Competitive Game Research Articles

Cricket players’ perceptions of playing on artificial turf

ABSTRACT With the recent introduction of artificial turf outfield playing surfaces in community-level cricket, this paper presents the physical performance and injury-related perceptions of male, senior cricketers. Following validity and reliability testing, 43 cricketers from two clubs completed a questionnaire comprising three sections: demographic information; individual performance; and injury risk and severity. Descriptive variables were computed, and chi-square tests were conducted to identify differences in perceptions based on the field type that players were exposed to and their injury status. Most players preferred artificial turf for training (53.7%) and wet/rainy conditions (64.1%), but natural grass for competitive games (67.4%) and dry conditions (69.0%). There were significant differences in perceptions for game speed (p < 0.001), the need to be fitter (p = 0.015), and the overall physical performance quality based on injury status (p = 0.017) and field (p < 0.021). Skin injuries were the only injuries that were reported as more likely on artificial turf. In general, players did not feel that the technical and physical performance aspects of cricket were affected when playing on artificial turf compared to natural grass. However, the field type that players were exposed to significantly influenced their perceptions and highlights the importance of artificial turf composition for future adoption in cricket.

Play-Based Assessment: Psychometric Properties of an Early Childhood Learning and Development Assessment Battery

This study aims to explore the reliability, construct validity, and content validity of the Child Learning and Developmental Playful Assessment Battery (Batería de Evaluación Lúdica del Aprendizaje y Desarrollo Infantil; BELADI), a quantitative instrument based on the authentic assessment and playful learning principles, the purpose of which is to assess infant learning and development through motor and competitive games as well as storytelling. The sample was composed of 113 children from Albacete (Spain) between 58 and 72 months of chronological age (M = 64.72; SD = 3.671). To explore the content validity, an expert judgement was carried out and the Content Validity Coefficient (CVC) was calculated. The reliability was analysed using the Cronbach’s alpha and McDonald’s Ω, and an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was conducted. The results revealed high reliability indexes in each of the developmental domains, and the EFA included 11 items distributed in two factors for the psychomotor domain, 27 items grouped in three factors for the cognitive domain, and 20 items divided into four factors for the socioemotional domain. In conclusion, the study verifies the validity and reliability of the BELADI for the assessment of the infant learning and development through play, which may be used in research, education, and psychopedagogy.

Multiple environmental regulations and green technology innovation: a boundary theory perspective

Purpose Based on boundary theory, the authors try to clarify the boundaries of multiple environmental regulations. This paper aims to explore the strategic choices of multiple environmental regulations, analyze their spatial impact on green technology innovation and clarify the implementation priorities of multiple environmental regulations in various regions. Design/methodology/approach The authors construct an asymmetric response model based on the boundary theory perspective to analyze the strategic choices of different environmental regulations. In addition, dynamic spatial econometric methods are used to empirically analyze the differentiated regulatory boundaries of command-control type, market-incentive and voluntary-participation in environmental regulations and their spatial effects on green technology innovation. Findings Strict compulsory boundaries are formed in China when the command-control and market-incentive types are selected in a dynamic spatial and competitive game environment. When voluntary participation is selected, strict compulsory or loose basic boundaries are formed in each region. The command-control type is highly dependent on geographical distance, the market-incentive type is more dependent on an economic connection and the voluntary-participation type has obvious spatial spillover effects under the spatial weight matrix of geographical distance and economic connection. When Eastern China chooses voluntary participation in environmental regulation, the incentive effect on green technology innovation is the strongest. Middle China is the market-incentive type, and Western China is the command-control type. Command-control type and market-incentive type form strong complementary effects in dynamic spatial environments. Originality/value From the boundary theory perspective, this study analyzes the differentiated dynamic spatial boundaries of command-control, market-incentive and voluntary-participation in environmental regulations. Analyze the spatial impact of multiple environmental regulations on green technology innovation and clarify the implementation priorities of multiple environmental regulations in various regions.

