Game Makers Research Articles

Real-world demotivation as a predictor of continued video game playing: A study on escapism, anxiety and lack of intrinsic motivation

• We examined how frustration types impact online gamer loyalty. • Frustration types motivate game escapism, which fuels online gamer loyalty. • Anxiety weakens the impact of autonomy frustration, but strengthens the impact of competence frustration on escapism. Past research has identified some positive impacts of game escapism, but has not explored what drives gamers to escape into games. Research filling this gap will provide game makers with knowledge on ways to attract gamers and foster continued playing intention, motivating our study. We theorize how types of real-world frustration—namely autonomy frustration, competence frustration, and relatedness frustration—drive game escapism, fostering continued playing intention. We collected responses from 1785 online gamers to empirically test our research model. We found that only autonomy frustration and competence frustration are related to game escapism and further to continued playing intention. Game escapism is a mediator in the link between real-world frustration and continued playing intention. Gamer anxiety positively moderates the link between competence frustration and game escapism, but negatively moderates the link between autonomy frustration and game escapism. Our model contributes to the video game literature by identifying those who are likely to engage in game escapism. Our model explained 40% of continued playing intention, indicating the practical significance of identifying a target audience and fostering their continued playing intention.

How strategic, offensive, and defensive engagement impact gamers’ need satisfaction, loyalty, and game usage

Online games are popular digital technologies that enable gamers to engage in competitive play. However, little is known about how competitive engagement satisfies gamer needs and builds their loyalty and game usage. This lack of knowledge prevents game makers from properly designing in-game competition functions. Our research aim is to theorize the contextual features of online games, namely, competitive engagement, and build a theoretical model to explain how competitive engagement satisfies online gamers’ needs and increases their game usage. We collected data from 1543 online gamers and used structural equation modeling to test the model. Our analytical results indicate that strategic engagement is positively related to competence need satisfaction. Offensive engagement is positively related to competence and autonomy need satisfaction. Defensive engagement is positively related to relatedness need satisfaction. Satisfaction of all needs is positively related to online gamer loyalty and game usage. Our study uniquely introduces three novel elements of competitive engagement—namely, strategic, offensive, and defensive engagement—into the online gaming domain. Our findings offer a new insight to game makers that suggests they should focus on motivating gamers’ competitive engagement.

Designing an Android-Based Borneo Orangutan Adventure Game Using Scirra Construct 2

Currently the game is very popular with many people. Because the game is a game that uses a smartphone that is easy to carry everywhere, the game is also a form of multimedia entertainment that is made as attractive as possible. Even game makers make it as interesting and fun as possible so that the general public can use it. In this study, the Borneo orangutan adventure game aims to introduce orangutans in Central Kalimantan and the life of orangutans. The benefits of this research are for entertainment media and the introduction of Bornean orangutans. This game is designed with multimedia software method. From the results of the black box test the application is in accordance with the purpose of making the game while the results of the questionnaire respondents with a Likert scale show that 91.2% are on a very good scale or satisfied in terms of the appearance of the game and the way the game operates.

Production of Game Making Spaces: Disco Elysium and the game making community in Estonia

Abstract This article discusses Disco Elysium in the context of the development of game making communities in Estonia and international production networks. Drawing on an analysis of secondary sources, in-depth interviews and a survey with game makers in Estonia, this article contributes to studies on national and regional game-production cultures. The aim of this article is two-fold. First, it contributes to studies of game production cultures by discussing the development and structure of game-making communities in Estonia. As such, it enriches the understanding of game production in Europe by providing empirical data about game making in Estonia. Second, based on the example of Disco Elysium, the article demonstrates how national, regional and international production networks contribute to the spatial politics of game production. In conclusion, this article emphasises the importance of the construction of space in game production and the asymmetries of power among game production regions.

Power structure builds gamer loyalty

Online games offer substantial business opportunities, fueling intense competition among game makers. To build gamer loyalty, a critical challenge for game makers is preventing gamers' misbehaviors that annoy other gamers. Such challenges should be considered when game makers are making their design decisions and resource allocation decisions. We contend that building in-game relational cohesion should be an effective means of reducing such behaviors and strengthening loyalty. We also extend relational cohesion theory (RCT) by challenging the assumption that only equal power helps form relational cohesion in one-on-one contexts. In contrast, unequal power may provide an alternative means of enhancing relational cohesion in large groups of users (e.g., the entire user population). This study is the first to introduce and explore how unequal power—a novel and critical element of power structure—forms relational cohesion and strengthens online gamer loyalty. This study uses both behavioral-continuous and perceptual-anchored scales to collect responses from 1003 online gamers. Theoretically, this study widens the applicability of RCT from one-on-one contexts to one-to-many contexts. Practically, this study can help game makers make design and resource allocation decisions to use unequal power, thus effectively building gamer loyalty.

