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Proquest Dissertations NOTE TO USERS This reproduction is the best copy available. UMI® AN AGENT-BASED NOVEL INTERACTIVE FRAMEWORK FOR UBIQUITOUS ELECTRONIC ENTERTAINMENT A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Electronic Systems Engineering University of Regina by Witcha Feungchan Regina, Saskatchewan May, 2009 Copyright 2009: W. Feungchan Library and Archives Bibliotheque et 1*1 Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington OttawaONK1A0N4 Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Canada Canada Your file Vote reference ISBN: 978-0-494-55141-7 Our We Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-55141-7 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library and permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par I'lnternet, preter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans le loan, distribute and sell theses monde, a des ftns commerciales ou autres, sur worldwide, for commercial or non­ support microforme, papier, electronique et/ou commercial purposes, in microform, autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in this et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. Ni thesis. Neither the thesis nor la these ni des extraits substantiels de celle-ci substantial extracts from it may be ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement printed or otherwise reproduced reproduits sans son autorisation. without the author's permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformement a la loi canadienne sur la Privacy Act some supporting forms protection de la vie privee, quelques may have been removed from this formulaires secondaires ont ete enleves de thesis. cette these. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires aient inclus dans in the document page count, their la pagination, il n'y aura aucun contenu removal does not represent any loss manquant. of content from the thesis. 1*1 Canada UNIVERSITY OF REGINA FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES AND RESEARCH SUPERVISORY AND EXAMINING COMMITTEE Witcha Feungchan, candidate for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Electronic Systems Engineering, has presented a thesis titled, An Agent-Based Novel Interactive Framework for ubiquitous Electronic Entertainment, in an oral examination held on May 4, 2009. The following committee members have found the thesis acceptable in form and content, and that the candidate demonstrated satisfactory knowledge of the subject material. External Examiner: Dr. Pierre Boulanger, University of Alberta Supervisor: Dr. Luigi Benedicenti, Software Systems Engineering Committee Member: *Dr. Christine Chan, Software Systems Engineering Committee Member: Dr. Raman Paranjape, Electronic Systems Engineering Committee Member: Dr. Daryl Hepting, Department of Computer Science Chair of Defense: Dr. Tanya Dahms, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry *Not present at defense ABSTRACT Nowadays, computer and video games are growing fast and are becoming more and more sophisticated in terms of the quality of graphics and Artificial Intelligence (AI). Both of these elements increase the level of immersion and believability, and therefore enjoyment, of a game. However, most users remain in front of their computer or television playing games for a long time, which is unhealthy both physically, due to lack of exercise, and mentally, due to the fact that certain games cause users to be isolated from society and even their family. A solution to these problems is to create games that take advantage of the high level of immersion of current games while turning users away from their computers or televisions in order to let them experience social interaction and physical activities in the real world, thus expanding the games interactivity model. The hypothesis of this thesis is that adding ubiquity, an expanded interactivity model, and believable in-game characters to current games can bring new experience, engagement, enjoyment, and immersion for users, while simultaneously promoting both exercise and socialization. This thesis presents a thorough literature review on the state of the art on electronic entertainment, with particular regard to computer and video games. A new type of gameplay is proposed for solving the above-detailed issues that includes the characteristics of ubiquity, interactivity, and believability. The thesis contains a proposal for a framework implementing a new type of gaming concept, and a prototype to demonstrate the concept. The thesis also proposes a new game evaluation model that can be used to estimate the entertainment value of a computer