Esports Training, Periodization, and Software—A Scoping Review

Electronic sports (esports) and research on this emerging field are interdisciplinary in nature. By extension, it is essential to understand how to standardize and structure training with the help of existing tools, developed over years of research in sports sciences and informatics. Our goal for this work is to review the available literature in esports research, focusing on sports sciences (training, periodization, planning, and career stages) and software (training tools, visualization, analytics, and feedback systems). To verify the existing sources, we applied the framework of a scoping review to address the search from multiple scientific databases with further local processing. We conclude that the current research on esports has mainly focused on describing and modeling performance metrics that span over multiple fragmented research areas (psychology, nutrition, informatics). However, these building blocks have not been assembled into a well-functioning theory of performance in esports by, e.g., providing exercise regimes or methods of periodization for esports.

Luck, skill, and depth of competition in games and social hierarchies.

Patterns of wins and lo sses in pairwise contests, such as occur in sports and games, consumer research and paired comparison studies, and human and animal social hierarchies, are commonly analyzed using probabilistic models that allow one to quantify the strength of competitors or predict the outcome of future contests. Here, we generalize this approach to incorporate two additional features: an element of randomness or luck that leads to upset wins, and a "depth of competition" variable that measures the complexity of a game or hierarchy. Fitting the resulting model, we estimate depth and luck in a range of games, sports, and social situations. In general, we find that social competition tends to be "deep," meaning it has a pronounced hierarchy with many distinct levels, but also that there is often a nonzero chance of an upset victory. Competition in sports and games, by contrast, tends to be shallow, and in most cases, there is little evidence of upset wins.

Casual Competition by Design: A Study of the All Random All Mid (ARAM) Mode in League of Legends

Competitive gaming, a long-standing study context for CSCW, has recently faced criticism due to its design emphasis on competition and achievement, which is associated with adverse phenomena such as player toxicity and anxiety. Recognizing this limit, game designers have proactively made design attempts to ameliorate these unintended consequences of competitive gaming. A notable example is the All Random All Mid (ARAM) mode in League of Legends (LoL), designed to introduce casualness into competitive gaming. To understand how players experience both casualness and competitiveness, a seemingly contradictory pair, we conducted an interview study with ARAM players, finding that ARAM supports 'casual competition' through decentering competition, diversifying interpersonal dynamics, and filling gaps in player needs. We further discuss how game design and player agency co-constitute casual competition, reflect on key aspects of competitive gaming design such as diversity and fairness, and provide implications for competitive gaming design, which may help combat toxicity.

On the Impossibility of Convergence of Mixed Strategies with Optimal No-Regret Learning

We study the limiting behavior of the mixed strategies that result from optimal no-regret learning in a repeated game setting where the stage game is any 2 × 2 competitive game. We consider optimal no-regret algorithms that are mean-based and monotonic in their argument. We show that for any such algorithm, the limiting mixed strategies of the players cannot converge almost surely to any Nash equilibrium. This negative result is also shown to hold under a broad relaxation of these assumptions, including popular variants of Follow-the-Regularized Leader with optimism or adaptive step sizes. Finally, we provide partial evidence that the monotonicity and mean-based assumptions can be removed or relaxed. Our results identify the inherent stochasticity in players’ realizations as a critical factor underlying this divergence, and demonstrate a crucial difference in outcomes between using the opponent’s mixtures and realizations to make updates. Funding: V. Muthukumar was supported by a Simons-Berkeley Research Fellowship, NSF awards IIS-2212182 and CCF-2239151, and generous gifts from Amazon, Adobe, and Google. S. Phade acknowledges the support of the NSF [Grants CNS-1527846 and CCF-1618145] and the NSF Science &amp; Technology Center [Grant CCF-0939370 (Science of Information)]. A. Sahai acknowledges the support of the ML4Wireless center member companies and the NSF [Grants AST-144078 and ECCS-1343398].

