Digital role-playing games such as Rift, Diablo III, and Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning help players develop skills in critical thinking, problem solving, digital literacy and engagement. The author examines both the benefits and the drawbacks of role-playing games and their application to real-world teaching techniques. Readers will learn how to incorporate games-based instruction into their own classes and workplace training, as well as approaches to redesigning curriculum and programs.

This book explores video games as important cultural artifacts and as sources of powerful, compelling storytelling. It begins by considering the fundamental structures of video games-including immersion and player agency-and deepens the exploration of such elements by considering how each plays a role in storytelling. The book moves from the theoretical to the practical by considering numerous modern games and the stories they tell through careful, considered analysis of each title's story. Games considered at length include the Mass Effect series, BioShock, The Last of Us and many more. The book also explores genres like the visual novel, which are less frequently considered in video game study. What emerges from this book, which appeals to academics, game enthusiasts, and the general public, is the importance of considering video games as serious and important sources of storytelling exploring complex thematic subjects like identity, morality, and the impact of player choice.

Virtual Politics is a critical overview of the new - digital - body politic, with new technologies framing the discussion of key themes in social theory. This book shows how these new technologies are altering the nature of identity and agency, the relation of self to other, and the structure of community and political representation.

Texture accounts for an important part of the realism of simulated experiences, and it is most certainly true during tactile interaction. We usually experience roughness by running our fingers onto the explored surface. The perception of this fine texture is mediated by the vibrations generated by the encounters of the skin and the asperities of the surfaces. Reproduction of Tactual Textures presents factors that contribute to the mechanics of the interaction between a bare finger and a surface with a view to their artificial reproduction. It discusses the recording and reproduction of tactual textures, and analyses a case study of the development of a device able to record the vibratory signal from a fingertip sliding over a textured surface. The same device is then used in a reverse way to render those previously measured signals to the user's fingertip. These developments open new questions about the biomechanical properties of the skin and their relation to perception. The second half of Reproduction of Tactual Textures focuses on the implication of the dynamic parameters of the skin onto rendering performance, and it concludes with a study on the important features that are present in the vibratory signal and their relation to texture perception. This state-of-the-art volume highlights the importance of the mechanics and biomechanics during the haptic exploration of surfaces and their possible contribution to perception. Collectively, the findings reported are pertinent to many applications, including robotic perception and the design of effective virtual reality systems.

This book covers all topics relevant for the design of haptic interfaces and teleoperation systems. The book provides the basic knowledge required for understanding more complex approaches and more importantly it introduces all issues that must be considered for designing efficient and safe haptic interfaces. Topics covered in this book provide insight into all relevant components of a haptic system. The reader is guided from understanding the virtual reality concept to the final goal of being able to design haptic interfaces for specific tasks such as nanomanipulation. The introduction chapter positions the haptic interfaces within the virtual reality context. In order to design haptic interfaces that will comply with human capabilities at least basic understanding of human sensors-motor system is required. An overview of this topic is provided in the chapter related to human haptics. The book does not try to introduce the state-of-the-art haptic interface solutions because these tend to change quickly. Only a careful selection of different kinematic configurations is shown to introduce the reader into this field. Mathematical models of virtual environment, collision detection and force rendering topics are strongly interrelated and are described in the next two chapters. The interaction with the virtual environment is simulated with a haptic interface. Impedance and admittance based approaches to haptic robot control are presented. Stability issues of haptic interaction are analyzed in details and solutions are proposed for guaranteeing stable and safe operation. Finally, haptic interaction is extended to teleoperation systems. Virtual fixtures which improve the teleoperation and human-robot cooperation in complex environments are covered next and the last chapter presents nanomanipulation as one specific example of teleoperation.

