Game Analysis

Introduction: Over the past years, a few review papers about possibilities of using motion analysis systems in sport were published, but there are no articles that discuss this problem in the field of combat sports and martial arts. Aim: This study presents the diversity of contemporary motion analysis systems both, those that are used in scientific research, as well as those that can be applied in daily work of coaches and athletes in combat sports and martial arts. An additional aim is the indication of example applications in scientific research and range of applications in optimizing the training process. It presents a brief description of each type of systems that are currently used in sport, specific examples of systems and the main advantages and disadvantages of using them. The presentation and discussion takes place in the following sections: motion analysis utility for combat sports and martial arts, systems using digital video and systems using markers, sensors or transmitters. Conclusions: Not all types of motion analysis systems used in sport are suitable for combat sports and martial arts. Scientific studies conducted so far showed the usefulness of video-based, optical and electromechanical systems. The use of research results made with complex motion analysis systems, or made with simple systems, local application and immediate visualization is important for the preparation of training and its optimization. It may lead to technical and tactical improvement in athletes as well as the prevention of injuries in combat sports and martial arts.

The precise influence of serve type and serve ball speed on beach volleyball performance is unclear. We examined the relationship between serve type and speed and their effectiveness during the 2008 Men's and Women's Open World Tour Tournament. Three hundred and seventy-eight and 375 serves performed by men and women respectively from the main draw tournament were analysed. Serve speed was recorded using a radar gun. Two expert observers recorded serve speed, serve mode, serve effectiveness and rally outcome. There was no relationship between serve speed and its effectiveness for men (r = -0.047, P > 0.05) and for women (r = -0.048, P > 0.05). However, there was a relationship between serve ball speed and its effectiveness both for men and women, when speed was categorised into three groups. There was a better balance between negative and positive outcomes at medium speeds for men and at low and high speeds for women. There was a relationship between ranking and serve ball speed only for women and between ranking and type of serve for both genders. There was no relationship between rally outcome and serve effectiveness. The combination of high ball speed and jump serve is characteristic of high ranking women but not of men.

This book is about the three identities of the videogame, the gamer, and Game Studies. I write that there are no definitive truths but rather discourses and constructions; ideas, actions, beliefs, and practices related to videogames are discourses that merge and shape our perception of videogames as an area of study of its own right. These discursive responses meet and clash creating what we call truths, which are temporary and negotiable.

This perspective is inspired by Foucauldian ideas and present few questions about videogame-related identities in and outside of academe. Does Game Studies have a conceptual core? What makes game studies difficult to be disciplined in academe? What do we learn from the scholarly and popular discourses on videogames that would help understand the identity questions related to games?

I go on to describe what makes the videogame identity according to game studies: aesthetics, fictions, meaning-making, performance, transformation, etc. and what makes it difficult for game studies being an open market of ideas and an academic "un-discipline". This leads me to the gamer's identity: an aficionado first, and a connoisseur of fictional worlds.

The problem of collective action is usually identified with social dilemmas. A wider notion of the term collective action problem is introduced, as dilemmas are not the only problems to arise in collective action. The article first presents a typology of collective action problems based on matrix game analysis. Five types are distinguished: distribution, defection, co-ordination, disagreement, and instability problems. Second, the article discusses a number of proposals how to resolve these types of collective action problems, such as altruism, norms, focal points, correlated strategies, collective decision-making, external power, and sanctioning. Whereas the "political" solutions can be used to resolve all types of problems, the "motivational" solutions can only facilitate the resolution of some of the problems, and the "rational expectation" solutions can solve some types and help to solve others.

This paper critically analyzes the game Hollow Knight from a phenomenological approach, the "what is it like to be...". The paper is divided in three parts (Avatar, Playability and Spatiality) that encompass first the concept of bodily-intentionality (body as object and subject), then bodily space (proprioceptive frame, egocentric frame, alleocentric frame) and finally, bodily extensions (the place of technology). Later, this paper also tackles the specificity of two-dimensional games and games played as single-player. Finally, it will consider the shift from game spaces to playable worlds. Given these observations, the analysis finds that in Hollow Knight the playable character is a prosthetic extension of the player's body and that in term of spatiality, the game fits perfectly the characteristics of the genre Metroidvania and presents transformations of topographic space into topologic space. In addition, this paper suggests that Hollow Knight can be considered as a playable world with gameplay's constraints and opportunities that need to be respected in order for the player to get forward in the game.

