The Computer Games Journal Ltd Registered Company No

ISSN 2052-773X

The Computer Games Journal Ltd Registered company no. SC 441838

Registered address: 5 Golf Course Rd, Skelmorlie, North Ayrshire, UK (post code PA17 5BH)

journal website: www.computergamesjournal.com journal enquiries: [email protected]

The Computer Games Journal

Volume 1, Edition 1 (Whitsun 2012)

The Computer Games Journal 1(1) Whitsun 2012

The Computer Games Journal

Editor-in-Chief

Dr John N Sutherland BSc, MSc, EdD, CEng, CISE, CISP, MBCS

Deputy Editors-in-Chief

Dr Tony Maude BSc (Hons), PhD, BD (Hons) Dr Malcolm Sutherland BSc (Hons), PhD

Editorial Board

Prof. Alonzo Addison, University of California Dr Kenny MacAlpine, University of Abertay Dundee Aaron Allport, Blitz Games Studios Dr Hannah Marston, Deutsche Sporthochschule, Koln Jennifer Ash, IBM Alex McGivern, Reality Council Brian Baglow, Revolver PR Stephen McGlinchey, Eurocom Developments Ltd Dawn Beasley, Mission Resourcing Ltd Simon Meek, Tern Digital Pauline Belford, Edinburgh Telford College Andy Miah, Creative Futures Research Council Matt Black, Blitz Games Studios John Nash, Blitz Games Studios Kim Blake, Blitz Games Studios Walter Patterson, e3Net Peter Bloomfield; Software Engineer, Vertual Ltd Gary Penn, Denki Ltd Prof. Paul Bourke, University of Western Australia Eve Penford-Dennis (freelance game developer) Dr Fiona Cameron, University of Western Sydney Dr Mike Reddy, Newport University Phil Carlisle, Namaste Prof. Skip Rizzo, University of Southern California Dr Prathap Chandran, Smartlearn Telcomp Derek Robertson, Learning and Teaching Scotland Pierre Corbeil, retired professor, Quebec Sheila Robinson, Solvebrand Gordon Dow, PowerLunchClub Ltd Karl Royle, University of Wolverhampton Barry Elder, Digital Minds Mario Santana, VSMM Society Laurence Emms, Pixar Lol Scragg, Gamify Consultancy David Farrell, Glasgow Caledonian University Matt Seeney, Gameology Consultancy Dr Antonio Ramires, Universidade do Minho Stuart Slater, University of Wolverhampton Ross Forshaw, Linx Online Ltd Martin Williamson Smith, TuDocs Ltd Bill Gallacher, Reid Kerr College Colin Smyth, Blitz Games Studios Alan Gauld, BT Prof. Ian Smythe, Newport University Remi Gillig, Asobo Studio Mazen Sukkar, Headstrong Games Jullian Gold, Short Fuse Ltd David Thomson, founder of Ludometrics Natalie Griffith, Blitz Games Studios Prof. Jim Terkeurst, University of Winsconsin Richard Hackett, Blitz Games Studios Prof. Harold Thwaites, Multimedia University Cyberjaya Muhammad Nouman Hanif, Radius Interactive Prof. Olga de Troyer, Vrije Universiteit Brussel Douglas Henry, Bigpoint Chris Viggers, Blitz Games Studios Michael Heron, Epitaph Online Dr Krzysztof Walczak, Poznan University of Economics Mark Hobbs, Natural Motion Peter Walsh, Vancouver Film School Prof. Charalampos Karagiannidis, University of Thessaly Richard Wilson, TIGA Romana Khan, Caledonian University Shaun Wilson, RMIT University Chris van der Kuyl, Brightsolid Chris Wright, Games Analytics Prof. Ian Marshall, Coventry University Anne Wuebbenhorst, Digital Goldfish

Aims of The Computer Games Journal

The focus of The Computer Games Journal is on new and emerging technologies, market trends and other critical issues facing the computer games industry. The journal draws particular attention to research by undergraduate and postgraduate students, and commentary by industry professionals. The intention is to promote and publish information, which is of direct relevance to both computer games entrepreneurs and to students who are intent on developing a career in the industry.

The Computer Games Journal 1(1) Whitsun 2012

The Computer Games Journal

Whitsun 2012: Contents

Editorial

The vision for The Computer Games Journal Tony Maude, John Sutherland, Malcolm Sutherland 3 - 4

Research Papers

Developing concepts and tools useful to electronic games from and for history Pierre Corbeil 5 - 16

Kodu Game Lab: a programming environment Allan Fowler, Teale Fristce, Matthew MacLauren 17 - 28

Inaccessible through oversight: the need for inclusive game design Michael Heron 29 - 38

Applying ethics to modern games development Nigel McKelvey 39 - 50

A case study on the successes and difficulties of running an online e-portfolio support site for digital media students Martin Smith, John Sutherland, Malcolm Sutherland 51 - 70

Dissertation-based Papers

Adaptive AI in a racing simulator: a challenging and fun environment for game users Ben MacKinnon 71 - 89

Older adults as 21st century game designers Hannah Marston 90 - 102

Essays

The advantages and disadvantages of MMORPG video games for learning English as a second language Christoffer Pettersson 103 - 111

The Computer Games Journal 1(1) Whitsun 2012

Editorial: the vision for The Computer Games Journal

Written by the editors in chief

The computer games industry is, and always has been, an industry in rapid flux, with a wide range of products on offer, and which is reliant on a diverse range of technologies and an advanced skill base. Every week there is a new development, a new product, a technological challenge or an unexpected market trend. There is more to the industry than selling commercial games for customers‘ leisure: computer games and the industry‘s technologies have been used by the medical profession, by schools and by the military for many years.

At a recent conference at the Scottish Parliament earlier this year, Colin Anderson of Denki Studios Ltd claimed, ―the games industry is the canary in the cage‖. He observed that the rise and fall of the industry precedes and reflects the rise and fall of the economy as a whole. The games industry is extremely diverse, complicated and unpredictable, and surely a goldmine for researchers.

This is by no means the first computer games-related journal. As some of our friends and colleagues asked us, why start another computer games journal? There are three main reasons:

1: a lot of useful information goes missing

Student dissertations and essays, and ideas and articles by industry professionals, seldom see the light of day in research journals. Countless essays and dissertations are hidden in lecturers‘ offices or libraries and forgotten. Furthermore, there have been some games research conferences with no proceedings, and the presentations by the speakers eventually get deleted. The Computer Games Journal will contain more than the standard academic papers. We also want to publish material sourced from student coursework and dissertations, proceedings of games conferences, and commentary (even blogs) from industry professionals.

2: existing research tends to be limited in scope

There is an abundance of academic papers on how the graphic content of computer games can affect individuals and society; or on some small algorithm; or on the applications for ―serious‖ games. We are not condemning researchers for working in these subject fields. However, it would be refreshing to find published research on other pressing and commercially relevant issues. For example: which games consoles are in decline and why? What are the latest products, and what are the underlying technologies and business strategies? Which games consoles or platforms are on the ascendant, and why? What are the jobs on offer in the games industry? What technical and soft skills are required of games industry workers, and why is there a deficiency in the skills base? How do governments regulate the content on computer games and on their distribution? What are the impacts of current legislation, e.g. tax breaks or charges, or laws restricting or banning certain content?

3: we want this journal to be accessible and accountable

A lot of existing academic journals appear stuffy and hark from a previous era. There are several journals with the standard layout, which has existed for decades: all black and white, with the two columns of microscopic Times font. So many journals contain dozens of early/pre-1990s issues,

The Computer Games Journal 1(1) Whitsun 2012

which do not exist online. Some games journals do exist entirely in an online format, but we want to do more than simply upload a paper onto the web:

- The Computer Games Journal will exist entirely online, and visitors will be allowed to download and print our papers. - We will do away with the usual Times font and tedious layout: we will keep the layout simple, and include headings, tables and figures in colour in our publications. - We will install a Disqus system, which will enable our readers to make comments beneath individual papers. We want this journal to feel more like a conference or a popular magazine, where public opinion and scrutiny is permitted.

We appreciate that we are taking a high risk - and how appropriate - given that the computer games industry is a high-risk sector. Indeed, it is the element of Risk, which defines a game. We want to do more than publish a few academic papers. We invite researchers, students and industry professionals to disseminate and discuss information online. Improving the presentation and expanding the content of a journal, seems more adventurous…and will surely be more memorable and worthwhile,

Dr John Sutherland (editor-in-chief);

Dr Tony Maude and Dr Malcolm Sutherland (deputy editors-in-chief).

The Computer Games Journal 1(1) Whitsun 2012

Developing concepts and tools useful to electronic games from and for history

Pierre Corbeil 1

1 Drummondville, Quebec

Article Information

Received: February 2012 Accepted: April 2012 Available: online May 2012

Key words: game design, time, feedback, technology, history

About the author:

Pierre Corbeil holds degrees from the University of Toronto (Canada) and from the Université de Montréal (Québec). With a career in war gaming, historical games,and inter cultural games, he became interested in entrepreneurship and has published a collection of games on that subject, Entreprendre par le jeu. Recently, he received NASAGA's coveted Ifill-Raynolds Award for Lifetime Contribution to the field of gaming. He believes games favour invention over classification and defines history as the illusion of reality recreated generation after generation. He still plays war games and writes science fiction novels.

Abstract

The effort to develop specific games to help specific learning is a serious and promising endeavor. Like any serious endeavor, it requires application and concentration over generations. The experience of one generation must be made available to help the next avoid certain pitfalls and traps. The author's experience, which includes some deliberate research and some theorizing, has led him to identify traps that menace the computer game designer, from and for history, but also in other fields. The traps discussed here include going too quickly from good idea to game, the neglect of the variables of time and feedback, the desire to communicate a right answer, the desire to be fun, and the trap of cool technology, particularly the fascination with graphics. .

1: Introduction

Almost twenty years ago, Schick (1990) identified four major fields in which the computer would be helpful to the teacher of history: class work, including authoring tools, study guides, and diagnostics; communications, using word and idea processors and telecommunications; information management, by which he meant mostly databases (the field is somewhat wider to-day); and simulations and games, for experimentation and understanding. Corbeil (1999) a decade later suggested that computers offered to historians two possibilities that were new additions to the armory of the science, as opposed to faster or better tools for doing the same work, such as word processing (basically a better typewriter): the interrogation of databases in a semi-experimental method, with statistical tools for example, and simulation games as a study of possible worlds. The present work poses the further question of how electronic games can contribute something new to the study of history, though the question is valid for all sciences that attempt to study human societies and human behavior.

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Offering an answer to the question requires firstly an answer to questions about the use of games and simulations as tools for the study of history. The question about electronic games is essentially the one originally asked about games and history: how does electronic technology add something to the use of games that is really new to the practice (as opposed to simply doing something more efficiently, such as the acceleration of settling combats from an hour long process to an almost instantaneous one)? Since the gaming industry appears to be essentially technologically driven, by both graphics and game engines, this fundamental question must be addressed, as part of any serious effort to build up a body of experimental observations and, hopefully, theoretical tools and measures.

Young game designers, or young educators attempting to use electronic games, have the possibility of retracing the steps of the gaming field from the days of the pioneers, which I will identify as the decade of the 1960's. For these younger designers, it is useful to summarize some basic definitions that have been hammered together since those days, definitions of games, simulations, puzzles, and other works. The paper will explain briefly what the author has discovered about the impact of games on learning, drawing from his experience and experiments; it will point out the principal traps that today's cool technology lays for teachers and designers; finally, the author will conclude with some musings concerning the addition that computer games could add to the conception and methods of history.

2: Understanding games requires a lifetime

I remember a friend of my father's, in 1954 I believe, explaining his apprenticeship as a painter in Ireland, when Ireland provided artists and artisans, and not technical support. His first job had been to grind up the chunks of color powder to mix the paint. Similarly, I trained on cutting and gluing the game maps and counters of the first paper and cardboard battle games. The 1960's gamers tried many approaches to their designs, and the hopeful and innovative would provide materials for assembly, often because they simply did not have the resources needed to actually publish finished materials. My first games were actually battle games played with lead soldiers, properly called miniatures. In 1962, the Avalon Hill company, since swallowed by Hasbro, published the classic Gettysburg battle game. Since then, Simulation Publications (Decision Games now owns the right to most of Simulation‘s titles) and other smaller companies have published hundreds of paper and cardboard battle games.

As a college teacher, I naturally experimented with several paper and cardboard (sometimes wood) games in most of my classes. I did not become a teacher so that I could experiment with games, but as a teacher I determined to experiment, originally because I remained unconvinced that all the lectures I had attended had been very efficient as learning tools. Facts, or data, can often be simply transmitted or read, but the construction of knowledge requires experimentation, or trial-and-error. I suppose this makes me a kind of closet constructivist, though my models and opinions are usually the result of my own experiments or mistakes. A useful impact of games, I think, is that they vaccinate against group thinking. My students clearly learned when playing the games in class, but they did not necessarily all learn the same thing. Of course, this explains most of the resistance to the use of games in schools or even training, since the objective of most teaching is to move the group toward the right answer.

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3: Games, simulations and puzzles

War games have structural constraints. They are complex, detailed, and time-consuming. War games also have a predictable format, since units, terrain, and weaponry are historical facts. They must respect a rationalist point of view, since action and result must be linked in an understandable manner. They have as their subject matter, by definition - aggression and struggle - more than the usual competition of games, it being understood that competition is a defining characteristic of games (Simonsen, 1978). While a war game is a particular type of game, it is also a defining paradigm of games.

The game must be an activity, in which the participants are competing for an object. The activity is governed by rules that are susceptible to explanation and that are clearly described for the understanding of the participants. To be worth playing, a game must provide a challenge, choices of strategy, the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat, some sense of personal risk taking based on analysis and some visible, or at least perceptible, feedback (and striking feedback is a plus) (Corbeil, 2000). A key element of a game is, therefore, that many tactics and many outcomes are possible. When only one solution is possible, we have before us a puzzle, and not a game. Solving a puzzle is backwards engineering, in which the solver reconstructs the steps taken by the creator of the puzzle. So-called cooperative games, popular when games first entered the consciousness of teachers, are not games, because of this principle. Since there is in fact only one solution, that which allows the players to work together, a cooperative game is in fact a puzzle.

Bernard Suits (Suits, 1982) defined game playing as follows:

―To play a game is to attempt to achieve a specific state of affairs, using only means permitted by the rules, where the rules prohibit use of more efficient in favor of less efficient means, and where the rules are accepted just because they make possible such an activity.‖

Suits (1982) reminds us that the frontier is between reality and games, not between some games and others, or between some activities and others. Playing a game is always a chosen activity, and the results are not transferable into the real world. It may seem that the results are transferable in such games as baseball, in which some participants receive fabulous sums of money, but the salaries of professional players are a reflection of their symbolic value to the spectators. Just this year, a group of essays discussed whether the Montréal Canadiens hockey team was not, in fact, the central element of a religious phenomenon. The sports world does not invalidate the basic nature of a game, as written by Suits. In fact, it could be argued that the ease in which professionals move from one team to the other demonstrates the fundamental fact that Suits identifies.

The concept of game does not necessarily include the concept of fun. Caillois (1958) divides games into four great categories: i: games of competition, regulated, defined and purged of chance, called agon; ii: games of chance, where the only determinant is chance, called alea; iii: games of imitation, in which there is pretend or role-playing, called mimicry (Caillois uses the English word); and, iv: games which aim to create delirium and temporary madness, called ilinx.

Caillois places all games on a spectrum, ranging from paida (pure creativity), to ludus (pure effort). Therefore, any game can be classified according to the relative weight of the four characteristics, and on a scale from pure fun to greater and greater challenges. In actual games, all the elements are likely to be present, defined and limited by each other. Having fun, in the ordinary usage, is what

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Caillois calls ilinx a ―temporary madness that generates exhilaration and a kind of drunkenness, like that consequent on the use of drugs or alcohol‖. A game player voluntarily makes the effort of doing the activity - doing nothing is the epitome of being unamused - and even a game of chance requires the decision to play by the rules and accept unfavorable results. The pleasure of games is found in the satisfaction of having understood and defeated the constraints of the game, more successfully than ones opponent(s), even when attaining that satisfaction was not much fun. Indeed, play is not about fun: it is what links instinct and imagination with politics and social reconstruction (Cox 1973).

The war games on which I trained, and which are still played, are also called simulations. A simulation, according to Barry Lawson, chairman of NASAGA (Kelleher, 1980), is simply a model of something. A tendency to use the word simulation as a synonym or a substitute for the word game has crept into usage in the educational gaming community. I suspect this is because clients, both public and private, are suspicious of a game as a time-wasting activity; the client is conscious of the lack of fit between game and reality, and therefore assumes that it will not be productive in the real world. Some games are simulations, because they construct their rules and objectives from a real situation, and the games I used or designed were simulations of a historical context, which my students intended to understand. Not all simulations are games, far from it, and most games are not simulations. It is true that some simulations can be turned into games by adding competitive constraints. The distinction between games and simulations, and their occasional intersection, is a major consideration in identifying variables that make games useful as learning tools for history in my experience.

4: Learning with games

A game used in a classroom or as a training experience certainly suspends convention and temporarily removes constraints. Removing constraints is an essential part of the learning experience. Weick and Westley (in Klabbers, 2003) have argued that learning and organizing are antithetical processes. Learning requires disorganization and increased variety. To organize is to forget and reduce variety. Participation in a game is a process of disorganization; the variety of situations and variety of approaches to a problem increase. Highly organized institutions, such as large enterprises and educational systems, resist disorganization and automatically resist learning, which may seem paradoxical in connection with schools, although anyone with experience of real schools knows this to be a fact. Resistance to games as learning tools can also come from resistance to disorganization, which may or may not produce temporary madness and fun.

Learning with a game is a trial and error experience. To learn from a game, the participant must first learn the game (Laveault and Corbeil, 1990). Mastering the functions and tactics of the game is necessary if the participant is to discover anything useful from the variables that are in the mechanics of the game. It follows that the game must be played long enough for the participants (or most of them, to be practical) to master the game. The more complex the game - and many of the computer games of today are unquestionably complex - the more time is required both to learn the mechanics and to test the variables of the game. Any serious attempt at using games as learning tools must consider time as a central variable, and not just as a practical constraint. Time is required for any organic process, if we assume that learning is an organic process. Also the steps taken by the student from understanding the rules, to understanding the strategies, to understanding the historical process under study, are not regular. Much of the time is spent learning the game, and learning the history is concentrated in the last hours of the process (Corbeil, 1999a).

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Learning with a game must also provide for alternative results. A major obstacle is the insistence of the teachers that the participants ultimately reach the right conclusion. Naturally, they have come to certain conclusions and wish their students to complete their training convinced of the validity of these conclusions. This is a natural sentiment, that of the parent worried for his child, and it is compounded in old age by the sinking feeling that wells up upon the discovery that scientific models confidently explained for thirty years are being dismantled by new data. The importance of dates and facts as the building blocks of history may obstruct understanding a game that helps understand even if the wrong side wins the (simulated) war.

In too many games the material is beaten and shaped so that eventually only one type of behavior or only one choice of solution is possible, which brings us back to the puzzle. The participants in such a one-way-only exercise are trying to solve the puzzle of the creator's right answer. Such an exercise is a thinly disguised operation of guessing what answer the teacher wants, the very antithesis of the thinking behind experiential learning, that personal experiment and trial and error are the surest foundations of integrated learning. Too many war games (I will name none) suffer from a tendency to work backward from the result. This is poor history, since no event has only one possible resolution. A good historical game offers paths and options but is not weighted in favor of the actual historical resolution.

5: History is a construction

Historians in their daily work gather up bits and pieces of matter, yellowed letters and old newspapers and broken gravestones and out-of-date advertising and rusted weapons, and try to discover something about the owners and users of these bits, asking questions e.g. ―How did they see the world, and what was real to them?‖ ―What did they have in mind when they did this or that?‖

Historians assume that the owners and users under study did actually live, and die, in a real and physical world: they are not figments of the imagination. But documentation only supplies the building blocks of historical understanding. Too much documentation is as bad as not enough. Jacques Le Goff said he was comfortable as a medievalist situated between antiquity's dearth and modern history plethora (Where and when did he say this? Reference please). The key to understanding is neither more documentation, nor even a time machine. Historical actors had less sense of the relationships between variables than later historians, which truth is well illustrated in Connie Willis' novel, Doomsday Book (Willis, 1992).

Historians try to understand past situations and actors through the limits of hindsight and contemporary perspective; this is not easily achieved, for example if we imagine a modern North American student trying to understand the religious wars of the 16th and 17th centuries. Consequently, the possibility of using a tool to put on the other fellow's shoes is very attractive. Not only are several outcomes possible, but the improbability of the actual results can be discovered, and the errors of hindsight can be washed away. Much of the so-called history of science, as taught in science faculties, is the description of the unfailing steps in which the heroes worked towards designing the contemporary world. Other important variables are the interactions between and among the students, providing a learning experience free from the right answers that limit true learning and that can sink a historical game.

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6: Promises and pitfalls of the digital game

Callison (1989) published a study comparing teachers' and students' preferences for software. The teachers favored tutorials and material that would ―be of interest to the students‖. The teachers failed dismally in their choices. The students like simulation games, complex simulation games that brought them to interact in small groups and to compare notes and to think – hard! The students may have already discovered that computer games were an otherwise unavailable tool for reducing the historians' unspoken biases and inevitable weaknesses when trying to understand historical actors.

A classic commercial game already exists that helps avoid hindsight, puts the player in the unknown of the historical actor and makes the history he will create largely dependent on his actions, according to the rational paradigm that I associated with the war game. The game is Sid Meier's Civilization (1991). The number of variables to be managed occupies the mind wonderfully (Corbeil, 1993) and the setting of the game is a program-generated world. The game begins with a wagon blinking forlornly in a blank screen, the small caravan of the player's people about to start their journey through history. These aspects make the game of great interest to the thoughtful student of history. Mistakes are inevitable, tempered only by the possibility that each one will provide a lesson for future generations. The game reminds the player very forcefully that the world we take for granted was not inevitable and that time, effort, and luck all played their part.

Civilization possesses many of the characteristics that explain the efficiency of games as learning tools in history. The game allows the time for experimentation; it works natively by trial and error; it can be played over and over as the rules and mechanisms are mastered; it provides the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat (that is the essential feedback for experiential learning, which is the satisfaction that I opposed to the very different concept of fun). At the same time, the story of Civilization, and its four iterations (Meier, 2005), is a starting point to illustrate the traps into which digital gaming has fallen.

A computer game is simply a program. The first trap into which a game designer may fall is that of Artificial Intelligence. For the game to function, the program must receive the player's input, analyze it in terms of the information contained in the program, calculate the result, and emit a reaction from the program controlled players (the other civilizations in this case). A program cannot evaluate innovation and can only respond within its parameters. As such, it is close to being a puzzle, in the sense that there are strategies favored by the program, so that the player in the several iterations possible with the game is eventually looking for the key moves that will succeed. The Artificial Intelligence of the present generation of games has far to go to meet a Turing Test for game play, which could be defined like this: how much like a human player, in terms of non-linearity and surprise, does the computer-controlled player behave? The incompetence of AIs is masked by making their units, their playing pieces, more difficult to kill. A game programmer, or author, must start from the premise that a computer game is more like a complex puzzle than a game, as defined above. If war-gamers like battle games that can be played by email, or on line (though few are available), it is because a game can only attain its potential with human adversaries.

The trap set by the AI's limits is well illustrated by the game Colonization, derived from its parent (Meier, 1994, 2008). Since the history of the program is the history conceived, or accepted, by the authors, we are led to exchange one set of presuppositions for another. While Colonization is an excellent game, for much the same reasons as Civilization, the history lesson imbedded in the game is exactly the opposite of the aim of a game, to discover alternate paths and to understand the reality of the historical characters. Colonization requires the player to lead his colonies to independence. This is what happened in Britain's American colonies. But, while the historical experience of the British colonists began with a flight from Britain for religious reasons, the experience and motivation of the

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French colonists who founded New France was completely different. The French colonists were expanding France, not fleeing it, and their relationship with the government of France was that of good French citizens clamoring for more resources in their effort to expand French influence throughout North America (an influence that reached to Texas, Alberta, and Hudson's Bay). This cautionary consideration is also valid for the Spanish colonies, which rejected Napoleonic domination of Spain, rather than Spain itself. Indeed, the premise is not necessarily valid for the British colonies either. It was a king's army, paid by the taxpayers of Britain, which finally succeeded in conquering New France, in 1760; the colonists could never have achieved that objective by themselves, as in fact they were not very proficient at defending themselves.

7: Cool technology

The second trap is less inherent in the nature of gaming programs and more a product of the choices made over the twenty years of game development. The energy and the resources have been concentrated on the improvement of the graphic displays. This process may be a question of generations: the young technicians know games as computer games, and lack the wider vision and greater variety of paper and cardboard games. The trap is hard to avoid: wonderful technology is used to compensate for the weaknesses of the variables and structure of the game. There is not exactly an inverse relationship between the improvement of graphics and the quality of the games, but while Civilization IV and Civilisation IV: Colonization are prettier than the original games, they are not better games, and their history is trapped within the same parameters.

If graphics were neutral in their impact on games, being merely cosmetic, their impact would merely be a drain on energy and resources. However, since we are considering digital games as learning tools, the impact of graphics on the nature of the games available perverts the basic variables that make games enriching and motivating learning environments. During the creation of this paper, I discovered, by chance, issue 10:6 (February 17, 2009) of Le Mouton Noir (The Black Sheep: student papers are always called some variation of the Mild Rebel), the student journal of the Collège de Drummondville. The technology editor comments on the best games for 2009: Splatterhouse, Madworld, Heavy Rain, Prototype, Call of Duty 6, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2, Killzone 2, Street Fighter IV, God of War III, Resident Evil, Burnout Paradise, Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia, God of War: Chains of Olympus, Guitar Hero:World Tour, Rock Band 2, Mario Kart Wii, Super Smash Bros Brawl, Fallout 3, Gears of War 2, Metal Gear Solid 4. The games are basically all variants of the same exercise: hit, cut, shoot and destroy what is available on the screen. The content includes pretending to play a guitar, smashing cars, and several horror stories.