As this comprehensive and multidisciplinary book makes clear, virtuality has a pedigree that pre-dates the computer age and modern virtual worlds, a pedigree that can be traced back to classical mythology and beyond. Equally, the concept of virtuality is not the province of one field of study alone but is the foundation and driving force of many, both theoretical and applied. Our conceptualizations and applications of virtuality are multiple, as contributors demonstrate across the nine sections of the book that move from philosophy to technologies and applications before returning to philosophy again for a discussion of the utopias and dystopias of virtuality. The almost 50 essays contained within range freely across subjects that include the potential of virtuality, ethics, virtuality and self, presence and immersion, virtual emotions, image, sound and literature, computer games, AI and A-Life, Augmented Reality and Real Virtuality, law and economics, medical and military applications, religion, and cybersex. Throughout, contributors discuss differences between virtuality, reality, and actuality, in debates filtered through the lenses of the disciplines represented here, and speculate on future directions. It is not at all clear that there are differences and, if such distinctions are to be found, the boundaries between virtuality, reality, and actuality continually shift as ideas, modes of organization, and behaviors constantly flow from one to the other regardless of direction. The Handbook presents no unified definition of virtuality to comfort the reader, rather a multiplicity of questions and approaches underpinned by provocative statements that should further fuel the debates surrounding our notions of virtuality.

The proposed book explores the theme of identity, specifically as applied to its role and development in virtual worlds. Following the introduction, it is divided into four sections: identities, avatars and the relationship between them; factors that support the development of identity in virtual worlds; managing multiple identities across different environments and creating an online identity for a physical world purpose.

The focus from most Virtual Reality (VR) systems lies mainly on the visual immersion of the user. But the emphasis only on the visual perception is insufficient for some applications as the user is limited in his interactions within the VR. Therefore the textbook presents the principles and theoretical background to develop a VR system that is able to create a link between physical simulations and haptic rendering which requires update rates of 1\, kHz for the force feedback. Special attention is given to the modeling and computation of contact forces in a two-finger grasp of textiles. Addressing further the perception of small scale surface properties like roughness, novel algorithms are presented that are not only able to consider the highly dynamic behaviour of textiles but also capable of computing the small forces needed for the tactile rendering at the contact point. Final analysis of the entire VR system is being made showing the problems and the solutions found in the work

This reference book is for anyone involved in generating surgical training scenarios, as well as in VR-based training in general. It examines the main components required to define a scenario, in the context of surgical scene generation: Generation of the scene geometry; modelling of organ appearance; definition of biomechanical parameters. The book is the ideal reference for any reader involved in generating training scenarios, as well as in VR-based training in general.

This volume presents a wide range of methodological strategies that are designed to take into account the complex, emergent, and continually shifting character of virtual worlds. It interrogates how virtual worlds emerge as objects of study through the development and application of various methodological strategies. Virtual worlds are not considered objects that exist as entities with fixed attributes independent of our continuous engagement with them and interpretation of them. Instead, they are conceived of as complex ensembles of technology, humans, symbols, discourses, and economic structures, ensembles that emerge in ongoing practices and specific situations. A broad spectrum of perspectives and methodologies is presented: Actor-Network-Theory and post-Actor-Network-Theory, performativity theory, ethnography, discourse analysis, Sense-Making Methodology, visual ethnography, multi-sited ethnography, and Social Network Analysis.

William Bainbridge takes an in-depth look at the fantasy religions that exist in 34 different massively multiplayer online roleplaying games. He categorizes the religions, noting similarities across the games. He points, for instance, to the prevalence of polytheism: a system which, Bainbridge argues, can function as an effective map of reality in which each deity personifies a concept. Religions are as much about conceptualizing the self as conceptualizing the sacred. Most games allow the players to have multiple avatars, an idea Bainbridge likens to contemporary scientific ideas about personality. He also focuses on sacred spaces; the prevalence of magic and its relationship to the computer program and programmer; the fostering of a tribal morality by both religion and rules programmed into the game; the rise of cults and belief systems within the game worlds (and how this relates to social science theories of cult formation in the real world); and, of course, how the gameworld religions depict death. As avatars are immortal, death is merely a minor setback in most games. At the same time, much of the action in some gameworlds centers on the issue of mortality and the problematic nature of resurrection. Bainbridge contends that gameworlds are giving us a new perspective on the human quest, one that combines the arts and simulates most aspects of real life. The quests in gameworlds also provide meaning for human action, in terms of narratives about achieving goals by overcoming obstacles. Perhaps meaning does not naturally exist in our universe, but must be created by us, both in our fantasies and in day-to-day life. Like the games analyzed in this book, he says, traditional religions are fantasies that should be respected as works of art in a future civilization of disbelief.

