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Representation of Gay and Bisexual Women in Video Games and Players' Attitudes: An Empirical Study
Petrova, Alexandra ; Kolek, Lukáš (advisor) ; Pešková, Klára (referee)
The aim of this empirical study was to examine how players' explicit and implicit attitudes towards content depicted in a video game influence their interaction with the game and their game experience. In order to do so, this study examined a particular case of a video game representing gay and bisexual women. The primary aim was to investigate how players' game engagement is influenced by the topic portrayed and by their attitudes towards gay and bisexual women. The secondary aim was to explore the players' implicit and explicit attitude change towards gay and bisexual women as a result of playing the game. This study used an experimental and a control condition, with two versions of one game differing only in the identity of one character - in the experimental version she is a lesbian and in the control version a heterosexual woman. The modification of the game was a part of the thesis. Participants' implicit and explicit pretest and posttest attitudes were measured, and their game engagement was measured in the posttest. Results showed lower game engagement in the experimental compared to the control group, however, no link between initial attitudes and game engagement was found. There was no significant explicit or implicit attitude change. This study brings new data to the areas of game research...
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Videogame Dys4ia and reflection of autobiographical narrative by transgender community
Trhoň, Ondřej ; Šisler, Vít (advisor) ; Kolek, Lukáš (referee)
Videogames are becoming an important means of expression for marginalized communities. Despite the growing body of research in queer game studies, transgender identity remains under-researched and lacking in empirical data. By using an experimental approach coupled with grounded theory and informed by current game and queer theory, this study aims to illuminate how transgender- identifying persons approach autobiographical videogame depiction of transgender experience. Ten participants were asked to play influential independent videogame Dys4ia, which depicts the author's hormonal replacement therapy, and semi-structured interviews were conducted. Their responses were coded, and a preliminary model of how Dys4ia works in the context of transgender media ecology was constructed. The term Procedural-autobiographic multimodality is introduced to describe an assemblage of interactive affordances, distinctive aesthetics and situatedness of Dys4ia in structures of minority media while considering video game-specific theories. This study attempts to empirically ground transgender queer game studies, suggesting avenues for future research and proposing a model of how videogames as procedural artefacts work alongside vlogs and other expressive means within transgender mediascape.
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Web Application: Testing of students using adaptive evaluation methods
Andrusenko, Olga ; Kolek, Lukáš (advisor) ; Forstová, Lenka (referee)
The following work deals with the creation of a web application for testing students' knowledge, with a focus on the adaptive form of testing. The work is divided into theoreti- cal and practical part. The theoretical part introduces the concept of adaptive knowledge testing. Subsequently, the findings from the survey of user needs are presented, which served as a basis for the design of a web application. The practical part is devoted to the implementation of a web application, which allows easy creation, administration and evaluation of tests designed to evaluate students' knowledge by the teacher. It is possible to look into the functioning of the PHP framework Symfony, MVC model, and also to learn more about database design and its management using Doctrine 2. Finally, the resulting program was presented to a few users within the target group, who evaluated the user friendliness of the resulting application. 1
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Why students need to study computer science at university and what teaching materials they consider like beneficial
Mazná, Michaela ; Hannemann, Tereza (advisor) ; Kolek, Lukáš (referee)
This work deals with the teaching of computer science and programming at high school, specifically how its teaching from various perspectives would suit students who have decided to continue in computer science at university. The main goal of this research was to find out what motivates students to continue to an IT-oriented school and which materials they used (either in school lessons or self-study) that they would recommend to other students or teachers for their lessons. In addition, part of the research dealt with various aspects of teaching programming (suitable programming language, development environment, who an ideal programming teacher is like and what they do). I also resear- ched the teaching of computer science: what all students should take from the lessons, what topic to devote time to and how much, or how to motivate students and maintain their computer science/programming enthusiasm. The research happened in two parts. The first part was quantitative and was done using the method of a questionnaire survey, which was attended by 297 respondents (university students of computer science). The second part, based on the results of the first part, was of a qualitative nature and was performed using the focus group method. Four focus group meetings took place, which were attended by a total of 17...
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Hra typu nekonečný běh s dynamickou úpravou složitosti
Kočur, Jan ; Černý, Vojtěch (advisor) ; Kolek, Lukáš (referee)
Endless runner (ER) is a game genre where the player controls a constantly running character. The player's enjoyment is closely tied to the difficulty of the game, which makes it an interesting platform for dynamic difficulty adjustment (DDA). DDA is a way of balancing game's difficulty by the use of computer-aided adjusting methods. First, we have developed an endless runner type of game using Unity and utilizing client-server architecture. Second, we have implemented a DDA system using player modeling and genetic algorithms. We have tested the validity of our approach on live users. We were able to adjust the game difficulty to increase player enjoyment and reduce player death rates in levels. This approach can be used in a production environment to improve players' enjoyment of endless runner games.