I do not have the training or the competence to explain the taste for horror stories, especially in adolescents. But these games have three things in common: they use graphics technology to offer shocking images; they are repetitive, with no variation in information or the steps to be taken in the game; and, they are built in direct negation of the qualities that make games learning tools. Some variables in the mechanics of learning have been known since the 18th century, and certainly since at least Piaget. In men, and animals, repetition reduces efficiency in tasks that require attention. New stimuli and new challenges are the motors of learning, and, in the games used for learning history with which I worked, the satisfaction, the discovery, and the motivation originated in the changed scenarios, the possibilities for trial and error, and the experience of testing one's own approach (rational cause and effect followed by feedback). Repetition and automatic behavior are soporific and dull the brain and the senses (Millar, 1971).

Those who consider games a drug and those who argue that games help learning both have valid points. My students, who tested their diplomatic skills over a map of the world divided into movement

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spaces, who calculated possible moves, who had to evaluate the feedback of the results of their moves after each turn, and who tried a different approach in the following scenarios, were learning incrementally. Their successors, who go through the steps of destroying horrible creatures over and over again until they can do it automatically, are drugging their senses, unless they are over- stimulating them, neither of which is of any help with learning. Graphic-driven games are not of course intended as learning tools. They are created and sold essentially as, well, drugs. To quote Thomas McDonald (2009):

―EA and Activision don't need your money, and they don't care too much about you.‖

8: Retracing and re-working

Games are about discovery, perhaps about discovery of oneself. Their mechanisms reach deeply into the workings of human nature, and even into animal nature, which is part of us. Like any serious endeavor, developing games that help learning requires application and concentration over generations. There are possible means of offering another road than the graphics games. The search for useful approaches does indeed involve going back a generation or two, to the fork in the road and trying to pursue the other path.

PC games began on mainframes and research computers. It moved to personal computers when independent developers put their games on floppy disks and sold them in hobby stores. If it is going to have a future that is not yoked to console design paradigms, we are going to have to recapture those roots and start paying closer attention to the small developers who are designing with us, and not 14- year-old console gamers, as their primary market (McDonald, 2009).

McDonald is thinking of PC gamers, older gamers, and what we might possibly call serious gamers. Designers who are concerned about using games as learning tools must consider primarily the structure of the game, the internal feedback, the obstacles to be overcome by the players, and the possible satisfaction related to accomplishment, to mastering an unknown situation. Improving one's competence in a field is actually one definition of satisfaction. The designer could start from the principle that to learn is to disorganize and increase variety; to organize is to forget and reduce variety. Participation in a game is a process of disorganization; the variety of situations and variety of approaches to a problem increase with the complexity of the game. A game that is locked into one path, such as a series of levels, offers the player only the possibility of organizing the choices toward a fixed aim, which brings us back to puzzles.

If possible, research into game engines should examine mechanisms for variables or reactions that change as the situation evolves; if not an Artificial Intelligence, which may be an oxymoron, then a simulation of the processes that a human opponent would follow in playing the game, or making historical decisions. An incomplete, but promising solution is in the computer version of the game Kingmaker (Corbeil, 1997). The original game is a multi-player game, hence a nonlinear, human, complex experience. The computer version cannot approach this, because, of course, it is a program (and from fifteen years ago), but it provides a clever substitute: each noble within the game is programmed to have his own personal quirks, feelings, and ambitions. The program, in a way, simulates a simulation.

Going back to the fork in the road could be put into practice by including the extensive play of paper and cardboard games, such as Kingmaker aforementioned, in the training of game designers, and programmers, to learn from the inside the processes that make games tools for discovering alternate routes, especially the importance of interaction among human players. The inherent weakness of a

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program is not easily visible to a gamer who has only played digital games, and the possibility afforded today of contact with human adversaries by online games hides the difficulty, since the human players are simply collectively trapped within the framework of the program's paradigm. There is a vicious circle of misunderstanding in online games from the point of view of a serious usage as a learning tool. Without an external reference, such as monographs, articles, and even complex paper and cardboard games, it is unlikely that the players, alone or as a group, can discover the missing elements in the gamed situation, such as the presuppositions I have described in Colonization. If it is not waxing too philosophical, I would suggest that the phenomenon is a non-mathematical form of Gödel's Theorem.

Returning to models of games that were promising as learning tools and that could have been, and could still be, beginning points for building digital games that include the processes favorable to learning that are possible in games is another practical approach to serious digital games. For example, to help his students better understand the Constitutional Convention of 1787, James Schick (Corbeil, 1991) designed E Pluribus Unum, or ―From the Many, One‖: A Computer Simulation of the Constitutional Convention of 1787. The game is in fact played by a group, since the author intended to use it in his class on constitutional history. The players use a series of programs, which were not compiled, to choose a state and a delegate, then to consider the proposals that were in fact put forward during the debate. Another program registers the votes of the simulated delegates, and the constitutional project is then submitted to ratification state by state, using historical variables to evaluate the results of the ratifying conventions.

Promising approaches are at the basis of the design of E Pluribus Unum. The power of the machine is used to accelerate such time-consuming tasks as identifying proposals, registering votes, writing out a final result, and evaluating success or failure. The game is played by the human participants, whose limits are historical in the sense that the possibilities are those of the actual event. A key factor here, from the point of view of historical understanding, is that all the proposals are available, and the game is not weighed in favor of actual results. Graphics are not a factor, since the information is given as texts, and the results as tables. The game allows the participants to see the point of view of all historical actors, not just the winners, or the subsequently well known. The participants can test strategies, tactics, and the non-linear aspects of political exchange, and can replay the game repeatedly to verify hypotheses or resolve doubts. The game certainly gives feedback, the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat, and opens debate, as well as minds. Perhaps we could summarize by saying that the technology is at the service of the players, and not a constraint.

From the same period, consider the game The Corporate Game: A Computer Adventure for Developing Business Decision-Making Skills (Corbeil 1995). The game is in fact integrated with a book that explains some basic concepts in management (the author sells his game as the equivalent of an MBA library in an interactive business adventure). Like E Pluribus Unum, this game has no graphics to speak of: information comes in the form of tables, and the pages of a simulated newspaper, and action takes place essentially in a series of spreadsheets, in which the player can choose where to invest his capital, such as the purchase of equipment. The player (though the game can be played by two or three persons sitting at the computer), can also call for market studies. Motivated by a desire to win (that is, decode the market and make a profit), it is possible to cover a desk or table with paper and notes outlining possible strategies and listing possible combinations of cost and return. The game would score zero for graphics at Games Radar, but the design offers flexibility in strategy, can be replayed, and gives regular feedback, although it may be repulsive to the mathophobe. The challenge of the game is in the decoding of the information, obtained by comparing sources and not by waving a mouse across the screen. Learning from the game requires understanding the game's mechanics, then using them to test hypotheses and to validate choices.

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Far be it from me to suggest that the 1990s were a golden age of game design: as a counter-example from that period, let me mention SimHealth (Corbeil, 1994). The game was a member of the Sim family from Maxis, including Simcity, SimFarm and others. It was financed and supported by a foundation as a tool to help citizens reflect on the question of a public health-system for the USA. The authors were very serious: no less than 152 variables can be tweaked in the program. But as a game, the result was disastrous. Having tweaked all these variables, all the player can do is watch a graphic image of ‗Main Street‘, a display of a typical downtown. As this or that policy choice encourages of impoverishes a part of society, the image corresponding, say the school, shrinks and grows, or lawns become neat or messy. With low feedback, no challenges, no political variables (surely a President must wheel and deal), all in all, SimHealth lacks all the elements that could help to make games valuable learning tools. Clearly, support from a large foundation and design by a well-established company do not guarantee either gaming tension or effective learning. It is strange that a game whose purpose was public discussion should have taken the form of a one-person program. The computer had no real business in the development of public debate, where a simple interactive game that children and grandparents could have played would have better suited the objective; the trap of cool technology is not a recent phenomenon.

The story of SimHealth reminds us that a serious game is still originally a game: victory and defeat, tension, feedback, decision-making are the engaging elements of a game. Many so-called educational games, not just computer games, fall for the trap of the right answer and become simply uninteresting. A good idea is not automatically a good game, and discipline and training are not substitutes for the engaging elements. If the gaming material is beaten and shaped so that only one kind of behavior or only choice is possible, we are back to puzzle-solving, which is essentially backward engineering. Too many so-called educational games are simply an exercise in guessing what answer the teacher wants, which is the exact opposite of the idea behind experiential learning, that personal experiment and trial and error are the surest foundations of integrated learning. The concept may seem counter-intuitive, but for efficient learning to result from the experience, the game world should take the participant, become a learner, into an unfamiliar world, so that existing patterns are not confirmed and an effort at mastering the environment is required. Accountants must not play games in which they are accountants: they must be in an unfamiliar universe in which they are, for example, magicians trying to muster the mana to do great deeds. Gary Gygax is quoted as being most proud of the stimulating effect his fantasy game, Dungeons & Dragons, exercised on a generation or two of students, some of whom became accountants. As a working hypothesis, a learning game works best when it is set in an unfamiliar universe.

9: The past as prologue

I will end by returning to my question. How does electronic technology add something to the use of games that is really new to the practice, as opposed to simply doing something more efficiently, such as the acceleration of settling combats from an hour long process to an almost instantaneous one? The answer is simple. The graphics driven games add nothing, and can even be obstacles. For the object of learning about history, many of the more popular games are really nothing more than coloring books for adults. Building a building that builds lots of soldiers teaches nothing about the recruiting and training of armies. There are a few good battle games, which offer the possibility of actually applying and experimenting with tactics and organization, or strategy, but they are not different from the games printed in the journal Strategy & Tactics, except that they manage the data and the administration efficiently.

This does not mean that they could not add something. A new paradigm cannot be defined in advance, but must result from the attempts and errors of experimenters and designers. If attention is

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paid to the experience gained in the past, the workings of serious games can be taken as a given from which it is possible to define criteria and test results. I have distinguished games from puzzles in terms of the study of historical variables, such as the point-of-view of the losers, but this does not mean that the puzzle, or at least the complex puzzle, cannot be the model for a digital learning experience about the laws of physics or mathematics. Mathematics has been taught backwards, beginning with the answer – the theorem – and ending with the question – the problem posed by the mathematicians who designed the theorem. Why not discover statistical method through a computer game in which the player would confront anomalies in a card game, such as poker, and choose tools that would allow him to unmask chicanery. When the tools were being used efficiently, the program would offer the names and explanations of the tools, such as distribution or correlation. A Myst-like game could be built to review the false starts, dead-ends, and flashes of insight that are the history of the sciences, another subject that is taught as the ‗Pilgrim's Progress‘. No wonder physics or chemistry students find the subject dull: they have no opportunity to relate to the actual actors who labored and sweat to understand at least one aspect of the physical world. Such a complex puzzle might also lead to a better understanding of certain physical laws or certain chemical properties.

As for history itself, there are certainly some useful games, such as the Talonsoft Battleground series. It will not be necessary to re-invent everything to create electronic tools that offer approaches not presently available. This paper has given some specific models, which can be studied to discover fruitful approaches. Let us end with an ideal of what the history teacher could hope to have as a serious (but engaging) computer game on a historical subject:

Why not have a simulation where the players take on the role of Lord Grey and his advisers in 1832 in an attempt to convince a majority of MPs to vote for the Reform Bill? Each interaction with an MP could be linked to the data bank of every other MP, thus creating an ever changing situation in which the participants would learn of the values and methods of early-nineteenth century British gentlemen (or gentle politicians?) and would try to understand alternatives before they are murdered by one of their more brutal brothers. The use of contemporary images and texts, such as Times headlines, registered by scanners and videodisc technology, would give to participants a sense of involvement and would give equal play to all faculties and learning styles. As artificial intelligence becomes as usable part of technology, our interactive historical simulation could progress to the next state of complexity (Corbeil, 1988)

References

Caillois, R. (1958), Les jeux et les hommes, (Paris, Gallimard).

Callison, D. (1989), Comparison of Teacher and Student Ratings of Microcomputer Software, Computers in the Schools, 6:1/2, 1989.

Corbeil, P. (1988), History and Electronic Technology: New Tools for New Questions, Simulation/Games for Learning, 18:2 (June 1988).

Corbeil, P. (1991), E Pluribus Unum. Game Review. Simulation & Gaming, 22:2 (June 1991).

Corbeil, P. (1993), Civilization Game Review. Simulation & Gaming, 24:3 (September 1993).

Corbeil, P. (1994), SimHealth Game Review. Simulation & Gaming, 25:4 (December 1994)

Corbeil, P. (1995), The Corporate Game Review, Simulation & Gaming, 26:3 (September 1995).

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Corbeil, P. (1999), A Horseless Carriage for the Historian, History Computer Review, 15(2), 31-44.

Corbeil, P. (1997), Review of Kingmaker, Simulation & Gaming, 28:1(March 1997).

Corbeil, P. (1999a), Learning from the Children: Practical and Theoretical Reflections on Playing and Learning, Simulation & Gaming, 30:2(June 1999).

Corbeil, P. (2000), Batting .333, or, 10 years out of 30 ain't bad. Simulation & Gaming 34:1 (March 2000).

Cox, H. (1973), The Seduction of the Spirit, (New York, Simon & Shuster).

Kelleher, J. (1980), Playing with Reality, Northeast Training News (August 1980)

Klabbers, J. (2003),Gaming and Simulation: Principles of a science of design. Simulation & Gaming 34:4 (December 2003).

Laveault, D. & Corbeil, P. (1990), Assessing the Impact of Simulation Games of Learning: A Step-by-Step Approach. Simulation/Games for Learning 20:1 (March 1990)

McDonald, T. (2009), Grassroots Gaming, Maximum PC 14:4 (April 2009).

Meier, S. (1991), Civilization. (Hunt Valley, Maryland, Microprose Software).

Meier, S. (1994), Colonization. (Hunt Valley, Maryland, Microprose Software).

Meier, S. (2005), Civilization IV. (New York, New York, Firaxis and Take-Two Games).

Meier, S. (2008), Civilization IV: Colonization. (New York, New York, Firaxis and Take-Two Games).

Simonsen, R. (1978), Where does it all end ? Thoughts on the Boundary Lines of the Hobby, Moves 41 (October-November 1978).

Suits, B. (1982), Games and Utopia: Posthumous Reflections. (Paper presented at the 1982 NASAGA Conference.)

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Kodu Game Lab: a programming environment

Allan Fowler 1, Teale Fristce 2, Matthew MacLauren 3

1 Waiariki Institute of Technology, New Zealand 2 University of California, Santa Cruz, United States 3 Microsoft FUSE Labs / Microsoft Research (int.)

Article Information

Received: February 2012 Accepted: April 2012 Available: online May 2012

Key words: Kodu Game Lab, programming, computer games, children, 3D

Abstract

Kodu Game Lab is a tile-based visual programming tool that enables users to learn programming concepts through making and playing computer games. Kodu is a relatively new programming language designed specifically for young children to learn through independent exploration. It is integrated in a real-time isometric 3D gaming environment that is designed to compete with modern console games in terms of intuitive user interface and graphical production values.

1: Introduction

Kodu Game Lab (KGL) is a tile-based visual programming environment that enables users to create and play video games and animated stories that include feature rich multimedia and multisensory content. The software was developed to enable young children to create video games with graphical content that can compete with the types of games that most users would consider as standard. The visual (Figure 1), auditory and kinesthetic attributes of the software have the potential to make it attractive and distinct for the students and provide deep and engaging learning experiences.

Figure 1: screenshots from Kodu Game Lab projects

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The core of the software is its programming language, Kodu. This is a high-level visual language that can be represented as a context-free grammar (Stolee, 2010). Unlike other programming languages like Java or C++, Kodu is entirely event driven, whereby programming involves the placement of tiles in a meaningful sequence to form a condition and action on each rule (Figure 2).

Figure 2: programming interface in KGL

This is similar to the behavior based approach used in NXT-G (a tile-based programming language for Lego Mindstorms) which has been successfully incorporated into primary and secondary school classrooms (Apiola et al, 2010, Lund & Pagliarini, 2000) as well as tertiary education institutions (Klassner & Anderson, 2003).

KGL was initially developed for the Xbox 360 and has recently been ported to the Windows compatible Personal Computer (Windows 7; Windows Vista; Windows XP, a graphics card that supports DirectX 9.0c and Shader Model 2.0 or higher; .NET Framework 3.5 or higher; or a XNA Framework 3.1 Redistributable required).

KGL features navigation with the Xbox 360 controller, which most children are familiar with. However, the software still allows keyboard and mouse input to support legacy PC hardware, thus making the software more accessible to potential users and more affordable to implement in economically disadvantaged schools.

2: Modes of Use

KGL has two user modes – a play mode and an edit game mode. In the play mode users can play the prebuilt games and view supplied interactive tutorials. These provide some instructions and include basic game worlds and characters, as well as some initial code to help get the user started (Figure 3).

Figure 3: a KGL Tutorial Screen

To edit a game, the user can select the Edit World option in the home menu, or press the Escape key on the keyboard (or the back button on the Xbox 360 controller) while playing. This ease of transition between the two modes allows for rapid iteration during development.

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KGL also includes a community facility for sharing and playing user created games. This service gives the opportunity to play with, edit and learn from other programmers and thus has the potential to provide a community of practice (Wenger, 1998).

3: Programming Environment

As noted, KGL includes finished playable games as well as tutorials that can assist the user in creating their own virtual worlds or modifying the existing games. The intention of these tutorials is to encourage self-directed learning. By providing editable working games, KGL encourages students to explore the inner workings of existing games and to implement into their own games.

3.1: The KGL Game World

A KGL game world can include objects, sounds, paths and an environment:

Objects

The objects available in KGL include both characters and environmental elements (trees, apples, rocks, coins and clouds) that are programmable. The extent of programmability of each object depends on the type of object and its inherent (and sometimes unique) attributes. The major difference between the characters and the environmental elements is that character can be programmed to move (either of its own accord or controlled by the user) whereas the majority of the environmental elements can not move unless assisted by another character. Within the game world each object can see and hear all other objects (unless set as invisible), and can detect when another object has collided with it.

Sounds

KGL includes both sound effects (explode, bong, pow, etc.) and background music. The sound effects can be triggered based on certain events and the music can be programmed to play through the duration of the game. Paths

Paths are included in KGL to allow the user to program a character to move within a constraint or direction. Consider the following code (figure 4) where the character will follow the direction of the red path.

Figure 4: Programming a character to follow a path.

Paths can also be used for decorative purposes. For example a bridge, wall or a row of flora can be included in the world for aesthetics. Like objects, the path can be visible or invisible, the latter being useful for controlling the movement of objects in the game.

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The environment

The environment is created using the terrain editing tools, discussed in depth in section 3.3. The World Tool also allows the programmer to establish world settings. This tool can be used to:

Establish glass walls (to stop the object(s) falling off the world); Set camera mode (fixed, fixed offset, free); Set wave height and strength; Set sky color (21 options); Set day or night time (8 options); Set breeze strength; Turn on or off the debug tool (which is used to assist in seeing lines of sight and sound); Set sound effects volume; Set music volume; and, Set score visibility (some scores, used as variables by the programmer, may not need to be seen by the user).

3.2: Graphical User Interface

The graphical user interface facilitates game development through the use of a collection of tools in the Tool Menu (Figure 5). It includes: options to add, edit and program objects within the program (Object Tool); three terrain editing tools; a water editor tool; an erase tool; and a general world settings tool. There is also a play game option and a home icon, which enables access to the home menu.

Many options presented to the programmer, including the process of selecting an object to add to the world, are made simple through the provision of selector circle (Figure 6).

Figure 5: Tool Menu

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Figure 6: Insert Object Selector Circle 3.3: Terrain Editors

To build the game world KGL includes three terrain-editing tools and a water tool, with which the user can create his or her own world and environment. The programmer can select from an extensive range of terrain textures (22 choices). The terrain editing tools include a ground brush for creating or editing ground, a flatten ground tool for making the ground smooth or level, and a roughen ground tool for creating spiked or hilly ground.

The water tool enables the programmer to include water in the game world, setting the water level and selecting the color (10 choices).

3.4: Tiles

Users program in KGL by selecting options from the selector wheel and the relevant tile is then inserted into the line of code. Depending on the statement being made, certain tiles can be included in the when or do statement. Some tiles can be included in either of the when or do statements.

Visual cues

Visual cues (Figure 7) are also provided with each tile to give the user a better idea of which functions it will afford. These cues use everyday language and are presented in a user-friendly pictorial format based on the characters and objects in the program.

Figure 7: visual cues

3.5: Context sensitive help

To assist the novice programmer, context sensitive help is available. This provides useful and relevant examples of the tiles that could be used and the sequence they need to be placed in. It also includes a detailed description of the functionality these commands will afford (Figure 8). Moreover, KGL is configured to provide suggestions if the programmer appears to hesitate in choosing a tile or option (this facility can be switched off if needed).

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Figure 8: context sensitive help 4: the Kodu programming language

This section looks at how Kodu (the programming language) has been used to teach an eight week programming fundamentals course in a New Zealand middle school. The software has been used to teach students objects, variables, if statements, Boolean logic, inheritance and control flow.

Each Kodu rule has two clauses, a condition (when) and an action (do). The programmer is provided with appropriate tiles to consign to these clauses depending on the actions the game is intended to produce. In the case of the following code (figure 9), in line 1 when the object sees a red apple (condition), it will move toward quickly (action). In line 2, when the object bumps (condition) into a red apple, it will eat (action) the red apple.

Figure 9: example code

4.1: Objects

As noted, each character in KGL is an object. The programmer can allow an object (or instances of an object) to be created or deleted by another character within the game or created during runtime. Objects can also be cloned (or copied) by the programmer, such that each copy retains the code of the source object. Cloning creates a deep copy of an object and any subsequent modification of the code of the source or the copied objects results in different code.

4.2: Variables

The variables in Kodu are implemented as scores (Stolee and Fristoe, 2011). All scores are integers and are global. There are 37 different scores [op cit] that can be used by the program which are implemented through the letters of the alphabet (A to Z) or a range of colors. In addition to containing game scores, scores can be used to act as timers or triggers, among other applications.

4.3: Conditionals

Each rule in Kodu is a conditional, which appears to be easily formulated and expressed in the program. Recent trials of the software in a middle school in New Zealand [Fowler & Cusack, 2011] indicate that this was the case.

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4.4: Boolean Logic

The Boolean constructs of negation, conjunction, and disjunction are present in Kodu (Stolee and Fristoe, 2011). Typically, Boolean logic is difficult for some students to grasp; however Kodu appears to make learning this easier, an observation borne out by successful use of the program to teach these concepts.

Negation - The not tile

Negation is relatively straightforward in Kodu as a specific tile is available to perform this function – the Not tile. In the case of the following code (figure 10), when the object does not see a puck, it will shoot a cruise missile. However, if the object sees a puck, the do clause will be ignored, so no missile will be fired.

Figure 10: Negation

Indentation

Kodu enables the user to indent lines of code (Figure 11), which creates a logical dependence where the rules of the indented code are evaluated only when the condition of the parent rule has been met.

Figure 11: indented code

In this example (Figure 11), lines two and three are indented under line one, which means they will not be evaluated unless the condition of line one is met (the object bumps into a saucer). Indentation allows for conjunction on the condition or action. In the previous example, the action of line two will only occur if the conditions of lines one and two are met, showing conjunction on the condition. Similarly, if the condition of line one is met, both the actions on lines one and three will occur, showing conjunction on the action.

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Disjunction

Logical disjunction can be achieved in Kodu by including two (or more) rules with different conditions but resulting in the same action.

4.5: Classes

Although Kodu does not allow for multiple classes with a special relationship that allows them to reuse functionality between them, it is still possible to introduce students to the concept of inheritance. This can be introduced through establishing an initial character as creatable. The characters and environmental elements need to be set as such by the user and once a creatable object is included in the game world, any other character can create instances of it. These instances then inherit all the properties (including the code) of the original object. In the following figure (Figure 12) the character Sputnik 1 and the environmental elements Mine 1, Light 3, Heart 1 and Apple 1 have been defined by the user as being creatable and can now be created by any other object in the game world.

Figure 12: Creatables

4.6: Pages

Kodu uses the metaphor of pages to describe different states. An object can have up to 12 pages of code or 12 different states. Each character is on one and only one page at any given time and only follows code from its current page. In the following example (Figure 13: ―page 1‖) on line eight the program will switch to page three if the (red) score is above 50 points, so the character will subsequently only operate according to the code on page three. On line nine the program will switch to page two when the (red) score is below 20 points, so the character will subsequently only operate according to the code on ―page two‖.

From the code in Figure 13, we can see that when the score is above 52 points, the character will be automatically controlled by the computer to shoot cruise missiles, when he sees the cycle. However, when to score is above 20 points the character will be controllable by the user and when the user presses the A button, cruise missiles will be shot and the character will move forward very quickly when the L stick on the game pad is used.

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(Page 1)

(Page 2)

(Page 3)

Figure 13: page references

5: Error handling

One of the major challenges that many beginner programmers face is programming code that is error free. KGL assists the novice programmer by eliminating syntax errors. This is achieved by making available relevant and legal tiles to the programmer. Moreover, should the programmer remove a particular tile from the line of code, KGL will also remove the associated tiles. For example, in the following figure (Figure 14) the programmer has programmed the character to move forward when the user moves the left stick on the gamepad. If the programmer chooses to remove the gamepad tile, KGL will also remove the left stick tile.

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Figure 14: example code

6: Comparison

Kodu was developed to introduce programming to novices and there is similar application software that has been developed for the same purpose, including Alice (Dann, et al 2009), and Scratch (Resnick, et al, 2009). However, Kodu is unique in that it provides an integrated game development tool that focuses on engaging novice programmers through an entirely event driven game development system. Moreover, the Xbox 360 controller enables younger users to interact with the system by using a device that they are typically familiar with.

