Theses and Dissertations from UMD

Permanent URI for this communityhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2

New submissions to the thesis/dissertation collections are added automatically as they are received from the Graduate School. Currently, the Graduate School deposits all theses and dissertations from a given semester after the official graduation date. This means that there may be up to a 4 month delay in the appearance of a give thesis/dissertation in DRUM

More information is available at Theses and Dissertations at University of Maryland Libraries.

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Author: search.filters.author.Smith, Andrew WSubject: search.filters.subject.Game Studies

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    Ludic Borders
    (2022) Smith, Andrew W; Kraus, Kari; Library & Information Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Game design techniques are used to motivate participation in professional, educational, political, and social environments. This research study introduces the theory of ludic borders to examine how the boundary of gamespace is a design product that influences players beyond increasing motivation. Framing the crossing of the ludic border as a negotiation between the design choices of the game designer and the identity of the player, this research considers how game design elements such as visual aesthetics and collaborative mechanics influence the construction of the border. In addition, this research considers how particular characteristics of a player’s identity, such as the frequency with which they play games, influences their crossing of the ludic border. Based on gameplay observation, this research finds that visual aesthetics, gaming frequency, and other factors can influence the extent to which a player expresses their beliefs through their in-game decisions.