History Of Games Research Articles

OLYMPIAQUIZ

The present work aimed to insert strategic tools with the use of board games in order to assist and facilitate learning about the history of Olympic games, highlighting the importance of working the Olympic context in the disciplines of Physical Education and History. Even with the advance of technology, teachers still find it difficult to teach their students in the classroom, because distractions and lack of interest are commonplace in the school environment. Thus, a systematic review of the literature was conducted from journals and academic articles, aiming at a deeper study on the theme addressed. With this, OlympiaQuiz was created, a board game focused on teaching the Olympic Games, exploring the social and historical context of the time, to encourage learning through games.

Challenging Artificial Intelligence With Multiopponent and Multimovement Prediction for the Card Game Big2

Big2 is one of the most popular card games in Chinese residential regions; however, there is lack of advanced computer players with challenging artificial intelligence. In this study, we propose the Big2 artificial intelligence (Big2AI) framework consisting of card superiority analysis, dynamic weight adjustment, game feature learning, and multi-opponent movement prediction based on Monte Carlo Tree Search (MCTS) and Information Set Monte Carlo Tree Search (ISMCTS). According to our review of relevant research, this is the first artificial intelligence framework that can perform self-playing with various computer players, improve win rates through historical game features, and predict multiple movements of multiple opponents in the card game Big2. An Android-based prototype of four-player Big2 game is implemented to verify the feasibility and superiority of Big2AI. Experimental results show that Big2AI outperforms existing artificial intelligence and can achieve the highest win rate and the least losing points against computer and human players in Big2 games.

The Three Versions of the Ultimatum Game

We examine the 1914-1918 creation of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes as a form of the ultimatum game. The negotiations among the Serbian Cabinet and the yugoslav Committee representatives of the Habsburg Souths Slavs from 1914-1918 exemplify three versions of this game. The first version is a typical (rational choice) type of the ultimatum game in which the receiver is satisfied with any offer by the Proposer. The second version is an instance of behavioral game theory. When the Proposer gives an unfair offer, it provokes an emotional reaction in the receiver who will reject it at the cost of harming themselves. We observe this behavior in the emotional behavior of frano Supilo, a Croat and one of the leaders of the yugoslav Committee. The third version of the behavioral ultimatum game can be observed in the behavior of Serbian Prime minister nikola Pašić who opposed any concessions to the yugoslav Committee, thus giving an ultimatum to the Croat side to accept the Serbian offer or remain with nothing, which was harmful to the Serbian side, too. This example is important because it produces two conclusions. first, historical games are often a mixture of several versions. Second, Proposers, too, can have an emotional reaction and give an offer that can hurt themselves. This aspect of the ultimatum game is less mentioned because it is difficult to simulate in experiments.

Better Problems

Better Problems

Nature of arcade games

An arcade game is one of the earliest forms of electronic entertainment in the history of modern video games. Although arcade games have simple rules, people retain their interest and remain enjoyable on the game-playing experience. Since arcade games were considered infinite games in general, this study investigates arcade games’ nature to mechanistically determine the most prominent features that make arcade games repeatable and broadly addictive. This study selected four arcade games: Flappy Bird, Pong, Brick Car Racing, and Tetris, where data were collected by simulation and official statistics of the games. The model of motion in mind has been established recently using classical physics mechanics linked to game-playing information to explore the nature of the human mind. This study analyzes physical quantities changes during the game process of arcade games to explain why arcade games are addictive and provide an ideal condition for maximum attractiveness and excitement. It was found that the applicable jerk dynamics of the game process is the essential nature that appeals to arcade games. Moreover, the concept of relative velocity and the resultant force is established for the single-agent games, taking a meaningful step in exploring the theory of motion in mind.

‘Thinking Through’ Games in the Classroom: Using Discursive Game Design to Play and Engage with Historical Datasets

In this contribution, we outline Discursive Game Design (DGD) as a practice-based educational framework, explain how to use this design framework to teach game historiography, and report on findings from a series of in-class experiments. Using Nandeck, a freely available software tool for card game prototyping, we created sets of playing cards based on two game-historical datasets. Students were then asked to prototype simple games with these card decks; both playtesting and co-creating each other’s games in an ongoing quasi-conversational process between different student groups fostered discussions on, and produced alternative insights into, the complex notion of (Dutch) game history, canonization/selection and games as national cultural heritage. The article shows how DGD can be implemented to allow for students with little or no design background to actively ‘think through’ games about the subject matter at hand.