The language paradigm is also unique. The behavior-based approach appears to make learning the concepts of programming easier. Moreover, the 3D isometric graphics also provide an engaging environment that will generally appeal to younger users. Moreover, this software has been recently implemented in a tertiary environment in a vocational college in New Zealand and appears to also appeal to a more mature audience.

KGL is available on both the Xbox 360 and PC, and this makes the software more accessible to a wider audience. While the majority of schools will have Windows compatible PCs, many children will also have a game console at home, thus enabling in-home use.

Furthermore, the community feature of KGL enables users to share their games with each other. This can facilitate shared knowledge and other users can provide the programmer with direct feedback about their games and help with making them better.

7: Effectiveness

KGL is currently available as a technical release and there have been a limited number of studies of the effectiveness in the classroom. However, in a study by the Victorian Department Education and Early Childhood Development in Australia (2010, p6) it was suggested that:

Kodu Game Lab provided a supportive and productive learning environment by catering for students with diverse needs and supporting collaborative learning; Kodu Game Lab promoted independence, interdependence and self-motivation through the use of cooperative learning groups to develop the games and rubrics to guide them in their learning; Students‘ diverse needs, backgrounds, perspectives and interests were reflected in the learning program as they used their knowledge, understanding and experience of computer games from home; deep thinking and application were supported and developed through the game making process and the creation, design and deconstruction of multimedia texts, and students engaged in problem solving and creative thinking; the learning connected strongly with the community and practice beyond the classroom, through the use of technologies that are also used beyond the classroom setting and through

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involvement in the Planet Kodu wiki, which allowed students to communicate and collaborate with a global audience; and, assessment practices, including peer assessment, were an integral part of the teaching and learning.

Moreover, in a study in a New Zealand middle school Fowler and Cusack (2011, p77) found that:

when compared to similar students who were taught more traditional programming languages (C++, Java) the levels of enjoyment and engagement were observed as being significantly higher; conversely, levels of boredom or frustration were observed as being significantly lower; students also did their learning with higher motivation levels; and, students had the embedded feedback of producing a working and functional game that built confidence and a sense of achievement in classroom learning.

Although these findings need further support and the software needs to be finalized, it is apparent that there is potential for Kodu Game Lab to be an effective and engaging educational tool.

8: Conclusions

KGL was developed to assist and enable novice programmers to develop their own 3D games and learn some programming principles. The graphical user interface facilitates ease of use, and the interactive tutorial system, prebuilt playable games and contextual help all serve to provide a progressive and active learning context. The programming language is close to a natural language, making it easy to learn.

Kodu Game Lab and the Kodu programming language provide an integrated system that is engaging, intuitive and easy to learn.

References

Apiola, M. Lattu, M. and Pasanen, T. A. 2010. Creativity and intrinsic motivation in computer science education: experimenting with robots. Proceedings of the fifteenth annual conference on Innovation and technology in computer science education, ser. ITiCSE ‘10. New York, NY, USA: ACM, pp199–203.

Cheung, C.Y., Ngai, G., Chan, C.F., & Lau, W. W. Y. 2009. Filling the gap in programming instruction: a text- enhanced graphical programming environment for junior high students. Proceedings of the 40th ACM technical symposium on Computer science education (SIGCSE '09). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 276-280. Available from: http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1508865.1508968

Fowler, A. and Cusack, B. 2011. Enhancing Introductory Programming with Kodu Game Lab: An Exploratory Study, Proceedings of the 2nd Annual Conference of Computing and Information Technology Education and Research in New Zealand, (Eds.) S, Mann. & M, Verhaart, (pp69-79), CITRENZ, Hamilton, New Zealand

Klassner, F., and Anderson, S.D. 2003. LEGO Mindstorms: Not just for K-12 anymore. IEEE Robotics and Automation Magazine (February 2010), pp12–18

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Lund, H. H. and Pagliarini, L. 2000. RoboCup Jr. with LEGO Mindstorms. Proceedings of ICRA2000, New Jersey, IEEE Press

Resnick, M., Maloney, J., Monroy-Hernandez, Rusk, N., Eastmond, E., Brennan, K., Millner, A., Rosenbaum, E., Silver, J., Silverman, B., and Kafai, Y. 2009. Scratch: Programming for all. Communications of the ACM, ACM, 52, 11, pp60-67

Stolee, K. T. 2010. Kodu language and grammar specification. Available from: http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/projects/kodu/kodugrammar.pdf

Stoolee, K. T. and Fristoe, T. 2011. Expressing computer science concepts through Kodu game lab. Proceedings of the 42nd ACM technical symposium on Computer science education (SIGCSE '11). ACM, New York, NY, USA, pp99-104

MICROSOFT: Kodu Game Lab (download details): http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=57a23884-9ecd-4c8a-9561- 64bfd4fa2d3d&displaylang=en

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Inaccessible through oversight: the need for inclusive game design

Michael Heron 1

1 Canterbury Christ Church University, UK

Article Information

Received: February 2012 Accepted: April 2012 Available: online May 2012

Key words: games, accessibility, inclusion, human factors

Abstract

Games are an important part of modern culture. The nature of most video games is such that it can be difficult for individuals with impairments to enjoy many titles. In many cases, this is not due to the games themselves presenting an impossible challenge, but because the games have been left inaccessible through the omission of common features. Mainstream titles are often accessible and inaccessible by turns. This strongly suggests that the resultant inaccessibility is an oversight rather than conscious design. Awareness building is an important process in improving the inclusivity of game titles. This in turn is important in ensuring that all members of society have an opportunity to enjoy a valuable recreational form. To this end, the essay discusses both the types of disability that could be supported and some common mechanisms by which this can be done. A short overview of several prominent game titles is included to provide real world context for the discussion. In this essay, the author argues that ensuring accessibility need not be a costly or an onerous task, and that great strides can be made by, simply adopting the existing good practice that is currently spread across mainstream titles.

1: Introduction

It has become increasingly easy over the past few years to make a cogent case for the importance of video games in modern culture. Once, they were perceived to be a niche entertainment format enjoyed only by nerdy boys in the privacy of their bedrooms or in the speakeasies of the video arcades. The first video game developers were hobbyists who rode the contemporary wave of increasingly available computer technology, turning their love for the form into what would eventually become a multi billion pound world-wide industry. Computer games have changed the way in which we appreciate and interact with entertainment, and the impressive growth rate of the industry in terms of contribution to GDP and in real-terms sales is well documented (Entertainment Software Association, 2008).

Games now stand with movies, television and music as pillars of our modern culture. Playing computer games is no longer a marginal recreational activity but part of what it means to be an active participant in modern society. In the same way that access to other recreational forms is important in maintaining cohesion in a society, games have become part of our common cultural vocabulary. These are all encouraging trends for the industry,

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Games are not simply ‗more of the same‘: they have marked differences from many other forms of recreational entertainment in that they are active, rather than passive – we interact with games, we do not simply sit back and experience them. Not only this, we interact in a way that often requires a combination of nimble fingers and keen eyesight along with a grasp of timing and the ability to react within limited windows of opportunity. While this is not true of all games, for a substantial subset of the library of computer titles it is simply the case that if you lack the physical means to actively engage with a game, you simply cannot appreciate it in anything other than an observer capacity. Many games are inaccessible to individuals with physical or cognitive impairments. Sometimes this is a consequence of game design, but more often it occurs as a result of oversight. There is not a lot that must be done to make games accessible to the majority of disadvantaged individuals, but it is often not done simply because accessibility is not a high profile issue within game design.

This essay will argue that creating more accessible video games is both important to individual gamers, and also something that can be done with relatively little difficulty on the part of game developers. I will also discuss why this issue is important to gamers everywhere, and not only those unfortunate enough to be locked out of this common cultural recreational format. It is the hope of this essay that it can inspire developers reading to make accessibility a core deliverable with regards to the products they put out.

2: A brief overview of the problem

The core assumption in this essay is that many of the problems in producing accessible computer games are due simply to a lack of awareness, not just of accessibility as an issue that is germane, but also in terms of what actually constitutes an accessibility feature. The word itself conjures up an image of a massive additional development burden against what are often unknown and unknowable criteria. Accessibility is not a high profile issue, and this is not something in which games development is unique; even on the desktop and on the web, accessibility lacks the kind of wide-scale developer acceptance that is common to issues such as standards adherence. This in itself is a substantial problem, because raising awareness is difficult. Long, sustained efforts in this regard within fields other than computer games have resulted in accessibility becoming a ‗core deliverable‘ of some software development (c.f. Heron, 2011; Heron, Hanson and Ricketts, 2011; Waller, Hanson and Sloan, 2009), but far from enough. However, accessibility features are built into the bones of many operating systems now. While there are many issues that remain to be solved, at least progress is observable.

However, this author does not see the issue being treated with any seriousness by either the games industry or the games press. In the world of academic research, the topic is unusual even within the comparatively niche field of accessibility itself. There is work out there (c.f. Trewin, Hanson, Laff, and Cavender, 2008; Yuan, Folmer and Harris, 2011; Allman, Dhillon, Landau, and Kurniawan, 2009), but it stands out almost precisely because of its rarity. Even were it the case that there were reams of academic research available, the sets of ‗accessibility researchers‘ and ‗computer game developers‘ contain relatively few overlaps and thus there is a difficulty in ensuring the research feeds meaningfully into the development process.

In addition, the problem is easily brushed away with arguments such as ‗well, there are people developing accessible games‘, or ‗disabled gamers aren‘t really a big market‘. This thinking however is flawed on two primary grounds. The first is that most gamers don‘t want to be stuck in separate ‗gaming ghettos‘ where their only choices are specialised accessibility games. Disabled gamers, like the rest of us, want to play the best games that are out there. Audio games for the blind are an example of ‗accessible games‘ that, while part of a solution to the accessibility issues in computer

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gaming, are not enough in themselves. Such games are best provided as an extension to the gameplay experiences available to others, rather than as an alternative for those unable to play the ‗real‘ games.

The second problematic assumption in these arguments is that disabled gamers are a small market. Robinson and Walker (2010) estimate that around 32.5 million potential customers are lost to the industry as a result of inaccessible games, but even this noteworthy figure pales into comparison when one realises how important accessibility is for people who don‘t consider themselves disabled. Accessibility makes for a better game-play experience for everyone, it‘s just that certain groups will benefit disproportionately.

Developers have always found it difficult to write software for people with a significantly different profile of wants and needs (Keates and Clarkson, 2002), and the majority of developers are not disabled gamers themselves. As such, games tend to be designed for ‗people like me‘. This is at the core of both the problem and the solution – it is hard to convince people that they should be employing more disabled developers and in-house testers, but it is comparatively easy to convince them that accessibility is something that benefits ‗people like me‘. Awareness raising in this case then begins with a healthy dose of enlightened self-interest.

3: How games disadvantage gamers

Before we address how gamers are currently disadvantaged by many games, let us consider some of the categories of disability that must be addressed. Part of the problem is that there is no single solution for accessibility, and that which works well for one group may not work well with another – or worse, may stop working for particular individuals as their circumstances change. For example, automated speech generation is a reasonably good solution for many blind users with regards to dealing with large passages of text. It becomes less useful as one ages because it becomes more difficult for the brain to parse synthetic speech (Pullin and Newell, 2007). Thus, while this essay will differentiate between groups in this section, it should not be taken to mean that accessibility should be approached piecemeal. In reality, subtle blends of minor ailments are omnipresent, and even those who are ‗blind‘ or ‗deaf‘ have some degree of ability to discern light or sound. Moreover, even those of us who do not identify ourselves as being impaired often have minor ailments (such as poor eyesight) that could be addressed by more general accessibility solutions.

With that, let us talk about blind players. In many ways, this group is the one most disadvantaged by computer games and the one that would seem to be the least supportable by accessibility solutions. One of the primary characteristics of most modern computer games is that they rely heavily on visual processing. Leaving aside specialised accessible games and the continuing relevance of text-based gaming, a large number of games are simply going to be difficult or impossible for blind individuals to play. Any game in which visual parsing is the only way in which information can be obtained is going to suffer in this regard. However, even given this tremendous disadvantage, there are inspiring stories of blind gamers who have learned to master games through sound alone. Valve‘s Left 4 Dead (2008) is cited as an example (Schrier, 2011) in which the three dimensional soundscape can be used to locate enemies and path-find through to the goal. However, this is possible in part due to clever sound engineering and also the relative sparseness of audio – games in which multiple sources of sounds are heavily layered (such as the explosions, gunfire and screams that characterise many modern FPS games) obscure too many of the audio cues to be accessible.

Deaf users are perhaps the group best served by computer games already – subtitles in cut-scenes and dialogues are common, and even close-captioning is becoming more and more commonplace.

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However, in cases where such support is not provided, deaf users become disadvantaged when information is presented only along the audio channel. If the sound of gunfire is the only immediate sign that their character is being fired upon, then deaf players will find it difficult to react in time to game-play events. Part of good user-interface design generally is that important information should not be restricted to a single channel of sensory input, and most games are generally good at incorporating visual or haptic feedback along with game events. The intention of this is often to increase the sense of immersion, but it has considerable positive impact on accessibility for the deaf.

The next major category of disabled users is those with mobility problems located either in one or both of their hands. Some users may have full control in only one of their limbs; others may be restricted to either a mouse or keyboard, but not both. Some can interact only with the use of specialised hardware such as switch controllers. Switch technology can range from simple buttons to proximity controls and beyond, and the key versatility is that they can be ‗mixed and matched‘ to provide an accessible input regime specific to an individual. Other devices, such as accessible game controllers, allow for switches to map onto the regular buttons for a console – a switch controller may be controlled by foot, mouth, speech, or fingers and consist of any number of individual controls. Thus, with a suitable setup most users with movement impairments can work a game controller, although often lacking the speed and precision that can be accomplished with the normal two-handed setup gamers would use with a standard device.

Such regimes however are only appropriate when the user has the option to change the default configuration of controls. They must be able to map controller buttons to particular actions so as to ensure that the most commonly performed activities are handled by the switches that are most physically appropriate. While such facilities are very common in computer games, they are not universal and the lack of such functionality effectively disenfranchises physically impaired gamers from playing those titles. In addition, the restricted set of movement and functionality available via switch devices mean that games that require pinpoint precision, constant movement, fast reactions or complex combinations are disproportionately difficult to play. Many games offer appropriate compensations for these requirements, such as auto-aim, precision adjustments in controls, multiple levels of difficulty and other popular features – but more could easily be done to make games playable to those who must use non-standard controllers.

There are many more categories of special requirements than can be discussed in this essay – colour blindness and cognitive impairments are two categories that come especially to mind. Space limitations prohibit a full discussion of the topic, but I would be delighted to discuss other opportunities with interested parties. I do however want to discuss one other additional group in line with my statement above that accessibility is a ‗big tent‘ issue – the group is that of older gamers.

The literature demonstrates that people who start gaming tend to keep gaming (Entertainment Merchants Association, 2009), and that as those of us who grew up with computer games age, we continue to play. The Electronic Software Association (2011) statistics show that on average an adult gamer has been playing for more than 13 years. There is no reason to assume that lifelong gamers will become less interested in the format as they age. Indeed, trends reported by Deloitte (2009) demonstrate that the number of baby boomers who have played a recently released game ‗within the last six months‘ have more than doubled in some years.

This is where our self-interest should guide us – we are all getting older, and as a consequence of the aging process we are all becoming gradually less physically and cognitively able than we were the year before. Nielsen (2008) demonstrates studies that show a year on year decline of 0.8% performance in certain tasks from the age of 25. The aging process brings with it declines in fluid intelligence (Zajicek, 2003), eyesight (Fozzard, 1990; Schieber, 2006), psychomotor control (Stroop,

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1935), ability to discern audio (Fozzard, 1990; Kline and Scialfa, 1996), cognitive capacity (Sharit, Hernandex, Czaja, and Pirolli, 2008; Nielsen 2008) and working memory (Laberge and Scialfa, 2005). In addition, as we grow older it becomes more likely that we will become afflicted with disabilities as a consequence of aging (Newell and Gregor, 2002), but also that we will have our own unique portfolio of minor impairments, none of which are significant enough to be considered a disability but which work together to make it harder for us to engage with games. Those issues which affect disabled gamers now are issues that will increasingly affect us as we grow older. Rational self-interest dictates then that we make accessibility in the here and now the norm, so that it becomes part of the cultural expectation in the future.

Even leaving aside our own inevitable physical and cognitive decline, we are all being disadvantaged by the current state of accessibility in computer games. The work of Newell and Gregor (2002) argues that there is little difference between an extraordinary user (in this context, a gamer with physical disabilities) and an ordinary user in extraordinary contexts. Games that are accessible to the deaf are also playable to those of us who prefer to play with the sound off or who must wait for a replacement sound-card in the mail. Games that offer fine-grained control over precision and auto-aiming will still be possible for us to play when we are laid up in bed with a broken arm. We are in extraordinary contexts more often than we might think, and we too can benefit from a better accessibility regime in games even if our needs are only fleeting.

4: Simple design principles

All of this may sound disheartening if you want to put accessibility as a core focus of your development. Given the range of problems that must be supported, it may seem impossible to find the time and money to add accessibility features. Happily, this is only a problem of perception – many games are entirely playable with only the right range of commonly incorporated features. These features often aren‘t envisaged in terms of accessibility– the rich audio landscape of Abe‘s Oddysee (1997) for example was never envisaged as an aid for the blind (Schrier, 2011). However, the inclusion of many features I will discuss in this section is commonplace. It is their exclusion that creates for problematic situations. It is my belief that the decision not to include such feature stems from the fact developers are not aware of how important they are as opposed to more substantial reasons such as cost or time constraints.

First of all, close captioning (or at a minimum, subtitling) is vital for creating an accessible game for the deaf. Importantly, this shouldn‘t be limited to just cut-scenes and dialog, but should extend to every part of the game world. A small text snippet such as [gun fired close by] during regular play will allow for gamers to react to in-game events. Subtitling incidental dialogue will ensure that immersion is maintained, although it is a common sin in subtitles to fail to indicate who is speaking. However, subtitles by themselves are not enough – it is also important that people be able to control the text that is presented. Allowing players to adjust colours, sizes and (if possible) fonts ensures that even if deafness is combined with minor eye-sight impairment it can be adequately supported.

In some cases, where the text is integrated directly into the game world (such as in Deus Ex: Human Revolution, where much information is to be found on in-game computers) it may not be technically or aesthetically possible to support different fonts and sizes. In such cases, offering a zoom facility can act as a happy medium.

Related to this is the importance of providing important game feedback along multiple channels of output. It‘s not enough for a game to indicate my space-ship is on fire with a red light on the cockpit controls. Those who are colour blind are going to miss that and find the gameplay to be frustrating as

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a result. Where aesthetic considerations prohibit control over colours, multi-modal output is vital. Sounds accompanied by visual cues are both more striking and accessible, and where they are conceptually problematic they can be relegated to preferences in the game options.

A more costly, but ultimately extremely rewarding, option is to ensure that your audio landscape can be ‗layered‘. Pertinent gameplay information that is otherwise available only visually should always be accompanied by meaningful sounds. A set of footsteps drawing nearer and then receding can, when accompanied by three dimensional sounds, allow a blind player to navigate a game through audio clues alone. However, as indicated above, complex audio environments such as battlefields can limit the usefulness of audio clues because they are drowned in the general background of noise. Games allow us huge amounts of control when it comes to rendering graphics – we get to choose texture qualities, bloom, shadows, anti-aliasing, draw distance, and more. A regime in which similar control is given over to audio would provide great benefits. Setting the individual volume sliders for game-play noises, background noises, and immersion noises; or being permitted to switch categories of sound off entirely, would allow for an individual to create a playable, personalised audio profile.

Many games allow for the volume of in-game events, music and background noises to be set already – all that is required is a little more differentiation between those events that are vital to navigating a game world, and those that are mostly immersive. Finally, since many in-game events may have no sensible, realistic audio cue, it would be useful if these were accompanied by ‗accessible‘ sound cues that could be turned on when needed. Instead of silence, for example, provide a pattern of beeps. The ideal regime would be one with a rich, expressive soundscape and within which I could turn on accessible sound cues, turn up the volume of pertinent gameplay information, and turn down ‗flavour‘ sounds.

As to game options, it would be wonderful if games incorporated speech output for their text-based menus, so that they were more easily navigable by the blind. I appreciate though that this is something of a ‗wish list‘ request.

I discussed above how switch input devices can be combined with special controllers to create an input regime that works for those with mobility problems. As a developer, there are a handful of minor things that can be done to make this work properly. Offering control mapping is the first and most important of these. Individuals with severe mobility restrictions must often ration their inputs, focusing on only the core functionality rather than on the full range of game mechanics. It is vital then that the limited number of switches be permitted to activate the game inputs that are most useful. Thankfully, control mapping is very common –problems remain though until control mapping is ubiquitous.

There are additional things that can be done at the game design level to create accessible games, but these overlap between technical considerations and mechanics design. Towards the technical side of the issue, an accessible design will allow for auto-aiming, fine-grained precision settings on controls, a control flip for left handed players, and different levels of difficulty. Allowing targets to be set without turning to face them is also a huge boon for disabled gamers. A seldom seen but hugely appreciated feature is to allow games to be played at different multiples of ‗regular speed‘ – someone with control issues can benefit hugely by playing a game at half, or even quarter, speed. As with all accessibility settings they don‘t need to be the defaults for your game, but having the options there will allow a wider range of people to enjoy your work.

A more complex and integrated solution is to build a game which is beatable using only a subset of game abilities. Such a game is infinitely preferable, in terms of accessibility, than one that requires complex combinations of abilities and a wide range of niche mechanics. Here we run the risk of having accessibility impact on the game-play experience of everyone else. It is entirely

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understandable that developers would not want to potentially compromise the integrity of their designs to ensure accessibility, but perhaps as a compromise it should be permitted for players to ‗skip‘ sections of the game that they simply cannot beat. Having failed to perform a task four or five times in a row the player can be asked ‗do you want to move to the next bit‘ and thus there are no walls to progress based on complexity of required input.

5: Examples in modern games

All of this is somewhat abstract and perhaps unconvincing as a result. It is easy to say ‗all games already do this‘, but examples of violations are tremendously common. In this last section of this essay, I will discuss three games that have noteworthy features with regards to accessibility – some of these are deficiencies, and some are simply game mechanics that have proven to be especially valuable to disabled gamers.

The first of these is Deus Ex: Human Revolution (2011). There is a staggering amount of flavour text available in the game that is difficult to read for those with minor visual impairments on modest equipment. In addition, the nature of the gameplay, even on the lowest difficulty settings, is extremely punishing for those who lack fine grained control. Combined with this is the omission of control mapping beyond the ability to invert the X/Y axis. From a gameplay perspective you can play through in a number of styles that limit the need for quick paced combat. However, the boss fights abruptly, and without warning, forcefully switch you back to a hectic ‗run and gun‘ play-style. This may not seem like an accessibility concern, but the nature of the game leads you to believe multiple play- styles (including those that are non-confrontational) are viable and the fight becomes disproportionately more difficult if you advanced your character along those lines. Allowing players to ‗skip‘ the fight would have perhaps been narratively unsatisfying, but at least would have ensured that the battles were not brick walls that barred progress. Finally, Deus Ex incorporates the familiar ‗red HUD for an enemy‘ UI metaphor – while this is commonly understood, it makes it difficult for a colour blind gamer to differentiate friend from foe.

However, Deus Ex does offer a number of significant accessibility tools. Rather than having to hold down controls for certain mechanics, you can click to ‗toggle‘ between one mode and another. Additionally the game design involves for the most part sequences of button presses rather than combinations, this in itself rendering the title much more accessible to those with significant mobility or dexterity impairments.

The next title under discussion is Batman: Arkham City (2011). As a (relatively) able-bodied gamer, this author was frustrated by several sections which require the player to throw a remote-controlled device, navigate it around obstacles, flip it around corners, and then finally hit a small target at the end of the route. One such section required the author to try this for ten or fifteen minutes until finally giving up, checked a webpage, and found that despite the dialog clue to the contrary, it was the wrong thing that was being targeted. The lack of the ability to skip such intricate sections turned what was a relatively interesting puzzle into a frustrating chore. The huge range of tools in Batman‘s arsenal all come into play at points in the game, and those who cannot master the more complex or intricate of these will be unable to progress. Additionally, gameplay mechanics that were simple in the precursor Batman: Arkham Asylum (2009) have become increasingly intricate in this title – navigating the game world by flight is a notable example of this.

Other accessibility problems include colour-coded information in ‗detective mode‘, the need to rapidly press buttons in quick succession to pry open grates or pull down pillars, and the lack of captioning of certain kinds of sound information. In addition, Batman suffers from no facility to remap controls. To

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its credit, it offers relatively smooth combat even for those who only have access to the ‗hit‘ and ‗block‘ buttons, with batman turning himself to face foes, target enemies, and react to incoming attacks.

Other games, such as Fallout 3 (2008), are remarkable in demonstrating just how accessible games can be. Some of this is simple availability of technical features, but there are aspects of the game design that are just inspirational. For the latter, the VATS (Vault Assisted Targeting System) deserves special note. This was originally envisaged as a system to bridge the gap between the turn based combat of earlier Fallout games and the FPS perspective of Fallout 3. The system lets you pause game combat, select parts of a target to shoot or strike at, and then press a button to carry out the actions. All the need for twitchy trigger fingers and aiming is handled by this, and with a limited budget of ‗action points‘ to spend, it doesn‘t compromise on game difficulty. It offers fully mappable controls, ‗perks‘ that can be purchased to increase the number and regeneration rate of action points, and the ability to change colour schemes on the game dialogs. It includes closed captions, subtitled game logs, and much more. Perhaps its sole significant fault is the amount of time one must spend navigating game menus and the lack of significant audio cueing as to which options are currently selected.

