Game World Research Articles

The Future of Gaming: How Artificial Intelligence is Revolutionizing the Industry

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is not just a tool for improving video games; it is revolutionizing the entire industry. This opinion paper explores how AI is transforming gaming experiences, enhancing player engagement, and reshaping game design. We argue that AI’s role in gaming is not just beneficial but essential for the future of interactive entertainment. Through an examination of current trends and future possibilities, we provide our perspective on the profound impacts of AI on the gaming world.

Semiotic in Narrative of Video Games: A Case Study of Detention (2017)

The research studies the semiotic elements of video game narratives, with a particular emphasis on the critically acclaimed game Detention (2017). The game is renowned for its ability to intricately weave its narrative through a sophisticated interplay of signs and symbols. Semiotics, the study of signs and their meanings, provides a robust framework for understanding the layers of interpretation that enrich the interactive storytelling experience within video games. The study draws from the theoretical foundations established by influential semioticians such as Ferdinand de Saussure and Charles Sanders Peirce. By focusing on Detention, the research not only explores the game’s narrative but also delves into its historical and cultural context within Taiwan, offering a detailed analysis of its semiotic landscape. The central research questions address the narrative elements, the semiotic analysis of the game's settings, and the role of symbolism in video games, with a particular emphasis on how these elements enhance the depth and richness of the narrative. Adopting a qualitative methodology, the study utilizes Peirce's triadic model of sign classification to analyze the game. The significance of this research lies in its contribution to the understanding of how narrative, semiotics, and symbolism are intricately fused in video game design. The research is well-defined in its objectives and scope, acknowledging its limitations, and aims to bridge the gap between semiotic theory and the immersive world of video games.

Acessibilidade e inovação: o IEB Minecraft como ferramenta para exploração de acervos

The Instituto de Estudos Brasileiros (IEB) has designed a video game in which participants create their own characters and enter the institution’s building to playfully explore the collections distributed between the Archives, the Library and the Visual Arts Collection. The aim of the launch of IEB Minecraft is to promote the Institute to a new audience – with an estimated age between 12 and 20 years old –, already used to digital language and the world of games, becoming an innovative way of getting young people to access the IEB's collections in a playfully and interactively. The selection of the collections for the game encompasses themes related to the works and trajectories of Brazilians of African descent and Black history – intellectuals, artists, poets – in their multiple expressions.

Open-World Games' Affordance of Cognitive Escapism, Relaxation, and Mental Well-Being Among Postgraduate Students: Mixed Methods Study.

Open-world games, characterized by their expansive and interactive environments, may offer unique cognitive escapism opportunities, potentially leading to relaxation and enhanced well-being. These games, such as "The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild" and "The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom," allow players to experience a sense of freedom and autonomy, which can reduce stress and improve mental health. While previous research has examined the general impact of video games on mental well-being, specific studies on the effects of open-world games among postgraduate students are limited. This study aims to investigate the relationships between cognitive escapism provided by open-world games and their effects on relaxation and well-being. The goal was to understand how the immersive nature of these games contributes to stress reduction and overall mental health improvement among postgraduate students. A mixed methods approach was used, which involved in-depth exploratory qualitative interviews and a survey of 609 players of popular open-world games. Quantitative data were collected using standardized questionnaires to measure open-world games' affordance of cognitive escapism, relaxation, and well-being. Qualitative data were obtained through 32 in-depth interviews that explored players' experiences and perceptions of cognitive escapism, relaxation, and mental well-being. Qualitative data (n=32; n=15, 47% female; n=16, 50% male; n=1, 3% preferred not to disclose gender; mean age 23.19, SD 2.19 y) revealed that cognitive escapism through immersive game worlds allowed players to temporarily disconnect from real-world stressors, resulting in enhanced mood and psychological well-being. Players indicated that the nonlinear gameplay and freedom to explore interactive environments provided a sense of relaxation and mental rejuvenation. Quantitative analysis (N=609) showed a substantial mediating role of relaxation in the relationship between cognitive escapism offered by open-world games and well-being. Specifically, cognitive escapism had a significant positive effect on players' relaxation (β=.15; SE 0.04; P<.001; 95% CI 0.0695-0.2331), which in turn had a significant and positive effect on players' well-being scores (β=.12; SE 0.04; P=.002; 95% CI 0.0445-0.2032). The study demonstrates that open-world games offer substantial benefits for cognitive escapism, significantly improving relaxation and well-being among postgraduate students. The immersive and autonomous nature of these games is crucial in reducing stress and enhancing mental health. Future research may investigate the long-term effects of regular engagement with open-world games and explore their potential therapeutic applications for managing stress and anxiety.

