This study examines the in-game encyclopaedia Codex as it appears within the videogame Mass Effect. The purpose of this study is to analyse the Codex with emphasis on how the reading process is affected by the videogame medium. In this regard the study seeks to uncover what characterises the Codex as a fictional encyclopaedia, what it entails and how it interacts with the rest of the game. The theoretical basis of this study is derived from a combination of the writings of Wolfgang Iser concerning the process of reading, Jesper Juul's writings on the relationship between games and narratives, and the concept of intermediality as discussed by Hans Lund and Jørgen Bruhn.      This study is based on a close examination of the PC and Playstation 3 versions of the videogame Mass Effect, created by Bioware, with particular emphasis placed on the Codex. Mass Effect is a science fiction third-person shooter and RPG set in a future where mankind has begun interacting with aliens civilizations and colonising new planets.

I denna text diskuterar jag produktionen av Hearty Horrors, ett spel programmerat och designat helt i flash. Jag diskuterar svårigheterna för de olika delarna i att skapa ett spel. Tankar och jämförelser mellan onda och goda karaktärer och vad man, som speldesigner, bör och inte bör göra för att få spelare att känna sig manade att spela vidare. In this text I discuss the production of Hearty Horrors, a game programmed and designed completly in flash. I discuss the difficulties of diffrent parts in the making of a game.

Denna rapport har undersökt om game metrics genom heat maps kan användas för att hitta en choke point i en bana gjord till spelet Team Fortress 2. Game metrics och kvantitativa  metoder  erbjuder  ett  objektivt  och  nästan  automatiserat  alternativ  till kvalitativa metoder när det kommer till balansering. En bana har konstruerats med en choke point och har speltestats för att generera en heat map. För att undersöka om det går att hitta en choke point med hjälp av en heat map så har en enkät gjorts där respondenter   bads   hitta   choke   pointen   med   hjälp   av   den   heat   mapen   som genererades från speltestningen av banan. Alla respondenter lyckades hitta mitten av choke  pointen  med  hjälp  av  heat  mapen.  I  framtiden  skulle  arbetet  kunna  utökas genom  att  undersöka  om  användandet  av  bottar  eventuellt  skulle  helt  kunna automatisera  balanseringsprocessen.  Det  skulle  också  gå  att  undersöka  hur  olika klasser rör sig i en bana..

This essay is about the use of narrative in video games, and the discussion surrounding it. For years ludologists (game researchers) and narratologists (narrativity researchers) have been arguing about how to analyze narrativity in games. While ludologists have chosen to see games as a product by itself, and therefore something to be analyzed separately, narratologists instead see games as a narrative medium alongside film, theater and books. This essay starts by taking a look at the arguments from both sides, and then introduces three questions regarding narrative in games, and how this phenomenon has changed over the past 13 years. To answer these questions, five case studies are carried out, analyzing games with the help of a new framework built on narrative theory.

This essay will focus on video and computer game violence. We hope to uncover, with the help of semiotics, according to Barthes design, if this kind of violence can have a negative effect on youth and adolescents. How intense is the violence and how graphic is it?. PEGI is the European measurement for game age limits.

Ungulates are causing conflicts between stakeholders due to browsing damage on forests and agricultural crops. At the same time there is a big demand of keeping high ungulate densities for sports hunting and recreational purposes. Movement patterns of ungulates are strongly correlated with forage availability. Therefore, measures affecting forage quantity and distribution might be a tool to reduce the economical losses in forestry without decreasing the ungulate densities and thereby decrease the conflict between different interest groups.This study investigated the potential biomass production and utilisation of marrow-stem kale (Brassica oleracea var. medullosa), at game fields in Misterhult, Sweden, as well as browsing effects on adjacent forests.

This paper deals with the difficulties of applying user-centered design practices as an independent developer, based on the visualization of a game concept in the form of a prototype. The aim is to evaluate the usability of user-centered design practices, specifically in the field of games development. Throughout this paper, I will give an account of the methods used for testing, as well as a review of previous research done in this field of study. Finally, I will end with a discussion regarding the pros and cons of user-centered design, as well as some thoughts about its importance in similar projects..

An alternate reality game, often abbreviated as ARG, is a mix between a game and a crossmedia interactive story using mainly the Internet as a platform. The game is built around the idea of teamwork among its participants. The players cooperate to solve puzzles allowing them to go forward in the story of the game. The marketing element is in different ways included in the story.A few Alternate Reality Games such as The Beast, The Art of the H3ist and The Lost Ring have previously been launched as marketing campaigns. This bachelor thesis aims to examine the possibilities of Alternate Reality Games as an alternative marketing tool for profit-driven companies.

