Causes of State Hostility and Enjoyment in Player Versus Player and Player Versus Environment Video Games

Video games have been under scholarly study since the 1980s, but few studies have blended the research areas of video games and aggression and video game enjoyment. This article seeks to determine how certain game play factors affect hostility, enjoyment, and the relationship between the 2 variables. A total of 289 students played games in player‐versus‐player (PvP) and player‐versus‐environment (PvE) situations. Findings indicate that outcome, competitive situation, and genre interact in their influence on state hostility and enjoyment. Results suggest that in some cases, game players are able to enjoy games despite negative experiences, such as losing, but players in PvP situations experience enjoyment‐reducing levels of hostility, contrary to P. Vorderer et al.'s (2004) complex entertainment model.     

Who will receive the ball? Predicting pass recipient in soccer videos

The game of soccer involves an act of one team trying to score a goal against the other. During the game, defending players constantly try to predict the pass of the attacking player to prevent a goal. So, pass prediction is an important facet to anticipate the game strategy of participating teams. Here we present a probabilistic framework for pass prediction. Aberrating the state-of-the-art notion of mutually independent decision models, the proposed framework predicts pass recipients by integrating two dependent models, designed from the coordinates of the players in abstract top-view visualization. To evaluate the real time efficacy of the proposed pass prediction framework, a soccer data set has been introduced. The proposed pass prediction algorithm is compared against recent methods and the ground truth available in the soccer data set. The proposed method outperforms the existing approaches by a noticeable margin.     

Game Bot Detection Approach Based on Behavior Analysis and Consideration of Various Play Styles

An approach for game bot detection in massively multiplayer online role‐playing games (MMORPGs) based on the analysis of game playing behavior is proposed. Since MMORPGs are large‐scale games, users can play in various ways. This variety in playing behavior makes it hard to detect game bots based on play behaviors. To cope with this problem, the proposed approach observes game playing behaviors of users and groups them by their behavioral similarities. Then, it develops a local bot detection model for each player group. Since the locally optimized models can more accurately detect game bots within each player group, the combination of those models brings about overall improvement. Behavioral features are selected and developed to accurately detect game bots with the low resolution data, considering common aspects of MMORPG playing. Through the experiment with the real data from a game currently in service, it is shown that the proposed local model approach yields more accurate results.     

Creating awareness on bullying and cyberbullying among young people: Validating the effectiveness and design of the serious game Conectado

Serious games have proven to be educational tools with numerous positive effects, capable of promoting learning, changing behavior, or improving training and skills development, among other effects. Serious games can also be applied to address and prevent social problems. This study describes the experiments and analyses we have carried out to test the effectiveness of Conectado, a serious game created to prevent bullying and cyberbullying in schools by increasing awareness of the problem in players. We have used the results from these experiments to answer different research questions regarding the game’s acceptance and effectiveness, validating several characteristics of the game design. We have also studied the influence of players’ characteristics on the effect of the game, as well as the relationship between the in-game behaviors of players and their degree of awareness. We have verified a positive effect of the game in terms of an increase of awareness regarding bullying and cyberbullying for all target users, and have provided further insight into how this increase is related to different players’ characteristics and behaviors.     

Radio resource sharing games: enabling QoS support in unlicensed bands

Distributed quality of service support in wireless networks that are sharing unlicensed frequency bands is an increasingly significant research problem. The spectral coexistence of dissimilar radio systems has to be addressed in the near future in concerning the widely deployed IEEE 802.11 wireless local area networks and other future radio systems operating in unlicensed or opportunistically used frequency bands. The competition between independent wireless networks for allocating a common shared radio channel is modeled in this article as a stage-based game model: players, representing wireless networks, interact repeatedly in radio resource sharing games, without direct coordination or information exchange. Solution concepts derived from game theory allow the analysis of such models under the microeconomic aspects of welfare. Decisions players repeatedly have to make are about when and how often to attempt medium access. In multistage games the players apply strategies in order to maximize their observed utility as a summarizing value for successfully supported quality of service. Strategies determine whether competing radio networks cooperate or ignore the presence of other radio networks. The traffic requirements of a player thereby decide which strategy is adequate to guarantee quality of service.     