World-Building through Garments and Accessories in Dungeons &amp; Dragons Illustrations

In tabletop role-playing games, the game master and players in a group are encouraged to construct their own fictive world in which they can play. By using a critical world-building approach, we analyse the garments and accessories in the illustrations in Player’s Handbook (2014) for Dungeons &amp; Dragons (5th edition) and find that clothes have four conspicuous functions in establishing a world of possibilities from which a group of players can build their game world. The four functions are: to convey that the world is one of action and magic, to provide a range of cultural and historical alternatives to the traditional pseudomedieval fantasy world, to communicate what is important about particular groups, and to maintain a difference between female wizards as physical and sexualised and male wizards as people of knowledge and military competence.

Equivalences and depictions of the sacred in Vieru’s poetry for children

Vieru’s nursery rhyme has undoubtedly demonstrated that the poet is religious from the outset of his editorial debut. The poet’s creation dedicated to a young audience is defined as a set of poems, simple in structure, but moralizing, educational, axiological, cantabile, jovial, stories about true human meanings and norms. Without divine appellations, without direct references to religious lexemes, Vieru poetizes an archetypal world of identity values. The universe of the sacredness is represented by the distinct symbols: the white, the mother, home, the wheat, the land, the bee, the water (the spring, the rain), the bird, the longing, the song, etc. By sacrificing childhood, the poet sacralizes the entire surrounding universe, safeguarding childish chastity from mature influence and thought. His poetry for children combines allegorical (moralizing) stories and elements of mysterious rituals: the rain invocation, the bread baking, the rainbow waiting, the dialogue with the sun, lullabies song etc. Vieru’s character discusses freely with all the surrounding creatures, ventures into the game world even with the phenomena of nature, discovers the primordial meanings of life. The attachment to the rural world denotes the unforgettable past and the longings of distant childhood. Vieru’s verse is nourished even from the depth of ballads, millennial traditions, moral-spiritual creed. The childlike sensibility, the empathy and the burning desire to fraternize with the rural land are inherited, but also strengthened day by day through the mother’s presence. His nursery rhyme is not just a simple rhyme game, but a cult for (and about) the organic connection between man (child) and nature.

Heal Me!-Investigating the "Red Potion" Concept and Its Influence on Gamers' Cardiovascular Endurance.

The "red potion," inspired by video games, emulates the health point replenishment mechanism for injured game characters. Conversely, red ginger, known for its potential tonic properties in enhancing cardiovascular endurance, poses challenges in acquisition within specific regions. Several previous studies have highlighted the existence of an inseparable link when gamers are engaged in real-world activities, even without actively playing the game in the virtual world. This suggests the potential for the "red potion" concept to enhance the well-being of gamers in reality. A statistical ANOVA experiment involved 90 participants, all avid gamers, categorized into three groups: basic, placebo, and experimental. The basic group (BG) received a red-colored beverage without red ginger infusion or the 'red potion' concept. In contrast, the placebo group (PG) received a similar beverage described as a "red potion" but without red ginger. Lastly, the experimental group (EG) received a red ginger-infused beverage without the "red potion" concept. Despite receiving different treatments, all beverages were presented in the same red color. Participants underwent the "beep test" to assess their baseline stamina. The results revealed that both PG and EG exhibited comparable cardiovascular endurance, affirming the potential of the "red potion" concept to positively influence gamers.

Multitextuality in RPGs: a ludonarrative synergy model for video game text analysis

The article presents the textual potential of games and distinguishes between the types of texts in text-heavy video games. Text types are categorized according to the diegetic/non-diegetic situation vis-à-vis the game world and primary text function. It is assumed that role-playing games (RPGs) such as Divinity: Original Sin 2 (Larian Studios, 2017) encompass a greater volume of textual material. The proposed corpus analysis model is based on the concept of ludonarrative synergy, text and discourselinguistics, and methods of natural language processing (NLP) and computational linguistics. Two-level text analysis using Python examines the validity of categorizing game texts according to an extended diegetic/nondiegeticmodel.

