Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Cooperative multiplayer computer gaming'

From an organisational perspective, the potential benefits of enhancing workplace cohesion are many, amongst which an increase in employee performance would be the most tangible and possibly the most desirable. The primary aim of the present research was to explore the capacity to increase levels of cohesion, and therefore facilitate team building, through the use of cooperative multiplayer computer gaming (CMCG). Study 1, involving 26 male and 23 female university students, required participants to play two, twenty minute, games of the commercially available computer game QUAKE(tm) as teams of 3 or of 4, against an equal number of computer generated artificial intelligence opposition. The interpersonal attraction and task focus facets of Cohesion, as well as Stress and Mood State, were measured using self-report questionnaires at both the pre- and post-test stages of the experiment. Results supported the prediction that exposing individuals to a computer game of a cooperative and interdependent nature would increase self-rated levels of cohesion, on both the interpersonal attraction and task focus sub-scales. Study 2 aimed to expand upon the findings of study 1, increasing the generalisability of the study 1 findings by surveying existing teams engaging in CMCG via the Internet. Those surveyed were individuals who currently played the Team Fortress module of QUAKE�, and who belonged to a Team Fortress Clan - the CMCG equivalent of a social sporting team. Individuals playing QUAKE(tm) via the Internet were found to be as cohesed with their team members as were the laboratory participants after the CMCG intervention. Further, important group dynamic factors evident in Team Fortress Clans, such as success being linked with higher levels of cohesion, were consistent with literary considerations regarding conventional, non-CMCG teams. Additional research exploration is required regarding the utility of CMCG, however, the present research indicates that such an exploration is warranted and should produce positive and practical results.

Background. The rendering of games takes a lot of processing power and requires expensivehardware to be able to perform this task in a real-time with an acceptableframe-rate. Games often also require an anti-cheat system that require extrapower to be able to always verify that the game has not been modified. With the help ofgame streaming these disadvantages could be removed from the clients. Objectives. The objective of this thesis is to create a game streaming server and client tosee if a game streaming server could scale with the amount of coresit has access to. Methods. The research question will be answered using the implementation methodology, and an experiment will be conducted using that implementation. Two programs are implemented, the server program and the client program.The servers implement the management of clients, the game logic, the rendering and the compression. Each client can only be connected to one server and the server and its clients live inside of a game instance. Everyone that is connected to one server play on the same instance.The implementation is implemented in the D programming language, and it uses the ZLib and the SDL2 libraries as the building blocks.With all of these connected an experiment is designed where as many clients as possible connect to the server. With this data a plot is create in the result section. Results. The output data shows that the implementation scale and a formula was made-up to match the scalability. The formula is . Conclusions. The experiment was successful and showed that the game server successfully scaledbased on the number of cores that where allocated. It does not scale as good as expected,but it is still an success. The test results are limited as it was only tested on one setup. More research is needed to test it on more hardware and to be able find more optimized implementations.

Thesis: M. Eng., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2013.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (page 59).
This thesis analyzes Herbo Hunt, an educational game that aims to teach variables to students. By assigning unknown point values to creatures that must be caught in groups, we subtly encourage students to solve mental equations to achieve their goals. In addition to the formal study, the creation of the game itself utilized intelligent and flexible design techniques. Two main focuses were modularity of design and opportunity for procedural generation of content. Two versions of the game were used to explore the difference in learning between them; we created both a single-player experience and a cooperative version. We expected that players of the cooperative game would learn more quickly through discussion and coordination. Students played both versions, and then answered short questions regarding their experience. Contrary to our expectations students did not appear to show a difference in learning between the two versions; understanding seemed to take place at the same point regardless of game type.
by Bradley R. Gaffney.
M. Eng.

