, TECNOLOGICO DE MON.TERREY@
Campus Ciudad de México
Escuela de Diseño, Ingeniería y Arquitectura
Maestría en Ciencias de la Computación
"Seriously lmmersive Video Gaming"
Author: Jesse A ba Benjamin Jacobs
Thesis director: Dr. José Mar n Malina Espinosa
Revision Committee: Dr. Gilberto Huesca Juárez Dr. Rafael Lozano Espinosa
Mexico D.F., May 2012 Content
CHAPTER 1 - Introduction ...... 1 1.1 Moti vation ...... 1 1.2 Antecedents ...... 2 1.3 Approach ...... 3 1.4 Objectives ...... 4 1.5 Justification ...... 4 1.6 Hypothesis ...... 5 1.7 Methodology ...... 5 CHAPTER 2 - Related Work ...... 6 2.1 Theoretical famework ...... 7 2.1.1 Narrative video games ...... 7 2.1.2 Action video games ...... 8 2.1.3 Simulation video games ...... 9 2. 1.4 Serious video games ...... l O 2.1.5 Others ...... 10 2.2 Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) ...... 11 2.3 Multi-platforms ...... 12 2.4 Video games and education ...... 15 2.5 Immersion in video games ...... 16 2.6 Virtual reality ...... 17 2.7 Immersive video games ...... 18 2.8 Social networks ...... 19 2.8.1 Facebook ...... 19 2.8.2 Twitter ...... 21 2.8.3 Google+ ...... 23 2.8.4 Linkedln ...... 25 2.9 Social networking and video games ...... 26 2.1 O Social networks and console video games ...... 2 7 2.11 Social networks in Mexico ...... 28 2.12 Out throw ...... 30 CHAPTER 3 - Proposed Solution ...... 31 3.1 Integrating digital social environment into a video game structure ...... 31 3.1.1 Reality web services ...... 32 3.1.2 Elcments of the digital social environment ...... 32 3.1.3 Video game structure ...... 34 3.1.4 The integration ...... 36 3.2 Video game's requirements ...... 41 3.2.1 Functional requirements: ...... 42 3.2.2 Non-functional requirements: ...... 42 3.3 System's design ...... 42 3.3.1 Architecture ...... 43 3.3.1.1 Event driven ...... 43 3.3.1.2 Data driven ...... 43 3.3.2 UML design ...... 44 3.3.2.1 Use case ...... 44 3.3.2.2 Activity diagram ...... 47 3.3.2.3 Componen! diagram ...... 49 3.3.3 Design pattern ...... 50 3.4 Out throw ...... 50 CONTENT 1 1
CHAPTER 4 -Applied Solution ...... 51 4.1 PrivateEye ...... 51 4.2 Social networks in Prívate Eye ...... 52 4.3 Applying the social networks' services in Prívate Eye ...... 53 4.4 Integrating reality data in Prívate Eye ...... 54 4.5 Priva te Eye system 's design ...... 55 4.5.1 Functional requirements: ...... 55 4.5.2 Non-functional requirements: ...... 56 4.5.3 Use case ...... 56 4.5.4 Activity diagram ...... 57 4.6 Integrating the social networks' services in Prívate Eye ...... 59 4.6.1 Connecting unity with social networks ...... 60 4.6.2 Connection classes ...... 62 4.6.1 Components and class connections ...... 64 4.6.5 Sequence diagrams ...... 65 4. 7 Problems encountered in the making of Priva te Eye ...... 70 4.8 Schedule ...... 71 4.9 Out throw ...... 72 CHAPTER 5 - Case Study ...... 73 5. 1 Test scenario ...... 73 5.1 Observed information ...... 7 4 5.3 Group discussions ...... 75 5.4 Out throw ...... 77 CHAPTER 6 - Conclusion ...... 77 6. 1 Future advancements ...... 78 6.1.1 lnteractivity ...... 78 6.1.2 Web serviccs ...... 79 6.1.3 Character data base ...... 79 Annexed documents ...... 80 U ser manual ...... 80 Prívate Eye Story Line ...... 88 References ...... 89 Works Cited ...... 89 CHAPTER 1
lntroduction
The use of mobile devices as an educational too) has been on the mise with the introduction of the Apple Inc. touch screen devices (Ethan L, 2010). These mobile platforms have sparked a revolution in the way that people use technology, or what is expected of it. A mobile phone is no longer just a device for making calls, it is now a daily companion keeping us entertained and up to date with the world's events through a wealth of apps (Janet S, 2011 ), and the younger generations are sorne of the biggest consumers of these apps (Janet S, 2011). With this in mind it is obvious to see why the adaption to the educational field was only imminent.
This mobile revolution has impacted our lives so much that it has changed the way in which we socialize and learn. Changing from a "passive style learning is best" where we listen and watch, to an "active hands on style" where we do and manage our own learning
(Lee R, 2011 ). Communities build our intelligence instead of our individual abilities (Lee R,
2011 ).
Education will continue to merge more and more with mobile technology, integrating even further with the social networks and flood through out the school system. This integration is already being set into motion by different government bodies in the United
Sta tes of America (Joe A, 2012), through the use of video games in the classrooms.
1.1 Motivation
The mission of the Tecnológico de Monterrey is to create well-rounded citizens, not just educationally but ethically and socially (ITESM, 2012). With this concept as base of the school's learning program, the thesis is aimed at exploiting this educational channel through CHAPTER l. INTRODUCTION 2 the use of mobile gaming. A video game that presents ethical dilemmas to its players, to help them face and experience certain morally shaded issues, with out actually having to live through them.
To do this the video game incorporates elements from the user's social networks life, school life, and also elements from their surroundings. This is done with the intention of making the elements of the video game personalized and real life like for each player. This way the players would take the different ethical choices or situations presented to them more seriously, hence leaming from these predicaments.
1.2 Antecedents
From since the beginning of time, man has always been fascinated and involved in sorne type of game, be it for recreational purposes or sorne form of training (Puentedura R, 2005). We as human beings have used these same games to help us unwind, to increase our thought flow and expand or intellect. Most of ali games are used to entertain us, an escape from our mundane lives (Puentedura R, 2005).
Salen and Zimmerman define play as "moving freely within a more rigid structure"
(salen & Zimmerman, 2003). They also went on to define a game as "a system in which the players are involved in an artificial conflict defined by rules and has quantifiable results"
(salen & Zimmerman, 2003).
Games have been known to take us away from reality and to provoke a more mature behavior within its players. This reaction obtained will depend on the role of the character that the player is assuming, and ultimately the game itself. As kids we often pretend to be superheroes, firefighters, or sorne secret detectives saving his/her country among other games.
Vygotsky tells us that these roles of higher responsibilities teach us to be more mature while playing (Vygotsky, 1978). CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION 3
The term video comes from a Latin source meaning "l see" (Etymonline, 2011 ). With this in mind we can therefore define a video game as a game in which the main element is the visual, which is displayed on a screen (television, computer monitor, cellphone, etc.).
An ethical dilemma is defined as "a situation that often involves an apparent conflict between moral imperatives, in which to obey one would result in transgressing another."
(Webster, 2011 ). An ethical dilemma occurs when the problem at hand involves aspects of both good, and bad.
The iPhone OS (iOS) is the operating system used in Apple Inc. mobile devices
(Apple, 2001). An operating system is a suite of programs used to manage a device's resources, to provide communication between its hardware and its software (Computer Hope,
2011). Apple Inc. mobile devices include the iPhone, the iPod and the iPad.
Unity is a software program developed by Unity Technologies far the development of video games in various platforms (iOS, web, PC, Mac, etc.). lt allows a game developer to design a video game from scratch, or with the help of its vast library assistant tools and assets free of charge. However if the developer wishes to publish his video game in the market, he/she would have to purchase the official version in order to do so.
1.3 Approach
Currently in the video game market, there are many video games that touch many different topics, including ethics, reasoning, mathematics, languages, and many other topics in many different forms or styles. However, these video games do not take advantage of the impact that the social networks have on gamers with in the video games gameplay. They barely scratch the surface of the giants back, merely allowing its users to publish high seores in the profile of their social network of choice, to view their friends' high seores, o to record and publish how they resolved the different levels. CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION 4
This interaction is very one sided, it only allows for a basic interaction with the
social networks, forgetting that the players are not basic users of these transcontinental
invisible networks. This thesis proposes a much more personal touch to our future video
games (be it educational or not), providing our players with the ability to take their personal
lives unfolded in their favorite social network/s into their video games. This concept has the
possibility of making video games more personalized, more dynamic, and much more
immersive for the players. These elements in turn make for a more entertaining and
interesting video game, which is one of the key elements in the production of video games.
1.4 Objectives
This documents focuses on the application of a framework for developing immersive serious video games for through the use of social networks. The paper proposes a video game with ethical dilemmas for newly enrolled students in the Tecnológico de Monterrey University, or high school level students of the same institution.
Information from various web services' feeds is also incorporated into the video game, with hopes of adding a more social and realistic touch to the game. This way the players may feel more immersed in the game's story, being able to relate to topics and surroundings.
1.5 Justification
This project has the ability to enhance the gaming experience obtained from playing video games, by personalizing the experience for each player. This personalization comes from obtaining information that is considered important by the players. Information taken from the social network accounts ofthe players and placed into the video game. This offers video game developers the advantage of being able to include elements in their video games that are favored to the players, with out the extra cost or risks of having to use forms or questionnaires CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION 5
to get the same information.
1.6 Hypothesis
How to make an immersive and serious video game for mobile devices that has the capability
of self-updating its content based on information received from various digital sources (social
networks, news sites, etc.), while presenting the players with ethical reflections about their
environment?
l.7 Methodology
The video game in this thesis was developed using Unity game engine. This engine was used
along with maya 30 and C#. Maya 30 in this case was used to create the 30 models of the
objects present in the video game; the buildings, cars, sprites, etc. C# was employed as the main programming language for the video game, for the logic of the video game and the social network connection. And Unity is used as the base to tie the mentioned elements together. CHAPTER 2 Related Work
Video games have been changing and evolving a lot over the last few years. We can see
evidence of this evolution in the advancements made in the video games' artificial intelligence
(I.A), with game characters adapting to the game player's playing style. The focus of late has
also been directed to online gaming, sharing seores and achievements, a form of amplifying the playing field. With the possibility of compiling not only a players' results, but also a players' complaints, and errors in the gameplay or the game design; if its too easy or too
difficult.
The mobile gaming industry is also coming up strong and fast (infographics, 201 O), many game producers are leaving behind console gaming and are focusing on making a quick and inexpensive mobile video game. Lots of video game production companies are entering the mobile gaming production market, releasing their console hits on the mini screens.
Companies like Capcom (Capcom, 2011) for example have begun adopt their big hit title games from the consoles to the mobile platform.
Video games have also begun to take up more of a teaching role. More and more video games are coming out based on teaching actual school topics, a subject, or sorne form of moral values (Ash K, 2010). These same games or concepts are also being used in classrooms to increase creativity and interest among the students (Corbett S, 201 O).
Of late the concept of "freedom" in video games has become ever important. This freedom can be categorized as the player's movements within the video game, how much the player can interact with the objects in the video game, how freely they can move about in the virtual world, and the different types of actions the player is capable of performing with their CHAPTER 2. RELA TED WORK 7
avatar, mixing playing styles with attacks to obtain new combos that were not pre-established.
However this concept of freedom doesn't end there, it continues in the virtual reality
field. This concept is just beginning to take commercial shape, but it's already staking claim
as the future of video gaming, the idea of becoming the game character through sensors as in
the Kinect ora CAVE, making for a highly immersíve game playing experience.
The different disciplines involved in the creation of a video game title have evolved from being just the programmers (UVM, 201 O). Experts from different fields are now needed to achieve a video game. From graphícs design artists, to philosophers and sociologist for analyzing the possible social impact that the game may have. This diverse community of people behind the creation of a vídeo game is a dírect result of the impact of whích video games are making.
2.1 Theoretical famework
Games can be classified into various types: sports games, casual games, strategy games, and vídeo games. Ali of whích are based on the same basíc ídeology of a game, a conflíct límited by rules that has a quantífiable result, whích could be poínts, víctoríes, or task accomplishments (Puentedura, 2005).