I should note here that these games have been selected primarily because they are games which I have personally played and enjoyed, rather than being selected as particular exemplars as a result of notoriety or significance. They should not be considered anything other than a representative sampling of mainstream titles that I happen to have available. For those interested in seeing accessibility reviews of other games, I wholeheartedly recommend the AbleGamers website at ablegamerfoundation.org.

6: Conclusion

We are all, at times in our lives, extraordinary users. Those features put in place to support extraordinary users are neither niche nor extraneous. Perhaps the greatest thing about the state of accessibility in computer games is that we are already so close to doing it well. It is possible, mixing and matching different features from different games, to design an accessible mainstream title. Individual games fall down, often quite badly, but they all fall down in different areas. There is reason to be optimistic that, with enough awareness, we could open up a tremendously rewarding hobby to more and more people. It is important that societal recreational forms are accessible – in many ways, as a species, we are defined most by how we recreate. The importance of games as cultural entities has increased dramatically over the last ten years, and we are in a position to ensure that we can set a standard for inclusivity that honours the prominence of games in the modern digital economy.

For the most part, the ways in which we can do this are not difficult or onerous – we have all the tools available already. We can make a great start by simply adopting the ‗good practice‘ that is available in many games – adopting the design principles discussed in this essay will go a long way towards opening up more computer gaming to a large and rewarding market. But, we can always do more and always go farther. We don‘t have to stop at ‗good enough‘. Indeed we shouldn‘t let ‗good enough‘ be good enough. What is important is that we get to that point because once we have, the problems that are left to solve can focus on the inspirational rather than the mere mechanical. The inaccessibility of games is, in large part, simply due to oversights and mistakes rather than something fundamentally impossible, or even difficult, to address. Beyond these, there is room in this world for ‗accessibility engines‘ that can be incorporated into games in the same way that can be done for graphics engines or physics engines. I believe we must work harder to raise the awareness of accessibility as a ‗gamer issue‘, and to bring more disabled players into the design, development and testing of game titles.

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And we must never forget that, while accessibility is vital for certain groups of gamers, accessible games are better games for all of us.

7: Acknowledgements

My thanks go to Pauline Belford for her assistance in reviewing and assessing the contents of this essay.

8: References

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Bethesda Game Studios (2008). Fallout 3 [Disc]. Xbox 360. Bethesda, Maryland, USA.

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Fozzard, J. (1990). Vision and hearing in aging, pages 150-170.

Heron, M (2011). The ACCESS Framework: Reinforcement Learning for Accessibility and Cognitive Support in Older Adults. PhD. Scotland: University of Dundee.

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Laberge, J. C., & Scialfa, C. T. (2005). Predictors of web navigation performance in a life span sample of adults. Human Factors. The Journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, 47(2), 289–302.

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Pullin, G. and Newell, A. (2007). Focussing on Extra-Ordinary users. In Universal Acess in Human Computer Interaction. Coping with Diversity, pages 253-262.

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Robinson, E., Walker, S. (2011). Gaming on a Collision Course: Averting significant revenue loss by making games accessible to older Americans. AbleGamers Foundation.

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Sharit, J., Hernández, M. A., Czaja, S. J., & Pirolli, P. (2008). Investigating the roles of knowledge and cognitive abilities in older adult information seeking on the web. ACM Trans. Comput.-Hum. Interact., 15(1), 1–25.

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Waller, A., Hanson, V. L., and Sloan, D. (2009). Including accessibility within and beyond undergraduate computing courses. Proceedings of the 11th international ACM SIGACCESS conference on Computers and accessibility, Assets '09, pages 155-162, New York, NY, USA. ACM.

Yuan, B., Folmer, E., and Harris, F. C. (2011). Game accessibility: a survey. Universal Access in the Information Society, 10(1):81-100.

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Applying ethics to modern games development

Nigel McKelvey 1

1 Letterkenny Institute of Technology, Letterykenny, Co. Donegal, Ireland

Article Information

Received: February 2012 Accepted: April 2012 Available: online May 2012

Key words: ethics, games development, technologies, legal issues, Kantianism, relativism

Abstract

New problems accompany new technologies, and there is a rapid change in society as a result of mobile technology, broadband internet and sophisticated games, which of course bring many benefits. However some people selfishly exploit these new technologies for personal gain to the detriment of others. Applying ethical theories to these new and emerging technologies from a legal, ethical and social point of view can provide some interesting insights. This paper surmises some issues arising from the games development industry, and applies theories from an ethical, societal, legal and moral point of view. Data was gathered from 42 computing students across various disciplines and their views/opinions on ethical issues of computer games are presented. The majority of these students were undeterred by the violent content in computer games, and considered aspects such as the graphics, mechanics and storyline as the most appealing aspects of computer games. However, many of them believed that moral and ethical standards should be taken into account by games developers, and by parents when purchasing games for their children.

1: Introduction

Forming communities enable people to enjoy better richer lives than if we lived in isolation. Being part of a community also has a price. Some actions have to be taken, others are not allowed, and for people who do not conform, there are consequences. There are times when it is not always clear what the right course of action might be. Sometimes there are conflicting choices to make. Ethics helps people decide what the right choice of action to take is in a particular situation. This paper is an analysis of how existing ethical theories can be applied to a modern scenario such as computer games development in order to see what they can contribute.

Almost everyone shares ―core values‖ about what is important to him or her, such as life, happiness and the ability to accomplish goals. There are also two ways to view the world. The first is from a selfish point of view, where people consider only their own core values. The second is from an ethical point of view where communities and individuals respect other people and their core values as well. However taking the ethical view, there will still be disagreements about what is the right thing to do in a particular situation.

New technologies can blur the technical boundaries between television, telephone, computer network and content providers. As a result there is a need for the law to adapt. Print publishers and

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broadcasters are legally liable for the content they publish or broadcast. Can the same laws be applied to computer games development? Should the same laws be applied? Finding an appropriate workable solution to both questions poses many issues. The computer games industry is a lucrative business, but applying an ethical approach to development can be problematic when it affects volatile balance sheets.

Immanuel Kant stated that people‘s actions are guided by moral laws, and that these laws were universal. In order to apply to all rational beings, these laws must be based on reason. Many of Kant‘s moral laws are found in the Bible, but Kant‘s approach allows these laws to be derived logically. Kantianism goes beyond stating that an action is right or wrong, and also explains why it is deemed to be right or wrong (Kant, 2002).

Kantian analysis of a moral problem focuses on the will behind the action, and ignores circumstances that could be used by some to excuse certain behaviours. While it has weaknesses (such as not allowing any exceptions to the rule), Kantianism supports moral decision making based on logical reasoning from facts and commonly held values. It is intended to be culture-neutral and treats all humans as equals. Therefore application of Kant's theories on ethics in relation to gaming could result in development work being classified as being black or white. This is not the case in most instances, as various factors will influence what kind of game is produced, where it can be distributed (because of cultural/societal influences) and to whom.

2: Applying ethics to games development

Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill helped contribute to The Principle of Utility (Greatest Happiness Principle) which assumes that an action is right (or wrong) to the extent that it increases (or decreases) the total happiness of the affected parties. Under Act Utilitarianism, the morality of an action has nothing to do with intent. Applying this to gaming would suggest that producing a violent game is acceptable since the intent is to increase, and not to decrease, the total happiness of the affected parties.

Evaluating a violent computer game release under Rule Utilitarianism can help determine possible avenues of discussion. Who would benefit? The developers would obviously benefit from increased sales, while people who do not play the computer game itself would avoid any potential harm as they would not been exposed to the violence. Those who enjoy gaming would enjoy the new release.

Who would be harmed? The company who invested time in developing the game and the people who played the game could (potentially) be harmed including their families and society in general if actions included criminal activity.

The conclusion drawn from the analysis in this paper is that the benefits generally outweigh the harms. Releasing a violent computer game may seem acceptable on balance, as more people are likely to enjoy the game as opposed to those who would deem it inappropriate. Such a conclusion can also be validated by the data collected in the survey carried out at the Letterkenny Institute of Technology in 2012 (see Figure 2).

Rosseau stated that people are normally empathetic and do not like to see others come to harm. It could therefore be suggested that not all moral actions are as a result of law and order, but because we genuinely want to do the right thing (Rousseau, 2004). It has been argued over the previous couple of decades that violent computer games have in some way contributed to the rise in violent crimes being committed: (over-page)

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"…data from three long-term studies in the U.S. and Japan shows that otherwise peaceable kids first played violent games — and then months later became more aggressive in school, more likely to get into fights (Fox, 2008)."

While discussing Modern Warfare 3, Mary Mitchell O‘Connor (a member of the Irish Teachda Dála, or lower house of parliament) stated that, ―Life is precious and such games present people as obstacles, and violent acts as having no consequence.‖ (Reilly, 2011)

Computer games are mainly free from more mainstream constraints and as a result their ability to express certain topics are unparalleled (Sicart, 2009). "By participating in simulations of excessive, indulgent and wrongful acts, we are cultivating the wrong sort of character" (McCormick M, 2001). By analysing the situation one can assume that it implies choosing to play violent computer games is not necessarily the wrong path as it does not harm one's character. This is because the chosen path assumes a positive character in the first place.

If a player‘s character is said to be not detrimentally affected by watching or playing violent computer games, then why are parallels drawn between aggression and violent games? The notion is a hypothesis that has been somewhat tested (Waddington, 2007) but results are inconclusive and not always based on known cases.

Howard Gardner (Gardner, 1983) introduces the notion of Multiple Intelligences (MI). Different learners learn in different ways so to that extent there is merit in the theory. If this is the case then surely different games developers will consider ethics from different points of view. Regardless of their opinion, the developers should still act ethically from a professional point of view. Many professions have a code of ethics that professionals are expected to abide by (Baase, 2008).

Professional ethics are a code of conduct that governs how members of a profession deal with each other and with third parties. Any code may be considered to be a formalisation of experience into a set of rules.

A code is adopted by a profession because its members accept the adherence to these rules, including the restrictions that apply. Note that there is a distinction between a profession such as Computing and controlled professions such as Medicine and Law, where the loss may also imply the loss of the right to practice (Ergin, 2012).

A Professional Code of Ethics serves several functions (Ergin, 2012):

it symbolises the professionalism of the group; it defines and promotes a standard for external relations with clients and employers; it improves the profile of the group; it protects the group‘s interests; it codifies members‘ rights; it expresses ideals to aspire to; it raises awareness of issues; and, it offers guidelines in ―grey areas‖.

The social responsibilities of a computer professional are a highly contested issue, since they may contribute only a small part to a program, project, team, company or industry. Computer games have

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the potential to do good or cause harm, in that they may enable or influence others to do good or cause harm. Some deterrence and discipline issues relating to the role of such conducts include the following (Ergin, 2012):

a code can serve as the formal basis for investigating unethical conduct; the existence of a code, therefore, acts as deterrent from acting unethically; at present, programmers do not need a licence to practice, and the right to practice cannot be revoked by any body such as ACM; and, despite this, the loss of respect from colleagues and clients due to unethical behaviour is also a deterrent from acting in such a manner.

It is the author's opinion that these roles of conduct are currently limited as there is little penalty for non-compliance (within industry).

3: Student perceptions and the law

A survey of 42 (15 female, 27 male) computing students (62% of them Games Development students) at Letterkenny Institute of Technology, revealed some interesting statistics. With 70% of them being in the age bracket of 19-23 it was assumed that their views would be quite biased as they would have grown up with Computer Games being part of their life. However their opinions on ethical games development proved to be very informative.

100% of those surveyed had played computer games before attending college with as many as 52% of them playing games between the ages of 4 and 6. When asked what appealed to them in games, the results showed how the story, graphics and the level of interaction ability were the top 3 requirements, with only 9 students citing the level of violence as being something that appealed to them (Table 1 and Figure 1).

Table 1: Survey of which aspects of computer games appeal to students (N = 42)

Appealing aspects of computer games No. of students who agree

Storyline 33 Graphics 32 Interact-ability 24 Music 17 Dialogue 15 Level of violence 9 The game is educational 4 How game is certified (e.g. 18-rated) 3 Sexual connotations 2 Other 15

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Figure 1: aspects of computer games which appeal to students (N = 42)

Less than 10% of the students found violence off-putting in a game or stated that they deliberately refused to play a game because it was deemed violent (Figure 2):

Figure 2: results to question, ―do you find violence off-putting in a computer game?‖ (ratio: 3 to 39)

Perhaps their true ethical characters emerged when asked the question, ―Would you allow your child to play a violent computer game?‖ The group was divided with 55% stating that they would not want their child to play a violent computer game. This is somewhat in contrast to the statistics gathered in Figure 2 above.

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Societies from China to the United States are seeing how computer games development can act as a dominant cultural industry. The emergence of colleges and university courses in such areas is further validating the importance of computer games in our cultural setting. Even though there is such a significant interest in this area, there is insufficient information available on the ethics behind games development. When analysing these ethics, there are a number of important questions that arise. What matters most: is it the ethics of the game, or the ethics of playing the game? Do game designers and developers have moral responsibilities? If so, what responsibilities do they have, and why? (Scart, 2009)

Politicians around the United States have tried to ban the sale of violent games to children. It has been argued by some that exposing people to simulated violence can make it easier for people to commit real crime (McCormick, 2001). According to Anderson (2001), there is support for "the hypothesis that exposure to violent video games poses a public-health threat to children and youths, including college-age individuals. Exposure is positively associated with heightened levels of aggression in young adults and children, in experimental and nonexperimental designs, and in males and females."

"The United States Supreme Court has interpreted the Constitution as allowing states broad leeway in regulating minors‘ access to sexually explicit material. That is why it is illegal around the country to sell pornography to children. Courts have not, however, said that states have a similar right to regulate media based on violence." (Schiesel, 2007).

The Irish Video Recordings Act, 1989, Section 7 (Number 22) states that:

―If the Official Censor, having examined a video recording containing a video work (whether or not it is a video work in respect of which a supply certificate is in force for the time being), is of opinion that the work is unfit for viewing because:

(a) the viewing of it—

(i) would be likely to cause persons to commit crimes, whether by inciting or encouraging them to do so, or by indicating or suggesting ways of doing so, or of avoiding detection, or

(ii) would be likely to stir up hatred against a group of persons in the State or elsewhere on account of their race, colour, nationality, religion, ethnic or national origins, membership of the travelling community or sexual orientation, or

(iii) would tend, by reason of the inclusion in it of obscene or indecent matter, to deprave or corrupt persons who might view it, or

(b) it depicts acts of gross violence or cruelty (including mutilation and torture) towards humans or animals…

…he may make an order (referred to in this Act as a prohibition order) prohibiting the supply of video recordings containing the work.‖

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Although the definition of ―video recording‖ in section 1 of the 1989 Act is wide enough to cover computer games, they are (by another definition in the same section) exempted from that definition unless they are ―unfit for viewing‖ (as defined in section 3) - and if they are so unfit, then the Censor may ban them under Section 7(1)(b) (as stated previously) (IFCO, 2007).

When the students of LYIT were asked, "Do you think violent computer games inspire certain players to become violent themselves?" 76% responded with a resounding 'no'. This is an indication of how the developers might perceive the impact of their games. 70% of those surveyed were under 23 years of age and so it is not surprising that this age group see no issue with violence in games. Is this because they have grown up with more "acceptable" levels of violence on television and are therefore more accustomed? Of the 24% who agreed with the question posed, might it be because they belong to the group who are over 23 years of age and therefore less accustomed? It could also be argued that so many refuted the question because no matter how violent a computer game is, players tend to focus on the game's mechanics and its object, rather than its violence (Goldstein, 2005).

Are developers primarily driven to create a game that is purely for entertainment purposes, never intending the content to be deemed as inappropriate? 83% of the students stated that they would have no problem developing a computer game that was ultra-violent or sexually explicit. However, cracks in their perceptions emerged when they were asked if they would consider ethics, the law and society's views when developing a game. 67% said they would consider ethics, 63% stated the law as being an influencing factor with 51% referring to society's views on their work as being influential. It is surprising that a group of developers where 83% stated they would have no problem developing an ultra-violent game, cited ethics as the number one area that they would consider whilst developing. So are games developers not concerned with the laws in each country and not concerned about what society deems as appropriate? It is assumed that they must be, otherwise a game would never be released. It is the author‘s opinion that students tend to get their ethical morals from the law as opposed to what society deems to be appropriate. Again, this may be due to the fact that the majority (70%) of the students who took this survey were in the age bracket of 19-23 years.

Asking the students if they felt that the developers themselves should be held more accountable for the game content revealed a predicted bias. Some of the more insightful comments included:

"If a violent game is developed and all violent content warnings are applied to the game, then I think it is down to the buyers‘ choice whether or not to buy the game. Different people have different views on the level of violence within a game. Is killing a zombie considered the same level of violence as killing a human within a game?"

"Violence has always been in [some] games and always should be. It gives you a chance to do things you would never usually be allowed to do."

"I am not a games developer. I do enjoy violent games (depending on the realism of the story e.g. war/combat). What I do not approve of is parents who do not review the types of games that they purchase for minors (as a moral deterrent)."

"I think that with the proper certification there should be little problem with sexual or violent content in games. I do think that the certifications of games are not properly regarded by point of sale staff and/or parents. It is these people who should be held accountable for what content a child sees and not the developers".

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4: Censorship and regulation

Games development is having a profound effect on many aspects of the social, cultural, economic and legal systems of the world. Online gaming offers many benefits and opportunities, poses many threats, and regulating it is very difficult. It is argued that the genesis of the Internet was such that it embraced and fostered a new spirit of freedom, openness and experimentation and that these values must remain an integral feature of the Internet. It is not intended to be the role of country (either directly or through regulators) to control or limit content on the Internet. "Domination by the few does not mean complete control, but rather the ability to set the terms under which other groups and classes must operate" (Domhoff, 2005).

If children need protection, then those responsible for them at the time such as parents, teachers, guardians and supervisors, should control what they access on the Internet. It is Darlington‘s view that, "once we have proper arrangements for handling illegal and harmful content, it is reasonable and right for government and industry to argue that end users themselves have to exercise control in relation to material that they find offensive but we should inform users of the techniques and the tools that they can use to exercise such control" (Darlington, 2011).

The game Manhunt 2 was banned in Ireland with the following statement: "A prohibition order has been made by IFCO in relation to the video game Manhunt 2. The Order was made on 18th June 2007 under Sec 7 (1) (b) of the Video Recordings Act 1989 which refers to ‗acts of gross violence or cruelty (including mutilation and torture)‘" (McIntyre, 2007).

Sawh (2011) listed some computer games, which were banned in certain countries, and cited the reasons (Table 2 over-page).

As shown in Table 2, legal restrictions (possibly guided by ethical standards) may have a significant impact on the games development industry. If designers and developers are having their products banned in various countries, then obviously profits will be affected. Understanding the laws in each country is paramount to success. Also understanding what will sell well in other countries with more liberal views can be just as important. Postal 2 sold with the slogan ―banned in 13 countries‖. If we apply ethics to this slogan, then who is harmed? The developers aren‘t harmed and the game players who want to use the game aren‘t harmed. Likewise, those who do not wish to see the violent or explicit game are protected. So perhaps advertising the ―knuckle wrap‖ might in fact be the most ethically sound action the developers can take.

Many papers argue for and against a correlation between violent video games and violent behaviour (Endestad and Torgersen, 2003. For example, "On November 2, 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments for and against a 2005 California law that prohibits the sale of M-rated — ―mature‖ — video games to minors" (Azar B, 2010). However, people generally have moral values that they can use to apply sound ethical grounding in making decisions as to whether or not to pursue a given scene in games development. It has been suggested that adolescents tend to be more susceptible to violence during a particular stage of their development (Endestad and Torgersen, 2003). Is it the responsibility of games developers to know and understand the inner workings of a teenager? Or should developers be left to their own devices in the design, develop and produce high quality games? Is it then the responsibility of organisations (and governments) to impose restrictions and censorships as deemed appropriate by society? As professionals, it would be assumed that the games developers would be adhering to a particular code of ethics. If this is the case and games are

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reviewed as part of the release process, then surely applying ethics to modern games development is justified.

Table 2: the ―Top 10‖ banned games (Sawh, 2011)

Game Country where game Reasons was banned

Wolfenstein Germany Inclusion of Nazi swastikas and the Nazi theme music

Carmageddon UK Running virtual people over for points using graphic means

Football Manager 2005 China Taiwan and Tibet had been recognized as independent nations and were listed as separate countries, which was considered a threat to China‘s ―sovereignty and territorial integrity‖

Grand Theft Auto: USA In June 2005, a gamer discovered a released a patch San Andreas that unlocked a once-inaccessible sex mini-game that was hidden in the game‘s code

Manhunt 2 UK According to the British Board of Film Certification (BBFC) it was banned due to the ―unremitting bleakness and callousness of tone‖

Mass Effect Singapore Sexually explicit

Mercenaries: Playground South Korea It could escalate tensions between North Korea and of Destruction South Korea

Phantasmagoria Australia The game depicted a rape scene

Pokemon Saudi Arabia The country‘s religious lobby said it promoted gambling and other religions among children

Postal 2 (Numerous countries) It featured urination, drug use and mutilation, while insulting several religions and minority groups

"The suggested link between games and aggression is based on the notion of transfer, which means that knowledge gained in a certain situation can be used in an entirely different context. The whole idea of transfer has been central in education research for a very long time. The question of how a learning situation should be designed in order for learners to be able to use the learned material in real life is very difficult, and has no clear answers." (Amin, 2012)

Amin (2012) makes some valid points. The suggestion that violent computer games will in someway create a violent person seems to be a far stretch. It is easier to see the correlation between an already aggressive person reenacting what they have done virtually, in reality. Instilling a sound ethical approach when designing and implementing a game is good advice for any student. The students of the Letterkenny Institute of Technology seem to be able to make the distinction between what is acceptable (from a society‘s point of view) and what is acceptable from a legal point of view.

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Adhering to a Professional Code of Ethics can certainly go some way towards consolidating ideas and approaches when designing games what may entail a thread of violence.

With ethical issues in mind, should games be more closely regulated or censored? More than half (56%) of the LYIT students survey said that they would not want their game censored even if it was deemed to be too violent, and almost 70% did not think that games needed to be regulated any further. Is this the view of society? It is generally assumed that psychologists are not all of the opinion that violent computer games carry risks. However according to Waddington (2007), it is assumed that increased aggression can result from playing computer games with violent content (Waddington, 2007). It could be argued, however, that every aspect of life carries risk and not getting enough sleep because a baby was crying could potentially lead to increased aggression. If any section of society disapproves of a particular type of content, does that mean that all of that society must agree? Perhaps a country‘s religious views can have a significant impact, their political views or their geographic location. To this end, laws differ from country to country and are changed and re- interpreted regularly to accommodate changing technologies. Generally the law is somewhat behind the technology, which is where irregularities and conflicts can arise. Banning a game in a particular country and not in another may be an indication of this.

5. Conclusions

Computer games development is based on new and rapidly changing technologies. The content of computer games poses many ethical, moral and societal questions, particularly with regards to the portrayal of violence and other acts and scenes in games, which may be perceived to be morally wrong. This has posed a dilemma for politicians and other legislators, and there are some instances where the distribution and access to certain computer games has been restricted or prohibited in some countries.

42 students at Letterkenny Institute of Technology participated in a survey, and were asked for their views regarding ethical games development. The majority of students were aged 19 to 23, and all had played computer games as children. When asked what aspects of computer games appealed to them, only a small minority said the violent content was a consideration, and they were nearly unanimous in saying they would play a computer game, despite it being deemed violent. Around three quarter of the students (76%) believed that violent computer games do not inspire players to become violent themselves.

Despite this, the majority of the students believed they would consider legal and ethical issues and society‘s views when developing computer games. 55% of the students said they would not want their own children to play violent computer games. Two of them commented, stating that parents have a responsibility to review and perhaps prevent their children from accessing games with violent or explicit content.

References

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Anderson, C. and Bushman, B. Effects of Violent Video Games on Aggressive Behavior, Aggressive Cognition, Aggressive Affect, Physiological Arousal, and Prosocial Behavior: A Meta-Analytic Review of the

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Scientific Literature. Psychological Science Vol 12, No 5 (2001). Available from: http://www.soc.iastate.edu/sapp/VideoGames1.pdf [Accessed 20 April 2012]

Azar, B. Virtual violence. Researchers disagree about whether violent video games increase aggression. American Psychological Association Vol 41, No 11 (2010), page 38

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Fox News (2008). Study Finds Solid Link Between Video-Game, Real-World Violence. Available from: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,446306,00.html [Accessed 20 April 2012]

Goldstein, J. (2005). Violent video games. In J.Raessens & J.Goldstein (Eds.), The handbook of computer game studies (pp. 341–358). Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press. Available from: http://theunshaven.rooms.cwal.net/Storage/Readings/Reading%2005%20- %20Violent%20Videogames%20%5BJeffrey%20Goldstein%5D.pdf [Accessed 20 April 2012]

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Sawh, M. (2011), Ten video games banned around the world. Available from: http://www.t3.com/features/ten-video-games-banned-around-the-world-2 [Accessed 7 February 2012]

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A case study on the successes and difficulties of running an online e-portfolio support site for digital media students

Martin Williamson Smith 1, John Sutherland 2, Malcolm Sutherland 3

1 Lecturer and PhD student, University of the West of Scotland (UWS), Paisley, UK 2 Senior lecturer, University of the West of Scotland (UWS), Paisley, UK 3 Company Secretary, TuDocs Ltd, Skelmorlie, Ayrshire, UK

Article Information

Received: January 2012 Accepted: April 2012 Available: online May 2012

Key words: games, industry, jobs, skills, e-portfolios, students, graduates

Abstract

This paper reports on the authors‘ experience of running a targeted online e-portfolios and social networking website. The aims of this website were to provide a public platform for students and recent graduates to build and display e-portfolios, and showcase their skills and achievements to employers, specifically in the computer games and digital media industries. It was anticipated that students and graduates would use the service to build their online profiles; and employers and managers in industry would advertise jobs, communicate with job-seekers, and even recruit them through the website. Competitions and other career-focused events were also hosted or proposed through the website. Despite repeated provision of a wide range of information and encouragement provided to the network‘s members, it was observed that few members either actively used the service, or participated in or actively supported its many career-focused events and projects. However, the website did encourage some students and recent graduates to build strong e-portfolios. Those members produced and documented their own games and digital artwork; applied for industry placements and jobs; and in some cases established their own new start-up studios.

