Download or read book The Gamer s Brain written by Celia Hodent and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2017-08-10 with total page 383 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Making a successful video game is hard. Even games that are successful at launch may fail to engage and retain players in the long term due to issues with the user experience (UX) that they are delivering. The game user experience accounts for the whole experience players have with a video game, from first hearing about it to navigating menus and progressing in the game. UX as a discipline offers guidelines to assist developers in creating the experience they want to deliver, shipping higher quality games (whether it is an indie game, AAA game, or "serious game"), and meeting their business goals while staying true to their design and artistic intent. In a nutshell, UX is about understanding the gamer’s brain: understanding human capabilities and limitations to anticipate how a game will be perceived, the emotions it will elicit, how players will interact with it, and how engaging the experience will be. This book is designed to equip readers of all levels, from student to professional, with neuroscience knowledge and user experience guidelines and methodologies. These insights will help readers identify the ingredients for successful and engaging video games, empowering them to develop their own unique game recipe more efficiently, while providing a better experience for their audience. Key Features Provides an overview of how the brain learns and processes information by distilling research findings from cognitive science and psychology research in a very accessible way. Topics covered include: "neuromyths", perception, memory, attention, motivation, emotion, and learning. Includes numerous examples from released games of how scientific knowledge translates into game design, and how to use a UX framework in game development. Describes how UX can guide developers to improve the usability and the level of engagement a game provides to its target audience by using cognitive psychology knowledge, implementing human-computer interaction principles, and applying the scientific method (user research). Provides a practical definition of UX specifically applied to games, with a unique framework. Defines the most relevant pillars for good usability (ease of use) and good "engage-ability" (the ability of the game to be fun and engaging), translated into a practical checklist. Covers design thinking, game user research, game analytics, and UX strategy at both a project and studio level. Offers unique insights from a UX expert and PhD in psychology who has been working in the entertainment industry for over 10 years. This book is a practical tool that any professional game developer or student can use right away and includes the most complete overview of UX in games existing today.

Download or read book The Psychology of Video Games written by Celia Hodent and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-10-07 with total page 110 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What impact can video games have on us as players? How does psychology influence video game creation? Why do some games become cultural phenomena? The Psychology of Video Games introduces the curious reader to the relationship between psychology and video games from the perspective of both game makers and players. Assuming no specialist knowledge, this concise, approachable guide is a starter book for anyone intrigued by what makes video games engaging and what is their psychological impact on gamers. It digests the research exploring the benefits gaming can have on players in relation to education and healthcare, considers the concerns over potential negative impacts such as pathological gaming, and concludes with some ethics considerations. With gaming being one of the most popular forms of entertainment today, The Psychology of Video Games shows the importance of understanding the human brain and its mental processes to foster ethical and inclusive video games.

Download or read book Game Usability written by Katherine Isbister and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2022-03-13 with total page 453 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book introduces the basics in game usability and overall game UX mindset and techniques, as well as looking at current industry best practices and trends. Fully updated for its second edition, it includes practical advice on how to include usability in already tight development timelines, and how to advocate for UX and communicate results to higher-ups effectively. The book begins with an introduction to UX strategy considerations for games, and to UX design, before moving on to cover core user research and usability techniques as well as how to fit UX practices into the business process. It provides considerations of player differences and offers strategies for inclusion as well as chapters that give platform and context specific advice. With a wealth of new interviews with industry leaders and contributions from the very best in game UX, the book also includes brand new chapters on: Accessibility Mobile Game Usability Data Science Virtual and Augmented Reality Esports This book will be vital reading for all professional game developers and game UX advocates, as well as those students aspiring to work in game development and game UX.

Download or read book Theory of Fun for Game Design written by Raph Koster and published by "O'Reilly Media, Inc.". This book was released on 2005 with total page 259 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Discusses the essential elements in creating a successful game, how playing games and learning are connected, and what makes a game boring or fun.