Vídeo games are categorized by theír game play, the experience that a player obtaíns from playing a vídeo game. These experiences depend on multiple aspects of the video game; the controls, the graphics, the speed of the game, the decísions presented, the difficulty, and many others. Taking this in mind, we can categorize video games into the following divísions
(Puentedura, 2005):
2.1.1 Narrative video games In these video games the most important aspects are the dialogs, they determine progress within the video game. This category can be divíded in subtypes:
A. Role Playing Game (RPG) - Video games in which the players assume the control, CHAPTER 2. RELA TED WORK 8
the capabilities and personality of a real or fictitious character in an artificial
environment. The Storylines of this genre are usually very complex, and the
avatars can be configured. This means that the players can gain new abilities
through experience. With this stated, an RPG video game can be classified as the
implementation of an RPG in a video game. Example: Heavy Rain (Chris R,
2010).
B. Adventure - This class of narrative games requires more control interactions. This
meaos that the players have to do most of the actions by themselves, not just
clicking on an option. The storyline is the base of the game, but the action scenes or
puzzle solving scenes allow the player to advance or not following a dialogue.
Example: Devil May Cry 3 (Jeremy D, 2005).
C. Massively Multiplayer Online Garues (MMOG) - They have the same concept as
RPG games, but they are played between many different players at once, Example:
World ofWarCraft (Tom M, 2004).
D. Alternate Reality Garues (ARG) - These games present an altemative reality to
various players online, and in retum the players try to imagine and solve the cases
as if it were actually happening. Example: World without Oil (WWO, 2012).
2.1.2 Action video games This genre of video games doesn 't pay much attention to the dialogue; the story of the game is of little importance. Toe action scenes are what make these games, the game player advances through the game by demonstrating a dominance of the game's controllers.
A. Shoot eru' ups - The objective is to advance through out the different levels of the
game destroying ali of the enemy's crafts. The game is fast and doesn't allow the
players much time for thinking, only to react against the oncoming enemies. They
develop reaction skills and speed, increasing player's skills for identifying patterns and
anticipating developments. Examples: Space invaders (Collin M, 20 l O). CHAPTER 2. RELA TED WORK 9
B. Platforms - The goal in these games is to complete a series of activities to be able to
get to the end. They require a lot of usage ofthe game's controllers. Example: Super
Mario Bros (Craig H, 2009).
C. First-person shooter - These video games implement a first person camera position
as the main camera. This means that the player can only see the hands or weapons
of the avatar that they are controlling. The camera is placed that way so that the
players would feel as if they were the actual avatar being controlled, hence become
immersed in the video game's story, Example: Modern warfare 3 (Anthony G,
2011).
D. Fighting - The only objective in these types of games is to defeat the opponent in a
fighting match. These video games require the highest game controller skills.
Examples: Mortal kombat (Ryan C, 2011 ).
E. Sports - They require the players to coordinate a team or an individual in a given
sports meet presented by the game. Example: FIF A Street (Daniel K, 2012).
F. Racing - These games do not require much control skills, the objective is to win a
race, or complete a given track course in a vehicle; in a certain amount of time, or
with a certain amount of damage to the vehicle. Examples: Need for Speed (Jack D,
2011).
G. Rhythm - they require physical contact with the video game, the player in tum
becomes the control, and manipulates events based on their movements. Example:
Dance Dance Revolution (Ryan C, 2010).
2.1.3 Simulation video games This type of video games is based on recreating a real life event, making a simulation of the event.
A. Sims - The goal of this subcategory is to simulate a given real life phenomenon, to
simulate it efficiently or speedily, ali depending on the objectives of the video game.
Example: SimCity (Anthony G, 2012). CHAPTER 2. RELA TED WORK 10
B. Real time strategy games - These games involve the planning and executing of
strategies to gain more resources established in the video game. The goal is to out
wit the competitors, making fast real time decisions. Example: StarCraft (IGN,
2000).
C. Military strategy games - A tum based video game style, meaning that each player
has a tum to make a decision, while the other player waits (same as in a chess
game). The computer then formulates the effects of the player's decision and adjusts
the playing field. The decisions are based on military resources; weapons and
soldiers, protecting a base against foreign attacks. Example: Empire: Total War
(Steve B, 2009).
2.1.4 Serious video garnes
Any type of game that has a goal beyond entertainment, this category envelops many others.
They are usually comprised of educational games, but are not limited to them. They can be
used for creating an immersive environment, to make the players feel as though they were in the actual situation. They tend to teach a lesson, but not directly (apart from educational games), they present situations that allow the players to experience a certain type of situation
(Puentedura, 2005). And hence the players will understand how it is to live in a situation of that sort. Example: World Without Oil (WWO).
2.1.5 Others
They are also more denominations that overlap with the previously mentioned groups:
• Puzzles
• Board games
• Mobile games CHAPTER 2. RELATED WORK l l
• Arcade games
• Casual games
An important factor for video games is the intelligence of the other characters present.
Regardless to the type of video game, a certain leve! of intelligence is expected from the characters, in arder for the players to immerse themselves within the story line.
2.2 Artificial Intelligence (A.I.)
The human brain creates, modifies and forgets knowledge depending on its interactions and experiences with that piece of knowledge (Humberto, 2009). For a video game to assimilate reality, it must be able to adapt a similar concept. Data structures such as Bayesian networks are often used in these cases to represent knowledge, especially in unknown domains.
Bayesian networks are designed in such a way that they can encade dependencies among the variables. They represent and can easily handle circumstances where data is missing or the information provided is incomplete (Faltin & Kenett, 2007). These networks can therefore be used to Iearn and adapt to causal relationships amongst the variables, and it's for this reason they can be used to predict the consequences or results.
KillZone is a video game that uses a different type of A.I, it applies Dynamic Pacedura!
Tactics to simulate a chess type strategy (Remco & Wi). It divides up the scene in pieces as in a chess set, and depending on the position of the player (which is always changing), the game uses an extended version of A* algorithm to determine how many enemies to send, and the different positions.
These advances m the video game 's A. 1 can be seen distributed across vanous platforms, from the mini screens of mobile phones or tablets, to the different consoles. CHAPTER 2. RELA TED WORK 12
2.3 Multi-platforms
An extraordinary increase has occurred in the use of mobile and social network applications.
This jump in application consumption can also be seen in video games consumption, not only
in online gaming but also in multiply platform gaming. Game players have now adopted a
need to be able to play in any given moment, ali of their favorite game titles. Statistics show that 87% of gamers play on PC/Mac, 50% play games on social networks, and 28% on mobile devices (Gamebryo, 2011 ). 52% of ali gamers play on two of the above-mentioned categories, while 14% occupy ali three given categories (Amy K, 2010).
The statistics given are for online gaming, and as we can see social networking and mobile devices are coming up fast and strong in a short period. Video game companies are acknowledging this change, with companies such as Zynga taking advantage of this need converting into a multimillion-dollar establishment, riding this new wave of gaming
(AppData, 2010).
Online games have been proven to be easier to be upgraded, much easier than standard platform games, due to the fact that performance results of the game are transmitted to the gaming companies live. This way, video game makers can know where gamers are facing difficulties, be it from a lack of instructions or sheer difficulty. Ali this information can be compiled and studied not only to improve the current game, but also to improve game making for future titles. This type of system development have been made famous of late by Google
(Google, 2011 ), a form of having a greater control over their application development, simply by having a closer relation with their clients.
The same for the video game companies that were only dedicated to making console games are changing. Companies such as Capcom (Capcom, 2011) and others are investing a lot in online gaming and mobile gaming.
The mobile gaming industry has been valued at an estimate of 800 million dollars
(Briley, 2011 ). With Apple Inc. at the front of the market (Remco S & William S, 2009), with CHAPTER 2. RELA TED WORK 13
sales of more than 40 million mobile devices, compared to Sony PSP (PlayStation Portable)
with only 2.81 million devices sold. The operating systems mostly used for mobile video
game development, with examples of sorne mobile devices used are:
I. iOS de Apple
a. IPhone 4
b. IPad
11. Android de Google
a. HTC Aria
b. Motorola XT710
III. Sony System Software
a. PSP2
b. NGP
IV. Mocrosoft Windows Mobile
a. Windows phone 7
b. HTCHD7
V. Symbian de Nokia
a. Nokia C6-0 l
b. Sony Ericcson U5i Vivaz
VI. BlackBerry OS de Research In Motion (RIM)
a. BlackBerry Bold 9900
b. BlackBerry 9930
The engines used for video game development are also locked in battle. Below is table
B.1 showing sorne of the more famous engines, along with sorne of their popular video game titles produced using the given engine. It also shows the different platforms that the engines
support. CHAPTER 2. RELA TED WORK 14
B.1 Video game engines
En gines Platforms Video games
Unreal Engine (Unreal Engin e iOS, Android, Mac OS, t\ 1Gears of war senes, Mas
Xbox 360, Sony PlayStation series, Bullet Storm, Meda! <
NGP, Windows PC Mortal Kombat, splinter cell
Unity 30 (Unity, 2011) Android, iOS, Web, Windc Batman Streets of Gotha n
Mas OS, PlayStation3, Wii Throttle, StuntMANIA, Apb
The Game
GameBryo Lightspeed (G~ Windows PC, Sony PlaySt aFallout 3, Civilization re
2011) Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbo xPlayboy the mansión, Ci
Bully: scholarship edition
CryENGINE (MyCryEngine, Sony PlayStation 3, Microsc Far Cry senes, Aion: the 1
360, Windows PC, Mac OS etemity, Entropia universe
The Unreal game engine (Unreal Engine, 2011) has a very broad list of famous video game titles compared to the others. However the Unity 30 game engine supports web game development, which is a missing component in the others. As we can see, the two most used engines are the only ones that support mobile gaming. Schools take advantage of the different platforms to enrich their classes, bridging the gap between teachers and students. CHAPTER 2. RELA TED WORK 15
2.4 Video games and education
Video garues are being adopted more and more into the classrooms. Technology has gotten to a point in which it has become almost impossible to not confront it on a daily basis. This change is mostly seen and adopted by the younger generation who has developed a strong dependency on technology. Teachers have also adjusted to these changes in their classrooms, and are taking advantage of this relation shared between their young students and the ever changing technology giant. For an educator to be able to effectively educate their audience, they must first understand them (Patrick A, 2011 ). One has to understand their crowd likes and dislikes to be able to plan their topics around these elements.
Schools such as "Quest for learn" (Corbett S, 20 l O) are direct examples of schools adapting to this change. They implement the use of video garues and social networking in their classes, with the hope of having a more dynamic and fun class. In their system, each class is treated as a quest; the students embark on a journey to solve a given problem. This form of teaching not only increases the creativity in the students, but also in the teachers (Ash
K,2011).
Video game developers have also been getting involved in educational topics for their video games. From applying physics laws in Angry Birds, to understanding ethical concepts in Fable (Harry G, 2004). Strategy based video garues and real time decision based video games have been proven to increase the creativity in the younger generation (Mike L, 2008).
Creativity can be defined as a disposition that exists in ali individuals and in ali ages, to resol ve problems in a new and appropriate manner. The word appropriate is one of the key elements in the definition, and from this word enters the ethics in the video garues.
Appropriate because in video garues many options are sometimes given to solve a conflict, and not all of these options are ethical.
We take the definition of ethics as part of the philosophy that deals with the moral and human obligations (RAE, 2011 ). The dilemmas presented in the new video garues titles are no CHAPTER 2. RELA TED WORK 16 longer the classic black and white predicament, one obvious correct choice versus one obvious incorrect choice (Donald G, 2008). The decisions of late take a closer resemblance to reality, complicated, and difficult to identify the correct one.
For the teachers to obtain a positive reaction through a video game leaming technique, the students must enjoy the games presented to them, or find them interesting or worth playing. One way to ensure this is through immersion, making the students enter the video games, wrapping themselves in the story presented to them.
2.5 Immersion in video games
Immersion in a video game, also referred to as spatial presence, is defined as existing when
"media contents are perceived as 'real' in the sense that media users experience a sensation of being spatially located in the mediated environment." (Wissmath, Weibel, 2009). In essence, players feel immersed in a video game when they feel as if they are actually there.
This sensation of immersion happens in two stages (Wirth, Hartman, 2007): First, the players form a mental representation of the video game world and story being presented.
Next, the players begin to take the video game world as their actual world, feeling as if they are in that world. This decision to feel immersed in the world, as though you are actually present, can be an unconscious decision, ora subconscious one.