How does media richness foster online gamer loyalty?

The online game market is highly popular, resulting in fierce competition among game makers and prompting them to find ways to strengthen gamer loyalty. Online gamers enjoy interacting, socializing, and building quickly formed relationships, i.e., swift guanxi, which greatly rely on games as media through which to exchange rich messages. However, it is not known how these aspects foster gamer loyalty. To fill this gap, we examine how media richness aspects form gamers’ perceptions of presence, interactivity, and swift guanxi, which help foster gamer loyalty. We used a total of 1350 online gamers’ responses to test our model. The results show that two of the four aspects of media richness effectively enhance presence, interactivity, and swift guanxi, which in turn strengthen gamer loyalty. We extend media richness theory by identifying some novel consequences of media richness, i.e., presence, interactivity, and swift guanxi, and establishing their interrelationships. We also ascertain the mechanism that leads from media richness to gamer loyalty. Our findings identify the drivers that game makers can use to strengthen user loyalty to online games, software games, and gamified systems.

Streaming ambivalence: Livestreaming and indie game development.

Commercial game makers at all scales of production have increasingly come to incorporate livestreaming into every stage of the game development cycle. Mainstream hits like Fortnite and League of Legends owe their ongoing success in no small part to their massive uptake by streamers, and triple-A releases from major publishers can reliably expect significant attention on streaming platforms. But what about smaller, lower budget games? For independent game developers, the costs and benefits of streaming are less clear. Based on interviews with small commercial indie developers in Toronto and Montréal, this article critically examines different discourses around streaming and commercial indie games, focusing on developer perceptions of the benefits and risks of streaming and its impacts on indie game-making practices, including production, promotion, and community-building. Contrary to persistent popular myths about streaming as the key to ‘discoverability’, commercial indie game development remains a precarious form of cultural work, and indie games collectively attract only a tiny fraction of the overall audience on streaming platforms. There is a high level of uncertainty about the factors that led to a given game’s success, leaving many indie developers ambivalent about leveraging influencer attention and even as they commit significant time and energy trying to doing so.

Militarizing Monopoly: Game Design for Wartime

Abstract This article tells the story of how Monopoly, a familiar object, was militarized on the eve of World War II. It will trace how game makers working for both Allied and Axis nations redesigned Monopoly to address their own political contexts, ranging from the Great Depression to Italian Fascism to Nazi German POW camps. To understand how different nations mobilized Monopoly for wartime, we first must turn to the historical origins of its design.

Bonnie Ruberg, The Queer Avant-Garde: How LGBTQ Game Makers Are Reimagining the Medium of Video Games

Bonnie Ruberg, The Queer Avant-Garde: How LGBTQ Game Makers Are Reimagining the Medium of Video Games Duke University Press, 2020. Pp. 288. Illustrations: 48. ISBN: 978-1-4780-0658-9 Constantine Chatzipapatheodoridis, Ph.D, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki In The Queer Games Avant-Garde: Reimagining the Medium of Video Games, Bonnie Ruberg has pieced together a series of interviews with game makers which focus on the queering of video games as well as on the creators’ personal narratives...

In Case You Haven't Heard…

A new study by researchers at Oxford University found that playing video games can actually be good for mental health, 69 News reported Nov. 17. It was published as video game sales are booming this year because more people are stuck at home during this pandemic, and a lot of countries have once again imposed limits on public life. The paper was based on survey responses from more than 3,000 people who played two games: Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville and Animal Crossing: New Horizons. The study used data provided by game makers Electronic Arts and Nintendo on how much time participants spent playing. The researchers say they found the actual amount of time spent playing was a small but significant positive factor in people's well‐being. The study says the level of enjoyment players get from a game could be a more important factor for their well‐being than mere playing time. The results could cast doubt on long‐held assumptions that gaming causes aggression or addiction.