Social aspects of multiplayer games are well known as contributors to game success, with online friendships and socialization expected to expand and strengthen a player-base. Understanding the nature of social behavior and determining the impact of cooperation on gameplay is thus important to game design. In this work, we make use of data exposed through in-game and web-based API's of two contemporary multiplayer games, World of Warcraft and Halo: Reach. We use this data to investigate the extent of cooperation among players and the effect on individual player behavior. We moreover show how the quantitative assessment of cooperative behavior can be used to isolate potential problem areas in games which may require additional balancing. We first monitor group health and position to measure the pacing of a cooperative scenario in World of Warcraft. We measure a scenario's pacing as the temporal progression of its difficulty, which directly reflects the required level of cohesion and coordination among the players in a group. Our results verify the informal perception that statically designed content becomes increasingly trivial as players obtain stronger stats, thus reducing the need for cohesion. Direct quantification of this behavior, as enabled by designs such as ours, allows for online, adaptive pacing that should better foster player community by consistently emphasizing the need for communication.The benefits of actual group behavior also has a reverse impact on game design. In our experiment involving Halo: Reach, our results demonstrate that players who enter as a group into the multiplayer matchmaking system have, on average, a significantly higher win-to-loss ratio than players who enter the matchmaking system alone. This gives them an advantage over less social players, and thus attests to the potential for refinement in group matchmaking techniques. In addition, our exploratory principal component analysis of individual player performances reveals a set of novel player types adapted to the multiplayer context and quite distinct from player types found in other game genres.From a general standpoint, the data collection techniques outlined in this thesis reveal the use of publically-accessible game APIs as a relatively unexplored yet promising source of insight into real-world gameplay behavior. Our results serve as evidence for two widely-assumed notions of multiplayer game design; the first, that static game content adversely affects a game's replayability and ultimately lessens the need for communication and cohesion among players. The second, that coordination among players provides a significant advantage over those who choose to play independently in a team-based setting.
Les interactions sociales entre les utilisateurs de jeux vidéo multijoueurs contemporains contribuent largement à la propagation et à la longévité de ces derniers. La compréhension des facteurs qui se lient à la promotion d'interactions sociales au sein de ces environnements est donc importante à leur développement. Dans cette thèse, nous recueillons des données à partir d'interfaces de programmation de deux jeux multijoueurs contemporains: World of Warcraft et Halo: Reach. Nous analysons ces données afin d'évaluer l'effet global du comportement coopératif, ainsi que son effet sur le comportement d'individus. De plus, nous démontrons que la mesure quantitative de comportements coopératifs peut aider à l'identification de fautes systémiques d'un jeux.En premier lieu, nous mesurons les points de vie et la position des membres d'un groupe de joueurs pour évaluer le débit d'un scénario coopératif de World of Warcraft. Nous définissons ce débit en fonction de la difficulté du scénario par rapport au temps. L'achèvement d'un scénario à débit intense impose ainsi un niveau de communication plus élevé entre les membres du groupe. Nos résultats appuient d'ailleurs la perception informelle que les jeux conçus avec des environnements et des ennemis non-adaptifs perdent l'intérêt des joueurs lorsque ceux-ci deviennent trop puissants. De plus, cet accroissement en puissance réduit le nombre d'interactions sociales en diminuant l'exigence de la communication entre les joueurs. En deuxième lieu, nous observons les conséquences de la coopération entre les joueurs de Halo: Reach. Les données recueillies dans ce contexte suggèrent que les joueurs qui entrent en groupe d'amis dans le système d'établissement de parties ont de plus fortes chances d'obtenir une victoire que ceux qui s'y introduisent individuellement. Nous découvrons ainsi une faute potentielle de ce système d'établissement de parties qui favorise les joueurs plus sociaux au détriment des joueurs plus solitaires. De plus, nous appliquons une analyse des composantes principales (PCA) sur les résultats moyens de chaque joueur, ce qui révèle un ensemble de descripteurs adaptés au contexte multijoueur, très distinct des descripteurs attribués aux joueurs d'autres types de jeux.D'un point de vue global, quoique les interfaces de programmation de jeux soient relativement inexplorées, notre méthodologie démontre que celles-ci offrent une panoplie d'informations liées aux comportement de joueurs. Nos résultats supportent d'autant plus deux notions informelles enracinées dans le design de jeux multijoueurs -- la première dicte que les environnements statiques agissent contre la rejouabilité d'un jeu, et que ceux-ci réduisent ultimement les besoins de communication et de cohésion entre joueurs. Dans un contexte d'affrontements d'équipes, la deuxième notion soutenue par nos données suggère que les joueurs coordonnés en groupe ont un avantage inné par rapport aux joueurs plutôt indépendants.