Limited information exists about the movement patterns of field-hockey players, especially during elite competition. Time–motion analysis was used to document the movement patterns during an international field-hockey game. In addition, the movement patterns of repeated-sprint activity were investigated, as repeated-sprint ability is considered to be an important fitness component of team-sport performance. Fourteen members of the Australian men's field-hockey team (age 26±3 years, body mass 76.7±5.6 kg, [Vdot]O2max 57.9±3.6 ml · kg−1 · min−1; mean±s) were filmed during an international game and their movement patterns were analysed. The majority of the total player game time was spent in the low-intensity motions of walking, jogging and standing (46.5±8.1, 40.5±7.0 and 7.4±0.9%, respectively). In comparison, the proportions of time spent in striding and sprinting were 4.1±1.1 and 1.5±0.6%, respectively. Our criteria for ‘repeated-sprint’ activity (defined as a minimum of three sprints, with mean recovery duration between sprints of less than 21 s) was met on 17 occasions during the game (total for all players), with a mean 4±1 sprints per bout. On average, 95% of the recovery during the repeated-sprint bouts was of an active nature. In summary, the results suggest that the motion activities of an elite field-hockey competition are similar to those of elite soccer, rugby and Australian Rules football. In addition, the investigation of repeated-sprint activity during competition has provided additional information about the unique physiological demands of elite field-hockey performance.

Ostatnimi laty w branży gier wideo na popularności zyskuje trend umieszczania dojrzałych treści w produkcjach typu AAA. W związku z tym, uznaniem cieszą się coraz bardziej innowacyjne formalnie podejścia do kwestii moralności. Najnowsze gry prezentują konsumentom wybory moralne starannie wplecione w całość fabularną i mechaniczną. Pojawiające się w rozgrywce sytuacje wyboru moralnego w sposób organiczny łączą znaczenia płynące z fabuły gry z wnioskami płynącymi z interpretacji mechaniki. Posługując się sposobem analizy gry autorstwa Iana Bogosta oraz podziałem mechaniki wg Miguela Sicarta przyjrzę się sytuacjom wyborów moralnych od strony ich formy mechanicznej. Zaprezentuję analizę mechaniki w wyborze moralnym z gry Wiedźmin 2: Zabójcy Królów. W podsumowaniu opiszę krótką typologię wyborów moralnych pojawiających się w grach komputerowych.

Adventure games emerged as a new form of digital games in the late 1970s, via the release of the first adventure game, Adventure. Originally text-only in representation, and using the parser to guide the player character, adventure games soon adapted graphics and a point-and-click user interface, features that made them more accessible and greatly successful in the 1990s. Before the end of the 20th century, however, adventure games lost their position in the market, becoming a niche genre of digital games. One reason behind people losing interest in adventure games is agreed as the abundance of designer puzzles, where the connection between the puzzles of adventure games and their solutions is left unclear to the player. This problem emerged from the initial success of adventure games, which led to a multiplicity of adventure games of varying quality.

The purpose of this thesis is to study the puzzles of adventure games. Starting with the presumption that puzzles are at the core of adventure games, studying them can provide insight on adventure games as a whole. The research goal of this study is to find out ways in which adventure game puzzles are pleasurable for the player to solve. I approach this goal by analyzing the puzzles of a point-and-click adventure game Day of the Tentacle, using a close reading method. To aid in my close reading, I am going to form an analytical lens out of the theory about the nature of insight thinking, in order to highlight the pleasurable moments of puzzle-solving in Day of the Tentacle.

As a result of my close reading, I present three ways in which adventure game puzzles provide pleasure to the player: 1) puzzles are pleasurable works of art in themselves, 2) solving a puzzle through insight thinking, and 3) progression made in the story of the game by solving puzzles. These three ways emerge from the existing research, and I propose that they are also present in Day of the Tentacle. I suggest that these results can be used as a basis for a criteria to aid in evaluating and designing adventure game puzzles.

