Free to Play Business Models

Through the case study of the mobile title Game of Sultans, this article examines the proliferation of iterative and copycat games through the practice of reskins in the mobile game industry. Based on year-long autoethnographic fieldwork working in a Chinese mobile game company, I provide an on-the-ground perspective of how Orientalist representations in reskinned games are instrumentalized through the roles of “cultural brokers”and the work of localization for Western markets. By taking a theoretical and technological understanding of reskins, I argue that reskinned games, as a form of industrial mimicry, while an important aspect of standardized game production, can also serve as means of subversion against seemingly totalizing control of the US-dominated app economy. This article addresses the dearth of studies in theorizing the industry practice of game reskins beyond just a monetization tool but also its extractive labor process within the global app empire.

This paper proposes a new way of looking into the "sociality" of social (network) games. On the basis of looking closely at the development of Frontierville, a popular Facebook game, and more abstractly at the development of its fellow Zynga Facebook-based games (such as Farmville or Cityville), we argue that various network-based forms of participatory design are increasingly becoming both influential and indispensable in social (network) based game design than ever before. Although participatory design in gaming is not new, the way in which participatory design is being used in social (network) games is new, giving the player a greater and more immediate role in the game design than ever before. Whether this is for better or worse, this form of participation fostered by the structure of social networks has allowed social (network) game players to become much more powerful than previous in their relationship to the game industry.

Nareszcie mamy narodowy korpus polszczyzny -dostępny publicznie i w dodatku bezpłatnie. Użytkownicy, którzy zechcą wykorzystać go do swoich celów, mogą uznać, że jest niedostatecznie zróżnicowany, nie dość precyzyjnie oznakowany -te i inne zarzuty łatwo sobie wyobrazić. Łatwo je także odparować: praca takich rozmiarów jest wynikiem różnych kompromisów, poza tym trudno jest wszystkich zadowolić. Być może niektórzy uznają, że NKJP się niewłaściwie nazywa, gdyż słowo narodowy ma w polskim uchu konotacje patriotyczne i w nazwie projektu naukowego brzmi pretensjonalnie. Wątpliwości związane z nazwą twórcy korpusu sami mieli na początku prac, ale wydaje się, że niesłusznie; słowo narodowy w nazwie NKJP kontynuuje tradycje polskiej leksykografii. Przypomnijmy, że Linde swój słownik nazywał narodowym (zob. Matuszczyk 2006: 99-104) i że pod nagłówkiem "słowniki narodowe" zgrupował podobne dzieła Grzegorczyk (1967) w swojej bibliografii. Także w leksykografii encyklopedycznej funkcjonuje kategoria encyklopedii narodowych (np. Olkiewicz 1988). Co więcej, jak wiele innych narodów mamy Bibliotekę Narodową, której zbiory z upływem czasu będą coraz bardziej dygitalizowane, co w końcu upodobni ją do korpusu, a nawet uczyni korpusem in potentia. Od lat sześćdziesiątych dwudziestego wieku wzrastało zainteresowanie językoznawców badaniem częstotliwości użycia różnych form językowych oraz prawdopodobieństwa ich występowania w różnych odmianach języka. Zainteresowanie

Artykuł powstał na bazie doświadczeń zdobytych podczas pracy dydaktycznej autora jako wykładowcy i nauczyciela akademickiego prowadzącego zajęcia w Laboratorium Podstaw Metrologii. Przytoczono przykłady nieprawidłowości w przedstawianiu wyników pomiarów i wartości wielkości fizycznych pochodzące z prac pisemnych studentów i skonfrontowano je z zaleceniami Międzynarodowego Układu Jednostek Miar (SI), oraz polskimi aktami prawnymi. ERRORS IN STUDENTS REPORTS OF RESULTS OF MEASUREMENTS AND THE VALUES OF QUANTITIES The paper is based on the many years of author's experience and observations taken during work as lecturer and academic teacher in the Laboratory of Basics of Metrology. Many examples of incorrectness in students' reports are quoted and confronted with rules and style conventions of the International System of Units (SI). All examples of improperly presented results of measurements or expressed values of quantities are divided into nine categories: lack of distinction between an object and its attribute (measurand), errors in expressing the measurement uncertainty, too many digits in the results of measurement data processing, improper scale of a graph and style of labelling the axes, improper using of names and symbols of units, errors originated from the lack of a space or improper use of a space, clarity in writing values of quantities, improper stating values of dimensionless quantities, improper use of SI prefixes to form the names and symbols of the decimal multiples and submultiples of SI units. Keywords: Reporting of results of measurements, the International System of Units, rules for using units, rules for expressing values of quantities.

