Players Making Decisions

Players Making Decisions PDF Author: Zack Hiwiller
Publisher: New Riders
ISBN: 013439464X
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 646

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Book Description
Game designers today are expected to have an arsenal of multi-disciplinary skills at their disposal in the fields of art and design, computer programming, psychology, economics, composition, education, mythology—and the list goes on. How do you distill a vast universe down to a few salient points? Players Making Decisions brings together the wide range of topics that are most often taught in modern game design courses and focuses on the core concepts that will be useful for students for years to come. A common theme to many of these concepts is the art and craft of creating games in which players are engaged by making meaningful decisions. It is the decision to move right or left, to pass versus shoot, or to develop one’s own strategy that makes the game enjoyable to the player. As a game designer, you are never entirely certain of who your audience will be, but you can enter their world and offer a state of focus and concentration on a task that is intrinsically rewarding. This detailed and easy-to-follow guide to game design is for both digital and analog game designers alike and some of its features include: A clear introduction to the discipline of game design, how game development teams work, and the game development process Full details on prototyping and playtesting, from paper prototypes to intellectual property protection issues A detailed discussion of cognitive biases and human decision making as it pertains to games Thorough coverage of key game elements, with practical discussions of game mechanics, dynamics, and aesthetics Practical coverage of using simulation tools to decode the magic of game balance A full section on the game design business, and how to create a sustainable lifestyle within it

Players Making Decisions

Players Making Decisions PDF Author: Zack Hiwiller
Publisher: New Riders
ISBN: 013439464X
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 646

Get Book Here

Book Description
Game designers today are expected to have an arsenal of multi-disciplinary skills at their disposal in the fields of art and design, computer programming, psychology, economics, composition, education, mythology—and the list goes on. How do you distill a vast universe down to a few salient points? Players Making Decisions brings together the wide range of topics that are most often taught in modern game design courses and focuses on the core concepts that will be useful for students for years to come. A common theme to many of these concepts is the art and craft of creating games in which players are engaged by making meaningful decisions. It is the decision to move right or left, to pass versus shoot, or to develop one’s own strategy that makes the game enjoyable to the player. As a game designer, you are never entirely certain of who your audience will be, but you can enter their world and offer a state of focus and concentration on a task that is intrinsically rewarding. This detailed and easy-to-follow guide to game design is for both digital and analog game designers alike and some of its features include: A clear introduction to the discipline of game design, how game development teams work, and the game development process Full details on prototyping and playtesting, from paper prototypes to intellectual property protection issues A detailed discussion of cognitive biases and human decision making as it pertains to games Thorough coverage of key game elements, with practical discussions of game mechanics, dynamics, and aesthetics Practical coverage of using simulation tools to decode the magic of game balance A full section on the game design business, and how to create a sustainable lifestyle within it

How We Decide

How We Decide PDF Author: Jonah Lehrer
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
ISBN: 0547347480
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 357

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Book Description
The first book to use the unexpected discoveries of neuroscience to help us make the best decisions Since Plato, philosophers have described the decision-making process as either rational or emotional: we carefully deliberate, or we “blink” and go with our gut. But as scientists break open the mind’s black box with the latest tools of neuroscience, they’re discovering that this is not how the mind works. Our best decisions are a finely tuned blend of both feeling and reason—and the precise mix depends on the situation. When buying a house, for example, it’s best to let our unconscious mull over the many variables. But when we’re picking a stock, intuition often leads us astray. The trick is to determine when to use the different parts of the brain, and to do this, we need to think harder (and smarter) about how we think. Jonah Lehrer arms us with the tools we need, drawing on cutting-edge research as well as the real-world experiences of a wide range of “deciders”—from airplane pilots and hedge fund investors to serial killers and poker players. Lehrer shows how people are taking advantage of the new science to make better television shows, win more football games, and improve military intelligence. His goal is to answer two questions that are of interest to just about anyone, from CEOs to firefighters: How does the human mind make decisions? And how can we make those decisions better?

