/library/oar/handle/123456789/19740 2026-05-28T07:46:19Z /library/oar/handle/123456789/146287 Title: Affective game computing : a survey Authors: Yannakakis, Georgios N.; Melhart, David Abstract: This article surveys the current state-of-the-art in affective computing (AC) principles, methods, and tools as applied to games. We review this emerging field, namely affective game computing, through the lens of the four core phases of the affective loop: game affect elicitation, game affect sensing, game affect detection, and game affect adaptation. In addition, we provide a taxonomy of terms, methods, and approaches used across the four phases of the affective game loop and situate the field within this taxonomy. We continue with a comprehensive review of available affect data collection methods with regard to gaming interfaces, sensors, annotation protocols, and available corpora. This article concludes with a discussion on the current limitations of affective game computing and our vision for the most promising future research directions in the field. 2023-01-01T00:00:00Z /library/oar/handle/123456789/143910 Title: Playing with the dead : dead pools and the case of Fantamorto Authors: Gualeni, Stefano Abstract: Dead people can take part in gameplay. These playful possibilities reflect two broad trends in the social perception of human finitude: death acceptance and death denial. Some of the playful practices discussed in this article align with perspectives that regard mortality as a foundational -- and even affirmative -- aspect of human existence. These are games and videogames designed to sustain a sense of continuity and familiarity with the departed. Other games adopt a more antagonistic stance toward the dead, trivializing and commodifying their personal and historical significance. Among the latter, this article devotes particular attention to a family of playful practices known as “dead pool games,” playful folk phenomena that have thus far been overlooked within game studies. Foregrounding the representational and ethical stakes of playing with the dead, the second half of the article traces the historical development of dead pool games and examines the ethically contentious design decisions that shape this genre. The inquiry culminates in an ethics-oriented analysis of the gameplay and design of Fantamorto -- a popular contemporary Italian instantiation of the dead pool game formula, with particular attention to how its rules frame death and human suffering as ludic resources within a competitive game economy. 2026-02-16T00:00:00Z /library/oar/handle/123456789/143133 Title: Night Parade of 100 Demons : adapting Japanese folklore to game musicking research Authors: Oliva, Costantino Abstract: This paper presents Night Parade of 100 Demons (Oliva, 2024), a research-oriented mobile game designed to foster musical improvisation, here identified as an under practiced form of game musicking (Oliva, 2019, 2023). It consists of four minigames each starring a different yōkai, mischievous creatures of Japanese folklore. Each yōkai is the protagonist of a musical, playful vignette, inspired by popular yokai legends. 2025-04-01T00:00:00Z /library/oar/handle/123456789/142385 Title: Antagonistic game design : the author as a player Authors: Gualeni, Stefano Abstract: This article examines a particular relationship between game authors and players: the possibility for game authors to co-opt the role of players in the very game they created. Among the various ways in which this can occur, the article concentrates on ‘antagonistic game de-sign’: the creation of games meant to frustrate and provoke their players. Player engage-ment, I argue, does not solely arise from the pleasure of overcoming in-game obstacles, participating in the unfolding of the game’s narrative or defeating other players, but can also emerge from resisting and opposing an imagined persona: the off-putting and often sadistic (implied) author behind the work. By projecting an unsympathetic and adversarial attitude towards players, antagonistically designed games can establish an asynchronous adversarial relationship with them and foster distinctive avenues for meaning-making and the self-validation of players. 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z