Differentiate the Game Maker in Any Soccer Match Based on Social Network Approach

A game maker controls the game by passing the ball among the teammates and is considered the most influential player in any ball-passing multiplayer team game. In the current approach, we have represented the players and the ball passing among themselves using a dynamic social network structure. Now, the challenging task is to differentiate the game maker from any match where the performance of any individual player is not directly involved with the cumulative effect of the scoring mechanism. Different temporal graph centrality metrics, such as degree, closeness, betweenness, and clustering coefficient, have differentiated the game maker in the ball-passing network. We have analyzed some random games of FIFA men’s world cup 2018, to distinguish the game makers from the matches as a case study. Another challenging problem is to locate the tactical position of the influential passes. We have investigated the games and identified those areas in different time frames. The accuracy of our method is tested over the real-life benchmark data set. The analytical results exhibit notable improvement over the existing methods. Our study opens up a new framework for the strategic analysis not only for soccer but also for similar ball-passing multiplayer team games, such as basketball and hockey.

Controlling for Placebo Effects in Computerized Cognitive Training Studies With Healthy Older Adults From 2016-2018: Systematic Review.

BackgroundComputerized cognitive training has been proposed as a potential solution to age-related cognitive decline. However, published findings from evaluation studies of cognitive training games, including metastudies and systematic reviews, provide evidence both for and against transferability from trained tasks to untrained cognitive ability. There continues to be no consensus on this issue from the scientific community. Some researchers have proposed that the number of results supporting the efficacy of cognitive training may be inflated due to placebo effects. It has been suggested that placebo effects need to be better controlled by using an active control and measuring participant expectations for improvement in outcome measures.ObjectiveThis review examined placebo control methodology for recent evaluation studies of computerized cognitive training programs with older adult subjects, specifically looking for the use of an active control and measurement of expectations.MethodsData were extracted from PubMed. Evaluation studies of computerized cognitive training with older adult subjects (age ≥50 years) published between 2016 and 2018 were included. Methods sections of studies were searched for (1) control type (active or passive) and subtype (active: active-ingredient or similar-form; passive: no-contact or passive-task); (2) if expectations were measured, how were they measured, and whether they were used in analysis; and (3) whether researchers acknowledged a lack of active control and lack of expectation measurement as limitations (where appropriate).ResultsOf the 19 eligible studies, 4 (21%) measured expectations, and 9 (47%) included an active control condition, all of which were of the similar-form type. The majority of the studies (10/19, 53%) used only a passive control. Of the 9 studies that found results supporting the efficacy of cognitive training, 5 were for far transfer effects. Regarding the limitations, due to practical considerations, the search was limited to one source (PubMed) and to search results only. The search terms may have been too restrictive. Recruitment methods were not analyzed, although this aspect of research may play a critical role in systematically forming groups with different expectations for improvement. The population was limited to healthy older adults, while evaluation studies include other populations and cognitive training types, which may exhibit better or worse placebo control than the studies examined in this review.ConclusionsPoor placebo control was present in 47% (9/19) of the reviewed studies; however, the studies still published results supporting the effectiveness of cognitive training programs. Of these positive results, 5 were for far transfer effects, which form the basis for broad claims by cognitive training game makers about the scientific validity of their product. For a minimum level of placebo control, future evaluation studies should use a similar-form active control and administer a questionnaire to participants at the end of the training period about their own perceptions of improvement. Researchers are encouraged to think of more methods for the valid measure of expectations at other time points in the training.

Impacts of media richness on network features and community commitment in online games

PurposeOnline gamers form communities and offer game makers various revenue sources. Gamers' continual revenue contributions should depend on their commitment to gaming communities (CGC), where they rely heavily on communication media that carry rich information or provide enhanced media richness. However, no study has yet examined how to use the four elements of media richness to fuel gamers' CGC, revealing a research gap. Seeking to fill this gap, this study constructs a research framework and formulates hypotheses based on media richness theory (MRT).Design/methodology/approachThis study obtained responses from 1,971 online gamers and applied structural equation modeling to test the hypotheses.FindingsThis study finds that the four media richness elements have selective impacts on network convergence and interdependence that result in CGC. Moreover, compared with interdependence, network convergence has a stronger impact on CGC.Originality/valueThe findings offer online game makers insights that will enable them to design the communication functions in games to support the formation of strongly connected gamer communities. Moreover, the findings advance MRT by showing its ability to explain the formation of online gaming communities.

