scholarly journals “IT’S OVER 9000.” APEIRON NARRATIVE CONFIGURATIONS IN CONTEMPORARY MEDIASCAPE

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-94
Author(s):  
Vincenzo Idone Cassone

Recently, a peculiar narrative configuration has developed and is spreading through the internet culture and new media. Characterised by a specific representation of the individual growth process, Apeiron narratives find their origin in pen & paper role-playing games, but it is only after the development of digital games and the diffusion of the Japanese cultural codex through the contemporary mediascape that they have become a coherent, autonomous and viral phenomenon. In the following pages, this narrative configuration will be described through a series of paradigmatic examples; its roots will be traced back to the peculiar traits of role-playing games, and the importance of recent digital adaptation will be highlighted. Finally, I will describe its diffusion beyond the domain of fictional text, hinting at possible environments for its diffusion.

Author(s):  
Mahboubeh Asgari ◽  
David Kaufman

Digital games have the potential to create environments that increase motivation, engage learners, and support learning. This chapter focuses on fantasy as one of the motivational features of games, and explores the relationships among digital games, fantasy, and learning. The authors describe game characteristics and the key factors that make digital games motivational and compelling – important factors in designing games for learning. Motivation is critical in engaging students in learning activities, and this chapter explores fantasy as an important motivational feature in digital games, the popular genre of fantasy role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons, and the importance of creating different kinds of fantasies for males and females. Finally, the authors explore the integration of learning content in fantasy contexts in digital games.


2002 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 341-352 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher J. Lux ◽  
Jens Starke ◽  
Jan Rübel ◽  
Angelika Stellzig ◽  
Gerda Komposch

Objective: An approach based on Euclidean distances between cephalometric landmarks is presented (1) to visualize and localize the individual shape changes of the complex craniofacial skeleton during growth and (2) to depict the individual dynamic behavior of developmental size and shape changes. Patients and Method: Growth-related craniofacial changes were investigated exemplarily for two male orthodontically untreated subjects from the Belfast Growth Study on the basis of lateral cephalograms at 7, 9, 11, 13, and 15 years. The interlandmark distances among seven skeletal cephalometric landmarks served as a database for the study. A modified Karhunen-Loèvedecomposition based on orthogonal modes and time-dependent scalar amplitudes was used to describe the growth process. The individual shape changes of the various craniofacial regions were visualized by allocation of colors to the respective distances, and overdrawn representations were reconstructed by means of multidimensional scaling. Results and Conclusions: This visualization technique allows anatomical regions to be characterized with respect to reduced or strengthened growth, compared with pure size changes. The clinically relevant mechanisms of craniofacial changes are visualized (e.g., shifts in the anteroposterior or vertical dimensions of the jaws in relation to cranial base and structural imbalances during development). In addition, overdrawing the effects of shape change on the skeletal structures gives a more readily comprehensible impression of the growth process. Taking account of the methodical limitations of this approach (e.g., the restrictions concerning the number of landmarks), the clinician may take advantage of this technique in orthodontic or surgical diagnostics to gain additional insight into the individual complex size and shape changes during development along with their dynamic behavior.


2018 ◽  
Vol 20 (12) ◽  
pp. 4671-4688 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sari Piittinen

Performative Let’s Play gaming videos are a part of contemporary Internet culture through which morality becomes shared. Many digital games draw on Gothic traditions to feature human-like monsters who demand morally complex interpretations from players. This study examines what kinds of moral evaluations players form of ambiguous Gothic monsters in Let’s Play videos of the action role-playing game Fallout 3. With a discourse analysis of transcribed speech obtained from 20 Let’s Play series on YouTube, it argues that the moral evaluations that players actively produce impact significantly on the play experience, that players take diverse moral stances whose (in)determinacy varies based on what players assume of their audience, and that players are morally autonomous by not hesitating to disagree with the game designers’ moral ruling. Complex Gothic monsters function effectively as catalysts for the moral evaluations that can involve expressions of suspicion, sympathy for the underdog, begrudging acceptance, and betrayal.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 76-84
Author(s):  
Lesya Verbovska ◽  
Iryna Haliuk

The article substantiates the main components of improving staff competencies in the face of change. It is determined that taking into account and combining "hard skills" and "soft skills" skills allow you to use the acquired knowledge to perform specific tasks in the workplace in a particular professional activity. Modern and traditional models, techniques and tools of personnel management are presented, according to which it is possible to clearly assess the difference in approaches to managing the competence of employees in the conditions of change. Based on the analysis of world practice, a list of methods is presented: discussions, brainstorming, Oxford debates, Case - Study, business and role - playing games, workshops, communication and management training, which are used to develop skills and abilities of employees. These methods allow expanding the educational opportunities of established forms of classes (lectures, seminars). The relationship between the acquisition of new and improvement of existing staff development competencies on the basis of training and coaching is shown. The proposed methods of acquiring competencies allow you to choose those competencies and methods of acquiring them that correspond to the individual characteristics of organizations. It is proved that the acquisition of competencies by staff allows identifying new competencies in employees, to form the need to use modern analytical and behavioral skills, providing greater opportunities for management skills and flexibility, dialectical thinking, ability to make creative decisions in unusual situations. It is substantiated that the combination of the SMART method in the acquisition of competencies significantly expands the possibilities of short-term learning, through the application of the concept of "lifelong learning". Different definitions of the essence of "competence" are analyzed, which allows emphasizing that when choosing different forms of education, in particular, trainings, different types of training it is necessary to use / apply modern methods and techniques. It has been proven that incompetent non-use by a staff of their knowledge, skills, experience and skills often leads to reduced profits and inefficient use of their potential.


