Types Of Video Games Research Articles

Association between computer game type, playing time and sense of coherence in Lithuanian adolescents

As an excessive gaming is the addiction of the 21th century, purpose of our study was to investigate how sense of coherence interacts with gaming time, choice of various games types, age and gender characteristics. Our task was to evaluate relationship between computer gaming and an adolescent's sense of coherence. A cross-sectional study based on a self-reported questionnaire was performed among the representative samples of 1,806 adolescents aged 13-18 years. Adolescents reported the amount of time spent gaming computer games, types of games, as well as sense of coherence. The relations between the choice of computer games type, time spent gaming computer games and sense of coherence of respondents were assessed by odds ratio using multivariate regression analysis. 32.9% of boys and 81.1% of girls reported gaming computer games less than 5 hours per day during the last month (p < 0.001). 30.9% of boys and 4.1% of girls reported gaming computer games more than 10 hours per day during the last month (p < 0.001). Boys and girls aged 13-15 with a weak sense of coherence had significantly higher probability to play action or combat computer games for 5 or more hours per day in comparison to the respondents who had a strong sense of coherence. Also, this probability was 2 times higher among boys than among girls. Sense of coherence is a useful tool to identify adolescents who are at risk of excessive gaming. Game playing time is linked to the sense of coherence. Adolescent with a weak sense of coherence had a higher probability to play more times, especially in younger age.

Comparing Social Support in Adolescents Interested in Different Types of Computer Games

Background and objective: With the advancement of networks and the Inter- net industry, computer games have considerably progressed in the recent years and have been released in various types. Hence, the objective of this study was to compare social support in adolescents interested in different types of com - puter games. Materials and methods: This descriptive study followed a casual-comparative design. The statistical population of this study included all male adolescents and young adults referred to Internet gaming centers in Zahedan, Iran. In this study, multi-stage cluster sampling method was applied through which 8 gam - ing centers were randomly chosen and then among all people who referred to the considered gaming centers, 156 individuals were selected randomly as the regarded sample. To gather the data, the Mary Procidano and Kenneth Hel- ler's Social Support Questionnaire (1983) was applied. To analyze the data, fre - quency, percentage, medium, mode and SD and one- way ANOVA and post hoc Scheffe's test was used through SPSS 23. Results: There was a difference among social support of people interested in different types of computer games. In this regard, those who were interested in online multiplayer games perceived higher levels of social support compared to those who were interested in single player games (p ≤ 0.05). Moreover, the findings demonstrated that subjects who chose Internet gaming centers and their houses as places to play compared to those who only selected their hous- es to play had higher levels of perceived social support. Conclusion: With the increasing development of computer games and diver- sification and expansion of its different styles, each type of computer games should be studied and investigated distinctly. Paper Type: Research Article.

Problematic computer game use as expression of Internet addiction and its association with self-rated health in the Lithuanian adolescent population

Background and objectiveComputers and the Internet have become an integral part of today's life. Problematic gaming is related to adolescent's health. The aim of our study was to evaluate the prevalence of Internet addiction among 13–18-year-old schoolchildren and its relation to sex, age, and time spent playing computer games, game type, and subjective health evaluation. Materials and methodsA total of 1806 schoolchildren aged 13–18 years were interviewed. The evaluation of Internet addiction was conducted by the Diagnostic Questionnaire according to Young's methodology. The relation between the choice of computer games type, time spent while playing computer games and respondents’ Internet addiction were assessed by using multivariate logistic regression analysis. ResultsOne-tenth (10.6%) of the boys and 7.7% of the girls aged 13–18 years were Internet addicted. Internet addiction was associated with the type of computer game (action or combat vs. logic) among boys (OR=2.42; 95% CI, 1.03–5.67) and with the amount of time spent playing computer games per day during the last month (≥5 vs. <5h) among girls (OR=2.10; 95% CI, 1.19–3.70). The boys who were addicted to the Internet were more likely to rate their health poorer in comparison to their peers who were not addicted to the Internet (OR=2.48; 95% CI, 1.33–4.62). ConclusionsInternet addiction was significantly associated with poorer self-rated health among boys.

