Game Space Research Articles

Quantitative reductions and vertex-ranked infinite games

We introduce quantitative reductions, a novel technique for structuring the space of quantitative games and solving them that does not rely on a reduction to qualitative games. We show that such reductions exhibit the same desirable properties as qualitative ones and that they additionally retain the optimality of solutions. Moreover, we introduce vertex-ranked games as general-purpose targets for quantitative reductions and show how to solve them. In such games, the value of a play is determined only by a qualitative winning condition and a vertex-ranking.We provide quantitative reductions of quantitative request-response games and of quantitative Muller games to vertex-ranked games, thus showing ExpTime-completeness of solving the former two kinds of games. In addition, we exhibit the usefulness and flexibility of vertex-ranked games by using them to compute fault-resilient strategies for safety specifications. This lays the foundation for a general study of fault-resilient strategies for more complex winning conditions.

Fast Algorithms for Rank-1 Bimatrix Games

Games with multiplicative payoffs

Images of game and gamer in the space of literature and computer games

The subject of this research is the images of game and gamers. In the space of literary work, they are arrayed in metaphorical and often demonic raiment, receiving moral-ethical interpretation in one or another way. The problem of game and gamer in criticism was regarded by Y. Mann (“On the Concept of Game as a Literary Image”), V. V. Vinogradov (“Style of the Queen of Spades”), E. Dobin (“Ace and Queen”, A. Pushkin’s “The Queen of Spades”), R. Caillois (“Games and People”), British writer and researcher of online games R, Bartle, American scientist Nick Yee, and many others. However, juxtaposition of literature sources on the topic to the research in the field of computer games is conducted for the first time. The scientific novelty consists in the comprehensive examination of the psychological game of the gamer based on the material of Russian literature (A. S. Pushkin “The Queen of Spades”, V. V. Nabokov The Luzhin Defense”) , as well as the modern computer games practice, in which psychological type of the gamer found its realization and development in accordance with genre diversity. Even the Russian classical literature depict game as an autonomous space that encompasses the gamer, and often has devastating effect on their personality. The author also observes an important characterological trait of the gamer: the conceptual, “literal” perception of the world, which is based on the reception of visual images of the world against verbal. Therefore, the Russian literature alongside the research practice of modern videogames from different angles approach examination of the images of “game and gamer”, cognize the factors and consequences of the problems that emerge in this object field, as well as seek for their solution. The data acquired in the course of the conducted comparative analysis is mutually enriching.

Defining the attributes for specific playing positions in football match-play: A complex systems approach

ABSTRACT Introduction Talent identification and development programmes that retain and develop athletes are integral to the sporting success of National Governing Bodies in football. Currently, player attributes are studied in isolation without considering the complexity of interacting components of football performance. The current study applied a systems analysis framework to describe, in a structured and systematic way, the attributes for specific playing positions in football match-play. Methods: Eight high-level football coaches were interviewed. Models of the interacting attributes were developed for each position using Work Domain Analysis (WDA). Results: Six WDA models detail the attributes associated with each playing position. The models identified purposes of playing positions (restrict opposition actions, organise and coordinate, building up of offence, goal scoring and stretch opposition), performance-related measures and the functions required to achieve the playing position purposes (game play, psychological functions, time and space and player actions). Critically, the relationships between the purposes, measures, functions, processes, and objects are described in the models. Discussion The WDA models describe the interacting attributes of different playing positions in football match-play. The findings demonstrate football performance is complex, consisting of multiple interacting and dynamic components. Implications to support coaches in talent identification and development are discussed.

Специфика развития игровой онлайн-индустрии

The article is devoted to identifying the specifics and main reasons for the development of the multiplayer gaming industry. The main factors in its development were not only the improvement of Internet technologies and software, but the great demand of players to expand opportunities for self-presentation, passive entertainment and gaining income in the game space. As a result, there appeared the special virtual trading platforms allowing the player to carry out additional customization of the game character for real money. The customization gives the character special unique characteristics distinguishing him from many others. Each game genre has certain capabilities and functionality for the self-presentation of players through customization of the game character. The desire of players to gain success in a virtual environment has led to the development of the phenomenon called e-sports which is based on holding cyber tournaments in halls with special equipment, visual venues and commentators. The demand for the expansion of the entertainment base has led to the emergence of streaming which is the ability to passively monitor the gameplay broadcasting in the Internet in real time. To attract viewers, and, accordingly, sponsors, broadcasts are accompanied by original jokes and comments, therefore streaming often resembles a television entertainment show.