Discussion on the Sense of Exploration in Games

Abstract: This paper explores human curiosity and desire to explore, particularly how these desires are stimulated in unknown environments. Electronic games, as a medium that is completely unknown before the experience and gives players freedom of movement, can particularly arouse players' curiosity. This article analyzes existing game design examples, studies how to meet players' exploration needs, and proposes several design ideas that help enhance the sense of exploration. Firstly, this article emphasizes that games should try to avoid excessive guidance and interference, reduce players' frustration in exploration, and ensure that the immersion of the game world is not disrupted. Secondly, the article proposes that maintaining challenge and appropriate difficulty in games can increase the excitement of exploration. At the same time, by setting diverse reward mechanisms and unexpected surprises, the fun of the exploration process can be further enhanced. This article summarizes these design strategies and provides specific guidance for exploratory games, aiming to help game designers better meet the needs of exploratory players and stimulate their desire to explore, enabling them to have a richer experience in the game.

Without morals in a moral world—the expanding moral circle of The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt

As video and computer games get increasingly more advanced, the immersive experience for the player of these games also follows this trajectory. In these games, one aspect that has been explored to the greatest extent is that of choice and player agency. Often, these choices and acts are of a moral character, whether it be choosing what to do on an ambiguously formulated questline with multiple branches or how to approach different creatures within the game world. The game The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt provides a case of a game that uses many mechanisms to explore issues related to moral and morality. Through a qualitative textual analysis of the game, this article explores how players are faced with the game’s moral order. Utilizing Singer’s idea of the expanding moral circle, this article explores the game world’s establishing of moral issues, including who and what are included in the expanding circle and in what way this is conveyed within the game. Relying on the dual nature of the gameplay, where players are role-playing as the Witcher Geralt of Rivia as well as experiencing what unfolds in the game in front of a screen, this article discusses how these moral orders–the one in the game world and the one in “real” life—intertwine the moral underpinnings of a digital game. This article also discusses how encounters with non-human animals often leave the player with very few choices regarding which to act, which is not presented as moral issues at all. Furthermore, this article discusses further development of the theoretical framework as a possible vantage point from where to understand morality and how it emanates in different game worlds.

Introduction of the Digital Gaming Relationship

In recent decades, there has been a growing interest in studying the appeal of digital games. However, there is still a call for further research, especially on the theoretical and methodological advancements. Hence, a novel approach and a concept of the Digital Gaming Relationship (DGR) is presented. The DGR model is adapted from earlier work on physical activity and with the central concept as “meaning,” it provides an alternative perspective to motivation-oriented literature for the field of game studies. With this approach, the fundamental view is that each person has a varying relationship with digital games and gaming over their life span. The relationship builds on the individual’s encounters with the social world of digital gaming and its cultural meanings. In the long term, accruing digital gaming-related knowledge, experiences, and emotional connections contributes to a rich tapestry of meaning, thus creating a deep and meaningful relationship capable of shaping one’s actions, behaviors, and even identity. The framework theorizes the mechanisms of an individual’s socialization process to the digital gaming world and illustrates that the relationship with digital games includes much more than just playing them. In this article, the theoretical roots and key concepts of the DGR are introduced, and the practical applicability of the approach is discussed.

Representation and Spreading of Chinese National Culture through AI-Enabled Digital Sculpture

In the modern world, digital sculpture technology with the use of neural networks is actively developing in the field of reconstructing works of art, thus contributing to the preservation of cultural heritage. Digital sculpture using artificial intelligence opens new possibilities for the representation of China’s cultural heritage. AI accelerates the process of restoring and recovering damaged or lost cultural assets, which is especially important for preserving unique and fragile artifacts. This study is dedicated to examining the potential of AI-generated digital sculptures in representing and disseminating Chinese national culture. It considers the stages of development of digital sculpture as an art form, analyzing its capabilities and features of artistic expression. Special attention is given to the analysis of key techniques for embodying Chinese national culture in digital sculptures using AI, exemplified by the game «Black Myth: Wukong». The game successfully combines traditional Chinese elements with modern technology, creating a unique and captivating game world that attracts attention with its beauty and realism. The analysis highlights that the use of AI for representing Chinese traditional culture in digital sculptures opens new horizons for artistic creativity and education.

Aggression in online gaming: the role of online disinhibition, social dominance orientation, moral disengagement and gender traits among Chinese university students.