Examining brain activity while playing computer games

In this paper, an investigation and its results towards brain activity pattern recognition while playing computer games using a non-invasive brain-computer interface (BCI) device is presented. The main aim of the study was to analyse data recorded while participants were engaged in playing popular computer games. The major contribution of the analysis presented is the confirmation of the hypothesis that there is a connection between activities in the brain and the different categories of computer games. Three different popular computer games were used, and the recordings took place under the conditions imposed by two different environments, a noisy one (a typical open-access university computer lab) and a quiet one (a typical controlled-access university computer lab under controlled environmental parameters). Initial results, obtained after analysing the raw electro-encephalography (EEG) recorded data, suggest that there might be a significant connection between the type of activity taking place in the human brain and the type of computer game a player is engaging with.

The Effect of Computer Games on Students’ Critical Thinking Disposition and Educational Achievement

The main aim of this research was to investigate the effect of computer games on student’ critical thinking disposition and educational achievement. The research method was descriptive, and its type was casual-comparative. The sample included 270 female high school students in Andimeshk town selected by multistage cluster method. Ricketts questionnaire was used to test critical thinking and the researcher made questionnaires were used to test computer games. T-test and one-way ANOVA were employed to analysis of the data. The findings of the study showed that playing computer games has no significant effect on critical thinking, however, there were a significant effect of playing computer games on students’ educational achievement (P<0/05). Furthermore, the results showed that the type of computer game has no significant effect on students’ disposition to critical thinking and their educational achievement. Keywords: Computer games, disposition to critical thinking, educational achievement, secondary students

1인용 자동차 주행 게임 기반의 영어 단어 학습 시스템

행맨, 크로스퍼즐, 매칭등과 같은 많은 영어 단어 학습용 게임들이 보드 형태 또는 컴퓨터 게임 형태로 개발되었다. 이들 컴퓨터 게임 대부분은 전략형 게임 플레이를 채택하기에 이런 스타일의 게임을 좋아하지 않는 학습자들에게는 게임의 고유 특성인 즐거움을 주는데 한계가 있다. 본 논문에서는 청소년 및 성인 대상의 1인용 자동차 주행 게임을 중심으로 새로운 영어 단어 암기를 위한 시스템을 제안한다. 본 시스템의 핵심인 자동차 주행 게임에서 학습자는 차를 운전하면서, 트랙 상에 아이템처럼 나타나는 영어 단어 텍스트와 충돌하여서 점수를 획득하게 된다. 학습자는 화면상에 노출된 영어 단어를 주행 중에 지속적으로 보면서, 영어 단어를 뇌리에 새기게 된다. 우리의 실험 결과, 우리의 게임을 통한 영어 단어의 기억 효과는 만족할 수준이고, 학습 도구로서의 본 시스템에 대한 만족도도 높았다. 또한 기본 영어 단어 학습용 게임들이 이미 알고 있는 단어 대한 기억 강화에 적합하지만 우리의 게임은 새로운 단어 암기에도 사용할 수 있다.

Impacts of Mothers' Occupation Status and Parenting Styles On Levels of Self-control, Addiction to Computer Games, and Educational progress of Adolescents

Background The current research attempted to propose a structural model of the relationships between parenting styles, mothers' occupation status, and addiction to computer games, self-control, and educational progress of secondary school students. Methods Using multistage cluster random sampling, 500 female and male secondary school students in Kerman (Iran) were selected and studied. The research tools included self-control, parenting styles, and addiction to computer games questionnaires and a self-made questionnaire containing demographic details. The data was analyzed using exploratory factor analysis, Cronbach's alpha coefficient and route analysis. Findings We found self-control to have a linking role in the relationship between four parenting styles and educational progress. Mothers' occupation status was directly and significantly correlated with addiction to computer games. Although four parenting styles directly and significantly affected addiction to computer games, the findings did not support the linking role of addiction to computer games in the relationship between four parenting styles and educational progress. Conclusion The current research reflected the impact of four parenting styles on self-control, addiction to computer games, and educational progress of students. Among the parenting styles, authoritative style can affect the severity of addiction to computer games through self-control development. It can thus indirectly influence the educational progress of students. Parents are recommended to use authoritative parenting style to help both self-management and psychological health of their children. The employed mothers are also recommended to have more supervision and control on the degree and type of computer games selected by their children.