Who will win the competitive game between China and United States?

As the world’s two great powers, China and the United States have developed a relationship that strongly affects the rest of the world. In the present study, we compare the benefits and drawbacks of the relationship between China and the United States with the goal of finding ways to avoid this kind of zero-sum game from four perspectives: political, cultural, economic, and military. The governments of China and the United States should first and foremost work on solving their domestic problems rather than seeking a confrontation. Although competition between individuals, industries, regions, and governments is a major force that drives the development and evolution of human society, competitors must avoid dangerous zero-sum games and instead promote cooperation or coopetition. One approach would be to develop a globalized federation of nations that will work to achieve a “common world of harmony and differences”.

Analysis of the Correlation of Topic Feature Changes Based on the LDA Model

Abstract. As is well known, with the continuous development of artificial intelligence technology and the increasing accessibility of data, various social platforms are committed to using intelligent recommendation algorithms to cater to user preferences. Some platforms even exaggerate facts and push sensational, valueless information to users, leading to the "Screaming Effect" and the "Echo Chamber Effect." The prolonged existence of these effects may result in "Information Cocoon," which is detrimental to the healthy development of individuals and society. To address this issue, different topics can have varying trajectories as online comments ferment, potentially reaching a neutral consensus or resulting in polarization. As a mainstream social platform in China, Weibo users serve as nodes for the dissemination of public opinion information, and the characteristics of information release, reception, forwarding, and commenting all influence the effectiveness of communication. First, we selected the topics "COVID-19" and "IG Electronic Sports Club" as our research subjects, identifying a range of topic popularity through Baidu Index, followed by data collection. Second, we used perplexity and coherence to determine the optimal number of topics for LDA, analyzing the changes in topic feature characteristics over different time periods. Through correlation analysis, we reached the following conclusions: Higher Weibo levels correlate with better information dissemination effectiveness; the quantity of information published on Weibo negatively impacts the forwarding and commenting behaviors; and as events progress, the enthusiasm for information dissemination on Weibo declines, with daily dissemination gradually decreasing.

Amplifying Cognitive Functions in Amateur Esports Athletes: The Impact of Short-Term Virtual Reality Training on Reaction Time, Motor Time, and Eye–Hand Coordination

Objectives: Electronic sports (esports) have grown into a major competitive field in today’s digital landscape, attracting the interest of established companies and evolving into a fast-growing industry. Cognitive function, including reaction time, motor time, and eye–hand coordination, plays a crucial role in e-athlete performance. This study aims to examine the impact of VR training on these cognitive functions in amateur e-athletes. Methods: The study involved 66 amateur e-athletes (45 men and 21 women, aged 19–41, with a mean age of 23.96 ± 3.90 years) who reported active, non-professional involvement in esports. Participants were randomly assigned to an experimental group (E) (n = 32) and a control group (C) (n = 34), with initial comparisons confirming no significant differences in daily gaming habits, esports experience, or age between groups. The E group completed 15-minute daily training sessions using the VR game Beat Saber over eight consecutive days. Results: The results demonstrated that VR training significantly improved eye–hand coordination in the experimental group, although there were no notable effects on reaction time or motor time. Conclusions: These findings suggest that VR training may be an effective method to enhance certain cognitive functions, specifically eye–hand coordination, among amateur e-athletes. This could offer a valuable approach for performance improvement in this rapidly growing field.

