Games and Gaming

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10125/107457

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Now showing 1 - 9 of 9

Communities of Risk, Identity, Youth and and Civil Disobedience: Parkour, Skateboarding, Skywalking as Rebellious Play
(2024-01-03) Grace, Lindsay
While contemporary literature champions the biological, psychological, and sociological benefits of play, the ability of play to represent civil disobedience is rarely examined. In short, there is limited literature on investigating the question - what does it mean to play as rebellion? This paper outlines the shared characteristics of three forms of play, parkour, skateboarding, and skywalking as rebellious activities. It is suggested that their shared characteristics and relationship to risk, authority, authenticity, and documented civil disobedience are core to the identity of disobedience. Using commercial video games based on real-world risky-play, the research illustrates how this play embraces civil disobedience. Each is about playing against authority. The paper offers an analysis of parkour-focused digital play, skateboarding video games, climbing games and a case study in the Storror parkour team and its streams, highlighting the intersection of literature from sports studies, game studies, social science and architecture within this domain.
Culturally justified hate: Prevalence and mental health impact of dark participation in games
(2024-01-03) Kowert, Rachel; Kilmer, Elizabeth; Newhouse, Alex
Hate, harassment, and other forms of so called “toxicity” are colloquially discussed as normalized activities in gaming spaces. However, there are several challenges that have limited researchers’ ability to assess this normalization in terms of the prevalence, nature, and embeddedness of these deviant practices. This work addresses those challenges directly and assesses the rates of dark participation, their mental health impact, player mitigation strategies, and player perceptions around the cultural normalization of these actions within gaming communities. The results provide empirical support for high rates of dark participation in games, a range of mental health consequences to these actions, as well as the endorsement of the culturally justified acceptance of these behaviors within gaming spaces.
Memorable Play in Dungeons & Dragons: Understanding the Relationship Between TTRPG Design and Peak Play Experiences
(2024-01-03) Sidhu, Premeet; Carter, Marcus
This paper presents results from an online survey (n=354) which aimed to better understand the appeal of the tabletop role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons [D&D]. Here, we focus on responses to the open-ended survey question: “What has been your most memorable moment in a D&D game? Please describe an example from your own play.” Common themes in responses were connected to three key elements of D&D’s design: gameplay, role-play, and storytelling. We subsequently identify 1) the importance of D&D’s “critical” dice-roll mechanic, 2) how D&D enables memorable role-play, and 3) the enduring appeal of heroic stories. By emphasizing how elements of D&D’s design can impact players’ experiences and enjoyment of the game, this paper offers new insights into the appeal of D&D which go beyond simplistic descriptions of the game being ‘fun’ or ‘social’.
The Next Level of Horror Entertainment: Facing Fear in Cooperative Interactive Drama Survival Horror Games
(2024-01-03) Marak, Katarzyna; Markocki, Miłosz; Siuda, Piotr
Horror entertainment continues to change, with horror games being another step in this evolution after literature and movies. The paper characterizes how the cooperative mode of Dark Pictures Anthology games influences the horror experience of players. The Anthology has been analyzed via a close reading of selected Let’s Play videos, with 42 complete playthroughs analyzed and 18 playlists sampled. The article demonstrates how scare tactics deployed by developers cause players to feel more discomfort compared to a single-player mode. The split perspective of co-op exacerbates stress, tension, and fear as these are being experienced regarding not only oneself but also the other player. Additionally, players’ meta-genre knowledge combines with cooperation, thus influencing decisions and, ultimately, the game experiences. All this means that the cooperative way of playing may be seen as yet another step in the horror entertainment evolution.
Murmuring Crowds and Flickering Lights: Exploring Sense of Place Across Spatial Materialities and Valences
(2024-01-03) Banks, Jaime; Bowman, Nicholas
Sense of place (SoP) is the knowing of a space just as one knows a person—forming idiosyncratic and interpersonal-like connections. Limited scholarship indicates that people can feel SoP for sensorily immersive digital spaces just as they do for physical spaces—but the phenomenological construction of space-knowing is not yet well understood. Further, potentials for SoP to be negatively valenced has not yet been meaningfully addressed. To address this gap, we conducted a 2×2 experiment in which people described a space (physical or digital) with an affective valence (positive or negative). Descriptions were subjected to inductive thematic analysis, and comparisons were made across the four conditions. Findings indicate some core SoP dimensions (environmental, affective, social) persist across spaces, but there are materiality/valence-specific differences in situational, orienting, and agentic considerations.
A Hybrid Revolution: The Appeal of Hybrid Gaming on the Nintendo Switch
(2024-01-03) Zhangshao, Tianyi; Carter, Marcus
The Nintendo Switch is the best-selling current generation console, and the second-best selling console in Nintendo history. The iconic feature of the Switch is its affordance different gaming modes, enabling players to play in a wider variety of environments. This ‘hybridity’ distinguishes the Switch from other gaming devices, but how players engage with this hybridity has not previously been examined. In this paper we present the results of a study (n=13) into how players engage with the Switch’s hybridity, and the role of this hybridity in the console’s appeal. We argue that the Switch’s hybridity breaks down previously established boundaries between hardcore and casual play, console gaming and portable gaming, and flexible and inflexible play.
UnityAccessibilityToolkit (UA11Y): Developer Tool and Roadmap to Make Games More Accessible for People with Vision Impairments
(2024-01-03) Strasser, Klemens; Pirker, Johanna
An increasing number of game productions rely on accessibility features. Large productions like The Last of Us demonstrate what is possible in this area, but many games still lack essential accessibility features. Smaller productions often lack the knowledge and resources to implement different accessibility features. In the first part of this paper, we investigate how people with vision impairments play video games and compare current accessibility features. Based on our findings, we present a roadmap and guidelines for improving game accessibility for individuals with a color vision deficiency, low vision, or any form of vision impairment. In the third part, we introduce the UnityAccessibilityToolkit, a toolkit for game developers to quickly and easily integrate accessibility elements for players with vision impairments into a game. We evaluated the toolkit with nine developers who were challenged to make a simple match-3 game more accessible. Our results demonstrate that the Unity toolkit is easy and fast to use, and that important accessibility features can be implemented quickly.
Playing the (Streaming) Fame Game: (Re)presentations of success, challenges, and demand in streaming simulation games
(2024-01-03) Boudreau, Kelly; Bowman, Nicholas; Consalvo, Mia; Phelps, Andrew
This paper explores and analyzes content in streaming simulation games. In these games, players assume the role of a live streamer, largely motivated by a desire for economic success, and faced with situations drawn from the current practice of streaming on platforms such as Twitch and YouTube. How do these games differ (or adhere) relative to the actual experience of streaming with respect to labor and production? How is toxic and problematic streaming content addressed? Applying demand theory as an analytical lens, we explore how these games attempt to simulate the cognitive, physical, social, and emotional demands of successful streamers, or the attempt to become one. By examining in-game characters in various games as they relate to the experiences of actual streamers through mediated gameplay by the player, it is possible to consider how demand is performed, represented, and actualized in a larger context. Additionally, these games are further reflections of the dominant, and toxic, discourse of gamer culture.
Introduction to the Minitrack on Games and Gaming
(2024-01-03) Phelps, Andrew; Poor, Nathaniel; Orme, Stephanie

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