Beyond the “core-gamer”: Genre preferences and gratifications in computer games

Computer games can be regarded as mainstream media and one of the driving forces in today’s entertainment industry. With the recent changes in the field, we also witness an expansion in genres and user groups. A seemingly basic question gains new relevance in light of the growing diversification: Why do people turn to various types of computer games? In this study, we examine the relationship between gaming gratifications and genre preferences on the basis of a multivariate model deduced from previous research. We applied this model to survey data from a representative sample of 4500 gamers. We found that, apart from socio-demographics, individual and content-related gratifications are relevant predictors for genre preferences, especially for “core-gamer” genres such as roleplaying or action and shooter games. Beyond the “core-gamer”, there is large group of (older) casual players who prefer puzzle and simulation games and seek fewer and different gratifications from computer gaming.

The effects of exercise intervention using Kinect&amp;lt;sup&amp;gt;TM&amp;lt;/sup&amp;gt; on healthy elderly individuals: A quasi-experimental study

Purpose: Elderly persons may benefit from regular physical exercise to maintain or improve their quality of life and health status. Low adherence to physical exercise, however, is often a problem. A new type of videogames, “exergames”, involving physical motion of the players has recently been developed and is expected to keep elderly people active. The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of a newly developed exergame on health benefits such as muscle strength and body balance of elderly people. Methods: We invited 24 healthy community-dwelling elderly persons aged 71.46 ± 4.8 years old (8 men and 16 women) volunteered for this study. We developed a new exergame program for using KinectTM (Microsoft Co., Ltd. Redmond, WA) motion sensor. A single exergame session lasted approximately 30 minutes including warm-up and cool-down sessions. The participants are asked to play the exergame 2 - 3 times per week for 2.5 months at our institute. Maximal isometric muscular strength of major muscles of lower extremities and functional balance were examined before and after the exergame intervention. Result: All participants completed 24 sessions of the exergame program. There were significant improvements in maximal isometric muscular strength of hip joint flexion, and knee joint extension and flexion, of ankle joint dorsiflexion. Also MFC, a significant difference was noted between Pre and Post values. However, there was no statistically significant improvement in the functional balance test. Conclusion: Exergame developed in this study was found to be effective in improving muscular strength of lower extremities.

Effect of Computer Game Playing on Baseline Laparoscopic Simulator Skills

Studies examining the possible association between computer game playing and laparoscopic performance in general have yielded conflicting results and neither has a relationship between computer game playing and baseline performance on laparoscopic simulators been established. The aim of this study was to examine the possible association between previous and present computer game playing and baseline performance on a virtual reality laparoscopic performance in a sample of potential future medical students. The participating students completed a questionnaire covering the weekly amount and type of computer game playing activity during the previous year and 3 years ago. They then performed 2 repetitions of 2 tasks ("gallbladder dissection" and "traverse tube") on a virtual reality laparoscopic simulator. Performance on the simulator were then analyzed for association to their computer game experience. Local high school, Norway. Forty-eight students from 2 high school classes volunteered to participate in the study. No association between prior and present computer game playing and baseline performance was found. The results were similar both for prior and present action game playing and prior and present computer game playing in general. Our results indicate that prior and present computer game playing may not affect baseline performance in a virtual reality simulator.

