“We are able to predict what a player in a game will do based on his or her previous behavior, with up to 80 percent accuracy,” says Brent Harrison, a Ph.D. student at NC State and co-author of a paper describing the research. The research team developed the data-driven predictive method by analyzing the behavior of 14,000 players in the massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) W...

Cell signaling pathways are sequences of biochemical reactions that propagate an input signal, such as a hormone binding to a cell-surface receptor, into the cell to trigger a reactive process. Assessment of pathway activities is crucial for determining which pathways play roles in disease versus normal conditions. To date various pathway flow/perturbation assessment tools are available, howeve...

This study aims to theoretically explore whether Massively Multiplayer Online Game (MMOG) is an effective collaborative learning platform, empirically examine the occurrence of knowledge creation in MMOG game-play, and conceptually advocate the research potential of MMOG game-based collaborative learning. Although a growing number of researchers have started to use MMOG as a new generation of e...

A description of the way in which children’s play develops is often based on children’s physical environment. Another standard assumption is that small children progress from playing with objects to taking part in role-play. This study focuses on the cultural aspect of play and its aim is to investigate how small children create meaning in their play in dialogue with adults. The study is an edu...

Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games are socio-technical phenomena that are both complex technological systems and complex societies. They are also highly lucrative businesses. In this paper we present initial findings from a case study of the MMORPG TIBIA which explores the business and social relationships generated by cheating practices. We characterize the economy of cheating as a ...

This study explores the social process governing the nature, emergence, application, and consequences of labeling the ‘white-eyed’ or grief players in massively multiplayer online role playing games in Taiwan. We found that two types of ‘white-eyed’ players exist in MMORPGs. The explicit type, who come out and organize themselves into griefer pledges, can be understood as players who rebel agai...

EVE Online, released in 2003 by CCP Games, is a space-themed Massively Multiplayer Online Game (MMOG). This sandbox style MMOG has a reputation for being a difficult game with a punishing learning curve that is fairly impenetrable to new players. This has led to the widely held belief among the larger MMOG community that “EVE players are different”, as only a very particular type of player woul...

In this paper, we discuss motivations for studying interactive narrative in shared, persistent worlds using the established conventions of quest-based MMORPGs. We present a framework for categorizing the various techniques used in these games according to the interaction between the world model and the quest model. Using this framework we generalize recent games to present a more dynamic world ...

Dauer larva formation in Caenorhabditis elegans is controlled by chemosensory cells that respond to environmental cues. Genetic interactions among mutations in 23 genes that affect dauer larva formation were investigated. Mutations in seven genes that cause constitutive dauer formation, and mutations in 16 genes that either block dauer formation or result in the formation of abnormal dauers, we...