Technology for rich group interaction in networked games

加拿大已经成为网络游戏开发的世界领先者。通过这些网络，游戏已经成为一种高度社会性的活动，让遥远的朋友和家人保持联系，并为更广泛的人提供新的合作和交流体验。近年来，游戏的图形、物理和人工智能能力都有了戏剧性的提高。然而，在游戏对社交互动的支持方面，改善相对较小。在这个战略项目中，我们将开发新技术，以改善游戏提供的社交互动。我们将创建工具包，使开发多人游戏变得更容易，并重新配置游戏实现，以提高玩家的体验质量。我们还将开发实现玩家之间更丰富交互的技术：更具表现力的化身、将玩家语音身临其境地集成到游戏中，以及使用视频提供丰富的感知信息。最后，我们将开发支持更广泛参与游戏的技术，允许不同能力的人参与多人游戏。通过我们与五个行业合作伙伴的密切互动，我们将把我们的工作建立在对当前行业实践和要求的深刻理解之上，并将为采用我们的成果并最终将其商业化提供一条明确的道路。我们的合作伙伴从事与研究高度相关的领域，包括游戏开发、开发工具和提供网络服务。该项目将培养21名高素质的博士、硕士和理工科人才。以及更高的本科水平。这些毕业生将接受理想的培训，以便将来在加拿大蓬勃发展的游戏开发行业就业。

Canada has become a world leader in the development of networked games. Through these networks, gaming has become a highly social activity, allowing distant friends and family to keep in touch, and providing new collaboration and communication experiences for a wider range of people. Recent years have seen dramatic improvement in games' graphics, physics and artificial intelligence capabilities. However, there has been comparatively little improvement in games' support for social interaction. In this strategic project, we will develop novel technologies for improving the social interaction afforded by games. We will create toolkits that make it easier to develop multiplayer games, and that reconfigure game implementations to improve the player's quality of experience. We will also develop techniques that enable richer interaction between players: more expressive avatars, immersive integration of player voice into games, and the use of video to provide rich awareness information. Finally, we will develop techniques for supporting broader participation in games, allowing differently-abled people to participate in multiplayer games. Through our close interaction with five industrial partners, we will ground our work in a strong understanding of current industrial practice and requirements, and will provide a clear path to adoption and eventual commercialization of our results. Our partners work in areas that are highly relevant to the research, including game development, development tools, and provision of network services. The project will lead to the training of 21 highly-qualified personnel at the Ph.D., M.Sc. and advanced undergraduate levels. These graduates will have ideal training for future employment in Canada's burgeoning game-development industry.