Video žaidimų ir užklasinės veiklos reikšmė subjektyviam tėvų savo vaikų ir paauglių socialinio ir emocinio funkcionavimo vertinimui

Background: Videogames have become a large part of children and adolescents’ everyday life and social interaction. Tanner (2007) reports that over 90% of children play videogames and this is likely an understatement. Previous research has shown a significant effect between playing videogames and aggressive and hostile behavior; however, there is some disagreement about the magnitude of the effect and what factors contribute to aggression and social skills. Purpose: The current study aimed to add to the literature regarding videogames and adolescent socio-emotional functioning, specifically the impact of videogame play on social skills and problem behaviors of children and adolescents as perceived by parents using a regression analysis. In addition, a relatively unknown predictor in this area, involvement in extracurricular activities, was included in the analysis. Material and Method: The sample included parents (N = 114) of 4 to 17 year old children who were recruited through a social networking site. Parents completed a demographic form and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire in order to assess for social/emotional functioning. Results: The results suggested that none of the predictors were significant in predicting social skills and socio/emotional functioning at the .05 level. Future directions and limitations are discussed. keywords: Videogames, Social Functioning, Emotional Functioning, Extracurricular Activities. Tanner (2007) reports that over 90% of children play videogames and that figure may be an underrepresentation. Videogames have become 1 This paper was completed as part of a doctoral candidacy/thesis project. Address for correspondence is The University of Houston, 4800 Calhoun Road, Farish Hall Ste. 491, Houston, TX 770204-5027; e-mail: adboyce@uh.edu. ISSN 1941-7233, e-ISSN 2345-024X http://dx.doi.org/10.7220/1941-7233.12.2 Aaron Boyce, G. Thomas Schanding Jr., Andrea Backscheider Burridge, Milena Keller-Margulis 30 part of American culture and play a major role in entertainment in children’s daily life (Kallio, Mayra, & Kaipainen, 2011; Newman, 2004; yee, 2006). In fact, United States consumers spend an estimated 4.5 billion dollars annually on videogame consoles, content, and accessories (NPD Group, 2011). The recent increase in videogame use has lead researchers to examine the effects of videogames on various domains such as aggression (Carnagey & Anderson, 2005; Gentile, Lynch, Linder, & Walsh, 2004), addiction (Chappell, Eatough, Davies, & Griffiths, 2006; young, 2009), psychotherapy (Ceranoglu, 2010), school performance (Din & Calao, 2001; Ip, Jacobs, & Watkins, 2008), and healthcare (Kato, 2010). Videogames encompass a wide array of hardware and mediums including cell phones, game consoles, computers, and handheld systems. The types of videogames have expanded exponentially since the early years of gaming. For example, one of the most iconic and simple games is Pong, where the user simply had to keep a ball from entering their side of the screen by bouncing it off of a paddle; however, current videogames range from basic concepts to full encompassing story lines, online interactions, and even gameplay that can take over 100 hours to complete. The prevalence of videogame use and impact on culture has become so engrossing that videogames are now advertised on soft drink cups, pizza boxes, and in commercials. Colwell and Kato (2003) suggest that playing videogames may replace friends for some children and social isolation is a possible outcome of spending too much time engaged with videogames as opposed to peer interactions. Although this connection between playing videogames and potential impact on socio-emotional functioning has been recognized, the literature has been inconsistent in findings and further exploration is warranted. EFFECTS oF VIdEogAmES oN SoCIo-EmoTIoNAl FuNCTIoNINg

Target-shooting exergame with a hand gesture control

Exertion games (exergames) pose interesting challenges in terms of user interaction techniques. Players are commonly unable to use traditional input devices such as mouse and keyboard, given the body movement requirements of this type of videogames. In this work we propose a hand gesture interface to direct actions in a target-shooting exertion game that is played while exercising on an ergo-bike. A vision-based hand gesture interface for interacting with objects in a 3D videogame is designed and implemented. The system is capable to issue game commands to any computer game that normally responds to mouse and keyboard without modifying the underlying source code of the game. The vision system combines Bag-of-features and Support Vector Machine (SVM) to achieve user-independent and real-time hand gesture recognition. In particular, a Finite State Machine (FSM) is used to build the grammar that generates gesture commands for the game. We carried out a user study to gather feedback from participants, and our preliminary results show the high level of interest from users use this multimedia system that implements a natural way of interaction. Albeit some concerns in terms of comfort, users had a positive experience using our exertion game and they expressed their positive intention to use a system like this in their daily lives.

