title: Understanding player experience finding a usable model for game classification

authors: Van Vught, Jasper Frans

subjects: classification

abstract: Digital games receive an age restriction classification rating based on their depiction of harmful content and its presumed impact on players. While classification processes serve as predictors of the subsequent interactions between player and game text they remain largely inferential and an exercise in caution. Confounded by the medium's interactive nature, we argue that classification processes would benefit from research that provides empirical accounts of the interactive experience of games. This paper presents findings taken from a research project with the aim of operationalizing over a decade of Game Studies theorization on the distinct quality of games. The intention is to produce an empirically validated model of media 'usage,' capable of informing regulation processes and the classification of games (within a New Zealand context). Here we draw on findings achieved from one component of our mixed methodology research design [37] - A structured diary method that was employed to allow game players to chronicle different elements of their gameplay experience with a single text as they progressed through it. The findings serve to highlight the applied value of Game Studies' theory and its capacity to account for the 'actual' experience of play and the ways game texts are activated under the agency of players once they enter everyday life and culture.

text: Understanding player experience finding a usable model for game classification Digital games receive an age restriction classification rating based on their depiction of harmful content and its presumed impact on players. While classification processes serve as predictors of the subsequent interactions between player and game text they remain largely inferential and an exercise in caution. Confounded by the medium's interactive nature, we argue that classification processes would benefit from research that provides empirical accounts of the interactive experience of games. This paper presents findings taken from a research project with the aim of operationalizing over a decade of Game Studies theorization on the distinct quality of games. The intention is to produce an empirically validated model of media 'usage,' capable of informing regulation processes and the classification of games (within a New Zealand context). Here we draw on findings achieved from one component of our mixed methodology research design [37] - A structured diary method that was employed to allow game players to chronicle different elements of their gameplay experience with a single text as they progressed through it. The findings serve to highlight the applied value of Game Studies' theory and its capacity to account for the 'actual' experience of play and the ways game texts are activated under the agency of players once they enter everyday life and culture.

year: 2012-07-21

title: Examining the incorporation of small-scale recurring disasters in emergency management frameworks: Insights from Aotearoa-New Zealand

authors: Tennakoon, Kishani

subjects: Science & Technology

abstract: Risks pertaining to small-scale recurring disasters are generally not considered by emergency management policies. While their impacts are not immediately recognisable, their recurrent manifestation may result in cumulative as well as indirect impacts. Yet, small-scale recurring disasters both remain under-studied in disaster studies and are often not incorporated in disaster planning and policy. This paper contributes to filling this gap in knowledge by investigating the extent to which the emergency management framework of Aotearoa-New Zealand addresses small-scale recurring disasters through a targeted analysis of high-order policy documents. The findings confirm the incomplete reflection of risk identification related to small-scale recurring disasters in the documents analyzed. The paper reaffirms that small-scale recurring disasters should be more explicitly integrated in disaster management policy regimes to eliminate the differences at the lower administrative levels of risk treatment. It also argues for the re-evaluation of short-term solutions (such as insurance coverage) that only improve recovery outcomes temporarily, and the consideration of long-term risk reduction policies for achieving more sustainable recovery outcomes.

text: Examining the incorporation of small-scale recurring disasters in emergency management frameworks: Insights from Aotearoa-New Zealand Risks pertaining to small-scale recurring disasters are generally not considered by emergency management policies. While their impacts are not immediately recognisable, their recurrent manifestation may result in cumulative as well as indirect impacts. Yet, small-scale recurring disasters both remain under-studied in disaster studies and are often not incorporated in disaster planning and policy. This paper contributes to filling this gap in knowledge by investigating the extent to which the emergency management framework of Aotearoa-New Zealand addresses small-scale recurring disasters through a targeted analysis of high-order policy documents. The findings confirm the incomplete reflection of risk identification related to small-scale recurring disasters in the documents analyzed. The paper reaffirms that small-scale recurring disasters should be more explicitly integrated in disaster management policy regimes to eliminate the differences at the lower administrative levels of risk treatment. It also argues for the re-evaluation of short-term solutions (such as insurance coverage) that only improve recovery outcomes temporarily, and the consideration of long-term risk reduction policies for achieving more sustainable recovery outcomes.

year: 2021-10-07

title: Māori education and principles of self-determination in the twenty-first century.

authors: O’Sullivan, Dominic

subjects: Maori

abstract: This paper argues that self-determination to the greatest extent possible is a legitimate aspiration for Maori people. It is argued that in education this requires a philosophical and policy response more focused on Maori autonomy than can be provided within the bicultural framework that has lately informed Maori relationships with other actors in the education arena. The paper considers the place of kohanga reo, kura kaupapa Maori and wananga in relation to broader Maori aspirations for self-determination and discusses proposals that these aspirations be furthered through the establishment of a Maori Education Authority. It is also argued that opportunities for self-determination in New Zealand are compromised by the government's unwillingness to alter a tightly controlled centralised education market to provide genuine Māori autonomy over what type of education might be available and to what end.

text: Māori education and principles of self-determination in the twenty-first century. This paper argues that self-determination to the greatest extent possible is a legitimate aspiration for Maori people. It is argued that in education this requires a philosophical and policy response more focused on Maori autonomy than can be provided within the bicultural framework that has lately informed Maori relationships with other actors in the education arena. The paper considers the place of kohanga reo, kura kaupapa Maori and wananga in relation to broader Maori aspirations for self-determination and discusses proposals that these aspirations be furthered through the establishment of a Maori Education Authority. It is also argued that opportunities for self-determination in New Zealand are compromised by the government's unwillingness to alter a tightly controlled centralised education market to provide genuine Māori autonomy over what type of education might be available and to what end.

year: 2001