Real-time Strategy Video Games Research Articles

The Illusion of Accuracy: Simulating the Cruades in <i>Ancestors legacy</i> (2018)

Ancestors Legacy is a 2018 real-time strategy video game set in the Middle Ages. The game was developed by the controversial Polish studio Destructive Creations, whose members have been accused of sympathizing and supporting far-right movements online. This ideological support can be seen in their video games, some of which have included the use of crusading medievalisms in line with the civilizational-conflict narrative often espoused by far-right movements: i.e. the idea that Christianity is embarked in a never-ending battle with Islam and other cultures, of which the crusades are just an episode. Nevertheless, Ancestors Legacy categorically condemns the crusades as unfair and hypocritical, a statement backed by a reasonably accurate recounting of the events. Upon closer inspection, however, this accuracy is superficial and molded by a larger ideological framework about the Middle Ages and the crusades. This article argues that the game occupies the dissonant space of condemning crusading but adopting it as an unavoidable part of the clash of civilizations that lasts until this day, hence justifying the player exercising the very violence it condemns. This is an example of what Adrienne Shaw has called the tyranny of realism: an obsession with accuracy in video games, based on hegemonic and audience-driven perceptions of the past that do not allow for a critical and emancipatory approximation to history.Banner image taken from the press kit for Ancestors Legacy (2018, Destructive Creations).

Association between real-time strategy video game learning outcomes and pre-training brain white matter structure: preliminary study

In recent years the association between video games, cognition, and the brain has been actively investigated. However, it is still unclear how individual predispositions, such as brain structure characteristics, play a role in the process of acquiring new skills, such as video games. The aim of this preliminary study was to investigate whether acquisition of cognitive-motor skills from the real-time strategy video game (StarCraft II) is associated with pre-training measures of brain white matter integrity. Results show that higher white matter integrity in regions (anterior limb of internal capsule, cingulum/hippocampus) and tracts (inferior longitudinal fasciculus) related with motoric functions, set shifting and visual decision making was associated with better Star Craft II performance. The presented findings inline with previous results and suggest that structural brain predispositions of individuals are related to the video game skill acquisition. Our study highlights the importance of neuroimaging studies that focus on white matter in predicting the outcomes of intervention studies and has implications for understanding the neural basis of the skill learning process.

An Agile New Research Framework for Hybrid Human-AI Teaming: Trust, Transparency, and Transferability

We propose a new research framework by which the nascent discipline of human-AI teaming can be explored within experimental environments in preparation for transferal to real-world contexts. We examine the existing literature and unanswered research questions through the lens of an Agile approach to construct our proposed framework. Our framework aims to provide a structure for understanding the macro features of this research landscape, supporting holistic research into the acceptability of human-AI teaming to human team members and the affordances of AI team members. The framework has the potential to enhance decision-making and performance of hybrid human-AI teams. Further, our framework proposes the application of Agile methodology for research management and knowledge discovery. We propose a transferability pathway for hybrid teaming to be initially tested in a safe environment, such as a real-time strategy video game, with elements of lessons learned that can be transferred to real-world situations.

Do Real-Time Strategy Video Gamers Have Better Attentional Control?

Do real-time strategy (RTS) video gamers have better attentional control? To examine this issue, we tested experienced versus inexperienced RTS video gamers on multi-object tracking tasks (MOT) and dual-MOT tasks with visual or auditory secondary tasks (dMOT). We employed a street-crossing task with a visual working memory task as a secondary task in a virtual reality (VR) environment to examine any generalized attentional advantage. Similar to action video games, RTS video games require players to switch attention between multiple visual objects and views. However, whether the attentional control advantage is limited by sensory modalities or generalizes to real-life tasks remains unclear. In study 1, 25 RTS video game players (SVGP) and 25 non-video game players (NVGP) completed the MOT task and two dMOT tasks. In study 2, a different sample with 25 SVGP and 25 NVGP completed a simulated street-crossing task with the visual dual task in a VR environment. After controlling the effects of the speed-accuracy trade-off, SVGP showed better performance than NVGP in the MOT task and the visual dMOT task, but SVGP did not perform better in either the auditory dMOT task or the street-crossing task. RTS video gamers had better attentional control in visual computer tasks, but not in the auditory tasks and the VR tasks. Attentional control benefits associated with RTS video game experience may be limited by sensory modalities, and may not translate to performance benefits in real-life tasks.

Psychophysiological, but Not Behavioral, Indicator of Working Memory Capacity Predicts Video Game Proficiency.

Visual working memory (VWM) is the ability to actively maintain visual information over short periods of time and is strongly related to global fluid intelligence and overall cognitive ability. In our study, we used two indices of visual working memory capacity: the behavioral estimate of capacity (K) and contralateral delay activity (CDA) in order to check whether training in a Real-Time Strategy (RTS) video game StarCraft II can influence the VWM capacity measured by the change detection task. We also asked a question whether individual differences in behavioral and psychophysiological indices of VWM can predict the effectiveness of video game training. Sixty-two participants (non-players) were recruited to the experiment. Participants were randomly assigned to either experimental (Variable environment), active control (Fixed environment), and passive control groups. Experimental and active control groups differed in the type of training received. Training consisted of 30 h of playing the StarCraft II game. Participants took part in two EEG sessions (pre- and post-training) during which they performed the VWM task. Our results showed that working memory capacity (K calculated according to Pashler’s formula) increases after training in both experimental groups, but not in a control group. We have also found a correlation between average visual working memory capacity (calculated as K) and mean CDA amplitude no matter which group we are looking at. And, last but not least, we have found that we can predict the amount of improvement in the RTS video game by looking at the psychophysiological indices (CDA amplitude) recorded at baseline (before training), but only in the experimental group. We think that the strength of the psychophysiological indicator of VWM capacity might be a marker of the future success in video game acquisition.