Video Games as Tools for Education

Computer and video games are a channel of evolution and productivity that is most consumed keeping the notice of scholars through a variety of disciplines. In general, computers and video games were ignored by educators. When educators considered the games, they noticed the social consequences of gambling, ignoring the remarkable educational potential of the game. This article looks at the history of educational research games and argues that the perceptive potential of games has been ignored by educators. Current developments in the game, including interactive stories, authoring tools, and digital world collaboration, suggest powerful new opportunities for educational media. Video games are an important part of improving education through its ability to force players to present realistic simulations of real-life situations. The beginning of the proper use of gaming technologies for education and training and there is no need for scientific and engineering methods to create games not only as a more realistic simulation of the physical world but to provide experience Effective learning. This document illustrates building up to date Integration of educational principles and game design into a dialogue between them and defining games that can be integrated based on design, entertainment, and educational features. The work follows a drawing tray that forms part of the framing definition and after selecting categories of design templates, before focusing on user interaction modes, from a pedagogical point of view, given its relevance to end users

Evolution of the Video Game Market

The videogame industry had evolved since its initial appearance, and along with it, so has target market. This study attempts to analyse the trends throughout the years through observation of marketing materials such as printed and video advertisement commercials. The analysis is done by applying standard practice values employed in advertising communication on chosen samples of said commercial ads from each era of video game history.

Are there predictors of flexible ureteroscopic aptitude among novice trainees? objective assessment using simulation-based trainer.

Non-surgical skills involving hand-eye coordination and bimanual dexterity may have a transferable impact on the acquisition of ureteroscopy skills. In this study, we aim to investigate the predictors of initial flexible ureteroscopy skills among novice trainees. This was a prospective study involving students with no prior ureteroscopy exposure. Non-surgical parameters were assessed with a detailed survey, including demographics, video game, and musical history. Musical ability was objectively evaluated with the mini-Profile of Music Perception Skills test. Ureteroscopic performance was evaluated using a Boston Scientific© flexible ureteroscope on a bench model. Each participant completed diagnostic ureteroscopy and stone extraction. Outcomes included both speed and quality of performance, based on an Objective Structured Assessment of Technical Skills rubric. A total of 28 pre-clerkship medical students and 10 urology residents were included. Age and musical background were not associated with ureteroscopic aptitude. Those with video game history tended to perform ureteroscopy tasks faster with a higher OSATS score, although no statistical significance was reached. Male gender was associated with faster task completion with statistically higher OSATS score independent of video game activities (p = 0.011), however, the absolute score difference was small. Among novice trainees, musical and video game experience was not predictive of ureteroscopy skills. Male gender was associated with slightly faster and higher ureteroscopy technique scores, however, the differences are small and unlikely to represent clinical significance. Nevertheless, the use of ureteroscopy trainer provides useful insights and should be adopted in training programs as a marker of skills progression.

ELEMENTS OF ESCAPE GAMES IN LATVIAN HISTORY LESSONS IN PRIMARY SCHOOL CLASSES

The paper “Elements of Escape Games in Latvian History Lessons in Primary School Classes” reflects escape games as an application of the interactive teaching method in history lessons. Explores the game as a learning technique, as well as the history and characteristics of the escape game, summarizes the students' opinion on the application of the breakout game in lessons of Latvian history, methodological material for the use of escape game elements in history lessons in primary school classes is developed.

DEVELOPING A MOBILE GAMES DATABASE: TRACING INTERDEPENDENCIES AMONG EARLY MOBILE GAMES

Mobile games have been around since at least the 1970s, serving as an important foundation to today’s ludic and digital cultures. Understanding the history of mobile games is relevant because mobile games link digital culture and urban mobility, and they promote sociability. However, reclaiming the history of mobile games poses a challenge to researchers. Many early mobile games are no longer on the market or are expensive to acquire. Others were ephemeral in nature, leaving behind few traces of their existence. To respond to these challenges, we have developed an online, publicly searchable database of mobile games, developed between 1975 and 2008. This database offers a centralized repository where researchers can search for games by using a wide range of criteria, such as title, time frame, genre, type of connectivity, number of players, place of development, authors, and hardware. This paper discusses the process for developing this database, emphasizing the interdependent relationship between theory and practice. It also discusses interdependence as a value for research, more broadly. The database was developed in collaboration with scholars/practitioners across disciplines, and its future robustness depends on the ability to crowd-source information that is scattered across the web and in archives. We argue that the pursuit of interdependence, rather than independence, helps to fuel research, widen perspectives, and disrupt normative frameworks guiding research. It is our hope that the database will improve the process of researching mobile games and serve as a historical record for an increasingly meaningful aspect of culture and social life.