F or decades, the game industry has been dominated, if only in terms of revenue and mindshare, by a tandem of globally operating game publishers and game console platform holders. Historically, these two small groups of industrial actors, primarily located in North America and Japan, have been 'dominant forces' in the game industry (Consalvo 2007, 123). Similarly, Johns (2006) notes that power relationships in the game hardware and software production networks are uneven and are affected by temporal and spatial dimensions. Driven by the cyclical introduction of new hardware platforms, the platform/publisher duo served a relatively stable, highly lucrative niche market (Williams 2002; Kerr 2006). Every fi ve to seven years, development and marketing budgets increase and, as a result, so do fi nancial risks and the distribution of capital and power (Schilling 2003). Geographically, the main centers for console game development have been North America, Western Europe and the Asia Pacifi c (Johns 2006). That is to say, the majority of the billions of dollars of value generated by the sale of video game hardware and software has been captured by a small number of globally operating fi rms who have a high rate of incumbency. The relationship between game

The goal of this article is to add a complementary perspective to the study of social network sites by surveying how the political economy of social media platforms relates to the structure of free-to-play games in their commodity form. Drawing on the theory of multisided markets and critical political economy, this article surveys the political economy of game apps and investigates how it is symbiotically related to the technological and economic logic underlying connective platforms operated by Google, Apple, Facebook, and Amazon. These social media platforms operate app stores that sustain the transformation of games as fixed, physically distributed products that follow a transaction logic, into digitally distributed, freely accessible, or “free-to-play” apps. Through a case study of the popular casual game Candy Crush Saga it is contended that the connective properties of social media platforms affect the form and format of game apps as cultural commodities. Candy Crush Saga dev...

In this paper, we propose a comprehensive and empirically grounded taxonomy of monetized random reward mechanisms (RRMs), which we created through an examination of over one hundred free-to-play and paid-to-play games released in the US, Germany, and Japan. RRMs have recently gained increased attention within game studies. However, few attempts have been made to clarify the structure and implementation of RRMs and their cultural and societal influence. We offer an evidence-based classification of RRMs, aiming to contribute to a wide range of related academic research activities and social debates and to facilitate crossdisciplinary discussion. Borrowing from recent literature, we deconstructed the way RRMs are implemented in 108 games. We identified three major strategies and 40 types of implementation. In particular, this taxonomy covers the majority of RRMs implemented in publicly available mobile games worldwide and will play an essential role in facilitating constructive discuss...

This paper contains an exploratory analysis of the business model innovations (BMIs) that firms in cultural and creative industries (CCIs) undertake along their life-cycle. Despite the role that creative and cultural and creative firms (CCFs) have in the economic development of industrialised countries, they tend to remain small and often fail due to industry-specific constraints and tensions, such as the lack of managerial capabilities and complexity in nurturing value chain relationships. However, there has been relatively limited scholarly interest into the specific conditions and processes that enabled CCFs to overcome these liabilities, and in particular into the identification of the business models they have adopted along their life-cycle. In this paper, this issue is analysed by using the concept of BMI, which sheds light on how the reconfiguration of the activity system through which a CCF creates, delivers and captures value enables the exploitation of entrepreneurial opportunities over time. This paper builds on an in-depth historical study of three leading firms operating in the mobile gaming industry, namely Rovio, Zynga and King Digital Entertainment. Three main results emerge from this study. First, in the ramp-up phase of their life-cycle, CCFs organize their resource architecture to build a strong and recognized reputation. Second, in the development phase, BMI is used to leverage new distribution paradigms. Finally, in the maturity phase, firms dedicate resources to innovate their product portfolios by providing platforms that support the development and testing of new creative ideas and solutions. Findings and implications are then discussed.

Have the uneven global flows of capital in the cultural industries changed because of access to distribution platforms like the Apple iOS App Store? Based on a financial analysis of a dataset containing three years of game app revenues (2015-2017), this article asks two questions. First, were game developers and publishers able to generate revenue in their domestic markets in the App Store? Second, to what extent are game app developers from the Global South, historically at the periphery of the global game industry, able to capture value in Global North instances of the App Store? This article advances discussions on the political economy of platform-dependent cultural production by placing this case within broader conversations on cultural imperialism and demonstrating that local app store instances are part of "one big store"; a U.S.-dominated and oriented space of distribution and consumption that effectively captures revenue in regional marketplaces.

Dynamiczny rozwój sieci społecznościowych sprawił, że Internet stał się najpopularniejszym medium komunikacyjnym. Zdecydowana większość komunikatów wymieniana jest w postaci widomości tekstowych, które niejednokrotnie odzwierciedlają stan emocjonalny autora. Identyfikacja emocji w tekstach znajduje szerokie zastosowanie w handlu elektronicznym, czy telemedycynie, stając się jednocześnie ważnym elementem w komunikacji człowiek-komputer. W niniejszym artykule zaprezentowano metodę rozpoznawania emocji w tekstach polskojęzycznych opartą o algorytm detekcji słów kluczowych i lematyzację. Uzyskano dokładność rzędu 60%. Opracowano również pierwszą polskojęzyczną bazę słów kluczowych wyrażających emocje.

