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1 – 10 of over 191000J. Tuomas Harviainen and Amon Rapp
The purpose of this paper is to expand the research of games as information systems. It illustrates how significant parts of massively multiplayer online role-playing function…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to expand the research of games as information systems. It illustrates how significant parts of massively multiplayer online role-playing function like information retrieval from a library database system.
Design/methodology/approach
By combining ideas from earlier contributions on the topics of game environments as information systems, the paper explores how gameplay connects to information retrieval, restricted content access, and information system structure. The paper then proceeds to examine this idea through an ethnographic study conducted in World of Warcraft during 2012-2016.
Findings
By discussing how multiplayer digital game play is a form of information retrieval, the paper shows that players enjoy the well-restricted access to information that is a constitutive element of gameplay. Examining controlled access, procedural literacies and emphatic keywords, the paper finds that content relevances and system use may be influenced by hedonic concerns rather than task efficiency.
Originality/value
The study of retrieval issues related to gaming enriches our knowledge on inferences in retrieval. It shows that people may prefer that their access to information be limited, in order to make system use more interesting.
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This paper aims to analyse the valuation of cultural products and explores what this process means for organizations involved in their production and marketing.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to analyse the valuation of cultural products and explores what this process means for organizations involved in their production and marketing.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors develop the arguments using a number of mini-cases and industry examples.
Findings
The main thesis is that the meaningfulness and value ambiguity of cultural products shift the focus of valuation away from the products themselves towards how certain agents in the socio-cultural environment identify and certify these products. This paper discuss how valuation takes place via selection systems and how the nature of cultural products drives the dominance of one selection system over others.
Research limitations/implications
Theories on value creation needs to take consideration of the critical role played by the selection system instead of just the firms that produce these products.
Practical implications
Organizations engaged in producing highly symbolic products need to manage selection systems and related industry dynamics to establish an enduring competitive advantage.
Social implications
Value creation is a collective social efforts. Every member of the society can play a central role in this process. Better engaging various member of the society to enable them actively participate in the value creation process is what organizations today need to consider, instead of just treating individuals in the society as a “customer” who only passively consume. This research calls for the true empowerment of every member of the society to facilitate collective creativity and participation in the value creation endeavour that benefits the entire society as a whole.
Originality/value
It is the first paper that has created a conceptual link between the type of selection system and product categories. In other words, it takes existing literature on value creation and selection system one step further by creating the alignment or match between types of selection system and types of product categories. Therefore, it offers academics and practitioners a much detailed understanding on how value creation is conducted across different product categories.
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The purpose of this paper is to determine how to educate people about complicated social topics or politics?; how to lead them to critical thinking?; and how to convey emotions or…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to determine how to educate people about complicated social topics or politics?; how to lead them to critical thinking?; and how to convey emotions or life experience they never lived through?
Design/methodology/approach
Project System is a three-day experience for adult participants concerning totalitarian regime, freedom and inequality. The Project System does not give fast and easy answers but leads participants to find them on their own. For 30 hours, participants find themselves within a larp, which is a very intense type of role-playing game based on human interactions. The author has chosen a larp as a medium as one of the most immersive and influential method of game-based learning which can facilitate topics that are normally hard to explain through conventional methods of learning. Participants learn firsthand through their roles, emotions, story and experience.
Findings
Project System was a really strong and important experience for many players that may have partially changed their lives. After more than 500 players walked through it, the author can say that this method is beneficial.
Originality/value
Larp as an educational tool is used all over the world; however, there are still only few professional organizations. Most of them are focused on using larp (or similar role-playing methods) as a tool at elementary or secondary schools. Using larp in andragogy is currently pioneering.
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A growing number of educators are turning to games for a model of next‐generation learning environments. To date, there has been a lack of critical inquiry into what kind of…
Abstract
Purpose
A growing number of educators are turning to games for a model of next‐generation learning environments. To date, there has been a lack of critical inquiry into what kind of learning occurs through game play, and how games get learned by their players. Aims to plug this gap
Design/methodology/approach
This paper is a critical study of Viewtiful Joe, a cult‐classic sidescrolling 2D fighting game for the Nintendo Gamecube. Noted for its difficulty, Viewtiful Joe is an interesting case because, as a fighting game, it embodies many of the principles fundamental to the medium, most of which are missed by educators illiterate regarding the medium. It shows the cognitive complexity that goes into a fighting game, as well as a cutting‐edge example of how to manage that complexity. Far from button‐mashing, success in Viewtiful Joe requires the player to learn to read the game symbol systems, understand Viewtiful Joe's capacities, and see potential interchanges between them.
