More on computer games PhD

Hello mr. reader.

So application for ITU Copenhagen done. It was pretty much fight to get everything on time, but there is not too much bureaucracy. We will see how it will go. Btw. I have combined topics 2 and 3 from previous post and submit them. looks pretty good.

But not to bet always only one horse, I have decided also to post more applications. Currently it will be University of Waikato. And here are research topics I am proposing (as topic for research):

1. Persuasive games and public gameplay : Company called MegaPhone [1] recently present their technology, which allows for people play computer games using their mobile phones just in the middle of the street. This technology has been used widely in marketing, which is by nature persuasive. Until now, there was no study about use of this technology specially in persuasive games. It is really interesting to explore what is people attracting to this kind of games and factors as public presentation or physical aspect, which brings difference between classic multiplayer games and MegaPhone games. Also, because this is pretty different way of presentation of game, design challenges and decisions are pretty different, so this is another nice topic about which one can think. So here are few basic questions, on which I would like find answers in work on this topic: How can public games influence players behaviour? What are design challenges for combination of public and persuasive games? How to design successful public game? What are main differences between design of classic casual multiplayer games and public multiplayer games? Are public games suitable only for casual games? How can be public persuasive games used in other areas (marketing, public opinion research, education)? How to use public games for education (use of serious games)?

More generally about persuasive design and technology, there are some young conferences about this topic [2] [3], so here it is observable, that this topic is becoming interesting for scientific community.

Megaphone provides free developer program, in which I participate now and I believe that they would appreciate cooperation in this area, so I can can contact them and create university+industry link.

2. Brain-Computer Interface and adaptive gameplay : Adaptive games are nothing new in computer games research, there is plenty of publication by many institutions and also there are IEEE and ACM conferences on this topic. Pioneer in this are was ITU Copenhagen Centre for Computer game research [4]. Currently research is done all over the world including Sydney Australia, Concordia Canada, Bergen Norway, Georgia Tech USA and many others. Most of papers use for "adaptation" direct player feedback or indirect variables, such as player success in the game.

BCI is existing for a long time, but it is really young area and there is not too much commercial use of it. Most advanced product is [5], which is one I would like to use in my work. First papers about combination of BCI and computer games are only from last years (09-10). And none of them is actually discusses their combination with adaptive gameplay.

This is more experimental topic and open questions are not so clear, but some can be stated: How can be BCI used for adaptive games? Should be BCI used only as passive element, or should player be able also to influence gameplay through it? What is the right metrics to measure player satisfaction with BCI? What challenges are in design of adaptive games with BCI? Can use of BCI during early prototyping of game give results, which can lead to better design of final game?

But except wide theoretical study, purpose of this research will be create actual game, which is using BCI to adapt.

[1] http://www.playmegaphone.com/index.php

[2] http://www.persuasive2010.org/

[3] http://designforpersuasion.com/

[4] http://game.itu.dk/index.php/about

[5] http://www.emotiv.com/

Center for Computer Games Research

Hi people, recently I have found this page of Center for Computer games Research and it looks like, they are accepting PhDs! So I have write down few proposal, please give me feedback so I can form solid Statement of Purpose from it. It is 3 of them, 1 main and 2 spare. Fell free to be bad and have a lot of criticism.

Here it is:

Real-World data based game content - basic idea is to generate game content based on actual real-world data. There could be multiple uses for this and it is wide area. Examples:

1. Games content delivery - you can deliver game content based on geographical location of player, in different places you can play different levels of game. It can be used for example for propagation of cultural attractions, where if you visit museum or gallery you can play game on your phone, and levels of this game will be personalized to that museum or gallery. Goal of this would be to build a game, which delivers game content depending on geographical position and other easily obtained data (time) from client (player).

2. Solving real world problems - lets imagine a computer game, which reflects real traffic situation and quest of the player is to get from point A to point B. There could be multiple players and one who can get there in best way will be the winner and actually his solution can be delivered to someone, who will be using GPS and would like to get from point A to point B. Next example is to have game with climate situation and the quest of the player will be to manipulate with the weather. Based on player actions then we can observe the resulting situation and compare it to actual situation evolved after time. Those are simple examples, we can think about more complex models, which provides player with ability to solve real-world problems with computer games, based on real-world content. One bright example can be found here.

3. Gameplay in real-world environment - Here you can imagine computer games, mostly on mobile phones, which are using augmented reality to provide game content. Provided game content is also dependant on current surrounding of the player. This would be nice combination with point 1. Under this point one can also discuss game-content based on real world models. Just imagine you have a model of a car, you would move your mobile phone around that car, the car get 3D into the mobile phone and you can play the game with that car. Actually this, what I am describing in last sentence is based on video-based rendering and I have already some results in that area.