Sztuczna inteligencja stała się jednym z najważniejszych elementów współczesnego świata. Jest wykorzystywana w różnych ludzkich praktykach. Odnosi także sukcesy w naukach przyrodniczych. W artykule podejmuje się problem zastosowania algorytmów sztucznej inteligencji do badania świata kultury-czyli tradycyjnego przedmiotu zainteresowań humanistów. Badacze kultury mają także coraz częściej do czynienia z wielkimi kolekcjami danych nazywanych: big data. Dużych zestawów danych kulturowych nie da się badać za pomocą klasycznych metod. Autor postuluje aby do badania współczesnych danych kulturowych użyć sztuczną inteligencję. Pokazuje przykłady takich badań-także z własnej praktyki badawczej. Omawia wybrane algorytmy i aplikacje, które można zastosować w humanistyce i również w naukach społecznych. Autor uważa, że zastosowanie sztucznej inteligencji do badań w humanistyce może przynieść nowe rezultaty poznawcze i zmianę wielu panujących do tej pory poglądów. Słowa kluczowe: Sztuczna inteligencja, humanistyka, kultura, big data, uczenie maszynowe Wstęp O tzw. sztucznej inteligencji (AI 1) pisze się ostatnio bardzo dużo. Stała się ona nie tylko ważną dziedziną badań ale także przedmiotem dyskusji filozoficznych, rozważań praktyków życia gospodarczego czy modnym tematem różnych mediów. Niewątpliwie na ten stan rzeczy złożyły się spektakularne sukcesy AI w różnych praktykach życia społecznego. Pierwszym takim sukcesem, który odbił się szerokim echem w świecie i zwrócił uwagę opinii publicznej na to zjawisko było zwycięstwo superkomputera Deep Blue w grze szachy nad szachowym mistrzem świata Garim Kasparowem (1997) 2. Od roku 2010 odnotowuje się szereg kolejnych sukcesów AI. Potrafi ona komponować muzykę, malować obrazy, dobierać spersonalizowane reklamynawet dla pojedynczych odbiorców czy komunikować się z internautami na tzw. chatbotach. I są to tylko wybrane przykłady jej zastosowań. W końcu AI trafiła także do praktyki naukowej. Sztuczna inteligencja (jeśli chodzi o naukę) jest wykorzystywana min. do poszukiwania nowych planet, do diagnozowania nowotworów, ustalania źródeł epidemii czy odkrywania nowych leków 3. Jej spore osiągnięcia na polu dyscyplin przyrodniczych stwarzają okazję do 1 ang. artifficial intelligence 2 Jeszcze większym osiągnieciem z tego zakresu była wygrana komputera AlphaGo w roku 2016 z Lee Sedolem, mistrzem w chińskiej grzę GO, która uchodzi za bardziej skomplikowaną od szachów. 3 brytyjska firma farmaceutyczna Exscientia przystąpi w marcu 2020 roku do testowania leku na pacjentach z zaburzeniami obsesyjno-kompulsywnymi, który został wynaleziony przez AI. W opracowywaniu leku wykorzystano active learning, rodzaj maszynowego uczenia nadzorowanego, w którym algorytm może sam

Nareszcie mamy narodowy korpus polszczyzny-dostępny publicznie i w dodatku bezpłatnie. Użytkownicy, którzy zechcą wykorzystać go do swoich celów, mogą uznać, że jest niedostatecznie zróżnicowany, nie dość precyzyjnie oznakowany-te i inne zarzuty łatwo sobie wyobrazić. Łatwo je także odparować: praca takich rozmiarów jest wynikiem różnych kompromisów, poza tym trudno jest wszystkich zadowolić. Być może niektórzy uznają, że NKJP się niewłaściwie nazywa, gdyż słowo narodowy ma w polskim uchu konotacje patriotyczne i w nazwie projektu naukowego brzmi pretensjonalnie. Wątpliwości związane z nazwą twórcy korpusu sami mieli na początku prac, ale wydaje się, że niesłusznie; słowo narodowy w nazwie NKJP kontynuuje tradycje polskiej leksykografii. Przypomnijmy, że Linde swój słownik nazywał narodowym (zob. Matuszczyk 2006: 99-104) i że pod nagłówkiem "słowniki narodowe" zgrupował podobne dzieła Grzegorczyk (1967) w swojej bibliografii. Także w leksykografii encyklopedycznej funkcjonuje kategoria encyklopedii narodowych (np. Olkiewicz 1988). Co więcej, jak wiele innych narodów mamy Bibliotekę Narodową, której zbiory z upływem czasu będą coraz bardziej dygitalizowane, co w końcu upodobni ją do korpusu, a nawet uczyni korpusem in potentia. 1.1. Krótki rys historyczny Od lat sześćdziesiątych dwudziestego wieku wzrastało zainteresowanie językoznawców badaniem częstotliwości użycia różnych form językowych oraz prawdopodobieństwa ich występowania w różnych odmianach języka. Zainteresowanie

La libertà d'impresa (o libertà di iniziativa economica) e il diritto alla protezione dei dati personali costituiscono due diritti fondamentali riconosciuti a livello europeo e nazionale, ma che possono venire in contrapposizione nel contesto della regolamentazione del mercato unico digitale e del concreto declinarsi dell'esercizio di entrambi. Il necessario bilanciamento di questi due diritti fondamentali nessuno dei quali pu essere considerato assoluto e apoditticamente prevalente a priori sull'altro-richiede una attenta e approfondita analisi delle caratteristiche di entrambi questi diritti, del loro reciproco valore assiologico e dei molteplici interessi sottesi ad entrambi.

The freedom to conduct business and the right to the protection of personal data are two fundamental rights recognized at both the European and national levels, but they can come into conflict within the context of the rules governing the Digital Single Market and the implementation of both rights. The necessary balance of these two fundamental rights – neither of which can be considered absolute and unequivocally prevailing over the other – requires a careful and thorough analysis of the specific characteristics of both these rights, their mutual axiological value, and the multiple interests underlying both.

