Many of today's hottest selling games--both non-electronic and electronic--focus on such elements as shooting up as many bad guys as one can (Duke Nuk'em), beating the toughest level (Mortal Kombat), collecting all the cards (Pokemon), and scoring the most points (Tetris). Fantasy role-playing games (Dungeons & Dragons, Rolemaster, GURPS), while they may involve some of those aforementioned elements, rarely focus on them. Instead, playing a fantasy role-playing game is much like acting out a scene from a play, movie or book, only without a predefined script. Players take on such roles as wise wizards, noble knights, roguish sellswords, crafty hobbits, greedy dwarves, and anything else one can imagine and the referee allows. The players don't exactly compete; instead, they interact with each other and with the fantasy setting. The game is played orally with no game board, and although the referee usually has a storyline planned for a game, much of the action is impromptu. Performance is a major part of role-playing, and role-playing games as a performing art is the subject of this book, which attempts to introduce an appreciation for the performance aesthetics of such games. The author provides the framework for a critical model useful in understanding the art--especially in terms of aesthetics--of role-playing games. The book also serves as a contribution to the beginnings of a body of criticism, theory, and aesthetics analysis of a mostly unrecognized and newly developing art form. There are four parts: the cultural structure, the extent to which the game relates to outside cultural elements; the formal structure, or the rules of the game; the social structure, which encompasses the degree and quality of social interaction among players; and the aesthetic structure, concerned with the emergence of role-playing as an art form.

Featuring the space station that changed the destiny of an entire galaxy, the Babylon 5 RPG from Mongoose Publishing allows players to take on the role of characters from the award-winning TV series. This all new edition revisits one of the most successful sci-fi roleplaying games of recent years, bringing the game to an all new group of fans! Existing fans will not be disappointed, the rules have been tweaked so that the game is even better than before, and most importantly, is a stand-alone rulebook in its own right with no requirement for the use of another rulebook!

With the widespread interest in digital entertainment and the advances in the technologies of computer graphics, multimedia and virtual reality technologies, the new area of “Edutainment” has been accepted as a union of education and computer entertainment. Edutainment is recognized as an effective way of learning through a medium, such as a computer, software, games or AR/VR applications, that both educates and entertains. The Edutainment conference series was established and followed as a special event for the new interests in e-learning and digital entertainment. The main purpose of Edutainment conferences is the discussion, presentation, and information exchange of scientific and technological developments in the new community. The Edutainment conference series is a very interesting opportunity for researchers, engineers, and graduate students who wish to communicate at these international annual events. The conference series includes plenary invited talks, workshops, tutorials, paper presen- tion tracks, and panel discussions. The Edutainment conference series was initiated in Hangzhou, China in 2006. Following the success of the first (Edutainment 2006 in Hangzhou, China), the second (Edutainment 2007 in Hong Kong, China), and the third events (Edutainment 2008 in Nanjing, China), Edutainment 2009 was held August 9–11, 2009 in Banff, Canada. This year, we received 116 submissions from 25 different countries and regions - cluding Austria, Canada, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Trinidad and Tobago, UK, and USA.

These proceedings represent the work of researchers participating in the 9th European Conference on Games-Based Learning, which is being hosted this year by Nord-Trondelag University College, Steinkjer, Norway, on the 8-9 October 2015. The Conference has become a key platform for individuals to present their research findings, display their work in progress and discuss conceptual advances in many different areas and specialties within Games-Based Learning. It also offers the opportunity for like-minded individuals to meet, discuss and share knowledge. ECGBL continues to evolve and develop, and the wide range of papers and topics will ensure an interesting two-day conference. In addition to the main streams of the conference, there are mini tracks focusing on the areas of the design of multiplayer/collaborative serious games, applied Games and gamification, the teacher's role in game-based learning, games for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) learning, assessment of digital game-based learning and pervasive and ubiquitous gaming for learning. In addition to the presentations of research we are delighted to host the third year of the Serious Game competition, which provides an opportunity for educational game designers and creators to participate in the conference and demonstrate their game design and development skills in an international competition. This competition is again sponsored by SEGAN - Serious Games Network. With an initial submission of more than 60 games, 28 finalists will present their games at the conference. Prizes will be awarded to the games judged to demonstrate the best quality and originality of game play itself and the positioning and articulation of the game's contribution to the educational domain. With an initial submission of 190 abstracts, after the double blind peer review process, there are 75 research papers, 15 PhD research papers, 4 Non Academic papers and 8 work-in-progress papers published in these Conference Proceedings. These papers represent research from more than 40 countries, including Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Norway, Portugal, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan/ROC, The Netherlands, The Netherlands, United Arab Emirates, UK and USA