Making a video game immersive requires certain characteristics in the video game. lt requires as much of the players senses involved in the video game as possible. If a child runs by, the footsteps should be heard in the video game as they would in real life. If the player has less mental work to do in regards to filling in the blanks in the story, the more immersive the game may feel. Meaning that the players should see the characters in the video game doing chores or activities that are commonly done in the real life situations being mocked.
The more a player has to focus on what is happening in the video game, the more tied up their brain will be. Hence, the less the brain will realize that it is not actually in a CHAPTER 2. RELA TED WORK 17
videogame. This attribute may involve many places to explore, with the possibility to interact
with most of the displayed contentas in "Grand theft auto: San Andreas" (Jeremy O, 2004), or an ever evolving story line such as "Hard rain" (Chris R, 201 O). A solid story can have the same reaction in a video game as it does in a book, a vacuum effect that pulls the players into it content.
Any video game content that makes us remember that we are in a video game hinders immersion. These elements may include; tutorials, pop up messages, enemy life bar, advertising, etc. The video game should not break its presentation to the player; the video game content should not be removed from the players visual. If the menu is pressed, the screen shouldn 't go blank and take the player away from the game.
The depth of the video game's immersion has a lot to do with the players as well. There are different types of people with different taste and personalities, and for this reason the players themselves have a say in a video game being immersive. Sorne players actually like being taken away by a story, and always take an active role allowing them selves to be taken away. Other players like to role-play, this is good for immersion, the players buy into the story and believe themselves to be the game character.
2.6 Virtual reality
Virtual Reality (VR) is a simulation, in which computer graphics are used to create a synthetic world that looks realistic, and is also interactive. VR is another form of immersion, it allows players to immerse themselves even more within a video game. A VR system has 4 main components (Moisés A, 2011 ):
Virtual environment (VE) - is the 20 or 30 representation of a real life environment
or a particular region of it.
Immersion and interactivity - Giving the sensation of actually being m a VE, an
environment that is modifiable. CHAPTER 2. RELA TED WORK 18
Sensitive feedback - The users should de able to see and/or feel changes in the VE
based on their movements/inputs.
Real time - The system should be able to respond to changes in real time without
delays.
These elements come together to create an immersed sensation within a computer-simulated
environment.
Augmented Reality (AR) is a type of VR, systems or applications where virtual
representations are combined atop of real world objects. AR is defined by mashable blog as
(Mashable, 2012): "a live, direct or indirect, view of a physical, real-world environment whose elements are augmented by computer-generated sensory input such as sound, video, graphics or GPS data".
2.7 Immersive video games
Video game consoles are taking advantage of immersion within their products. Nintendo started to add VR components with the Wii in 2006, a wireless remote control that responds to motion and rotation (Geekdad R, 2012). The Wii remote allows its users to interact with the video game through movements. Depending on the movements realized by the remote, the video game will respond differently. Microsoft implemented a different tactic with their
Kinect (Geekdad R, 2012). The Kinect Video games for CAVES (Caves Automatic Virtual Environment) are sorne of the most immersive video games that exist. Sometimes they are referred to as fully immersion, it allows a user to fully place them self within a virtual world (UIC, 2012). A CAVE can be viewed as a multi-person environment with 30 visual and audio effects. The players are CHAPTER 2. RELATED WORK 19 placed into an enclosed area of large display screens of one continuous image and audio. Motion tracking sensors are placed in the room, to detect the players' body parts and movements. 30 lenses are also used to further enhance the immersion sensation. Social networks tend offer many different services that can be used in video games to help make them more irnmersive. lt can be used as a way of filling in the blanks about the player's likes and dislikes without giving them a form to complete. 2.8 Social networks The following provides a list of sorne of the most used social networks around today in Mexico (AMIPICI, 2012): Facebook, Twitter, Google +, and Linkedin and the services they provide. 2.8.1 Facebook B.2 Facebook information 1 Launcht 4 h of February 2004 (Facebook, 20 Creator Mark Elliot Zuckerberg (Grossman ~ Number More than 750 million (Swartz J, 2C Val u e 82.9 billion dollars (Levy A, 2011) Site http://www.facebook.com Services: Posts A Facebook user can post comments, webpage links, videos, events, photos or notes on their Facebook wall or on the wall of another Facebook user. A user·s wall can be perceived as their individual blogging space in Facebook for updates and posts. Users can view other users' walls; to see their recent postings or activities. CHAPTER 2. RELA TED WORK 20 Comments Users can make comments on their posts; they can also make comments on another user's post, or their wall. Like ls a concept that Facebook uses to show one 's appreciation of a post, be it their own post or that of another user. Notes A user can publish large blocks of information as notes. Photos Users can post photos in their Facebook accounts; the photos can be organized in albums or by dates. Tagging Users can tag other users or themselves in posts that they, or other Facebook friends have uploaded. Friends A friend is considered as someone who another user has in his or her list of friends. In order to be in a friend list, a request soliciting friendship must be sent from one user to the other, upon accepting the request, both users will be each user 's friend list. Sending a friend request is as easy as hitting the button next to the user's profile that says "send friend requesf'. Chats Friends can chat with each other in real time if they are connected to Facebook. It's also possible to have video chats or group chats also. Messages A user can send a message to any other Facebook member, regardless to if the user is not present in their friend list, unless this setting was modified in the CHAPTER 2. RELA TED WORK 21 recipient account. Pro file A profile is the individual space give to each user in Facebook. A user can edit his or her profile with their likes and interests, location, schools attended, educational level, favorite TV shows, jobs, musical preference and other personal information; date of birth, relationship status, etc. Usable Elements From the list of services offered by Facebook that was previously mentioned, the ones that can be used for this thesis are: the posts, the comments, the photos, friend list, and information frorn a user's profile. Facebook user profile The majority of the users of Facebook in the United States of America (USA) are women frorn age 18 to age 34 (Gonzalez N, 2011). This shows us that this social network is rnainly being occupied by youngsters, from that we can infer that it's a social network perceived as being entertaining, not just useful. 2.8.2 Twitter B.3 Twitter information Launcht 21 of March 2006 (Shiels M Creator Jack Dorsey (Shiels M, 2011 Number More than 200 million (Kiss Val u e 8 billion dollars (Kiss J, 201 Site http://twitter.com CHAPTER 2. RELA TED WORK 22 Services Tweets A tweet can be interpreted as a comment published by a Twitter user, it mayor may not contain keyboard characters and website links. A tweet has a maximum character length of 140. A tweet from a user can be resent by another user (retweeted). Users along with topics can be mentioned within a tweet, they can also save a tweet from another user or themselves in their favorite list. Tweets appear in the order in which they were published in the users timeline (home page), and the timeline ofthe user's followers. Follow Twitter uses a concept of following, in which one user may follow another user. The tweets published by the user being followed would appear in the timeline of the follower. Topics Topics are recognized by containing a hash tag (#) befare it. Users can mention them in their tweets, which can be an existing topic, or a new topic invented by the user. Trends A topic or phrase repeatedly tweeted or retweeted by many users, so much that it is recognized as one of the top 1O most mentioned lines in Twitter, is recognized as a trend or trending topic. Trending topics can be configured to a specific region or country of the world, orto the entire global Twitter community. Photos Users can upload a photo for their profile, and also a photo to be used as their twitter page background. CHAPTER 2. RELA TED WORK 23 Messages Messages can be sent directly to a user's inbox, regardless to if the user 1s following or being followed by the other user. Pro file A user's profile can be edited to their liking. Inforrnation such as their location, name, biography, page design and much more inforrnation about the user can be uploaded. Usable elements From the services offered by Twitter that were previously mentioned, it's possible to incorporate the photos, pro file inforrnation, trends, tweets and followers in this thesis. Twitter user profile Same as Facebook, the most of the users are women (Kelly R, 2009), once again, it's another youth dominated social network. Research shows that the majority of tweets are used for conversing between users, or to identify the user's current state of mind, action or location. In other words Twitter can be viewed as an impersonal blog space for its users. Also lots of social topics are always present, news and gossip. Twitter has been known in many cases to be the first source of certain major intemational news topics. 2.8.3 Google+ B.4 Google+ inforrnation Launcht 28 of June 2011 (Kaste M, 20 Creator Google inc. (Google Plus, 201 Number More than 25 million (Young R Site http://plus.google.com/ CHAPTER 2. RELA TED WORK 24 Services (Google+, 2011): Circles Google+ uses a different way to link or group its users, a concept called circles. Each circle represents a specific social group to the user, in which he/she can add more Google+ users. Streams can be limited to be only viewed by specific circles or individuals, which in tums serves as our classic idea of a message. Hangouts Is a form of group video chal. A user can start a hangout between a specific circle or groups of their circles, or the hangout can be public allowing any user to join m. Huddle A messaged based group chat. Users involved in the huddle can see all the messages posted by ali the other users present in the huddle. Streams These are comments, videos, links or locations posted by a user in Google+. Users can tag other users in their streams, and limit the amount of people who can see it by choosing the circles or people to publish the stream to. Sparks Topics of interest that the users can register to in Google+. Sparks bring what's new according to the topic, to keep users up to date quick and easy in one place. Google+ Chat Google Inc. integrated it's chat in it's social network, this means that a user not only can chat with his Google+ contacts, but also with his/her Google chat contacts; these contacts can be from Facebook, Hotmail, Gmail, etc. The chat also includes video chatting and a prepaid calling service, to call fix o cellular lines, local or intemational. CHAPTER 2. RELATED WORK 25 +1 This is a concept similar to Facebook's like, however + 1 topics of friends are shown in Google searches. Usable Elements From the services offered by Google+, sparks of a user can be obtained, their streams, and their different circles. User Profile Google+ is a new social network and is still in its beta phase. A correct user profile cannot yet be established, but statistics show that thus far the circle concept and the chat are the most popular services (Google polls, 2011). (Google polls, 2011) 2.8.4 Linkedln B.5 Linkedln infonnation 1 Launch1 5 " of May 2003 (Linkedin, 2011) Creator Reid Hoffman (Linkedin, 2011) Numbe1 120 million (Linkedin, 2011) Value 121 million dollars (Linkedin investo Site http ://www. linkedin. corn/ Services (Linkedln center, 2011): Pro file Allows a user to upload and edit their currículum vitae (CV). Posts Users can post questions to find out about the professional work field in a particular field or in general, opportunities and also emerging job fields. Experts in the fields can then help to clear up doubts and make suggestions and/or CHAPTER 2. RELATED WORK 26 recommendations. Companies highlighting a certain profile can also publish job opemngs. Usable Elements It's possible to obtain the user's information and their postings. User Profile The majority of Linkedin users are people looking to enter the professional work field, professionals, and industries or organizations looking for new employees. Universities and students occupy a lot of Linkedin accounts. 60% of its users are from the USA (Linkedin start, 2011 ), this shows that the social network offers lots of possibilities for obtaining intemational job posts. 2.9 Social networking and video games This section explores the social networks previously ruentioned and their video garue involvements. Twitter doesn't have video garue applications, the only type of garues it offers are classic question answer garues. For exaruple the garue Twivia (Dorr Tim, 2011), the players have to follow the twivia account (@playtwivia) to be able to participate. The people who manage the twivia account tweet questions along with the points they carry and the rules. The players answer the questions following the specified rules, and then the answers and possible winners are announced by twivia. For the shear fact that Linkedin is a social network for professionals seeking jobs or eruployees, one can imagine that video garues doesn 't really belong there. With that said, Linkedin does not have any type of video game associated with it. Google+ has a wealth of video garues applications associated. Video games are located in the games tab, where one can easily find the famous and not so faruous game titles along with achievements and CHAPTER 2. RELA TED WORK 27 cornrnents about the different video garnes frorn friends. Users can see a list the video garnes, along with the narnes of the users frorn their contact list who plays it. Facebook offers thousands of different video garues titles to it's users to keep them entertained, and the count increases daily (Steinberg S, 2011 ). Entering the Apps and garues link, the user is presented with the various invitations they have to play different garues. In different tabs, one can easily choose to see the top garnes that friends are playing (which is the default), or recommended garues and apps, or the newest garues available. Same as Google+, the garues are linked to the user's account and achievements can be posted in the user's wall, or invitations can be sent out to other users, to play with or against. The video garues mentioned and their social networks have a high integration. The garnes ask the users for perrnission to access their profiles. And by allowing them access, the garues try to enrich the social network experience by offering more things to do, in a group or alone. The video garnes in general they allow the players to play with or against their friend list and post achievements. For example in Zynga poker (Hasseb, 2011 ), players can invite other users to play, and form teams. This thesis is about the same basic concept as mentioned before, a way to enhance the gaming experience of a player in any given video game. Given the fact that the video garues incrusted in these social networks only allow the players to use them from a browser limits the players. 