The increased use of the freemium business model and the introduction of new tools have made analytics pervasive in the video game industry. The research on game analytics is scant and descriptive. Thus, reasons for employing game analytics are not well understood. In this study, we analyze data collected with a set of in-depth interviews from small and medium-sized freemium game developers. The results show that game analytics is used to (1) assist design, (2) to reduce the risks associated with launching new games, and (3) to communicate with investors and publishers. The study advances the research on the business value of game analytics.

The widespread adoption of the freemium business model together with the introduction of cost-efficient analytics tools have made the use of analytics pervasive in the game industry. While big data and analytics have drawn extensive scholarly attention, the research focusing particularly on game analytics is scant and largely descriptive. Thus, there is a need for research focusing on how game companies employ analytics. In this study, we analyze data collected through a set of in-depth interviews of small and medium-sized freemium game developers. We identify four main roles of game analytics: 1) sense-making device, 2) decision-support system, 3) communication tool, and 4) hygiene factor. We employ the attention-based view of the firm to discuss how these roles diverge and converge in terms of organizational attention. The study advances the research on the roles and business value of analytics in the game and software industry.

Niebezpieczeństwo korzystania z popularnego programu ChatGPT, który wykazuje cechy sztucznej inteligencji, nie polega na tym, że z komputera czy smartfona wyjdzie demon, który nas zaatakuje, bo dialog, nawet najbardziej gorący, do fizycznego zagrożenia nie prowadzi. Niebezpieczne jest natomiast bezkrytyczne przyjęcie odpowiedzi ChatGPT jako własnych opinii czy wytycznych do działania. Wtedy nie my będziemy korzystać ze sztucznej inteligencji, tylko to ona będzie nami sterowała.

The competitive mobile app markets along with the lack of business experience of mobile app startups has created many challenges for startups in their efforts to create a viable business through developing and publishing apps. In this study, we collected data from 20 international mobile game startups that were working on their first commercial game with the aim to develop a successful game as the first step toward a successful business. Through a classic grounded theory methodology, we developed a theoretical model. Our model depicts how startups work with three requirements of visibility, quality and user engagement toward success while enhancing each and every one of the requirements through online and offline social interactions with various members of the mobile ecosystem. Our study contributes to the existing literature on mobile app development and the interactions of startups with the platform owner, users, and their games artefact particularly by highlighting how the startu...

This interpretive grounded theory study describes and analyses how early-stage mobile app developer startups utilize an accelerator’s facilities to develop and publish their game applications on a platform. The data was collected by interviewing 20 startups participating in an accelerator operated by a mobile platform-owner. Our model shows that the accelerator is affecting our early-stage startups in five areas of: their 1) market-related activities, 2) resources, 3) startup’s capabilities, 4) experimenting activities, and 5) game design activities. We discuss how the startups utilize the accelerator’s facilities to improve their capabilities and knowledge inside their firms which can affect their game design, access to resources, and improve their market-related activities. Furthermore, they make the accelerator into a social boundary resource through which they aim 1) to collaborate with and impact the platform decisions more effectively, and 2) to gain access to resources from o...

W artykule omawiam trzy strategie argumentacyjne na rzecz tezy, że zdania niereistyczne są metaforyczne: argumentację epistemologiczną ze spostrzeżeniowego sensu spójki jest, argumentację semiotyczną z zasadniczego rozumienia tej spójki oraz argumentację semiotyczną opartą na kryteriach metaforyczności czasowników. Żadna z nich nie wydaje się skuteczna. Uznanie wszystkich zdań niereistycznych – i występującej w nich spójki – za metaforyczne zdaje się niemożliwe bez uprzedniego przyjęcia ontologii reistycznej.

Metafory odgrywają w sztucznej inteligencji znaczącą rolę, zarówno w teorii, jak i w praktyce tej dyscypliny. Co więcej, to, w jaki sposób rozumiemy sztuczną inteligencję, jest wynikiem procesu myślowego o głęboko metaforycznym charakterze. Obecność metafor nie jest jednak zauważana ani doceniana przez jej obecnych adeptów, pomimo iż w tradycyjnej, symbolicznej sztucznej inteligencji (zwanej często GOFAI, Good Old Fashioned AI, czyli „staromodną sztuczną inteligencją”) powstawały rozwiązania zdolne do przetwarzania metafor – ich wykrywania i ujawniania ich dosłownych znaczeń. Pierwszym celem niniejszej publikacji jest przede wszystkim wskazanie i zdefiniowanie metaforycznego charakteru rozumienia SI, gdyż niedostrzeganie jego obecności przyczynia się do wzmacniania nieporozumień dotyczących istoty współczesnej sztucznej inteligencji. Drugim celem publikacji jest opis sposobów, jakimi tradycyjna (symboliczna) sztuczna inteligencja próbowała zmierzyć się z metaforycznym sposobem opisu...

