GAMEON-NA 2008, August 13-15, 2008, McGill University, Montreal, Canada, Tutorials

Conference Tutorials

Tutorials can be proposed in the following three categories:

* T1- Introductory Tutorials
* T2- State of the Art Tutorials
* T3- Software and Modelware Tutorials

Tutorial proposals should be emailed to Philippe.Geril@eurosis.org, by indicating the type of tutorial you would like to suggest. (T1, T2 or T3) before March 15, 2008. When preparing a tutorial submission, please consider the suggested template (to be linked later). A confirmation email will be sent to verify that the proposal was received.

Examples of topic areas for tutorial proposals should mirror the topics in the list of conference themes and workshops.

Proposals must be submitted electronically via e-mail, as plain text or in PDF. The tutorial submission should be contained within five pages. Various parts of the proposal for accepted tutorials may be edited for incorporation in the Advance Program.

Financial Terms

An accepted conference tutor receives a free conference registration plus a free publication of his tutorial paper. Tutorial presenters will receive also an honorarium depending on the number of attendees registering specifically for the tutorial outside the conference registrants. The precise amount of the honorarium will be determined immediately after the early registration deadline.

Tutorials that have less than 8 early registrants will face the risk of cancellation.

Tutorial Selection Committee

The proposals received will be reviewed by the Selection Committee to ensure a high quality and appropriate mix for the conference. The goal of the Selection Committee is to provide a diverse set of tutorials that attract a large interest among the broad segments within the diverse simulation community.

Affective Computing for Game Development

Eva Hudlicka, Ph.D.
Psychometrix Associates
Blacksburg, VA, US

Biography

Eva Hudlicka is a Principal Scientist and President of Psychometrix Associates, Inc. in Blacksburg, VA. Her primary research focus is the development of computational models of emotion; both the cognitive processes involved in appraisal, and the effects of emotions on cognition. The aim of this work is an improved understanding of the mechanisms of emotion generation and emotion-cognition interactions, including the nature of affective biases on cognition. The findings have practical implications for the development of affective user models and affective virtual agents across a range of applications, and for cognitive-affective engineering in general. Specific applications include: training and education, decision-support, assistive technologies, assessment and treatment of cognitive-affective disorders, and entertainment and gaming.

This research is conducted within the context of a computational cognitive-affective architecture, the MAMID architecture (Methodology for Modeling and Analysis of Individual Differences), which implements a generic methodology for modeling the interacting effects of multiple affective factors on decision-making.

Hudlicka's prior work included: development of decision-aids supporting individual and group behavior analysis and prediction, cognitive modeling, affect-adaptive user interfaces, visualization and GUI design, knowledge elicitation, and model-based decision-support systems.

Hudlicka was born in Prague, Czech Republic. She received her BS in Biochemistry from Virginia Tech, her MS from The Ohio State University in Computer Science, and her PhD in Computer Science from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. Prior to founding Psychometrix Associates in 1995, she was a Senior Scientist at Bolt Beranek & Newman, Cambridge, MA.

Abstract

Affective gaming has received much attention lately, as the gaming community recognizes the importance of affect in the development of more engaging games. Affect plays a key role in the user experience, both in games developed purely for entertainment purposes, and in ‘serious’ games developed for education, training,
assessment, therapy or rehabilitation. The emerging discipline of affective computing has much to contribute to affective gaming. The three core areas of affective computing provide methods and techniques directly relevant to game development: (1) Emotion sensing and recognition by machines; (2) Computational models of emotion; and (3) Emotion expression by synthetic agents and robots.

You can download the extended abstract for the tutorial here.

You can download some UPDATED example slides for the tutorial here.(7MB)

Understanding Wargame Outcomes(and Why They Make No Sense!)

Joseph M. Saur
Sr. Research Scientist
Joint Systems Integration Command

Biography: Joe Saur is a Senior Research Scientist (CS) at the Georgia Tech Research Institute. He has had extensive experience in wargaming, both professional and recreational, and in the design and construction of wargame engines. In his current role, at the Joint Systems Integration Command, he spent three years as the Lead Assessor for the DARPA/JFCOM project “Integrated Battle Command”, a decision support system attempting to evaluate “DIME on PMESII” (predicting the possible outcomes of proposed Diplomatic, Informational, Military or Economic actions on the Political, Military, Economic, Social, Information and Infrastructure environment under consideration). He also teaches simulation and gaming at night at the ECPI College of Technology.

You can download his extended CV here.

Abstract: Have you ever participated in a wargame, either professional or recreational, where the results were unexplainably skewed? Where one player dominated because he (or she!) rolled all sixes while his or her opponent couldn’t find anything larger than a 2? How can we explain this? More importantly, what does this say about the “lessons learned” that we can take from a wargame.

This tutorial will introduce the attendee to the fundamental differences between deterministic and Monte Carlo wargames or simulations, and explore the issues inherent in deriving “lessons learned” from these. Particularly relevant to those who design, use, or assess model-based decision support systems (DSS); “How much can I trust the computer?”

You can download the extended abstract for the tutorial here.