A Cooperative Strategy for Trustworthy Relay Selection in CR Network: A Game-Theoretic Solution

The non-symmetric type of game is Stackelberg, where one player or a specific set of players has the advantage of making moves ahead of the other players. These games are being used to aid administrative decisions in telecommunications and computational systems. Stackelberg games have increasingly been helpful in systems where security is a key decision consideration. The authors have suggested a cooperative and novel framework for selection of relays within Cognitive Radio (CR) System utilizing Stackelberg game-theoretic approach through this correspondence. The cooperation is based on the trustworthiness of the Secondary Users (SUs) while getting selected as a relay. Additionally, the strategy of the Secondary Transmitter (ST) is always to increase its own utility function by selecting the best available SU (as a relay) satisfying the rules of the Stackelberg game. The Nash equilibrium strategies for Secondary Relays (SR) have been analyzed in this paper at the suggested approach, as well as the Stackelberg competitive game with successive moves has been justified in the process. To our experience, no work on the trustworthy selection process of the relay to aid transmission of secondary users in the CR network using the game-theoretic method by Stackelberg has yet been published. Results obtained from simulation confirm that ST, as well as SR, gain more utilities if compared with the non-cooperative transmission scheme. Further, the relay which gets selected in this process even reduces the secondary outage loss in comparison to few non-game-theoretic approaches.

     

Cooperative Game Theory and the Gaussian Interference Channel

In this paper we discuss the use of cooperative game theory for analyzing interference channels. We extend our previous work, to games with N players as well as frequency selective channels and joint TDM/FDM strategies. We show that the Nash bargaining solution can be computed using convex optimization techniques. We also show that the same results are applicable to interference channels where only statistical knowledge of the channel is available. Moreover, for the special case of two player 2 × K frequency selective channel (with K frequency bins) we provide an O(K log/sub 2/K) complexity algorithm for computing the Nash bargaining solution under mask constraint and using joint FDM/TDM strategies. Simulation results are also provided.     

What drives stickiness in location-based AR games? An examination of flow and satisfaction

Although location-based augmented reality (AR) games are popular in recent years, the motivates of the game’s stickiness still need further investigation. The main goal of this research is to investigate the antecedents of the game’s stickiness. This research develops a conceptual model and hypotheses based on the theory of flow and satisfaction to investigate the antecedents. An online questionnaire was developed and distributed on popular websites to collect data, and 1028 usable responses are collected from the players of Pokémon Go in Taiwan. The eleven hypotheses and control variables were validated by using structural equation modeling (SEM) techniques. Among the antecedents of the game’s stickiness in the model, the flow and satisfaction were found to have strong direct effects. The effects of control variables (age, gender, platform, game experience, and in-app expense) on the stickiness were significant as well. Moreover, telepresence, challenge, perceived control, curiosity, and concentration all have direct influences on the flow. Only perceived currency and responsiveness were found to have a direct impact on players’ satisfaction. The model demonstrated good explanatory power for flow and stickiness in the context of location-based AR game. The proposed model can provide insights to location-based AR game developers to design their games and marketing strategies.     

Non-Cooperative Multicast and Facility Location Games

We consider a multicast game with selfish non- cooperative players. There is a special source node and each player is interested in connecting to the source by making a routing decision that minimizes its payment. The mutual influence of the players is determined by a cost sharing mechanism, which in our case evenly splits the cost of an edge among the players using it. We consider two different models: an integral model, where each player connects to the source by choosing a single path, and a fractional model, where a player is allowed to split the flow it receives from the source between several paths. In both models we explore the overhead incurred in network cost due to the selfish behavior of the users, as well as the computational complexity of finding a Nash equilibrium. The existence of a Nash equilibrium for the integral model was previously established by the means of a potential function. We prove that finding a Nash equilibrium that minimizes the potential function is NP-hard. We focus on the price of anarchy of a Nash equilibrium resulting from the best-response dynamics of a game course, where the players join the game sequentially. For a game with in players, we establish an upper bound of O(radicnlog² n) on the price of anarchy, and a lower bound of Omega(log n/log log n). For the fractional model, we prove the existence of a Nash equilibrium via a potential function and give a polynomial time algorithm for computing an equilibrium that minimizes the potential function. Finally, we consider a weighted extension of the multicast game, and prove that in the fractional model, the game always has a Nash equilibrium.     