The mobile market is frequently described as an ecosystem where powerful companies generate value from continuously harvesting and distributing data. In this article, we advance the ecological metaphor through both theoretical conceptualizations and empirical explorations of the contemporary app ecosystem. We thereby contribute to the emergent field of app studies by critically scrutinizing the political economy of mobile communication. The article identifies the prime infrastructural resources that ground appbased communication (devices, operating systems, app stores, apps, third-party services, and data accesses) and their ownership structures to discuss how power is obtained, exercised, and amplified in the app ecosystem. To illustrate the value of the theoretical approach, we provide a critical asset analysis of Google LLC (Alphabet, Inc.) and discuss its position as an invasive species in the app ecosystem.

Mobile network operators (MNOs) business models (BM) are under pressure due to their lesser capability of introducing superior values to their customers in the mobile ecosystem. However, recent research efforts in developing new BM advocate twosided BM that encompasses the diversity of MNO's activities and capabilities. As a result, a new multidisciplinary service-based twosided BM needs to be developed that incorporates these activities and skills. The small body of the extant literature on the subject suggests that it may be possible to enhance MNOs' BM by combining contemporary information technology tools with managerial design principles and concepts. This study designs a two-sided mobile advertising BM to investigate the application of a big datadriven BM to transform MNOs' current one-sided BMs to two-sided ones. To accomplish this, it combines the design science research methodology (DSR), which aims to create a problem-solving artifact for real-world problems, and the grounded theory approach, which aims to develop substantive theory and increase the rigor of the design process. The initial BM was proposed using deductive and adductive reasoning from academic and grey literature. The results of this study have shown that the new BM can enhance their revenue streams and competitive edge. This study identified that successful BM should be built on established MNOs core competencies and business activities. This study showed the applicability of two-sided theory and big data-driven tools and technologies to create new superior value propositions to both advertisers and end-users and thus innovative BMs for MNOs. The paper concludes with the fundamental requirements to build a data-driven two-sided BM.

The aim of this paper is to present and discuss interesting and inspiring game-design techniques employed in selected games with a purpose. We are interested here in a particular domain of these games' applicationnamely science. We consider how particular techniques (like implementing Free2Play mechanics) might influence players' engagement.

Despite increasing interest in technological platforms as innovation ecosystems, existing research offers little predictive insight into how firms can identify users who are likely to become successful third-party providers. In our analysis, we combine (a) the complete sales history of all applications related to a technological platform and (b) the complete history of communications in all user and developer communities related to the platform. We employ logistic, extended Cox, and Poisson regression models, combined with social network analysis. We show that the prior network positions of users, their prior communication histories, and their prior user experiences from consumption can jointly predict the transition from user to third-party developer (i.e. indicating entrepreneurial intention), the launch of a first platform application (i.e. entrepreneurial action) and the sales of the application (i.e. entrepreneurial success). Our study contributes to the literature in strategic...

Digital platforms, such as Facebook, Uber, and AirBnB, create value by connecting users, creators, and contractors of different types. Their rapid growth, untraditional business model, and disruptive nature presents challenges for managers and asset pricers. These features also, arguably, make them natural monopolies, leading to increasing calls for special regulations and taxes. We construct and illustrate a approach for modeling digital platforms. The model allows for heterogeneity in elasticity of demand and heterogeneous network effects across different users. We paramaterize our model using a survey of over 40,000 US internet users on their demand for Facebook. Facebook creates about 11.2 billion dollars in consumer surplus a month for US users age 25 or over, in line with previous estimates. We find Facebook has too low a level of advertising relative to their revenue maximizing strategy, suggesting that they also value maintaining a large user base. We simulate six proposed government policies for digital platforms, taking Facebook's optimal response into account. Taxes only slightly change consumer surplus. Three more radical proposals, including 'data as labor' and nationalization, have the potential to raise consumer surplus by up to 42%. But a botched regulation that left the US with two smaller, non-competitive social media monopolies would decrease consumer surplus by 44%.

Digital ‘platforms’ owned and operated by powerful Big Tech companies have shaped and impacted social, economic, and political life in significant ways. Yet, platforms remain an ambiguous phenomenon. What exactly are these platforms? How can we identify and understand the features of their power?

The Platform as Ecosystem explains how not merely the platforms themselves but especially their larger ‘ecosystems’ are important for understanding the unique features of platform governance and power. Platform ecosystems have become the dominant technological, organisational, and governance model for digital platforms over the past fifteen years. These ecosystems comprise many different types of users including end-consumers, software developers, marketers and advertisers, and business partners who build software tools, products, and services of their own ‘on top’ of the interfaces provided and controlled by leading platforms. These users each help build and expand platform ecosystems while negotiating governance and control by central platforms.

This dissertation examines different aspects of platform ecosystems to determine how platforms’ material foundations or infrastructures relate to governance and power. It develops several novel empirical and historical approaches for studying the distinct material and relational features of digital platform ecosystems. This reveals how platforms derive considerable power from their ecosystems and provides unique empirical and historical insights into the technological, organisational, and evolutionary features of platform (and mobile app) ecosystems. These approaches and insights are relevant to digital media and platform researchers and help policymakers, regulators, and authorities worldwide dealing with the challenges of governing digital economies and societies.

Abstract—Customization in videogames can be understood in many levels, but generally involves a variety of options enabled by the game designers to the player. Avatar customization is one of the most powerful tools of immersion to the player since the avatar is the main mediator of the player's interaction. This article discusses some points of view in this subject. Keywords–avatar; customization; personalization; avatar customization.