1: Introduction to e-portfolios

Sutherland and Powell (2007), define Electronic Portfolios or e-Portfolios as being ―…a purposeful aggregation of digital items – ideas, evidence, reflections, feedback etc, which ‗presents‘ a selected audience with evidence of a person‘s learning and/or ability‖. However, this is not a new and innovative concept which has suddenly emerged within UK educational establishments and has, in fact, been around for over twenty years in various formats for collating and presenting digital representations of learner‘s skills and competences; providing a reflective, online interface based around records of achievements or in providing an electronic and digital platform to show off creative achievements, (JISC, 2012).

In the 1980s, both Schwartz and Bridwell-Bowles (1987) and Armitage (1988) indicated the benefits of utilising digital portfolios to assist in the development of learners within both further and higher

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education by facilitating learners with a platform through which they can publicise and display their work. These benefits included higher motivation and engagement levels as well as increasing learner self confidence. Moreover, interest in utilising e-portfolios within educational establishments has not waned since these early affirmations of their use, with Kimball (2005) and Hatzipanagos & Lygo- Baker (2008) both finding that the utilisation of electronic portfolios is beneficial to both learners and practitioners as it allows the learner to (a) establish efficient content control; (b) attain reasoning and self-efficacy at higher levels and (c) improve on the learners practice of reflection.

In addition, recent advances in technology, especially in terms of ‗Web 2.0‘, have provided new mechanisms for learner self-expression through applications more associated with social networking now being used by educational establishments for Personal Development Planning through e- Portfolios, which appear to encourage learners to engage with the process of planning their professional development, not only over their years of study but beyond, (Strivens, 2007).

In 2009, the authors identified the need for a portfolios website to serve the following purposes:

a portal where students, academics and industry professionals could communicate with one another; where student and recent graduate jobseekers could build their e-portfolios and demonstrate their skills and achievements; and, where employers could find potential recruits from within the student and recent graduate communities.

2: The rationale for establishing the TuDocs e-portfolios website

In February 2010, the authors launched the TuDocs e-portfolios website for the following reasons:

2.1: Competition for games industry vacancies

There is a high ratio of university graduates to graduate-level entry jobs in the UK. This problem has persisted during the last few decades, and has been exacerbated in recent years by the ―credit crunch‖ and the resulting and ongoing recession. In addition, the British computer games industry has been facing increasing competition from foreign studios, mainly in the United States and Canada, and consequently, job opportunities in the British industry have decreased (Boult, 2009; Parfitt, 2010; Seekingalpha.com, 2010; Wolf, 2010).

Some companies in these sectors advertise frontline jobs, but most prefer to recruit highly skilled and experienced applicants with many years of industry experience, even sourcing talent from abroad. This has been reflected in TIGA‘s opposition to the British government‘s proposals to cap immigration, as it is feared this would restrict the migration of skilled workers (TIGA is effectively the employers‘ organisation for games companies) (Crossley, 2010).

2.2: Limited information concerning requirements of games/digital media employers

Prior to establishing the website, the authors as university employees observed there was a limited discourse between computer games students, academics and industry managers.

Several games and digital media company websites (including those listed in the appendix at the end of this paper) contain a ―jobs‖ or ―careers‖ web page, with lists of specifications (of required skills and

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experience from applicants) under each advertised job. Magazines such as Develop and MCV publish regular articles (often written by industry managers), detailing the skills required from applicants of certain jobs.

In recent years there has been a prevalence of ambiguous job adverts by recruitment agents and individuals posing as recruitment agents. Back in 2009, many of the students and graduates known to the authors were finding this frustrating either because the jobs probably did not exist, or because they applied for jobs and never received any reply or feedback.

The authors identified the need to provide a free and public ―one stop shop‖ holding accurate information, of (1) jobs and placements; (2) relevant exhibitions and competitions; and (3) the skills and achievements of those seeking to build a career in the games and digital media sectors.

2.3: Several games and digital media employers do not want CVs

The authors were in regular contact with academics in other universities, and with managers and programmers in the computer games industry. They found that some people in the computer games industry were frustrated by the use of traditional paper-based CVs.

Comments from industry managers included:

―We just gather them in and throw them in the bin at the end of the day.‖ ―We don‘t read anyone‘s CV unless they hassle and annoy us endlessly.‖ ―I don‘t want to read CVs.‖

The authors also found that several games industry and digital media employers (e.g. Atomhawk, Rockstar North) stated on their websites that they expressly wanted to see e-portfolios, and/or files which demonstrated the applicant‘s skills (e.g. digital artwork, games).

During December 2010 (nearly a year after launching the TuDocs e-portfolios website), the authors examined the careers web pages of 72 games and digital media companies, and studied the types of job application requested by employers. As illustrated in Figure 1, it was found that a slight majority of companies (particularly those in the United States) requested CVs and résumés. Around 5% of companies expected applicants to simply send an email. Five companies provided an online form, and another five companies requested a showreel or e-portfolio. Around 30% of surveyed companies (17 in total) wanted applicants to present examples of their work, either through e-portfolios, show reels or individual media files.

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Figure 1: Job application methods used by a selection of games and digital media companies. (See Appendix 1 for a list of companies surveyed).

3: Features and services on the TuDocs e-portfolios website

It was expected that the website would attract several hundred jobseekers and dozens of employers, who could network with one another, and help students and graduates secure employment and/or improve their skills and create business. The authors founded TuDocs Ltd and launched the e- Portfolios website on 5th February 2010. The website was operated and maintained by the authors until September 2011. They financed the running of the website, and manually controlled much of the content on the website.

3.1: e-Portfolios

The website was provided through an American social networks server, Ning, whereby members signed up and were given their own web page, where they could build their own e-portfolios by adding text, uploading documents (including MS Word and pdf documents, e.g. CVs), and uploading videos and images demonstrating their talents and achievements. Figure 2 (next page) shows a template example of a student‘s e-portfolio. The e-portfolios service was provided throughout the entire duration of the website.

The TuDocs e-Portfolios website also held some pages containing advice on how to build an impressive and informative e-Portfolio. There were at least three individual web pages with advice on what (not) to include in an e-Portfolio, as well as links to YouTube videos showing examples of exemplary show reels.

3.2: Groups

As shown in Figure 2, members could also post comments onto other members‘ e-Portfolio pages, and join internal groups (e.g. Artists, Programmers). Around a dozen groups for members with specific talents were present throughout the duration of the website: examples included Artists, Coders, Entrepreneurs and Musicians. An individual member within a group could send messages to all the other peers in the group.

3.3: Job and event listings

The first job and event listings were put up on the website a few weeks after the launch of the website. It took another four months to perfect the job listings. The event listings were provided on the website using the event listings engine (as provided through Ning.com). This method was used and retained for the duration of the website.

By contrast, the style and provision of job listings (which included work placements, graduate schemes and individual junior-level vacancies) went through three general phases:

Between March and September 2010, vacancies and other opportunities were listed manually on individual web pages, and were visible to all members and even visitors.

In September 2010, due to an abundance of low quality or empty e-portfolios, the authors decided to disclose listings only to members with good e-portfolios in order to encourage

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better content. Those members with good e-portfolios were allowed to join an internal group called ―Ready to Pick‖, and could access the job listings, provided in a table hosted on zoho.net (Figure 3). This table contained categories (e.g. skills required for the job) (Figure 4), so users could search for specific types of job. The job listings were manually updated on a weekly basis.

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Figure 2: an example of an e-portfolio on the TuDocs website

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Figure 3: Example job listings provided on www.tudocs.org through zoho.net

Figure 4: Categories used in the job listings on the zoho.net database

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In January 2011 the processes of manually listing jobs and allowing restricted access were abandoned. Between January and June 2011 there was a web page on the TuDocs website with links to over 150 games and digital media company careers pages. This web page was available to all TuDocs members.

3.4: Advertising

During the first four months of the website‘s life the authors contacted hundreds of friends, colleagues, students, and academic and industry contacts known to them, inviting them to join the website. Most marketing activity by the authors comprised word of mouth encouragement to students (both within and outside UWS), and sending emails to contacts, or messages to contacts online via Facebook and LinkedIn.

There were also three attempts to run an organised advertising campaign. In May 2010, emails were sent to around 110 games companies, inviting them to join the website and send job adverts for the attention of students or recent graduates: there was little response; possibly nearly all of the emails were classed as spam, and, due to time constraints this operation was not repeated.

In April 2010 letters were posted to approximately 30 Scottish and Irish games companies, inviting them to join the website and post job adverts; and another 25 letters were sent to computing departments in all the Scottish universities and FE colleges. In August 2010, letters were posted to the colleges and universities running Skillset-accredited computer games and animation courses throughout the UK. Again, there was little response. This was not repeated due to the high cost of creating posters and mailing them.

The authors also made the website a presence at digital media and games events. The website was publicly launched at the Creative Choices Festival event in early March 2010 in Paisley. The website was also promoted at the Digital Futures exhibition in June 2010 (also in Paisley), and at Game in Scotland, held in Dundee in March 2011.

3.5: Competitions

Three competitions were organised through the e-Portfolios website in a bid to attract new members, and to encourage students and pupils to improve their skills on an extra-curricular basis.

Throughout the summer of 2010, two competitions were run via the website:

TuDocs Space Competition: student/recent graduate members (who were not in professional employment) could either submit music, digital artwork or a game with a space theme. The winner of each category was awarded a cash prize of £26 (in various British bank notes) and a TuDocs competition winner‘s mug.

TuDocs Promotions Competition: student/recent graduate members had the opportunity to produce artwork (flyers, posters, etc.), which could be used for TuDocs Ltd promotional material. Winners would receive the same prizes as for the space competition.

In mid-January 2011 a third competition aimed at school pupils aged 16 and over in Scotland was organized, and flyers and emails were sent to over 400 secondary schools. Only one school responded, and the competition was cancelled two months later.

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4: Website membership and activity

The website was received with enthusiasm from members during the first three months. This diminished rapidly after May 2010. By the end of 2010, few people were joining the website, and by early 2011 activity among existing members was low.

4.1: Membership numbers

The total number of members of the website is plotted against time in Figure 5. The numbers of people joining the website per month are presented in Figure 6. As seen in both figures, the influx rate was in steady decline almost from the beginning. As shown in Figure 5, over 550 people signed up to become TuDocs members during the course of the website. Throughout the duration of the website, the number of people cancelling their membership was negligible (ten in total). More than half the members had signed up within the first three months. The influx of new members decelerated at an increasing rate until August 2010, when only 11 people joined (compared with 107 in February 2010; see Figure 6). This trend was bucked temporarily in September and October 2010 when several dozen first-year undergraduates at the UWS campuses signed up. Thereafter, very few people signed up: from March 2011 onwards the sign-up rate was less than 10 per month.

Figure 5: Total membership numbers on the TuDocs e-portfolios website

Figure 6: numbers of new members signing up per month

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4.2: Location of members

The authors were employed by UWS on the Paisley campus during the lifetime of the website. As shown in Table 1, the great majority of people who joined the website lived in close proximity to Paisley and Glasgow. Over 300 members were resident in Scotland; 41were resident in England, a few were resident in Wales, and 30 lived outside the UK. (Another 181 members did not reveal their location.)

As shown in Figure 7, substantial sections of the TuDocs e-Portfolio website members were resident in Renfrewshire, Ayrshire and Glasgow, generally in close proximity to the UWS Paisley campus. There were also nearly 50 members living in Ayrshire and Lanarkshire, partly because UWS administers campuses in Hamilton and Ayr. There were also approximately another 50 members living in and around Edinburgh and Dundee (many of them were academics, students and graduates from Napier and Abertay Dundee universities, some of whom knew the authors personally).

Table 2 lists the nationalities of the 30 foreign members on the TuDocs e-portfolios website: over a third were resident in the United States (some of them undergraduates); eight were resident in Ireland, and another four were resident in France. Other countries included Canada, Germany, Iceland, India and the Netherlands. A few of these members were known by the authors on a personal basis, but the majority had found the TuDocs e-portfolios website themselves.

Table 1: Reported geographical location of TuDocs members. ―Dundee‖ and ―Glasgow‖ members may have lived outside the city council districts.

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Table 2: Number and nationality of TuDocs members living outside the UK

Figure 7: Distribution of British TuDocs members throughout the UK

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4.3: Members’ Occupations

Membership of the website was available to computer games and digital media students and graduates; to managers, CEOs and other professionals in the games and digital media industries; and to computing/digital media academics. On occasion, a musician or a classical arts student joined the website.

The website mainly attracted students (undergraduate and postgraduate) and graduates in the fields of computer games and digital media. As shown in Figure 8 – ignoring the 202 members who did not disclose any information – out of 352 other members, 221 (62%) were students and 60 (17%) were graduates; another 49 members (14%) were academics and industry professionals.

Figure 8: Occupation of TuDocs members. ―Combination‖ refers to members who were both students and entrepreneurs; or both academic and industry-employed; etc.

During registration, new members were asked to provide personal details about themselves. This was optional during the first three months. Between mid-May 2010 and June 2011, all new members had to declare who they were, where they resided, and what they were.

As shown in Figure 9, several of the members who joined during the first three months withheld their personal details. During most months, the majority of new members signing up were students, although in July 2010, a large proportion of new members were industry professionals. The proportions of different groups of people (students, professionals, etc) did not appear to correlate with the numbers joining each month.

The majority of the many students who became members of the TuDocs e-portfolios website were UWS students, many of whom signed up in February 2010, and in September 2010 (first year undergraduate computer games students in particular), under the persuasion of the authors.

4.4: Media uploaded by members

Throughout the duration of the website, student and recent graduate members were encouraged to build their e-portfolios, and save media files of their games and digital art. The members uploaded over 320 videos and approximately 2500 images.

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Figure 9: occupations of members signing in each month

As shown in Figures 10 and 11, the monthly rate of video and image uploads follows a similar pattern to the rate of increase in membership. Most activity occurred between February and June 2010. Activity then tailed off, albeit with small peaks during October 2010 (probably due to the influx of new members); and in January and May 2011 (mainly because undergraduate students at UWS were instructed to upload examples of their work onto the TuDocs website). There appeared to be a close correlation between the monthly rate of image, and of video, uploads.

In the first five months, there was an image upload rate of between approximately 200 and 600 images per month (Figure 10), and a video upload rate of between approximately 30 and 70 video clips per month. By the end of 2010 the monthly upload rates of videos and images had dwindled to a fraction of these earlier rates. There was some higher activity in October 2010 (161 images, 18 videos) and January 2011 (181 images, 19 videos), partly because some of the UWS students were instructed to upload imagery and video clips as part of their coursework assignments.

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Figure 10: uploads of images by members onto the TuDocs website

Figure 11: uploads of videos by members onto the TuDocs website

As shown in Figure 12 over-page, the rate of blog postings on the TuDocs website followed a slightly different pattern. The summer and autumn months of 2010 were relatively active: the monthly rate of blog postings peaked in October 2010 at 91 posts. During the 2010/11 academic year, computer games undergraduate students at UWS were instructed to post regular blogs on their group-work projects, as part of their coursework, and this largely explains the peak in blog postings during the later months of 2010. Excluding student course assignments, the rate of blog entry postings peaked in July 2010 at 35 posts, and declined between July 2010 and February 2011, from around 20 per month to less than 5 per month.

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Figure 12: monthly rate of blog postings by TuDocs members: ―coursework‖ refers to blogs posted by UWS students

5: Benefits of the e-portfolios website

During operation of the TuDocs e-portfolios website, it was observed that some members did benefit from the website. Comments included:

―Thanks to this site I got my first job interview in the games industry, and it helped me set up my own start-up company.‖

―I used the site a lot to show people my work, and the link to [my] portfolio is registered to everything I‘m on, work-related…‖

―I received a large proportion of the traffic to my own website from it…‖

5.1: Jobs and placements

During the first few months some employers contacted the authors, bringing news of student placements and graduate-level jobs to their, and to the website members‘ attention.

Job notices were sent in by (mainly Scottish) companies including Blitz Game Studios, Play2Improve, Realtime Worlds and TPLD; and by smaller businesses including Hello Games and Hunted Cow Studios. Information on student placements was provided by Ubisoft and Realtime Worlds.

It is known that one graduate member secured a job at TPLD; two students secured Ubisoft games testing placements; and three other members secured industry jobs. (It is difficult to generate realistic estimates of games graduate employment as graduates tend to ―disappear‖, so these numbers should not be read as indicative of the total usefulness of the website or of e-Portfolios.)

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5.2: e-Portfolio space

Around 35 students and graduates built their e-portfolios to an acceptable level, whereby they provided information about themselves, listed their qualifications, and uploaded examples of their work.

Many of them responded enthusiastically to the opportunity to build their e-portfolios and post blogs documenting their own projects. One student member produced 26 blog posts on his game programming projects. Another produced 23 blog posts on his work. A few student and graduate members individually uploaded several videos and dozens of photos onto their e-portfolios.

5.3: New studios launched through the website

The launch of the website encouraged some student and graduate members to establish their own businesses and advertise them through the website. Three new computer games studios were established, shortly following the launch of the TuDocs website, including BitShift Studios, Kitsune Game Studios and A Team Studios (all of them located near Paisley in Scotland). In summer 2010, Apocalypse Software was established by a sole trading member of the website.

6: Difficulties encountered

Despite the activity and enthusiasm of some members, the TuDocs.org website lasted just over one and a half years. In the end, it proved financially difficult to maintain and promote the website, and the lack of interest and activity among members in early 2011 made the continuation of the service unjustifiable.

In addition, the effort of searching for student placements and graduate level jobs proved too much for three people working all week in day jobs. The authors searched for job notices on over 200 games company and IT company websites, and estimate that to do so properly required around 100 hours of work per week.

6.1: Rising server costs

The cost increased substantially during the short period when the TuDocs e-portfolios website was maintained, from $0 per month, through $25 per month, to eventually $50 per month. In May 2011 the authors were informed of further price rises, and they became concerned that the service provider was losing money and the service could be stopped at no notice.

6.2: Lack of financial support

The authors wanted to provide a free service to games industry employers and students/graduates. Not-for-profit sources of funding were therefore considered, with the intention of employing at least one full-time member of staff to keep the website updated.

As company directors, the authors sought funding from public agencies (Business Gateway, The Prince‘s Scottish Youth Business Trust, Scottish Enterprise, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, Digital Prototype and 4iP). None of the agencies contacted were able to, or were prepared, to provide either a loan or a grant to the company. The host university (where the authors were employed) was

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interested but unable or unwilling to provide any form of help despite the website membership comprising around 50% UWS students.

6.3: Not enough time

The authors worked in paid employment throughout the website‘s lifetime. During the academic year it was very difficult to run the website properly, or to communicate with both the members and with employers in the field.

6.4: Apathy and lack of assistance

During the first few months, a few games industry employers (and also an agency, SolveBrand) sent emails and posted notices regarding placement and job opportunities. The influx of notices diminished after the end of the 2009/10 academic year. This problem may have been exacerbated by the authors‘ active efforts to search for job listings, instead of persuading passive employers to send them in.

Only a small minority of the students who joined the TuDocs e-portfolios website used the service to their full advantage. Several students simply joined, then forgot about the website.

6.5: Was the website too parochial?

Throughout much of the duration of the website, it appeared that the website and its projects were too parochial, with too much focus on students at UWS (the University of the West of Scotland), particularly on the Paisley campus.

One non-UWS member commented, ―I recommended the site to a good number of students during last summer…though some people I spoke to thought the site was only aimed at the University of the West of Scotland students, due to the staff on the site, and most of the profiles being University of the West of Scotland-based.‖

Throughout the duration of the e-portfolios website, the authors observed that many computer games students they encountered were focused on survival. The primary focus among several students was the need to work for money. That left only some time for (allegedly) full-time university work, which itself has a definite end-point of success/failure highly visible to students.

7: Lessons learned

Based on the data contained in Figure 7 and Table 1, it can be concluded that the TuDocs e-portfolio website had a local, marginal sphere of influence, and attracted the attention of few people outside the immediate vicinity of Paisley and Glasgow, Scotland. This may have been because attention was drawn to the website primarily via email and online networking (e.g. Facebook postings), and word of mouth by the authors within UWS.

More significantly, it was observed that the rate of new members signing up declined over time, even though a large number of students joined at the start of the 2010/11 years. Of the approx. 550 people who became members of the website, relatively few made the effort of building an e-portfolio, or posting blogs and discussions.

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There is no agreement as yet to what is a good computer games –related graduate e-portfolio, what it should contain, or how it is best presented. However, it is well known that people often sign up to become members of social networking websites, only to lose interest and forget about them.

The authors set up the e-portfolios website with a vision of a place where hundreds of students and graudates would build online, dynamic CVs, enter into conversation with employers, and even be recruited directly online. Shortly before closing down the TuDocs e-portfolios website, the authors spoke with some former website members, and speculated on why the website did not meet their initial expectations. There were three possible factors which proved detrimental to the popularity and success of the TuDocs e-portfolios website:

Limited and infrequent marketing: the authors contacted games companies, colleges and universities via email and letter on three marketing drives in 2010, each of which produced almost no responses. They ran a TuDocs stand at three games exhibitions. They also communicated with some games industry professionals online via email or on the website, but this activity was probably too limited and uncoordinated. The authors did send out weekly or fortnightly messages to all the members (with updates on job listings and games industry exhibitions), but the messages were probably ignored by most of the members. Above all, all three authors worked in ‗day jobs‘, and time proved a difficult constraint during term-time.

The appearance of the website: then the TuDocs e-portfolios website was first launched, the graphics were plain (and described by some UWS students as ‗retro‘), and there were no jobs or placement listings. An organised table of jobs and placement listings (as shown in Figures 3 and 4) was not provided until four months later. It took the authors around six months to improve the appearance, layout and graphics of the website. This may have proved off- putting to some members. During the first few weeks of the website, some of the UWS students were critical of the layout and graphics.

―Nothing seemed to be happening‖: this was a comment by one member who left the website in August 2010. It was not possible to contact this student and find out exactly what. Was it because she signed up, built an e-portfolio, and no employers ever got in contact? Shortly before the website was closed down, another student member commented that the website seemed ―bland and serious‖. The authors kept a ‗Latest Activity‘ feed on the website, and noticed that by early 2011, there was usually less than one activity (e.g. someone posting a blog or a comment or uploading an image) per day.

Perhaps the main lesson to be learned from the TuDocs e-portfolios website is that running a social networking website with a specific aim (i.e. to help young people find jobs) is a tough challenge, which requires funding, and above all, a large team of dedicated (full-time) IT-savvy professionals and marketing experts with a bounty of ideas, projects, advertising campaigns and realistic targets, in order to retain the interest of website members and address their needs.

The three authors were the only dedicated group of people who maintained and updated the website on a daily basis, as who searched for and posted information on computer games industry-related jobs, placements and exhibitions. By contrast, Twitter employed nearly 400 people in early 2011 (Mediabistro.com, 2012), and still advertises positions for software engineers, advertising sales / research managers and IT admin assistants (Twitter, 2012). LinkedIn employed over 2100 full-time staff by the turn of 2012, nearly quadruple the number employed in early 2010 (LinkedIn, 2012).

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(It should be noted further that the LinkedIn business model is not heavily reliant on members sending messages to one another: the business also generates revenues from marketing and recruitment solutions (LinkedIn, 2012).)

8: Conclusions

The authors ran and maintained the TuDocs e-portfolios website February 2010 and September 2011. The aims of this website were (1) to provide a public platform for computer games and digital media students/graduates to build their e-portfolios, and demonstrate their skills to potential employers; and (2) to provide a network where employers and jobseekers could share information on issues such as skills required for jobs and changes in the industry. Members were provided information on job opportunities and exhibitions, and they could upload videos and images demonstrating their work.

The website was initially received with enthusiasm. However, the rate of members joining the website, and the rate of image and video clip uploads by members, both declined over time until activity was almost non-existent by early 2011. Despite these trends, the website enabled some student and graduate members to secure jobs in industry and encouraged a few others to establish their own companies and games development studios.

Few conclusions can be drawn from observations of a single social networking and e-portfolios website, particularly one which lasted only 19 months. It may be speculated that the website did not meet the authors‘ expectations and the activity on the website declined, because the authors maintained the website on a voluntary basis, and had to support themselves financially by working in ‗day jobs‘. This impeded their time and effort given to maintaining the website, providing information to retain the members‘ attention, and to marketing. By contrast, large teams of dedicated staff including programmers and sales/advertising experts support some popular social networks such as LinkedIn and Twitter.

Appendix: list of employers‘ websites surveyed for Figure 1

2K Games, 4MM Games, Actual Analytics, Adobe, Amaze, Atari, Atomhawk, Axis Productions, the BBC, Babelmedia, Bigpoint, Bioware, Bizarre Creations, Blonde Digital, Channel 4, CISCO, Cobra Mobile, Criterion Games, Crytek, Disney Interactive, Dolby Laboratories, e4e, EA Sports, Eurocom, Exterity, Facebook, Feral Interactive, Firebrand Games, Fun Com, Guerilla Games, Havok, Hello Games, High Voltage Software, HotGen, ID Software, Ignition Entertainment, Imgtec, Ink Digital, Iplay, Lakota Solutions, Lightning Fish Games, Line Digital, Lucas Arts, MadeByPi, Maidsafe.net, Melon Creative, Metaforic, Monumental Games, nDreams, Ninja Theory, Nintendo, Nvidia, Onlive, Play Technologies, Play2Improve, Rareware, Redbox MM, Rebellion Games, Rockstar Games, Ruffian Games, SN Systems, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE), Stainless Games, Testronic Labs, THQ, Timegate, TPLD, Traffic Games, Triple B Games, Ubisoft, Warner Bros and Zii Labs.