Fantasy sport has become big business. Recent estimates suggest that there as many as 27 million fantasy sport participants in the US alone, spending $1.5bn annually, with many millions more around the world. This is the first in-depth study of fantasy sport as a cultural and social phenomenon and a significant and growing component of the contemporary sports economy. This book presents an overview of the history of fantasy sport and its close connection to innovations in sports media. Drawing on extensive empirical research, it offers an analysis of the demographics of fantasy sport, the motivations of fantasy sport players and their significance as heavy consumers of sport media and as ultra-fans. It also draws cross-cultural comparisons between fantasy sport players in the US, UK, Europe and beyond. The Fantasy Sport Industry examines the key commercial and media stakeholders in the production and development of fantasy sport, and points to new directions for the fantasy sport industry within modern sport business. It is therefore, fascinating reading for any student, scholar or professional with an interest in sports media, sports business, fandom, the relationship between sport and society, or cultural studies.

Auralization is the creation of audible acoustic sceneries from computer-generated data. The term "auralization" is to be understood as being analogue to the well-known technique of "visualization." In visual illustration of scenes, data or any other meaningful information, in movie animation and in computer graphics, we describe the process of "making visible" as visualization. In acoustics, auralization is taking place when acoustic effects, primary sound signals or means of sound reinforcement or sound transmission, are processed to be presented by using electro-acoustic equipment. This book is organized as comprehensive collection of basics, methodology and strategies of acoustic simulation and auralization. With mathematical background of advanced students the reader will be able to follow the main strategy of auralization easily and work own implementations of auralization in various fields of applications in acoustic engineering, sound design and virtual reality. For readers interested in basic research the technique of auralization may be useful to create sound stimuli for specific investigations in linguistic, medical, neurological and psychological research and in the field of human-machine interaction.

This journal subline serves as a forum for stimulating and disseminating innovative research ideas, theories, emerging technologies, empirical investigations, state-of-the-art methods, and tools in all different genres of edutainment, such as game-based learning and serious games, interactive storytelling, virtual learning environments, VR-based education, and related fields. It covers aspects from educational and game theories, human-computer interaction, computer graphics, artificial intelligence, and systems design. The 6th volume in this series represents a selection of 7 contributions from DMDCM 2011, the 5th International Conference on Digital Media and Digital Content Management, held in Chongqing, China, in December 2011, as well as 18 contributions from CASA 2011, the 24th International Conference on Computer Animation and Social Agents, held in Chengdu, China, in May 2011. The topics covered are: pen-based interface, urban heat island simulation, BR-based on-line expo, physically-based tree animation, 3D face texture stitching, chessboard corner extraction, textured-based tracking, motion control, motion capture and retargeting, path planning, physics based animation, image based animation, behavioral animation, artificial life, deformation, facial animation, multi-resolution and multi-scale models, knowledge-based animation, motion synthesis; social agents and avatars, emotion and personality, virtual humans, autonomous actors, AI based animation, social and conversational agents, inter-agent communication, social behavior, gesture generation, crowd simulation; animation compression and transmission, semantics and ontologies for virtual humans and virtual environments, animation analysis and structuring, anthropometric virtual human models, acquisition and reconstruction of animation data, level of details, semantic representation of motion and animation, medical simulation, cultural heritage, interaction for virtual humans, augmented reality and virtual reality, computer games and online virtual worlds.

Slated as 'the next big thing in tech', augmented reality promises to take the screen out of our hands and wrap it around the world via 'smart spectacles'. As a pervasive, invisible interface between the world and our senses, AR offers unparalleled capacity to reveal hidden digital depths, but it also comes at a cost to our privacy, our property, and our reality. In this crucial and provocative book, Mark Pesce draws on over thirty years' experience to offer the first mainstream exploration of augmented reality. He discusses the exciting and beneficial features of AR as well as the issues and risks raised by this still-emerging technology - a technology that moulds us by shaping what we see and hear. Augmented Reality is essential reading for anyone interested in the growing influence of this impressive but deeply concerning technology. As the book reveals, reality - once augmented - will never be the same.