Serious Games to Support Cognitive Development in Children with Cerebral Visual Impairment

Cerebral Visual Impairment (CVI) is a disability that entails a visual deficit, due to a brain damage. Children affected by this disability are not able to see an object if it is not moving. In this paper, we present a study on the use of serious games in the assessment and rehabilitation of children with CVI. Our serious games help them keeping focused on the exercise by using touch interface, game paradigm and cartoon characters. The paper reports lesson learned from data collected in a user study to highlight the high potential of using these games also in the rehabilitation process. For this reason, we develop the games also in the mobile platforms to allow children to train their skills at home, i.e., more intensively and in a familiar environment.

     

基于FPGA的贪食蛇游戏设计

随着社会的发展,游戏的易携性越来越受到人们的关注,基于嵌入式平台的游戏设计迅速崛起。FPGA因其高速度、高精度等功能特性,被越来越多的游戏开发者所接受。该设计利用FPGA来驱动16×16 LED点阵实现贪食蛇游戏,玩家通过4个方向键控制贪食蛇不断地吞食点阵上随机出现的老鼠,贪食蛇的长度也随之加长,7段数码管实时显示玩家得分。该设计采用VHDL语言,在FPGA实验平台上实现了该贪食蛇游戏。经测试,游戏运行良好,可进一步推广使用。     

量子骰子

量子博弈是量子信息的一个重要分支.以Meyer所研究的单硬币博弈游戏为基础,主要讨论了具有六个态的骰子游戏.对于经典的二人骰子游戏而言,游戏者双方P和Q获胜的几率相同,都是1/2.而在量子骰子游戏中,用骰子的态密度矩阵来表示该态,若其中一个游戏者Q用量子策略来代替经典游戏中随机的翻转过程,而另一个游戏者P仍然采用经典策略,则Q完全可以控制游戏的胜负.从而对于量子骰子游戏而言,可以得出:量子策略比经典策略更具优越性.     

An evolutionary bargaining‐based approach for incentivized cooperation in opportunistic networks

Opportunistic networking enables users to communicate in an environment where connectivity is intermittent or unstable. However, such networking scheme assumes that mobile nodes voluntary cooperate, which cannot be guaranteed. Some nodes can simply exhibit selfish behavior and thus diminish the effectiveness of the approach. In this paper, a game scenario is formulated in which the nodes try to convince each other to participate in packets forwarding. Each node is considered as a player in this game. When a node comes in the communication range of another, a bargaining game starts between them as part of the message forwarding process. Both players try to have a mutual agreement on a price for message forwarding. We present a new incentive mechanism called evolutionary bargaining‐based incentive scheme (EBIS) to motivate selfish nodes to cooperate in data forwarding. In EBIS, a node negotiates with other nodes to obtain an agreeable amount of credit for its forwarding service. Nodes apply a sequential bargaining game and then adapt their strategies using an evolutionary model to maximize the probability of reaching an agreement. Unlike classical bargaining games, nodes in our model are boundedly rational. In addition, we use the evolutionary stable strategy (ESS) concept to determine the adaptive strategies for the nodes. The comparison of EBIS with a benchmarked model demonstrates that EBIS performs better in terms of packet delivery ratio and average latency.     

Designing an Evolutionary Strategizing Machine for Game Playing and Beyond

We have shown that genetically programming game players, after having imbued the evolutionary process with human intelligence, produces human-competitive strategies for three games: backgammon, chess endgames, and robocode (tank-fight simulation). Evolved game players are able to hold their own - and often win - against human or human-based competitors. This paper has a twofold objective: first, to review our results of applying genetic programming in the domain of games; second, to formulate the merits of genetic programming in acting as a tool for developing strategies in general, and to discuss the possible design of a strategizing machine.     

网络游戏安全登录环境的研究与设计

随着网络游戏的日益流行，如何保护虚拟财产的安全成为玩家和游戏公司共同关注的热点。冒充受害者身份骗取游戏登录服务器的信任是盗号者经常使用的方法，因此安全登录技术是防止游戏账号被盗用的主要手段。安全登录环境是一种基于环境监测的安全登录体系架构，用于在不可靠的公共环境中抵制各类盗号手段，解决安全登录的问题。该方法可以由第三方公司开发，并与任何网络游戏进行融合，具有简单有效的商业应用价值。     

FlipIt: The Game of “Stealthy Takeover”