The technical evolution has a great influence on the public libraries. Electronic media becomes more and more common. This Master´s thesis is based upon the Swedish Library law 9§ (SFS 1996:1596) which says: Public- and school libraries should pay special attention to children and teenagers by offering books, information technology and other media, adapted to their needs, to encourage development of language and stimulate reading. From this point of view we have examined why the children´s departments in public libraries offer CD-ROM games which are based upon characters from the literature, how they are used in the daily activity and how they can contribute to the development of the children´s department.We have made literary studies and empirical investigations including interviews, observation studies etc. The results from this studies shows that both young and adults appreciate the CD-ROM games.

This thesis aims to examine the phenomenon of gambling and consequences that may result from having a gambling problem. The thesis also intends to investigate opportunities for support and a few explanatory- and treatment models. Games are taking on new shapes and access to gambling for money is on the rise. Studies on gambling have primarily been focusing on epidemiological factors rather than factors increasing or decreasing the risk of developing gambling-related problems. The empirical material is based on eight qualitative semi-structured interviews.

Time changes, so also in sport. The small venues become larger and more modernized. As stadiums grows, so also does sponsorship and its popularity, around them. Is it enough as a sponsor only to expose yourself these days, or does the new times require more creativity to stand out from all the media?This work is done for Stadium AB in Norrköping, and treats questions such as; what type of sposnorcummunication that is proper to use around the soccer stadium, and if it is possible for new ideas in the future when Stadium is hosting a game? To answer these questions theory has been read about sponsorship and data has been gathered through qualitative interviewswith soccer clubs and sponsorship consultants.The work result shows that there are some general rules that the company should follow tosucceess when hosting a game.

During a political election the public?s interest in politics and political journalism increases significantly. During the American presidential election in 2012 a big amount of articles on that topic were published in two of Sweden?s largest newspaper, Svenska Dagbladet and Aftonbladet. Political journalism tends to frame politics as sports, game and scandals rather than focusing on the political issues.

Dataspelsproblematik är ett eskalerande problem som har visat sig påverka många unga människors utveckling och välbefinnande. Syftet med denna studie var därför att undersöka ungas dataspelsproblematik, vilka konsekvenser ett överdrivet dataspelande medför samt vilken behandling som ges till unga med dataspelsproblematik. Empirin erhölls genom kvalitativa intervjuer med professionella som arbetar med denna typ av problematik vid verksamheterna Game Over och Theory in Action. Resultatet visade att dataspelsproblematik idag inte har en bestämd definition och att det är ett problem som inte är tillräckligt uppmärksammat. Synen på orsaker till dataspelsproblematik hos unga är komplext då det kan tänkas bero på många olika faktorer.

Abstrakt Under vårt kandidatarbete arbetade vi under 20 veckor med att utveckla ett webbaserat spel riktat mot Facebook. Vi använde Agile/Scrum som projektmetod för vårt arbete och förändrade metoden och utvecklade verkyg för att effektivisera den för vårt syfte. Vi kom fram till att det är svårt att göra ett socialt spel och att det viktigaste i produktionen är att se till att det finns en tydlig koppling mellan spelarnas interaktion med varandra och den grundläggande spelmekaniken. Vi tappade fokus under utvecklingen och lärde oss den hårda vägen vikten av att planera realistiskt och börja ifrån grunden när man utvecklar ett spel. Spelet vi skapade använder sig av slumpässigt genererad terräng, är skrivet i JavaScript och utspelar sig i en viktoriansk miljö. Nyckelord: Facebook, spelutveckling, webbutveckling, internet, sociala spel Abstract During our bachelor thesis we worked for 20 weeks with the development of a web-based game for Facebook. We used Agile/Scrum as our project planning method, changed the method to make it more effective for our purpose and developed tools for the method. We came to the conclusion that it's hard to make a social game and that the most important thing in the production is to make sure that there's a clear connection between the players' interaction with each other and the foundations of the game mechanics. We lost focus during the development and learned the hard way the value of planning realistically and to start from the core when developing a game. The game we created uses a random generated terrain, is written in JavaScript and takes place in a Victorian environment. Keywords: Facebook, game development, web development, internet, social games.

Who will win? Popular and literary framing in media coverage of Nobel Prize in Literature by Magnus Wennerberg Autumn 2013Instructor Mats Ekström The question at issue in this essay is how does mass media frame Nobel Prize in Literature? The starting point is to study whether game framing is occuring in media coverage of Nobel Prize in Literature. Previously, game framing has been studied in coverage of politcs, contrasted against issue framing. Game framing means that media frame politics as a game, a contest between politicians about power. This kind of framing is supposed to be used by media in purpose of attracting larger audience.