Current Issue : July-September Volume : 2026 Issue Number : 3 Articles : 5 Articles
This study employs a reflexive autoethnography, guided by flow and place attachment theory, to examine how gaming experiences influence attachments to virtual environments and inspire real-world travel intentions. Data comprise reflexive journal notes written over a 10-month period after playing multiple video games and analysed using reflexive thematic analysis following a hybrid deductive–inductive approach. The analysis identified eight themes across three dimensions: temporal immersion, escapism, narrative immersion, and self-expression under flow; emotional, cognitive, and behavioural attachment under place attachment; and place-induced travel intention as the behavioural outcome. The findings establish flow as a critical antecedent to the development of place attachment within virtual environments. Consistent with emerging scholarship, the study confirms that attachment formation does not require physically tangible places; rather, it can emerge through digitally mediated presence and interaction, indicating that virtual environments are capable of eliciting place attachment. More significantly, it demonstrates that these virtual attachments can fluidly extend toward real places depicted in games, revealing a cross-environmental continuity in attachment processes. The integrated framework thus contributes a novel theoretical proposal linking flow, virtual and real place attachment, and tourism behaviour, an area that remains conceptually fragmented and empirically underdeveloped....
As the global aging population increases, the early detection and prevention of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) have become important in public health. To solve the problems of subjectivity and low timeliness of traditional assessment methods, this paper proposes a multimodal dementia prevention system that combines physiological sensing, a gamification interface, and a classification model. The system includes an interactive joystick to measure pulse and blood pressure. A Chinese music game app increases the participation of the elderly and reduces their sense of rejection through gamification interaction. After the physiological data were standardized by Z-score, they were input into three small sample classifiers (Gaussian Naïve Bayes, Fisher Linear Discriminant Analysis, and Logistic Regression) for the binary classification of AD. The system performance was evaluated using the Leave- One-Out cross-validation method. Experimental results show that Logistic Regression performed best in situations with extremely small samples and class imbalance, with an F1-score of 0.700, which was higher than the other two. Dynamic features and model fusion technologies need to be integrated to further enhance the clinical application potential of the system in the early prediction of dementia....
There has been significant recent progress in algorithms for approximation of Nash equilibrium in large two-player zero-sum imperfect-information games and exact computation of Nash equilibrium in multiplayer normal-form games. While counterfactual regret minimization and fictitious play are scalable to large games and have convergence guarantees in two-player zero-sum games, they do not guarantee convergence to Nash equilibrium in multiplayer games. We present an approach for exact computation of Nash equilibrium in multiplayer imperfect-information games that solves a quadratically-constrained program based on a nonlinear complementarity problem formulation from the sequence-form game representation. This approach capitalizes on recent advances for solving nonconvex quadratic programs. Our algorithm is able to quickly solve three-player Kuhn poker after removal of dominated actions. Of the available algorithms in the Gambit software suite, only the logit quantal response approach is successfully able to solve the game; however, the approach takes longer than our algorithm and also involves a degree of approximation. Our formulation also leads to a new approach for computing Nash equilibrium in multiplayer normal-form games which we demonstrate to outperform a previous quadratically-constrained program formulation....
Teaching is widely recognized as a highly stressful profession, and recent educational changes have further increased the pressure on teachers to manage demanding classroom situations while adapting to new technologies. To address this challenge, the present study examines the feasibility and user acceptance of XRSkills, a virtual reality serious game designed to strengthen teachers’ coping and problem-solving strategies through realistic school-based scenarios. A feasibility evaluation was conducted with teachers from all school grades and students from multiple European countries, combining a standardized usability measure with open-ended feedback on the game experience. Overall results indicate that XRSkills achieved a good level of usability and was generally perceived as engaging and relevant, particularly for in-service teachers. Participants appreciated the game format and learning approach, while also reporting areas for improvement such as clearer guidance, richer content, and smoother technical performance. These findings support the potential of virtual reality serious games as a practical and scalable training pathway to help teachers rehearse responses to stressors in a safe environment, while also fostering confidence in using immersive technologies for professional development....
Serious video games are digital games designed for purposes beyond entertainment, typically to support education, training, health interventions, or behaviour change. They combine game mechanics with psychological and pedagogical principles, such as feedback, repetition, goal-setting, and scaffolding, to create interactive environments that facilitate learning, skill development, and sustained engagement. In many cases, they are built to simulate realistic tasks or decision contexts, allowing users to practise skills, test strategies, and learn from consequences in a low-risk setting. Within cyberpsychology, serious video games are particularly valuable because they provide structured digital contexts for examining how technology shapes cognition, emotion, motivation, and behaviour. They enable researchers and practitioners to observe how users respond to digital rewards, challenges, social features, and immersive environments, as well as how these features influence outcomes such as self-efficacy, persistence, attention, and emotion regulation. As a result, serious video games operate at the intersection of psychological theory, human–technology interaction, and applied digital intervention design. This entry provides an overview of their development, theoretical foundations, applications, effectiveness, and associated ethical considerations....
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