The Monetisation of Children in the Digital Games Industry. This project aims to understand the monetisation of children in the digital games industry. It will employ innovative studies of children’s experiences in freemium games; parental attitudes and strategies; participatory research with game developers; and an examination of the platform and regulatory environment that shapes game monetisation. Expected outcomes include guidelines and recommendations for parents seeking to negotiate childr ....The Monetisation of Children in the Digital Games Industry. This project aims to understand the monetisation of children in the digital games industry. It will employ innovative studies of children’s experiences in freemium games; parental attitudes and strategies; participatory research with game developers; and an examination of the platform and regulatory environment that shapes game monetisation. Expected outcomes include guidelines and recommendations for parents seeking to negotiate children’s digital play; new ethical frameworks for the design and implementation of digital games for children; and actionable advice for policymakers and practitioners. This will bring significant benefits to Australian children, parents and game developers via improvements to the design of games for children.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE240101275
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$382,440.00
Summary
Paying and playing: Assessing and regulating digital games-as-a-service . The digital games industry has turned to a service-based business model reliant on the generation of continuous user revenue. This project assesses the implications of service-based monetisation for how games are designed, consumed, and regulated, focusing on three controversial, yet insufficiently understood monetisation strategies: advertising, in-game transactions, and blockchain-based play. While promising benefit for ....Paying and playing: Assessing and regulating digital games-as-a-service . The digital games industry has turned to a service-based business model reliant on the generation of continuous user revenue. This project assesses the implications of service-based monetisation for how games are designed, consumed, and regulated, focusing on three controversial, yet insufficiently understood monetisation strategies: advertising, in-game transactions, and blockchain-based play. While promising benefit for consumers and industry, these monetisation strategies carry the potential for risks like surveillance, harmful advertising, and predatory design. Discoveries from this project will help policymakers, industry, and consumers regulate, design, and use games featuring service-based monetisation in effective and ethical ways.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE240100730
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$455,000.00
Summary
Hybrid Technologies for Tabletop Games . This project aims to develop design tools for hybrid games that combine technology with tabletop play. Through a detailed examination of successful hybrid boardgames and an iterative, human-centered design and evaluation process that explores embedding novel sensors and tools into boardgames, it will explore the design, use, and experience of hybrid games. Expected outcomes include design of innovative and reusable components, a framework for understandin ....Hybrid Technologies for Tabletop Games . This project aims to develop design tools for hybrid games that combine technology with tabletop play. Through a detailed examination of successful hybrid boardgames and an iterative, human-centered design and evaluation process that explores embedding novel sensors and tools into boardgames, it will explore the design, use, and experience of hybrid games. Expected outcomes include design of innovative and reusable components, a framework for understanding technologies that enable hybrid play, and a theory-based design methodology. Benefits include innovation in the tabletop game sector, fostering social connections for distanced families, and new applications of games for simulations in health, defence, and logistics.Read moreRead less
Theory and applications of three dimensional fractal transformations. The purpose of this project is to develop the theory and algorithms for a new class of continuous mappings between fractals. Outcomes include a better understanding of fractals, substantially better algorithms for fractal compression and many new applications.
Artistic Practice in Australian Videogame Development. The game industry is the largest cultural industry in the world. Its economic growth relies in part on the artistic innovations of non-commercial developers and communities operating beyond the industry’s purview. Policymakers and researchers alike struggle to account for the cultural contexts and creative origins of game development. This project conceptualises and empirically investigates ‘artist-gamemaking’ to generate new knowledge on th ....Artistic Practice in Australian Videogame Development. The game industry is the largest cultural industry in the world. Its economic growth relies in part on the artistic innovations of non-commercial developers and communities operating beyond the industry’s purview. Policymakers and researchers alike struggle to account for the cultural contexts and creative origins of game development. This project conceptualises and empirically investigates ‘artist-gamemaking’ to generate new knowledge on the ambitions, techniques and histories of Australia’s game industry. It develops resources that will enable cultural institutions to better support them. This research is important as it articulates the cultural and economic value of a vital site of creative practice in contemporary Australia.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE150100288
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$348,000.00
Summary