Papers, Please was meant to be a short game, easy to play. However, it turned out to be an award-winning game acclaimed by the critique and that deal with major concepts. In the first section of this paper, I will approach each of these concepts in the context of the game. Papers, Please approaches the concept of Alienation defined by Marx. Although the game refers to a communist environment, the political regime in place is totalitarian. Nonetheless, in Papers, Please under the oppressive regime the main character can still make choices, a concept that Bogost calls "possibility spaces". The Player will have to choose between loyalty to authority or moral. Each of her decision will shape the scenario of the game and its endings. However, there are only 3 endings considered as "successful" by the game: either the player choses authority over moral, moral over authority or none of the two. In these three endings the player is never free. In its second part, the study will analyze Papers, Please through a procedural-rhetorical approach, then consider the concept of simulation and representations as presented in the game. The procedural-rhetorical approach will reveal that the mechanics of the game (procedurality) generate a model (representation) of a totalitarian regime where the player can explore the game through possibility spaces and make choices according to what feels personally right to her hence learn the meaning of the game. The player can then put this procedural argument into a real life perspective and reconsider the game's political claims in the actual world. Papers, Please has a great educational dimension that helps the player develop her independent thinking. In regards to its representations, the game does not discriminate against any identities, even though it demonstrates how some of them are marginalized in totalitarian regimes.

This thesis analyses regional co-operation in Central Asia and asks why the Central Asian states so often failed to co-operate effectively in the period 1991-2004. The thesis assesses the usefulness of international relations theories in accounting for this pattern, and finds that theories stressing conflicting national interest among the local states offer, on the whole, a plausible account for why regional co-operation failed. It is, nevertheless, essential also to pay attention to two important features of the Central Asian states -authoritarian rule and state weakness -in order to provide a full understanding of why and how regional co-operation proved unsuccessful.

El videojuego se ha convertido en una herramienta más de las estrategias transmedia, ya sea como producto con el que ampliar la narrativa de otro medio, o como eje principal desde el que iniciar un multiverso narrativo. Desde casos aislados como el de Mario, icono de Nintendo que estrenó su propia serie de televisión en 1989 llamada The Super Mario Bros, Super Show! (First-run syndication), a las recientes adaptaciones cinematográficas de juegos exitosos como Resident Evil (Screen Gems, 2002-2016) o Assassins Creed (20th Century Fox, 2016), es ya una realidad la importancia de este medio, consolidándose como punto de partida transmedia. Como paradigma de esta tendencia, cabría destacar el caso de ActivisionBlizzard, que ha ido desarrollando una serie de propiedades intelectuales (PI) o franquicias en forma de videojuego sobre las que aplica las herramientas transmedia de una manera global e integradora a niveles hasta ahora poco explorados por compañías similares. Las franquicias principales son cuatro: Warcraft (1994) -desde donde surgen otras dos: World of Warcraft (2004) y Hearthstone (2014)-, Diablo (1996), Starcraft (1998) y Overwatch (2016). A partir de ellas se constituyen los universos que la compañía gestiona de manera integradora, constituyendo un caso particular y único en cuanto a diseño y aplicación de las herramientas transmedia. Este trabajo abordará un análisis holístico con respecto a tres ejes en los que se sustentan las dinámicas transmedia en los universos creados y gestionados por Activision-Blizzard: narrativo, comercial y de experiencia de juego o gameplay. Cada uno de estos universos se desarrolla con una estrategia narrativa propia ajustada a su naturaleza; pero por encima de los universos propios las diferentes PI se interrelacionan entre sí a través de estrategias comerciales y narrativas en forma de macrocosmos, y que implican, en no pocas ocasiones, cambios en la experiencia de juego, como las recompensas cross-game lanzadas en fechas señaladas o con motivo de eventos organizados por la propia compañía. Parte de esta estrategia transmedia se ve reflejada en una nueva PI, Heroes of the storm (2015), título que plantea un nuevo universo cuyo leitmotiv es reunir las franquicias de Activision-Blizzard yendo incluso más allá de las principales. Por ejemplo, el jugador podrá utilizar a los personajes The Lost Vikings (1992) la primera franquicia de Blizzard, o escoger personajes de PI lanzadas con posterioridad, como Overwatch (2016).  Por todo ello, esta investigación identificará las diferentes estrategias transmedia empleadas por los creadores de esta compañía para cartografiar cómo se expanden y relacionan los diferentes universos entre sí, y estudiar qué herramientas y formatos se han utilizado. Además, se analizará el recorrido inverso que ha seguido el desarrollo transmedia ideado por Activision-Blizzard que, en contraposición al desarrollo natural de expandir un universo a través de distintas ramificaciones mediáticas, ha partido de múltiples universos para entrelazarlos después a través de su experiencia de juego, narrativa y estrategia comercial.

