Browsing by Subject "gaming"

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
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    Correlating the effects of flow and telepresence in virtual worlds: Enhancing our understanding of user behavior in game-based learning
    (2013-05) Faiola, Anthony; Newlon, Christine; Pfaff, Mark; Smyslova, Olga
    Recent research on online learning suggests that virtual worlds are becoming an important environment to observe the experience of flow. From these simulated spaces, researchers may gather a deeper understanding of cognition in the context of game-based learning. Csikszentmihalyi (1997) describes flow as a feeling of increased psychological immersion and energized focus, with outcomes that evoke disregard for external pressures and the loss of time consciousness, issuing in a sense of pleasure. Past studies suggest that flow is encountered in an array of activities and places, including those in virtual worlds. The authors’ posit that flow in virtual worlds, such as Second Life (SL), can be positively associated with degrees of the cognitive phenomenon of immersion and telepresence. Flow may also contribute to a better attitude and behavior during virtual game-based learning. This study tested three hypotheses related to flow and telepresence, using SL. Findings suggest that both flow and telepresence are experienced in SL and that there is a significant correlation between them. These findings shed light on the complex interrelationships and interactions that lead to flow experience in virtual gameplay and learning, while engendering hope that learners, who experience flow, may acquire an improved attitude of learning online.
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    Gamer Girls, Gold Farmers, and Activism In Real Life
    (Springer, 2016-06) Musgrave, Megan L.; Department of English, School of Liberal Arts
    This essay analyzes the graphic novel In Real Life as an example of Cory Doctorow and Jen Wang’s intention to raise young people’s awareness about gender and economic disparities within the gaming industry. Broadly, In Real Life combats the pervasive cultural anxiety that Jane McGonigal challenges in her book Reality is Broken–namely that young people’s growing connection to technology, and specifically to gaming, will cause them to spend their lives “wasting time, tuning out, and losing out on real life” (2011, p. 11). Specifically, it provides a realistic, accessible example of digital citizenship for twenty-first century youth. The innovative notions of digital citizenship Doctorow and Wang present in the text call for an end to gender and economic marginalization as facilitated by a gaming industry in which many young adults participate. By connecting gaming to activism, In Real Life offers a new avenue by which to use young adult literature to inspire civic engagement on the part of young people. The aim is to show that the imaginary activism depicted in literature not only has the potential to, but is actually designed to engage young people as active users, consumers, and shapers of technology.
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    Gaming as Civic Engagement in Salman Rushdie’s Luka and the Fire of Life
    (Project Muse, 2015) Musgrave, Megan L.; Department of English, School of Liberal Arts
    This essay investigates the ways that Salman Rushdie’s 2010 novel Luka and the Fire of Life engages twenty-first-century concerns about the role of technology in daily life. Borrowing its narrative structure from classic video games, Luka argues that “old” storytelling modes must be adapted in order to remain relevant to new generations for whom technology is becoming indispensable. In this regard, Rushdie supports the position asserted by James Paul Gee, Henry Jenkins, Jane McGonigal, and other new media critics: gaming has the potential not only to bridge the generation gap, but also to sharpen problem-solving skills and inspire young people to integrate play, technology, and citizenship-building activities.
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    Reading the Game: Exploring Narratives in Video Games as Literary Texts
    (2018-12) Turley, Andrew C.; Musgrave, Megan; Buchenot, Andre; Marvin, Thomas
    Video games are increasingly recognized as powerful tools for learning in classrooms. However, they are widely neglected in the field of English, particularly as objects worthy of literary study. This project argues the place of video games as objects of literary study and criticism, combining the theories of Espen Aarseth, Ian Bogost, Henry Jenkins, and James Paul Gee. The author of this study presents an approach to literary criticism of video games that he names “player-generated narratives.” Through player-generated narratives, players as readers of video games create loci for interpretative strategies that lead to both decoding and critical inspection of game narratives. This project includes a case-study of the video game Undertale taught in multiple college literature classrooms over the course of a year. Results of the study show that a video game introduced as a work of literature to a classroom increases participation, actives disengaged students, and connects literary concepts across media through multimodal learning. The project concludes with a chapter discussing applications of video games as texts in literature classrooms, including addressing the practical concerns of migrating video games into an educational setting.