Recent targeted attacks have increased significantly in sophistication, undermining the fundamental assumptions on which most cryptographic primitives rely for security. For instance, attackers launching an Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) can steal full cryptographic keys, violating the very secrecy of “secret” keys that cryptographers assume in designing secure protocols. In this article, we introduce a game-theoretic framework for modeling various computer security scenarios prevalent today, including targeted attacks. We are particularly interested in situations in which an attacker periodically compromises a system or critical resource completely, learns all its secret information and is not immediately detected by the system owner or defender. We propose a two-player game between an attacker and defender called FlipIt or The Game of “Stealthy Takeover.” In FlipIt, players compete to control a shared resource. Unlike most existing games, FlipIt allows players to move at any given time, taking control of the resource. The identity of the player controlling the resource, however, is not revealed until a player actually moves. To move, a player pays a certain move cost. The objective of each player is to control the resource a large fraction of time, while minimizing his total move cost. FlipIt provides a simple and elegant framework in which we can formally reason about the interaction between attackers and defenders in practical scenarios. In this article, we restrict ourselves to games in which one of the players (the defender) plays with a renewal strategy, one in which the intervals between consecutive moves are chosen independently and uniformly at random from a fixed probability distribution. We consider attacker strategies ranging in increasing sophistication from simple periodic strategies (with moves spaced at equal time intervals) to more complex adaptive strategies, in which moves are determined based on feedback received during the game. For different classes of strategies employed by the attacker, we determine strongly dominant strategies for both players (when they exist), strategies that achieve higher benefit than all other strategies in a particular class. When strongly dominant strategies do not exist, our goal is to characterize the residual game consisting of strategies that are not strongly dominated by other strategies. We also prove equivalence or strict inclusion of certain classes of strategies under different conditions. Our analysis of different FlipIt variants teaches cryptographers, system designers, and the community at large some valuable lessons:

1. Systems should be designed under the assumption of repeated total compromise, including theft of cryptographic keys. FlipIt provides guidance on how to implement a cost-effective defensive strategy.
2. Aggressive play by one player can motivate the opponent to drop out of the game (essentially not to play at all). Therefore, moving fast is a good defensive strategy, but it can only be implemented if move costs are low. We believe that virtualization has a huge potential in this respect.
3. Close monitoring of one’s resources is beneficial in detecting potential attacks faster, gaining insight into attacker’s strategies, and scheduling defensive moves more effectively.

Interestingly, FlipIt finds applications in other security realms besides modeling of targeted attacks. Examples include cryptographic key rotation, password changing policies, refreshing virtual machines, and cloud auditing.     

Convergence between the real and the augmented: Experiences and perceptions in location-based games

Location-based augmented reality (AR) games have recently become massively popular, generating billions of dollars in revenue during the past five years. These games augment geographical areas with playful content, which makes the playing experience dependent on both the game and the playing location. Existing games have employed various methods for increasing the connection between the game and the physical world, such as (1) an AR mode that lets players see virtual objects in the physical world through the lens of their mobile device; and (2) connecting the game’s virtual points of interest (PoIs) to physical world objects. To explore how these influence the playing experience, we surveyed players (N = 74) across four popular location-based AR games. We analyzed the data using a thematic clustering approach, which resulted in five central themes. Among our findings was that only 7% of the surveyed players regularly used or appreciated AR features that made use of the mobile device’s camera. The most often given reason for this was that they slow down progression. By contrast, players appreciated location-based features and the augmentation of digital content on a map interface. Connecting the virtual content to physical world objects was seen to have the benefits of (1) supporting social meetings; (2) enabling learning about the real world; and (3) increasing the meaningfulness of the virtual content.     

Business Games as Strategic Team-Learning Environments in Telecommunications

This paper provides an overview of the development and use of an interactive telecommunications business game. It describes the underlying model and the implementation of the game, describes how the game has been used in workshops and gives an assessment of how effective the game was in delivering benefits to participants. A series of learning points about the telecommunications industry, which have emerged from the game events, are also discussed. The assessment shows that business games do deliver a range of benefits to participants, including identifying potential new strategies, learning more about the views of other participants on key strategic issues and surfacing learning points associated with the dynamics of the industry, i.e. how the interactions between different players shape the evolution of the industry.     

魔兽世界WOW成功之我见

作为一个魔兽玩家和一款很好的游戏本身来说,可以说魔兽世界是网络游戏史上最火最优秀没有之一的游戏,根据你不同的游戏方式魔兽可以同时作为磨练操作技巧享受PK乐趣的竞技游戏,考验团队合作配合无间的团战游戏,与体验丰富壮阔剧情与幽默搞笑任务娱乐的休闲游戏.