Combat arms units (both Marine and Army) often do not have enough people, time and resources to properly train collective tasks at the squad level. Resources are often retained by higher headquarters due to tight deployment schedules, land restrictions, logistics constraints and a myriad of other reasons. Due to the current operational demands of combat arms brigades and regiments, the reality of limited resources is often a contributing factor in poor performance at the squad level. Leaders at all levels will need to look for innovative ways to sustain training levels at the small unit level. The scope of this study examined the collective and leader tasks that are required for successful execution of Infantry squad missions (using the Army Training and Evaluation Plan ARTEP 7-8 Drill), and how those tasks could be trained with the use of commercial off-the-shelf multiplayer gaming software. The end-state of this research study is to provide initial analysis on what collective skills games can be used to train at the Infantry squad level, and develop a training model recommendation for the integration of this tool into existing unit plans.

This thesis explores the problems and possibilities concerning the interaction between players physically located in different cars during temporary meetings in a gaming situation. The thesis is part of a study set out to investigate how traffic encounters can be used as a resource in a mobile, multiplayer game intended as entertainment for children travelling in the backseat of cars. The multiplayer capabilities are realised by using wireless networks in ad hoc peer- to-peer mode, GPS positioning and a digital compass.

Designing the interaction for an ad hoc, mobile multiplayer experience introduces several design challenges, such as how to adapt to the temporality of traffic encounters and how to establish a connection between the digital game and the physical context. The nature of traffic encounters inspired us to take a newapproach to the interaction. The interaction is accomplished using a device, which enables direct interaction between players physically located in different cars. A prototype game was constructed within the frames of the project, which this thesis was part of, to test the functionality of the game concept. The prototype has been tested in its real setting, i.e. inside a car. The study and the work on this thesis was initialised and supervised by Liselott Brunnberg and the work was carried out at the Mobility Studio at the Interactive Institute in Stockholm during late spring and summer 2003.

Die seit 2001 stattfindende Konferenz Mensch & Computer geht in diesem Jahr in ihre elfte Runde. Thema ist: überMEDIEN|ÜBERmorgen. Die Mensch & Computer lebt von den vielfältigen und spannenden Beiträgen, welche während der Veranstaltung präsentiert und diskutiert werden. Seit Beginn machen die durch die Community organisierten Workshops einen wesentlichen Teil der Konferenz aus. Dieser Workshopband enthält die Beiträge zu acht Workshops der Mensch & Computer sowie zu einem Workshop des Thementracks Entertainment Interfaces sowie Kurzbeschreibungen zweier weiterer Workshops der Mensch & Computer. Begreifbare Interaktion in gemischten Wirklichkeiten Interaktive Displays in der Kooperation – Herausforderung an Gestaltung und Praxis Motivation und kulturelle Barrieren bei der Wissensteilung im Enterprise 2.0 (MKBE 2011) Mousetracking – Analyse und Interpretation von Interaktionsdaten Menschen, Medien, Auto-Mobilität mi.begreifbar – Medieninformatik begreifbar machen Partizipative Modelle des mediengestützten Lernens – Erfahrungen und Visionen Innovative Computerbasierte Musikinterfaces (ICMI) Senioren. Medien. Übermorgen. Designdenken in Deutschland Game Development in der Hochschulinformatik
First initiated in 2001, the conference series Mensch & Comuter has evolved as the leading event in the area of human-computer interaction in German speaking countrires hosting extremely vivid and exciting contributions with an audience that is keen to debate. Taking place the 11th time under the topical theme überMEDIEN|ÜBERmorgen, key topics of the conference are media themselves and their opportunities, risks, uses, influence on our lives and our influence on them, today and tomorrow. From the beginning, the workshops being organized by the community constitute a major part of the conference. These proceedings cover the contributions of eight workshops and two brief descriptions from Mensch & Computer as well as one workshop from Entertainment Interface track. Begreifbare Interaktion in gemischten Wirklichkeiten Interaktive Displays in der Kooperation – Herausforderung an Gestaltung und Praxis Motivation und kulturelle Barrieren bei der Wissensteilung im Enterprise 2.0 (MKBE 2011) Mousetracking – Analyse und Interpretation von Interaktionsdaten Menschen, Medien, Auto-Mobilität mi.begreifbar – Medieninformatik begreifbar machen Partizipative Modelle des mediengestützten Lernens – Erfahrungen und Visionen Innovative Computerbasierte Musikinterfaces (ICMI) Senioren. Medien. Übermorgen. Designdenken in Deutschland Game Development in der Hochschulinformatik

