Week 2 - Fields & Forms

Question 1

Gamer user research

Answer 1

Measures for improving gaming experience

Question 2

(Applied) experimental psychology

Answer 2

Studies on behaviour + attention + emotion eliciatation for good and evil

Question 3

Games for education

Answer 3

Emphasizing conceptiual exploration

Question 4

Games as philosophical tools

Answer 4

reflections about philosophical concepts

Question 5

Explain how games have been serious for a long time

Answer 5

They have been instructional tools for a long time

• Training of military strategies
• Educational tasks for children
• Medical training
• Business management

Question 6

What is psychology to gaming in research

Answer 6

• Probably earliest academic field involving games
• Experimental psychology naturally gravitates towards game-like conditions
• Video games provide opportunities for studies with high ecological / external validity

Question 7

Ecological validity

Answer 7

(Aspect of external validity)

Ability to generalize experimental results to different populations + situations + variables
Narrower concept → Whether experiment contains cues that preclude generalization from lab to real life

Question 8

Johan Huizinga’s Magic Circle

Answer 8

Metaphorical boudary between game and out-of-game context

Question 9

What is Natural sciences to gaming in research

Answer 9

• Primarily involving games as education content OR to drive outreach efforts
• Data creation or processing through citizen science games: involving players to create or process data which is useful for research purposes
• Challenging to design and build

Question 10

What is Computer science to gaming in research

Answer 10

• Games as experimental test beds for algorithms + mathematical models
• Intersection with principles of game theory (mathematical economics)
• Strict rules + may not require actual players to be useful

Question 11

What is Philosophy to gaming in research

Answer 11

• Games as experiential test beds for thought and reflection
• Overlap with game studies
• Rarely involves the creation of game titles

Question 12

Forms of involving games

Answer 12

• Stimulus
• Broadcasting
• Motivator
• Modelling

Involving computer games in research only seem to make sense if an entity capable of + open to play is involved

Question 13

Explain the stimulus form of involving games

Answer 13

• Invoke measurable behaviour

- No data without game artifact

Question 14

Explain the broadcasting form of involving games

Answer 14

For (structured) learning
For familiarization
- Personal transformation

Question 15

Explain the Motivator form of involving games

Answer 15

• For data collection
• For data processing
• Data independent of artefact

Question 16

Explain the modelling form of involving games

Answer 16

• Analysis of rule-based processes

Question 17

Give motivations for involvement

Answer 17

• Attracting a wider audience or a specific audience
• Ecological validity while maintaining ability to track confounding variables
  measure requires specific game contect
  control over affective states
  facilitating experiential thought experiments

Question 18

Forms of measuring

Answer 18

Observations: Annotated or ethnographies
Game metrics: counts, timestamps, etc.
Biometrics: biometrics, heart-rate, GSR, expressions
Interviews: usually post-play, structured or semi-structured
Focus groups: insight into discourse and group dynamics
Questionnaires: individual (post-play) data
Diaries and auto-ethnographies: longitudinal; qualitative