The paper examines the video game industry in the perspective of being the paradigm of innovation in digital media and content. In particular, it analyses the response to two main factors that have impacted this industry over the last decade. First, it tracks the evolution of its global market and its emerging geography with the rise of Asia. Second, within this global landscape the paper explores how the changes derived from mobile and on-line gaming enabled major transformations of this industry. From here, some conclusions on the lessons from the evolution of this sector for the whole media and content industries are presented.

After more than a decade of development work and hopes, the usage of mobile Internet has finally taken off. Now, we are witnessing the first signs of evidence what might become the explosion of mobile content and applications that will be shaping the (mobile) Internet of the future. Similar to the wired Internet, search will become very relevant for the usage of mobile Internet. Within the mobile ecosystem framework, this paper will discuss if and how intense public action in the mobile search domain should (could) be. Potential actions refer both to ‘conventional’ and 'non-conventional' regulatory approaches. Public administrations as procurement bodies may leverage services and thus acting as early deployers of applications is an example of a ‘conventional’ case, while the use of the wealth of public data with high added value in mobile search scenarios would be one of a ‘non-conventional’ case. The paper will present a list of different policy options and analyse their fe...

Nareszcie mamy narodowy korpus polszczyzny-dostępny publicznie i w dodatku bezpłatnie. Użytkownicy, którzy zechcą wykorzystać go do swoich celów, mogą uznać, że jest niedostatecznie zróżnicowany, nie dość precyzyjnie oznakowany-te i inne zarzuty łatwo sobie wyobrazić. Łatwo je także odparować: praca takich rozmiarów jest wynikiem różnych kompromisów, poza tym trudno jest wszystkich zadowolić. Być może niektórzy uznają, że NKJP się niewłaściwie nazywa, gdyż słowo narodowy ma w polskim uchu konotacje patriotyczne i w nazwie projektu naukowego brzmi pretensjonalnie. Wątpliwości związane z nazwą twórcy korpusu sami mieli na początku prac, ale wydaje się, że niesłusznie; słowo narodowy w nazwie NKJP kontynuuje tradycje polskiej leksykografii. Przypomnijmy, że Linde swój słownik nazywał narodowym (zob. Matuszczyk 2006: 99-104) i że pod nagłówkiem "słowniki narodowe" zgrupował podobne dzieła Grzegorczyk (1967) w swojej bibliografii. Także w leksykografii encyklopedycznej funkcjonuje kategoria encyklopedii narodowych (np. Olkiewicz 1988). Co więcej, jak wiele innych narodów mamy Bibliotekę Narodową, której zbiory z upływem czasu będą coraz bardziej dygitalizowane, co w końcu upodobni ją do korpusu, a nawet uczyni korpusem in potentia. 1.1. Krótki rys historyczny Od lat sześćdziesiątych dwudziestego wieku wzrastało zainteresowanie językoznawców badaniem częstotliwości użycia różnych form językowych oraz prawdopodobieństwa ich występowania w różnych odmianach języka. Zainteresowanie

Most businesses and industries are undergoing significant disruption due to digital innovation. We focus our discussion on the rise of data-driven business models in the professional services industry. Big data, advanced analytics and artificial intelligence solutions are now diffusing across industries. Professional services firms are knowledge-intensive which may raise specific issues in relation to data analytics and artificial intelligence. In addition, these firms currently face high levels of potential disruption due to digital innovation by new start-ups. When trying to understand the impact of these developments on the professional services industry, two prominent issues need to be considered. Firstly, digital innovation often results in the creation of new business models. This raises questions about whether these models are more generic (digital), showing great similarities across industries, or specific to the professional services industry. Moreover, there are questions related to whether the initiators of business model innovation are new, digital start-ups, or well-established incumbents. Secondly, when an incumbent is required to transform due to digital disruption, we need a more nuanced understanding of the strategic transformation processes in relation to the nature of professional services and technology innovation. Our paper makes two major contributions to the literature. First, it takes a critical look at data-driven business models in the context of professional services firms. Second, it puts forth several research propositions that warrant further critical examination when it comes digital disruption barriers and enablers faced by incumbents and start-ups.

W artykule pornszono tematykę zastosowania koncepcji S"MED w reorganizacji procesu produkcyjnego jako innowacji procesowej. W części teoretycznej opracowania zidentyfikowano cechy charakterystyczne procesu, a w części empirycznej ocenie poddano rozwiązania organizacyjne wpływające na wzrost jego efektywności. Otrzymane wyniki skłaniają do wniosku, iż SA1ED stanowi innowacyjne narzędzie służące podnoszeniu efektywności procesu wytwórczego, przy zerowych kosztach implementacji.

In this article, we expand on the models available for defining various different business logics relevant to video game development, especially those concerning free-to-play games. We use the models to analyse those business logics from an Aristotelian virtue ethics perspective. We argue that if an individual wishes to follow the Aristotelian virtue ethics code in order to develop the virtues inherent in his or her own character (as in the personal character of the developer, not a character in the game), how he or she chooses to try and generate revenue from the fruits of his or her labour is not irrelevant. Moreover, we argue that some of these methods are in fact vices, which are damaging to the character of the developer, and should therefore be avoided.