2014 ◽  
pp. 963-975
Author(s):  
Melinda Jacobs

Within the Internet, a range of international and multicultural communities abound, especially within the context of interactive online games known as Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs). The clashing of cultures in one particular MMORPG, Omerta, has caused many problems within the related online community. These conflicts have led to online instances of culturalism – discrimination based upon cultural-mindset – within this international online community (Jacobs, 2009). This chapter examines the following questions: Do players in international online gaming environments have the right to discriminate based on cultural attitudes and perceptions, or should a player’s right to not be discriminated against dominate in such international contexts? And how can multiculturalism be successfully managed in international online spaces?


Author(s):  
Dal Yong Jin

This chapter maps out the growth of locally based digital games. In the twenty-first century, the New Korean Wave has been expanding with the rapid growth of digital culture, in particular with online gaming. The rapid growth of the Korean digital game industry, including online gaming, and its export into the Western market have raised a fundamental question of whether digital culture has changed the nature of the Korean Wave, from a regionally focused intracultural flow to include a Western-focused contraflow. The chapter attempts to discuss the ways in which local online games, in particular massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs), have advanced contraflow. In addition, it discusses a changing trend in the digital game sector, which has been occurring due to both the increasing role of China's game industries and the emergence of mobile gaming in the smartphone era. It also maps out the process by which Korean online games are appropriated for Western game users in a form of “glocalization”in both content and structure. Finally, the chapter articulates whether this new trend can diminish an asymmetrical cultural flow between the West and the East.


2022 ◽  
pp. 1948-1971
Author(s):  
Mark Peterson ◽  
Jeremy White ◽  
Maryam Sadat Mirzaei ◽  
Qiao Wang

The use of digital games represents an expanding domain in computer-assisted language learning (CALL) research. This chapter reviews the findings of 26 learner-based studies in this area that are informed by cognitive and social accounts of SLA. The analysis shows that massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) are the most frequently investigated game type and the majority of studies involved EFL learners in higher education. Mixed methods were the most frequent research tool utilized by researchers. Limitations of current research include the preponderance of small-scale experimental studies that investigated only a limited number of factors. Although the research is not conclusive, findings indicate that game play facilitates collaboration, the production of target language output, vocabulary learning, and reduces the influence of factors that inhibit learning. This chapter concludes by identifying promising areas for future research.


2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Federico Barnabè

<p>This article focuses on the use of Role Playing games in management education, aiming at demonstrating that they have the potential to provide concrete experiences in which participants can acquire conceptual knowledge and operative skills, both at the individual and the collective level. More specifically,<strong> </strong>Role Playing games are powerful tools able to support participants’ learning at different degrees, since they provide a context and the conditions for concrete experience, reflective observation, abstract conceptualization, and active experimentation. To pursue this aim, a specific Role Playing game was used in an MBA setting focusing on the management of a typical supply chain. Additionally, a nominal group technique facilitated the emergence of group consensus, and the development of improvement policies. The research design and the results of several gaming sessions are discussed and analyzed according to the theoretical framework presented in the article. Overall, this study shows that Role Playing simulations can play a serious and relevant role in management education, providing free and safe environments in which participants can face decision-making issues, and problem-solving challenges.</p>


2020 ◽  
pp. 29-38
Author(s):  
Ya. V. Soldatkina

The article deals with the analysis of the latest convergent forms in modern journalism. In the context of competition for the reader and the spread of aggressive content, media begins to create portals and media platforms of an educational and educative nature, the goals of which are close to the classical functions of journalism as a social institution. These portals do not provide news information, but use the communication channels of new media and social networks, as well as modern gaming techniques to attract the attention of the audience and increase its intellectual potential. An appeal to the traditional journalistic formats (interviews, essays, imitation of television broadcasts), to the communication and digital capabilities of new media (podcasts, mobile narratives), to the technologies of edutainment (tests, role-playing games) allows talking about the development of a new productive media format of educational semantics.


Author(s):  
Erik Champion

Roles and rituals are essential for creating, situating and maintaining cultural practices. Computer Role-Playing games (CRPGs) and virtual online worlds that appear to simulate different cultures are well known and highly popular. So it might appear that the roles and rituals of traditional cultures are easily ported to computer games. However, I contend that the meaning behind worlds, rituals and roles are not fully explored in these digital games and virtual worlds and that more needs to be done in order to create worldfulness, moving rituals and role enrichment. I will provide examples from The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and The ElderScrolls V: Skyrim (Bethesda, 2006, 2011) to reveal some of the difficulties in creating digitally simulated social and cultural worlds, but I will also suggest some design ideas that could improve them in terms of cultural presence and social presence.


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