Social Player Research Articles

Representaciones discursivas de la democracia en la prensa católica (1989-2011)

Our objective is to address how three Argentine Catholic magazines Cabildo, Criterio, and Nueva Tierra represented the concept of democracy. To do this, we’ll carry out a discursive analysis from a comparative perspective. We are interested in studying the relationship between religion and politics in relation to Catholicism, which we believe is an important social player in Argentine history. In doing this, we want to recognize the political diversity of Catholic media, looking at the strategies the afore mentioned magazines employed to represent the same subject matter. Through the categories of systemic functional linguistics (SFL), we want to characterize and compare the construction of “democracy,” as a discursive object, and the designatory paradigms it integrates. To this end, we have amassed a corpus that comprises the editorials of all three magazines, which, in the context of Presidential elections, problematize the concept of democracy. The discursive analysis of these representations allowed us to see the political diversity within the common ground of Catholic discourse.  

Effects of Gamified Learning on Students of Different Player Traits in Malaysia

Diversified learning is the path to supplement students’ needs in the contemporary generation. These students’ lives have revolved around technology since birth; as such, the role of technology cannot be ignored. Furthermore, this was prevalent during the lockdown imposed by the global pandemic which compelled the incorporation of educational technology into student’s lives. As gamification harnesses the power of game elements, identifying how gamified learning affects a student’s game player traits will be vital in identifying whether specific learning methods can invoke, change and cultivate better learning outcomes. This quasi-experimental study involving two groups of students learning computer science in Malaysia was carried out over eight weeks. Findings revealed that most prevalent player traits changes were evident in the primary construct of social player traits, followed by subconstructs of customization, relationship, socializing, and mechanics. These changes are attributed to the need to reach out, communicate, and collaborate with their peers and look into how the system works for them individually, within the context of the learning and explorative needs of students. As such, gamified learning has not only managed to offer a new paradigm into the learning ecosystem but has also shown that positive changes can be cultivated based on these conditions.

“Where am I?” A Critical Discourse Analysis of Religious Representation in Indonesia

Diversified learning is the path to supplement students’ needs in the contemporary generation. These students’ lives have revolved around technology since birth; as such, the role of technology cannot be ignored. Furthermore, this was prevalent during the lockdown imposed by the global pandemic which compelled the incorporation of educational technology into student’s lives. As gamification harnesses the power of game elements, identifying how gamified learning affects a student’s game player traits will be vital in identifying whether specific learning methods can invoke, change and cultivate better learning outcomes. This quasi-experimental study involving two groups of students learning computer science in Malaysia was carried out over eight weeks. Findings revealed that most prevalent player traits changes were evident in the primary construct of social player traits, followed by subconstructs of customization, relationship, socializing, and mechanics. These changes are attributed to the need to reach out, communicate, and collaborate with their peers and look into how the system works for them individually, within the context of the learning and explorative needs of students. As such, gamified learning has not only managed to offer a new paradigm into the learning ecosystem but has also shown that positive changes can be cultivated based on these conditions.

Coconuts, Custom-Play & COVID-19: Social Isolation, Serious Leisure and Personas in Animal Crossing: New Horizons

This paper discusses Animal Crossing: New Horizons’ (ACNH) release during the COVID-19 pandemic, and draws upon responses from nearly 2000 players to frame how the game acts as a platform for routine substitution and social connectivity in a disconnected physical world. A combination of the game’s elements, including its comforting aesthetic, participatory community, financial mechanics, and goal-setting, promotes the player’s construction of their sense of self and provides crucial stability. In contrast to other life simulator games such as The Sims, the timing of ACNH’s release makes its substitution efforts more adoptable by a wide spectrum of players between casual and hardcore sensibilities.
 Moreover, the game substitutes some complex face-to-face interactions during self-isolation and it affords stability and routine through a simulacrum of real-life, however exaggerated and narrowed in scope. The gameplay provides player agency and self-determination of playstyle as well as routines that contrast with the intense disruption of the everyday by the pandemic. Players’ shared affinities and engagement with the game function as a form of serious leisure which in turn creates personas from a diverse range of roles such as, the social player, the turnip trader, the gardener, the artisan. The persona roles enable players to adopt multiple recognisable specialisations within an expansive social environment. In essence, players of ACNH create an array of malleable, interchangeable gaming personas that successfully embody the routine and social play forcibly absent from real life during the pandemic.