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Adaptive AI in a racing simulator: a challenging and fun environment for any user

Ben MacKinnon 1

1 University of the West of Scotland, Paisley, UK

Article Information

Received: February 2012 Accepted: April 2012 Available: online May 2012

Key words:

Abstract

Racing simulators require Artificial Intelligence in order to create a competitive environment for the player. However these engines always seem to be created in a strict manner, leading to what can be a repetitive, predictable or frustrating system. Difficulty levels are often set in stone and do not suit every player. Development of an adaptive racing AI engine could eradicate the need for difficulty levels and provide a competitive and entertaining racing environment for any user. This paper will discuss the current techniques used in racing simulators, research into adaptive AI, and describe approaches used towards the development of an Adaptive Engine.

1: Introduction

Racing games (or Driving games) are a well-defined genre in the games market. There have been many industry-leading games from the genre, from Indianapolis 500 by Papyrus Design Group (published by Electronic Arts, 1989), the Gran Turismo series started in 1997 by Polyphony Digital (published by Sony Computer Entertainment) to Forza Motorsport 3 by Turn 10 Studios (published by Microsoft Game Studios in 2009). All these are referred to as ―Racing Simulators.‖ There are also arcade-style Racing Games e.g. The Need For Speed and the Burnout series by EA games. For all of these games, improvements in graphics, game-play and physics are the keys to their success.

However, it is Artificial Intelligence (AI) that is the feature which defines a user‘s experience of the game. The AI must be set to a level that the user is able to compete with and that performs in a realistic manner. Too often the difficulty levels of a game are 2 or 3 concrete levels of AI, which provide different challenges but don't suit every user. If we consider a scale of user‘s abilities ranging from 1 to 10, is it possible to produce only 3 levels of AI that will provide a challenging and fun game for those users? The obvious answer is that is not possible.

Users of games programmed in this way come back with common complaints; ―easy is too easy‖ and ―hard is too hard.‖ Visually, either the user beats the AI too easily and has an enormous lead, or they are losing so badly that they fall so far behind as to have no hope of being competitive. Either position is experienced as ―lonely racing,‖ and leads to users becoming either bored or frustrated.

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This paper considers ways of addressing these problems by investigating the current techniques used in racing games, comparing them to the adaptive and ―human like AI‖ approaches being used in other genres, looking at advances in the field of automated vehicle control, and discussing the development of an Adaptive AI Engine for a racing simulator.

2: A “crash course” in Simulation

Almost every contemporary Racing Simulator has a range of difficulty settings that the user can choose from, usually Easy, Medium and Hard. Sometimes these choices will affect how the user‘s car handles, or how much damage will affect their car, but usually it will change the skill levels of the opponent cars, the AI, or a combination of the two. There is plenty of research on the current strategies used in racing simulators, including tutorials on how to code them, but in order to develop strong and realistic AI, what we need is to understand to the key principles in motor racing.

2.1: The racing line

The Racing Line is one of the key features of anything race related. It is defined as the shortest route around the track that also provides for the least amount of braking and accelerating possible. Gari Biasillo (2002) of Electronic Arts Canada described a technique to design the racing line as a series of nodes in a linked list, so that the car just has to aim for the next node. A second line can also be defined as the overtaking line so that the car can handle overtaking other cars. He also defined algorithms on how to control the car and decide routes in an Open Street Racer (one with no set course).

Manslow (2004) suggested Biasillo's linked list is fine if we know the racing lines, and described a technique for fast approximation of a racing line by starting with the nodes in the centre of the track and iteratively adjusting them. A small force is applied to each set of three points in an attempt to straighten them out and therefore shorten the overall line. The force applied is proportional to the angle between the two vectors composed by the three points. While the process is iterative, it is O(n) efficient for an n-point approximation. Any point that is moved outside of the track edge in this process is simply placed back onto the edge of the track. This will result in what is known as the ―touching point,‖ ―clipping point‖ or more commonly, ―apex‖ (Figure 1).

2.2: Handling the car

Most people who drive are familiar with handling characteristics of motor vehicles. Professional race car drivers train themselves to recognise each of them, to correct them, or use them to their advantage. They are most commonly occurring handling variables are known as under-steer and over-steer.

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Figure 1: the Racing Line through a corner, touching the Apex.

Under-steer occurs when the vehicle is travelling too fast to get around the corner and no matter how hard the driver turns the wheel, the car will not turn any tighter. The only real solution to under-steer is to slow down until the car turns in a radius equal to that of the corner. There are a huge number of factors that can contribute to under-steer including aerodynamic down-force (too much at the rear causes the rear tyres to have more grip than the front), ride height and camber angles (the angle the tyre sits at in relation to the road surface).

Over-steer is the opposite problem, where the car turns too tightly into a corner. This can be corrected either by reducing the steering angle or by accelerating, though probably only a professional driver would choose the latter. Over-steer can be caused by the same factors that cause under-steer (in terms of down-force, too much at the front of the vehicle would cause over-steer). There are two types of over-steer; rear end snapping out and front end pinching in. Rear end snapping out is more common with rear wheel drive cars or in wet conditions. In this case you would not want to apply additional power as it may cause a spin. With front end pinching in the car would still feel stable, you would just be heading for an early clipping point or indeed the inside wall in a closed circuit. The question is how to we map such handling to a simulator?

Biasillo (2002) showed that, by measuring the angle between the wheels and the direction of travel between the front and rear, we can determine if the car is in a neutral steering state, an under-steer state or one of the over-steer states. If both sets of angles are at near-zero, then the car remains stable. If both sets of angles go away from zero in the same direction then, if the rear angle is greater than the front, we have over-steer with the rear end snapping out. If both angles are in the same direction and the front angle is greater than the rear, then we have under-steer. Finally, if the angles are in different directions, then we have over-steer that is spinning out. Biasillo (2002) also defined the corrections required to bring the car back under control (see Table 1).

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Case Velocity Signs Correction

Under-steer Same Abs (FrontVel + RearVel) / Under-steerRange

Over-steer (rear end out) Same Abs(FrontVel + RearVel) / Over-steerRange

Over-steer (spin) Different (Abs(RearVel) – Abs(FrontVel)) / Oversteer-Range

Table 1: correction amounts for instability cases

2.3: Knowing when to stop

One of the most important aspects of motor-racing is the braking points. It is in braking for corners that drivers make up time over their opponents, and most overtaking manoeuvres are made in those few metres of braking into a corner. Professional drivers use experience and instinct in order to judge a braking point, as braking too early wastes valuable time, while breaking too late may cause a loss of control when going into a corner. A good analogy of how to judge to the braking point was suggested by a semi-professional driver who won the classic car Monte Carlo rally twice: ―when approaching the corner you pick two points. The first is the inside point of the corner (the Apex). The second is the furthest point around the outside edge of the corner that is visible. As you approach the corner, if this second point can be moved further round the corner then the corner is ―opening up‖ and you do not need to slow down for the corner. If the corner does not open up, then you will need to break in order to go round the corner under control. The moment that you see the corner opening up, then you can begin to accelerate again.‖

In order to program braking and cornering, we must determine the speed limits through the section. Wymann (2010) shows the equations for working both the speed limits and the braking mechanics:

Whereby: m = current mass (kg), v = velocity (ms-1), r = radius (m, g is acceleration due to gravity (9.8 ms-2) and R = friction coefficient.

This equation must remain balanced if we are to maintain control of a vehicle travelling around a corner; i.e. the centrifugal force expressed on the left of the equation must equal the force of friction which is expressed on the right. The only variable in the equation is the velocity v. By rearranging the equation we can calculate the maximum velocity v(max) at which the corner may be taken:

Now that we know the maximum velocity to safely round the corner, we can calculate the braking distance required to (usually) reduce the current velocity to the required maximum velocity. Again we need to maintain an energy balance (over-page):

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…where s is distance. Here our current kinetic energy minus our desired kinetic energy gives us the energy that needs to be ―burned‖ under braking over the distance s. Since we already know the values of all the other variables, rearranging the equation allows us to calculate the required braking distance:

Now that we have our braking distance, we simply compare it with the current distance we are from the corner, and apply the brakes accordingly. These equations assume an equal weight distribution of the car, and equal friction coefficients of each tire, and should be extended to include factors such as down-force, drag, temperature of the tyres and shape of the surface under each tyre.

2.4: “A good workman never blames his tools”

In order to design any kind of racing simulator the cars need to be designed realistically. This is true not only for the AI, but for the human player too. Aspects of the cars need to be implemented and, with the more advanced simulators such as Gran Turismo and Forza Motorsport, each vehicle in the game is licensed by the Manufacturer to perfectly match its real life counterpart. Certain aspects can be modified in the game by the user for their vehicle such as down-force, gear ratios etc. but each vehicle will start with a set of default values. Interestingly some of these components are in fact computer programs with an aspect of AI that are designed to assist the driver in maintaining control of their vehicles, such as ABS (anti-lock braking system), traction control and stability management. These systems, controlled by microchips, make adjustments to the driver‘s commands in order to avoid loss of control. Perez and Saez (2008) quote Robert E. Fenton who, in 1970, predicted how automated vehicle guidance would evolve:

―The system would probably be implemented in three overlapping stages. The first could be the installation and use of various driver aids so that the driver would be a more effective decision maker and improve the performance of the driver-vehicle system. The second stage could involve the gradual introduction of various subsystems for partial automatic control. The third would include the transition to complete automatic vehicle control. Each of these stages must be realised within the confines of one system so that the addition of each feature would contribute to the ultimate system.‖

The first stage of this prediction was realised in the development of such systems mentioned above. The second stage has also been realised in many American manufactured vehicles that have cruise control, lane changing and parking assist features. Perez and Saez (2008) suggest the third stage is yet to be realised. However, BMW have manufactured a car that is able to learn a race track and drive around the course in the best possible fashion. The vehicle has been designed in order to teach potential race drivers the racing lines. The BMW trainer centre allows the learner to sit in the car while it drives automatically around the track first. Then the learner drives the car around the track, and the car warns them if the waiver from the racing line. Finally the learner takes the data from the car onto a

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computer to compare how they did with the way the automatic car went around the track. The car was featured recently on an episode of the BBC show Top Gear. It cannot yet handle obstacles and other cars, but progress to date is promising.

2.5: Advances in the field (cited from Perez and Saez, 2008)

While the car produced by BMW is promising work in the Racing field of automated driving, research and development into automated vehicles has been ongoing. One of the leading areas for this is the DARPA (Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency) Grand Challenge competition for driver-less vehicles. The goal behind the project is to make a third of the US ground military forces automatic by 2015, and as such the US congress provided a prize fund of $1million for the first competition in 2004. As a research based competition, university teams took part in each of the 3 events. In the first year the course was set in the Mojave Desert region of the California in the United States. None of the vehicles managed to complete the course, and Carnegie Mellon University's Red team won by travelling the furthest, a distance of 7.36 miles.

The following year the competition was run again. The route was changed to one with more corners (more than 100 sharp turns) and narrower roads. The total distance of the route was reduced from 150 to 132 miles, and the course was again off road. Of the 23 entries, all but one surpassed the 7.36 miles completed the year before, and five of the vehicles managed to complete the full course. A rivalry also formed between the 2004 winners, Carnegie Mellon University, and Stanford University as Sebastian Thrun, the head of the Stanford team, was previously a faculty member at CMU and a former colleague of Red Whittaker, head of the CMU team. The Stanford team won the 2005 course with a time of 6 hours 54 minutes, 11 minutes quicker than Carnegie's Red Team.

In 2007 the competition returned with a prize fund double the size for the winner. It was also retitled as the ―Urban Challenge‖, with the route moved from off road to a closed air base. The vehicles now had to complete three challenges in which they had to obey road laws and handle the presence of other vehicles. One of the challenges was to have the vehicle navigate an intersection where it had to merge with other traffic. Six vehicles completed all the challenges, with Carnegie Mellon University again claiming the title ahead of Stanford.

While the DARPA challenge may seem irrelevant to Racing Simulator AI development, a lot of the design features are transferable. Each team in the DARPA challenge had to develop control systems based on the principles laid out above. Undoubtedly the development of such systems would have been made and tested using simulators. They faced problems such as data gathering and decision making in as little processing time as possible in order to avoid the vehicle making mistakes and possibly crashing. In the 2007 competition, they also would have to include some form of adaptability to allow for the complexity of other vehicles being on the course, as well as other unknown obstacles.

2.6: Creating human-like or Adaptive AI

Avery and Michalewicz (2008) argued that insufficient research has been done on creating AI that is designed to be challenging for humans, and the majority of research is based on systems designed to win or pick the best strategies. They devised a system to adapt, in real-time, to a user‘s strategy in a turn-based strategy game. They used a co-evolutionary process in which the human‘s strategy in the last game became a member of the population and, even if not selected as the optimal sample, would still be likely to affect the individual through crossover and mutation. This method requires mapping of the user‘s actions into a genome that is part of the population, something that is very difficult to do in a

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turn based strategy, far less in a racing simulator. Also the evolution is done at the end of each game, and could take up to 2 minutes to complete. This is just not suitable for adjusting AI ―on-the-fly‖ in a racing simulator, but it is at least step towards adaptive AI, and it works perfectly well in the context it is used in. Their techniques for hampering the AI if it becomes too strong are effective, and by mimicking human strategies it can always be as good as the human player. Their results show that the users were more engaged with the game, and enjoyed the challenge of beating the AI.

Hagelbäck and Johansson (2009) devised three adaptive agents in a Real Time Strategy (RTS) game, and compared them with two static agents in terms of user enjoyment, and perceived strength and variability of each agent. They set up an algorithm to change the strength of the AI during the game based on the score and whether or not the human player was winning. By factoring the score difference into the equation, they were able to keep the agents at a playing ability similar to the user‘s ability. In one of the adaptive agents, it was coded in that the agent should lose every game by drastically reducing its skill if the user only had a set number of units left. The results showed that users preferred the adaptive agents over the set ones, but interestingly they found the one that would always lose to be too easy and boring. It would seem that it is the taking part that counts and not the winning. Hagelbäck and Johansson suggest that as the AI was dumbing down in the last moments of the game, this was still fresh in the users mind when completing the survey on their experience.

A common idea behind game design, noted by Buckland (2005), is that ―it only takes a small dodgy- looking event to damage the player's confidence in the AI,‖ or in other words, if the AI is doing its job, then the player won't notice it. If it makes a mistake, then the player will notice it and most likely complain.

Liden (2004) however, argued that these mistakes can be harnessed as part of the AI engine to provide a fun and challenging environment for the user. Again, he agreed that AI is commonly designed to beat the opponent and look intelligent, rather than to provide a tense and challenging experience for the user. He suggests ―the challenge lies in demonstrating the NPC's skills to the player, while still allowing the player to win.‖ By making the AI engine make believable mistakes we can do such a thing, allowing the user to capitalise on such mistakes, rather than allowing them to recognise unplanned mistakes.

2.7: The pure advantage

While the above papers discuss adaptive or human like AI in games, none are either suitable for or mention AI in racing simulators. The first real evidence for an adaptive AI system in a racing game is provided in an article by Eduardo Jimenez (2009) of BlackRock Studios about the development of the AI for their ATV racing game ―Pure.‖ They have developed a system that moves away from the traditional rubber banding used in most racing simulators by defining a grouping system that is similar to a flocking algorithm. They define three groups, a fall back group, a mid group and a leader group. At the beginning of the race the user will be competing with the fall back group while the other groups will move off into the lead. Around half way through the race the user will have caught up with the mid group, leaving the fall back group behind, and towards the end of the race they will have caught up with the leader group and be challenging for first place. On top of this there is an additional group designed to stay around the user throughout the race (Figure 2). The idea behind the system is that a user will find the race challenging and exciting, as they will always be surrounded by other drivers, neither gaining a huge lead nor falling way behind.

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Figure 2: grouping system in the game Pure by BlackRock Studios

The design behind Pure allows for an easy way to create the AI system. While the main idea behind most game modes is that it is a race, there is often more than one way round the track, and the drivers can pull tricks as they go over the jumps. This gives more variables that the AI can influence in order to make an adaptive system. If a vehicle gets ahead of where it should be, then not only can it slow down, but it can have its trick skill reduced to increase the chance of it crashing after a trick attempt. Similarly if a vehicle falls behind where it should be, then it can perform better in tricks, which in the game provide you with boost that would help them to catch up.

The result is a very well balanced system. Although the races are somewhat scripted, with the finishing position of each AI vehicle being fairly predictable, this is unapparent to the user because of

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the number of vehicles in the race. By giving the user the ability to progress through the field, it gives them a sense of achievement when they make it close to the front, and by surrounding the user at all times by other vehicles it remains a competitive environment and keeps a level of tension throughout the race.

However, having played the game, once the concept of the AI was uncovered, there was the belief among users of ―so it wasn't really because of me that I won those races.‖ In one way, that is testament to how well the system works, as it is unapparent to the user, but it also points up the need to develop an AI system which, when uncovered, still leaves the user with a sense of achievement, the feeling that they have won because of their skill in playing the game. The first step towards this is the development of a racing engine.

2.8: TORCS

TORCS (the open racing simulator) is an open source racing simulator developed by Wymann (2010). Although originally created by Eric Espié and Christophe Guionneau, additional content has been provided by many others. TORCS is a good platform for the development of adaptive AI in a racing simulator because, as well as being developed in an open source environment, it is specifically intended as an AI research platform. Annual AI competitions are held for developers creating AI drivers (known as bots in TORCS). These competitions are run at three events; CEG (IEEE Congress on Evolutionary Computation), GECCO (the ACM Genetic and Evolutionary Computational Conference) and CIG (IEEE Computational Intelligence and Games). In 2010 the events were held at GECCO, WCCI (IEEE World Congress on Computational Intelligence) and CIG. A variety of approaches to AI development have been used, including Ant colony optimisation (DelaOssa et al, 2008); fuzzy logic (Thang Ho and Garibaldi, 2008); imitation (Muñoz et al, 2009; Cardamone et al, 2009); rule based (Perez and Saez, 2008); genetic programming (Ebner and Tiede, 2009); and others (Butz and Lönneker, 2009, Onieva et al, 2009). Loiacono et al (2008) published a paper, which contained explanations for each entry, and which contained results of the competition.

In the competition, the cars are run by themselves around a course unknown to the competitors before the race, and are measured by how far they travel over a certain number of game ticks. They are then run together in a race. Each test is done several times and averages taken. The cars are scored in the same point system used in F1: 10 points for 1st place, 8 to 2nd, 6 to 3rd, 5 to 4th, and so on. Again, each entry is trying to win and be the best it possibly can be. Notes can be taken from each car, giving useful information especially in the areas that they failed at: see e.g. Perez and Saez [4] who used symmetry in the track angle and steering output to make the search space for their algorithm smaller. The result of this was to cause the car to zigzag along the track. On an oval circuit the car effectively became uncontrollable.

2.9: The Client-Server approach

The development of the Adaptive AI Driver car (Figure 3) started by using the same environment as the afore-mentioned competitions, in which the game is set up as a server, and the programmed bot runs as a client. This allowed for modifications to be made to the AI without interfering with the game code. It also meant creating a car from scratch and it soon became apparent that, in order to create an adaptive AI, a Competitive AI would first have to be developed. It was also discovered that if the processor of the system running the client became overloaded, then it would fail to receive the sensory data from the game server that it required to update its logic, causing it to work on old data and make incorrect calculations. For these reasons this approach was soon abandoned.

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3: Tutorial

On the website of developer Bernard Wymann (2010) there is a tutorial in creating an robot for TORCS. The car ―bt‖ in the TORCS engine is an extension of this tutorial. It was decided that, in order to get a competitive car operating quickly, this tutorial would be the start point of the adaptive driver. The tutorial sets up the basic parameters of the car, calculates the braking distance, acceleration and cornering formulae, as well as dealing with collision avoidance, overtaking and pit strategies. It is a very in depth tutorial that explains how all the formulae are derived, and is a recommended starting point for anyone wishing to program a robot for TORCS. (To the tutorial code I added functionality for clutch control, giving improved acceleration and deceleration.)

However, for the tutorial to work the full source code had to be accessed and compiled. This was the first major hurdle as the game is designed primarily for Linux, while development of the adaptive AI would be done on Windows, meaning that a number of dependencies and exclude files needed to be changed. The tutorial is also designed for Linux developers, so it includes details of Makefiles etc., which are not required for Windows. Fortunately there is a strong community behind the development of TORCS and they were able to advise on how to get the full source code running on Windows. Once it had been built in release mode then it no longer had to be touched. Within the TORCS solution file there are several projects, but there is one project for each of the AI drivers, so to develop your own bot all you need to do is add in a new project (or duplicate one of the existing ones and change the file names) and build only that project in release mode to create the runtime files required by the game to have your car in the simulator. The tutorial also explained how to personalise your car with textures and tweak performance attributes such as ride height, down-force etc. in an XML file.

Figure 3: the adaptive AI car used in the racing simulator

Making it adaptive

After completing the tutorial, the adapt car was as competitive as the default AI cars in the game. This was the starting point required for developing an adaptive AI. The first technique applied was rubber banding, even though the aim was to move beyond this over-used and outdated methodology. In the function driver::getAllowedSpeed from the tutorial, the maximum speed for any section is calculated. For rubber banding, we simply adjust the value according to whether the player is in front or behind the AI (pseudo-code 1 over-page):

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Pseudo_Code 1: first adaptive code

if (player is in front of AI)

return the max speed for this section

else if (player is behind the AI)

return 90% of the max speed for this section

This small piece of code made an instant difference to the times of the car, slowing it down whenever it got in front. However, it looked unrealistic and there was no way of catching up if it fell too far behind. Even though it would slow the car down, against a novice user who crashed a lot it would still disappear into an insurmountable lead. It was decided to take the code further to avoid the car trying to brake while in a straight, and to hamper it further if it gained a big lead:

Pseudo_Code2: more varied speed limits

if the player is behind the AI by at least 20 metres

return 90% of the player’s speed

else if the player is over 100 metres behind the AI

return 50% of the allowed speed

else if the player is at least 20 metres ahead of the AI

return 110% of the allowed speed

This brought the AI car into a closer fought battle with the human opponent, but at the cost of some loss of realism. By reducing the AI speed when it is in front of the user to 90% of their speed rather than 90% of the allowed section speed, the AI car never gets too far in front, but if it does then it will slow down even more dramatically. However, the AI will be far enough in front to be out of sight before this happens so it will be unapparent to the user. The AI also now tries to go faster when it is behind the user in order to play catch up. This could lead to some instability as it attempts to go around corners too quickly.

The main problem that arose from this implementation was when the human player crashed off the course and the AI overtook. Once the AI was in front it would attempt to drop its speed to 90% of that of its opponent, but if the opponent was off course then their speed would be very low, causing the AI to brake sharply and almost sit and wait for the opponent to return to the track. While this was very courteous of the AI, it was not at all realistic. An additional line of code was added so that the AI would only reduce its speed if the opponent was travelling over 30 mph, a figure devised as the minimum speed for an opponent to be classed as ―on the track and competing.‖ This addition returned the realism to an acceptable level but, in order to enhance the realism, further techniques needed to be applied.

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In a professional race series - be it Formula 1 or British Touring Cars, etc. - if a driver is in front by any margin they will tend to ―ease off‖ in order to conserve fuel and reduce the risk of damaging their car. They do this by breaking earlier and less aggressively for corners, and it was decided to map this to the AI. In a similar approach to the speed algorithm, the AI will check if it has a decent lead and if so will brake slightly early. This gives a challenging opponent the chance to brake slightly later than the AI and beat them into the inside of the corner. In a similar fashion the AI will attempt to brake late into corners if it is behind the opponent. This is carried out in the driver::brakedist function which first calculates the safe braking distance in the way mentioned earlier in this paper, and is then modified accordingly (over-page):

Pseudo_Code 3: adjusting the braking distance

if the opponent is in front of the AI

reduce the braking distance to 95%

if the opponent is at least 20 metres behind the AI

increase the braking distance to 120%

In order for all of this to work, the AI must recognise the opponent. At the start of every race the adaptive AI scans the list of opponents and searches for one marked as human. If no human player is found then it defaults to whichever vehicle starts in pole position. This was done in order to conduct testing quickly against the in built AI as when running the game, you can increase the simulation by up to four times the speed. Obviously this is impractical for a human user as there is no way they can control a race car that is travelling four times the speed it actually is (usually the maximum speed is around 300km/h for a human driver). The one benefit of the client-server architecture approach that was abandoned was the results only mode but, again, this would have not been suitable for human testing.

4: Early Results

A t t h i s s t a g e t h e f i r s t b a t c h o f t e s t i n g w a s p e r f o r m e d . O n e o f t h e b e n e f i t s o f t h e T O R C S g a m e e n g i n e i s t h a t a f t e r e v e r y r a c e a r e s u l t s X M L f i l e i s s a v e d , w h i c h h o l d s t h e d r i v e r‘ s n a m e , f i n i s h i n g p o s i t i o n , o v e r a l l t i m e , d a m a g e a n d h o w m a n y t i m e s t h e y w e n t i n t o t h e p i t s .