2.10 Social networks and console video games Console video garues have been left behind in terms of social network integration within their storyline or gameplay. Video games such as Uncharted 2 and 3 have managed to make a small integration of social networks within their gameplay (Uncharted 3, 2011). For example in Uncharted 3, the garne allows the players; to upload or download videos from YouTube, players can also play with or against Facebook friends that are connected and are also playing, CHAPTER 2. RELA TED WORK 28 achievements can also be published in real time to Facebook or Twitter. However for the speed at which the social networks are growing, it appears as though the consoles are not optimizing the use of this giant. Microsoft and Sony they have integrated a basic web browser for Facebook and Twitter within their consoles' firmware. This allows the players to interact with the mentioned social networks, to update their profiles and share achievements. However this addition does not have an impact the video game's gameplay. Console video games in general only make use of the social networks to; advertise updates of their video game titles, to obtain feedback from their fans and users, and to interact with their fan base. F or the fact that these social networks bring together thousands of people, its and ideal place to interact with their fans, and give them inside details on updates, changes, and future plans. Other video garues take the interaction a bit further, and allow players; to upload achievements automatically from the game itself, post videos automatically as well showing your game playing skills, and also to compete against friends connected to the social media. The social network interaction with video garues is one sided, it can only be found in one direction. Video garues are only allowed to upload information to the social media. An interaction in which information can be downloaded to the video garues from the social networks is still missing from console games. 2.11 Social networks in Mexico In Mexico, there are a total of 34.9 million Internet users as of the end of 201 O (AMIPICI, 2011 ). Of these users, 51 percent of them are females, and 50 percent of Internet users are youngsters ranging from 12 to 24 years of age. Statistics also shows that 6 out of every 1O Internet users have access to a social network, making for a 61 percent of users connected to the Internet in Mexico (AMIPICI, 2011 ). And of this 61 percent, 60 percent of them connect to their different social networks on a daily basis. CHAPTER 2. RELA TED WORK 29 Social networks in Mexico Facebook (39%) w Youtube (28%) Twitter (20%) w HiS (6%) ... Badoo (3%) .. Sonico (2%) Linkedln (1 %) MySpace (1 %) B.6 The usage of Social networks in Mexico The most used social network in Mexico is Facebook with 39 percent of usage time, this is followed by YouTube and Twitter that has 20 percent (AMIPICI, 2011 ). Linkedln is found in the lower rank in tenns of usage in Mexico, with only l percent, along with MySpace. Main usage of social networks in Mexico Job searching _,;~¡¡¡¡¡¡ selling of goods and services Business activities Geographical locations of goods and services Follwoing product commercial offeres Buy goods or services Meeting new people Following news Keeping up to date with entertainment Communication with friends and fami ly 20 40 60 80 100 ; o 1 .... J B.7 Use of social networks in Mexico CHAPTER 2. RELA TED WORK 30 B.7 chart shows how the social networks are mainly being putted to use in Mexico (AMIPICI, 2011 ). 90 percent of social network users here in Mexico occupy these medias as a means of keeping in contact with friends and family. This is followed by a 53 percent usage of keeping up with sports, cultural opinions and overall entertainment. Then we can see that being up to date with the latest news is also a vital part of social network users, with 46 percent of its users. This shows us that the majority of Internet users in Mexico are youngsters on social networks. These users visit their favorite social networks on a daily basis, mainly for keeping to date with trends and culture. These usages are exploited in this thesis to bring to these same users a more enriched gaming experience based on information provided by them through their social networks. 2.12 Out throw Statics shows us how deeply involved people have become with the different social networks, adapting them in our every day life. Video games are also becoming a necessary bridge between users and any type of technology. People now expect sorne form of distraction or entertainment from the devices they buy or connect to. Merging these two necessities gives way for a new form of immersion, in which the players can experience their personal social life as they play through the video games. This merger gives teachers a way of regaining their student's interest in the classes they offer. A way to make the video games more immersive with out any extra effort. CHAPTER 3 Proposed Solution This chapter proposes the thesis solution towards solving the problem earlier mentioned: How to rnake a serious video garne more irnrnersive for players entering adulthood, through the inclusion of information frorn the players' digital social environment (social networks and reality web services), while presenting thern with ethical reflections about their own actual surroundings? The key elernent in the problern is how to rnake a video game more immersive. To answer the question, this chapter provides a list of elements from different social networks that are cornrnonly used arnongst teenagers and young adults that can be applied to a serious video garue. The chapter also provides a list of real life virtual elements that are of interest to, or that affect these youngsters. This chapter explains the ways in which these elements can be used within a video garue, to provide a more enriched and dynamic gameplay. This in retum makes for a more immersive video garue, on such a level as to make the players reflect more upon the ethical dilemmas presented to them in the video garue. 3.1 Integrating digital social environment into a video garue structure The concept of digital social environment is used in this thesis as previously mentioned, to enclose all virtual sources of information that affect a person. In this case these sources are identified as being; social networks and information that affects or holds interest to youngsters. These different sources can be found below in the following sub sections. 31 CHAPTER 3. PROPOSED SOLUTION 32 3.1.1 Reality web services Being that the targeted genre of players are emergmg adults, meamng that they are still present in the school system. School information plays a vital role in their social life and development. A student's school account usually is comprised of their academic history, grades, classes and current timetable of classes and exams. The player will need to allow the system access to their school accounts, in order for the system to be able to obtain the listed data. Updated information is also a very important factor for young people, especially when it comes to their topics of interest or topics about their surroundings. Topics such as; sports, movies, weather, and the local news can be gathered from different sites, and updated. Sports topics are usually the main topics, or one of the main ones for youngsters, details of these highlights usually form social alliances. News agencies bring important topics to the public about issues that reside in and around their society. Movie theatres are renown to be hangout spots, and are often visited by young adults and teenagers alike. The weather affects our social outings; the choice of a place to socialize is often dictated by the current weather conditions. These elements wouldn 't require a log in nor ask for the players' permission, they will always be present as long as the video game has an Internet connection. These different sources of reality data can be obtained through the use of various web services, ali depending on the type offered by the site. They can range from; Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds, JavaScript Object Notation (JSON), Extensible Markup Language (XML), Representational State Transfer (REST), Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP), or any other web service used by the sites. 3.1.2 Elements of the digital social environment The previous chapter mentioned severa! different social networks, it also listed the services or elements offered by them. The following shows the complete list of all the elements that can CHAPTER 3. PROPOSED SOLUTION 33 be used in a video game, social network elements, and also reality data. ;¡.,. Reality (live information) o Climate o News headlines o Cinema listings o Class grades o Class timetable o Exam timetable o Sports headlines ;¡.,. Social networks o Name o Gender o Birthdate o Age o Education o Jobs o Languages o Address o Favorite music o Favorite TV shows o Likes o Tapies of interest o Contacts • Friends • Friend circles (groups) • Followers CHAPTER 3. PROPOSED SOLUTION 34 o Publications • Photos • Comments • Posts • Tweets • Notes • Trending topics The information obtained from these different services is to be used in a passive form and not an interactive manner. This means that the users would not be able to interact with the information incorporated from these services, nor would the information present an impact upon the video game's story. The information is to be displayed to the players in different instances, to add an extra touch of reality, which will in tum make for a more immersive video game and improve the obtainable gaming experience. 3.1.3 Video garue structure A video game is divided into severa] different components, which when combined makes for an interactive gaming environment. The story of the video game occupies the highest horizontal rank of this structure, it generalizes the concept of the video game, along with the type and goal. The story is then divided into a single or various levels, these levels represent the breakdown of the story into units of advancements, advancements that must be accomplished to complete the story. This concept of a video game's structure is inspired by the thesis of Gilberto Huesca Juarez (Gilberto H, 2011). A level is further subdivided into scenes; each scene represents a different environment; the scenes are then branched off into a layout structure and sprites. Layouts contain art and models of the scenes, while the sprites are the characters present in the scene. CHAPTER 3. PROPOSED SOLUTION 35 A sprite has actions and different interactions with other sprites or with the layout. While the layout can be seen as the physical structure of the scene; buildings, land marks, etc. The following is a visual representation of the structure of a video game, a conceptual design illustrating of the mentioned components. attrlbutes: - goaf - wpe attributes: -nameJtd - startpoint(s) - endpofnt(s attribues: - texture - ffltíStC - atrnosphere - tocatio:n Layout .Sptftes anrihutes= attributes: - an designs - name -iexture.s - modefs - gender Accio:ns C.1 Video game structure As can be seen in the diagram C. l , each component has its own attributes that define it. However, a sprite has different behaviors, which defines how the sprite interacts and moves with in the different environments. These behaviors (interactions and actions) vary for each CHAPTER 3. PROPOSED SOLUTION 36 sprite present in the video game. Interactions define the different forms in which the sprites interact with each other, which can be; dialogs, conversations or gestures. The actions define the abilities of the sprites, the movements that the sprites posses with in the video game; walking, running, jumping, gestures, fighting, etc. 3.1.4 The integration The following table C.2 shows a matching between the components of a video game, with the different elements of the digital social environment proposed earlier. An example of the actual use of the elements within a video game is also given for each digital element listed. This matching of elements with components gives way to the creation of a video game whose content can be dynamically updated. It serves as the proposed base for making a more immersive serious video game. From the video game structure shown above, only sprites and scenes were chosen to have modifiable content from the different web services and social networks. Sprites were chosen because of the attributes and interactions they posses, or are able to possess. The name of a sprite in a video game rarely holds significance in the overall plot of video game, it is merely used as a reference to the sprite. The gender is also of the same concept, it may affect interactions with in the gameplay, but it These interactions between sprites alter the dialog, and in certain instances can even result in affecting the sequence of events or objectives. An example of a sprite 's modifiable sprite attribute in a video game can be the name. The name of the main sprite in the video game can be obtained from the user's usemame from their Facebook account. This way every time a reference is made to the sprite, it will be done using the player's Facebook usemame. An example of a modifiable behavior of a sprite is education. The player's grades results can be used to change the greetings received from other characters in the video game. Certain other characters in the video game would be able to CHAPTER 3. PROPOSED SOLUTION 37 congratulate the player, or inspire them depending on how the player 1s doing m their subjects. This interaction can be a popup dialog box, or a verbal note. Scenes were chosen also because of the same reason as the sprites. The attributes of a scene can be modified with out changing the structure, or the story of the video game, it simply adds an overlaying aspect or feel. The attributes of a scene set the tone of the environment, which in retum allows for the players to feel a greater impact with the story. For this same reason, we can modify these attributes to create an immersive sensation more personalized for each player. For example, sorne of the textures of a scene can be replaced with images taken from the player's Facebook profile. This way the player would be able to see his/her photos in different places through out the scene such as; billboards, on the side of buildings, on top of vehicles, etc. This way the player is constantly reminded of their social life in the video game, allowing the players to immerse themselves. The story in a video game's structure was not chosen because of its complexity. The story contains the broadest and highest level in the structure, it defines the video game, the global objective, the main intent or reason for the video game. Hence it would be virtually impossible to modify these settings and still keep the essence of the video game. Levels are made up of various scenes, they represent a way of telling a part of the story through the aggrupation of one or more scenes. This is why they weren 't used in the proposed matching structure, for changing the values of a level could also change the desired output that was required. The layout represents the structure for the scenes, the elements on which the video game is built upon. For this reason the layout was left out of the structure. To change these structures would result in a change of scenery, and a lost in the capturing the feel of the video game. The Actions of a sprite were not elected to be modifiable, because these values are CHAPTER 3. PROPOSED SOLUTION 38 pre-established in the video game. Meaning that the video game makers make the animations for each behavior before. They cannot be created in the moment, as the video game is being played. Hence for these values to be modified during game play would require the video game makers to create various extra animations. These extra animations would only be seen if connections are met, which would result in a waste of effort. Ali this extra effort would not be able to achieve any more significant impact on the players sensation of being immersed in the video game, as is already being offered through the other mentioned