“Obscene, pornographic, or otherwise objectionable”: Biased definitions of sexual content in video game live streaming

This article articulates and critiques the ways that Twitch, currently the most popular platform for video game live streaming, defines sexual content through its community guidelines, terms of service, and other policy documents. On Twitch, both streamers and viewers are prohibited from posting sexually explicit or suggestive content. This includes images that appear in games as well as on-camera performances. Twitch presents defining sexual content as a matter of common sense and community protection; however, what counts as “sexual content” is far from objective. This analysis reveals that Twitch’s definition of sexual content is in fact vague, subjective, and contradictory and enables discrimination. These policy documents reflect problematic social biases, such as those against women in gaming spaces. Twitch’s policies also reflect anxieties about the relationship between live streaming and webcam-based sex work. This article challenges the sexist cultural logics that shape these policy documents and, by extension, Twitch’s platform politics.

Игровые компьютерные среды и меняющийся опыт городских коммуникаций

Thanks to mobile technologies, a modern city exists as an intersection of real and virtual worlds, combining face-to-face and online communications. Also, a city is a constantly recreated object in virtual gaming spaces and is not just a passive background, but an important resource for the development of gameplay. Hybridization as the addition of physical space to virtual space, and transmediation as the free transfer of content between different platforms, provide new opportunities for citizens to participate and observe urban life. The article's aim is a conceptualization of changes in the urban communication experience on the example of commemorative activities. The authors discuss the case of the Victory Parade on May 9, 2020, which was hosted by gamers in the online space, but thanks to streamers it was broadcast to a wide audience. All participants tried to somehow correspond to a real parade: they used equipment and combat subunits (units), chose locations similar to urban squares, tried to walk, ride or fly in formation, used the marches or songs of the war years. Both gamers and official teams of game developers created their parades. Authors concluded that gaming space, its architecture, and artifacts are of essential importance for this event and creates the basis for a full, partial, or creative reconstruction of the event. The authors note that online games are changing the experience of urban interactions, becoming a platform for both communication and maintaining cultural patterns, for example, for developing citizen rituals. The reproduction of urban rituals in gaming spaces reconfigures the collaborative social activities of nowadays citizens.

Security Enhanced Content Sharing in Social IoT: A Directed Hypergraph-Based Learning Scheme

Security is a critical element to the existing Internet of Things (IoT) deployment, where any user may actively or passively attack the content sharing of others reusing the same channel. As most smart devices are carried by human, we may leverage their owners’ social trust to avoid being intercepted by untrusted users, which conforms to the Social Internet of Things (SIoT) paradigm. In this paper, we propose a secure content sharing (SCS) scheme to strike the trade-off between security and quality of experience (QoE) by exploring the social trust. Firstly, to dynamically extract the social trust, the random walk strategy is employed for prediction based on the proposed “User-Content-Social Group” graph which models users’ preference over time. Given the social trust value, we propose a hierarchical game model to decouple the optimization problem into two sub-problems: user pairing and channel selection. More specifically, the user pairing sub-problem is formulated as a matching sub-game with peer effect, and the embedded rotation-swap matching algorithm can accommodate the dynamics caused by mutual interference. The second sub-problem can be formulated as a secure channel selection sub-game with the directed hypergraph being game space, which is proved to be an exact potential game. Then, we design an uncoupled-user concurrent learning algorithm (UUCL) to search for the optimal pure Nash equilibrium, and thereby the global optimum of this sub-game is achieved. Finally, simulation results generated on realistic social dataset verify that our proposed scheme can notably enhance the security without sacrificing users’ QoE.

Гра як міждисциплінарний феномен науки (філософський аспект)