A Multimodal Approach to Video Games and the Player Experience

A Multimodal Approach to Video Games and the Player Experience PDF Author: Weimin Toh
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 135118475X
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 241

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Book Description
This volume puts forth an original theoretical framework, the ludonarrative model, for studying video games which foregrounds the empirical study of the player experience. The book provides a comprehensive introduction to and description of the model, which draws on theoretical frameworks from multimodal discourse analysis, game studies, and social semiotics, and its development out of participant observation and qualitative interviews from the empirical study of a group of players. The volume then applies this approach to shed light on how players’ experiences in a game influence how they understand and make use of game components in order to progress its narrative. The book concludes with a frame by frame analysis of a popular game to demonstrate the model’s principles in action and its subsequent broader applicability to analyzing video game interaction and design. Offering a new way forward for video game research, this volume is key reading for students and scholars in multimodality, discourse analysis, game studies, interactive storytelling, and new media.

Introduction to Industrial Organization, second edition

Introduction to Industrial Organization, second edition PDF Author: Luis M. B. Cabral
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262338947
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 441

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Book Description
An issue-driven introduction to industrial organization, thoroughly updated and revised. The study of industrial organization (IO)—the analysis of the way firms compete with one another—has become a key component of economics and of such related disciplines as finance, strategy, and marketing. This book provides an issue-driven introduction to industrial organization. Although formal in its approach, it is written in a way that requires only basic mathematical training. It includes a vast array of examples, from both within and outside the United States. This second edition has been thoroughly updated and revised. In addition to updated examples, this edition presents a more systematic treatment of public policy implications. It features added advanced sections, with analytical treatment of ideas previously presented verbally; and exercises, which allow for a deeper and more formal understanding of each topic. The new edition also includes an introduction to such empirical methods as demand estimation and equilibrium identification. Supplemental material is available online.

Thinking in Bets

Thinking in Bets PDF Author: Annie Duke
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0735216371
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 289

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Book Description
A Wall Street Journal bestseller, now in paperback. Poker champion turned decision strategist Annie Duke teaches you how to get comfortable with uncertainty and make better decisions. Even the best decision doesn't yield the best outcome every time. There's always an element of luck that you can't control, and there's always information hidden from view. So the key to long-term success (and avoiding worrying yourself to death) is to think in bets: How sure am I? What are the possible ways things could turn out? What decision has the highest odds of success? Did I land in the unlucky 10% on the strategy that works 90% of the time? Or is my success attributable to dumb luck rather than great decision making? Annie Duke, a former World Series of Poker champion turned consultant, draws on examples from business, sports, politics, and (of course) poker to share tools anyone can use to embrace uncertainty and make better decisions. For most people, it's difficult to say "I'm not sure" in a world that values and, even, rewards the appearance of certainty. But professional poker players are comfortable with the fact that great decisions don't always lead to great outcomes, and bad decisions don't always lead to bad outcomes. By shifting your thinking from a need for certainty to a goal of accurately assessing what you know and what you don't, you'll be less vulnerable to reactive emotions, knee-jerk biases, and destructive habits in your decision making. You'll become more confident, calm, compassionate, and successful in the long run.

Managemen Text and Cases (Second Edition)

Managemen Text and Cases (Second Edition) PDF Author:
Publisher: Excel Books India
ISBN: 9350621096
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 827

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Book Description


Probability Models for Economic Decisions, second edition

Probability Models for Economic Decisions, second edition PDF Author: Roger B. Myerson
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262355604
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 569

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Book Description
An introduction to the use of probability models for analyzing risk and economic decisions, using spreadsheets to represent and simulate uncertainty. This textbook offers an introduction to the use of probability models for analyzing risks and economic decisions. It takes a learn-by-doing approach, teaching the student to use spreadsheets to represent and simulate uncertainty and to analyze the effect of such uncertainty on an economic decision. Students in applied business and economics can more easily grasp difficult analytical methods with Excel spreadsheets. The book covers the basic ideas of probability, how to simulate random variables, and how to compute conditional probabilities via Monte Carlo simulation. The first four chapters use a large collection of probability distributions to simulate a range of problems involving worker efficiency, market entry, oil exploration, repeated investment, and subjective belief elicitation. The book then covers correlation and multivariate normal random variables; conditional expectation; optimization of decision variables, with discussions of the strategic value of information, decision trees, game theory, and adverse selection; risk sharing and finance; dynamic models of growth; dynamic models of arrivals; and model risk. New material in this second edition includes two new chapters on additional dynamic models and model risk; new sections in every chapter; many new end-of-chapter exercises; and coverage of such topics as simulation model workflow, models of probabilistic electoral forecasting, and real options. The book comes equipped with Simtools, an open-source, free software used througout the book, which allows students to conduct Monte Carlo simulations seamlessly in Excel.