contents. C.2 Table of video game's sprite structure with matching of digital elements Video game Components Digital elements Examples of usage Video game attributes Character's name lil Name Name the video game is the same as online name Attributes Character in the video game 1s of the same Gender Gender gender as social network Other characters in the video game wish the mam character a Behavior/ Birthday happy birthday when its their birthdays lil the social network Sprites The character's age affects the different Interaction Age choices presented to him/her in the video game Other characters in the video game Education acknowledge the player's educational background Other characters in the video game Jobs acknowledge the player's different job posts CHAPTER 3. PROPOSED SOLUTION 39 Other characters in the video garue Languages acknowledge the player's knowledge of different languae:es Other characters in the video game Favorite music acknowledge the player's taste in music Other characters in the TV video garue make Favorite remarks about recent shows update m the TV shows Other characters in the video game make Likes remarks about the player's taste in thinl!s Other characters in the Topics of video game make Interest remarks about the player's interests Other characters in the video game Class grades acknowledge the player's school achieveruents Other characters in the video game make Class timetable remarks about the plaver's class schedule Characters m the video game possess Contacts the same names as the characters in the social networks Other characters in the video game make Climate remarks about the actual weather Other characters in the video game make Trending topics remarks about the trendinl! topics Other characters in the video game make Cinema Listings remarks about the new movie releases Other characters in the News headlines video game make remarks about news CHAPTER 3. PROPOSED SOLUTION 40 I headline 1 1 C.3 Table of video game's Scene structure with matching of digital elements Video game Components Digital elements Examples of usage Video game attributes The player's photos are displayed as different Textures Publications pre-ch osen textures throughout the scene Actual news headlines are displayed m Textures News headlines different pre-chosen textures throughout the scene The posters of actual movie titles playing in cmemas are displayed Textures Cinema Listings in different pre-chosen textures throughout the scene The posters of these TV Scenes Attributes shows are displayed in Favorite TV Textures different pre-chosen shows textures throughout the scene The player's favorite mus1c IS played as Music Favorite music background mus1c m the scene The name of the location of the scene is Location Address the player's actual address The Actual weather is reflected m the video Atmosphere Climate game; if its actually raining, it will ram m the video game With the proposed matchings (C.2 and C.3), serious video games would be able to adapt more to each player's social environment. Player's social content can be periodically pulled from their accounts instead of the traditional push concept, making personalized video CHAPTER 3. PROPOSED SOLUTION 41 games without actually having to invest in targeted groups likes and dislikes. This is so because this content has already been provided in the user's social network interactions, justa matter of simply pulling the content of these services and integrating them into the video games. This concept also serves as a way of filling in the blanks for the users about their preferences, which as was mentioned in the art of review is a part of creating an immersive sensation. 3.2 Video game's requirements The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) (IEEE 1990) defines a requirement as: l. A condition or capability needed by a user to solve a problem or achieve an objective. 2. A condition or capability that must be met or possessed by a system or system component to satisfy a contract, standard, specification, or other formally imposed document. 3. A documented representation of a condition or capability as in definition 1 or 2. The requirements listed in this section depict the functional and non-functional requirements of the system. IBM (Peter E, 2012) defines functional and non-functional requirements as: Functional requirements describe the behaviors (functions or services) of the system that supports user goals, tasks or activities, where as non-functional requirements include quality constraints. Taking this into consideration, the following list was drafted for the video game's connection to online information; social networks, RSS feeds, school accounts information. CHAPTER 3. PROPOSED SOLUTION 42 3.2.1 Functional requirements: • The system is able to connect and download information from various social networks. • The system is able to connect to the student's school account, and download information. • The system is able to interpret and download information from web services. • The system is able to include the downloaded information from the different sources into the game's gameplay. • The information downloaded will be refreshed automatically as the player is playing. • The video game requires a basic structure, with default textures, names, atmospheric conditions, etc. So that if a connection is not made the video game is still playable. 3.2.2 Non-functional requirements: • The video game requires an Internet connection to download the online information. • The video game is able connect and obtain the necessary information from the online services rapidly, less than 3 seconds with a 1mbps Internet connection. The requirements listed abo ve show the system 's diversity, along with the extent of the system 's functionality. 3.3 System 's design This section identifies the global design of the system. From the architectural styles used for the base design, to the different components and activities present in the system. CHAPTER 3. PROPOSED SOLUTION 43 3.3.1 Architecture The architecture shows the structure of the system, the way in which data flows through the system. This system is divided into two different architectural pattems: data driven, and event driven (Peter E, 2006). 3.3.1.1 Event driven This architecture style is based upan functions or components being called depending on the occurrence of a certain event. A component can be called through the diffusion of one of more events, components can also provoke an event that will in tum invoke multiple components. Each component listens for a call, and each call can instill a different reaction or output with the same component. Far this thesis, the entire game design is built upan this architecture; each class is called depending on a set of events. The sequence of events is entirely dependent upan the current location or state of the video game and its characters. A class or component may never be called, even though the game is completed. This architecture allows the user to make free choices, and to manipulate events as they see fit. 3.3.1.2 Data driven This architecture is based on a sale concrete component, to which all the others communicate with and follows. The main structure receives data from outside components upan request, depending on the data received more components are invoked. The connection to the digital social environment is based on this architecture. The invoking of components solely depends on the data received from the other components. Ali the information is then transmitted back to the video game 's structure. CHAPTER 3. PROPOSED SOLUTION 44 3.3.2 UML design Unified Modeling Language (UML) is a group of diagrams that when used within a given methodology, increase the ease of understanding an application under development (IBM UML, 2003). In this document, the use case diagram, the activity diagram, the component diagram along with the system 's architecture are proportioned. 3.3.2.1 Use case The following diagram 1s the use case diagram of the system; it shows the different interactions the user will have in the system, according to the functionality. <·In elude>> Validate lnformation Enter social .... networks and School ~ account Login lnformation .;;ccess Social Networks ·cinc lude>, ---- ;il"- Lo ad graphics Jser.rplay er l · · lnclude>· r------items 1 1 ---- Loa,j game ....~l ( Play game ------.... .- .. 1nclude:.--:.- --- - ____ _. ------.;:>- rules and game data C.4 System use case diagram The C.4 diagram shows that the user/player will interact with the system in two ways; CHAPTER 3. PROPOSED SOLUTION 45 by entering their social network and school login information, and also by actually playing the game. Upon entering the required information for the different networks, the system will validate the information entered with the different sites. With the information validated, the system will now be able to gain access to the various accounts, so that it will be able to obtain information from them in the future. The following table shows a break down of the use cases, showing a more detailed v1ew and the different roles played by the user and the system, for the different cases presented. C.5 shows an in depth detailed run through of the use case enter social networks and school login information shown in C.4. Table C.6 shows the in depth detailed run through of the use case play game shown in C.4. These tables show the events linked to the use case, how the system is befare and after the use cases. They also show the flow of the activities in the use cases, and the exceptions in the flows if there happens to be a problem. C.5 Detailed description of the enter social networks and school login information use case diagram. Name Enter social networks and school login information Trigger event The player double clicks on game icon The player opens the game to play and enters tht: Brief description information for the different social connection sites Actors Player Related use cases Includes: Validate lnformation Access social networks Pre-conditions Game is installed on the player's gaming device Post-conditions Access granted to the different social sites CHAPTER 3. PROPOSED SOLUTION 46 Flow of activities Player Systern 1. The player opens the garne 2. The systern prornpts the player to access to their social network login infe and school account. 3. The player grants permission 4. The systern asks for authorization 5. The player grants authorizati( application by entering the information 6. The systern requests authorization ~ social network or with the school accour 7. The system obtains access to the netwo 8. The system includes information dov in the garneplay 9. The systern connects with the RSS i~ downloads the necessary information 2.1 the player chooses not to lo Exceptional flows their social networks 6.1 the player enters a wron¡, information and the systern granted access CHAPTER 3. PROPOSED SOLUTION 47 C.6 Detailed description of the Play game use case diagram. Name Play Game Trigger event The player is able to play the game and advance through Brief description with social network information included Actors Player Related use cases Load Graphics Load saved items load game rules Pre-conditions Garue is installed on the player's garuing device Post-conditions Saved game information for player to continue at a later , Flow of activities Player Systeru 1. Opens game 2. Load start up screen 3. Load graphics 4. Load garue rules 5. Load necessary infü from social networks an íl account 6. Play garue 3.3.2.2 Activity diagram The following diagraru is the activity diagram of the system use case; it shows the different activities that the user and the system have to perform upon loading and initializing a game. CHAPTER 3. PROPOSED SOLUTION 48 User:Pra-l'er Enter ~chool login inlorm1lion¡+------,;------t UJg~~~h~~;e ,E------~---...... ----~a~ldJ.ICl•)Jlíl ~el'i?Ct t-l~wgJmG'. 1nlorm.lt1·.)n Countinue, or social ne1 ..,o,ks Opwm new Jm'e' 8,e,t,e,:t MJ.in menu C·)nne::11,:-: Soc1.1I ·Jp11,,n $Xia.l net,,,:irk'i. c.:inne·:ti•)n or :.oci..:tl ~------t--;iNetüOrks bunun c11ckej n~l·""or~.!:> O tion n,) er.lze ~3·,':'·1 , .ame Loa,1 '.ilY':'iJ 11 ems ,1a1J. J.nd rule ~------;------l LOJ.d n,..w d1l.::i. an~ 91.rn':' rul°"' C.7 Activity diagram of the system use case As can be seen from the diagram, the user upon opening the system firstly has to enter th school login information. After validating the login, the user can then initiate a new game, contin from the last game, or give the game access to their social networks. This shows us that it is I necessary for the user to grant the system access to these medias. They serve as an extra, a means making the game more immersive. The diagram shows that the player does not grant access to R feeds, this connection is done independently by the system. CHAPTER 3. PROPOSED SOLUTION 49 3.3.2.3 Component diagram We.b lnform.uion V < ,campon e.nt>> Digital sociaJ connec.tion Social network..lhformation <~co mpo~~•t>$ Vi < C.8 Component diagram The figure is the component diagram of the system, it shows the structural relationship between the different components present in the system. In this case, the system is separated into two main components, and each of these components contains their own components. The digital social connection receives the information to make the necessary connection with its interna! components. Each individual component takes the information it needs to establish a connection. Ali the downloaded content is then passed down to the "social and reality data", which compiles it, and passes it to the video garne structure. The "video game structure" receives the downloaded content, which modifies the CHAPTER 3. PROPOSED SOLUTION 50 "Data and textures" component. This component then reflects these modifications upon the "basic structure layout", which produces the displayed output. 3.3.3 Design pattern Software design patterns can be viewed as solutions to a predictable recurring problem (James M, 2002). Patterns usually represent a relationship between classes and objects, showing the different responsibilities necessary to the solution. The observer pattern was recognized as the design pattern to the problem presented in the thesis. The observer pattern is when the change in an object state requires an update from others and does not know how many or who the other objects are. In this type of observer independent changes are allowed between the subjects and the observers. 3.4 Out throw A video game is comprised of story elements, and content elements. The story elements are mostly fixed, modifying these components may result in a change in the video game's core concept and/or objective. The content elements however allow for changes. This presents us with an opening, a gap that can be filled with the personalized information from the player's digital social life. The chapter provided a complete walkthrough of this integration, linking a video game's structural content with the player's information. This form of integration offers a simple and easy way to make an immersive video game. A way in which the players wouldn't have to fill out forms about their likes and dislikes, but by simply granting the video game access to their social networks this and more infornrntion can be obtained. The following chapter provides an implementation of the actual application of this proposed structure in a video game, how it was developed and the packages u sed. CHAPTER 4 Applied Solution For this thesis, a prototype of the proposed solution was created: a serious inunersive video game with the title "Prívate Eye". The video game was designed using Unity 30 engine with the help of sorne undergrad students from the Tecnológico de Monterrey. This chapter explains the development of the system; how and which social networks were incorporated within the video game, how and which reality data were used, and also the environment of the video game (story and graphics). Ali of the listed coruponents were applied using the same video game structure and ruatching as explained in the previous chapter. The video game Prívate Eye was developed for students of the Tecnológico de Monterrey, in their last semesters of high school, or first semesters of university. This election of students gives an age group of 16 to 22 years. 