Aggressive behaviors in the online gaming world are frequent and have far-reaching negative effects. To explore the factors and mechanisms of aggressive in games, we surveyed 945 university students using a framework of social dominance orientation, online disinhibition, moral disengagement, and aggression in gaming, and examined the moderating role of gender traits. We found no direct relationship between online disinhibition and aggression in gaming; however, through the mediating role of moral disengagement, online disinhibition indirectly affected aggression in gaming behavior and enhanced social dominance orientation. Social dominance orientation predicted both moral disengagement and aggression in gaming behaviors, and the mediating effect of moral disengagement was confirmed through the indirect influence of moral disengagement on aggression in gaming behavior. Moreover, the moral disengagement mechanism significantly predicted aggression in gaming behavior. Furthermore, femininity and androgyny moderated both social dominance orientation toward moral disengagement and aggression in gaming, while masculinity and androgyny moderated the path from online disinhibition to social dominance orientation. Regarding the path from moral disengagement to aggression, all gender trait moderations were significant. This study reveals the role of the moral disengagement mechanism in the process of game-related aggression, providing theoretical support for the explanation of aggressive behavior, which applies to players of any gender. Moreover, this study confirms the moderating role of gender. Unlike biological sex, gender traits are malleable; androgynous traits offer greater adaptability in various environments. Thus, prevention and intervention efforts against online aggression should include strengthening moral education and properly guiding and fostering androgynous gender traits.

Enhanced EDAS technique for quality evaluation of online games interface design based on three types of probabilistic linguistic similarity measures

The highest level of interface design for online games is to achieve invisibility, which means that the interface is very natural and easy to use. Players are proficient in using it and fully immerse themselves in the world of online games. It seems that the interface is transparent and they no longer feel its existence. Excellent online game interface design is the requirement of users that runs through the entire design process. But this is not to say that the usability of online game software can surpass other factors. All great designs seek a balance and harmony between artistic beauty, reliability, security, usability, cost, and performance. The quality evaluation of online games interface design is a multiple-attribute group decision-making (MAGDM) problem. Recently, the Evaluation Based on Distance from Average Solution (EDAS) technique, cosine similarity measure (CSM), Dice similarity measure (DSM), Jaccard similarity measure (JSM) and entropy technique has been separately employed to cope with MAGDM issues. The probabilistic linguistic term sets (PLTSs) are employed as a tool for conveying uncertain information during the quality evaluation of online games interface design. In this paper, the EDAS technique is expanded to the PLTSs and the probabilistic linguistic EDAS (PL-EDAS) technique based on cosine similarity measure (CSM), Dice similarity measure (DSM) and Jaccard similarity measure (JSM) is constructed to manage MAGDM issue. The information entropy technique is employed to implement the weight values based on CSM technique, DSM technique and JSM technique under PLTSs. Finally, the quality evaluation of online games interface design is employed to demonstrate the PL-EDAS technique and some comparative analysis is employed to demonstrate the PL-EDAS technique. Thus, the main research contribution of this work is constructed: (1) the information entropy technique is constructed to implement the attribute weight values based on CSM technique, DSM technique and JSM technique; (2) the PL-EDAS technique is constructed under PLTSs based on CSM technique, DSM technique and JSM technique; (3) an example for quality evaluation of online games interface design is employed to verify PL-EDAS technique and several decision comparative analysis is employed to verify the PL-EDAS technique.

Visual Hermeneutics Reception Xiao Character In Genshin Impact Game

Video games are an entertainment phenomenon that is popular among today's people. Various genres of video games have emerged and have their own impression on the players. In it, video games have visual elements that have their own uniqueness and aesthetic value. These visuals can provide information, especially on the character designs in the game world. Like the visual elements in the game Genshin Impact, where the visual elements in it certainly have meaning and interpretation of each other and form the narrative in the game itself. Characters created with certain characteristics will certainly attract players' interest. This research aims to interpret the visual design contained in the creation of a character using Ricoer's hermeneutic theory. Through analysis carried out with Ricoer's visual hermeneutics perspective, we can view Xiao's character design as a work of art that is not only pleasing to the eye, but also summarizes a philosophical and emotional narrative that gives character depth in this fantasy world. Hermeneutics plays a central role in helping us understand the meaning and complexity of Xiao's character behind his visual elements.

The Impact of Social Game Gameplay Design on Players’ Emotional Connection: A Case Study of “Sky: Children of the Light”

With the rapid development of technology, the world is becoming increasingly digital. As new social media asks players to interact to do the quests, social games offer people more possibilities to have an emotional connection with other players in the virtual world. “Sky: Children of the Light” is a popular social game growing up during the pandemic era, with the core of “love and giving”, it provides players positive emotional lead in the game world and encourages players to spread hope and love to other people. The article focuses on the gameplay design of “Sky: Children of the Light”, the study of the impact of gameplay design on players ‘emotional connection by using the way of participatory observation and in-depth interviews, to provide some practical reference for healthy social game gameplay designing. The study found that by designing the interaction method and adding emotional purpose to the story narrative, the players’ satisfaction and empathy about the world will increase, and care more about the environment and people around them.