Review: Gaming Utopia: Ludic Worlds in Art, Design, and Media, by Claudia Costa Pederson

Review: <i>Gaming Utopia: Ludic Worlds in Art, Design, and Media</i>, by Claudia Costa Pederson

Video games as a screen-interactive platform of historical media education: educational potential and risks of politicization

Screen culture today, absorbing verbal-narrative and written culture, is the dominant memorial-representative format for the reproduction, preservation and broadcast of cultural information. Among the varieties of screen culture, since the beginning of the 21st century, video games have become especially popular and widespread. They possess unique interactive-procedural qualities, which, together with the traditional grammar of screen narrative, create an original complex of rhetorical techniques that effectively influence the mass public consciousness. In turn, the plot and visual design of video games is often based on historical narratives, becoming a platform for virtual interactive reconstruction of history. The study is devoted to the up-to-date topic of analyzing the on-screen phenomenon of video games as an innovative platform for historical media education, identifying its educational potential and the risks of political distortion of history. The methodological basis of the study is cultural-civilizational, dialectical and historical approaches, as well as structural-functional analysis, comparative-political science approach and systemic method. The study made it possible to identify a wide range of historical video games and classify the modalities of the implementation of historical topics in them with its general educational potential. In addition, the fundamental deconstructive nature of the actualization of the historical metanarrative in the procedural-interactive architectonics of video games has been determined. Finally, three main strategies for distorting and falsifying history in video games have been revealed. According to the results of the study, it was revealed that almost every significant cultural and historical era, with an emphasis on military battle plots, is reflected in the video game format. These game projects have serious educational potential, procedurally immersing the gamer in the context of the main historical facts, cultural aesthetics of the era and internal determinants of historical dynamics. At the same time, the postmodern essence of video games has been established, which poses a threat to the invariance of the perception of history, latently encouraging the intentions to rewrite it. Other risks are contained in the identified examples of politicization of the historical narrative of video games, which are concretized in the tendency to belittle the role of Russia in the international arena and the Eurocentric value accentuation.

Association of Limited In-Person Attendance in US National Football League and National Collegiate Athletic Association Games With County-Level COVID-19 Cases

In 2020 and early 2021, the National Football League (NFL) and National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) opted to host football games in stadiums across the country. The in-person attendance of games varied with time and from county to county. There is currently no evidence on whether limited in-person attendance of games is associated with COVID-19 case numbers on a county-level. To assess whether NFL and NCAA football games with limited in-person attendance were associated with increased COVID-19 cases in the counties they were held compared with a matched set of counties. In this time-series cross-sectional study, every county hosting NFL or NCAA games with in-person attendance (treated group) in 2020 and 2021 was matched with a county that that did not host a game on the corresponding day but had an identical game history for up to 14 days prior (control group). A standard matching method was used to further refine this matched set so that the treated and matched control counties had similar population size, nonpharmaceutical interventions in place, and COVID-19 trends. The association of hosting games with in-person attendance with COVID-19 cases was assessed using a difference-in-difference estimator. Data were analyzed from August 29 to December 28, 2020. Hosting NFL or NCAA games. The main outcome was estimation of new COVID-19 cases per 100 000 residents at the county level reported up to 14 days after a game among counties with NFL and NCAA games with in-person attendance. A total of 528 games with in-person attendance (101 NFL games [19.1%]; 427 NCAA games [80.9%]) were included. The matching algorithm returned 361 matching sets of counties. The median (interquartile range [IQR]) number of attendance for NFL games was 9949 (6000 to 13 797) people. The median number of attendance for NCAA games was not available, and attendance was recorded as a binary variable. The median (IQR) daily new COVID-19 cases in treatment group counties hosting games was 26.14 (10.77-50.25) cases per 100 000 residents on game day. The median (IQR) daily new COVID-19 cases in control group counties where no games were played was 24.11 (9.64-48.55) cases per 100 000 residents on game day. The treatment effect size ranged from -5.17 to 4.72, with a mean (SD) of 1.21 (2.67) cases per 100 000 residents, within the 14-day period in all counties hosting the games, and the daily treatment effect trend remained relatively steady during this period. This cross-sectional study did not find a consistent increase in the daily COVID-19 cases per 100 000 residents in counties where NFL and NCAA games were held with limited in-person attendance. These findings suggest that NFL and NCAA football games hosted with limited in-person attendance were not associated with substantial risk for increased local COVID-19 cases.