Lars Qvortrup The world of interactive 3D multimedia is a cross-institutional world. Here, researchers from media studies, linguistics, dramaturgy, media technology, 3D modelling, robotics, computer science, sociology etc. etc. meet. In order not to create a new tower of Babel, it is important to develop a set of common concepts and references. This is the aim of the first section of the book. In Chapter 2, Jens F. Jensen identifies the roots of interaction and interactivity in media studies, literature studies and computer science, and presents definitions of interaction as something going on among agents and agents and objects, and of interactivity as a property of media supporting interaction. Similarly, he makes a classification of human users, avatars, autonomous agents and objects, demon strating that no universal differences can be made. We are dealing with a continuum. While Jensen approaches these categories from a semiotic point of view, in Chapter 3 Peer Mylov discusses similar isues from a psychological point of view. Seen from the user's perspective, a basic difference is that between stage and back-stage (or rather: front-stage), i. e. between the real "I" and "we" and the virtual, representational "I" and "we." Focusing on the computer as a stage, in Chapter 4 Kj0lner and Lehmann use the theatre metaphor to conceptualize the stage phenomena and the relationship between stage and front-stage."

Containing the edited research papers resulting from an ambitious, cross-disciplinary research project, this volume examines the spatiality of virtual inhabited 3D worlds - virtual reality and cyberspace. (Three other volumes look at Interaction, Staging and Methodology.) It is about the communication spaces emerging at the Internet and supported by special 3D interfaces. It is also about the virtual spaces created by virtual reality hardware (CAVEs, panoramic screens, head mounted display systems etc.) and software. Virtual Space: Spatiality in Virtual Inhabited 3D Worlds is interdisciplinary. It deals with philosophical, psychological, communicational, technological and aesthetic aspects of space. While philosophy raises the question concerning the ontology of space - what is space - psychology deals with our perception of space. Communication theory looks at the way in which space supports communication (i.e. that space is a medium for communication), and finally aesthetic analyses exemplify the use of virtual space in virtual cities, in museums and in art.

Virtual reality (VR) techniques are becoming increasingly popular. The use of computer modeling and visualization is no longer uncommon in the area of ergonomics and occupational health and safety. This book explains how studies conducted in a simulated virtual world are making it possible to test new solutions for designed workstations, offering a high degree of ease for introducing modifications and eliminating risk and work-related accidents. Virtual reality techniques offer a wide range of possibilities including increasing the cognitive abilities of the elderly, adapting workstations for people with disabilities and special needs, and remote control of machines using collaborative robots. Detailed discussions include: Testing protective devices, safety systems, and the numerical reconstruction of work accidents Using computer simulation in generic virtual environments On the one hand, it is a self-study book made so by well-crafted and numerous examples. On the other hand, through a detailed analysis of the virtual reality from a point of view of work safety and ergonomics and health improvement. Ewa Grabska, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland Noteworthy is the broad scope and diversity of the addressed problems, ranging from training employees using VR environments with different degrees of perceived reality; training and rehabilitation of the elderly; to designing, testing, modifying, and adapting workplaces to various needs including those of disabled workers; to simulation and investigation of the cause of accidents at a workplace. Andrzej Krawiecki, Warsaw University of Technology, Warsaw, Poland

Recently, with the success of Java and the existence of different interfaces be tween VRML and Java, it became possible to implement three-dimensional internet applications on standard VRML browsers (Plugins) using Java. With the widespread use of VRML-Browsers, e.g., as part of the Netscape Com municator and Microsoft's Internet Explorerstandard distributions, everyone connected to the internet via a PC ( and some other platforms) can directly enter a virtual world without installing a new kind of software. The VRML technology offers the basis for new forms of customer services, e.g., interactive three-dimensional product configuration, spare part ordering, or customer training. Also this technology can be used for CSCW in intranets. This book has a theoretical and a practical part. The theoretical part is intended more for teachers and researchers, while the practical part is in tended for web designers, programmers and students, who want to have both a hands-on approach to implementing Web 3D applications and a technically detailed overview of existing solutions for specific problems in this area."