The goal of this study was to analyze, through a longitudinal study, the Olympic Badminton Men's singles finals from the Barcelona Games (1992) to the London Games (2012) to assess some changes of the Badminton game characteristics. Six Olympic finals have been analyzed based on the official video of the Olympic Games (OG) through the temporal structure and with a notational approach. In total, 537 rallies and 5537 strokes have been analyzed. The results show a change in the game's temporal structure: a significant difference in the rally time, rest time and number of shots per rally (all p<0.0001; 0.09 < Ƞ² < 0.16). Moreover, the shot frequency shows a 34.0% increase (p<0.000001; Ƞ² = 0.17), whereas the work density revealed a 58.2% decrease (from 78% to 30.8%) as well as the effective playing time (-34.5% from 34.7±1.4% to 22.7±1.4%). This argues for an increase in the intensity of the game and a necessity for the player to use a longer resting time to recover. Lastly, the strokes distribution and the percentage of unforced and forced mistakes did not show any differences throughout the OG analysis, except for the use of the clear. This results impact on the way the training of Badminton players should be designed, especially in the temporal structure and intensity.

DotA2 Spatio­Temporal Game Analysis DotA2 is one of the most played online digital games in the world. In this game 2 teams (Radiant and Dire) of 5 players each fight against each other in arena environments with using tactical combats to win against the other team. The main goal of the game is to destroy the Ancient ​ that belongs to the opposite team. Apart from that there are a lot of strategies involved in winning the game. The company managing DotA 2, Valve, has developed several ways for players to access data from the game. The player community can access replay files from games of their own as well as the tournaments through a variety of websites. Valve also provides an API to directly access the data. Many tools have also been developed for extracting metrics from replay files. However, very few of these do spatio­temporal aspects of player behaviour. I found it to be an interesting area to work with given the importance of positioning and timely deployed strategy in the game. The aim of this project is to visualize and analyse team behaviour. There are mainly 4 skill tiers as identified by the DotA 2 community i.e Normal, High, Very High and Pro tiers. This project will visualize 3 main aspects of spatio­temporal analysis. 1. The moving Trajectories (Live Maps) of players in different tiers at different game times. An additional filter for sorting the teams based on Win/Lose or Radiant/Dire can be seen. 2. The Heat Maps of players during a particular interval in the game. This also can be sorted as Win/Lose or Radiant/Dire 3. The average distance between the players of each tier (Pro/Very High/High/Normal) filtered with Win Lose and are visualized using a Box Plot. The sample live demo is available on: http://codetaha.github.io/Dota­Analysis/web/ The dataset includes information on the positioning of team members as a function of time. The dataset contains the data of 200 games (50 in each tier). Below is a very small sample of the dataset, where team: 0/1 (Radiant/Dire), x,y: Player coordinates match: Unique Match Id won: 0/1 (Lose/Win) tsync: time is seconds starts from 0 till the end of the game. The used time variable in the visualization tier: Type of tier t,tstd,tper: Different types of time parameters which are not used for this visualization.

The article looks at the possibility of tinkering with political utopias and dystopias in the turn-based political simulation DEMOCRACY 3. Political utopias are understood as coherent sets of political ideas and/or policies following a particular theory of justice, such as political philosophies, political ideologies, or manifestos from political parties. Political dystopias refer to political utopias that do not suit the player´s ideological standpoint or that went objectively wrong in the practice of playing. In this sense, playing DEMOCRACY 3 is read as applied political philosophy which might be utilized in political education. The contribution reconstructs the game´s implicit learning possibilities and exemplifies observable learning processes, which become visible in »affinity spaces« around the game, for example, on platforms such as YouTube, when players present and discuss their own realizations of utopian or dystopian policies in Let´s Play videos.

To compare the tactical, physical and technical indicators between winners and losers of the group and final stages of the 2018 FIFA World Cup (WC). Eighteen variables were analysed, divided into tactical (ball possession), physical (distance covered, sprints and intensity zones 1 [low] to 5 [high]) and technical indicators (passing, shots and corners). The losing teams had lower ball possession in the group stage when compared to the winners (p = .04). There was a tendency (p = .06) for winners to spend more time in high intensity (group stage). Winners also had a tendency towards greater passing success (p = .06), shots (p = .05) and shots on target (p < .01). In summary, the winning teams have greater ball possession and pass success during the group stage of the 2018 FIFA WC, in addition to spending more time at high intensities and achieving more shots and shots on target independent of whether the match was performed in the group or final knockout stage. Our findings do not suggest any additional physical, tactical or technical variable in the determination of success in high-level soccer competition.