The significance of maps in video games for the interpretation of spatial situation

ABSTRACT This article examines the significance of the world map in video games for the interpretation of spatial situations. An example is the popular role-playing game The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (TW3). Nowadays, most video games are characterized by the presence of a spatial aspect. The game world map is the most important navigational element of the game that the gamer can use. To this end, the authors decided to test the importance of the game world map in the context of analyzing different examples of spatial situations that appear in TW3 by the respondents. Eye movement tracking was chosen as the research method. The analysis was conducted using statistical tests. Both gamers and non-gamers of TW3, gamers and non-gamers in general, participated in the survey. Each subject was shown 5 movies (1 introductory movie, 4 movies in the main part of the study) from the gameplay of the game, in which the game world map was opened. After each video, a question was asked about both the gameplay and the game world map. It was found that familiarity with TW3, frequency of playing video games influenced the correctness and time of answering the questions asked. In addition, by analyzing mean pupil diameter it was found that the game world map and gameplay segments do not cognitively burden the users. By analyzing the duration of fixations and the number of fixations, differences in visual strategy were observed between the groups of test subjects.

Older people in the world of esport: a qualitative study.

The inclusion of older players in the gaming world is growing rapidly, leading to the emergence of specific categories for them at major esport events. The aim of this study is to analyze the psychological issues faced by older people when engaging with the competitive context of esport. The study was conducted in 2021 within the French association Silver Geek, which offers digital workshops using Nintendo Wii consoles to older people living in retirement homes and organizes annual amateur competitions between teams of older adults. This qualitative study involved 16 participants (eight women, eight men) aged 63 to 97 years. Semi-structured interviews were used to explore the motivations, emotional well-being, and social impact of esport on older people. The results show that older people who participate in esport are motivated by the discovery and mastery of new game skills, as well as the pleasure of performance through social comparison. All experience a psychological well-being that translates into intense positive emotions. Moreover, the esport context, whether during the pre-competition workshops or the competitions themselves, proved to be a strong vector for positive social relationships, especially with the young e-sports coaches. However, this activity had little impact on existing family relationships. This study highlights the potential of esport as a recreational activity to promote mental health and social integration in older adults. The challenge for future research is to identify the levers that will enable this activity to become a true medium for intergenerational communication.

Immersion in open-world games based on Grounded theory -- A case study of Genshin Impact

In recent years, with the expansion of the game market and the rapid growth of game users, the game market has great potential. At the same time, open world games are loved by the vast majority of users. [Purpose/Significance] Explore the factors that affect the immersion of players in open world games, drive the improvement of the quality of open world games, help improve the industrial ecology, and achieve richer functional values. [Research design/Methods] Taking the open world adventure role-playing game "Genshin Impact" as a case study, semi-structured interview was used to obtain first-hand interview data, and coded research was conducted using grounded theory. Through several processes such as open coding, spindle coding, selective coding and theoretical saturation testing, the corresponding theoretical model is finally formed. [Conclusion/Finding] The results show that the basic feature of immersion performance is concentration. The two factors, the in-game condition and the out-of-game condition, together constitute the pre-factors that produce immersion. After entering the state of immersion, the main performance is to produce tension and emotional resonance. [Innovation/Value] builds a theoretical model for the generation of immersion in open world games, which lays a theoretical foundation for future theoretical model testing and empirical research.

Mod Installation as Reclaiming Representational Diversity: The Role of Aesthetic Agency in Stardew Valley

Media (e.g., film) are often designed around cisgender, heternormative logics and are not representative of the multiplicity of identities and identity expressions that exist in the world. Thus, media impedes the identity expression and performance of the communities who use them, as we do not see many parts of our identities represented or find that our identities are misrepresented. Video games, which are a genre of media, are especially problematic in how they perpetuate heteronormative normative logics. Unlike most media, however, video games give people agency over the aesthetics of game worlds--the characters and narratives--through the installation of mods. We conducted a content analysis coupled with a triangulation of mods through personal experience focused on the widely popular farming simulation game Stardew Valley. Drawing on a conceptual lens bringing together theories of identity and aesthetic agency, we highlight how the aesthetic agency afforded by mod installation provides opportunities for reclaiming representational diversity in game worlds along the following dimensions: sex and intimacy, gender and sexuality, race and ethnicity, and body diversity. We discuss the implications of mod installation, exploring its potential relationship with identity work and identity play. We then propose design guidelines for achieving aesthetic alignment.