The Impact of Video Game Dimensions on Brand Love: A Guide for the Gaming Industry 2023-2024

This research paper investigates the factors contributing to brand love among gamers, with the aim of enhancing user experience and optimizing marketing strategies within the gaming industry. The study explores how specific gameplay elements and sensory triggers—such as rewards, personalization, music, and storytelling—affect emotional connections and foster brand loyalty. Additionally, it examines the application of neuromarketing techniques to gain a deeper understanding of consumer behavior and to promote stronger emotional engagement with gaming products, while also highlighting the importance of addressing ethical considerations and cultural differences in these strategies. Despite the growing popularity of video games, there is a notable lack of comprehensive research on the factors that elicit brand love, which limits developers' and marketers' ability to create engaging experiences that drive loyalty. Utilizing qualitative analysis involving professional gamers, developers, and bloggers, the study provides valuable insights for stakeholders aiming to develop more engaging and intuitive gaming experiences. It contributes to the academic literature on brand love and consumer behavior by identifying key dimensions of video games that evoke brand love. Specifically, the research focuses on: (1) analyzing how gameplay and sensory triggers enhance emotional connections, (2) exploring the impact of neuromarketing techniques on emotional responses, and (3) offering actionable recommendations for improving user experience and boosting customer loyalty. The major research question investigates which video game dimensions can trigger brand love, with subsidiary questions examining the effects of game and sensory triggers, and the potential role of neuromarketing in this context.

Exploring evolutionary psychology perspectives on Sex differences in aggression

This research aims to extend the understanding of sex differences in aggression by applying the lens of Life History Theory to evaluate the effects of age, muscle, occupation, and other variables on aggression tactics. The study involves a resource competition game with 200 participants of both sexes, who can use direct or indirect aggression strategies. A post-game survey will assess the relationship between these variables and the differences in aggression levels. The authors predict that even when taking into account other factors affecting aggression, men will prefer direct aggression, and women will prefer indirect aggression. In conclusion, this work is intended to expand current knowledge of sex differences in aggression and contribute to the field of evolutionary psychology.

Legal Protection Of Underage E-Sports Players Related To Employment Agreements With E-Sports Companies

The purpose of this study was to be able to determine and analyze the legal protection arrangements for electronic sports players (E-Sports) that fall into the category of minors as it is known that children who are in their teens can not do much, therefore the employment agreement requires written permission of the parents. The author uses normative research methods, the nature of analytical prescriptive research. The results and discussion in this study concluded that legal protection for e-sports players with e-sports companies in principle work agreements have been preventively regulated in the law on sports, the Civil Code including special rules PBESI Regulation No. 034/PB-ESI/B/VI / 2021 as a form of regulation of E-sports legal protection in Indonesia. It's just that in terms of repressive legal protection through PBESI Regulation No. 034/PB-ESI/B/VI / 2021 regarding dispute resolution still contains weaknesses, as it is known that children before working ‘must obtain written permission from their parents and a work agreement is made with their parents’, while the regulation does not explain the involvement of parents in dispute resolution. Thus it is necessary to make changes to Article 43 paragraph (1) PBESI Regulation No. 034/PB-ESI/B/VI / 2021 on the implementation of E-sports activities in Indonesia.

Serious Games for Education and Training in the Humanitarian Sector: State of the Art

Serious games and game-based learning have seen slow and stymied adoption in the humanitarian sector, despite their general efficacy as training tools. We looked at over 120 games released between 1990 and 2023 that dealt with topics relevant to the humanitarian sector such as disaster risk management, conflict mitigation, human rights and sustainability, and applied the following filters - serious games, games for education and training, and non-commercial games - to obtain a list of 89 serious games that were designed for awareness, education or training in the humanitarian sector. We then noted their accessibility and investigated the following information for each - year of release, developer, format, platforms, context, purpose, target audience, NGOs involved and related research papers - to understand the trends, challenges and future potential of games as a research and pedagogical tool in this field. Of particular interest to us was the subset of 31 training games aimed at professionals, policy makers and stakeholders. We noted concerning trends regarding the accessibility and longevity of games in this field, and tracked recurrent issues facing the development and dissemination of these games, such as the need for a trained facilitator, the difficulty of adapting the content to new settings, a lack of scientific frameworks to guide their design and a lack of long-term impact metrics. However qualitative surveys conducted by the game designers and some third-party researchers indicate that these games remain a valuable addition to traditional forms of education and training and help enliven a difficult topic through experiential learning. We thus propose that involving professional game designers, embracing digital formats, and investing in archiving and long-term impact studies will greatly benefit the development and accessibility of games for humanitarian education and training.