Download or read book Gamer Psychology and Behavior written by Barbaros Bostan and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-06-13 with total page 161 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides an introduction and overview of the increasingly important topic of gamer psychology and behavior by presenting a range of theoretic perspectives and empirical evidence casting new light on understanding gamer behavior and designing interactive gaming experiences that maximize fun. This book aims to provide a snapshot on research approaches/advances in player psychology and behavior, discuss issues, solutions, challenges, and needs for player behavior research, and report gameplay experience and lessons as well as industry case studies from both social sciences and engineering perspectives. The nine chapters in this book, which are divided into three sections: Neuro-Psychology and Gaming; Player Behavior and Gameplay; Player Psychology and Motivations, do not represent all the topics in the psychology of gaming, however, they include a variety of topics in this field: the effects of violent video games on cognitive processes, the reward systems in the human brain and the concept of 'fun', goal-directed player behavior and game choices, psychological player profiling techniques, game design requirements and player psychology, motivational gamer profiles, and many more. This book is suitable for students and professionals with different disciplinary backgrounds such as computer science, design, software engineering, psychology, interactive media, and information systems. Students will be interested in the theory of gamer psychology and its impact on game design. Professionals will be interested in the fundamentals of gamer behavior and how interactive virtual environments can improve user experience.

Download or read book What UX is Really About written by Celia Hodent and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2021-12-15 with total page 101 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "In this not-too-long and easy-to-read book, author Celia Hodent presents a clear overview of the challenges, demands, and rewards of becoming a user experience professional. If this field interests you, there’s no better place to start than with the volume you now hold in your hand." Alan Cooper, Ancestry Thinker, Software Alchemist, Regenerative Rancher, Author of The Inmates Are Running the Asylum: Why High Tech Products Drive Us Crazy and How to Restore the Sanity The main objective of What UX is Really About: Introducing a Mindset for Great Experiences is to provide a quick introduction to user experience (UX 101) for students, professionals, or simply curious readers who want to understand this trendy yet commonly misunderstood practice better. Readers will learn that UX is much more than a set of techniques, guidelines, and tools. It is a mindset; a philosophy that takes the perspective of the humans that will use a product. It is about solving their problems, offering them a pleasurable experience, and building a win-win, long-lasting relationship between them and the company developing the product. Above all, it is about improving people’s lives with technology. What UX is Really About is informative, concise, and provides readers with a high-level overview of the science, design, and methodologies of UX. KEY FEATURES: • The most approachable and concise introduction book about UX. • Easy to read and aims to popularize the UX mindset while debunking its main misconceptions. • Small format size makes it easy to carry around. • Includes content relatable and meaningful to the readers by taking many examples from everyday life with a conversational and light writing style. • Tackles the psychology, design, research, process, strategy, and ethics behind offering the best experience with products, systems, or services. • Includes a glossary. Celia Hodent holds a PhD in psychology, and is a leading expert in the application of cognitive science and psychology to product development, with over 13 years of experience in the development of UX strategy in video game studios, such as Ubisoft, LucasArts, and Epic Games (Fortnite). She currently leads an independent UX consultancy, working with a wide range of international media and enterprise companies to help ensure their products are engaging, successful, and respectful of users. Celia conducts workshops and provides guidance on the topics of game-based UX, playful learning ("gamification"), ethics, implicit biases, and inclusion in tech. Celia is the author of The Gamer’s Brain: How Neuroscience and UX Can Impact Video Game Design and The Psychology of Video Games.

Download or read book Gamer Army written by Trent Reedy and published by Scholastic Inc.. This book was released on 2018-11-27 with total page 267 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this timely and thrilling novel, Ender's Game meets Ready Player One and several terabytes of fast-paced video game action as five gamers are recruited into a tech giant's secret program. After Rogan Webber levels up yet again on his favorite video game, Laser Viper, the world-famous creator of the game invites him to join the five best players in the country for an exclusive tournament. The gamers are flown to the tech mogul's headquarters, where they stay in luxury dorms and test out cutting edge virtual-reality gaming equipment, doing digital battle as powerful fighting robots. It's the ultimate gaming experience.But as the contest continues, the missions become harder, losing gamers are eliminated, and the remaining contestants face the growing suspicion that the game may not be what it seems. Why do the soldiers and robots they fight in Laser Viper act so weird? What's behind the strange game glitches? And why does the game feel so... real?Rogan and his gamer rivals must come together, summoning the collective power of their Gamer Army to discover the truth and make things right... in a dangerous world where video games have invaded reality.

