The paper provides an in depth examination of the narrative structure of Massively Multiplayer Online Computer Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs). The analysis is focused on the narrative complexities created by the relationships between computer technology, the medieval fantasy that is central to the genre, and the emergent nature of the online player society. The paper is divided into four major se...

Understanding player distributions, sessions, and movements in a Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG) is essential for research in scalable architectures for these systems. We present the first detailed measurement study and the first models of the virtual populations in two popular MMORPGs, World of Warcraft and Warhammer Online. Our results show that while these two types o...

This research-in-progress study aims to extend the research on Massively Multiplayer Online Game (MMOG) collaborative learning by theoretically exploring the role of virtual co-presence from an ecological perspective. Although a growing number of researchers has started to investigate learning behaviors of digital native in the MMOG virtual environment, the study for theoretical justification o...

The diversity of culturable non-actinobacterial (NA) bacteria associated with four species of South China Sea gorgonians was investigated using culture-dependent methods followed by analysis of the bacterial 16S rDNA sequence. A total of 76 bacterial isolates were recovered and identified, which belonged to 21 species of 7 genera, and Bacillus was the most diverse genus. Fifty-one percent of th...

Previous DFT in vacuo studies on the conformational preferences for cellobiose showed that upon optimization the φ(H)-anti conformations were of lower energy than the syn forms. Upon optimization using an implicit solvation method, COSMO, the syn or observed form was still not predicted to be of lower energy than the φ(H)-anti form, even though optimization after addition of several explicit wa...

Collaborative mechanisms are starting to become prominent in computer games, like massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs); however, by their nature, these games are difficult to investigate. Game play is often complex and the underlying mechanisms are frequently opaque. In contrast, board games are simple. Their game play is fairly constrained and their core mechanisms are transparent enough...

This paper theoretically and empirically explores cheating in MMORPGs. This paper conceptualises cheating in MMORPGs as a sociotechnical practice which draws upon a non-linear assemblage of human actors and non-human artefacts, in which the practice of cheating is the result or the outcome of an assemblage. We draw upon the assemblage conceptualizations proposed in [16] and [8] and on empirical...

CircumReality is an experimental massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) that relies on text-tospeech for both narration and non-player character speech. A game-oriented text-to-speech engine differs significantly from a text-to-speech engine targeted at telephony or mobile devices. This paper discusses some of the differences, such memory and download-size requirements, voicetr...

Massive red or gray mudstones make up much of the fine-grained sedimentary rocks of the Newark Supergroup. In fact, the upper third of most sedimentary cycles in the fine-grained facies of most Newark basins is massive mudstone (division 3 of Olsen, 1984). Massive mudstones have not, however, been studied or described nearly as fully as conglomerates, sandstones, and laminated shales. This lack...

Identity theft happens frequently, especially in popular multiplayer games where cyberassets can be monetized. In this work, we propose an automatic and proactive identity theft detection model in online games. We specify the identity theft process into exploration, monetization, and theft and pose identity theft detection as a multi-class classification problem. We propose an automatic and pro...