Mobile social games recently become extremely<br> popular, spawning a whole new entertainment culture. However,<br> mobile game players are fickle, quickly and easily picking up and<br> abandoning games. This pilot study seeks to identify factors that<br> influence users to discontinuing playing mobile social games. We<br> identified three sacrifices which can prompt users to abandon games:<br> monetary sacrifice, time sacrifice and privacy sacrifice. The results<br> showed that monetary sacrifice has a greater impact than the other two<br> factors in causing players to discontinue usage intention.

Wydaje się, że wszyscy twórcy korpusów przywiązują wagę do tego, żeby były one reprezentatywne i zrównoważone. Zaczynają się jednak pojawiać głosy, iż pojęcia te są mało precyzyjne. W niniejszym referacie autorka zamierza wyjść od przemyśleń na temat tych dwóch pojęć, zastanowić się, czy powinny być one ważne dla twórców korpusu i czy mamy jakąkolwiek alternatywę. Alternatywą może być stworzenie korpusu, którego dobór tekstów nie będzie niczego reprezentował poza samym sobą, a mianowicie teksty powinno się dobrać nie na zasadzie "reprezentatywności‖, ale na podstawie ich "celowości‖. Żeby określić celowość, należy się przyjrzeć potrzebom osób z nich korzystających. Należy też pamiętać, że z korpusów korzystają przede wszystkim nieinformatycy, zatem warto by było utworzyć narzędzie, które będzie miało łatwy, przyjazny dla użytkownika interfejs. Dobrym wzorem będą tryby instalacji programów windowsowych. Instalatory często oferują co najmniej dwie możliwości wyboru: wersję standardową, dla mniej zorientowanego w opcjach i poniekąd we własnych potrzebach użytkownika, jak i wersję niestandardową dla użytkowników o wysokim stopniu świadomości własnych potrzeb, umożliwiającą zainstalowanie tylko tych składników, które są rzeczywiście potrzebne.

The use of loot boxes is endemic in contemporary games, having originated in the free-to-play games of China and Japan they are now a common feature in almost every type of business model and genre. Primarily used to increase monetisation they are not without controversy as they have been accused of driving a “pay-to-win” approach to gaming and have even been linked to the development of problematic gambling behaviours. Considering the fact that there are a huge range of disparate practices connected to loot boxes, and that loot boxes are present in all forms of contemporary games this research asks the following question: Which business models and game genres, if any, are associated with increased opening of paid loot boxes? We employed survey data (N=613) gathered among gamers. We can conclude that loot boxes seem to be pervasive across games and there is no strong evidence that any business model of genre would clearly predict loot box opening activities and that players of all k...

Critical acclaim is considered to be one of the main predictors of profitability of game products. Major game publishers face tremendous hurdles in order to fare well in different forums that review and rate their products. However, little evidence exists on the relationship between ratings and profitability beyond anecdotal assumptions. In this study we investigate the relationship between critical acclaim and commercial success in mobile free-to-play games via a mixed-method study. First we look at the correlation of reviews and profitability, and then present an exploratory qualitative inquiry, analyzing games with high Metascores and games with high grossing. The results reveal that the relationship between review ratings and profitability is even more problematic in mobile free-to-play games than in many other game categories. Games with high Metascores differ substantially from the top-grossing games, being closer to traditional single-player games than typical free-to-play ga...

As the first location-based augmented reality game to gain mainstream popularity, Pokémon GO also reached an older demographic of players that have traditionally played less and whose play experiences are under-researched. In this article, we present the findings of a qualitative survey study (n=349) focusing on the middleaged (40–65-year-old) Pokémon GO players’ memorable experiences from the time when the game’s popularity was at its peak and its player base likely most diverse. We analyzed the open-ended survey responses with thematic analysis, resulting in 7 categories and 88 thematic codes. The categories constructed were Game Play & Game Content, People & Sociability, Location, Circumstances & Context, Negative Events, Feelings and Other Codes. Through our analysis and findings, we provide insights to understand the play experiences of middle-aged players through Pokémon GO. These findings also capture the memorable moments of a massive, unique social phenomenon at its peak fr...

EXTENDED ABSTRACT The free-to-play (F2P) revenue model has become increasingly popular in the video game industry. For example, the majority of commercially published mobile games are now based on the F2P model where the core of the games can be played free-of-charge while premium content is sold separately in-game for real money. To highlight the success of this revenue model, even traditional retail games are now utilizing it by offering in-app purchases on top of the retail games’ fixed price. Though in-game monetization is not a new phenomenon as arcades have been asking for more quarters to continue playing for decades, contemporary F2P games provide much more flexible and nuanced means for spending real money during game play. As the F2P phenomenon is a relatively new one, the interconnections of revenue model, game design, and player experience provide an interesting playing field for academic research.

This article analyzes the business ethics of digital games, using Ayn Rand’s philosophy of Objectivism. It identifies different types of monetization options as virtuous or nonvirtuous, based on Rand’s views on rational self-interest. It divides the options into ethical Mover and unethical Looter designs, presents those logics in relation to an illustrative case example, Zynga, and then discusses a view on the role of players in relation to game monetization designs. Through our analysis of monetization options in the context of Objectivist ethics, the article contributes to discussions on game revenue ethics. It also expands the still understudied area of applying Rand’s ethics to business, in the context of a new sector, game development, and business. This research enables ethicists to apply a wider-than-before perspective on virtue ethics to online business, and helps game developers act in a virtuous manner, which provides them with a long-term business advantage.