4.1 Private Eye Prívate Eye is an RPG video garue based on the life of a detective, who goes by the default name of Dan. The plot consists of the detective investigating the orígins of an anonymous email, which claimed inforrnation about the truth of his past. The detective pursuits this personal case to track down the unidentified subject, but to do so he ruust locate the place froru where the eruail was sent. Figure F.1 in annexed documents shows the story of the video garue in a tree forrn structure, the different objectives and interactions presented. An iruportant pa1t of a Prívate Eye's gameplay is the graphics. Especially for a young audience, the visual component in a video game is very important. For this reason the story of 51 CHAPTER 4. APPLIED SOLUTION 52 the video garue is taken from a retro-futuristic point of view. The future as was painted by the generation anterior, which in retrospect is today, the 21 st century. This way the audience is playing the present, through a retro visionary point of view. This will allow the players to associate with certain things, while marveling and/or humoring at the simplicities or extremities that were envisioned for their present world. The video garue has two playable scenes, but it has a total of six scenes present: Start up scene - this scene is the first scene ran at start up. lt calls the others depending on the option chosen by the user. Log in scene - this is where the user is asked to enter their login infonnation for their school account with the Tecnológico de Monterrey Campus Ciudad de México. Social connection scene - in charged of allowing access to the player's Facebook and Twitter accounts. Department scene - here is where the video garue actually starts, where the main character awakes. City scene - this scene holds the elements of the city, contains interactions with other characters, and leads the main character to his goal. Credits scene - Shows the participants in the making of the video garue. Photos of each scene are can be seen in the user manual section of the annexed documents. The two playable scenes are the department scene, and the city scene. Mild, soft colors are used in the department, in contrast to the bright and colorful city. 4.2 Social networks in Private Eye For Prívate Eye, sorne of social networks that were previously mentioned in the review of the state of the art were occupied; Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and Linkedin. The social networks were chosen based on the degree of impact they could have in a video game's CHAPTER 4. APPLIED SOLUTION 53 gameplay. This level of interest or impact of the social networks 1s associated with the statistics presented in the review of art. The services adopted from these networks were used to make the players feel more immersed within the video game's plot, while at the same time giving the video garue a more personalized touch for each player. This way, the players would be able to better identify with the video game's story more easily. Facebook and Twitter were the two chosen social networks, which were integrated in the development. From the Facebook services previously mentioned; photos, usemame, friend list and wall post were occupied. From the Twitter services, the user's timeline was used. The services mentioned were adopted by the video garue to enhance its gameplay for the players. Meaning that the players will have a more satisfying experience playing the video garue with these services enabled, as opposed to playing it without them. The intention of this development is to distract the player, so that they wont feel as though they are playing a garue, but instead as though they were confronting a real life dilemma, with real life issues. 4.3 Applying the social networks' services in Private Eye This section explains how the services mentioned from the different social networks chosen were applied in the video garue. From the services offered by Facebook, the photos are displayed in certain billboards in the video garue. These billboards were placed through out the city with in the video garue. This was done so that the players will always be able to identify with the story through out the video garue. They will be able to see elements of their life projected in the video garue, and in retum feel more comfortable, and become more involved. Photos were also placed in the main character's department in the video garue. That way, every time the player retums to the initial point (home) in the garue, he/she may feel as if they were in their own home. The photos dynamically change with different random photos CHAPTER 4. APPLIED SOLUTION 54 taken from the player's Facebook account; the photos can be photos that the player uploaded, or photos in which the user has been tagged. The player's name in their Facebook account was used as the main characters name. Names from the list of friends in Facebook were used as the names of certain individual characters in the video game, with whom the main character will be able to interact with. The inclusion of the players name and the names of friends in the video game will allow us to establish an even more individual and personal feel for the player and the video game's characters. The services chosen from Twitter will also be presented to the player in a passive form. The player's tweets can be seen each time the player accesses the menu, or pauses the game. The tweets change dynamically, every 5 seconds, or every time a menu from the menu list is accessed. 4.4 Integrating reality data in Private Eye For Prívate Eye, RSS feeds from cinemas and news centers were integrated within the video game's gameplay. These sources were used to bring ataste of reality into the video game. lt was done with the intent of helping the players to stay up to date with certain information, or topics of interest. In this case information was used from new movies currently playing at a local mov1e theatre m Mexico, Cinepolis Paseo Acoxpa branch (RSS feed: http://www.cinepolis.com.mx/rss/feed.x?idcomplejo=399). This information for the targeted players is vital, being that movie theatres are typical ''hang out spots" for them. And choosing the Paseo Acoxpa branch gives the players a greater sense of connection, being that it is one of the closest movie theatres to their school campus, and one often visited by the students. With in the video game, the players can see sorne of the latest movie titles showing at this branch, along with the actual posters. The content is visible in the city scene of the video game in a movie theatre. Apart from being informative, this also serves as a meaos of peeking CHAPTER 4. APPLIED SOLUTION 55 the interest in the players, for them to investigate the cities more thoroughly, in quest to discover similar locals with up to date live information. This way the players can play the video game, searching for the different clues with out being bored by the mundane static follow through garue play. Instead they are greeted with a dynamically updating personalized follow through appealing to their interests. The information from the RSS feed is updated each time the scene is loaded. The news feed was taken from el Universal (RSS feed: http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/rss/mexico.xml), a local and famous news agency, renown for delivering up to date well informed news. This news source was chosen because for its reliability, and the up to date news events of which it delivers. In the video game the players will be able to view the last four news update pertaining to Mexico from the site. The updates will be placed in the detective's department, and updated each time the scene is loaded. The player is required to log into their school account in order to be able to play the video game. The system validates the student's login information, then downloads the grades of the current subjects being taken by the student. This information is later used as a means of enhancing the interaction between the player and other characters present in the video game. 4.5 Priva te Eye system 's design Sorne of the designs used in the proposed solution chapter were adopted in this section, but personalized for the implementation of Prívate Eye. 4.5.1 Functional requirements: • The system is able to connect and download information from vanous social networks; Twitter, Facebook. • The system is able to connect to the Tecnológico de Monterrey Campus Ciudad de México (CCM) student account, and download information. CHAPTER 4. APPLIED SOLUTION 56 • The system is able to interpret and download information from various RSS feeds; cinema (Cinepolis), and news site (El Universal). • The system is able to include the downloaded information from the different sources into the game's gameplay. • The information downloaded is refreshed automatically during the game. 4.5.2 Non-functional requirements: • The game is only be available to iOS platforms; iPod, iPhone, iPad. • The game is easily understandable; a menu is present with the current objectives, and also maps to guide the player through. • The connection established with the social networks 1s done through the secure medium OAuth. • The game is able to connect and obtain the necessary information from the online services rapidly, less than 3 seconds with a 1mbps Internet connection. 4.5.3 U se case A use case diagram of Private Eye, it shows a more in-depth look at the use case "Load game rules and game data", from the system use case in the proposed solution chapter. Obtain grades an,j ______lnclude>> ;¡;:.... time table fror,, school account ~: ··c.lnclude>> Obtain information , --- - fron, Facebook Load game "'.-,'.lnclude>···· Obtain Tin,eline rules an,j tron, T,'l.•itter garne data Obtain inforrnation L -=~líJSIL.!..!..je... ;./•~ from RSS feeds _____ -··.:.Jn..1..IL!..Qe..;:. ·. Integra.te the obtained inforn,ation in 1=1an,eplay D.1 Load game rules and game data use case CHAPTER 4. APPLIED SOLUTION 57 The D.1 use case shows that in order for the vídeo game to load íts content, ít firstly makes a connectíon wíth the various sítes and feed. Then thís content is íntegrated and the vídeo game is loaded. D.2 Detaíled descríptíon of use case díagram Name Load game rules and game data Trígger event A game is loaded The game IS loaded wíth the onlíne Bríef descriptíon íncluded Actors System Related use cases Load graphícs Game is ínstalled on the player's devíce (i Pre-condítíons and la ter versíons, íPad2 and later versíons Post-condítíons Onlíne content loaded ínto gameplay Flow of actívities System 1. Game loaded 2. Connection established 3. Contents downloaded 4.5.4 Activity diagram The following diagram is an extended version to the one previously presented. It shows more specific details pertaining to the actual video game. CHAPTER 4. APPLIED SOLUTION 58 C•mn¡¡,c, 1v:lJ~1lll j N-1w?rk~ bu!l?n ~li~l<.,.1 Op~n F:i-: " b·J::>I< ')F1>nT,...,11.,r Eute ~c.1,t-·J ':l.lll'l!l .1111n·1r,:::i.1i.;,I! p.ll':' au1t,·,1,:.~•r:·n r,aJtt 'lat:>.:1m:1r~;i1nip-.·, ~arne .:. :-:t'~:l ~~r:i.nl t'd ~ ,----+--~ ::-:,rm"!.:ll·Jn mi::!• .\111'1 ~::)·:1.11 l'lf-.O.·~rl,, (:,:.1-':' .hllil.J•I~ 111~'1 ~-----+! ,;):J':'JrFJp.l';;I~ 1-----~ in lhi, ~,·ti~,., ,------a------ll,urJn,,w,pm,; D.3 Activity diagram In D.3 figure, the full interaction of the player and the Private Eye system can be seen. U pon starting the video game, the user is prompted to log into their school account at the Tecnológico de Monterrey CCM. After successfully accomplishing this act, the player will then have the choice to grant the video game access to his/her social networks, or start a game (new or continued from the last time). CHAPTER 4. APPLIED SOLUTION 59 The start garue section of the diagram is the same flow as was presented in the previous chapter. How ever in the social connection section, new activities are introduced to reflect the actual system. Where the player is presented with the option of granting access to Facebook or Twitter. Upon clicking either option, the system takes the user to the social network 's authorization page, where they can grant the system the required access. With access granted, a code will be presented to the user, this authorization code must be placed in the system to complete the process of granting access to the system. 4.6 Integrating the social networks' services in Private Eye Private Eye was designed in Unity 3D technologies garue engine, using C# classes along with javascript code. Each of the six scenes has its specific classes and elements attached to them. A class was made for each connection; the social network, and also the RSS feeds connections. Each of these connection classes has operator classes, which are connected to the different scenes to manage the functionality of these connector classes. Each connector class basically has the same structure; connection methods for connecting to the sites, validation methods for verifying sites retum content, parser methods for extracting the required information from the sites, population methods that populates arrays with the downloaded content, and delegated retum methods to retum the results of each step. The methods of the connector classes are static so no instantiation is needed to access them. The operator classes use these delegate methods to gain a follow-through sequence; depending on the results retumed, different methods are called. These callback methods handle the responses from the connector classes. The operator classes have the updatable video garue elements connected to them. And as the information is populated in the data structures, the classes in retum update the connected video garues' content with the gathered CHAPTER 4. APPLIED SOLUTION 60 information. The connector classes were accessed using the StartCoroutine function. This allows for the methods in the connector classes to occupy the use of yield retum value. This works as a form of stalling further progress until the coroutine has finished its execution (unity 30, 2012). 4.6.1 Connecting unity with social networks An OAuth connection was made established with the social networks. OAuth explained in the official page (OAuth, 2012) is "is a simple way to publish and interact with protected data. It's also a safer and more secure way for people to give access". Using this standards, users are not required to share their passwords with the to be connected applications. For Facebook (Facebook developer, 2012); the application sends a get OAuth dialog request to the user's account. The friend list, wall feed, and photos are ali requested. Upon granting request, Facebook sends a 302 redirect including the access token; the user copies this from the PrivateEye web page. As the user enters the copied access token, Facebook responds with and renders the user's access data in page. However, this access token only allows for an hour worth of connection, meaning that access would be denied to the video game in an hour, and the user will have to do the whole process over. But the videogame system works around this, by intemally requesting a new access token, sending the old one along with the videogame's secret code (a code granted to the Application upon creation). This then retum a new access token with life span of a month. Twitter has a wealth of APis in their developer's page, however none of them is for C#. So in this project an adaption of Twitterizer (Twitterizer, 2012) a Twitter API for .Net libraries was used to create the necessary signatures and time stamps required by Twitter, these concepts shall be explained more in-depth as we go along. Twitter follows the same process as Facebook for gaining access, however, the CHAPTER 4. APPLIED SOLUTION 61 requested elements from the user's account are not passed in the URL, and they are defined in the application page in Twitter. Also upon receiving the access token, the application has to send an authorization header with: The consumer key- acode given when the application is created in Twitter's page. The oauth_ nonce - a unique token generated by the application for each request, which is could be a relatively random alphanumeric string The oauth_ signature - this parameter contains a value that is generated by running ali of the other request parameters and the two secret values through a signing algorithm. The purpose of the signature is so that Twitter can verify that the request has not been modified in transit. The oauth_ signature_ method - for Twitter this value is always HMAC-SHA 1 The ouath_timestamp - the seconds from when the request was generated. The oauth_token -The token received when the user grants the application access. The oauth_ version - for Twitter this value is always 1.0. With these values present in the header authorization section, the application is then able to access and use the player's Twitter information. The school account access was not done with the use of OAuth, in this case the user must use their login password. The password is sent along with the usemame and a fixed parameter of "Submit=Enviar", in a form in the body ofthe request. The page then retums the answer, "estatus=ok" if the entered parameters are correct. CHAPTER 4. APPLIED SOLUT!ON 62 4.6.2 Connection classes ac~ll!,o ~lcadfacet, tt•tF~t ~ten!'