Download or read book Getting Gamers written by Jamie Madigan and published by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. This book was released on 2019-01-15 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A psychologist and life-long fan of video games helps you understand what psychology has to say about why video games and mobile game apps are designed the way they are, why players behave as they do, and the psychological tricks used to market and sell them.

Download or read book The Gaming Mind written by Alexander Kriss and published by The Experiment. This book was released on 2020-03-31 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Are videogames bad for us? It’s the question on everyone’s mind, given teenagers’ captive attention to videogames and the media’s tendency to scapegoat them. It’s also—if you ask clinical psychologist Alexander Kriss—the wrong question. In his therapy office, Kriss looks at videogames as a window into the mind. Is his patient Liz really “addicted” to Candy Crush—or is she evading a deeper problem? Why would aspiring model Patricia craft a hideous avatar named “Pat”? And when Jack immerses himself in Mass Effect, is he eroding his social skills—or honing them via relationship-building gameplay? Weaving together Kriss’s personal history, patients’ experiences, and professional insight—and without shying away from complex subjects, such as online harassment—The Gaming Mind disrupts our assumptions about “gamers” and explores how gaming can be good for us. It offers guidance for parents, clinicians, and the rest of us to better understand the gaming mind. Like any mode of play, at their best, videogames reveal who we are—and what we want from our lives.

Download or read book Future Gaming written by Paolo Ruffino and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2018-05-04 with total page 162 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A sophisticated critical take on contemporary game culture that reconsiders the boundaries between gamers and games. This book is not about the future of video games. It is not an attempt to predict the moods of the market, the changing profile of gamers, the benevolence or malevolence of the medium. This book is about those predictions. It is about the ways in which the past, present, and future notions of games are narrated and negotiated by a small group of producers, journalists, and gamers, and about how invested these narrators are in telling the story of tomorrow. This new title from Goldsmiths Press by Paolo Ruffino suggests the story could be told another way. Considering game culture, from the gamification of self-improvement to GamerGate's sexism and violence, Ruffino lays out an alternative, creative mode of thinking about the medium: a sophisticated critical take that blurs the distinctions among studying, playing, making, and living with video games. Offering a series of stories that provide alternative narratives of digital gaming, Ruffino aims to encourage all of us who study and play (with) games to raise ethical questions, both about our own role in shaping the objects of research, and about our involvement in the discourses we produce as gamers and scholars. For researchers and students seeking a fresh approach to game studies, and for anyone with an interest in breaking open the current locked-box discourse, Future Gaming offers a radical lens with which to view the future.

Download or read book Games User Research written by Anders Drachen and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2018 with total page 549 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Games live and die commercially on the player experience. Games User Research is collectively the way we optimise the quality of the user experience (UX) in games, working with all aspects of a game from the mechanics and interface, visuals and art, interaction and progression, making sure every element works in concert and supports the game UX. This means that Games User Research is essential and integral to the production of games and to shape the experience of players. Today, Games User Research stands as the primary pathway to understanding players and how to design, build, and launch games that provide the right game UX. Until now, the knowledge in Games User Research and Game UX has been fragmented and there were no comprehensive, authoritative resources available. This book bridges the current gap of knowledge in Games User Research, building the go-to resource for everyone working with players and games or other interactive entertainment products. It is accessible to those new to Games User Research, while being deeply comprehensive and insightful for even hardened veterans of the game industry. In this book, dozens of veterans share their wisdom and best practices on how to plan user research, obtain the actionable insights from users, conduct user-centred testing, which methods to use when, how platforms influence user research practices, and much, much more.