Perceptual, Attentional, and Executive Functioning After Real-Time Strategy Video Game Training: Efficacy and Relation to In-Game Behavior

Recent meta-analyses and meta-analytic reviews of most common approaches to cognitive training broadly converge on describing a lack of transfer effects past the trained task. This also extends to the more recent attempts at using video games to improve cognitive abilities, bringing into question if they have any true effects on cognitive functioning at all. Despite this, video game training studies are slowly beginning to accumulate and provide evidence of replicable improvements. Our study aimed to train non-video game playing individuals in the real-time strategy video game StarCraft II in order to observe any subsequent changes to perceptual, attentional, and executive functioning. Thirty hours of StarCraft II training resulted in improvements to perceptual and attentional abilities, but not executive functioning. This pattern of results is in line with previous research on the more frequently investigated “action” video games. By splitting the StarCraft II training group into two conditions of “fixed” and “variable” training, we were also able to demonstrate that manipulating the video game environment produces measurable differences in the amount of cognitive improvement. Lastly, by extracting in-game behavior features from recordings of each participant’s gameplay, we were able to show a direct correlation between in-game behavior change and cognitive performance change after training. These findings highlight and support the growing trend of more finely detailed and methodologically rigorous approaches to studying the relationship between video games and cognitive functioning.

Using Video Game Telemetry Data to Research Motor Chunking, Action Latencies, and Complex Cognitive-Motor Skill Learning.

Many theories of complex cognitive-motor skill learning are built on the notion that basic cognitive processes group actions into easy-to-perform sequences. The present work examines predictions derived from laboratory-based studies of motor chunking and motor preparation using data collected from the real-time strategy video game StarCraft 2. We examined 996,163 action sequences in the telemetry data of 3,317 players across seven levels of skill. As predicted, the latency to the first action (thought to be the beginning of a chunked sequence) is delayed relative to the other actions in the group. Other predictions, inspired by the memory drum theory of Henry and Rogers, received only weak support.

A simultaneous examination of two forms of working memory training: Evidence for near transfer only.

The efficacy of working-memory training is a topic of considerable debate, with some studies showing transfer to measures such as fluid intelligence while others have not. We report the results of a study designed to examine two forms of working-memory training, one using a spatial n-back and the other a verbal complex span. Thirty-one undergraduates completed 4weeks of n-back training and 32 completed 4weeks of verbal complex span training. We also included two active control groups. One group trained on a non-adaptive version of n-back and the other trained on a real-time strategy video game. All participants completed pre- and post-training measures of a large battery of transfer tasks used to create composite measures of short-term and working memory in both verbal and visuo-spatial domains as well as verbal reasoning and fluid intelligence. We only found clear evidence for near transfer from the spatial n-back training to new forms of n-back, and this was the case for both adaptive and non-adaptive n-back.

Over the Hill at 24: Persistent Age-Related Cognitive-Motor Decline in Reaction Times in an Ecologically Valid Video Game Task Begins in Early Adulthood

Typically studies of the effects of aging on cognitive-motor performance emphasize changes in elderly populations. Although some research is directly concerned with when age-related decline actually begins, studies are often based on relatively simple reaction time tasks, making it impossible to gauge the impact of experience in compensating for this decline in a real world task. The present study investigates age-related changes in cognitive motor performance through adolescence and adulthood in a complex real world task, the real-time strategy video game StarCraft 2. In this paper we analyze the influence of age on performance using a dataset of 3,305 players, aged 16-44, collected by Thompson, Blair, Chen & Henrey [1]. Using a piecewise regression analysis, we find that age-related slowing of within-game, self-initiated response times begins at 24 years of age. We find no evidence for the common belief expertise should attenuate domain-specific cognitive decline. Domain-specific response time declines appear to persist regardless of skill level. A second analysis of dual-task performance finds no evidence of a corresponding age-related decline. Finally, an exploratory analyses of other age-related differences suggests that older participants may have been compensating for a loss in response speed through the use of game mechanics that reduce cognitive load.

On the Complexity of Two-Player Attrition Games Played on Graphs

The attrition game considered in this study is a graph based strategic game which is a movement-prohibited analogue of small-scale combat situations that arise frequently in popular real-time strategy video games. We present proofs that the attrition game, under a variety of assumptions, is a computationally hard problem in general. We also analyze the 1 vs. n unit case, for which we derive optimal target-orderings that can be computed in polynomial time and used as a core for heuristics for the general case. Finally, we present small problem instances that require randomizing moves — a fact that at first glance seems counter-intuitive.

Can training in a real-time strategy video game attenuate cognitive decline in older adults?

Declines in various cognitive abilities, particularly executive control functions, are observed in older adults. An important goal of cognitive training is to slow or reverse these age-related declines. However, opinion is divided in the literature regarding whether cognitive training can engender transfer to a variety of cognitive skills in older adults. In the current study, the authors trained older adults in a real-time strategy video game for 23.5 hr in an effort to improve their executive functions. A battery of cognitive tasks, including tasks of executive control and visuospatial skills, were assessed before, during, and after video-game training. The trainees improved significantly in the measures of game performance. They also improved significantly more than the control participants in executive control functions, such as task switching, working memory, visual short-term memory, and reasoning. Individual differences in changes in game performance were correlated with improvements in task switching. The study has implications for the enhancement of executive control processes of older adults.