-" Depa,tmem Sctn:e .ó. , ,; 1)per.i1t.~ D.4 Class diagram The above D.4 class diagram depicts the classes used m Prívate Eye for making a connection with the social networks and web serv1ces mentioned, for gathering data, and incorporating this data into the game objects. It also shows the different scenes to which the classes belong, and how these scenes are interconnected. The social network class is responsible for displaying a graphical interface through the method onGui, so that the users would be ab le to make a connection with their social networks. The class calls the classes Facebook and Twitter to make the necessary validations and requests in order to establish the connections with the social networks. In the case of CHAPTER 4. APPUED SOLUTION 63 Twitter, the access token is obtained, with this token the system is able to access the user's account at any point in time in the future. For Facebook an access code is acquired, the code lasts for approximately one month as was mentioned. U pon establishing this connection, the class Menu Choice calls the Twitter class again, but this time to get the tweets from the user's timeline with the access information obtained. This class displays a random tweet from the user in the main menu during game play. This is done by assigning text game objects to the class for displaying the tweets. In the detective's department scene, the class FacebookTextureDepts uses the access code previously obtained to call the Facebook class, which obtains the user's Facebook wall and photos. FacebookTextureDepts then loads the photos as the textures of game objects previously assigned to it. And the wall feed is loaded into a text game object located in the scene. As can be seen in the diagram, the classes of News and NewsRun are also assigned to the scene. NewsRun invokes News to gather the news feeds from the elUniversal RSS feed, then it applies this feed to an assigned text game objects. For the city scene, the FacebookTextureCity also uses the access code to gain access to the user's Facebook photos, and also to the user's friend list. These elements are then loaded into the video game's objects and are then displayed to the user by the same class. The CinemaRun class invokes the Cinema class as the scene is loaded, which downloads the two most recent movie titles and posters. CinemaRun then assignes these elements to specified game objects in the scene. The Login scene runs upon a graphical interface created by the SchoolAccountRun class, in the method onGui. The users enter their log in information, which is passed on to the SchoolAccount class for verification. Upon verification, the SchoolAccountRun calls the schoolGrades function in SchoolAccount with the student's identification and the actual term. The schoolGrades function then downloads the classes that the student is currently taking along with their grades. An array is created by schoolGrades to hold the grades and subjects of CHAPTER 4. APPLIED SOLUTION 64 the student, which later is used to evaluate the most significant changes in grades obtained by the student. This change 1s obtained through the function compareParcials in the SchoolAccount class, which retums the highest or lowest change, once the change is by more than 30 points. 4.6.1 Components and class connections \._ J "\ l\19in í orn».tion ~hool i,lfor~':; \é~Jj~nhw,> Vid~ ~ Socbl 4>,t ~ íl,n: k ,.J '\o(-11.1 nuwork fflformalk>n \,__,....,,,..-...-,,.-w...... ,.....,==....----,;,LJ--~:;e;, ~ r·-.... Wo!b Hf»iu (Ot'lflt( tio,¡ D.5 Class diagram in system's components This diagram shows the same classes explained in the class diagram with in the system 's components. The video game social connect link receives the login information and forwards it to the school account connection component through the SchoolAccountRun class. The social connect link component then makes an authorization request through its CHAPTER 4. APPLIED SOLUTION 65 SocialNetwork class, which is done by Social network connection component and its assigned classes. As the connection is made with the social networks, the required contents are then obtained in the social and reality data component. Content for this component is also pulled from the Reality web services component. The social and reality data component then gathers the necessary data and textures and passes them along to the data and textures component in the video game component. 4.6.5 Sequence diagrams The following diagrams show the different sequence flows of the system, they show the interactions between the classes of the system. D.6 Twitter connection sequence diagram In D.6 the sequence flow starts with the Social networks lifeline, which represents the social networks class. The lifeline then invokes the getRequest method in the Twitter lifeline sending the consumer key and the consumer secret as parameters. The Twitter lifeline then runs the wwwRequestToken to initialize the proper processes for receiving the token; make initial time stamp, opens Twitter authorization page, and retums the data structure for the CHAPTER 4. APPLIED SOLUTION 66 token. As the user grants the system access by placing the returned pin into the system, the Social network lifeline calls the getAccessTonen with the token, which carries the newly acquired pin. With this updated token, the Twitter lifeline makes the necessary signatures for the token to validate the connection, then retums the result of this test to the social network lifeline. " ,Ji' ,f... ,. .Jl.2.1.1: onC\tft'ongAccessOi'ool) .....~ ~ .. ,,_ D.7 Facebook connection sequence diagram To establish a connection with Facebook, the social network lifeline invokes loadFace in the Facebook Class along with the token code entered by the user, as shown in D.7. Using this token, the lifeline validates the token by running the getFacebook method. The result of this interaction is then returned to the social network lifeline. Upan establishing this connection the system then makes a petition for a longer lasting access token through the method getLongAccessCode. The Facebook lifeline obtains the new token and retums the result of the transaction to the social network lifeline. CHAPTER 4. APPLIED SOLUTION 67 D.8 Twitter MenuChoice sequence diagram The use of Twitter in the video game is shown in D.8 . Where Menuchoice uses information from the Twitter token to invoke the method loadTweet, this method loads the tweets in an array and retums the success of the interaction to the menu in the loadTweetsCallback method. D.8 Facebook department texture sequence diagram CHAPTER 4. APPLIED SOLUTION 68 D.9 Facebook city texture sequence diagram In D.8 the FacebookTextureDept lifeline invokes the loadFacePhotos in the Facebook lifeline with the Facebook token that was earlier saved. The Facebook lifeline then retrieves the photos from the user's profile and stores them in an array. It then retums the result of the transactions back to the FacebookTextureDept in the onLoadPhotos function. The same process is repeated to load the user 's wall in the same lifeline, as well as the other photos and friends in the FacebookTextureCity lifeline shown in D.9. In both cases after the photos are loaded, the lifelines runa local method of fillMeWithPhotos that generates random numbers for the selection of the photos to be loaded. Then loadPhotoTextures takes the chosen photos and assigns it to the textures of the textures. \' V-$;-...., ~...._,\., " ,;:' 1: loadFe~B!) ,:, ...... D.1O News department texture sequence diagram CHAPTER 4. APPLIED SOLUTION 69 D.11 Cinema city texture sequence diagram In D.1O the NewsRun firstly invokes the loadFeed in the News, this triggers the readXML, which extracts the needed information from the RSS feed. This same process 1s repeated between the Cinema and CinemaRun in D .11, but an extra function is invoked at the end (loadPhotosTextures), which loads the extracted textures into the game objects. D .12 School account connection sequen ce diagram As shown in D.12 the SchoolAccountRun summons the schoolLogin method in SchoolAccount, which verifies the login information entered by the user, then retums the CHAPTER 4. APPLIED SOLUTION 70 result in the onLoginCallback. This is followed by the getTerm function that acquires the present term, which is then passed back to SchoolAccount along with the student's ID to get the grades and courses cm currently being taken by the student. Upon acquiring the grades, the system places them in a static global array, so that they can be accessed at a later point in time. The system makes the array and retums a success message to the run lifeline, which then recalls the school class again to get the names of the courses through their cm. The subject names are acquired and inserted into the same array, and the run is advised about the success through the onSetNames function. D.13 School account connection sequence diagram The CityPeoplelnteractions also summons the SchoolAccount class for the most relative grade change, invoking its compareParcial function. The function retums the result of the petition, which is then used to create an interaction between the player and certain random characters in the video game. If the pi ayer 's grades fell by more than 30 points, the characters would say " I see you ' re battling with [subject name] stay focus, you ' II get through". If the player's grade increased by more than 30 points, the characters would say "Great job in [subject name], keep it up!". And if no relevant change was made the characters would say "keep up the good work in school". 4. 7 Problems encountered in the making of Private Eye The project presented many different problems of integration. Running the video game in the unity 3D simulation environment presented different results than when actually being ran in CHAPTER 4. APPLIED SOLUTION 71 the iOS device. One notable error was copying the retumed token from Facebook into the video game. In the unity 3D simulation, the precision of the mouse offered a robust and exact copy of the entire token. However when using finger precision in the iOS devices, an extra blank space was copied a long with the token, which threw off the system, and caused crashes in the Facebook connection. Also the simple use of touch interactions caused a huge problem. Mouse interactions were allowed in the sirnulation, but when put to the test with a finger no results were generated. This was because the video game was not detecting the OnMouseDown nor the OnMouseUp functions. To counteract this problem, a daemon like class was made which listened for each touch interaction with an object. In retum the daemon called the OnMouseDown or OnMouseUp functions of the objects, that is if the objects were presented with such. 4.8 Schedule D.14 Schedule of the activities used in the developrnent Prívate Eye School login scene programming Social network login scene programming Program the school account interac on in the video game V) (1) Program the school account ·-+-' ·-> connec on +,,I u Program the Social networks <( integra on in the video game Program the Facebook connec Oíl Program the Twi er connec Oíl credit scene programming CHAPTER 4. APPUED SOLUTION 72 Start up scene programming City elements programming Detec ve apartment scene programming Sprites anima ons Video game models Video game story line Jan- Feb- Mar 12 12 -12 Time The table shows the different activities that were employed in the creation of Private Eye against the time period. The time period begins in June of 2011 with the creation of the story lin e for the video game, and ends in March of2012 with the programming ofthe login scene. 4.9 Out throw Here we are able to see the full implementation of the system, the application of the concepts and components listed in the previous chapter in PrivateEye. The video game was also tested to see how students of the Tecnológico de Monterrey would perceive the proposed immersion idea in the video game. The following chapter deals with the tests made and the results gathered. CHAPTER 4. APPLIED SOLUTION 73 CHAPTER 5 Case Study This chapter explains the test scenario used to obtain user feedback about the applied solution, along with the results of the test are also provided and explained in the chapter. The test was not focused on the game's design, it was set up to see if the inclusion of the social virtual elements of the user would create an enhanced immersive sensation in the video game's gameplay. 5.1 Test scenario To accomplish the task, the video game was introduced in an actual class at the Tecnológico de Monterrey, comprised of students from 4th to 6th semester. This in tum gives an age group of 18 to 20 years of age, which fits exactly in the targeted user group. The test was lead by the class instructor, Dr. José Martín Molina Espinosa, and supervised by my self. The students were explained the vision of the school, "to create morally grounded citizens", and also the importance of being a moral individual at school, on the job, or in a socially casual environment. The test was taken from a moral decision point of view, meaning that the students were explained that the test was part of an ethical experiment, to see and discuss how we make decisions, and they affect others. 