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Game Informatics
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Game Informatics

A special issue of Information (ISSN 2078-2489). This special issue belongs to the section "Information Applications".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (25 December 2023) | Viewed by 43195

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Mohd Nor Akmal Khalid

E-Mail Website1 Website2 Website3
Guest Editor
Research Center for Entertainment Science, School of Information Science, Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, 1-1 Asahidai, Nomi 923-1211, Ishikawa, Japan
Interests: artificial intelligence; games informatics; search algorithm; information dynamics; decision-support system
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Chu-Hsuan Hsueh

E-Mail Website1 Website2
Guest Editor
School of Information Science, Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, 1-1 Asahidai, Nomi 923-1211, Ishikawa, Japan
Interests: computational intelligence; games; reinforcement learning; search algorithm
Dr. Ting-Han Wei

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Computing Science, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2E8, Canada
Interests: computational intelligence; games; reinforcement learning; heuristic search; distributed computing
Prof. Dr. Hiroyuki Iida

E-Mail Website1 Website2
Guest Editor
School of Information Science, Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Ishikawa 923-1211, Japan
Interests: artificial intelligence; games; search algorithm; information dynamics; entertainment science
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Games have been the prime source of benchmarking, testing, analysis, and design of various artificial and computational intelligent techniques, agent systems, search algorithms, supporting decision making, management and planning systems, and many more. This stems from the plethora of human and computer-generated information that is rich with objective, subjective, and emotional experiences, catered towards leisure and/or competitive settings.

Visible, deterministic, and objective information typically expresses the game’s straightforward and obvious process, mechanics, and complexities. Meanwhile, underlying information that was hidden, stochastic and subjective information would describe the complicated, typically human-driven factors, such as experiences related to the “fun”, “joy”, and “entertainment” of the game. Such stark contrast between objective and subjective information that is both obtainable and extractable from the game statistics, metrics, and telemetries invokes the need for unique “science” of play.

With the advancement of computing software and hardware systems, new interface technologies (virtual/augmented/extended reality), a new form of interactions (deductive, deceptive, hacking/exploits, etc.), and novel game infrastructures (blockchain-based games and crowdsourcing models, etc.), rich information can be extracted to develop expertise and generate knowledge to add value to individual, businesses, society, and nation.

This Special Issue aims to collect comprehensive research written by experts that provides access to state-of-the-art methodology, while advancing the existing body of literature by sharing contemporary, cutting-edge research relevant to game informatics.

Dr. Mohd Nor Akmal Khalid
Dr. Chu-Hsuan Hsueh
Dr. Ting-Han Wei
Prof. Dr. Hiroyuki Iida
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Information is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • game information dynamics
  • game metrics and analytics
  • game-playing experience and design
  • user–AI Interactions and Analysis
  • social and cultural influence in games
  • game development and impacts
  • simulation and imitation in games
  • learning and behavior synthesis
  • gamified experience and gamification
  • assessment and evaluation in/of games