O game como meio de expressão: turnê Brasil

Em 2019, Isabelle Arvers embarca em uma turnê mundial de arte e jogos em países não ocidentais para promover a diversidade de gênero, sexualidade e origem geográfica e concentra-se em práticas queer, feministas e descoloniais. Vem trabalhando atualmente para a realização de uma exposição e conferência internacional sobre estudos de jogos pós-coloniais a serem realizadas na Sorbonne em 2020. Este texto tem por foco a turnê no Brasil.

The Magic Wardrobe: The subversion of the metaphor “coming out of the closet” as an artifact of resistance and struggle in a digital game

Maintaining certain modes of existence/action in the gaming universe seems to be directly linked to the low identity diversity in the digital game development industry. Within this context, we argue in this paper that a game is a way of representing/acting, in other words, it is a discourse in which people can act and interact in/on the world and, especially, with others. Thus, considering that game makers can project their social, personal beliefs and values in their projects, consciously or unconsciously, we use the Values At Play methodology to clarify that conscientious designers can creatively contribute in the rearticulation of society's power asymmetries. Methodologically, it is a qualitative, applied and exploratory study – we problematize the production of games and the limited representation of LGBTQI+ in the universe of digital games in order to defend the importance of making differences visible, and presenting a strategy for “how do that“. We argue that presenting such practical examples may have great potential to prompt other developers to produce and share work that can turn hegemonic culture around.

‘Cease and desist?’ The persistence of Marlboro brand imagery in racing video games

BackgroundSince 1972, Philip Morris (PM) has sponsored motorsports. Racing video games are a popular genre among youth and often emulate the branding of their real-life counterparts, potentially exposing youth to...

Augmenting Character Path Planning with Layered Social Influences

Creating behavior for believable characters is one of the main challenges within video games and is a key component in providing immersive experiences. As games become more complex, developers turn to AI techniques to generate believable character behaviors to enhance a player’s gameplay experience. Traditionally, path planning allows characters to navigate game worlds in a responsive way but has run-time efficiency and path distance as its primary goals. However, this tradition can be broken to make path planning another channel for generating believable characters. This paper describes a system of augmenting path planning with layered influences that can capture different social problems and nuances of character interactions within games. Additionally, we explore the social importance of characters moving through game worlds via a system that allows authors, game makers, and characters to use path planning as an expressive channel.

The Econtractor? Defining the Esports Employment Relationship

Esports is now a multibillion‐dollar industry that has quickly become one of the most discussed segments of the entertainment industry. There has been a rush to mention esports alongside other more traditional sports like baseball, basketball, football, and hockey, but the comparison may not be apt. Esports leagues are fundamentally different from traditional sports leagues because the competitive games that make up esports are the intellectual property of the game makers. This unique structure results in individualized relationships between the game makers, esports producers, the teams, and the competitors. This article is among the first to examine the legal status of esports competitors. In doing so, we discuss the employment conditions within esports that make them unique. The industry is poised to face significant labor‐related challenges in the near future, so the article also analyzes the labor issues esports competitors and leagues face, and the importance for stakeholders to pay attention to the legal status and working conditions of the competitors.

Spreadable Jams: Implementing Social Scholarship through Remodeled Game Jam Paradigms

Game design communities often come together during ‘Game Jams,’ open social events in which game makers creatively respond to a design provocation by generating numerous prototypes over a short period of time. Such prototypes are often discussed between participants at the end of the event, then shared with a larger public audience. This fruitful process, which encourages collaborative sharing rather than competition between participants, differs in purpose, structure and outcome from many existing models of academic scholarship and scholarly communication. Inspired by the potential of such events, this paper argues that the game jam paradigm, and more generally, ‘spaces apart,’ can be effectively adopted, adapted, and repurposed to facilitate a broader social generation and dissemination of research creation prototypes, modelling an alternative kind of scholarly making in the humanities that runs parallel to, and is as equally valued and valid as, existing publication models.

Research on the Quality of Game Consumption Relation Based on Attachment Mechanism

As the mobile gaming market continues to evolve and the competition in mobile gaming applications intensifies, it has become more and more important to establish a lasting relationship between enterprises and players. This article explores whether convenience, sociality, and game attachment affect the quality of relationships from a consumer perspective and studies the regulatory role of attachment anxiety in this relationship. Empirical results show that convenience and sociality all have a significant positive impact on game attachment, which in turn enhances the quality of player-game relationship, and also verifies the negative regulation of attachment anxiety. On this basis, it is suggested that game makers should improve the sociality of the game application, strengthen the connection between different subjects and improve the anxiety of the players so as to obtain better relationship quality while optimizing the operation convenience of the game itself.