"Wichita 1-1, Fox Three" - The Role of 3D Telemetry Analysis in Combat Flight Simulation

Analyzing 3D telemetry data collected from competitive video games on the Internet can support players in improving performance as well as spectators in viewing data-driven narratives of the gameplay. In this paper, we conduct an in-depth qualitative study on the use of telemetry analysis by embedding over several weeks in a virtual F-14A Tomcat squadron in the multiplayer combat flight simulator DCS World (DCS) (2008). Based on formative interviews with DCS pilots, we design a web-based game analytics framework for rendering 3D telemetry from the flight simulator in a live 3D player, incorporating many of the data displays and visualizations requested by the participants. We then evaluate the framework with real mission data from several air-to-air engagements involving the virtual squadron. Our findings highlight the key role of 3D telemetry playback in competitive multiplayer gaming.

Paddling as ‘Pelagic Postcolonialism’: Pacific voyaging resurgence, ocean justice and outrigger canoe racing (Va’a) in Fiji

This article presents an exploratory study of va’a, or outrigger canoe racing, in Fiji, based on 13 semi-structured interviews with paddlers and administrators. The sport, which is deeply embedded in Pacific seafaring heritage, emerged in Fiji in the 1980s against the historical background of the region’s decolonisation. The paddling community subsequently developed notable inclusivity in terms of gender, ethnicity and age, in contrast to the gendered and racialised nature of dominant sports in the country, notwithstanding persisting geographical/class disparity. Fiji paddlers have cultivated va’a into a multifaceted sporting practice that simultaneously constitutes a highly competitive modern game, a hip and cool recreational activity, and a cultural movement underpinned by ocean-centred regionalism and an agentic community coalesced around the shared pursuit of ocean justice. Whilst their active involvement in ocean/climate action parallels the environmental activism of nature-based lifestyle sports in other global locations, Fiji paddlers’ engagement with and stewardship of the ocean are inseparable from postcolonial resistance to the subjugation of the Pacific Ocean, knowledges and cultures, a direct consequence of which is the ocean/climate crisis, an unprecedented existential threat to the Pacific Islands today. The distinct nature of their paddling practice may be described as a ‘pelagic postcolonialism’.

Learning to Move Like Professional Counter‐Strike Players

AbstractIn multiplayer, first‐person shooter games like Counter‐Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO), coordinated movement is a critical component of high‐level strategic play. However, the complexity of team coordination and the variety of conditions present in popular game maps make it impractical to author hand‐crafted movement policies for every scenario. We show that it is possible to take a data‐driven approach to creating human‐like movement controllers for CS:GO. We curate a team movement dataset comprising 123 hours of professional game play traces, and use this dataset to train a transformer‐based movement model that generates human‐like team movement for all players in a “Retakes” round of the game. Importantly, the movement prediction model is efficient. Performing inference for all players takes less than 0.5 ms per game step (amortized cost) on a single CPU core, making it plausible for use in commercial games today. Human evaluators assess that our model behaves more like humans than both commercially‐available bots and procedural movement controllers scripted by experts (16% to 59% higher by TrueSkill rating of “human‐like”). Using experiments involving in‐game bot vs. bot self‐play, we demonstrate that our model performs simple forms of teamwork, makes fewer common movement mistakes, and yields movement distributions, player lifetimes, and kill locations similar to those observed in professional CS:GO match play.