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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19 pages, 1603 KiB  
Article
Addiction and Spending in Gacha Games
by Nikola Lakić, Andrija Bernik and Andrej Čep
Information 2023, 14(7), 399; https://doi.org/10.3390/info14070399 - 13 Jul 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 30394
Abstract
Gacha games are the most dominant games on the mobile market. These are free-to-play games with a lottery-like system, where the user pays with in-game currency to enter a draw in order to obtain the character or item they want. If a player [...] Read more.
Gacha games are the most dominant games on the mobile market. These are free-to-play games with a lottery-like system, where the user pays with in-game currency to enter a draw in order to obtain the character or item they want. If a player does not obtain what he hoped for, there is the option of paying with his own money for more draws, and this is the main way to monetize the Gacha game. The purpose of this study is to show the playing and spending habits of Gacha players: the reasons they like such games, the reasons for spending, how much they spend, what they spend on, how long they have been spending, and whether they are aware of their spending. The paper includes studies by other researchers on various aspects of Gacha games as well. The aim of the paper is to conduct a study with the hypothesis that players who play the same game for a while and have a habit of playing it are willing to give more of their money to enter a draw. Therefore, two research questions and two hypotheses were analyzed. A total of 713 participants took part in the study. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Game Informatics)
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24 pages, 560 KiB  
Article
Application of Meta-Gaming Concept to the Publishing Platform: Analysis of the Steam Games Platform
by Muhammad Nazhif Rizani, Mohd Nor Akmal Khalid and Hiroyuki Iida
Information 2023, 14(2), 110; https://doi.org/10.3390/info14020110 - 9 Feb 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 5526
Abstract
The digital marketplace has rapidly grown, transitioning the market of video games from physical localized experiences to more networked, expanded, virtual spaces. With a highly competitive business market, platform governance policy allows for the emergence of rapidly growing publishing platforms for digital video [...] Read more.
The digital marketplace has rapidly grown, transitioning the market of video games from physical localized experiences to more networked, expanded, virtual spaces. With a highly competitive business market, platform governance policy allows for the emergence of rapidly growing publishing platforms for digital video games such as the Steam platform. This study demonstrated the importance of the meta-gaming of a platform based on the Steam platform; 18,658 Steam-listed games were acquired and analyzed from the Steam Store, Steam Spy, and Steam achievement databases. A detailed analysis was conducted where key research questions were formulated concerning the game information. This study found that digital badging (i.e., achievements) increases players’ engagement with the publishing platform with good auxiliary data (such as types, rating, releases, and prices). Based on such findings, an opportunity for a new business model is envisioned. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Game Informatics)
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20 pages, 5014 KiB  
Article
On the Reality of Signaling in Auctions
by Aviad Levi and Shani Alkoby
Information 2022, 13(11), 549; https://doi.org/10.3390/info13110549 - 21 Nov 2022
Viewed by 2291
Abstract
Over the last two decades, auctions have become an integral part of e-commerce and a promising field for applying artificial intelligence technologies. The use of signals has been studied extensively in the existing auction literature. Specifically, it has been shown that when an [...] Read more.
Over the last two decades, auctions have become an integral part of e-commerce and a promising field for applying artificial intelligence technologies. The use of signals has been studied extensively in the existing auction literature. Specifically, it has been shown that when an external strategic entity (such as an information broker) is present, it can be beneficial to use signaling as a preliminary step before offering to sell information. However, these results apply only in cases where all auction participants are completely rational agents. However, in many real-life scenarios some of the participants are humans, and hence are easily affected by external factors, i.e., their rationality is bounded. In this paper, we offer a thorough investigation of a case in which the prospective information buyer is a human auctioneer. Using a set of MTurk-based experiments with people, we tested 10,000 independent auctions with diverse characteristics, and were able to identify a varied set of practical insights regarding human behavior. Real-life strategic information brokers could potentially use these insights to achieve a better understanding of how humans operate, paving the way for optimizing the benefit obtainable from the information they own. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Game Informatics)
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Other

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17 pages, 3232 KiB  
Systematic Review
A Systematic Literature Review on Adaptive Supports in Serious Games for Programming
by Pavlos Toukiloglou and Stelios Xinogalos
Information 2023, 14(5), 277; https://doi.org/10.3390/info14050277 - 8 May 2023
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2529
Abstract
This paper reviews the research on adaptive serious games for programming regarding the implementation of their support systems. Serious games are designed to educate players in an entertaining and engaging manner. A key element in terms of meeting their educational goals is the [...] Read more.
This paper reviews the research on adaptive serious games for programming regarding the implementation of their support systems. Serious games are designed to educate players in an entertaining and engaging manner. A key element in terms of meeting their educational goals is the presentation of the learning content through a support system. Recent developments in artificial intelligence, data analysis, and computing made the development of support systems that adapt to player individual characteristics possible. A systematic literature review is necessary to evaluate the efficiency of adaptive supports and examine the implementation approaches. This review identified 18 papers reporting evidence about the efficiency of the provided support and methods of development. A variety of techniques for presenting educational content was found, with text being the preferred type. Researchers employed data-driven approaches to model student knowledge levels and behavior such as Bayesian networks and questionnaires, with fuzzy logic being utilized most frequently. The efficiency of the supports, when compared with non-adaptive or traditional methods of teaching, was mostly positive, although this is not a decisive conclusion. Some papers did not provide empirical evidence or concluded no difference in efficiency. The limited number of articles in the field, together with the lack of a standard evaluation methodology, leads to the conclusion that further work needs to be carried out in the area. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Game Informatics)
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