This study attempts to construct a communication framework of video game avatars. Employing Aarseth's textonomy, Rehak's avatar's life cycle, and Lury's prosthetic culture avatar's theories as the basis of analysis on fifty-five purposively selected games, this study proposes ACTION (Avatars, Communicators, Transmissions, Instruments, Orientations…

Since the mid-1990s, however, the popularity, diversity, and application of virtual worlds have spread rapidly. As a result, existing taxonomies and topologies increasingly are becoming less effective at being able to classify and organize the growing diversification of content available in today's virtual worlds. This article presents the…

This study, based on experiential play methodology was used to explore student engagement while playing "Medal of Honor (2002)" and "Call of Duty (2003)". It identifies some of the key issues related to the use of video games and simulations during the training phase of game play. Research into the effects of gaming in education has been extremely…

The serious games community is moving toward research focusing on direct comparisons between learning outcomes of serious games and those of more traditional training methods. Such comparisons are difficult, however, due to the lack of a consistent taxonomy of game attributes for serious games. Without a clear understanding of what truly…