Les travaux de cette thèse en informatique s'inscrivent dans le domaine de l'interaction homme-machine (IHM). Le sujet de ce mémoire concerne l'utilisation d'une nouvelle forme d'ordinateur appelée table interactive. Il s'agit d'une table dont le plateau est à la fois un écran et une surface de détection multi-tactile. Les tables interactives ouvrent de nouveaux usages de l'informatique en permettant des applications multi-utilisateurs en coprésence. Les utilisateurs d'une même table interactive ont naturellement envie d'interagir simultanément sur la surface partagée. Cette simultanéité est toutefois difficile à observer dans un contexte collaboratif et non artificiel. Les études existantes n'ont pas suffisamment analysé les problèmes rencontrés ni cherché comment le système peut aider à gérer les accès simultanés.Notre approche a consisté à étudier les interactions simultanées en nous orientant vers des situations originales où la couche applicative du système exerce une forte pression sur le rythme d'utilisation. Nous justifions ainsi l'utilisation d'un jeu vidéo comme outil d'exploration et d'expérimentation. Ce mémoire retrace la conception et le développement de RealTimeChess, un jeu pour 2 à 4 joueurs, adapté aux caractéristiques des tables interactives, et inspiré des échecs dans une version s'affranchissant du tour par tour. Nous rapportons les résultats d'expériences menées sur des groupes de 2 à 4 participants en situations de coopération et de compétition, qui ont permis de mettre en évidence des problèmes de gênes physiques et d'accessibilité aux objets distants ; de perception des informations importantes en contexte dynamique ; et de contrôle du rythme de l'interaction.Ce mémoire expose en outre les leçons apprises au niveau de l'interaction simultanée de plusieurs utilisateurs, des aspects de territorialité, des comportements collaboratifs et enfin en proposant des recommandations de Game Design pour tables interactives.

Procedural level generation is a novel area of research within the field of computer graphics and game development. However, current research and implementations of procedural generation for cooperative games is sparse. Further study is required to validate the use of automatic level creation and to test additional methods of optimization for cooperative games. Additionally, despite many recent developments, many areas within the field of virtual reality remain underexplored. We propose a mathematically defined total cost function for controlling a procedural level generation algorithm for cooperative virtual reality games. This cost term controls an algorithm which gradually improves a generated solution over a series of iterations, bringing it to an optimal state. We present here two games with procedurally created levels and gameplay elements using this mathematical total cost function, as well as proposed experiments to validate the effectiveness of this content in encouraging cooperation and potential use cases for this technology.

In the late 20th century we find ourselves in a situation where the very nature of reality is questionable; rather than a 'virtual = being such in essence or effect though not formally recognized or admitted' supaspace questions the necessity for such distinctions, hence a 'hyper = above something; too much' to discern the paradigm shift that accompanies significant technological & theoretical innovation. Supaspace is fantastic $\mid$ shared $\mid$ networked $\mid$ custom/ized $\mid$ a literal site for interaction developed from binary code; it exists in a Krokeresque panic mode, an interior, point-to-point, baroque multi-viewer, habitable non-scripted cinema: "trans-terrafirma". It is fluid & shifting; at times cool & slow, others disorienting & dangerous. Supaspace gaming represents one possible model event within hyperreality; it places the architect into the milieu of a quantum lightspeed amorphous middleground found on-location wherever you look for it. The author becomes the interface at the very moment of execution; multiplied & recursively scattered.