game from the design stage to the final product. i This thesis proposes a new type of gameplay, one which allows users to play a Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG) regardless of the player's location or connection to the Internet. In addition, the gameplay is integrated with the concept of rich social interaction which allows many users to participate simultaneously with the game and with each other in both the game and physical worlds. This research also proposes a general framework for the new gameplay using mobile agent technologies as the main architectural element of the framework, which is generic enough to be able to be adapted and extended into future applications. To demonstrate the soundness of the concepts at the basis of the general framework, a prototype is developed: "Ramakian Online Game (ROG)." ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis would not have been completed without the encouragement, guidance, and patience of the following people: • Dr. Luigi Benedicenti, my supervisor, who helped me with encouragement and patience in all the studying, research, and writing of this thesis. I am grateful to him for giving me opportunities to have meaningful learning experiences. • Koragod Saenchai who motivated and assisted me to come to study in Canada. I really appreciate all of your help. • The Government of Thailand who provided a full scholarship for my study in Canada. • The Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research who provided financial support through Graduate Scholarships and Graduate Teaching Assistantships from 2005 to 2007. • The Faculty of Engineering who provided financial support through a Ph. D. Student Award and Teaching Assistant positions. • TRLabs Regina who provided the essential technologies for this work. Also, all members in the agent meeting group for sharing their knowledge and providing many helpful suggestions. • Songsiri Srisawangrat, my wife, without whom it would have been impossible for me to finish this work. I deeply appreciate your love, support, and understanding. • Sumrit-Jiraporn Feungchan, my parents, who encouraged me to pursue a Ph.D. degree in Canada. • Parinya Feungchan and Kasemsak Phoosri for their art work. 111 POST DEFENSE ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to gratefully acknowledge the external examiner Dr. Pierre Boulanger and all committee members Dr. Daryl Hepting, Dr. Christine Chan, and Dr. Raman Paranjape for their precious time and comments on this thesis. I am also thankful to my supervisor Dr. Luigi Benedicenti for his supervision and guidance during these five years. IV TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT i LIST OF FIGURES ix 1 INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 Motivation 1 1.2 Original contribution 3 1.3 Objectives 5 1.4 Document overview 6 1.5 Sample scenarios 7 2 BACKGROUND & LITERATURE REVIEW 10 2.1 Computer and video games 10 2.1.1 Definition and classification 10 2.1.2 Gaming devices 14 2.2 Interactivity 22 2.2.1 Game interactivity 23 2.2.2 Social interaction in games 24 2.2.3 Considerations for interactivity 25 2.3 Massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) 26 2.3.1 MMORPGs characteristics 27 2.3.2 MMORPGs classification 29 2.3.3 Advantages and disadvantages of MMORPGs 29 2.4 Ubiquitous and pervasive games 31 2.4.1 Definition 32 2.4.2 Classification 32 2.5 Supporting technologies 39 2.5.1 Mobile agent technology 40 2.5.2 Virtual reality 48 2.6 Believability and AI in games 53 2.6.1 Non player characters (NPCs) 54 2.6.2 AI techniques in Games 60 2.6.3 Turing test 63 2.7 Introduction to game evaluation 64 2.7.1 Academic game evaluation 65 2.7.2 Industrial game evaluation 67 2.8 Conclusions 68 3 GAME EVALUATION 72 3.1 Evaluation criteria 74 3.2 Evaluation analysis 76 3.3 Evaluation model 79 3.4 Case study 82 3.5 Conclusions 84 4 SOLUTION DESIGN 85 v 4.1 Scope of work 86 4.2 Game design criteria 87 4.3 Game development framework 88 4.4 Game architecture 89 4.5 Game client 91 4.5.1 Game engine agent 92 4.5.2 User interface agent 93 4.5.3 Interaction agent 94 4.5.4 Hardware interface driver agent 94 4.5.5 NPC agents 95 4.5.6 Assistant agent 96 4.6 Game server 97 4.6.1 Game world agent 98 4.6.2 Game server data store components 100 4.6.3 Creator agent 101 4.6.4 Registry agent 102 4.6.5 Communicator agent 102 4.6.6 Monitor agent 102 4.6.7 Backup agent 103 4.6.8 Server tools 103 4.7 Interactive environment 104 4.7.1 Interactivity model 105 4.7.2 Game sub-server 108 4.8 Believable NPCs 109 4.9 Evaluation of game development framework 110 4.10 Risk issues 111 4.11 Conclusions 114 5 PROTOTYPE DESIGN AND
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