An addictive thriller from the most sensational new voice in YA fiction. When sixteen-year-old Asha Kennedy discovers her older sister Maya's dead body in their home, her world falls apart. Desperate for answers, and to stay out of the hands of the social services she grew up in, Asha turns to her hacker friends for help. Her search leads her to Zu Tech, the hit games studio where Maya was a lead coder. As Asha begins to unravel the riddle of her death, she realises that the only way to uncover the truth is from the inside. Asha ghosts her old life and infiltrates a Zu Tech eSport tournament as they launch 'SHACKLE', the revolutionary Virtual Reality video game Maya was working on - and which hides a monstrous secret... Perfect for fans of The Hunger Games and A Good Girl's Guide to Murder A guaranteed page turner full of heart, tension and twists you won't see coming! The first book in a major new YA series

The two-volume set LNCS 6773-6774 constitutes the refereed proceedings of the International Conference on Virtual and Mixed Reality 2011, held as Part of HCI International 2011, in Orlando, FL, USA, in July 2011, jointly with 10 other conferences addressing the latest research and development efforts and highlighting the human aspects of design and use of computing systems. The 47 revised papers included in the first volume were carefully reviewed and selected from numerous submissions. The papers are organized in the following topical sections: VR in education, training and health; VR for culture and entertainment; virtual humans and avatars; developing virtual and mixed environments.

Growing more quickly than we can study or come to fully understand it, social computing is much more than the next thing. Whether it is due more to technology-driven convenience or to the basic human need to find kindred connection, online communication and communities are changing the way we live.
Social Computing and Virtual Communities compiles contributions from international experts to offer the sort of multidisciplinary study that is required in any investigation of communities. Delving fully into theories and methods, application areas, and types of online social environments, this book -

• Introduces several theories regarding online social interaction
• Provides a general overview of methodologies, qualitative and quantitative, for analyzing and evaluating virtual communities
• Makes an in-depth investigation into e-learning communities and the formation of social networks of learners
• Examines healthcare communities motivated by physical pain, illness, and burdensome symptoms
• Discusses intellectual property (IP) issues, including those involving user-generated content
• Delves into the topic of online trust
• Introduces virtual communities, in which users immerse themselves in a 3D virtual environment, including MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role playing games)
• Presents an unusual community of older people of Chinese culture who perceive virtual communities as a place where old beliefs and traditional norms can be preserved
• Explores the rapid rise of social networking sites (SNS)

Books of this kind are uncommon. This work not only provides case studies of different domains of virtual communities and different types of social technologies but also emphasizes theoretical and methodological aspects required to research and analyze such communities.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 14th International Multimedia Modeling Conference, MMM 2007, held in Kyoto, Japan, in January 2007. The 23 revised full papers and 24 revised poster papers were carefully reviewed and selected from more than 130 submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections that include material on media understanding, creative media, visual content representation, and video codecs, as well as media retrieval, audio and music.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Virtual Storytelling, ICVS 2007, held in Saint-Malo, France, in December 2007. The 12 revised full papers, three invited papers and seven poster and demo papers were carefully reviewed and selected. The papers are organized in topical sections on authoring tools and story models, behavior modeling, user interactivity, an invited session: related EU projects, as well as the poster and demo session.

Virtual Reality systems enable organizations to cut costs and time, maintain financial and organizational control over the development process, digitally evaluate products before having them created, and allow for greater creative exploration. In this book, VR developers Alan Craig, William Sherman, and Jeffrey Will examine a comprehensive collection of current, unique, and foundational VR applications in a multitude of fields, such as business, science, medicine, art, entertainment, and public safety among others.

An insider s view of what works, what doesn t work, and why, Developing Virtual Reality Applications explores core technical information and background theory as well as the evolution of key applications from their genesis to their most current form. Developmental techniques are cross-referenced between different applications linking information to describe overall VR trends and fundamental best practices. This synergy, coupled with the most up to date research being conducted, provides a hands-on guide for building applications, and an enhanced, panoramic view of VR development. Developing Virtual Reality Applications is an indispensable one-stop reference for anyone working in this burgeoning field.

Dozens of detailed application descriptions provide practical ideas for VR development in ALL areas of interest Development techniques are cross referenced between different application areas, providing fundamental best practices Includes a media-rich companion website with hours of footage from application demonstrations"