CFP: Game Research Methods

CALL FOR CHAPTER PROPOSALS

During the last few years, several textbooks for game students have become available. While these cover many areas well, the objective of this book is to provide a collection of research methods for undergraduate and graduate level students. The aim of the book is to provide a comprehensive overview of that ways games and phenomena surrounding them can be researched. The book is planned to consist of several individual chapters which are organized into sections showing three main approaches for game research:

  • studying games as artifacts
  • studying playing and gaming as activities
  • studying players and gamers

Each section is planned to include chapters that focus on basic research methods as well as methods for on design-oriented research.

Examples of topic for the sections include (but are not limited to):

  • methods for formal gameplay analysis
  • visual analysis of games
  • video analysis of gaming
  • methods of interviewing gamers
  • using statistical analysis
  • experimental or critical game design research
  • action research through game design
  • close readings of games
  • data mining of gameplay statistics
  • participatory observations of games

As a textbook, the chapters are intended to provide rationales for using methods, descriptions of best practices, as well as critically discussing the pros and cons of the method in focus.

Submission:
1000-1500 word (+ references) abstract giving clear outline of chapter as well as the short author bio. Email your submission to petri.lankoski@sh.se as a plain text (no attachments).

Deadline for the abstract submission: October 20, 2013.

Petri Lankoski & Staffan Björk

Used game sales

A study suggest that preventing used game sales would cut game companies profits unless the game prices are lowered: “We find that this policy would reduce the average profits per game by 10% if publishers do not adjust their prices. However, if they adjust prices optimally, it would increase the average profits per game by 19%”1 They base the claim on data from Japan.

Ishira and Ching also notes that “We also find evidence that consumers are forward-looking, suggesting that the future resale opportunity could increase consumers’ willingness-to-pay for new copies.”1

With a quick look at the report, the assumptions seems to well formulated (I did not went through the report in detail; it has 63 pages and plenty of math, so detailed reading would take some time).

References

  1. Ishihara & Ching, 2012, Dynamic Demand for New and Used Durable Goods without Physical Depreciation: The Case of Japanese Video Games, Rotman School of Management Working Paper No. 2189871, http://ssrn.com/abstract=2189871 (full report available on the page).

Measuring character identification and attitude towards a wheelchair

A note for myself.

An article about how wheelchair is considered as an extension of ones body:

@article{pazzaglia2013functionally,
  title={A Functionally Relevant Tool for the Body following Spinal Cord Injury},
  author={Pazzaglia, Mariella and Galli, Giulia and Scivoletto, Giorgio and Molinari, Marco},
  journal={PloS one},
  volume={8},
  number={3},
  pages={e58312},
  year={2013},
  publisher={Public Library of Science},
  url={http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0058312}
}

An article about measuring character identification:
@article{igartua2010identification,
  title={Identification with characters and narrative persuasion through fictional feature films},
  author={Igartua, Juan-Jos{\'e}},
  journal={Communications},
  volume={35},
  number={4},
  pages={347--373},
  year={2010},
  url={http://www.researchgate.net/publication/228109104_Identification_with_characters_and_narrative_persuasion_through_fictional_feature_films/file/79e414ff448b9485e2.pdf}
}

Lies and Seductions

After I take down Lies and Seductions Unity project from Drop Box, because my files generated too much traffic, the project is back online.

You can download the project on the page http://www.mediafire.com/file/0g3ivtuw5xawvdq/lies_project-stuff.zip.

The project is Unity 3 project. The project is not fully upgraded: FMOD plugin used to play sounds and music and handled to sync the music beat with the dance mini game is not working with Unity 3 or later (because the plugin and Unity’s build-in FMOD conflict with each other).

R / Ordinal Scripts

Update: Added visualizations produced with the scripts
Update 2: Updated plot.probabilities() so that response variable can have arbitrary levels

I have been using ordinal package to crunch data. Tutorial for mixed models is only for clmm2 and not for clmm. Here are code for visualizing predicted probabilities for clmm. All the code is  based on  clmm2 tutorial.

Continue reading “R / Ordinal Scripts”

An Embodied Cognition Approach for Understanding Role-playing

Article by  Simo Järvelä & me about embodied cognition and role-playing is out.

Abstract

The article proposes that the theories of grounded cognition and embodiment can be utilized in explaining the role-playing experience. Embodied cognition theories assume that cognition is not only a feature of the brain, but the body as a whole and it is interaction with the environment it operates in. Grounded cognition proposes that an action, perceiving an action, and thinking about an action rely on the same processes. Moreover, knowledge is inseparably grounded to bodily states and modalities. Based on the grounded cognition theory and especially embodiment, we argue the character immersion and bleed are natural consequences on how the brain works. Also we illustrate how the operation of simulators explains some of the central features in the creation of fiction and it is similarities to our everyday experiences. In general, grounded cognition provides a rather simple explanation how fiction is experienced as in this theoretical framework action and thinking about an action largely utilize the same brain mechanics and so are phenomenally similar.

Citation information:

Lankoski, P. & Järvelä, S. (2012). An Embodied Cognition Approach for Understanding Role-playing. International Journal of Role-Playing, 3. Available at http://www.ijrp.subcultures.nl/wp-content/issue3/IJRPissue3lankoskijarvella.pdf.