Developing Graduate Attributes Through Competitive Gameplay and Learning Theories

The term competitive gameplay or gaming is predominantly associated with esports. Esports, a synonym, or abbreviation for electronic sports is an industry that has a global outreach with a lucrative market. This is accentuated by the event driven, business model focus and organised competitive events, often involving sponsorship. These additional characteristics associated with esports is what distinguishes it from traditional or casual gaming. Though esports games can be played individually, they are predominantly viewed as a team activity. Beyond the debate as to whether esports can be classified as a sport, it is an area that has attracted a significant amount of academic research. Research areas have often included esports psychology, esports player health and nutrition and esports management. Some research studies have also reviewed how esports have the potential to e.0quip esports players with relevant 21st century skills such as critical and lateral thinking. One area where esports appears to be under researched is in the relationship between competitive gameplay and learning theories. It can be argued that this is an important consideration when delivering esports from an educational perspective. The aim of this paper is to provide a scoping review of the esports literature identifying empirical research associated with competitive gaming and graduate attributes. Esports game genres will be explored from a gameplay perspective demonstrating via learning theory examples how these games can facilitate graduate attributes in players. Exploring the domain of esports game genres, learning theories and meta-skills, the paper presents a conceptual model illustrating the interrelationship between these areas. The paper also has practical value to educators, who may be as yet unfamiliar with esports, informing them of the subject’s educational benefits from a graduate attribute and employability perspective.

Design of a Serious Game to Teach Esports Concepts and Career Pathways

The popularity of esports has gained public interest over the past decade, leading to the industries evolution, providing further avenues for career prospects and educational outreach. Esports, abbreviated from electronic sports, is the nature of playing video games casually or professionally at a competitive capacity, either as an individual, or as a team. Previous research areas in esports have focused on education, psychological factors, health and nutrition, business management, performance review, and commercialisation, factoring in the relevance of esports in sports and supporting terms. The industry has different avenues and perspectives that are advantageous to develop innovative approaches, providing information about the industry, and improving the understanding for the wider general audience. Serious games and games-based learning provides the opportunity to educate and inform about the phenomenon of esports and the potential career industry pathways. This paper presents a conceptual design for an esports serious game to educate players about esports in relation to career pathways and genres. Investigation and adaption of serious game frameworks (e.g. Learning Mechanics-Game Mechanics, Activity Theory Model of Serious Games) will be adhered to through the research. This will lead to the development of a serious game for potential stakeholders to assist in their interests in studying or learning about esports and its multi-faceted career opportunities through simulated scenarios. A mixed methods approach will support the increased frequency of new esports programmes in secondary, further, and higher education, using a serious game to inform prospective students in relation to potential career avenues. The conceptual design idea presented in this paper will support the initial research steps of a serious game to teach about esports.

Enhancing Team Cohesion Through a Custom MOBA Game: Development, Implementation &amp; Impact

The quality of a team in organizations has an impact on the success of the team in achieving their goals. Team building activities are one of the elements which can improve relationships in different kinds of teams. One of those can be playing competitive digital games, whether for teams working remotely or on site. This paper presents a case study that explores the design and development process of an innovative online game that combines elements of third-person action and multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) games to provide an experience that strengthens team cohesion. The game design and mechanics support distribution of team roles based on Belbin's theory, highlighting the importance of diverse roles for balanced team functionality. By integrating unique character functions, the game encourages players to understand and appreciate the different roles individuals play in a team, enhancing empathy and mutual respect among team members. The game is uniquely designed to be simpler and more accessible than typical MOBAs, making it an ideal tool for educational and organizational settings to boost team cohesion and communication skills among people from various backgrounds. The leveling of the playing field allows individuals with minimal gaming experience to participate fully and effectively. The design principles ensure that the core mechanics of the game encourage teamwork and effective communication over individual skill, emphasizing collective success. The case study delves into the development process, the challenges faced, the solutions implemented, and the outcomes observed as part of a research project conducted between 2022-2023. The findings suggest that game-based learning can significantly transform traditional team-building methods, introducing a new paradigm for fostering high-performance teams in an increasingly digital world.