Economics of Regulation and Antitrust, fifth edition

Economics of Regulation and Antitrust, fifth edition PDF Author: W. Kip Viscusi
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262346915
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 1001

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Book Description
A thoroughly revised and updated edition of the leading textbook on government and business policy, presenting the key principles underlying sound regulatory and antitrust policy. Regulation and antitrust are key elements of government policy. This new edition of the leading textbook on government and business policy explains how the latest theoretical and empirical economic tools can be employed to analyze pressing regulatory and antitrust issues. The book departs from the common emphasis on institutions, focusing instead on the relevant underlying economic issues, using state-of-the-art analysis to assess the appropriate design of regulatory and antitrust policy. Extensive case studies illustrate fundamental principles and provide insight on key issues in regulation and antitrust policy. This fifth edition has been thoroughly revised and updated, reflecting both the latest developments in economic analysis and recent economic events. The text examines regulatory practices through the end of the Obama and beginning of the Trump administrations. New material includes coverage of global competition and the activities of the European Commission; recent mergers, including Comcast-NBC Universal; antitrust in the new economy, including investigations into Microsoft and Google; the financial crisis of 2007–2008 and the Dodd-Frank Act; the FDA approval process; climate change policies; and behavioral economics as a tool for designing regulatory strategies.

The Drama Therapy Decision Tree, 2nd Edition

The Drama Therapy Decision Tree, 2nd Edition PDF Author: Paige Dickinson
Publisher: Intellect Books
ISBN: 1789388910
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 449

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Book Description
This substantially revised and expanded edition of the The Drama Therapy Decision Tree provides an integrated model for therapeutic decision-making by uniting drama therapy interventions with diagnostic information, individual and group processes, psychological distance, the drama therapy pie, and global outcomes. This book is a practical guide in four sections, not a checklist. Rather than using a standardized protocol that makes the decisions for the therapist, drama therapy is based on dynamic, embodied, creative action with participants in the here and now. Conscious planning on the part of the drama therapist before the session supports spontaneity and creativity, preparing them to make good therapeutic decisions in the moment during the session. The opening section guides readers through the foundational principles leading readers into Section Two, The Decision Tree, which is a series of questions for early career drama therapists to ask themselves as they prepare treatment plans for clients. Diversity, Equity, and Ethics are covered in Section Three from the point of view of creative arts therapy practitioners. Section Four looks at Integrating the Five Phases of Treatment with the Drama Therapy Pie, following different populations (diagnosis) of clients through the five phases of group therapy in order to illustrate how the Decision Tree supports intervention choice in the different phases of treatment. The authors strive to provide a common language for communicating what drama therapists do and how they do it in order to demystify drama therapy for other mental health and medical professionals. Using the decision tree as a guide, early career drama therapists can move forward confidently and ground their work with participants in an integrated system. An online searchable database of drama therapy interventions provides descriptions, therapeutic outcomes addressed, and other useful information provides a wealth of additional supporting material. There is also a separate online resource of deroling activities. The online resources can also be an asset for non-drama therapists who are wanting to incorporate a more active and embodied component safely into their work, particularly in terms of warm-ups, closure, and deroling.

The Boardgamer Avalon Hill Player's Guide Collection

The Boardgamer Avalon Hill Player's Guide Collection PDF Author: Bruce A. Monnin
Publisher: Past Into Print Publishing
ISBN:
Category : Games & Activities
Languages : en
Pages : 416