Актуальність. Філософське осмислення гри є важливим аспектом її міждисциплінарних досліджень, який сприяє всебічному й ґрунтовному вивченню цього наукового феномену, уможливлює ефективне використання його потенцій у різних сферах життєдіяльності людини. Визнання гри глобальним й універсальним явищем, невід’ємною складовою частиною життя означає, що будь-які перетворення та зміни в життєдіяльності кожної людини прямо чи опосередковано співвідносяться з ігровим чинником. Мета роботи – розкрити основні положення філософського напряму міждисциплінарних досліджень гри. Методи дослідження – аналіз, синтез та узагальнення наукової інформації з проблеми дослідження, навчально-методичної літератури й Інтернет-джерел. Результати роботи. Логіка пізнання ігрового феномену веде до синтезу наук, котрі його вивчають, формуючи таким чином взаємозв’язаний комплекс наукових уявлень щодо гри як цілісної різноманітної системи. Гра розкриває єдність динамічного зв’язку людини й світу. Вона уможливлює зустріч та осягнення іншого співбуття, через яке відбувається пізнання себе. Унікальність ігрового буття зумовлена здатністю людини осмислювати світ, можливістю надавати певний сенс речам, подіям, явищам. Сутність гри становлять правила й порядок, які утворюють ігровий простір. Головним у грі є не сама ігрова ціль чи завдання, а динамічність цього процесу, що визначає шляхи й способи її реалізації. Висновки. Гра як міждисциплінарний феномен науки є всеосяжним інтегративним чинником існування людини та пізнання нею навколишнього світу й самої себе. Філософія розглядає гру світоглядною категорією, за допомогою якої формується розуміння природи світу та людської сутності, здійснюється пошук сенсу життя. Гра виступає фундаментальною характеристикою буття, універсальним механізмом реалізації всього сущого, а ігрова діяльність є дієвим способом поєднання свободи та необхідності, безперервного й дискретного, сталого та перемінного. Синтезуючи минуле й майбутнє, відоме з незнайомим, ігровий феномен дає змогу можливе перетворити в реальне.

SYNERGETIC APPROACH TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIO-CULTURAL SPACE MOUNTAIN SCHOOL REGION OF UKRAINIAN CARPATHIANS

The article reveals the peculiarities of formation and development of socio-cultural space of educational institutions of mountain areas of the Carpathians from the standpoint of synergistic approach. The author presents an interpretation of the characteristics of the region as a component of the socio-cultural space, which determines the scientific and philosophical knowledge and contemporary interpretation of this multifaceted phenomenon. They reveal the essence of the scientific discourse on the formation of socio-cultural space of the mountain school of the Ukrainian Carpathians region, point out the necessity to preserve the identity, special intellectual, moral and ethno-cultural potential inherent in this education, in the conditions of development of integration processes and globalization in the whole world. The author emphasizes that socio-cultural space is a complex dynamic system of interrelated pedagogical events, educational and cultural activities that form the basis of life of the mountain school of the Ukrainian Carpathians region, which is aimed at personal development of the student, becoming and development of his or her life skills. Accordingly, under the conditions of implementation of the synergistic approach, the following substantive elements should become components of the socio-cultural educational space of the mountain school: the personal space of the student; educational space; self-educational space; work space; social space; cultural space; living space; game space; educational space.

Analysis of the Variability of the Game Space in High Performance Football: Implementation of the Generalizability Theory.

The analysis of variability in sport has shown significant growth in recent years. Also, the study of space management in the game field has not been object of research yet. The present study pretends to describe the variability in the use of strategic space in high performance football. To do this, the spatial management of the Spanish men’s soccer team when it is in possession of the ball has been analyzed, during its participation in the UEFA Euro 2012 championship. Specifically, 6861 events have been collected and analyzed. Different zoning of the field have been used, and the location of the ball has been recorded in each offensive action. Using the observational methodology as a methodological filter, two types of analysis have been carried out: first, a General Linear Model was implemented to know the variability of the strategic space. Models with two, three, four and five variables have been tested. In order to estimate the degree of accuracy and generalization of the data obtained, the Generalizability Theory was implemented. Next, and in order to estimate the degree of accuracy and generalization of the data obtained, the Generalizability Theory was implemented. The results showed that the model that produces greater variability and better explanation is the four-variable model (P = 0.019; r2 = 0.838), with the inclusion of the variables match half, rival, move initiation zone and move conclusion zone. Next, an optimization plan was implemented to know the degree of generalization with the Rival, Start Zone (SZ) and Conclusion Zone (CZ) facets. The available results indicate that it is based on an adequate research design in terms of the number of observations. The results of the present study could have a double practical application. On the one hand, the inclusion of the game’s space management in training sessions will potentially conceal the true tactical intention. On the other hand, knowing the variability of the strategic space will allow to exploit areas of the optimal playing field to attack the rival team.

Gaming Design Thinking: Wicked Problems, Sufficient Solutions, and the Possibility Space of Games

ABSTRACT The multiple conceptualizations of design thinking make it difficult to implement and teach in TPC, especially given classroom constraints. We propose a framework (mind-set and process) that balances knowing with the thinking/doing of design thinking. This framework is effectively implemented through game design. We demonstrate that game design increases students’ ability to iterate and solve macro- and micro-level problems along with their ability to approach unfamiliar or ill-structured tasks while facing such wicked problems.

