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Abstract: "Immanuel Kant's categorical imperative, stating (in one for- mulation) that one ought to always act according to a maxim that can be made universal law, is tempting to procedural- ize, in the form of a game that literally turns actions into universal laws. This paper explores diculties that initially arise in translating that idea to a game design: some of which been covered in the philosophy literature, and others of which relate to the diculties in dening what constitutes a proper rule induction. Then, it discusses several much less lofty, but ppractical, prototypes that explore what I take to be the formal game mechanics underpinning the idea: re ex- ive game mechanics where breaking a rule implies the free breaking of that rule for the rest of the game. By analyzing these prototypes, I attempt to determine if these prototypes result in either an interesting game mechanics (taken on its own) on the one hand, or a compelling representation of Kantian morality on the other hand, reaching mixed con- clusions."

Report on Valve's new Big Picture "television-friendly" viewing product, and forays into wearable computing

A bill in the Oklahoma Legislature "proposed under "emergency" rules because it is "immediately necessary for the preservation of the public peace, health and safety," according to the text. After being read on the House floor next week, the bill will need majority votes in both the Oklahoma House of Representatives and Senate before being sent to the governor. After that, if it doesn't receive a three-fourths majority in both houses, it will be put on a November ballot to be approved or rejected by Oklahoma voters."

Abstract: "When developing serious games the most complex task is the alignment of instructional teaching methods and the game itself. To address this issue, we propose a shared language modeling approach for educational instructors and game developers. The language is based on so called serious game bricks, composites and rules. Combining these pedagogical and story elements allows the domain experts to create serious game patterns. The use of those patterns supports the development of serious games that are both entertaining and present specific educational objectives"

"e describe an approach for developing an in- telligent game master (GM) for computer role-playing games. The role of the GM is to set up the game environment, man- age the narrative ow and enforce the game rules whilst keeping the players engaged. Our approach is to use the popular Belief-Desire-Intention (BDI) model of agents to de- veloping a GM."

Abstract: "Procedural content generation (PCG) is concerned with automatically generating game content, such as levels, rules, textures and items. But could the content generator itself be seen as content, and thus generated automatically? This would be very useful if one wanted to avoid writing a content generator for a new game, or if one wanted to create a content generator that generates an arbitrary amount of content with a particular style or theme. In this paper, we present a procedural procedural level generator generator for Super Mario Bros. It is an interactive evolutionary algorithm that evolves agentbased level generators. The human user makes the aesthetic judgment on what generators to prefer, based on several views of the generated levels including a possibility to play them, and a simulation-based estimate of the playability of the levels. We investigate the characteristics of the generated levels, and to what extent there is similarity or dissimilarity between levels and between generators."

the creator of JSJoust reviews game studies and literature and offers a concept in contrast to "rule-base" games, "idea of game as alibi - as a culturally-recognized excuse to "act out" and play the fool."

"Abstract. If iteration is the rule in modern software development practices, this is more the case in game development. While the secret recipe for fun in games remains hidden, game development will remain a highly iterative trial-and-error design process. In this paper we present a semi-automatic process that, through FCA, can assist in the software design of modern videogames. Through FCA we can identify candidate distributions of responsibilities among components, and let the users edit such distributions. We support iteration by facilitating the application of past edits when going through a new iteration of identifying candidate components to accommodate for new version of the game requirements."

Abstract: "In this paper, the researchers use an educational technology and instructional design framework to explore key aspects of game design used by educators and university students to teach road safety rules in general. The use of a framework is inspired by the game design literature and graduate students' prior domain experience in their respective fields of teaching. The study also looks at whether student-collaborated game design can lead to more effective learning and/or teaching constructs. Finally, the study explores the steps involved in game design and development, and through student interviews the researchers explain how collaboration plays a major role. To evaluate the proposed framework, a study was conducted with the participation of 6 graduate students using four phases: brainstorming, design, prototyping, and implementation. The students were then interviewed on their goal setting and design methodologies and shared their perspectives on whether these games provided a more creative setting for road safety learning. The study indicated that the proposed framework may simplify the game design process with effective and efficient collaborative design sessions in an educational setting."

From the summary: "This thesis reviews and utilizes concepts from cognitive psychology, developmental psychology and game design to bring forth a number of design principles for educational games that may improve students' motivation to learn. The main contribution of this thesis is a novel approach to serious game design, namely envisioning play and learning as a restructuring practice. This change of perspective, from a formal game design approach (focused on rules and regulations) towards a more activity centered approach (focused on process and style), may help designers to leverage the motivational potential of games, in order to make education more engaging to students."