An important step towards gaining an understanding of how a particular medium can be used most effectively in education is to study its outstanding examples, regardless of their original purpose. We already know that people learn from digital games (Egenfeldt-Nielsen, 2005; Prensky, 2006; Squire, 2003) even if what they learn is not currently valued by society. It has been suggested that “good” games already embody sound pedagogy in their designs even if that incorporation was not deliberate (Becker, 2006; Gee, 2003). The work described here is part of a larger body of work still in progress which will examine commercially and critically successful video games as though they had been intentionally designed for learning. Through this perspective, it is possible to identify and classify inherent learning elements and from there to associate the mechanisms and strategies that are employed to facilitate that learning. The ultimate outcome of this work will be to describe how the existing strategies used to promote learning in commercial video games can also be used in the design of digital games for education.
This paper reports on the results of two games that are used to demonstrate a proof of concept. These games will both be examined as though they had been designed for learning, even though only one of them actually was.  In this preliminary work, one of the games is an older entertainment “classic”, chosen because of its generally high ratings and popularity. An older game was chosen because these tend to be simpler, allowing for a relatively comprehensive evaluation in a fairly compact domain. Older games also involve smaller production budgets, and contain fewer “bells and whistles”, which put them closer on par with many existing educational games. The second game is one that received high ratings from educators, but not from games designers. If we conjecture that games designers, by and large, are better equipped to evaluate the game qualities of a given game than are educators, then one possible outcome from such a comparison is that the educational game lacks essential game qualities. Comparing the two will uncover some of these essential qualities.
R.S. Peters, in Criteria of Education (1966, pp 25) states that it is impossible to consider education without implying some worthwhile and desirable change in the person being educated. The question of whether and what kind of education is embodied in games is one that will not be addressed here. Analyzing the entertainment game as though it were an educational one requires a dissociation of what is learned in the game from how society values that which is learned. Doing so creates a common plane on which the two games can be assessed.
In the full-blown work, games will be chosen based on a combination of points assigned through ratings by game reviewers, designers, and commercial sales. Five to ten of the highest ranking games from a variety of genres will be examined and their learning elements classified along with the procedures employed to support this learning. It is expected that numerous patterns will emerge from this classification.

Games played directly inside the web browser have many benefits. Browser games do not need software installation. Furthermore since the web has become the ultimate collaboration environment, the games are available for numerous players that can play in collaborative fashion. Through history online communities have birth alongside with browser games. Nowadays online communities have achieved massive user numbers and those can be important part of the browser game itself. This article targets at analyzing and categorizing of browser games. We also discuss financial opportunities relating to browser games and technologies used in those.

The development of a game with educational purposes, similar to a game focusing on fun, requires an analysis process, which must evaluate positive and negative points, to support a plan of product improvement. The game A mansão de Quelícera, supported by the CNPq project "Diálogos entre Arte e Design" (Dialogues between Art and Design), was reviewed by a group of researchers from different institutions of higher education in Brazil. Different parts of the game were the subject of evaluation and redesign, as presented in two articles presented in SBGames 2012. In this article, the research explores parameters, strategies and analysis' techniques of digital games, pointing out existing approaches and the ones organized by researchers of the group, whose action part of the gameplayer interaction. The theoretical foundation for this research considered the parameters of quality for computer games and the parameters defined by the MEC (Ministry of Education-Brazil) to evaluate educational technologies, as well as made use of strategies and techniques for data collection.

This paper aims to expand existing knowledge on narrative game design. Specifically, the paper discusses the importance of game design patterns for the analysis of narrative game mechanics. By bringing together insights from cognitive narratology and game design theory, the paper creates a preliminary theoretical perspective for deconstructing the design of mechanic-driven narrative games. To support the theoretical argument, the paper discusses Papers , Please as case study.

Co-authors: Jessica Aldred, Robert Biddle, Chris Eaket, Brian Greenspan, Minh Q. Tran, and Jennifer Whitson

We propose a methodological framework for game analysis that uses the notion of 'scripting' as the basis for game interpretation and design. Drawing upon several disciplines and domains, this paper provides a template for critical analysis by outlining seven forms of scripting at work in games, and how these scripts either complement or compete with each other in various types of games. This system of analysis not only comprises the different technical, social or cognitive scripts that operate within the various modules of any given game, but also provides a method for the comparative study of different games, as well as a framework for building improved scripting and work flow tools for game designers.

