The purpose of this essay is to investigate and discuss the current state of game research and its potential usage in didactic situations. The essay is divided in two parts. Part one consists of an attempt to comment preceding contemporary game research and address possible myths that have been established. Part two aims to discuss games narrative capacity and function in education using the theories and terms laid down by Wolfgang Iser and Gérard Genette.Contemporary game research tends to focus on classic retro games, trying to form theories for a general understanding of the media. This is a useful method as long as the purpose of the study is to define how game mechanics and layout are formed.

Immersion is a construct that measures how deeply engrossed a user is with any mediated situation. In the field of game design, immersion is a significant aspect of what makes a game enticing, and as such it is of pivotal importance to create and maintain it to keep the player's mind off the real world while inside the confines of a game framework. According to the GameFlow theory, it is one of seven key tenets of evaluating and implementing a successful game design. Yet, certain multiplayer online games are designed in a fashion that in some cases seem to break immersion, where the player is frequently put out of action, sometimes for minutes on end. In this study, using online questionnaires, we discover that players, despite claims otherwise, seem to be in several ways affected negatively by this breaking of immersion.

Immersion is a construct that measures how deeply engrossed a user is with any mediated situation. In the field of game design, immersion is a significant aspect of what makes a game enticing, and as such it is of pivotal importance to create and maintain it to keep the player's mind off the real world while inside the confines of a game framework. According to the GameFlow theory, it is one of seven key tenets of evaluating and implementing a successful game design. Yet, certain multiplayer online games are designed in a fashion that in some cases seem to break immersion, where the player is frequently put out of action, sometimes for minutes on end. In this study, using online questionnaires, we discover that players, despite claims otherwise, seem to be in several ways affected negatively by this breaking of immersion.

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.

Today's technology offers a variety of opportunities to interact with the interactive systems. Human-Computer Interaction in the last decade is the area of research that has contributed the most to this development. But how is this interaction perceived? The user experience is something that is formed by the interaction between human and the computer interactive systems. The objective of this thesis is to investigate how the user experience differs depending on how one interacts with a game.

The aim of this study is to describe how reviews of literature in Bonniers litterära magasin and Expressen changed during the period 1964-2004. The investigation is based on 20 reviews of novels and short stories, which are analysed with a method described in Hellspong and Ledin (1997) and inspired by Halliday. The theoretical frame of the investigation is founded on critical discourse analysis (Fairclough 1992 & 2001) and Habermas´social theory of the public sphere.The investigation shows, among other things, that the reviews became shorter and easier to read in both paper during the period. The investigation also shows that the genre´s style, composition and contents are relatively stable, and that current ideologies in society have a tendency to be reflected in the reviewers´evaluation of the books. To generalize, the reviews thus developed from a poetic genre in 1964, to become political in the 1970s, academic in the 1980s, feminist in the 1990s and finally an intermedial genre in 2004..

Electromyography (EMG) is a technique that measures muscle activity, whichmeans detecting the electrical signals that travel through the muscle in connectionwith muscle contraction. This project deals with how EMG can be used tocontrol a computer game.The project is centered around the game 'EMG Track Game' which has beenconstructed as part of this work. 'EMG Track Game' is controlled by twoelectrodes fastened on the player. These are attached to two selected musclesand control the motion in one direction each, one up and the other one down.The game is constructed in the purpose of being used in several elds of application.Among these are as entertainment, training equipment and a tool inresearch related to EMG and muscles.To highlight a possible application a study concerning muscle control has beenconducted. It answers the question of whether players score better with theirdominant arm in comparison with their non-dominant one.

There is a lack of published material regarding designing graphical user interfaces of so called integrated video uploading services. The term integrated video uploading services refers to homepages that do not have video uploading as its primary purpose but which still offers that service to its visitors. The aim of this thesis was to improve the amount of published material about designing graphical user interfaces for integrated video uploading services. This was done by performing a literature study to find general design guidelines which can be applied to design of integrated video uploading services. Thereafter the functionality and design of dedicated video uploading services was analyzed.

Undersökningens avsikt är att granska video-centric webbplatsers användning bland Karlstads universitets studenter, varför och hur studenter använder webbplatserna. Undersökningen är baserad på Uses and Gratifications modellen..

Dice is one of Sweden's largest game manufacturers. They have produced a game series called ?Battlefield?, which recently celebrated its tenth anniversary, releasing it gradually over the years. In order to create a game some form of work structure is required. In this essay we discover what the Dice work process looks like today and how it has changed over the years.Game development is progressing and market changes require game developers to constantly adapt to the current situation.

The diegetic game world places high demands on how it is designed. It is common that game developers wants to create a deeper player immersion and some developers believe to achieve this by integrating HUD elements into the game world. To find out how digital games can rely on the design of the game world, we performed user studies on beginners who have very limited experience of playing digital games. By observing the beginners, we could discern the visual aspects in the diegesis that helps players understand the game rules and objectives because the beginners won`t make their choices based on previous gaming experiences. If players encounter a variety of difficulties to understand the rules of a game, then it will less likely be a successful game.

This paper explains the basis for impartial games and the classicgame Nim. Nim is complicated by a modular Muller twist and thesolution for this game is described by a simple theorem. The modularMuller twist means that at the end of each move the player selects a kand the number of sticks the next player leaves in the pile, where thedraw is made, must be congruent with k modulo m. The number m isfixed throughout the game..

The aim was to evaluate and suggest improvements for the prototype TIVOLI (sign-learning via computer-based playful interaction). The game purposed to give children who need signing as augmentative and alternative communication enhanced signing skills. Three children in need of signs played TIVOLI at home during 4-5 weeks. Data contained parental interviews, Talking Mats interviews, assessment of signing competence before and after the evaluation period and game protocols. One game interaction per child was filmed.

The goal of this work has been to create a flexible strategic group-based artificial intelligence for the Arrowhead Game Studios-game Magicka, by implementing, using and examining different AI-techniques that's used in many commercial games in more or less extent. C# is the programming language that has been used in the development, and the implementation has been made as flexible as possible to make further development and extending AI-rules etc. easier..

The aim of this thesis is to examine how five works of fiction about anorexia and bulimia have been received in Swedish daily press reviews. The investigation is based on 60 reviews, which are analysed with a qualitative method consisting of close-reading and where a feministic perspective is used. The main question concerns how and to which extent the basis of valuation in the reviews is effected by the fact that the books describe a primary female world of experiences. The investigation shows, among other things, that many reviewers consider the books about eating disorders to be too many. They categorize the books about anorexia and bulimia as a genre of its own and place the books into the literary system principally by referring to other books about anorexia and bulimia.