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Aproximative data profiling
Kolek, Lukáš ; Kopecký, Michal (advisor) ; Svoboda, Martin (referee)
Data profiling is the process of analyzing data and producing an output with statistical summaries. The size of data rapidly increases and it is more difficult to process all data in a reasonable time. All data can not be stored in RAM memory, so it is not possible to run exact single-pass algorithms without using slower computer storage. The diploma thesis focuses on the implementation, comparison, and selection of suitable algorithms for data profiling of large input data. Usage of approximate algorithms brings a possibility to limit mem- ory for computation, do the whole process in RAM memory and the duration of data profiling should be reduced. The tool can compute frequency analysis, cardinality, quantiles, histograms, and other single-column statistics in a short time with a relative error lower than one percent.
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Empirical research on the representation of historical information in the medium of computer games, their user reception, and intrapersonal learning outcomes
Kolek, Lukáš ; Šisler, Vít (advisor) ; Macek, Jakub (referee) ; Slussareff, Michaela (referee)
This dissertation investigates whether video games are able to affect players' attitudes and information behaviour towards depicted historical topics in games over the short- and long-term. We collected data from a sample of 148 young adults. As far as we know, there is currently no study of such a scale focused on historical games. We used, as an intervention tool, a modification of the serious game Czechoslovakia 38-89: Borderlands that deals with the expulsion of the Sudeten Germans from the former Czechoslovakia after WWII. The game is based on historical research providing players with multiple perspectives on the depicted topics. Our control group played a similar game, but where the narrative was unrelated to any depicted historical event from Czechoslovakia 38-89: Borderlands. In the empirical part of the study, we measured explicit and implicit attitude change and information behaviour change towards the expulsion of the Sudeten Germans. Results showed more negative pretest-posttest explicit attitude changes towards the expulsion on a general level (d = -0.34; p = .022) and a specific level (d = -0.53; p = .001) in the experimental group compared to the control group. Over the long-term, group differences in attitude change remained significant for the specific level (d = -0.44; p = .014),...
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Representation of History in Videogames: A Case Study of "Kingdom Come: Deliverance"
Hejlková, Anna ; Kolek, Lukáš (advisor) ; Švarný, Michal (referee)
Although currently (as of July 2020) five of the twenty best-selling videogames on gaming platform Steam processes history in one way or another, there is very little empirical data on how players perceive and approach the history presented through this medium. This work is therefore focused on players relationship to history presented in this way. Case study of game Kingdom Come: Deliverance, which was introduced in 2018 by development company Warhorse Studios s.r.o., and which storyline is set in Posázaví in 1403 A.D., I will be looking for an answer to the scientific question on how the players perceive the game and how important for them is a truthful presentation of history in the game. There were three hypotheses established for our research: 1. The players believe the game Kingdom Come: Deliverance is truthful presentation of history. 2. It is important for the players, that the game Kingdom Come: Deliverance is historically accurate. 3. Players are investigating the authenticity of information in the game Kingdom Come: Deliverance. By primary research of biggest Czech and international discussion forums, and elementary exploration of social media sites interested in the game in question, using combination of quantitative and qualitative approach, we were able to form a questionnaire. Within a couple...
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Video game media and ethical aspects of computer games, the case of This War of Mine
Karaus, Vojtěch ; Kolek, Lukáš (advisor) ; Švarný, Michal (referee)
The bachelor thesis Videogame media and ethical aspects of the videogame, the case of This War of Mine, pursues the way it is referend to the videogame This War of Mine by on- line videogame media. This War of Mine is an war-themed videogame narrated from the civi- lians prespective. This videogame builds it succes on the implementation of moral and ethical issues. The results of this thesis should answer the question of how the ethical aspects of the game were reflected by onlie media that are focused on videogames primarly. For this purpo- se the theoretical part of the thesis will be build around videogames and videogames in the context of ethics. In the later chapters the ethical aspects of videogames will be defined along- side with the topic of emotional impal on the players. The practical part of the thesis will include description of the research, which will be done via frame analysis of articles which were published by online videogame media in the span of one year after the date This War of Mine was released. The ethical aspects of the videogame This War of Mine will be element of interest. Klíčová slova (anglicky): Ethics, computer games, frame analysis, This War of Mine
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