Toward a Foucauldian Genealogy of Video Game (Pre)history

Abstract This paper highlights the distortive nature of narrative models that are often employed in video game historiographies to produce captivating tales. More precisely, it argues against: the search for video games’ origin(s); the “chronological-teleological” model based on linear progressions; the “chronological-organic” narrative revolving around a biological-like evolution; the “epistemic breaks” structure based on radical transformations; the “bi-polar” model involving a dialectic of oppositions; and the “cyclical” narrative revolving around postmodern tropes of return, recycling, and retrofitting. In addition to explaining why the uncritical use of these emplotment techniques is problematic, this paper argues in favor of a Foucault-inspired genealogical approach which avoids the quest for the media’s origin(s) and articulates video game history around coexistence, overlaps, interferences, synergies, networks of influences, and discontinuities. This genealogical method also restores the missing inventors, devices, and games in historical records while highlighting the power relations that led to their omission in the first place.

Building a Video Game Collection: Lessons Learned from The Strong’s International Center for the History of Electronic Games

Abstract In 2006, The Strong National Museum of Play began an initiative to collect, preserve, and interpret the history of video games. That effort led to the founding of the International Center for the History of Electronic Games and World Video Game Hall of Fame. The museum’s collection today numbers more than 60,000 video game-related artifacts and hundreds of thousands of archival materials from key creators and companies in the industry. This article discusses the genesis of the museum’s efforts in its play mission, tracks the trajectories of The Strong’s video game initiatives over the years, and discusses some of the challenges faced by museums and other institutions working with video games.

Enablers and barriers of online learning during the covid-19 pandemic: A case study of an online university course

COVID-19 has affected university students’ learning experiences on a great scale. The aim of this study was to understand the enablers and barriers to the effectiveness of online learning in a university course during the COVID-19 pandemic, using a qualitative case study approach. Participants were 44 first-year university students enrolled in a digital game history and analysis course at a private university. Structured and semi-structured interviews were conducted to collect the data, which were then organized and transcribed into full text. Inductive data analysis was applied with content analysis. The researcher used axial coding to compose themes by considering the commonalities among codes created. Five main themes emerged, namely online content, online assignments, online assessment, instructor behavior and practices, and psychological issues. Based on the findings, taking online courses at home and joining online classes from home positively affected students’ mood during the lockdown. On the other hand, students declared feeling pressure due to many online courses. All themes and codes are reported in detail together with direct quotations from students. © 2021, University of Wollongong. All rights reserved.

Reprogramming the History of Video Games: A Historian’s Approach to Video Games and Their History

Abstract This paper explores the need and opportunities for historians to recognize the importance of video games to their research in modern American history. While this paper is rooted in examples specific to United States history, the call for historians to examine video games, engage with the rich field of games studies, and explore video games as sources in historical scholarship is a universal one, applicable to all fields of history. In this paper we argue that digital games are an essential part of media and cultural history and while media scholars and others interested in game studies have taken up the mantel of video games history, historians have been slow to respond to the medium and even slower to engage with video games as historical sources.

Indies de province

Cet article s’intéresse à l’émergence de la création vidéoludique au Québec avant le boom industriel et la popularisation du jeu indépendant. À partir d’archives et d’entretiens avec deux concepteurs autodidactes ayant œuvré dans les années 1990, l’article propose un portrait de deux personnalités méconnues de l’histoire québécoise du jeu : Christian Boutin et I-Grec. Ces portraits permettent de diversifier le récit du phénomène indie et de le réinsérer dans une histoire de plus longue durée.

Waltzing on Rooftops and Cobblestones

The relationship between music, sound, space, and time plays a crucial role in attempts to define the concept of “immersion” in video games. Isabella van Elferen’s ALI (affect-literacy-interaction) model for video game musical immersion offers one of the most integrated approaches to reading connections between sonic cues and the “magic circle” of gameplay. There are challenges, however, in systematically applying this primarily event-focused model to particular aspects of the “open-world” genre. Most notable is the dampening of narrative and ludic restrictions afforded by more intricately layered textual elements, alongside open-ended in-game environments that allow for instances of more nonlinear, exploratory gameplay. This article addresses these challenges through synthesizing the ALI model with more spatially focused elements of Gordon Calleja’s player involvement model, exploring sonic immersion in greater depth via the notion of spatiotemporal involvement. This presents a theoretical framework that broadens analysis beyond a simple focus on the immediate narrative or ludic sequence. Ubisoft’s open-world action-adventure franchise Assassin’s Creed is a particularly useful case study for the application of this concept. This is primarily because of its characteristic focus on blending elements of the historical game and the open-world game through its use of real-world history and geography. Together, the series’s various diegetic and nondiegetic sonic elements invite variable degrees of participation in “historical experiences of virtual space.” The outcome of this research intends to put such intermingled expressions of space, place, and time at the forefront of a ludomusicological approach to immersion in the open-world genre.