https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/124090 Fri, 19 Jun 2026 20:33:58 GMT 2026-06-19T20:33:58Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/136789 Title: The experience of presence in mundane game activities Abstract: Presence is a volatile experience and throughout the last decades, it has been observed in many contexts, like virtual reality and games. Games that offer action-packed gameplay, or cognitively demanding tasks were the focus of research, thus games can offer calm and relaxed gameplay that still manages to keep players engaged. Hence, it is a fascinating observation to have a presence established in calm game activities, that provide less intense gameplay. The first part of this thesis is a literature review of presence theory and immersion. The second part reviewed and observed mundanity in games, together with an extensive conceptualization. Lastly, the literary review has been compared to the mere repeated exposure and selective exposure effects. Both effects have been observed in two case studies, applying the findings of the presence and mundanity chapters. It will be argued that in-game activities can be perceived as mundane through repetition and habituation as suggested by the mere-exposure effect. Subsequently, presence evolves from various mundane activities, because these activities offer a balanced experience of imitating real-world activities, and playful mechanics that exchange a part of this realism for soft skill demand. Additionally, various activities in open worlds allow players to balance their stressed or bored moods. This has been found in the mood management theory that arose from the observation of the selective exposure effect. Description: M.Sc.(Melit.) Mon, 01 Jan 2024 00:00:00 GMT https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/136789 2024-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/136787 Title: The effects of map features in RTS gameplay : calculating the statistically invisible Abstract: Levels in Real-Time strategy games are often skilfully crafted by experienced level-designers, either by hand, procedurally generated with highly evaluated systems, or through computer-assisted designing tools. These maps are then used by players, who adopt various strategies and employ them through their methods following a player persona, expecting no discrete advantages hidden within the map’s structural features. Map imbalance is a common topic in games research, with many works tending to approach the problem through creating new, more balanced maps for a specific platform [6; 26]. These are made to achieve a target level of balance and desired features. What has been seldom considered however, is the measurement of map features that cause this imbalance, and the relationships they hold with the competing players. Through an evolutionary process, the link between a measurable map feature and a player’s strategy and characteristics is captured. By gradually evolving maps through change in level structure, in such a way that a particular strategy and personality is set to always win, these features become exposed. Using 4 different AI bots with unique strategies and game-play approaches, different sets of biased maps may be obtained and compared, identifying the differences in maps which gives each of these agents a more likely chance of winning. These various Map features will be quantitatively summarised considering the aforementioned AI Agents in a generic RTS platform, objectively identifying balance through wins and losses, and to what degree they do so. Description: M.Sc.(Melit.) Mon, 01 Jan 2024 00:00:00 GMT https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/136787 2024-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/131773 Title: Unfair play : the controversial relationship of eSports-football videogames with fairness Abstract: This dissertation analyzes the controversial relationship between the two major football video games, such as EA Sports FC 24 and eFootball, and the practical concept of fairness in sports. Today, the process of recognizing eSports, including the previously mentioned titles, as Olympic sports is well underway. This, combined with the lack of research papers inherent to the topic of fairness as a practical (instead of ethical) concept in sports, as well as inherent popular subjects in eSport communities, such as pay-to-win or skill-gap dynamics, is the main reason behind the writing of this work. In fact, the goal of the dissertation is precisely to analyze how fairness is understood within eSports-football videogames. To find an answer, an attempt was made to identify an ideal conceptualization of fairness by exploiting various fields of study. In addition, many elements and concepts related to the same theme of fairness were also covered. In fact, the topic of simulations, microtransactions, and the basics of the eSports practice come together. This is followed by more practical observations related precisely to the eSports landscape, with subjects internal to the world of research such as randomness, or others external to it such as the concept of skill-gap. These are followed by examples of titles that represent acclaimed and extremely popular competitive video games that have the theme of fairness at heart. Therefore, EA Sports FC 24 and eFootball have been analyzed. In these case studies, by taking advantage of all the issues analyzed above and comparing them with each other, many controversies inherent in the fairness theme were highlighted, both from the perspective of gameplay and what surrounds it. It follows, in conclusion, that fairness is understood as a very complex issue but is arguably treated as a marginal one by designers. Description: M.Sc.(Melit.) Mon, 01 Jan 2024 00:00:00 GMT https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/131773 2024-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/131772 Title: Exploring player experience in a collaborative story crafting table-top game : a non-competitive perspective Abstract: Table-top story crafting games have gained popularity for their gameplay experiences which allow players to collaboratively or competitively construct narratives within a structured framework. The aim of this research is to evaluate any differences in player experience between a fully collaborative, which was designed and developed for the purposes of this study, and an existing competitive story crafting table-top game via a quantitative approach. To evaluate this, nine-tenths of the Player Experience Inventory (PXI) model is used. As per findings, collaborative story crafting had deeper meaning and offered a stronger sense of skill than in a competitive dynamic. Both games similarly achieved limited immersion while providing similar autonomy, curiosity and aesthetic pleasure. Moreover, the collaborative game had more manageable controls, slightly better balance in challenges as well as more defined goals and rules. Description: M.Sc.(Melit.) Mon, 01 Jan 2024 00:00:00 GMT https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/131772 2024-01-01T00:00:00Z