Board and Card Game (BCG) sites allow people to connect over the Internet to play virtual versions of games, like Chess or Canasta, that can be played on a physical table. Many of these sites are successful as they have large memberships, are extremely active, and persist for a long time. However, when analysing the BCG site PlayOK, I found that the community did not exhibit behaviours traditionally associated with successful community: there was little verbal communication; most interactions were impersonal and once-only; and the player population was highly transient. The problem is that designers and researchers have a poor understanding of the characteristics of BCG communities, and how those characteristics are affected by factors that are typically seen as important for community such as size and leadership. In this thesis, I improve understanding of BCG site communities through three studies: 1 No research describes community behaviour in BCG sites. I analysed community behaviour in the PlayOK BCG using ‘social accounting’ methods, which generate summary behavioural statistics from log traces. I found that players were motivated by wanting an opponent, without being concerned with the opponent’s identity. 2 The effects of community size on BCG community behaviour are poorly understood. I used social accounting analyses to compare a small site (GameCenter), with the large PlayOK site. I found that the smaller GameCenter exhibits very similar behaviour but is less efficient due to the smaller population. 3 There are no empirical studies of the role of leadership in online game communities through a substantial change in leadership. I used social accounting techniques to analyse GameCenter BCG before and after a substantial change in leadership. I found that sub-communities responded differently according to how they relied on the leadership for their core activities. This research is the first to identify a type of community that is sustained through impersonal, non-verbal interactions. This important because examples exist in BCG sites and may exist as sub-communities in other settings such as online discussion forums, social media sites, and other online games.

Achieving a state of balance is essential when developing a video game (Schell, 2019, “Game Mechanics Must Be in Balance,” para. 1). Despite this, game balancing is frequently overlooked in game development curricula (Schreiber, 2016, 00:30). This research describes the development and pilot study of a framework that junior game designers can utilize to gain valuable skills in the area of game balance. The framework produced by this research provides users with the ability to tune weapon parameters and see the effects these changes have on a first-person shooter deathmatch game in real time. Participants in the study utilized the framework to achieve three pacing and balance goals. Data regarding the weapon parameters selected by participants and information about the participants’ usage of the framework is described in detail. This study serves as the groundwork for future research focused on finding a method for teaching junior game designers about game balance.

Die seit 2001 stattfindende Konferenz Mensch & Computer geht in diesem Jahr in ihre elfte Runde. Thema ist: überMEDIEN|ÜBERmorgen. Die Mensch & Computer lebt von den vielfältigen und spannenden Beiträgen, welche während der Veranstaltung präsentiert und diskutiert werden. Seit Beginn machen die durch die Community organisierten Workshops einen wesentlichen Teil der Konferenz aus. Dieser Workshopband enthält die Beiträge zu acht Workshops der Mensch & Computer sowie zu einem Workshop des Thementracks Entertainment Interfaces sowie Kurzbeschreibungen zweier weiterer Workshops der Mensch & Computer. Begreifbare Interaktion in gemischten Wirklichkeiten Interaktive Displays in der Kooperation – Herausforderung an Gestaltung und Praxis Motivation und kulturelle Barrieren bei der Wissensteilung im Enterprise 2.0 (MKBE 2011) Mousetracking – Analyse und Interpretation von Interaktionsdaten Menschen, Medien, Auto-Mobilität mi.begreifbar – Medieninformatik begreifbar machen Partizipative Modelle des mediengestützten Lernens – Erfahrungen und Visionen Innovative Computerbasierte Musikinterfaces (ICMI) Senioren. Medien. Übermorgen. Designdenken in Deutschland Game Development in der Hochschulinformatik
First initiated in 2001, the conference series Mensch & Comuter has evolved as the leading event in the area of human-computer interaction in German speaking countrires hosting extremely vivid and exciting contributions with an audience that is keen to debate. Taking place the 11th time under the topical theme überMEDIEN|ÜBERmorgen, key topics of the conference are media themselves and their opportunities, risks, uses, influence on our lives and our influence on them, today and tomorrow. From the beginning, the workshops being organized by the community constitute a major part of the conference. These proceedings cover the contributions of eight workshops and two brief descriptions from Mensch & Computer as well as one workshop from Entertainment Interface track. Begreifbare Interaktion in gemischten Wirklichkeiten Interaktive Displays in der Kooperation – Herausforderung an Gestaltung und Praxis Motivation und kulturelle Barrieren bei der Wissensteilung im Enterprise 2.0 (MKBE 2011) Mousetracking – Analyse und Interpretation von Interaktionsdaten Menschen, Medien, Auto-Mobilität mi.begreifbar – Medieninformatik begreifbar machen Partizipative Modelle des mediengestützten Lernens – Erfahrungen und Visionen Innovative Computerbasierte Musikinterfaces (ICMI) Senioren. Medien. Übermorgen. Designdenken in Deutschland Game Development in der Hochschulinformatik