Multi-user Online Games Research Articles

Impact of compulsory participation of medical students in a multiuser online game to learn radiological anatomy and radiological signs within the virtual world Second Life.

Competitive game-based learning within Second Life enables effective teaching of basic radiological anatomy and radiological signs to medical students, with good acceptance and results when students participate voluntarily, but unknown in a compulsory context. The objectives of this study were to reproduce a competitive online game based on self-guided presentations and multiple-choice tests in a mandatory format, to evaluate its development and student perceptions compared to a voluntary edition in 2015 (N = 90). In 2016 and 2017, respectively, 191 and 182 third-year medical students participated in the game as a mandatory course activity. The mean (±SD) score of the game was 74.7% (±19.5%) in 2015, 71.2% (±21.5%) in 2016, and 67.5% (±21.5%) in 2017 (P < 0.01). Participants valued positively the organization and educational contents but found the virtual world less attractive and the game less interesting than in the voluntary edition. The experience globally was rated with 8.2 (±1.5), 7.8 (±1.5), and 7.1 (±1.7) mean points (±SD) in a ten-point scale, in the 2015, 2016, and 2017 editions, respectively (P < 0.05). Competitive learning games within virtual worlds like Second Life have great learning potential in radiology, but the mean score in the game decreased, acceptance of virtual world technology was lower, and opinion about the game was worse with a compulsory participation, and even worse when dropouts were not allowed. Under the conditions in which this study was conducted, learning games in three-dimensional virtual environments should be voluntary to maintain adequate motivation and engagement of medical students.

Sources of economic growth in the XXI century: video game industry

This article focuses on determination of trends and prospects for the development of video game industry in the Russian Federation. Analysis is conducted on evolution of the video game market and trends that established thereof. The author examines the dynamics in gaming industry revenue allocated by segments, and the share held by video games on the markets of the Eurasian Economic Union member-states. The author carries out a comparative analysis of the revenue of the global gaming industry for all segments (games for smartphones, tablets, PC, etc.) with GDP of some EAEU member-states for the 7-year period, and as well as makes a forecast of the dynamics of revenue of gaming industry by the segments. The overall revenue obtained from the global gaming industry has increased by 115% in the past 7 years and account to $ 151.9 billion. The article explores the current state of video game market in the Russian Federation, which almost doubled in the past 5 years and accounts to $ 1.9 billion. The key risks that can negatively affect the development of video game industry are identified. The conclusion is made that despite the existing risks, a dynamic increase in the segment of mass multiuser online games and its audience should be expected in the nearest future; by 2022, the segment of games for mobile devices could take up to half of the entire gaming market.

Collaborative education in a virtual learning environment

For the last few decades, there was tremendous interest in harnessing 3D virtual environments for education and training. Multi-user game-like environments make use of non-player characters and quest activities in tutoring and training. This approach incorporates successful active learning and incremental progress. This article presents issues encountered while adapting the multi-user online game genre for educational virtual environments. In this endeavour, non-player characters play a central role in organising and delivering educational content. Educational virtual environments call for additional kinds of extension beyond generic user content creation as delivered in some virtual worlds like Second Life. Support for these environments will emphasise the creation of new activities. A set of libraries and techniques named portable non-player character tutors and quests reduces the effort needed to develop and integrate educational non-player characters. These non-player characters are introduced in CVE, a platform for rapidly developing educational virtual environments. The portable non-player character tutors and quests framework enables formatted web-based exercises, quizzes, and educational content to be incorporated into virtual worlds, reducing the effort needed to create new content. The framework presented in this article introduces initial non-player characters that support educational quest activities to the 3D environments users.

Collaborative education in a virtual learning environment

For the last few decades, there was tremendous interest in harnessing 3D virtual environments for education and training. Multi-user game-like environments make use of non-player characters and quest activities in tutoring and training. This approach incorporates successful active learning and incremental progress. This article presents issues encountered while adapting the multi-user online game genre for educational virtual environments. In this endeavour, non-player characters play a central role in organising and delivering educational content. Educational virtual environments call for additional kinds of extension beyond generic user content creation as delivered in some virtual worlds like Second Life. Support for these environments will emphasise the creation of new activities. A set of libraries and techniques named portable non-player character tutors and quests reduces the effort needed to develop and integrate educational non-player characters. These non-player characters are introduced in CVE, a platform for rapidly developing educational virtual environments. The portable non-player character tutors and quests framework enables formatted web-based exercises, quizzes, and educational content to be incorporated into virtual worlds, reducing the effort needed to create new content. The framework presented in this article introduces initial non-player characters that support educational quest activities to the 3D environments users.