Download or read book Playing Safe With Preston written by Marna J Smith and published by . This book was released on 2019-04-30 with total page 28 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Preston loved to play with all his toys when he was a little boy; he always wore his helmet when he rode on anything. I wrote this book to educate children about helmet safety and how the brain needs to be protected because it controls our body and helps us learn new things. Did you know that someone in the U.S. suffers a brain injury every 9 seconds? Preston fell while riding a skateboard and injured his brain. He will always need a caregiver to take care of him and for those around him to move him from his bed to his wheel chair. He has had hundreds of hours of therapy and can now make some sounds, but mostly communicates with his eyes and facial expressions. Preston is a fighter and is very determined to get better. His fundraising T-Shirt says, "the force is strong with this one" and it is so perfect for our Star Wars lover. My hope is that this book encourages your loved ones to be safe and to wear helmets when they are riding on anything that makes them go. Every March is Traumatic Brain Injury Awareness Month please use this book to educate others about some ways to prevent TBI's. Slow down, play safe, and wear a helmet.

Download or read book Reset Your Child s Brain written by Victoria L. Dunckley, MD and published by New World Library. This book was released on 2015-06-23 with total page 386 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Increasing numbers of parents grapple with children who are acting out without obvious reason. Revved up and irritable, many of these children are diagnosed with ADHD, bipolar illness, autism, or other disorders but don’t respond well to treatment. They are then medicated, often with poor results and unwanted side effects. Based on emerging scientific research and extensive clinical experience, integrative child psychiatrist Dr. Victoria Dunckley has pioneered a four-week program to treat the frequent underlying cause, Electronic Screen Syndrome (ESS). Dr. Dunckley has found that everyday use of interactive screen devices — such as computers, video games, smartphones, and tablets — can easily overstimulate a child’s nervous system, triggering a variety of stubborn symptoms. In contrast, she’s discovered that a strict, extended electronic fast single-handedly improves mood, focus, sleep, and behavior, regardless of the child’s diagnosis. It also reduces the need for medication and renders other treatments more effective. Offered now in this book, this simple intervention can produce a life-changing shift in brain function and help your child get back on track — all without cost or medication. While no one in today’s connected world can completely shun electronic stimuli, Dr. Dunckley provides hope for parents who feel that their child has been misdiagnosed or inappropriately medicated, by presenting an alternative explanation for their child’s difficulties and a concrete plan for treating them.

Download or read book Brain Storm written by Richard Dooling and published by Random House. This book was released on 2012-12-19 with total page 545 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Attorney Joe Watson had never been to court except to be sworn in. He did legal research, investigating copyright infringement in video games (addressing such matters as: Did CarnageMaster plagiarize their beheading sequence from Greek SlaughterHouse?). He was a Webhead, a cybernerd doing support work for the lawyers in his firm who did go to court. And he was good at it. He was on track to become one of the youngest partners in the firm, and he was able--by a hair--to support his wife and children in an affluent neighborhood. Then he got notice that the tyrannical Judge Whittaker J. Stang had appointed him to defend James Whitlow, a small-time lowlife with a long rap sheet accused of a double hate crime: killing his wife's deaf black lover. When Watson stubbornly decides not to plead out his client, he is soon evicted from his comfortable life: His boss fires him, his wife leaves him and takes the children, and the Whitlow case begins to consume all of his time. He has only two allies--Rachel Palmquist, a beautiful, brainy neuroscientist with her own designs on his client and on Watson himself, and Myrna Schweich, a punk criminal-defense lawyer with orange hair who swears like a trooper and definitely inhales. Watson's finished. Or is he?To answer that question requires, among many other things, a brain scan for Watson in a state of strapped-down arousal, a Voice Transcription Device to eavesdrop on a dead deaf man's conversation, two chimpanzees who have no choice but to love each other, and a blind news vendor who demonstrates a real touch when it comes to making money. For all the Dickensian energy and humor of this ingenious story, Brain Storm also stands at the center of many modern controversies, from the death penalty and the circus atmosphere of criminal trials to neuroscientific and moral quandaries about sex, crime, and religion. Rachel tells Watson that free will is a fiction: "There's not much you can do about it if you're biologically predisposed to violence or sexual misbehavior. You just have to make the best of it, and try not to get caught." Once a deliberate yes-man at home and in the office, Joe Watson finds himself fighting not only to save his marriage and his career but also to hold intact his conviction that a person is more than a series of chemical reactions.