This book is the THE source for information on virtual worlds, covering every aspect of this intriguing and fast-changing social practice and the technologies upon which it rests. Virtual Lives: A Reference Handbook describes the history, development, and role of virtual worlds, also known as virtual environments and immersive virtual environments. It provides detailed background about virtual worlds and their societal impact, from early precursors and inspirations to the latest trends and developments. Specifics on user demographics are included, as are descriptions of virtual worlds' functions, discussion of societal concerns and opportunities, and information about relevant research data and key persons and organizations. Although virtual worlds in their current form are a relatively new phenomenon, other online social environments have served as precursors for decades and literary inspirations go back even further. This handbook therefore covers some early developments dating back to the mid-20th century. Its primary focus, however, is on developments since the mid-1990s and especially on the current state and social impact of virtual worlds, including their impact both in the United States and around the world.

Despite the rise of computer gaming, millions of adults still play face to face role playing games, which rely in part on social interaction to create stories. This work explores tabletop role playing game (TRPG) as a genre separate from computer role playing games. The relationship of TRPGs to other games is examined, as well as the interaction among the tabletop module, computer game, and novel versions of Dungeons & Dragons. Given particular attention are the narrative and linguistic structures of the gaming session, and the ways that players and gamemasters work together to construct narratives. The text also explores wider cultural influences that surround tabletop gamers.

This unique volume introduces and discusses the methods of validating computer simulations in scientific research. The core concepts, strategies, and techniques of validation are explained by an international team of pre-eminent authorities, drawing on expertise from various fields ranging from engineering and the physical sciences to the social sciences and history. The work also offers new and original philosophical perspectives on the validation of simulations. Topics and features: introduces the fundamental concepts and principles related to the validation of computer simulations, and examines philosophical frameworks for thinking about validation; provides an overview of the various strategies and techniques available for validating simulations, as well as the preparatory steps that have to be taken prior to validation; describes commonly used reference points and mathematical frameworks applicable to simulation validation; reviews the legal prescriptions, and the administrative and procedural activities related to simulation validation; presents examples of best practice that demonstrate how methods of validation are applied in various disciplines and with different types of simulation models; covers important practical challenges faced by simulation scientists when applying validation methods and techniques; offers a selection of general philosophical reflections that explore the significance of validation from a broader perspective. This truly interdisciplinary handbook will appeal to a broad audience, from professional scientists spanning all natural and social sciences, to young scholars new to research with computer simulations. Philosophers of science, and methodologists seeking to increase their understanding of simulation validation, will also find much to benefit from in the text.

An eleven-year-old boy strangled an elderly woman for the equivalent of five dollars in 2007, then buried her body under a thin layer of sand. He told the police that he needed the money to play online videogames. Just a month later, an eight-year-old Norwegian boy saved his younger sister's life by threatening an attacking moose and then feigning death when the moose attacked him--skills he said he learned while playing World of Warcraft. As these two instances show, videogames affect the minds, bodies, and lives of millions of gamers, negatively and positively. This book approaches videogame addiction from a cross-disciplinary perspective, bridging the divide between liberal arts academics and clinical researchers. The topic of addiction is examined neutrally, using accepted research in neuroscience, media studies, and developmental psychology.