11 students participated in the experiment. After explaining the need to be more ethically centered, the video game Prívate Eye was presented CHAPTER5.CASESTUDY 73 to the students, installed in 5 different iOS devices (an iPhone 4, an iPhone 4S, an iPhone 3GS, and two 3rd generations iPod touch). The class was then divided into five groups, with one group of 3 students and the other 4 of 2 students per iOS device. A step-by-step introduction about how to login, how to connect to Facebook and Twitter, and how to move about in the first scene was explained to the students. This was done so that they could become familiar with the video garue control, menu, story and interaction methods. However the use of the social networks in the video garue were not explained, only the mere fact that they were suppose to allow the video garue to connect to the different mentioned social network accounts. After the first scene, the students were left on their own to discover the where about of the Internet café, and how to enter in order to achieve the main objective (obtain fingerprints from a computer inside of the Internet cafe). After ali the groups completed the objective, a group discussion followed, in which the groups shared their experiences. During the discussion, ali of the different forms of entering the Internet café were explained (using a legally obtained search warrant, stealing money from news paper stands, or breaking in the internet cafe through the back door), along with the moral implications they carried. The experiences the students gained while playing through the scenes along with their idea of the virtual social elements were discussed at the end of the experiment. However, they were also closely observed as they were playing to see their reactions towards the inclusion of the virtual social elements. CHAPTER5.CASESTUDY 74 5.1 Observed information E. l photo of a student during the experiment As the students first began to play and discovered the inclusion of their photos from their Facebook account with in the video game, a widely shared pleased surprise was noted through out the classroom. The students quickly began to explore the detective's habitation to see ali of the photos along with the other dynamically obtained information. As different groups discovered different objects, they excitedly shared them with other groups. Many stopped to read the news posts and commented about them subtly or between friends, sorne in amazement, others negatively moved by the received news headlines. News postings that at the moment included political headlines, along with updated news about the local volcano becoming active. As they began to exit into the city, an eager and exciting look was easily noted upan the student's faces. They glued to the mini screens trying to discover as many virtual social items as possible, as their group members pleaded for a tum to play. With in 5 minutes one group had found the Internet cafe and was now retuming to look for a way to enter. CHAPTER5.CASESTUDY 75 E.2 photo of a student during the experiment Few minutes later, many others had also discovered the location of the objective. Sorne quickly found the break in entrance using the side penalty of trespassing as the police chased them through the city and returned them to the start of the video game. Once again the small tightly knitted group shared their losses aloud with other groups. The first group to successfully enter the Internet café and obtain the fingerprints As ali the groups completed the mam objective and acquired the fingerprints, a discussion began between ali the different groups. A hyped and exciting sensation was noted through out the classroom, as if pleased by the experience. 5.3 Group discussions As the discussions began, different groups started to share the fonns in which they achieved the objective. 3 groups entered the Internet café using the side Honesty for trying to enter the Internet café by any means necessary, this in retum affected the tender at the entrance of the café. Respect because the detective tried to influence the actions and decisions of the café tender, showing no respect for her position. Responsibility was identified because the detective dropped everything else he was doing to attend to a personal matter, showing an utter lack of responsibility in his job. Last but not least the class identified justice, because the detective 's father was sentenced for a crime he didn 't commit, which shows a failure in the justice's system. The group chose responsibility as the most important value conflict in the video game, for they too have problems prioritizing activities in their lives. As altemative solutions to the detective's predicament they suggested; sticking to his duties no matter what, and delegate his duties to a third party. However when asked to vote on which of the 3 choices they would take if placed in the same situation, they unanimously voted for the route the detective took. The class was then asked about the game itself; the most impacting elements, how they felt while playing it, and if it helped as an ethical experiment. Of the 11 members, 9 preferred the inclusion of the Facebook elements, and the other 2 preferred the inclusion of the cinema listing. They went on to comment that these elements served as a pleasant distraction, even after being captured by the police and having to start over from the beginning was not frustrating because they always saw something new and exciting to them. In the end they classified the video game as an effective method for an ethical experiment. Of the 11 participants, 2 had previously been involved in other ethical experiments, which they ranked as boring and mundane, but claimed that the video game affected them more personally. The group discussions served as a means of clearing up doubts of whether the immersion carne from the video game 's story, or the inclusion of the online elements. The CHAPTER5.CASESTUDY 77 answer became both, explaining how the online factors helped them to appreciate the story offered. 5.4 Out throw After analyzing the group as they played, and listening to their opinions and critiques about the video game concepts after playing, it was clear that the objective of the thesis had been accomplished. The students had an immersive experience while playing the video game through the use of the elements from their social networks. The only complaint the students had was that it would have been better if each of them had their own iOS device. This immersion was easily noted as they were playing, but became clear during the group discussions. The students perceived the inclusion of the online elements as a means for them to enjoy and attach themselves more to the story presented. The following chapter brings a conclusion to the thesis along with areas for future advancements. Areas identified during the testing of the solution. CHAPTER 6 Conclusion The connection with the social networks already exists in many games, but as was stated it only allows the users to post information. This connection can be put to further use as was demonstrated in this thesis, so that video game developers can take advantage of the users' preferences and their surroundings with out having to present them with forms to full out. In the creation of a video game, one of the most important elements that developers seek is that users enjoy the gaming experience offered. By including the elements of the different social networks and other electronic mediums surrounding the user in the video CHAPTER 6. CONCLUSION 78 games adds an extra touch that can help developers to get even closer to this goal. This form of immersion has been proven successful from the case study, and only requires that the developers implement a structure similar the one presented in C. l, a form in which the attributes of the scenes and sprites are interchangeable. This structure coupled with the component flow in C.8 offers the base for the matchings of table C.2. More elements can easily be added to the matching contents following the format presented. 6.1 Future advancements This chapter deals with possible advancements to the proposed solution. Additional Ideas that can make the solution more roundly in terms of technology and not just as a better way to make video games more immersive, but as a better piece of technology. 6.1.1 Interactivity The downloaded content from the web services can be more interactive in the video games, instead of the passive solution. Meaning that the information obtained from certain web services can actually have sorne sort of effect in the video game. This effect will not spread as far as affecting the story of the video game, but it can affect the player's status; points, skill level, life, achievements, etc. An example is using the news reports about disasters to form generic scenes. If the report is about earthquakes, the video game can run a simple 2D scene where the player has to rescue as many people as possible in befare a given time, while the city is shaking violently and debris is crumbling down. The idea of these extra scenes would not be the graphical content, but a change in game play, adding more dynamics to the video games while at the same time giving the users CHAPTER 6. CONCLUSION 79 more interactions with the news reports. 6.1.2 Web services Instead of the system presenting information from pre chosen Web service feeds, the system will instead provide the players with a list of different feeds. The players will be asked to choose the ones they want to include in the videogame and the ones they don 't want. This will not take away the limitation presented by the system, and put more control into the players' hands. This can result to be an even more personalized videogame, and hence a more immersive videogame. For example, the video game can propose news, cmema, sports, fashion & style, music, etc., and the players can then choose a selected few to be including in the video game. Based on the player's location, the video game can pull information from the player's region for the selected web services. Also sorne of the web service feeds can also be used in an interactive form and not just visually. The system will be able to allow the players to access the product being advertised providing the means of purchasing the displayed item. For example, if a player sees a new movie showing in the video game, and wishes to purchase movie tickets to see it in real life. The player will be able to click on the movie in the video game, which will in tum allow the player to purchase the movie ticket through the video game. 6.1.3 Character data base How the system stands, assigning names to characters randomly can result m a feminine character having a masculine name, or vice versa. For future advances the system can create a sort of sharable database with genders. And as the network grows, and friends of the player are incorporated in it as well, the system can verify gender by cross-referencing the contacts with the database. Meaning that if player A has connected their social networks account to the CHAPTER 6. CONCLUSION 80 system, and player B has done the same, and both players are present in each other's contact list. The system will have both genders registered, so if player A is a male and player B's system requires amale character, the system can user player A's name. Players will also be able to personalize their avatars. They will be able to modify their avatar at any point in time during the game with a wide range of accessories. This information will also be stored in the system-networked database. This way, not only the name of the character will appear as mentioned in the above example, but also their avatar. Annexed documents User manual 1. Download PrivateEye from iTunes App Store 2. Open video game in iOS device. 3. After load screen clears a splash screen appears with background music as shown in H.l. ANNEXED DOCUMENTS 81 H. l Private Eye screenshot 4. Tap the screen to start as the flashing text indicates and the school login screen will open as shown in H.2. H.2 Private Eye screenshot 5. En ter login infonnation for CCM account. If login is not successful, the system will ask for infonnation again. If it is successful, H.3 will appear. H.3 Private Eye screenshot ANNEXED DOCUMENTS 82 6. The start screen from H.3 allows the players to start a new garue (go to step 15), continue from last saving point, see video game credits, or grant video game permission to social network account by clicking settings (go to step 7). H.4 Private Eye screenshot 7. From H.4, the player can grant access to Twitter (go to step 8) orto Facebook (go to step 12). Or the player can click exit and retum to step 6. Authorize PrivateEye to use your account? PrlvaleEye This appiicalion • Read Twec1s from your timeline. • See who you rollow, and follow new people. • Updale your profdo. • Post Tweúts !or you. • Acccss your dircct r"ncssages No, thanks 1c;,d;c'1 will not be able to H.5 Private Eye screenshot 8. Upon clicking grant access to Twitter account in H.4, a intemet browser will appear showing the following authorize screen as in H.5. If the player clicks in authorize app, the H.6 screen appears. Next. return to PrivateEye and enter this PIN to complete the authorization process 9022146 H.6 Private Eye screenshot ANNEXED DOCUMENTS 83 9. A pin access nuruber will be granted to the user upon authorizing the video garue access to Twitter. Copy this nuruber, return to the video garue and enter it where it say enter pin, as shown in H. 7. Safari browser for iOS H.7 Prívate Eye screenshot 10. Upon entering the correct pin in the video garue as shown in H.7, click enter pin for the video to gain access. H.8 Private Eye screenshot 11. The video garue returns the display shown in H.8 with the user's Twitter screen name and a green access granted sign. If there is an error in gaining access to the Twitter account, the systeru will ask for the token again. Here the user can also post a tweet froru the video garue, exit to the start screen (step 6), or return to the grant access screen (step 7). ANNEXED DOCUMENTS 84 H.9 Private Eye screenshot 12. Upon clicking grant access to Facebook account, the system will open up a browser and allow you to log into your Facebook account. Upon logging in and granting the application permission, H.9 will be displayed. Here you will be able to copy the long token code, as the instructions says, "tap and hold finger on text to copy" in order to copy the token. Retum to video game paste the access token as shown below. H. l O Private Eye screenshot 13. Paste the access token in the indicated text box as in H.l O then hit en ter. WARNING! The iOS safari browser copies an extra blank space at the end of the token, erase this blank space before hitting enter. If there was an error, the system will ask you for the access token again. If the video game was able to access your account the following screen would appear. H.11 Private Eye screenshot 14. H.11 shows the system successfully being granted access to a Facebook account. Your Facebook user name will be displayed along with access granted in green as sown above. You can exit from the settings menu by clicking exit (step 6) or retum to settings grant access menu by clicking retum (step7). ANNEXED DOCUMENTS 85 H.12 Prívate Eye screenshot 15. Upon clicking new game, the video game will advice you that any advances you have will be deleted as shown in H.12. If you click no, you will return to the start up menu (step 6). If you click yes H.13 game start screen will appear. ~spus;s ~ H.13 Prívate Eye screenshot 16. H.13 shows a brief introduction to the video game's story. Tapping on this screen will advance you to the first game scene as shown in H.14. H.14 Prívate Eye screenshot 17. H.14 shows the detective in his room as the video game starts. The two grey and black circular objects on the screen are the joysticks. The left joystick is used to advance the character (forward, backward, side ways), while the right joystick is used to rotate the character. The grey button with red text to the top right is the menu ANNEXED DOCUMENTS 86 button. Step 18 shows the menu when clicked. Step 19 through 22 show more screen shots of the game in play. H.15 Prívate Eye screenshot 18. H.15 shows the menu display. If Twitter access is granted Tweets will appear as default screen with random tweets taken from your Twitter's timeline. If Twitter access was not granted, the tweets sign and tweets would not be displayed. On the left hand comer of the menu, the following options are present: Save, to save current progresses. Objectives, to view the current objectives. Map, to display the any map you may have. Inventory, to show a list of items you possess. Quit, to exit the game. H.16 Prívate Eye screenshot 19. H.16 shows the detective in his department, and an image of an actual photo taken from the player's Facebook account. More photos can be seen through out the detective·s department and the city. ANNEXED DOCUMENTS 87 H.17 Private Eye screenshot 20. H.17 image shows the news feed gathered by the video game of the last 4 news updates from e!Universal Mexico news RSS feed. H.18 Private Eye screenshot 21. H.18 shows an example of a dialog box used in the game. To remove these, click in the upper right-most red section of the dialog box. H.19 Private Eye screenshot 22. H.19 shows the live feed from the Cinepolis movie theatre. It shows the two most recent movies showing at the theatre, the headings and the related posters. ANNEXED DOCUMENTS 88 H.20 Prívate Eye screenshot 23. The H.20 figure shows an interaction with a random character in the city. The character makes a comment to player based on his grades, in this case, the piayer grades fell drastically in a subject so the character attempts to cheer up the player with a positive comment. Clicking the Thanks button would remove the message box and un-pause the game. Private Eye Story Line ANNEXED DOCUMENTS 89 flHil (ii] ¡ -[lJ -11-~ ··---~---. 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