A word from the editor

Abstract

Welcome to ACM Computers in Entertainment , a premier online magazine featuring video interviews with leading professionals and interesting articles on entertainment technology and its applications. In this October/December 2007 issue, the Interviews column features video interviews with our distinguished advisory board member Michelle Hinn (October 19, 2007) and the president of the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences Joseph Olin (October 19, 2007): • Michelle Hinn is an instructor in the department of Library and Information Sciences at the University of Illinois where she teaches game design course, and is the academic advisor for the Women in Math, Science, and Engineering living/learning community. She was recently named one of Next Generation Magazine's 100 Most Influential Women in Gaming based on her work as chair of the IDGA Game Accessibility Special Interest Group. In the video interview, you will hear her answers to the following questions: 1. You are writing a new book titled "Accessibility and Usability in Game Design." Can you tell us more about your new book? 2. You coauthored a book chapter "Literacy in the information age: inquiries into meaning making with new technologies." What do you mean by "meaning making" in that interesting title? 3. You are the chair of the Game Accessibility Special Interest Group of the International Game Developers Association. What are your goals and activities at IGDA? 4. How do you see the future of computer games? 5. Do you see a big difference between games designed for girls versus games designed for boys? • Joseph Olin is the President of the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences (AIAS). He oversees the annual DICE Conference and Interactive Achievement Awards. Prior to AIAS, he spearheaded the introduction of gaming's most famous heroine, Lara Croft. He also launched Mattel's Generation Girl Teen Dolls product and the first Barbie brand advertising campaign. In the video interview, you will hear his answers to the following questions: 1. How do true game enthusiasts influence causal gamers? 2. Do you see a big difference between games designed for girls versus games designed for boys? 3. What is your view on games for the whole family? 4. You are the president of the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences, what are some of your goals and activities? In the Games section, we feature 7 original papers on the technology, history, and branding of computer games: • Towards A Taxonomy of Perceived Agency in Narrative Game-Play (by Bride Mallon) • Modeling Motivation for Adaptive Nonplayer Characters in Dynamic Computer Game Worlds (by Kathryn Merrick) • The impact of the brand on the success of a mobile game (by Björn Stenbacka) • Embedded Noninteractive Continuous Bot Detection (by Roman V. Yampolskiy) • A New Method for Path Prediction in Network Games (by Shaolong Li, Changja Chen, and Lei Li) • Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games: The Past, Present, and Future (by Leigh Achterbosch, Robyn Pierce, and Gregory Simmons) • Group Play - Determining Factors on the Gaming Experience in Multiplayer Role-Playing Games (by Anders Tychsen, Michael Hitchens, Thea Brolund, Doris Mcilwain, and Manolya Kavakli) The Commentaries column, we present "Game On" by Chris Davison. The Announcements column highlights some of the upcoming events and conferences. Please visit http://www.acm.org/pubs/cie/conferences.html for a complete listing of upcoming and past conferences co-sponsored by ACM Computers in Entertainment.