Geoblocking, circumvention and the organisation of digital media markets. Digital content portals including iTunes, Hulu, Netflix and BBC iPlayer use geoblocking to restrict access in certain markets. Australian consumers are increasingly finding ways to circumvent such restrictions. This project aims to investigate how geoblocking and geoblocking circumvention are shaping digital media consumption in Australia. It will offer rigorous analysis of an emerging transnational media practice, and wha ....Geoblocking, circumvention and the organisation of digital media markets. Digital content portals including iTunes, Hulu, Netflix and BBC iPlayer use geoblocking to restrict access in certain markets. Australian consumers are increasingly finding ways to circumvent such restrictions. This project aims to investigate how geoblocking and geoblocking circumvention are shaping digital media consumption in Australia. It will offer rigorous analysis of an emerging transnational media practice, and what it means for audiences, producers and regulators. This project endeavours to advance the understanding of digital content flows and inform media policy in a volatile regulatory environment.Read moreRead less
Interactive and scalable media over software defined networks. A novel API and associated algorithms will be developed to exploit the emerging technology of software defined networks (SDN) for improving the efficiency and responsiveness of interactive media browsing applications. The approach applies to conventional streaming video as well as more interactive services based on scalable media compression and communication technology, notably JPIP (IS15444-9) video. Recent advances in motion codin ....Interactive and scalable media over software defined networks. A novel API and associated algorithms will be developed to exploit the emerging technology of software defined networks (SDN) for improving the efficiency and responsiveness of interactive media browsing applications. The approach applies to conventional streaming video as well as more interactive services based on scalable media compression and communication technology, notably JPIP (IS15444-9) video. Recent advances in motion coding will be combined with new spatio-temporal transforms to develop an efficient inter-frame extension to the JPEG 2000 standard that is fully compatible with JPIP. Each of these innovations is important in its own right, but together they will facilitate a highly compelling interactive media browsing experience.Read moreRead less
Enhancing sensory perception and balance control in HMD-based VR. This project seeks to test a revolutionary new theoretical framework for understanding how we perceive our self-motion and maintain postural control when immersed in head-mounted display (HMD) virtual reality (VR). Photorealistic graphical simulations and artificial vestibular stimulation will be used to investigate how visual and non-visual information concerning self-motion is integrated in the brain. The outcomes will reveal ho ....Enhancing sensory perception and balance control in HMD-based VR. This project seeks to test a revolutionary new theoretical framework for understanding how we perceive our self-motion and maintain postural control when immersed in head-mounted display (HMD) virtual reality (VR). Photorealistic graphical simulations and artificial vestibular stimulation will be used to investigate how visual and non-visual information concerning self-motion is integrated in the brain. The outcomes will reveal how multisensory interaction influences our sensory perception and postural control during HMD VR. The knowledge gained is expected to generate new economic benefits by inspiring next-generation technologies that will optimise users' immersive experiences (e.g., virtual exploration and immersive gaming).Read moreRead less
Efficient multi-view video coding with cuboids and base anchored models. This project aims to address current deficiencies in multi-view video coding technology to achieve the ultra-compression efficiency demanded by increasing display resolutions and synchronised viewpoints. The project expects to generate new knowledge, by moving from the current pixel-centric approach to methods that concentrate information common to many view-frames. The project is expected to improve compression of audio-vi ....Efficient multi-view video coding with cuboids and base anchored models. This project aims to address current deficiencies in multi-view video coding technology to achieve the ultra-compression efficiency demanded by increasing display resolutions and synchronised viewpoints. The project expects to generate new knowledge, by moving from the current pixel-centric approach to methods that concentrate information common to many view-frames. The project is expected to improve compression of audio-visual services that are of great interest to international standards bodies and industry, while facilitating free interaction and augmented reality. This project will provide significant benefits to broadcast, entertainment, surveillance and health industries and position Australia as a world leader in this field.Read moreRead less
Internet-distributed television: cultural, industrial and policy dynamics. This project aims to investigate the impact of global subscription video-on-demand platforms on national television markets. The rise of subscription video streaming has created significant challenges for Australian and international broadcast, media and cultural policy frameworks, which are struggling to keep up with audience viewing practices. This project will provide a comparative analysis of how governments are respo ....Internet-distributed television: cultural, industrial and policy dynamics. This project aims to investigate the impact of global subscription video-on-demand platforms on national television markets. The rise of subscription video streaming has created significant challenges for Australian and international broadcast, media and cultural policy frameworks, which are struggling to keep up with audience viewing practices. This project will provide a comparative analysis of how governments are responding and investigating the implications for debates about local content, local screen production, and media diversity. The project will provide an analysis of original production and programming strategies to identify new forms of trans-national media flow. The project will advance an understanding of media globalisation and provide media regulators options and opportunities for a convergent media policy environment.Read moreRead less