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Playful Persuasion: The Rhetorical Potential of Advergames, en artikel om computerspil i markedsføringssammenhæng som jeg har skrevet sammen med Sine Nørholm Just, er nu udgivet i tidsskriftet Nordicom Review. Den kan hentes som PDF.

I artiklen præsenterer vi en analytisk model for advergames og applicerer den på udvalgte eksemplarer fra Toms Chokolade, Dansk Retursystem, og Danske Bank.

Artiklens abstract lyder:

The use of video games for advertising purposes is persuasive communication which directly involves the recipient in the construction of an argument. This form is becoming increasingly common, and the present article explores the phenomenon of game-based advertising. We begin by discussing the increased reliance on participatory and digital rhetoric. We then proceed to examine game-based persuasion in light of rhetorical theory, and we propose an analytical model for such games which is applied to three sample games. The analytical model takes into account the degree to which the game makes a self-contained argument, the degree to which the product or service is integrated into the game, and whether the game goal and learning goal overlap. Finally, we discuss perspectives for the integration of communication studies and game studies.

New essay on games in culture

Bond, James Bond

I’ve just published a brief essay on Game Research entitled No Medium is an Island: An essay on the Video Game and its cultural neighborhood. It makes comparisons between the cultural history of video games and that of film. The comment field at the bottom of the page is open :-)

My ITU Game Lecture on 5 Sep

On 5 September (15:00 – 17:00) I’ll be speaking at the ITU as part of the Game Center‘s Game Lecture Series.

Title: A practical guide to winning and losing: How players deal with shame, glory, and each other

Abstract: A computer will handle the rules of a game in a fair-minded algorithmic fashion. Players, however, will not. To players, interaction during play (and how to deal with victory and defeat) entails a complex negotiation of social norms. Based on empirical data on multi-player gaming, this talk will explore how players handle competition, collaboration, shame, and glory as they strive to achieve the game goals.

Limited character enactment in computer RPGs

This graph shows the ratio of in-character to out-of-character statements during five sessions of the PS2 RPG Champions of Norrath. While coding the data, any utterance which could be construed as in-character was categorized as such, heavily favoring this category.
Interestingly, the in-character percentage is significantly lower than in similarly coded pen-and-paper RPG sessions.
As discussed in (*) and in the article I’m currently writing with Anders Tychsen.

* Tychsen, Anders & Smith, Jonas Heide & Hitchens, Michael & Tosca, Susana (2006). Communication in Multi-Player Role Playing Games – The Effect of Medium. Technologies for Interactive Digital Storytelling and Entertainment (Lecture Notes in Computer Science). Berlin: Springer Verlag. (If you don’t have Springer access, try this version).

The 07 GDC Game Studies Download

I am in excellent company on the 07 GDC Game Studies Download Top 10, as covered by Raph Koster. Here are the slides. The esteemed scholars are referring to my dissertation.

Dissertation arrives in print

My dissertation has arrived in printed form. If you’d like a copy, come by the office or drop me a line.

Plans and Purposes: Final version of dissertation

I’ve now uploaded the final version of my dissertation Plans and Purposes: How videogame goals shape player behaviour (4.5MB PDF).
It differs from the previously uploaded draft by having fewer obvious typos. Nothing of substance was changed, I assure you. More info is available at the PhD page.

New article on videogames and economic game theory

The Christmas issue of Game Studies has hit the streets. This implies that my own article The Games Economists Play – Implications of Economic Game Theory for the Study of Computer Games has now been revealed.

Here’s the abstract:

It is a source of confusion that economists for decades have worked on “game theory” while studying economic behaviour. However, while not focused on games in the recreational sense this perspective does provide a highly meticulous complementary framework for the understanding of computer game structure and player behaviour. This article attempts to extract useful analytic concepts and insights from economic game theory and to give suggestions for how these might be put to concrete use in the study of computer games. A non-technical introduction is given, the framework is applied to computer games, a brief case study is performed and finally ideas for future research are presented.

What more can you ask for?

And hey, merry Christmas out there.

PhD defense completed – get ready

This Thursday I succesfully defended my PhD thesis entitled Plans and Purposes: How Videogame Goals Shape Player Behaviour (slides / ~~preliminary dissertation~~ final dissertation).

The opponents asked reasonable questions, the technical equipment worked flawlessly, the post-defense red wine was half-decent, and any post-defence tension was relieved through honorable Guitar Hero combat. Thanks to everyone who showed up.

And a warm congratulations to ex-roomie Miguel Sicart who defended his thesis on games and ethics yesterday (Miguel’s preliminary thesis).

I’ll be uploading the final version of my thesis as soon as it’s ready.

Mission completed.

(oh and I love the Germanification of my name on the ITU posters. It has a nice academic ring).

– “Look, players ARE rational. End of story”.

Study results

Study results, originally uploaded by Agent Smith.

Very roughly, this graph shows the prevalence of various types of verbal statements in my dataset.
The data is verbal communication during multiplayer console play.