Download or read book Reality Is Broken written by Jane McGonigal and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2011-01-20 with total page 334 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “McGonigal is a clear, methodical writer, and her ideas are well argued. Assertions are backed by countless psychological studies.” —The Boston Globe “Powerful and provocative . . . McGonigal makes a persuasive case that games have a lot to teach us about how to make our lives, and the world, better.” —San Jose Mercury News “Jane McGonigal's insights have the elegant, compact, deadly simplicity of plutonium, and the same explosive force.” —Cory Doctorow, author of Little Brother A visionary game designer reveals how we can harness the power of games to boost global happiness. With 174 million gamers in the United States alone, we now live in a world where every generation will be a gamer generation. But why, Jane McGonigal asks, should games be used for escapist entertainment alone? In this groundbreaking book, she shows how we can leverage the power of games to fix what is wrong with the real world-from social problems like depression and obesity to global issues like poverty and climate change-and introduces us to cutting-edge games that are already changing the business, education, and nonprofit worlds. Written for gamers and non-gamers alike, Reality Is Broken shows that the future will belong to those who can understand, design, and play games. Jane McGonigal is also the author of SuperBetter: A Revolutionary Approach to Getting Stronger, Happier, Braver and More Resilient.

Download or read book The Eye of Minds The Mortality Doctrine Book One written by James Dashner and published by Delacorte Press. This book was released on 2013-10-08 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The world is virtual, but the danger is real in book one of the bestselling Mortality Doctrine series, the next phenomenon from the author of the Maze Runner series, James Dashner. Includes a sneak peek of The Fever Code, the highly-anticipated conclusion to the Maze Runner series—the novel that finally reveals how the maze was built! The VirtNet offers total mind and body immersion, and the more hacking skills you have, the more fun it is. Why bother following the rules when it’s so easy to break them? But some rules were made for a reason. Some technology is too dangerous to fool with. And one gamer has been doing exactly that, with murderous results. The government knows that to catch a hacker, you need a hacker. And they’ve been watching Michael. If he accepts their challenge, Michael will need to go off the VirtNet grid, to the back alleys and corners of the system human eyes have never seen—and it’s possible that the line between game and reality will be blurred forever. The author who brought you the #1 New York Times bestselling MAZE RUNNER series and two #1 movies—The Maze Runner and The Scorch Trials—now brings you an electrifying adventure trilogy an edge-of-your-seat adventure that takes you into a world of hyperadvanced technology, cyber terrorists, and gaming beyond your wildest dreams . . . and your worst nightmares. Praise for the Bestselling MORTALITY DOCTRINE series: “Dashner takes full advantage of the Matrix-esque potential for asking ‘what is real.’” —io9.com “Set in a world taken over by virtual reality gaming, the series perfectly capture[s] Dashner’s hallmarks for inventiveness, teen dialogue and an ability to add twists and turns like no other author.” —MTV.com “A brilliant, visceral, gamified mash-up of The Matrix and Inception, guaranteed to thrill even the non-gaming crowd.” —Christian Science Monitor

Download or read book Extra Lives written by Tom Bissell and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2011-06-14 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Extra Lives, acclaimed writer and life-long video game enthusiast Tom Bissell takes the reader on an insightful and entertaining tour of the art and meaning of video games. In just a few decades, video games have grown increasingly complex and sophisticated, and the companies that produce them are now among the most profitable in the entertainment industry. Yet few outside this world have thought deeply about how these games work, why they are so appealing, and what they are capable of artistically. Blending memoir, criticism, and first-rate reportage, Extra Lives is a milestone work about what might be the dominant popular art form of our time.