Dynamics of Strategy Distributions in a One-Dimensional Continuous Trait Space for Games with a Quadratic Payoff Function

Evolution of distribution of strategies in game theory is an interesting question that has been studied only for specific cases. Here I develop a general method to extend analysis of the evolution of continuous strategy distributions given a quadratic payoff function for any initial distribution in order to answer the following question—given the initial distribution of strategies in a game, how will it evolve over time? I look at several specific examples, including normal distribution on the entire line, normal truncated distribution, as well as exponential and uniform distributions. I show that in the case of a negative quadratic term of the payoff function, regardless of the initial distribution, the current distribution of strategies becomes normal, full or truncated, and it tends to a distribution concentrated in a single point so that the limit state of the population is monomorphic. In the case of a positive quadratic term, the limit state of the population may be dimorphic. The developed method can now be applied to a broad class of questions pertaining to evolution of strategies in games with different payoff functions and different initial distributions.

어드벤처 게임에서 플레이이벤트별 게임공간의 시각적 환경요소

본 논문은 어드벤처 게임에서 플레이이벤트별 게임공간의 시각적 환경요소를 분석하였다. 대표적인 어드벤처 게임 10종에서 공통 플레이이벤트 6종을 추출하고, 공간구조 3유형과 오브젝트 4유형을 분석기준으로 설정하였다. 이를 바탕으로 직접플레이 및 모니터링을 수행하여 시각적 환경요소의 특징을 구체화 하였다. 그 결과, 플레이이벤트에서 의도하는 스토리와 유도하는 게임플레이는 시각적 환경요소와 밀접한 연관성이 있음을 확인하였다.

NOT SUFFERING FOOLS GLADLY: CRAFTING PROSOCIAL COMMUNITY IN ONLINE MULTIPLAYER MINECRAFT

Over 700 million people worldwide are socializing and spending time, sometimes significant amounts, in online multiplayer games, and these social spaces can be important sites of community. Unfortunately, levels of civility, aggression, and mutual helping can vary significantly between game spaces. Given their ubiquity and importance in so many people’s lives, it is critical to understand how a prosocial community can be created and maintained over time in these spaces for those who want them. This research uses virtual ethnography and interpretive phenomenological analysis to examine how moderation and community development strategies, game design elements, and player behaviours are experienced and can be influenced by players in prosocially-oriented online multiplayer Minecraft servers. It is clear that it is the prosocial orientation of players and the commitment, social skill, and integrity of server moderators that is most key to creating and maintaining a prosocial gaming environment and that although game design can support prosociality, game design factors appear to be much less important overall. Attracting the right players—and refusing entry to the wrong ones—is the most important concern.

Co-diseño in-situ de Juegos Móviles usando un abordaje con recursos de Design Thinking

El aporte de este trabajo es explorar cómo abordar experiencias de co-diseño in-situ de Juegos Móviles basados en posicionamiento en espacios cerrados (por ejemplo, un edificio), describiendo las lecciones aprendidas sobre esta temática. En este trabajo se presenta un framework conceptual para el co-diseño in-situ de Juegos Móviles basados en posicionamiento para espacios cerrados con el objetivo de ayudar a los facilitadores a abordar este tipo de experiencias con recursos útiles (por ejemplo, recursos de Design Thinking). Usando este framework, se presenta una experiencia de co-diseño in-situ de un Juego Móvil basado en posicionamiento en un espacio cerrado; para algunas etapas se utilizó una herramienta de autor que permite co-diseñar in-situ cuáles son los lugares relevantes para una aplicación. A partir de esta experiencia, se extendió la herramienta de autor para poder crear un tipo particular de Juego Móvil basado en posicionamiento. En este trabajo se presenta esta extensión junto con una prueba de conceptos que muestra cómo un juego co-diseñado in-situ con esta extensión fue usado por usuarios finales.

Gamer Girl Visibility: Networks and Their Gendered Ingroup Behaviours in Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Games

‘Why can’t I just be a gamer? Why do I have to be a “female gamer”?’ While a generic term for all gamers may be looming on the horizon, there are still aspects of play which draw clear boundaries between male and female gamers. These boundaries, however, are often illusions. In Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Games (MMOs), several networks exist within the game space, and one such network is that of ‘female character’. For male players to gain a part in this network, many gender-bend, and the gender of the character is what determines their actions not the gender of the players themselves. When men use female avatars, they engage in behaviours which they believe are typical feminine acts, (healing, fighting from a distance, etc.) but these are based on false perceptions about gender roles. Gaining access to this network is one which requires constant performance; however, it is a network which is often inhospitable for real-world women.

Playing stories?