B e f o r e d i s c u s s i n g t h e r e s u l t s , t h e t e s t s i t u a t i o n s m u s t b e s e t o u t . I t w a s d e c i d e d t h a t a l l t e s t i n g s h o u l d b e d o n e o n t h e s a m e t r a c k f o r t h e s a m e n u m b e r o f l a p s . T h i s r e d u c t i o n o f t h e n u m b e r o f v a r i a b l e s m a d e i t

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p o s s i b l e t o g a t h e r a c c u r a t e a n d c o n s i s t e n t r e s u l t s . T h e t r a c k c h o s e n w a s a t y p i c a l r a c e t r a c k w i t h w i d e r u n - o f f g r a v e l a r e a s o n s o m e c o r n e r s , c l o s e t o t h e t r a c k w a l l s o n o n e s t r a i g h t , a f a s t s w e e p i n g t u r n , a s h a r p 9 0 d e g r e e r i g h t h a n d t u r n , a c h i c a n e a n d a h a i r p i n ( n o t a v e r y t i g h t o n e ) a s t h e l a s t c o r n e r . I t w a s a l s o d e c i d e d t o r u n t h e r a c e s o v e r 3 l a p s s i n c e t h i s i s t h e s h o r t e s t p o s s i b l e r a c e t h a t s t i l l a l l o w s s o m e t r a i n i n g t i m e f o r t h e u s e r . H u m a n s u b j e c t s t o o k 5 m i n u t e s o n a v e r a g e t o c o m p l e t e t h e r a c e .

T h e a d a p t i v e A I w a s i n i t i a l l y r u n i n 1 0 0 t e s t s a g a i n s t t h e T O R C S b e r n i w 1 c a r , i n 1 v s 1 r a c e s . F i f t y r a c e s w e r e r u n w i t h a d a p t 1 i n p o l e p o s i t i o n , a n d 5 0 w i t h b e r n i w 1 i n p o l e p o s i t i o n . A l t h o u g h t h e n a t u r e o f t h e a d a p t i v e A I l e a d s f o r a n i n d i v i d u a l r a c e e v e r y t i m e , t h e b e r n i w A I i s s e t i n s t o n e a n d t r a i n e d t o i t s o p t i m u m . T h e r e i s a s m a l l d e g r e e o f l e a r n i n g i n t h e a d a p t i v e A I a l s o , d o n e s o b y c o d e f r o m t h e t u t o r i a l . I t f o c u s e s o n i m p r o v i n g t h e r a c i n g l i n e f o r e v e r y i t e r a t i o n o f a r a c e , s a v i n g a f i l e f o r e a c h t r a c k i t i s r u n o n . R u n n i n g t h e t e s t s n o t o n l y g a v e t h e i n i t i a l r e s u l t s , b u t a l l o w e d f o r t h e t r a i n i n g o f t h e k a r m a f i l e o n t h e t e s t t r a c k .

T h e r e s u l t s s h o w e d t h a t o v e r t i m e t h e a v e r a g e t i m e d i f f e r e n c e w a s l o w e r i n g , a n d a f t e r a b o u t t h e 7 0 t h t e s t i t t u r n e d i n t o a n ― I w i n o n e , y o u w i n o n e ‖ b a t t l e . H o w e v e r o n t h e o c c a s i o n s t h a t b e r n i w 1 w o n t h e r a c e ( + y v a l u e ) i t w a s m o s t o f t e n b y a l a r g e v a l u e ( s e e F i g u r e 4 ) .

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Figure 4: ―adapt1‖ versus ―berniw1‖ over 100 tests (x axis = no. of tests; y axis = time difference in seconds)

The cause of this became apparent from watching some of the races. Most of the time the two cars were coming together in the first sharp corner in the race, and berniw1 would recover more quickly every time. Because berniw1 would make no other mistakes when it was driving alone, adapt1 could never catch up in its current set up of trying to push the speed limits. In fact the current system was actually having an adverse effect, as the pushing of the speed limits and braking late into the corners meant that it was losing control slightly and falling further behind. This becomes extremely apparent when running adapt1 v bt1, the car that adapts base rule set is based on. In all tests, unless bt1 were to crash somehow and adapt1 was to avoid the collision, or recover more quickly from it, then bt1 would win every race, as it was impossible for bt1 to be caught by a car constrained by the same limits as itself.

While these results are interesting and perhaps give insights to possible improvements, they are in fact completely irrelevant as the purpose of the adaptive AI is to provide a challenging and fun race for the user. At this stage of the development, only a small select group were used for testing, as a large group with no experience of the development is required for the final testing. Initial results were good: 10 races (Figure 5, y axis) against a single opponent were recorded (it was considered too time-consuming and draining for a human subject to take part in 100 races, as with berniw1). The results are shown in Figure 5 (time difference in seconds).

Figure 5: 10 results for Adapt V versus human subject. Time difference along the horizontal (positive for human win)

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These results are much more pleasing than those obtained against the automated berniw1 car. There are two reasons behind this: first a human is unlikely to race in the exact same manner every race, and, second, humans make mistakes.

The second point is the more crucial. Because the human makes mistakes, the adaptive AI has a chance to catch up (i.e. to learn) if it has fallen behind, unlike the set AI of berniw or bt. It is clear that the human test subject will also be learning and improving over a period of races, but interestingly the human was beaten in the last race, showing the AI has continued to adapt. The result from race 8 is also slightly misleading. In the last corner the human crashed into the adapt car causing it to crash and the human to take a big lead over it. The average time difference is reported at being just over +2 seconds, and the greatest difference at just over +4.5 seconds. These results are certainly moving in the right direction, but could possibly be improved.

The win:loss ratio (1:4) of the adaptive AI against the human is satisfying. Hagelbäck and Johansson (2009) found that if the user was always allowed to win, essentially by the AI ―giving up‖ in the final seconds, the experience was unsatisfying for the user. Maintaining a ratio such as 1:4 is essential in keeping the user motivated enough to continue to play the game, and to disguise the fact that the AI is designed to allow them the chance to win. The level of adaptiveness of the AI system can be seen when we look at results from a race between a human player, 4 default cars and the adaptive car (Figure 6).

Figure 6: time differences for the player against four built-in AIs and adaptive AI (seconds)

These results show that the human player struggled to compete with the AI built into the game, most likely as a result of the player making mistakes during the race which the AI avoided. However, we can also see that the adapt1 car responded to the user‘s mistakes, meaning that the penalty suffered was greatly reduced. In the event, the user beat adapt1 by 1.35 seconds, a result that is close enough to maintain the user‘s interest in the game, even if they had actually lost this race.

5: Adapting the Adaptive

Based on the early results, changes were designed for the system. Up until this point testing had been done on a ―1 v 1‖ basis, but the goal was to create a field of at least four cars to race against a human. Early attempts to do this were unsuccessful because the adapt cars tended to cluster into a

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group and race each other. This was caused by the target selection code not operating as it should; if there was no human player, then one of the other cars would be selected as an opponent to be raced against. Since in further development and testing there would always be a human opponent, the target selection code was removed.

In order to vary the AI for each car in the field, the concept of ―Individual Traits‖ was devised. These would mean that each car was following a different set of rules during the race. Such traits were; late braking for a car that was in just in front of the human, to make it seem as if the driver was buckling under pressure, slow acceleration for a certain car as it exited the corner, allowing the user to feel as if they had got the better of him, and over-aggressiveness of a vehicle behind the user, which would most likely cause it to come past the user going into a corner, but also leave it running wide in the corner and not actually completing a successful overtaking manoeuvre. These traits were devised in order to add more elements of tension during the race. They follow the concept of adding intentional mistakes into the AI described by Lidén (2004).

Two approaches were considered when implementing the traits. The first was to have each car know its traits at the start of every race by placing them into the corresponding XML file of each driver, and reading this in at the beginning of the race. While this might give each driver a personality, it would be too unpredictable during a race in case the traits were used in the wrong context. For example, if a car in front of the user had a more aggressive driving style, it might create a bigger lead rather than allowing the user to catch up.

Instead it was decided to allocate these traits during the race, based on the cars position in the race. This would ensure each trait was used in the correct context. It was also decided that the traits be given a probability factor so that they weren't over used.

Pseudo_code 4: adding probability into the braking algorithm

if the human is just behind { generate a random number between 0 and 9

if that number is between 0 and 7

return 120% of the safe braking distance for early braking

else if the number is 8 or 9

return 80% of the safe braking distance to invoke understeer or possible loss of control

Another finding from the original results was unanticipated, but should not have been unexpected: gamers cheat! Some test subjects used tactics to run the adapt cars off the road either by forcing them wide or bashing into them. While the adapt cars were able to catch up after such incidents when the user later made mistakes, if the cars became too damaged then they would enter the pits in an attempt to repair themselves, giving the user an easy win as these pit stops would last at least 30 seconds depending on how damaged the car was. The user car had been set to Rookie rating, which meant they did not receive any damage at all during the race (it would be a waste of testing time if a user had to restart a race because they became too damaged to complete it). It was decided to set the difficulty rating of the adapt cars to Rookie also, in order to avoid similar cases happening again.

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Another tactic evolved by some players was to cut across the chicane. Unfortunately there is little can be done to counter this, other than hoping they may spin out in the process. The adaptiveness of the bot cars usually means they are able to catch up if they are left behind at this chicane. However, it is the second last corner, so if this tactic is exploited in the last lap it can provide some misleading results.

A final modification made was to increase the distance the AI must be in front of the user before slowing down from 20 metres to 40 metres. This was to make the operation of this function less obvious, as in some cases the adaptive car was braking when just in front of the user on a straight. Code was also added to adjust the acceleration factor of the cars in front, which also included a probability factor in the same fashion as illustrated above.

6: Final Results

The final build of the adapt car was tested by a selected group of students at University of the West of Scotland. Each user completed a questionnaire about their previous gaming experience, racing game experience, and their experience using TORCS. The users were allowed to complete two laps practice to get used to the simulator and the track that they would be racing on. They were then asked to complete 2 races. One race would be against the built in AI in TORCS using bt and berniw as opponents. The other race was against the adaptive AI. The users were not made aware of which AI they were racing, and provided feedback of from each race in the questionnaire. The textures of the cars were replaced to further hide which AI the users were racing against.

The races followed the previous format; a 3 lap race around the track ―Forza.‖ The user raced against 4 vehicles in each simulation, and started from 5th position on the grid in each race. The results were compared in terms of finishing position of the player in each race, and the time difference with the other cars (see Figure 7).

Figure 7: ten samples from races between humans and four built-in AI cars

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In every race the built-in (i.e. non-adaptive) AI cars finished ahead of their human opponent. The smallest difference between the car finishing fourth and the human was 6.49 seconds. The largest difference in time between the first place car and the human was a massive 98.74 seconds. This human had in fact been ―lapped‖ by the AI. Interestingly only 30% of the test subjects claimed the AI was ―too challenging,‖ but a further 60% marked it as ―challenging.‖ Yet 70% still described the race itself as being ―fun,‖ or ―enjoyable‖. The remaining 30% described the race as either ―frustrating,‖ or ―boring.‖

In races against the adapt cars 60% of users were able to win their race, and only 20% of users finished last. The time-differences recorded in these races are presented in Figure 8.

Figure 8: same ten subjects against four adaptive cars

The most obvious aspect of these results is that the races were much closer than those against the non-adaptive AI cars. 60% of users found these races ―challenging‖, with the remaining 40% reporting the difficulty as ―moderate.‖ 50% of users found the race ―enjoyable,‖ 30% found it ―thrilling,‖ and the remaining 20% found it ―fun.‖ These results show that significant progress has been made in providing a challenging racing environment for the user; neither too easy nor too hard.

Acknowledgements

Derek Stobbs of Bit Shift Studios gave valuable assistance with converting TORCS from Linux to Windows and allowed use of the Bit Shift Logo on the adapt car; the TORCS community and Google group provided assistance with initial stages of development; and Dr Daniel Livingstone gave valuable guidance throughout this project.

References

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Avery, P. & Michalewicz, Z. (2008) Adapting to Human Game Play. 2008 IEEE Symposium on Computational Intelligence and Games, Perth, Australia (15 – 18 December 2008)

Biassillo, G. Representing a Racetrack for the AI, Racing AI Logic, Training an AI to Race, Competitive AI Racing under Open Street Conditions, pp 439-471. In Rabin, S. (ed.) AI Game Programming Wisdom. Copyright © 2002 Charles River Media, USA

Butz, M., Lönneker, T.D. (2009) Optimized Sensory-motor Couplings plus Strategy Extensions for the TORCS Car Racing Challenge. 2009 IEEE Symposium on Computational Intelligence and Games, Milano, Italy (7 – 10 September 2009)

Cardamone, L., Loiacono, D. & Lanzi, P.L. (2009) Learning Drivers for TORCS through Imitation using Supervised Methods. 2009 IEEE Symposium on Computational Intelligence and Games

DelaOssa, L., Gámez, J.A. & López, V. (2008) Improvement of a car racing controller by means of Ant Colony Optimization algorithms. 2008 IEEE Symposium on Computational Intelligence and Games, Perth, Australia (15 – 18 December 2008)

Ebner, M. & Tiede, T. (2009) Evolving Driving Controllers using Genetic Programming. 2009 IEEE Symposium on Computational Intelligence and Games, Milano, Italy (7 – 10 September 2009)

Hagelbäck, J. & Johansson, S.J. (2009) Measuring player experience on runtime dynamic difficulty scaling in an RTS game. 2009 IEEE Symposium on Computational Intelligence and Games, Milano, Italy (7 – 10 September 2009)

Jimenez, E. (2009) The Pure Advantage: Advanced Racing Game AI. Available at: http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3920/the_pure_advantage_.php [ October 2009]

Loiacono, D. et al. (2008) The WCCI 2008 Simulated Car Racing Competition. 2008 IEEE Symposium on Computational Intelligence and Games, Perth, Australia (15 – 18 December 2008)

Muñoz, J., Gutierrez, G. & Sanchis, A. (2009) Controller for TORCS created by Imitation. 2009 IEEE Symposium on Computational Intelligence and Games, Milano, Italy (7 – 10 September 2009)

Onieva, E et al. (2009) A Modular Parametric Architecture for the TORCS Racing Engine. 2009 IEEE Symposium on Computational Intelligence and Games, Milano, Italy (7 – 10 September 2009)

Perez, D. and Saez, Y. (2008) Evolving a rule based system controller for automatic driving in a car racing competition. 2008 IEEE Symposium on Computational Intelligence and Games, Perth, Australia (15 – 18 December 2008)

Thang Ho, D. & Garibaldi, M. (2008) A Fuzzy Approach for the 2007 CIG Simulated Car Racing Competition. 2008 IEEE Symposium on Computational Intelligence and Games

Wymann, B. (2010) Torcs, Manual Installation and Robot Tutorial. Available at: http://www.berniw.org/aboutme/publications/tutorial-0.tar.bz2 [17/03/2010]

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Older adults as 21st century game designers

Hannah R Marston 1

1 School of Computing, Teeside University, Middlesborough, North Yorkshire, United Kingdom

Article Information

Received: February 2012 Accepted: April 2012 Available: online May 2012

Key words: older adults, game concepts, content, ageing, design, genre, workshop design

Abstract

This study aimed to explore what type of game genres older adults would want to play, given the opportunity. A series of creative workshops were devised, and the focal point was to facilitate the creation of individual game concepts relating to participants‘ hobbies, interests or dreams, and categorising them into a classification system. A series of presentations were given, followed by worksheets, to facilitate completion of the concept in a step-by-step approach. A survey was administered to 24 participants between the ages of 50 and 70+ years. Quantitative results showed the older adults in this study preferred or would consider playing games in the adventure, strategy, puzzle and sport genres. Qualitative results identified game concepts, categorised into current genre classification. Some designs were not easily placed, thus leading to the notion that combining respondent hobbies, interest and dreams with game designs may lead to new types of game(s) for an ageing population.

1: Introduction

During the last approximately 50 to 60 years, the innovative development of digital gaming has evolved rapidly. A number of leading videogame companies (e.g. Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony) has led the development of next-generation game consoles (e.g. Xbox and PlayStation). In particular, the Nintendo DS and Wii consoles have widened the appeal of this entertainment medium, offering digital games to broader audiences such as baby boomers, a cohort of people born between the years 1946 and 1964, who are not initially perceived as a typical gaming audience.

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The concept of genre is found in many forms of entertainment (literature, and cinema) and particularly in gaming. There are particular characteristics which form a genre; in the context of gaming these are based more upon gameplay interaction than on visual and narrative representation (Apperley 2006). The designation of genre such as action is independent of the environment or content of a game, which is different to literature or film. For example, an action game will still be categorized as an action game whether it is in a fantasy world or not (Rollings and Adams 2003).

It has been suggested that the take-up of gaming by wider audiences has increased since the release of the Nintendo DS and Wii consoles, which coincided with games such as Dr Kawashima‘s Brain Training (Nintendo, 2005), Wii Sports (Nintendo, 2006) and Wii Party (Nintendo, 2006). However, at the time of writing there is no statistical evidence to support this suggestion, and there may not be for some time (Marston, 2010).

In 2004, the most popular video game genre was action (27.1%), which at present is played by 21.7% of gamers, a decrease of 5.4% (ESA 2004, 2011). The sport genre in 2004 accounted for 17.6% of gaming. However, an increase of 2% to 19.6% by 2010 (ESA 2010) was followed by a decrease of 3.3% in 2011, bringing the sports genre to 16.3% (ESA 2011).

Since 2004 there has been a 12% increase of gamers who are aged 50 and over (ESA 2004, 2011) (see Figure 1), which contradicts the initial perception of computer gaming as a form of entertainment solely for young men and boys (Laurel 2001).

Figure 1: age of gamers (ESA, 2004-2011)

Studies of demographics of games showed that 18% of adults aged between 51 and 65 years old were gamers. By comparison, in the 25–35 age group 82 % were active gamers (Pratchett Harris & Taylor 2005). According to the ESA (2011), the average age of a gamer in 2011 was 37 years. Additionally, 84% of 51 to 65 year-olds preferred playing games on a personal computer (PC), an observation which is supported by de Schutter (2010) and Pearce (2008). Minimal game playing was

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reported on three gaming consoles: 26% on the PS 2 console; 7% on the Xbox; and 5% on the Nintendo Gamecube (Pratchett et al, 2005).

Previous research has primarily focused upon younger audiences and gaming. However, there are exceptions: Copier (2002) investigated 12 elderly gamers adopting a qualitative approach; de Schutter (2010) recruited 124 individuals aged between 45 and 85 and proposed a series of ‗benchmark data‘; and Pearce (2008) explored the lifestyle of ―Baby Boomer‖ gamers.

Additionally, four studies considered the benefits of games playing to improve the quality of life of elderly adults (Goldstein et al. 1997; Farris et al, 1994; Whitcomb, 1990; Schueren 1986). Three studies focused on the effects of cognition and reaction time (Basak et al. 2008; Boot et al. 2008; Ball et al, 2002). Utilizing an ethnographic approach, six studies focus upon the design interaction and needs of older adults for game design (Nap et al, 2009; de Schutter and Vanden Abeele 2008; Ijsselsteijn et al. 2007; Vanden Abelee et al. 2007; Gamberini et al. 2006; Khoo et al 2006).

The United Nations 2011 world population survey points to a rapidly ageing society, and there does not appear to be any indication that this trend will end in the foreseeable future. Approximately 14% of the European Union (EU) population is aged over 65, and it is anticipated that the number will double by 2050. Many retirees in an ageing society want to learn a new skill or explore new technology media. The motivations and benefits for game playing vary, for example: cognitive exercise; social interaction; strengthening peer and intergenerational relationships (Chapman 2002). It has been proposed that game playing can strengthen memory, aid growth of the brain, delay the onset of dementia, and lead to healthier lives or even ―recovery‖ from age-related illnesses (Chapman 2002; BBC 2000, 2002, 2003(a, b), 2008(a, b) and 2009). Nevertheless, older adults can experience enhanced anxiety through learning and experiencing new forms of technology, with several impairments e.g. physical, cognitive, motor and perceptual (Bouwhuis 2003), making the use and adoption of technology more difficult.

Building and enhancing intergenerational relationships are important benefits resulting from the adoption of technology and can help to maintain social activity with family and peers (Chapman 2002). Older people‘s motivations for digital gaming included:

the desire to interact more with their spouses or children; supporting a hobby or pastime; ―passing the time‖ (i.e. avoiding boredom); and, because they enjoy playing (Copier 2002).

Research by Ijsselsteijn et al. (2007) supports the concept of social interaction with peers and family. They report that ‗seniors‘ are underrepresented as consumers of digital games, and argue for ‗creating a significant and largely untapped market opportunity‘ (Ijsselsteijn et al. 2007).

According to Bouwhuis (2003) and Ijsselsteijn et al. (2007), older adults who participate in the role of designer will identify and recommend engaging content attractive to this cohort. However, there appears to be scant research into the nature of game design, or on what game concepts entice older adults to play digital games.

Barriers to the adoption and use of technology by older people include:

a lack of comprehension of instruction; little financial or other incentive to invest their time; and,

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a low value of the technology within their lives (Mattke et al. 2010).

Overcoming barriers such as these is important to designers, in particular those producing games within an ageing society. Including older adults in the processes of design, development, testing and marketing will facilitate the learning of both industry and ageing game players. Learning to understand the preferences and attitudes of older people - and acknowledging impairments and capabilities of older games players - may be positive for a long term and widespread use of products (Demris et al. 2010; Bouwhuis 2003).

For the purpose of this paper, the terms ―second age‖ and ―third-age‖ will be used when referring to the participants in the study. Weiss and Bass (2002) define these terms as:

―The life phase in which there is no longer employment and child-raising to commandeer time, and before morbidity enters to limit activity and mortality brings everything to a close, has been called the third age. Those in this phase of life have passed through a first age of youth, when they prepared for the activities of maturity, and a second age of maturity, when their lives were given over to those activities, and have reached a third age in which they can, within fairly wide limits, live their lives as they please, before being overtaken by a fourth age of decline.‖

The identification of suitable game genres has the potential to engage and attract wider audiences when faced with the inevitable prospect of an ageing society. The aim of this paper is to present a series of game genres suitable for older adults who created their own game design concepts via a workshop process.

2: Methodology

Twenty-four participants completed both a workshop and survey. The mean age of participants was 64 years (standard deviation (SD) = 6.21). There were 10 males (41.7%) and 14 females (58.3%). The majority of participants were categorised as third-age adults (75%), with the other six (25%) categorised as second-age adults.

2.1: Participant recruitment

A series of workshops were organized across two university campuses. The first group of workshops were held at Northumbria University, whereby participants were recruited via the Psychological Aspects of Communication Technologies (PACT) Lab database. This approach proved successful and the three workshops were conducted over a two-day period. The second set of workshops was held at Teesside University.

2.2: Survey design

The questionnaire had five sections:

Section 1 focussed on the participants‘ computer literacy, including computer ownership, usage, access frequency, length of use, hours and purpose.

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Section 2 focused upon user confidence, which has been found to be a pivotal factor in computer use in older adults (Barbeite and Weiss 2004).* (over-page)

Section 3 focussed on game playing activity among the participants, including type of games played; ownership of consoles; frequency/length of game play; hobbies/interests; online gaming; how participants learnt to play; and whether or not they consider playing a game relating to their hobby/interest.

Section 4 focused on user confidence relating to computer games, implementing an adopted scale to that used in Section 2 (Barbeite and Weiss 2004).

Section 5 included demographic questions, comprising of seven items: age, gender, education level, occupation, living arrangements, number of children, number of grandchildren, and whether or not the grandchildren play computer games.

* A recently developed instrument, the (new) Computer Self-Efficacy scale (CSE) (Barbeite and Weiss 2004), was implemented in the questionnaire to measure computer confidence. More recently, Czaja et al. (2006) identified the CSE as an important aspect in the process of identifying computer anxiety. To decrease computer anxiety, positive feedback was given to older adults, in order to enable a greater level of success. To measure the participants‘ game confidence via the CSE scale, each item used a seven-point response range, from ―strongly disagree‖ (value = 1) to ―strongly agree‖ (value = 7). This was implemented in section two comprising of six items and section four comprising eight items. Two versions of each scale were included in the questionnaire: the CSE for computer users and non-users; and the computer game confidence scale for game players and non-players.

2.3: Workshop design

The following points were of interest to the study and formed part of the workshop data collection:

what participants enjoy doing in their spare time; whether or not participants play computer games; why participants might want to play computer games; what type of computer games participants might like to play; what type of computer games participants might enjoy playing; and, a computer game design idea related to their hobby or interest.

The workshops consisted of four presentations with corresponding worksheets. Participants were not overloaded with information and jargon was kept to a minimum. The aim of each worksheet was to assist participants with developing their game concept using a step by step approach.

Part 1: Introduction

The first presentation outlined the study, purpose and structure of the workshop. The first worksheet required participants to record their hobbies, interests and/or dreams.

Part 2: Getting started

The second stage focussed on game concepts. Key to this was the term ‗imbalances‘, which derives from the semiotic concept of binary opposition: good/bad, and young/old. Roland Barthes (1987) utilized this approach to underpin the context of narrative development, which drives game play.

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Players try to progress in a game by winning points to maintain the imbalance of good against evil, and winning against losing. Activities and pleasure were identified as facets found in games and experienced by players. There was no stipulation as to how many imbalances or activities participants could implement.

Part 3: How to play

The third stage of the workshop concerned the participants‘ focus on themselves as potential players, and to think of how their game would be perceived. This section of the workshop addressed features including sounds, the look and feel of the game as seen by a player (e.g. in a realistic or cartoon view), and whether or not the player‘s perspective would incorporate a first-person or third-person perspective. Consideration was given to how participants (or other players) would interact with the game using a variety of interactive devices (for example, a mouse, joystick, voice activation, hand gestures or pressing of buttons). Outlining the rewards of the game enabled participants to consider the gratification or excitement of the game, including winning and losing a game.

Part 4: Finale

In the last stage, participants answered questions relating to marketing, including:

where would their game be available for purchase); what is the costing (free – if for educational purpose, loan, via the library or the recommended retail price); and, participants were asked to stipulate whether any other potential audiences would be targeted.

3: Results

3.1: Quantitative results

The study focused on the design of game concepts based upon second and third-age adult‘s hobbies and interests. Participants stipulated a variety of ‗other‘ hobbies and in some cases gave examples of the type of arts and craft, and sports activities they enjoyed during their spare time. Those included needlecraft, model making, singing, writing, gardening, visiting relatives, bird watching, theatre, skiing, woodwork, history research/classes, photography and board games. In general, the participants categorised as ―second-age‖ preferred walking, and ―third-age‖ adults identified arts and crafts, walking, card games and dancing as their primary hobbies and interests.