Findings
The paper analyzes how Viewtiful Joe is structured to balance flow and novelty, encourage players both to develop new skills and to master those they have. Finally, the paper examines how learning occurs through game play as an activity system, using player‐generated FAQs to analyze how gamers represent their practice and suggest theories of expert game practice.
Originality/value
Central to this paper is the argument that playing Viewtiful Joe is a performative act, where declarative knowledge, while clearly present for players, is secondary to players' ability to see and do in real‐time.
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Samuel M. Lopez and Paul K. Wright
The impact rapid prototyping (RP) can have on the design process and the product development process as a whole is demonstrated in this paper. The speed and flexibility of RP…
Abstract
The impact rapid prototyping (RP) can have on the design process and the product development process as a whole is demonstrated in this paper. The speed and flexibility of RP technologies decreased the overall time to complete the new product. This also ensured that the final mechanical enclosure of the new handheld video game incorporated the ergonomic design features that users desired.
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Om P. Kharbanda and Ernest A. Stallworthy
The concept of company culture is now playingan ever‐increasing role in the continuing endeavourto work towards ever better companymanagement, particularly in the industrial…
Abstract
The concept of company culture is now playing an ever‐increasing role in the continuing endeavour to work towards ever better company management, particularly in the industrial field. This monograph reviews the history and development of both national and company cultures, and then goes on to demonstrate the significance of a culture to proper company management. Well‐managed companies will have both a “quality culture” and a “safety culture” as well as a cultural history. However, it has to be recognised that the company culture is subject to change, and effecting this can be very difficult. Of the many national cultures, that of Japan is considered to be the most effective, as is demonstrated by the present dominance of Japan on the industrial scene. Many industrialised nations now seek to emulate the Japanese style of management, but it is not possible to copy or acquire Japan′s cultural heritage. The text is illustrated by a large number of practical examples from real life, illustrating the way in which the company culture works and can be used by management to improve company performance.
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Anna Matras-Bolibok and Piotr Bolibok
Innovation policy and innovation systems undoubtedly play a crucial role in shaping the path of economic development of contemporary economies. A particularly interesting context…
Abstract
Research Background
Innovation policy and innovation systems undoubtedly play a crucial role in shaping the path of economic development of contemporary economies. A particularly interesting context for studying the evolution of this area is offered by post-transition economies which had to undergo fundamental structural changes and face the global competition where the advances in knowledge and technological progress ultimately decide between success or failure.
Purpose of the Chapter
The chapter aims to portray and evaluate the key developments in the innovation policy and national innovation system of Poland – one of the largest and most successful post-transition economies.
Methodology
The methodological framework of the study involves a descriptive analysis of the major changes in the regulatory and institutional settings as well as an analysis of statistical data on the crucial dimensions of Poland's innovation policy and innovation system over the period 2000–2021. Additionally, the overall effects of the policy have been assessed using the data from the European Innovation Scoreboard (over 2015–2022) and the Global Innovation Index (over 2008–2022).
Findings
The findings suggest that the significant changes in Poland's innovation policy and innovation system frameworks introduced since the mid-2000s have resulted in a dynamic increase in the intensity of R&D efforts, especially in the business enterprise sector, allowing to narrow the structural gaps dividing the country from more advanced economies and markedly improve its overall research and innovative performance. A key role in this process has been played by the direct and indirect government support for innovative activities.
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Sihan Cheng and Cong Cao
Based on cognitive evaluation theory and gamification affordances, this study aims to understand how gamification affordances influence users’ intention to engage in sustainable…
Abstract
Purpose
Based on cognitive evaluation theory and gamification affordances, this study aims to understand how gamification affordances influence users’ intention to engage in sustainable behaviour and how new trends in Ant Forest influence its impact on green intrinsic motivation to support sustainable behaviours.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors developed a research model to explore the mechanisms underlying gamification affordances, psychological needs and green intrinsic motivation. Partial least squares structural equation modelling was used to assess the survey data (n = 393) and test the research model.
Findings
The results show that different gamification affordances can satisfy users’ needs for autonomy, competence and relatedness, which positively influences their green intrinsic motivation and engagement in sustainable behaviours. However, some affordances, such as competition, might negatively impact these psychological needs.
Originality/value
This research updates information system research on environmental sustainability and the Ant Forest context. The authors provide a new framework that links gamification affordances, psychological needs and sustainable behaviour. The study also examines changing trends in Ant Forest and their implications.
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