AbstractDrawing on Janet Murray (1997), Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman (2004), and other previous proposals, this article conceptualizes player agency as the possibility space for “meaningful” choice expressed via player action that translates into avatar action, afforded and constrained by a videogame’s design. It further distinguishes between four core dimensions of agency thus conceptualized: First,spatial-explorative agencyis afforded by those elements of a videogame’s design that determine the player’s ability to navigate and traverse the game spaces via their avatar. Second,temporal-ergodic agencyis afforded by those elements of a videogame’s design that determine the player’s options for interacting with the videogame as a temporal system. Third,configurative-constructive agencyis afforded by those elements of a videogame’s design that allow the player to configure their avatar and/or (re)construct the game spaces. Fourth,narrative-dramatic agencyis afforded by those elements of a videogame’s design that determine the player’s “meaningful” impact on the unfolding story. The article then moves on to analyze two case studies of independently developed videogames: ZA/UM’s role-playing gameDisco Elysium(2019), whose complex nonlinear narrative structure primarily affords configurative and narrative agency, and System Era Softworks’s sandbox adventure gameAstroneer(2019), whose procedurally generated game spaces and “open” game mechanics primarily afford explorative, constructive, and dramatic agency.

Where Are the Girls? Locating Girlhood in Game Studies

Where Are the Girls? Locating Girlhood in Game Studies Ashley P. Jones (bio) Cunningham, Carolyn M. Games Girls Play: Contexts of Girls and Video Games. Lexington Books, 2018. 181 pp. $90.00 hc. ISBN 9781498554565. Carolyn M. Cunningham’s Games Girls Play: Contexts of Girls and Video Games paints a picture of how girls within the United States interact with, relate to, and understand video games at large and within their personal lives. The book works to better understand the relationship between gender constructions and video games. Cunningham takes a media ecology approach to the different contexts in which girls in elementary, middle, and high school consume and interact with video games within the United States. Cunningham builds on Adrienne Shaw’s Gaming at the Edge: Sexuality and Gender at the Margins of Gamer Culture, which focuses on marginalized populations of gamers and their relationships with video games in their everyday lives. Shaw focuses on the effects of social contextualization of video games within player’s experiences as an important factor to consider when exploring gaming in conjunction with gender identity and performance (22). “Girl Games” are games that feature female protagonists or feminine gameplay (Cunningham 26). Addressing the marginalized gamer population of girls and drawing from research on girls elementary school age through high school, Cunningham explores the intersection of girlhood with gaming through a variety of lenses, such as marketing and consumption as well as feminist theory and activism. Cunningham argues that gendered differences in video games are reflections of both the video-game industry and the home lives of girls in her study. Girls reported that games designed for and marketed to them often operate in accordance with a rigid form of femininity that does not capture their attention. Furthermore, video games are a leisure activity that many felt was denied to them, in part due to the challenges of accessing video [End Page 194] games within their homes. Limited access was often attributed to the role of brothers and the assumed masculinity of video games, as well as rules imposed by parents on access to certain games and hardware to play the games. In addition to the gendered differences advertised by marketing companies, the girls’ understanding of how video games fit into their personal lives, and access to video games, Cunningham also looks at how feminism is playing a role in video-game culture at large. Historically, female gamers have been excluded from the public spaces of gaming including, but not limited to, gaming conventions (Huntemann 75), Xbox Live clans (Gray 413), and in e-sports competitions (Witkowski 186). Within these spaces, Nina B. Huntemann, Kishonna L. Gray, and Emma Witkowski have all shown that female participation is policed and regulated in ways that keep the gaming space masculine oriented. Furthermore, Gray argues that these spaces are also policed to keep the spaces white through such tactics as linguistic profiling and the use of language in the spaces (414–16). Recent changes brought about by hashtag activism have shown that cultural discourses surrounding feminism, gender, and video games are changing, and, as a result, video game spaces are becoming more friendly to those who have historically been excluded. The Gamergate controversy—a campaign of hate speech and sexual harassment directed toward female video game designers by young, male gamers— highlights how issues of sexism, gender discrimination, and feminism have been making their way into these discourses for the last decade. Cunningham argues that it is within these feminist conversations that video games have the potential to make an impact in shaping larger cultural values. She also argues that STEM-directed community groups show potential for change, as they provide opportunities to girls of all ages to participate in video-game design. While Cunningham argues for the developmental benefits that these programs provide to a marginalized group within the video-game industry, she also adds that the economic justifications that tend to be featured as benefits of these types of programs are not reflected in real video game development companies. Women within the gaming industry still face problems with being hired and staying with companies for any extended amount of time. Cunningham presents a well-researched perspective...

Homo ludens 2.0: пределы мифологизации в цифровом пространстве игры

Homo ludens 2.0: пределы мифологизации в цифровом пространстве игры