrial areas and, in line with other burgeoning sectors such as Tourism, an industry focus provides the opportunity to look in-depth at the context-based factors that affect SCM. Developments in digital distribution and rapid technological innovations have resulted in an increased focus on Digital Supply Chains (DSCs), which bring about significant changes to how consumers, customers, suppliers, and manufacturers interact, affecting supply chain design and processes. Through a systematic review of the Videogames Industry Supply Chain Management literature, which serves as a pertinent contextual example of a DSC, we look at how supply chains are affected by structural, market and technological change, such as increased platformisation, disintermediation and the proliferation of digital distribution. We distil these findings into a new research agenda, which identifies themes in line with extant DSC research, provides a series of relevant practice recommendations and identifies opportunities for future research.
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| 6. |
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| 7. |
- van Ooijen, Erik, 1980-
(författare)
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The Killability of Fish in The Sims 3: Pets and Stardew Valley
- 2018
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Ingår i: The Computer Games Journal. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2052-773X. ; , s. 1-8
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The article considers video games as procedural arguments on the killability and nonkillability of nonhuman animal species, especially marine animals. It focuses on what acts of violence are made possible in games, and against whom. It argues that shifting the critical perspective from killing to killability allows us to study the implicit violence found in “nonviolent” or “friendly” games that usually garner little controversy. Two games that both set out to avoid animal violence, and even promote animal care, are studied: Maxis’ The Sims 3: Pets (2011) and ConcernedApe’s Stardew Valley (2016). The study considers how these games construct a hierarchy of classes of animals that are either included in, or excluded from, the realm of moral concern. Thus, the games are seen as models of how similar hierarchies are created in the real world of so-called “meat culture”. Most significantly, the study demonstrates how fish is a prime example of a class of animals that is removed from the realm of moral concern, even in supposedly ethical and animal-friendly games.
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