This article introduces some relevant research works on computational intelligence applied to finance and economics. The objective is to offer an appropriate context and a starting point for those who are new to computational intelligence in finance and economics and to give an overview of the most recent works. A classification with five different main areas is presented. Those areas are related with different applications of the most modern computational intelligence techniques showing a new perspective for approaching finance and economics problems. Each research area is described with several works and applications. Finally, a review of the research works selected for this special issue is given.

Hassan, A. (2014). Team Handball World Cup Championship 2013-Analysis Study. J. Hum. Sport Exerc, 9(Proc1), pp.S409-S416. The world cup of men's handball team championships was analysed using data from all matches in order to determine tactical differences at the elite level. The first aim of this study was to conduct a technical analysis of current handball and to determine factors related to success in this sport discipline. The second aim was to compare the data of first eight teams with other next teams. An analysis of the performance of the participating teams' video tapes and CD's, in the collection of matches, was completed on all the teams taking part in the World Cup Handball Championship 2013. This technical analysis also used cumulative statistics from the International Handball Federation. There were 24 teams in this competition, these were classified participating 2013 into three groups according to the final classification of the winning teams. Variables were identified relating to results of matches (win or lose), and data collection of games was completed by selecting certain codes for each variable of the study variables. The variables included:, 7M successful shots. The technical variables used to compare the teams included: the average number of shots, the efficiency of shots, the efficiency of breakthroughs, fast break goals per team, the efficiency of fast breaks, the average number of 7M shots, the efficiency of 7M shots, the average number of 6M shots, the efficiency of 6M shots, the average number of 9M shots, the efficiency of 9M shots, the average number of wing shots, the efficiency of wing shots, offence (The average number of tech faults, the efficiency of tech faults, the average number of assist, the efficiency of assist), defense (The average number of blocked, the efficiency of the average number of steals, the efficiency of steals), and penalties (2M, yellow card, red card). This technical analysis used cumulative statistics from the International Handball Federation. ANOVA revealed significant differences between the first eight teams in the World cup championships 2013 and their counterparts in the other two groups (group two, teams from 9-16 and group three, teams from 17-24) in terms of several technical variables. The results showed that the above various affected the ranking in favor of the world cup teams in significant international teams.

Neste resumo expandido, a partir do framework da game analysis, propomos um estudo inicial das nuances contidas nos processos narrativos utilizados no jogo Hades, como eles se relacionam com as mecânicas centrais e o seu potencial de avançar o formato narrativo de um subgênero geralmente pouco envolvido nas questões de desenvolvimento de narraticas elegantes ou elaboradas.

The recent video game Assassin’s Creed Odyssey (2018, Ubisoft Quebec) is one of the most elaborate popular reinterpretations of classical antiquity. Known for its lavishly detailed simulations of historical settings and events (Politopoulos et al. 2019: 319), the game is set during the first nine years of the Peloponnesian War (431-422 BCE). But why is it called Odyssey? While the easy answer would be to refer to the modern meaning of the word ‘odyssey’ as a long, difficult voyage (which is certainly what this game offers the player), the game also contains deeper connections with Homer’s Odyssey that identify the game as a reception of the ancient text. This paper aims to unearth the Odyssean subtext of the game by examining both its direct and indirect allusions to Homer’s Odyssey. This presentation will employ methods of game-textual content analysis (Aarseth 2003; Daneels et al. 2019) and adaptation studies, and will be accompanied by a freely accessible online game corpus in video format. Since the developers used ancient sources to create the in-game world (Guilbert et al. 2019: 108), the game’s traversable recreation of Ithaca is heavily modeled after various locations from the Odyssey. It also features a character called Odessa with her own storyline centered around the legacy of Odysseus. Additionally, the game’s protagonist Alexios/Kassandra (depending on the player’s choice of gender) can be considered a reflection of Odysseus due to their similar actions and characterizations by other in-game characters. Extra downloadable content to the game even allows the player to wear Odysseus’ armor, which impacts the player-character’s abilities in ways that characterize the legendary hero. Most of all, the overall game narrative shares several striking themes with Homer’s Odyssey that lay bare the game’s position within the classical tradition of the ancient text.