The Relationship of Computer Games and Reported Anger in Young People

Playing computer games is a routine activity for most young people today. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship of time spent playing computer games, the violence of the game, and self-reported anger of students in North Cyprus. Four hundred participants between the ages of 15–18 completed the State-Trait Anger and the Anger Expression questionnaire, together with a section on gaming. The results showed that most (43%) students played computer games 3–4 days a week, with many (31.5%) playing every day. It was found that students who played computer games for 2–3 hours a day scored higher on expressed anger than those who played for less than half an hour a day. Those young people who preferred to play action, adventure, fight and strategy games were found to have reported higher levels of anger than those who played other types of computer games. The implications for guidance counsellors, parents and teachers are discussed.

Impacts of mothers' occupation status and parenting styles on levels of self-control, addiction to computer games, and educational progress of adolescents.

Addiction to computer (video) games in adolescents and its relationship with educational progress has recently attracted the attention of rearing and education experts as well as organizations and institutes involved in physical and mental health. The current research attempted to propose a structural model of the relationships between parenting styles, mothers' occupation status, and addiction to computer games, self-control, and educational progress of secondary school students. Using multistage cluster random sampling, 500 female and male secondary school students in Kerman (Iran) were selected and studied. The research tools included self-control, parenting styles, and addiction to computer games questionnaires and a self-made questionnaire containing demographic details. The data was analyzed using exploratory factor analysis, Cronbach's alpha coefficient and route analysis (in LISREL). We found self-control to have a linking role in the relationship between four parenting styles and educational progress. Mothers' occupation status was directly and significantly correlated with addiction to computer games. Although four parenting styles directly and significantly affected addiction to computer games, the findings did not support the linking role of addiction to computer games in the relationship between four parenting styles and educational progress. In agreement with previous studies, the current research reflected the impact of four parenting styles on self-control, addiction to computer games, and educational progress of students. Among the parenting styles, authoritative style can affect the severity of addiction to computer games through self-control development. It can thus indirectly influence the educational progress of students. Parents are recommended to use authoritative parenting style to help both self-management and psychological health of their children. The employed mothers are also recommended to have more supervision and control on the degree and type of computer games selected by their children.

Database research opportunities in computer games

In this paper, we outline several ways in which the database community can contribute to the development of technology for computer games. We outline the architecture of different types of computer games, and show how database technology plays a role in their design. From this, we identify several new research directions to improve the utilization of this technology in computer games.