Social Casinos: Winning Isn't Everything

Are players who win more likely to be loyal to social casino games, and better customers for the social casino industry? In this research, we investigate the relationship between social casino player success and customer loyalty. We make a case that winning is not a good predictor of customer loyalty for social casino games. Our proposed theoretical model integrates loyalty and spend level with a player’s perceived level of gaming success. The unexpected diminished role of winning as a contributing factor to loyalty challenges the traditional view of thinking that success in a gambling environment is necessary to ensure valuable ongoing customer relationships. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

“Sharing Beauty With All”: Sustainability According to L’Oréal Italia

The article highlights the close connection between L’Oréal’s economic success and the fulfilment of its role as a social and environmentally-friendly player. Sustainability has become a strong and constant element in L’Oréal’s identity since the launch of the “Sharing Beauty With All” (SBWA) project. This is a formalised “system” of choices, green policies and socially responsible initiatives resting on four pillars: innovation, production, living and sustainable development. L’Oréal’s approach to sustainability also involves educating employees, collaborators and consumers in order to disseminate a new way of thinking of products and their consumption: the company aims to increase its cultural footprint, while it endeavours to reduce its environmental one.

Beyond the individual: Understanding social structures of an online player matchmaking website

Engagement and player experience in multi-player games is influenced by the people you play with. For that reason, grouping features and matchmaking facilities in games, as well as third-party services, have gained in popularity in the industry and player community as they assist in building and maintaining social relationships with like-minded players. Understanding how social connections are formed and how these relations can foster in-game activity offers insights for building and maintaining a player base and can, in turn, improve retention and engagement. This paper examines the social network formed by users of the the100.io – a social matchmaking website for the game Destiny. The service provides an opportunity to examine an online social network formed around a game combined with demographic and preference data. The paper explores the correlation of structural network properties with preference and game-related performance data, provides metrics useful for analyzing and understanding the structure of these kinds of player networks and showcases how community analysis and behavioral profiling can be applied to inform game developers about behavioral groupings in social player networks.

A Social Welfare Economics Proposal Through Bargaining Theory: a Win-Win-Win Papakonstantinidis Model Approach Inserting Overall Arbitrator Player to the Local Development Game

In this study, we investigate the impact of Social Bargain on Welfare Problem adopting the win-win-win Papakonstantinidis model inserting the Overall Arbitrator Player into the local development game. This deals with (a) the failure of Public Choice in the production of social welfare, (b) the Bargaining Process as a proposal for generating social capital in the field of Welfare Economics. The purpose of this research is to indicate that Public Choice fails to lead to Economic Development. Instead, this can be achieved by implementing Social Bargaining Process into the game of social welfare. In particular, the gap between development and underdevelopment (regional problem) in the community is being investigated, while it is identified as being real and unresolved in the literature of Social Choice Theory and Regional Science. This gap can be corrected – cured through Social Bargaining Process as a solution to the Welfare Problem. The above is being interpreted as follows: the agents of the game or voters of the community can make such collective decisions that eliminate regional disparities by choosing strategies or politicians that will make the appropriate assessments/choices for the community. The key questions are: a) why Public Choice fails to solve the problem of regional disparities and to lead to social welfare, (b) what makes the Social Bargaining Process the appropriate solution to the social welfare problem (or regional problem) and above it should be dealt with. As a methodology is being proposed the Mediation Theory model among two other processes: (1) The “Principal-Agent” process, considering Principal’s position as strong, and (2) the Leadership of a community and a single Member of the same community (“Leader-Member Exchange” – LMX), considering the Leader’s position as strong. The research findings proposed the creation of a social player in the bargaining process, where introduces the generation of social capital, that leads to social welfare to which Public Choice fails to lead and this point is also the originality of the paper.

Utilizing social media and video games to control #DIY microscopes

Open-source lab equipment is becoming more widespread with the popularization of fabrication tools such as 3D printers, laser cutters, CNC machines, open source microcontrollers and open source software. Although many pieces of common laboratory equipment have been developed, software control of these items is sometimes lacking. Specifically, control software that can be easily implemented and enable user-input and control over multiple platforms (PC, smartphone, web, etc.). The aim of this proof-of principle study was to develop and implement software for the control of a low-cost, 3D printed microscope. Here, we present two approaches which enable microscope control by exploiting the functionality of the social media platform Twitter or player actions inside of the videogame Minecraft. The microscope was constructed from a modified web-camera and implemented on a Raspberry Pi computer. Three aspects of microscope control were tested, including single image capture, focus control and time-lapse imaging. The Twitter embodiment enabled users to send ‘tweets’ directly to the microscope. Image data acquired by the microscope was then returned to the user through a Twitter reply and stored permanently on the photo-sharing platform Flickr, along with any relevant metadata. Local control of the microscope was also implemented by utilizing the video game Minecraft, in situations where Internet connectivity is not present or stable. A virtual laboratory was constructed inside the Minecraft world and player actions inside the laboratory were linked to specific microscope functions. Here, we present the methodology and results of these experiments and discuss possible limitations and future extensions of this work.