Only the best players reach the last stages of the grand-slam tournaments. The aim is to analyze rally pace
characteristics and frequency of rally shots in women’s matches between the early (1st to 4th round) and late
(quarterfinal – final round) tournament stage at the Australian Open 2017. We analyzed total 23 matches at the
Australian Open 2017 and compared (1) point duration; (2) number of rally shots; (3) time between the points;
(4) rally pace; and (5) work to rest ratio. The rally pace was significantly faster in the late tournament stage
1.16±0.02 s compared to the early stage 1.23±0.05 s (p<0.001). In the late tournament stage the point duration
was shorter (p<0.01), the number of rally shots was lower (p=0.03) and work to rest ratio was higher (p<0.001)
compared to the early stage. The point was finished within the first 4 shots in 69 % in the late tournament stage,
which was 10 % more compared to the early stage. Coaches and players can use these findings to adopt useful
strategy or playing style in their practice sessions and matches.
Key words: performance analyses, tennis, physiology, training

The effective application and use of games and game technology for education requires examinations of existing artifacts, both in and out of formal educational settings, as well as the development of new theories and models for how to design games intended primarily to educate rather than entertain. One way to facilitate an understanding of how a medium like digital game technology can be used effectively in education is to study that medium's outstanding examples, regardless of their original purpose. This paper describes a methodology for analysing entertainment games that uses a synergy of reverse engineering and ethology, neither of which have been used in this context before. Normally, reverse engineering attempts to recover the original design of a software application, but in this case it will be used to generate an alternate design that can then in turn be used to inform instructional design. Ethology studies the observed behaviour of animals, but here is adapted as a method for the study of games. Through this perspective, it is possible to identify and classify built-in learning objectives and from there to associate the mechanisms and strategies employed to teach them. It is proposed that these strategies can then be used in educational games without compromising the essential qualities that have made digital games the most popular leisure activity in the western world today.

Numerous authors have tried to use game theory as a tool for computer game design and study. These works recall generally some basic concepts of the Neuman Mogenstern game analysis (payoff matrix, finite zero-sum game, dominant and mixed strategy…) and show how to model and interpret some simple gameplay situation. In this paper we consider solo games (one player against the computer) and we take the point of view of the game analyst or the game designer. Game theory is either used to understand the gameplay or to build a gameplay. In this case game theory hypothesis are never met: the computer has all the knowledge and is in charge to disclose the game rules to the player according to a driven progression scheme. But we show that, as the game designer is the creator of the universe of the game, he can choose the rules, the payoff matrices and the laws of the video game universe, that game theory can be a power full tool.

As games become more and more pervasive in our modern society and game design and development programs get implemented in Universities and Colleges throughout the world, having a set of well defined methodologies for teaching students how to analyze and understand games become of paramount importance. Starting from the well known MDA model, the present article introduces an original approach particularly suitable for a teaching environment where we want to guide students and beginning game designers in the process of formalizing their ideas in a coherent and consistent fashion.

— The present paper defines an original approach to game analysis and design able to characterize a given game in a simple, yet efficient, way. Inspired by models widely used across the gaming industry, the proposed framework named A.G.E. is built by defining and layering different concepts: core player Actions, resulting Game-play and emotional Experience of players. These are all linked to each other by the game&apos;s own rules and goals to form a cohesive unit that can help in exposing the inner workings of any game. The model is then elaborated further into a regular grammar to provide a more formal and rigorous justification of the proposed framework and overall approach.

Team timeout (TTO) in handball is a powerful instrument that influences the team's performance. This study aimed to identify the different contexts of a TTO calling in handball according to the following contextual variables: 1) match status (current score difference), 2) goals scored in the last five ball possessions, 3) goals allowed in the last five ball possessions, 4) game period, and 5) match location. The sample consisted of 2178 TTOs registered in 720 match reports of official statistics of the ASOBAL League,

Similarly to avatar customization and weaponry, digital dwellings are furnished and embellished through items that serve different purposes, shifting between aesthetic preferences, functional choices, and the expression of personal in-game accomplishments. Interpreting a digital dwelling as a “cradle of the self” (Vella 2019, 158) able to “represent a conscious attempt at self-construction on the part of the individual” (ibid., 160) and dotted with cherished objects with an emotional (and memory) value, we will try to draft a provisional taxonomy of different memory cues in digital dwellings basing on the MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward, which features a multi-layered housing system for advanced characters.

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