Technology ownership responses showed that 25% of second-age adults and 46% of third-age adults in the survey either owned a computer or a games console. 8% of second-age adults and 8% of third- age adults in the survey owned of a games console. A variety of consoles were owned, the PS1 console had similar ownership levels for both second (8%) and third-age (8%). Ownership of the PS2 console was similar with 4% of both second and third-age adults owning the console. There was a disparity with results on whether or not participants owned a Nintendo Game Cube, whereby 25% of the second-age adults owned one, compared with only 4% of the third-age adults.

Reasons for not wanting to play games were reported mainly by the third-age adults. Four participants reported having ―no spare time‖; one participant reported that he didn‘t like sitting in front of a monitor

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all the time; one other participant reported having more interesting things to do; another participant compared computer games to golf, saying they were ―a waste of time and are addictive‖.

There was a negative correlation between the age of the participants, with computer game play. In addition, the age of participants correlated negatively with various measures of computer and computer game confidence. Such findings make intuitive sense because computers and computer games are both interactive systems sharing commonalities in the method and skills needed by users to use technology.

Twenty-two participants were identified as game players, with varying lengths of time as gamers. The majority of participants reported having played computer games for between one and six months. 21% of participants aged 60 to 64 years of age reported playing games at least for one year or more. 13% of participants aged 55 to 59 reported they had been playing computer games for one year or more. 8% of participants reported playing games more than once a day: these were recorded in both the 55 to 59 and 65 to 69 year groups. 25% reported gaming once a day; these participants were equally split between the third-age categories. Puzzle and sport genres were identified as the most popular genres participants would consider playing.

20% of participants reported playing strategy games: two participants were identified in the 55 to 59 years age group, and three were aged between 60 and 69 years. 13% of participants reported playing games from the shooter genre: the majority of them (three to be precise) were aged between 55 and 59 years of age. Adventure games were played by 13% of participants, all in the 55 to 59 years group. The puzzle genre was deemed most popular with 29% of participants. With the exception of adults in the 70+ age-group, participants were identified across all age groups, primarily in the 55 to 59 and 65 to 69 years groups. The sports genre was primarily popular with third-age adults (8%). 13% reported playing games from the platform genre.

The majority of participants who did play computer games were self-taught gamers (eight); and four participants reported being taught by a grandchild. Consideration of future game genres showed puzzle and strategy games to be the most popular, followed by sports and adventure. Additionally, fourteen participants would consider playing a game, and eight participants reported ―yes‖ to playing a game, relating to a hobby.

3.2: Qualitative results

Discourse analysis showed that the gamers in the survey stated that they mainly had dreams of travelling, and that their hobbies were walking and cycling, with a combination of travel and walking. Non-gamers in the survey reported travel as a dream, and their hobbies included reading and gardening. Travel and gardening were found to be the most popular pastimes amongst both game- players and non-game players in the survey. During the concept design, participants were asked ‗what time was important to them‘: the most important activity for gamers was being with their spouse; for non-gamers, the most important way to spend their time was with their grandchildren.

Games consist of several elements: ―imbalances‖ are one of these facets (good/bad, win/lose), originating from the semiotic concept of binary opposition. This notion applied by Barthes (1974) underpins the context of narrative development, employing imbalances into game concepts, to facilitate and drive game play. For example, gamers want to progress in a game by scoring points or to maintain the imbalance of good against evil or order against chaos. Imbalances can be found in all

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game genres and the division of skill, providing a challenge to the player through appropriately balancing the odds provided.

During concept design, participants were required to write a series of verbs or activities that they would want to experience or execute as part of their game. Gamers reported ―good/bad‖ and ―old/young‖, and suggested activities included walking and talking. Non-gamers also reported ―good/bad‖ and their suggested activity was walking.

The experience of pleasure (e.g. winning/losing), is encountered throughout gaming. Participants were asked to write what type of pleasures they themselves wanted to experience, and what should be offered to prospective players of their games. Participants also recorded the objectives of their game concept. Results showed that winning was important to both gamers and non-gamers; non- gamers recorded the essence of learning, with educational content and losing given as additional pleasures. The game-players mentioned Satisfaction and Fun, while the non-gamers reported achievement as motivating factors.

The preferred mode of communication by computer game-playing participants in the survey was by mouse and speech; a preference for realistic games spaces was expressed. Non-gamers preferred realism, first-person perspective and calmness for their game space.

Table 1 displays the game genre preferences recorded by participants, derived by combining results from the participants‘ game concepts and discourse analysis, and using a game industry classification system, which enables the combination of concepts and genres (Metacritic 2011):

Gamers Game Genre Frequency Combined Game Genre Frequency Adventure 3 Sport, Adventure, Strategy 1 Sport 2 Other 3 Casual 2 Adventure, Sports, Education 0 Puzzle 2 Adventure, Sports 0 Strategy 2 Adventure, Education 0 Other 3 Non-Gamers Game Genre Frequency Combined Game Genre Frequency Adventure 6 Adventure, Education 6 Serious 3 Adventure, Sports 2 Strategy 3 Nothing stated Action 3 Educational 2 Casual 2 Strategic, Simulation, Education 2 Real time strategy 2 Other 2 Role Playing Game 1 Adventure, Sports, Education 1 Sport 1 Other 2

Table 1: Preferred game genres

The results indicated game genre preferences were broadly similar for gamers and non-gamers. Participants appeared to have combined genres together during the design process. Furthermore, non-gamers developed game ideas in two genres not covered by gamers - real time strategy (RTS) and role playing game (RPG) - suggesting non-gamers want a role to play within a game or to be part

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of a community. By contrast, the gamers in the survey chose to stay within the confines of familiar genres based upon mental models previously developed via game playing experiences.

4: Discussion

The results show that some older adults have played computer games, but fewer have played games than have used computers. Participants were more likely to play games on a PC than on a game console or additional technological devices. De Schutter (2010) reported similar findings, stating that participants in that study were more prone to casual gaming on the PC platform than to using a games console.

A wide variety of hobbies were recorded, but only a quarter of participants considered the possibility of designing and playing a computer game related to their hobby. The participants were required to design their game concept prior to completing the survey and therefore may have found it difficult to imagine how their hobbies and interests could transfer into a video game.

Participants reported puzzle and strategy to be the most popular game genres. Similar conclusions were identified via casual games such as Bejeweled (PopCap, 2001). The notion of puzzle and casual gaming being a popular genre to play is supported by de Schutter (2010), who concluded that participants preferred ‗puzzle games‘, expressing their liking for this type of genre through ‗a fondness for the intellectual challenge of puzzle games‘. Similar motivating factors were reported by participants playing puzzle games, stipulating a ‗challenge‘ as their rationale for participation (de Schutter 2010). Additionally, motives for game playing included: passing the time; relaxation; fun; and facing a challenge. This observation might also be applied to the participants within this study, although their motives were not the primary focus of this study.

Lack of spare time was cited amongst some participants as the primary reason for not playing computer games (as opposed to having negative perceptions of games). Participants perceived how their time is spent to be important. However, the results showed that the non-gamers perceived the most important use of their time to spending it with grand-children (whereas gamers considered time spent with their spouse to be most significant). This supports the findings of Copier (2002) who reported participants played digital games with spouse or family members. These findings suggest that, with the combination of suitable concepts, multi-player options, marketing strategies - and building upon the work of Voida and Greenberg (2009a, 2009b, 2010) - there may be a broader scope for older adults to lean towards and enhance peer/intergenerational relationships. Nap et al. (2009) stipulated that computer games should enable and ‗emphasize connectedness, for example via multiplayer options and extra forums‘.

The participants in this study reported primarily learning to play games through self-teaching, although learning via grandchildren was also mentioned by some participants. This contradicts the results reported by Copier (2002) who identified that the participants in another survey had learned to play from family members or from their peers.

The notion of hobbies and interests being incorporated into game concept design has the potential to facilitate a gateway for audiences to have an active participation in an area, which for many is unfamiliar. Encouraging and developing this concept of game design from an audience perspective has the potential to show positive results for future game concepts, forming an initial point of game concept design. Collaborating with older adults during the design and development process of future games, enables the consideration of both the game playing experience, and the fear (particularly

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experienced by older adults) of learning and adopting new technologies into ones‘ life (Nap et al. 2009).

According to the results from this study, older adults may have the capability and creativity to design computer game concepts relating to their hobbies or interests. Some non-gaming participants incorporated and developed game concepts, which integrated RTS and RPG characteristics, suggesting they want a role to play or to be part of a community. Although the number of participants was low, the results indicate that a role perspective could be implemented in computer games aimed at older people.

The concepts designed by participants were not necessarily straightforward and could not be placed easily into a current genre classification system. This suggests that there is the potential to add genres or sub-genres into current classification systems, through the development of game content, in order to widen the gaming audience of the market. The combination of imbalances and concepts suggested by non-gamers implies they have the ability to develop a wider variety of imbalances and concepts, suggesting non-gamers are less constrained than gamers (Marston 2006 and 2010).

Consultation with older adults provides the opportunity to understand and facilitate their needs and to use this knowledge in developing games for an ageing population - both at present - and in the future (particularly for those currently in their twenties, thirties and forties). In turn, designers and developers need to communicate and work alongside potential audiences throughout the development, production and marketing processes to gauge and understand all parties‘ concerns. This notion is supported by van Bronswijk (2006) who states, ―Active participation of older persons in the design process appears to be a key factor in effective persuasion, probably since it bridges the technology- generation gap between older users and younger designers‖.

These findings form a basis for understanding what type of game genres older adults may want to play. This work reinforces the findings of Pratchett et al. (2005) who concluded that, for the age cohort (51-65 years) which they studied, the countless first person shooters (FPS) and racing genres on the gaming market were not necessarily the type of game older adults preferred to play. This study has presented results showing puzzle, sports and other as potential game genres which older adults have an interest in playing. Taking into account the notion of education, it is suggestive this additional element may possibly entice older adults to play games.

This study showed that some older adults have the ability, with little or no gaming knowledge, to design and implement technological elements such as modes of communication and visual perspective. There was no definitive answer by participants as to whether they would want to play a game relating to their hobby, interest or dream, although results do show a positive outlook. Taking this notion into consideration IJsselsteijn et al. (2007) concluded, ―The most important design requirement we can formulate is to offer seniors the kind of content they will appreciate and engage with‖.

5: Conclusions

This study has demonstrated that older adults have the ability to create game concepts using a step- by-step approach encompassing little or no jargon. The concepts showed the adventure genre to be the most popular with gamers, with ‗other‘ being popular with both gamers and non-gamers. The concepts designed by non-gamers combined adventure and education together, suggesting an amalgamation of game concepts that does not fit within the current classification systems. Further,

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this amalgamation of game concepts/genres suggests a role for games designers in developing a broader range of designs suitable for this audience.

Future work could enable adults to design concepts on topics of interest, combining intergenerational input, which would enhance generational game play and confidence of older adults.

The results from this study are limited, although they suggest that older adults have the ability to create their own game concepts and provide constructive feedback, which is essential for games design in particular, for an untapped area which is still relatively new yet growing. Inclusion of older adults within the computer games market would help to redress the resistance to new ideas and technology often expressed by older people. This approach to games design has additional benefits of providing a further insight into the type of game concepts preferred by older adults and providing extra indicators for the games industry.

(References over-page)

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The advantages and disadvantages of MMORPG video games for learning English as a second language

Christoffer Pettersson 1

1 University of the West of Scotland, Paisley, UK

Article Information

Received: April 2012 Accepted: April 2012 Available: online May 2012

1: Introduction

English is one of the most widespread languages in the world, and is therefore a language that can be very useful to know. MMORPGs provide a tool, which allows people to apply their knowledge of English to an extent. It may be possible to simulate real world conversations in the virtual worlds in MMORPGs and hence improve their conversational skills in both written and oral form. MMORPGs encourage people to communicate with each other to accomplish goals in the game, and this builds up a community, which can simulate the community we have in the non virtual (i.e. real) world.

This report focuses on other reports, MMORPG related forums, and on the author‘s personal insight as a foreign student who has experienced secondary English language learning through playing

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computer games. The games that have been taken into consideration and used as material to build this essay include: World of Warcraft, Runescape, Everquest, Ragnarok and the Tower of Babel. All but the Tower of Babel are MMORPG games, whereas the Tower of Babel is an Alternate Reality Game (ARG) (Connolly et al, 2011).

2: Second Language Acquisition

Second Language Acquisition (SLA) involves the process of acquiring the knowledge to use a secondary language proficiently. Very rarely do secondary language learners possess the same knowledge and fluency in a language as they do in their native language. Learning English in school involves learning the correct rules to use words and write grammatically correct sentences, but it is often the case that even after having been taught how to do something, when a moment arises where the person needs to use the English language, they don't apply correctly what they had just been taught. It takes time to adapt to the rules and become so familiar with them that they can speak a second language fluently. This can have different effects on how people view the non-native English speaker. It is possible to judge someone based on how they speak: factors include the melody, the chosen words, the intonation or the syntax. It's easy to forget that the pattern of a non-native speaker often uses reflects the patterns used in their native language. This can result in negative reactions from the native speaker as they have a better understanding of the structure of the language (Gass and Selinker, 2008).

Learning a new language involves gaining knowledge in many different areas. Some examples are semantics, grammar, morphology and paradigms. Semantics is the study of meaning, and concerns the manner in which words and meanings are interpreted (Kreidler, 1998). Grammar is a set of rules that govern the composition of words. Morphology is the study of word formation. Pragmatics is the study of how the language is used in context (Gass and Selinker, 2008; Gee, 2008).

Second language classes are often taught by non-native language speaking teachers (NNST): this implies that they are not native in the language they teach (Hinkel, 2011). While they may have a great understanding of the English language, it is unlikely that they possess the same knowledge as someone who is native in the language. It may be presumed that English can only be learned by a native foreign language-speaker to a limited extent in class. To further increase one's English language skills, some additional form of exposure to the language is required. Video games could be used as a tool for secondary language learning.

3: Strengths

A person‘s willingness to use a secondary language outside the classroom may depend on how confident they are in the given language. A person‘s confidence in a language can be increased by using the language to interact with other people. This does not only require the learner to be willing to communicate in a foreign language: it also requires them to have a reason to use their secondary language. In many foreign countries, English media is either dubbed or translated into the country‘s native language, which omits the necessity to understand English. For this reason it can be difficult to practice a secondary language. Reinders and Wattana (2011) claim that for their study, none of the 16 participants had any contact with the English language, other than in class and 14 of them considered their English skills as "fair".

As mentioned earlier not everybody is willing to speak in a foreign language unless the occurrence arises that they absolutely have to. There are many reasons for this:

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the person may not have had much real life experience using the language; the person may be nervous in case he/she says something wrong (Hays, 2005); it may be difficult to understand the other person, and so the learner withdraws from the conversation in order to avoid embarrassment; and, the learner‘s vocabulary may not be good enough to hold a conversation.

One approach that can help learners learn English is by practicing their skills online. The online environment provides the human with anonymity. Anonymity can have the effect of reducing a person's anxiety and enable him or her to more comfortably express oneself (Suler, 2004; Hays, 2005).

One online area that has a very large and active player base is MMORPG games. An MMORPG is a role-playing game taking place in a virtual world where very many people are able to interact with each other. MMORPG games generally include a range of aspects, including Player versus Environment (PvE) and Player versus Player (PvP).

When playing an MMORPG game the user generally starts off at level one. Through quests and dungeons the player will gain experience and rise in levels. Quests can be completed alone or in a group of other people, and these tend to include a set of instructions which need to be completed to complete the quest. Dungeons on the other hand tend to be more pointed towards group work and typically you will form a group of a number of people and fight together to conquer the enemy bosses that can be found in different dungeons. One well-known MMORPG is World of Warcraft, which was released in November 2004 (Figure 1). In World of Warcraft and its later expansions you explore the worlds of Azeroth and Outlands along with its player base of 10.2 million subscribers (mmo- champion.com, 2012).

Figure 1: World of Warcraft

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Another popular MMORPG is Runescape (Figure 2). This is a web based sandbox MMORPG taking place in the fantasy world Gielinor. The player has a set of skills, which they can improve in any order they like. Runescape also has the option of allowing the player to pay a monthly fee to get access to more content, such as new skills, weapons, armour, etc. Although their player base has decreased in recent years, the contents of the game remain. The quests are quite different from what you find in World of Warcraft in terms of depth. Runescape tends to require the player to spend time actually reading the quest, whereas World of Warcraft more provides an interface that easier allow you to guess what needs to be done to complete the quest. Both types of MMORPGs can be used as a tool to reach out to other people and improve English skills.

There is debate on the fastest way to learn a foreign language: one commonly prescribed method is to move to the country where that language is spoken. Ali Cyprus (2009) used a metaphor: "Jump in the pool and then learn how to swim." This approach can be simulated in a virtual world where the native language is English and a non-English speaker logs on and interacts with native English- speaking players (Hays, 2005)

Figure 2: Runescape, 2012

Studies have shown that video games can be fun and engaging in terms of second language learning and can help improving a person's willingness to speak English (Reinders and Wattana, 2011). In their study, participants from Thailand were asked to play a video game over three sessions and utilise a text based chat system and a voice based communication system. The results from their study showed that the participants‘ willingness to use their secondary language increased in

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accordance with the amount of time devoted to playing the game. Participants stated that video games enabled them to work on their secondary language knowledge, without feeling anxious or embarrassed. These results were found by constructing a survey (whereby the participants answered questions), and also by in-depth checking of the quantity of English words present during the sessions.

In a study by Connolly et al (2011), children from 17 different countries were asked to play the Alternate Reality Game (ARG) Tower of Babel in the class room and at home for 10 days. It was observed that the students spent more hours in the game outside of class than during lectures. It was concluded that people may find activities more enjoyable if these are intrinsically rather than extrinsically motivating (Boyle et al, 2011; Malone and Lepper, 1987), which might have been the reason why more hours were devoted to playing the game outside the classroom.

The intrinsic motivation can evolve from being able to interact socially with other people or perhaps the challenge the students felt while playing the game. The majority of the participants in the study by Connoly et al (2011) found that the game motivated them to learn and use foreign languages and were willing to play the game over a prolonged time period as part of a language course. The test had a good response from teachers involved in the study, whereby 17 out of 19 teachers believed that the game motivated their students to learn secondary languages.

Although video games can be used as a tool to improve secondary language skills there are some negative aspects of video games which should be considered. Below I will discuss some of the issues that one may experience.

4: Mental Effects

As mentioned, Connolly et al (2011) observed that students spent more time playing the Tower of Babel in their spare time than they did in class. This activity may incur negative effects if not regulated. Boyle et al (2011) mentioned that the intrinsic motivation one can feel for a computer game can lead to excessive game playing if not regulated. It appears that online games in particular can cause addictive behaviour. Boyle et al (2011) stated that in addition to the challenge people can feel whilst playing games, they also play games to interact socially with other people and to take part in fantasy activities. Kim et al (2008) observed that people who have less effective social relationships are at higher risk of becoming addicted to games.

MMORPGs enable the user to ‗live a life‘ through a virtual character, and this may lure users to avoid tackling real life problems. Some MMORPG games enable the players to be the sort of person they really want to be (but are not in the real world). For example, a person who may be shy or has low self-esteem may enjoy adopting a more open and sociable character in the virtual MMORPG world. There have been many reported examples of where people have used online games to reflect the opposite of what they are in real life, and this produces a psychological addiction to the game.

MMORPGs use a rewarding system, which is intended to make players dedicate more time, in order to receive the next reward. When a user starts playing a MMORPG game, rewards initially are obtained quickly. However, as the user progresses further, more time is consumed in the pursuit of greater rewards. In theme park MMORPG games, the user is required to follow a specific route and take part in activities in order to make their character stronger by ―levelling up‖. Once the person has reached the final level they are rewarded in other ways such as improving the character‘s armour and weaponry. This can have the effect of placing the user into ―a vicious circle‖, whereby the user is

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compelled to keep pace with the changes of the game, and is determined to to get the next best reward (Yee, 2002; Griffiths & Hunt, 1998).

5: Social Effects

An MMORPG game user‘s social life can be affected if he/she does not play in moderation. As mentioned, some MMORPG games are designed in such a way in order to ensure that players are always busy, and that there's always something else needing to be done. Some MMORPG games include group-based activities, and certain users may interact amicably within the game. Research has shown that users may be attracted to users with similar interests (and the virtual world is no exception). When game players spend more time chatting to friends online, they may start to lose contact with their friends, family or partner in or near home.

As the player becomes more involved in the end game content, a sort of commitment is required, and thus the game can obstruct his/her social life. This type of content generally requires a large group of people to coordinate an event where each person serves a specific role. Subscribing players are expected to ―turn up‖ and participate in these events, which can endure for several hours, days or weeks (Golub, 2010; Lee et al, 2007).

6: Health Effects

Some studies have shown that when a person is addicted to a video game it can be very difficult to resist game playing. Because of the strong addiction that many people feel for MMORPG games, those may have an impact on their health.

It has been reported that sleeping, eating and learning patterns may be disrupted in the user‘s effort to maximise time devoted to playing MMPORPG games. One of the participants in the survey by Lee et al (2007) said that he would set his alarm for 8am, and then play the computer games until 1am or 2am at night. Another participant in the survey stated that when he was hungry he would run to the nearest cafeteria to buy a lunch box to take home, because he did not want to spend any time away from the computer. A third participant stated that during lectures, he felt like was unable to hear what the teacher was saying, because all he could think about was the MMORPG game, and plan strategies to that end, e.g. where his character would be going and if his character would learn any new skills.

Vince Repesh, a student advisor at the University of Minnesota Duluth, said that at least five students a year visited his office, due to their gaming addiction causing academic problems. Repesh mentions that he has met students who were scoring ‗A‘ grades, and who ended up scoring ‗F‘ grades as a result of spending so much time playing World of Warcraft (Somaiya, 2009; Lee et al, 2007; Yee, 2002).

7: People and society

There is some anecdotal evidence available on what some game players have said about learning English through. The following comments have been extracted from game-related forums and articles, and are not conclusive. It is merely a sample of what some of the people in the society think about videos games for English language learning:

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"As for learning English by playing WoW, I think it's a terrible idea. First of all, how often do people use complete and proper sentences with correct grammar and spelling? Practically never. Second, the vocabulary used while playing WoW is pretty useless and irrelevant in real life, and the names for some things would be misleading for someone wanting to learn the language." Carolyn, native English speaker. (wow.joystiq.com)

"I think that the quality of language in this environment isn't as much of an issue as some may think. What a lot of ESL students outside of English speaking countries lack is conversational skill. They may know the grammar (better than some native speakers even) but they have no idea on how to actually use it. Exposure (at any level) to a foreign language will help the student learn, even passively. So, while it may not be a great primary tool, it could be an excellent secondary tool." Joe (wow.joystiq.com)

"My guild has had one or two non native English players with us since our first MMO which was SWG. These guys had a basic understanding of English and enough to get by initially however their conversational English has become exceptional. They have commented on numerous occasions that in School (though one has graduated now) they had better conversational English and a much better grasp of phraseology and sentence structure than most in their class. One was even asked if they had an English speaker at home, as they would come out with statements they wouldn't have picked up in class." Username: Falgorn (wow.joystiq.com)

"Any form of extended exposure through entertainment can go a long way if you are attempting to learn a language. MMO's are no exception." Patheal (eu.battle.net)

"I'm Dutch, and so English is not my first language. When I started playing online games that had some form of communication in them (chat usually), I could not speak English at all. I started out with some Dutch friends on simple multiplayer games like Age of Empires, and then moved on to MMORPG's. I quickly learnt to speak English thanks to social contact and vocabulary from the game interfaces." Username: Maxthedragon (eu.battle.net)

"I've just found out that I've failed my Degree and it is because I keep playing WOW, even when I have work due and assignments to give in. Any advice? I know I should quit the game…but I just feel as if I can't cause I enjoy it and I'm addicted to it way too much." Cozens (www.mmo-champion.com)

It appears from these select quotations that some people hold a positive opinion on learning English through MMORPG games. There are also some people who believe that it can have a negative impact on a person's learning, as incorrect grammar and spelling often appears during correspondence within games. There may be a risk of a learner adopting incorrect spelling and grammar, and worsen their knowledge of English.

Furthermore, there is evidence of one cited game player becoming trapped within the vicious circle of video game addiction. The person in question has identified that he is in fact addicted and that his best choice would be to quit the game, yet his addiction is too strong to allow him to step out from the game.

8: Conclusions

The Computer Games Journal 1(1) Whitsun 2012

There is some evidence that people are divided on the benefits of MMORPG game playing on helping game players to become fluent in English: some have expressed positive views; some other people are against it.

The non-native English speaker appears to see things differently. They may be taught the basic rudiments of English grammar in class, but develop limited conversation skills. Some foreigners consider MMORPG‘s as a tool where they can practice their conversational skills and also acquire new words and phrases which are not abeing taught in class. The schools tend to try and improve a student's vocabulary, but sometimes do not focus attention on teaching students how a particular word should be used or when it should be used in a sentence. Some foreigners see the possibilities in MMORPG's and can use these as a way to build up their knowledge.

There is some evidence that people who have tried to use video games for secondary language learning have found it fun, engaging and helpful. These people experienced an increased willingness to use English, and this correlated with the time devoted to an MMORPG game. Nevertheless, there is also evidence indicating that playing MMORPG video games can seriously affect users‘ health if not controlled. The reward system in these kind of games has tempted many people to more time playing these games, and become socially isolated.

More experimental data from surveys is required in order to reveal what the current players of MMORPGs feel about the advantages and disadvantages of playing games for secondary language learning. Such data would also reflect if and how the disadvantages mentioned in this essay have affected the participants. More data could be gathered through online surveys as well as via direct conversation. Such surveys could be posted on forums related to targeted MMORPGS in order to generate a large sample size.

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