Responsabilidade social: ações na biblioteca central Cesar Lattes

No contexto das práticas sociais, a informação é elemento de fundamental importância, pois é por meio do intercâmbio informacional que os homens se comunicam e tomam conhecimento de seus direitos e deveres. A partir deste momento, tomam decisões sobre suas vidas, seja de forma individual ou coletiva. Neste sentido, o presente trabalho tem como objetivo identificar e criar instrumentos que possam mediar o indivíduo e o objeto de pesquisa, criando uma interface que estabeleça gradualmente a construção do conhecimento, despertando no indivíduo a indagação e definição do problema de informação. A metodologia utilizada para desenvolvimento das interfaces mediadoras entre indivíduo e a informação, foi de caráter exploratório e pautou-se em fases distintas: I: estudo das necessidades do usuário; II: pesquisa de ferramentas disponíveis com fonte aberta e instrumentos lúdicos para o aprendizado; III: definição, criação dos instrumentos/ferramentas; IV: disponibilização e avaliação dos instrumentos. Os resultados obtidos são um conjunto de ações inclusivas e mediadoras: 1.Elaboração de projetos visando à participação da biblioteca em diversas edições do Programa Ciência e Arte nas Férias e Iniciação Científica Júnior, patrocinado pela Pro Reitoria de Pesquisa. 2. Elaboração de oficinas para alunos do Programa UniversIDADE denominada "Páginas da Vida: composição e construção". A participação nestas ações requer do aluno vários elementos: autorreflexão, estímulo à leitura em seus variados formatos, acesso a informação, pesquisa, vivência com a cultura e artes, criatividade, assim como o despertar de sua atuação como ator social na construção da cidadania, constituindo uma perspectiva legítima de inclusão social, cultural e digital.

Finding Hubs and Outliers in Temporal Networks

Background/Objectives: Social Network Analysis (SNA) is the analysis of a social structure that is made up of a set of social players and a pile of the interactions between these social players. An individual such as a person, or an institution such as a college, agency and a federation, can be taken to be a social player. In late years, with the extensive function of social networking such as Facebook and Twitter, a vast sum of social interaction data has established social network analysis go beyond sociology and invite analysts from many fields. Methods/Statistical Analysis: Analysts have offered many different metrics to assess different topological features of a social player such as degree, betweenness centrality, eigen vector centrality etc. A distinctmetric is not adequate to examine multiple features of a social player, since each indicator designate a network in a dissimilar way so it is a reasonable solution to employ collective metrics with strong correlation (Spearman’s or Pearson’s). Findings: To find out the influential nodes the framework considers three egocentric metrics replacing social centric measures in temporal networks. Previous studies applied multiple social centrality measures with a strong correlation in static (or constant) networks. But many online social networks are naturally dynamic, propagate quickly in terms of social communications. Not all social players are born identical in a network, some might be superior in the sense they interconnected with almost all others and some might not contribute at all. The framework identifies these Hubs and Outliers at every snapshot. We have done experiments on undirected and unweighted EMAIL-ENRON real-world network. Application/Improvements: Influenial nodes can reveal new insights such as viral marketing, epidemic control, super-spreaders of disease and more generally in information dissemination.

Social Capital, Self-Esteem, Popularity, Need for Accessibility to Friends, and Stress Predict Cyber Technology Use

The authors examined social capital, self-esteem, popularity, need for accessibility to friends, and stress as gendered predictors of cyber technology use in 149 undergraduates. The authors investigated four kinds of cyber technology use: social networking, texting, internet surfing, and MP3 player listening. Stress was the most consistent predictor of cyber technology use in men (social networking, texting, and MP3 player listening), while popularity was the most consistent for women (social networking, texting, and MP3 player listening). Furthermore, self-esteem inversely predicted use of internet surfing in men and MP3 player listening in women. On the other hand, the social capital dimension of bridging online which is establishing weak social ties, predicted the use of both internet surfing and MP3 player listening in men and women. The authors extended the literature by establishing gendered social-cognitive dimensions of cyber technology use among undergraduates in the United States.