Computer games are fun? On professional games and players’ motivations

As computer games are becoming more widespread, there is a tendency for young people to spend a growing amount of time playing games. The first part of this paper will deal with various types of computer games and their characteristic features. In the second part we show the results of our recent surveys. We examined the motivations of young people who sit in front of a computer spending a substantial part of their free time playing computer games. We also studied the psychological characteristics of people interested in certain computer games and the main characteristics of the games that motivate the young people. The survey was based on a questionnaire, completed by nearly 1000 young people interested in video games. In a second survey we received replies from children aged 10‐ to 14‐years and the results show that there are significant differences regarding motivation between younger and older players. There was also an effect of gender differences. Research shows that young children are more involved in games than older children. Machen Computerspiele Spaß? Über kommerzielle Spiele und die Motivation von Spielern Mit der größeren Verbreitung von Computerspielen wächst die Tendenz bei jüngeren Menschen, einen größeren Teil ihrer Zeit mit Spielen zu verbringen. Der erste Teil dieses Beitrags behandelt die verschiedenen Arten von Computerspielen und ihre charakteristischen Eigenschaften. Im zweiten Teil zeigen wir die Ergebnisse unserer jüngsten Umfragen. Wir untersuchten die Motivationen von Jugendlichen, die einen erheblichen Teil ihrer freien Zeit mit dem Spielen von Computerspielen vor dem Computer verbringen. Wir haben ebenfalls die psychologischen Merkmale jener Leute untersucht, die an bestimmten Computerspielen interessiert waren wie auch die spezifischen Charakteristika jener Spiele, die die jungen Leute fesselten. Die Umfrage wurde mit Hilfe eines Fragebogens durchgeführt, der von fast 1.000 Jugendlichen ausgefüllt wurde, die an Videospielen interessiert waren. Im Rahmen einer zweiten Umfrage erhielten wir die Antworten 10 – 14 jähriger Kinder. Die Ergebnisse belegen, dass signifikante Unterschiede bezüglich der Motivation zwischen jüngeren und älteren Spielern bestehen. Auch geschlechtsspezifische Unterschiede konnten festgestellt werden. Die Untersuchung zeigt, dass jüngere Kinder einen stärkeren Bezug zu Spielen haben als ältere. Les jeux informatiques sont‐ils amusants? Quelques réflexions sur les jeux professionnels et les motivations des joueurs Plus les jeux sur ordinateurs se développent, plus les jeunes ont tendance à passer du temps à jouer avec ces jeux. La première partie de cet article traitera de divers types de jeux informatiques et de leurs traits caractéristiques.Dans la deuxième partie nous montrons les résultats de nos enquêtes récentes. Nous avons éxaminé les motivations des jeunes qui passent une part importante de leur temps libre à jouer aux jeux informatiques. Nous avons aussi étudié les caractéristiques psychologiques des personnes intéressées par certains jeux sur ordinateur ainsi que les caractéristiques principales des jeux qui motivent les jeunes. Cette étude s’est fondée sur un questionnaire qu’ont rempli près de 1000 jeunes intéressés par les jeux vidéo.Dans une deuxième étude nous avons reçu des réponses venant d’enfants âgés de 10 à 14 ans et les résultats montrent qu’il y a des différences significatives en matière de motivation entre les joueurs jeunes et ceux qui sont plus âgés. Lee différences de genre ont également une influence.La recherche montre que les jeunes enfants sont plus motivés que leurs aînés.

Involvement, Interruption, and Inevitability: Melancholy as an Aesthetic Principle in Game Narratives

Of all of the possibilities suggested by the nascent genre of electronic writing, the idea that online or electronic media may provide a new way of telling stories has met with the most interest and suspicion. When artists, critics, and program developers debate the potential for electronic media to transcend the narrow appeal of quick-response (twitch) video games or the pragmatic search features of a CD-ROM-based encyclopedia, they ask whether our experience of these media can become rich and involved enough to become aesthetic. Such aesthetic hopes for these new media need not, of course, focus on narrative. Some of the most successful uses of electronic media have sought the aesthetic not in narrative but in the lyric possibilities of the word on the screen. Indeed, some of the most robust styles emerging in electronic literature rightly locate themselves in the tradition of concrete poetry and modernist experimentation with the ways that words can be brought into relationship on the page -or, in this case, screen.' Despite the fact that poetry may have had a smoother transition into the electronic medium, the success of electronic narrative is likely to determine the widespread acceptance of electronic writing. Indeed, the possibility of immersion into a story has been one of the most consistent appeals of electronic media. After the first flash of Pong and Space Invaders style video games, text-based adventure and mystery stories emerged in the early 1980s as one of the most successful and popular types of computer games. More recently, although some of the most popular games are relatively non-narrative first-person shooting, fighting, and driving games, there is a constant counter-pressure within the industry, embodied in games like Myst, that seek to tell stories or that try to integrate storytelling into the more visceral pleasures associated with video games. Likewise, works of hypertext fiction with more explicitly literary aspirations developed on the web or through stand-alone programs like Eastgate's Storyspace system have focused not so much on the visual presentation of text as on the methods of narrative linking. The future of electronic literature in this sense depends on the possibility of creating

Trunk posture:: reliability, accuracy, and risk estimates for low back pain from a video based assessment method