Selling in-game content has become a popular revenue model for game publishers. While prior research has investigated latent motivations as determinants of in-game content purchases, the prior literature has not focused on more concrete reasons to purchase in-game content that stem from how the games are being designed. We form an inventory of reasons (19) to buy in-game content via triangulating from analyses of top-grossing free-to-play games, from a review of existing research, and from industry expert input. These reasons were operationalized into a survey (N=519). Firstly, we explored how these motivations converged into categories. The results indicated that the purchasing reasons converged into six dimensions: 1) Unobstructed play, 2) Social interaction, 3) Competition, 4) Economical rationale, 5) Indulging the children, and 6) Unlocking content. Secondly, we investigated the relationship between these factors and how much players spend money on in-game content. The results revealed that the purchase motivations of unobstructed play, social interaction, and economical rationale were positively associated with how much money players spend on in-game content. The results indeed imply that the way designers implement artificial limitation and obstacles as well as social interaction affects how much players spend money on in-game content.

This paper aims to provide an overview of the studies and literature regarding creative industries, with particular consideration of the video game industry, and define potential areas of further research, among others regarding e-sports. The author seeks to define creative industries, describe the Polish and global video game industries, point to their characteristics and present the development of the Polish and global video game markets providing the examples of the conducted research. The study involves a survey of literature sources, mainly covering the themes related to creative and video game industries, seeks to analyse the global and Polish video game markets based on the data from domestic and international reports.

The essential issue currently challenging marketing managers in the virtual world is: How can a virtual world feature be designed to elevate consumers' purchase of virtual items and usage in the virtual world? Previous scholars have investigated the issue and have published their predictions on the individual level. Yet, they have done so without specifically addressing endogeneity or carryover effect among users and their activities. To alleviate this omission and potential methodological bias, we probe the impact of virtual world technological features on two performance criteria at the platform level. In addition, we differentiate two types of users (new vs returning users) and probe their distinct impact on purchase of virtual items and usage patterns in the virtual world. When using data from one virtual world and applying the vector auto regression model, results show that virtual world managers can elevate performance through promotion of both types of users' activities. The effects of these activities, however, are varied. Specifically, for returning users, interactivity leads to a more significant impact on consumers' purchase of virtual goods than sociability, while the opposite effect is applicable to usage in the virtual world. For new users, interactivity is more efficient for promotion of users' purchase of virtual goods than sociability, while the results are the opposite for usage in the virtual world.

Electronic Corpus of 17th- and 18th-century Polish Texts – theoretical and workshop problems Summary This paper presents the Electronic Corpus of 17th- and 18th-century Polish Texts (KorBa) – a large (13.5-million), annotated historical corpus available online. Its creation was modelled on the assumptions of the National Corpus of Polish (NKJP), yet the specifi c nature of the historical material enforced certain modifi cations of the solutions applied in NKJP, e.g. two forms of text representation (transliteration and transcription) were introduced, the principle of designating foreign-language fragments was adopted, and the tagset was adapted to the description of the grammatical structure of the Middle Polish language. The texts collected in KorBa are diversified in chronological, geographical, stylistic, and thematic terms although, due to e.g. limited access to the material, the postulate of representativeness and sustainability of the corpus was not fully implemented. The work...

The fundamental basis of all multisided business platforms is the value proposition offered to consumers, on one hand, and to business buyers, on the other hand, and so our starting point must be with the fundamentals concerning the management of value propositions. The competitive strategies of monetization and value creation include: Envelopment, overlapping, freemium, advertising and asymmetry information methods. In this paper, we allude that multisided platforms to play the role of resource integrators, involving consumers and business partners in a process of co-creation of value—an integrated, a networked business model. This is primarily due to a shift in the relative influence of different business stakeholders in the context of the business modeling of two-sided multisided platforms.

The digital gaming business has changed in the last years. Digital games are no longer just products. They developed into services. People play games not only on a stationary device, but on mobile devices, too. The change of gaming devices also had an impact on game design. Competition between mobile digital games mostly takes place at a download price of zero. Today the Freemium monetization method is the dominant monetization method. Players of digital games often have to go through a core loop by repeating the same tasks inside the game. The stability of the virtual economy inside the game affects the game's core loop. This paper discusses the role of instability in virtual economies in the context of core loops. A small instability inside a virtual economy can increase revenue of a digital game. Players tend to stay in a game because of sunk cost fallacy. If instability inside a virtual economy happens for a too long time players will quit playing and revenue will decrease.

jan Stasieńko-prof. DSW, dr hab., dyrektor Instytutu Dziennikarstwa i Komunikacji Społecznej oraz Centrum Badawczo-Projektowego Gier i Animacji "Digital Masters" w Dolnośląskiej Szkole Wyższej. Interesuje się ludologią, archeologią nowych mediów, posthumanizmem, antropologią efektów specjalnych. Ostatnio opublikował Niematerialne Galatee w wehikułach rozkoszy i bólu… (2015) oraz Capturing motor competencies. People with Disabilities as Actors in Motion Capture Sessions (2015).