Anthropomorphism and service humanoid robots: an ambiguous relationship

PurposeSo‐called humanoid robots, among a large class of service robots, are designed to work in close harmony with humans. Their anthropomorphism and its consequences have, however, been little studied. The purpose of this paper is to tackle this question by differentiating the psychological meaning of anthropomorphism from its technical meaning, understood as a human‐like device. The author shows that the former generates salient projections which can be interpreted with respect to Mori's uncanny valley. The role of the task is highlighted with a theoretical attempt to integrate the robot as a social player into a Heider balance‐theory inspired model. This psychological anthropomorphism, however, must be compared with technical anthropomorphism, which leads to underlining present‐day difficulties in designing highly human‐like functional machines with, as a consequence, running the risk of giving them the delusion of a human behaviour that they are not able to realize.Design/methodology/approachThis is a theoretical paper aimed to highlight a double meaning of anthropomorphism for humanoid robots and its consequences.FindingsTask‐based interpretation of the Mori's uncanny valley and link between psychological anthropomorphism and technical anthropomorphism.Originality/valueThe originality of the approach consists in applying to the humanoid robot a double approach of anthropomorphism. The first one corresponds to the classical psychological meaning producing peculiar anthropomorphic projections on a non‐human being, while the second corresponds to the technical realization of a human‐like machine dedicated to be integrated into a human environment.

Gamers’ Motivations and Problematic Gaming

This study explores the factors that contribute to problematic gaming among players of Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMOs for short), in particular, the game World of Warcraft. It examines motivations based on the Self Determination Theory (SDT) and motivations based on Yee’s player orientations. A total of 128 gamers participated in the online survey. Results showed that achievement and immersion player orientations are correlated with extrinsic motivation in terms of external, introjected and identified regulations, as well as intrinsic motivation. Social orientation is only correlated with identified regulation and intrinsic motivation. Problematic gaming is also correlated with all types of extrinsic motivation, and intrinsic motivation, as well as with achievement and immersion player orientations but not with social player orientation. Achievement orientation and introjected regulation both positively predicted problematic gaming, while identified regulation negatively predicted it.

Designing playful interactions for social interaction and physical play

This paper describes three design values that we apply for designing playful interactions. Interactive play objects can stimulate social interaction and physical play by providing motivating feedback to players’ behavior; they can allow players to create their own game goals and rules in an open-ended play context and support social player interaction patterns. This design approach is illustrated by six design cases in which our assumptions were examined in various play contexts. The results show that the application of these design values can lead to rich and appealing innovative play concepts. Players can create a wide range of (physical) games using open-ended play objects, and properties of the play objects, such as being personal or shared, influence the type of social interaction.

Criação e gestão de redes: uma estratégia competitiva para empresas e regiões

Globalization and the correlated diffusion of new information and communication technologies have of late been fostering the growth and appearance of organizational networks built around micro and small businesses units. Such units, conjoined in networks, seem to have enhanced both, their own competitive abilities, as well as their territorial systemic competitiveness. These new structures, and their inherent composing logic evince a breakaway from the classical secluded business unit model, veering towards more cooperative arrangements. Understanding causalities and trends underlying such developments may be a useful contribution, particularly as we focalize and bring to the fore a new emerging social player; the collective entrepreneur. Such a player's thought provoking role is geared to the unleashing and exploitation of sinergies underlying collective action. This paper purports to look into the dynamics and impact of organizational networks insofar as they are is linked to the roles played by collective entrepreneurs as providers of social capital. The latter is a vital component for the propping up of collective trust and cooperative action, both essentials for growth processes and socioeconomic development.

The social representation of family: expectation and meaning of cardiac surgery

The goal of this study is to focus on a new vision of the nursing and the social care, including the patients family in the context of the hospital. The objective of the study is to analyze the social groups of the family of the patients who will be submitted to a heart surgery, the life expectancy and to discuss their needs in view of the hospitalization of the relative. The qualitative research used, to give information, semi-structural interviews with the ten members of the patients family in a pre cardiac surgery in a private hospital .As a theoretical and methodological referential was employed the Crisis theory of Caplan and refers to the family in the concept of Molter,Leske, Elsen and others. The social representations, in according with Moscovici will focus a situation accured with the social player. The units of meaning in relation to the surgery underlines: fright intimidation, distress and punishment. Regarding life and surgery expectations: optimism x pessimism. The concerns demonstrate by the patients satisfaction, personal and spiritual comfort and trustful information. This survey try to present in this substance the importance of the nurse in valuing the humanization of the assistance, and establishing with the patients family an affinity of thrust and mutual respect.

Designing a central bank: Social player, monetary agent, or banking agent?

This paper reviews recent advances on the role of the central bank in the money supply process and its effects on inflation. The literature is presented according to a three-stage process, with the central bank acting first as social player, then as monetary agent, and finally as a combined monetary and banking agent.