It has been recently reported that both dynamic movement characteristics, as well as the duration of postures adopted during work, are important in the development of low back pain (LBP). This paper presents a video-based posture assessment method capable of measuring trunk angles and angular velocities in industrial workplaces. The inter-observer reliability, system accuracy, and the relationship of the measured exposures to the reporting of low back pain are reported. The video analysis workstation consisted of a desktop computer equipped with digital video capture and playback technology, a VCR, and a computer game type joystick. The operator could then use a joystick to track trunk flexion and lateral bending during computer-controlled video playback. The joystick buttons were used for binary input of twisting. The inter-observer reliability for peak flexion and percentage of time spent in posture category variables were excellent (ICC>0.8). Lower reliability levels were observed for peak and average velocity and movement related variables. The video analysis system time series data showed very high correlation to the criterion optoelectronic imaging system ( r=0.92). Root mean square errors averaged 5.8° for the amplitude probability distribution function data. Trunk flexion variables including peak level, peak velocity, average velocity indicators, and percent time in flexion category indicators all showed significant differences between cases and controls in the epidemiological study. A model consisting of the measures peak trunk flexion, percent time in lateral bend and average lateral bending velocity emerged after multivariable analysis for relationship to low back pain. Relevance to industry Risk of injury for the low back is multifactorial. The trunk position and movement velocity are emerging as important parameters. This analysis confirms the importance of these factors and demonstrates the utility of a video-based method to measure them in industrial settings.

Online games: crafting persistent-state worlds

Ultima Online created a new type of computer game, one that models a persistent-state world. Unlike traditional games, Ultima Online's game world, or state, persists indefinitely. Once developers make a persistent-state world live, they never turn it off. People from across the globe connect to these games and play out their favorite fantasies, assured that their monthly subscription fees will pay to keep their characters' current state up to date from the moment they disconnect until the next time they log on. Still in its infancy, the persistent world genre has so far spawned only a handful of titles and has much room to grow. With the prices of bandwidth and computer hardware falling continually, the lure of delving into a virtual world becomes stronger and the need for more persistent-state worlds becomes increasingly apparent. However, except for EverQuest, no online title has yet become a solid success. Regardless, gamers stand to benefit most as their world grows exponentially with the addition of each virtual universe.

Collaborative and Interactive Writing for Increasing Communication Skills

F eign language instruction has long benefited from access to audio-video devices aimed at facilitating and promoting listening skill development in the target language. During the last decade, computers have provided additional opportunities to practice structures and vocabulary in a written extension of the exercises once only found in audio labs or textbook drills and exercises.' Now, computers have the capacity to offer highly creative and interactive environments for learning, thus opening the way for an educational revolution that promotes individuality, creativity, and originality. This study shows that computerbased lessons can promote reading and writing proficiency through on line activities that encourage critical thinking, decision making, and imaginative expression of personal ideas. The Zork series, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Universe, and The Mist are just a few examples of the type of computer games that promote reading, writing, and decision making skills. These interactive literature programs captivate users by requiring them to role play, solve puzzles, and write clear directions in order to stay alive, progress through a maze, or collect treasure. In addition, Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? and its U.S.A. and Europe versions teach geography, currency, travel skills, and more, while students focus on pursuing the elusive Carmen and her gang of thieves. Games such as these can be used in ESL classes in their commercial form to provide computer-based, interactive work that promotes thoughtful use of the target language. Unfortunately, foreign language-specific, versions of these interactive materials are not yet on the market. However, teachers can encourage programmers working in foreign language CAI to learn from the success of interactive materials and turn their efforts toward programs that accept a variety of solutions and accordingly guide students to use the language for communication and problem solving purposes. Still, until such imaginative and interactive foreign language packages become widely available, it is possible for teachers to fill the creative void by utilizing commercial computer conferences, bulletin boards, and writing packages such as Word Perfect to generate interactive and collaborative skill development environments. This paper examines potential applications of computer-based communication tools, i.e., commercial computer conferences, bulletin boards, word processors, outline processors, and electronic dictionaries, to proficiency development in second language students.