HoloTube: a low-cost portable 360-degree interactive autostereoscopic display

This paper proposes a novel, low cost, and portable 360-degree cylindrical interactive autostereoscopic 3D display system. The proposed system consists of three parts: the optical architecture (for back-projecting image correctly on the cylindrical screen), the projection image transformation workflow (for image rectifying and generating multi-view images), and the 360-degree motion detection module (for identifying viewers' locations and providing the corresponding views). Based on the proposed design, only one commercial micro projector is employed for the proposed cylindrical screen. The proposed display offers great depth perception (stereoacuity) with a special designed thick barrier sheet attached to the screen. The viewers are not required to wear special glasses and within appropriate range (< 5m) the viewers can view the screen at any distance and angle. The user study verified that the proposed display offers satisfactory depth perception (binocular parallax, shading distribution, and linear perspective) for various viewing distances and angles without noticeable discomfort. The production cost of the current prototype is about USD$ 300. With mass production, the unit cost is expected to decline to within USD$60. The proposed display system has the advantages of ease of use, low production cost, high portability and mobility. The proposed system is suitable for application such as museum virtual exhibition, remote meeting, multi-user online game, etc. We believe that the proposed system is very promising for the market of low-cost portable 360-degree interactive autosereoscopic displays.

Social Interactions and Games

Digital games have been gradually transformed from single, co-located experiences into endless, socially oriented, multi-played configurations, due to greater technological affordances (Herodotou, 2009). Multi-User Online Games provide the opportunity to create a social environment for friendships and strengthen the relationships. However, some researchers support the idea that players seeking meaningful relationships within a game might have trouble forming meaningful relationships in the real life (Fang & Zhu, 2011; Peters & Malesky, 2008). This study was conducted with the sample of 168 university students to explore the social interactions in and out of game environment in terms of personality type, gender and game preferences. As a result of the study, it was found that participants mostly prefer playing multi-player games with their real life friends and family members. While they tend to make friends in game environments, they do not prefer sharing sensitive issues with their gaming friends. Moreover; students who reported themselves more extraverted, spend more hours in games. This paper contributes to the debates on the impact of games on social interactions of gamers in and out of the game environment.

Integrating peer-to-peer and cloud computing for massively multiuser online games

Cloud computing has recently become an attractive solution for massively multiplayer online games, also known as MMOGs, as it lifts operators from the burden of buying and maintaining large amount of computational, storage and communication resources, while offering the illusion of infinite scalability. Yet, cloud resources do not come for free: a careful orchestration is needed to minimize the economical cost. This paper proposes a novel architecture for MMOGs that combines an elastic cloud infrastructure with user-provided resources, to boost both the scalability and the economical sustainability provided by cloud computing. Our system dynamically reconfigures the platform while managing the trade-off between economical cost and quality of service, exploiting user-provided resources whenever possible. Simulation results show that a negligible reduction in the quality of service can reduce the cost of the platform up to 60 % percent.

Different but similar: computer use patterns between young Korean males and females

This study was developed to identify and describe new trends and gender differences in the use of computers and the Internet in South Korea. In this mixed-method study, both quantitative and qualitative techniques were used. Results indicated that both males and females used computers generally for four purposes: social networking, personal knowledge, formal learning, and entertainment. The study also found differences in preference between the sexes: Males liked playing multi-user online games, especially in internet cafes with friends, while females enjoyed social networking websites more. Although the patterns of computer use between males and females were ostensibly different, all participants used computers for fun and socializing. Therefore, more emphasis should be placed on understanding various uses and the implications of emerging differences. Also, consideration should be given to building learning environments that appeal to the computer preferences for both genders.