Those are 3 main possible areas, where to use real-world data based game content. If none of them would be suitable, I have few ideas here for other themes for thesis. For this other themes I have not deep background, but it is not problem for me to work hard to get it. So here are few other ideas:

Indirect control gameplay - The name is little bit mysterious, but have you ever play Black and White game? This is one of a kind game and it is using this indirect feedback model. You have a creature, which is acting in the game according his own will and you as player can punish or reward it. Also this creature is observing players behaviour and actually it reflect players style of play. I think it is pretty interesting area to observe. For example in strategy games, when one is playing for a race and he will build a new base. So he will have 2 bases. Then he can promote and general, which will take care for the old base and he can concentrate on the new base. The player can give some indirect orders to the general and also promote/demote him. This can result into forming generals character. This is example for strategy game, same can be done for racing game, where teams are racing against each other and in one race there is multiple racers, who need to cooperate. Here it can be also interesting to get the good balance between player feedback and agent autonomous behaviour.

Adaptive computer-player cooperation in gameplay - I have read your papers on adaptive content and how to maximize player fun. This was one of other factors, which can be taken in consideration. Besides player there could be another character in the game controlled by the computer and this character will help the player based on his current results. So if he is doing well, the character will interact less, otherwise he will help more. This could be really nice addition to generated game content, because it has no delay in response to player actions (if we are thinking about Mario game, then computer controlled character can help also on the same screen so player does not need to wait to move to another screen).

Real-World Data Based Game Content

I have read about research of computer games research group on ITU Copenhagen. They are generating game content based on users action and they are trying to maximize enjoyment from the game. Based on they research I have been thinking about game content little bit also on myself and following idea come into my mind.

Basically every game has some content and it could be created by artists or somehow generated. Generated context could be done procedurally. But even when you want to have procedural context, you need some seed, based on which you generate this context. Seed for researchers from ITU are players actions. I have been thinking about little bit different approach, and it is to generate game context on the biggest set of data one can acquire. It is real-world data. Just imagine about mixing real-world data and game context. There are a lot of ways, how to do this, so lets speak about few of them.

First of all one can just deliver game context based on the basic real-world, what is position. This is basically best executable on mobile devices. Where player is playing the game, but on different locations are available to him different levels. So where to use this? First of all education, where you can just give people more inspiration to visit some places, like museums, galleries, parks and other cultural and other institutions. Just a family on a trip around museums in their city and great way to deliver information to kids is to let them play game, which context is based on in what museum they just are. Second nice use is marketing. Also model situation. You are a big fast food company, which wants they visitors to pay a visit to their affiliates. You can release game, which will provide to players in every affiliate different level, for each level they receive award and after enough awards they will get some free drink or any of your products. Last use of just position is the legal issue. In many countries there exists rules and laws about specific game context, which can and can not be delivered to players. Best examples are Australia or Germany. It is easy to filter game content in stone shops, where developer and publisher adjust game context for release in particular country, but it is harder to done in electronic publishing. Also nice example are mobile games, where is no guarantee, that the application will pass all the local laws. For this purpose could be also used location specific game context.

Lets move to second option of mixing game context and real-world data. Now we want to use some more information than only position in computer games. It is best, that it would be information, that could be obtained explicitly and is available worldwide. This type of information are: traffic, weather, daytime, stock information ... there is a plenty of data, which can be used in games for game content. We does not need them to simulate, we can just use them. Also, when you use real world data in computer games, one can actually solve real world problem. Model situation: GPS, which communicates with game server and players quest is to lead the car as fast as possible from point A to point B with avoiding dangerous places(some really bad neighbourhoods), traffic jams... . Also use of real world information, for example weather in computer games, could make step toward personalization of game context (did ever happen to you, that you have noticed, that its raining not by looking outside window, but by looking on forecast instead?). Also option to let player play from some initial state, which is based on real data, and then to compare their results with results based on actual data, could lead to some nice statistic observations.

Last use of real-world data in game context is the deepest one from previously described. It is use just a real world as a environment, mixed with artificial models. Some solutions already exists in augmented reality, but none of them is actively used for computer games. This could be nice in combination with approach number 1, so you can play in real world and based on your position, you are playing with different game content. This idea is a little bit abstract but it is strong proposal for game prototype, which could bring new view on mobile game playing, especially now, when new devices with new technology are introduced. So augmented reality + location based game context could really make a difference.

On this theme I have not found any scientific articles published, even when in some areas are already existing solutions (games based on stock information, AR for PC ...), I have found none published on scientific conferences. So I am happy that I have option to share my ideas and visions with you and I hope, this could be helpful to you.