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Book Description
The publisher of The Boardgamer magazine created five special issues devoted entirely to one game within the Avalon Hill catalog. They were known as Unofficial Player guides, but were considered the best collection of new information, variants, scenarios, rules variations, errata, inserts, and new articles written for these games. Fans loved the materials, because it delivered new life into a game that was forgotten by Avalon Hill, but still cherished by the players. This item is the collection of all five guides for 1776, PanzerBlitz, Panzer Leader, War at Sea, and B-17 Queen of the Skies. Below is a description of each guide: A. This player's guide, the first in a series of five, is dedicated to the naval wargame War At Sea The articles include: Victory In The Atlantic - Strategic Considerations and a Variety of British Opening Moves Admirals Raedar and Doenitz Would’ve Been Proud - Axis Play In War At Sea Mediterranean Strategies - The Exciting Approach To War At Sea Why I’m A “Barents On One” Believer - Allied Opening Strategy For War At Sea Underwater Strategy - Use of U-Boats In War At Sea Ten Hints Everyone Ought To Know By Now - Quick Tips For War At Sea War At Sea – Beginner’s Tip Sheet - Prepared For Avaloncon ‘97 Rules Clarifications For War At Sea - As Of July 1, 1999 Improving Yahtzee At Sea - A War At Sea Variant References From The General - War At Sea Articles Through The Years War At Sea Series Replay #1 - Barents On 1 Challenged War At Sea Series Replay #2 - The North Sea Gambit War At Sea Series Replay #3 - The Rubber Match War At Sea Series Replay #4 - The Mediterranean StrategyAvaloncon/WBC Statistics - From the 1991 – 1998 Tournaments B. In this player's guide, the second in a series of five, is dedicated to the revolutionary-war game 1776. The articles include: The American Revolution - And The Boardgaming Hobby Command Pressures Revisited - Leader For 1776 Partisan Leaders - For 1776 1776 Elite Units, Artillery and Naval Rules - and General Rule Observations Wilmington - The Forgotten City In 1776 1776 Clarifications - and PBeM Play Conventions Trouble Areas - Realistic Supply Movement In 1776 The 1776 Thesis - Strategy In 1776 A New 1776 Thesis - The 1776 Thesis Analyzed Contrasting Games On The Revolution - American Revolution, 13: The Colonies In Revolt, and 1776 The Invasion Of Canada Scenario Revisited - Modifying 1776’s Scenario #1 The British Southern Campaign - A 1776 Short Campaign Game Lincoln’s Southern Campaign – 1779 - Revised The British Dilemma – 1778 - A 1776 Scenario Montcalm And Wolfe - A 1776 Variant For The French & Indian War – 1759 The Tory and Indian War – 1778 - Revised 1776 Revisited - A 1776 Scenario At Avaloncon The British Receding - A New 1776 Scenario In The South – 1781 The Carolinas – 1776 - A New Short Scenario The British Receding - A 1776 Series Replay Insert: Countersheet - Additional Counters for 1776 C. In this player's guide, the third in a series of five, is dedicated to the classic, Eastern Front armor wargame Panzerblitz. The articles include: More New Expressions For A Familiar Face - Do Your Own Panzerblitz Prokhorovka - New Scenarios For Panzerblitz Historical Addendum To Prokhorovka - Historical Orders Of Battle For Each Scenario Panzerblitz Clarifications - and Question Box Variations On A Theme - For Panzerblitz Tournament Situations - For Panzerblitz Panzerblitz Tournament Situations – Part II - And An Analysis Of The Situations The Pieces Of Panzerblitz - Part 2 References From The General New Expressions For A Familiar Face II - Still More Situations For Panzerblitz Operation Wintergale - The Relief Of Stalingrad Beyond Situation 25 - Yet More New Scenarios For Panzerblitz More Historical Corrections - To Panzerblitz Situations References From The Boardgamer Other Products From The Boardgamer Insert: Countersheet - Additional Panzerblitz Counters - Required To Play Scenarios In This Issue D. In this player's guide, the fourth in a series of five, is dedicated to the classic, Western Front armor wargame Panzer Leader The articles include: More New Expressions For Another Familiar Face - Do Your Own Panzer Leader The Battle For The Remagen Bridge - New Scenarios For Panzer Leader New British Scenarios For Panzer Leader - British And Commonwealth 1944 & 1945 Situations Panzer Leader Situations - A Collection Of Panzer Leader Scenarios Panzer Leader 1940 Situations - Variant Situations Updated Panzer Leader Clarifications - And Question Box Other Products From The Boardgamer The Pieces Of Panzer Leader - Part 2 The Pieces Of Panzer Leader - Part 3 - Panzer Leader 1940 References From The General More Historical Corrections - To Panzer Leader Situations References From The Boardgamer The Panzer Leader In Normandy - Situations From The Normandy Campaign Insert: Countersheet - Additional Panzerblitz Counters - Required To Play Scenarios In This Issue E. In this player's guide, the fifth in a series of five, is dedicated to the classic, aerial bomber wargame B-17: Queen of the Skies. The articles include: Bombing The Med - Adding the 9th and 12th USAAF and the RAF No. 160 & No. 178 Squadrons Command Decisions - In B-17: Queen of the Skies In Search of Geographical Accuracy - Or, “Hey Navigator Where Are We?!” The Winged Soldiers of ‘44 - A B-17: Queen of the Skies Variant This collection is a must have for fans of these classic, Avalon Hill wargames.