Waterloo Research

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From Motivating to Manipulative: The Use of Deceptive Design in a Game’s Free-to-Play Transition
(Association for Computing Machinery, 2024-10-10) Hadan, Hilda; Sgandurra, Sabrina; Zhang-Kennedy, Leah; Nacke, Lennart
Over the last decade, the free-to-play (F2P) game business model has gained popularity in the games industry. We examine the role of deceptive design during a game’s transition to F2P and its impacts on players. Our analysis focuses on game mechanics and a Reddit analysis of the Overwatch (OW) series after it transitioned to an F2P model. Our study identifies nine game mechanics that use deceptive design patterns. We also identify factors contributing to a negative gameplay experience. Business model transitions in games present possibilities for problematic practices. Our findings identify the need for game developers and publishers to balance player investments and fairness of rewards. A game’s successful transition depends on maintaining fundamental components of player motivation and ensuring transparent communication. Compared to existing taxonomies in other media, games need a comprehensive classification of deceptive design. We emphasize the importance of understanding player perceptions and the impact of deceptive practices in future research.
A systematic mapping review of algorithms for the detection of rhymes, from early digital humanities projects to the rise of large language models
(University of Waterloo, 2024-07-08) Brown, Daniel G.; Hutchinson, Rebecca; Lamb, Carolyn E.
We survey fifty years of algorithms to discover rhymes in natural language text, focusing largely on rhymes in English, but also in Italic and other Germanic languages. Using a systematic mapping review, we filtered from 4704 initially reviewed studies down to 89 that were relevant to our research questions and satisfied our inclusion criteria. Older papers document the history of simple computer algorithms being used to analyze poetry, but these also include some that create text with rhyming patterns. Papers from 2006 to 2016 often include complex algorithms for teasing out complex rhyme definitions, particularly in the domain of rap music. More recent papers have moved to studying the use of large language models (LLMs) and either adapting their mathematical properties, or simply training them on a collection of rhyming text. We explore how grey literature (blogs, open-source programming projects and more) relates to the academic literature in rhyme detection, and we describe the complexity of engaging in systematic reviews of this sort in areas that span many disciplines.
Creativity During Threat to Organizational Survival: The Influence of Employee Creativity on Downsizing Survival Selection
(Sage, 2023-11-30) Halinski, Michael; Boekhorst, Janet A.; Allen, David; Good, Jessica R.L.
Although research consistently shows that employee creativity contributes to positive outcomes for teams and organizations, we have limited insight into how employee creativity shapes the outcomes of those employees who demonstrate such creativity, particularly in the context of environmental uncertainties. Drawing from event system theory and threat rigidity theory, we argue that under a threat to organizational survival, incremental creativity has a positive, and radical creativity has a negative, indirect effect on downsizing survival selection via manager evaluations of employee job performance. Study 1 uses a unique three-wave, three-source field study (n1 = 186) to provide support for our hypotheses. Studies 2 and 3 use experimental data (n2 = 410, n3 = 565) involving different scenarios of threats to organizational survival (i.e., organization's innovation failure, competitor's successful innovation) that provide further support for the hypothesized effects of radical creativity on manager evaluations of employee job performance. Post-hoc analyses reveal novel insights into how managers’ creativity preferences can influence their evaluation of the job performance of employees who demonstrate incremental creativity during threatening events.
Do Sick Coworkers Make us Help Others?: Investigating the Critical Roles of Citizenship Pressure and Psychological Detachment
(Wiley, 2022-01-10) Boekhorst, Janet A.; Halinski, Michael
Although researchers have started to uncover the positive effects of presenteeism, research has yet to unearth the positive implications of coworker presenteeism. We draw from social information processing theory to hypothesize that coworker presenteeism has a positive indirect effect on organizational citizenship behaviors directed towards the organization (OCBOs) and other individuals (OCBIs) via citizenship pressure. Building on these hypotheses, we further theorize that the indirect effect of coworker presenteeism on OCBOs and OCBIs differ when employees are psychologically detached from their organization. Based on data collected using a time-separated research design (n = 277 employees), the results reveal that coworker presenteeism has a positive indirect effect on both forms of OCBs via citizenship pressure. The results further demonstrate that the indirect effect of coworker presenteeism on OCBIs via citizenship pressure strengthens for employees who are psychologically detached from their organization. Importantly, this research shows that there are positive behavioral implications associated with coworker presenteeism.
Fun, Friends, and Creativity: A Social Capital Perspective
(Wiley, 2021-04-27) Boekhorst, Janet A.; Halinski, Michael; Good, Jessica R.L.
Although creativity research has devoted considerable effort toward identifying the antecedents of creativity, there remain important questions about how organizations can foster creativity through social processes. Drawing from social capital theory, we hypothesize a moderated mediation model that investigates the influence of employee participation in fun activities on individual creativity through workplace friendships. We further hypothesize that the strength of this positive indirect effect is weaker for managers compared with non-managers. Our analysis of data collected from a multi-source, three-wave field study (n = 163 employees) reveals a positive mediation between participation in fun activities and incremental creativity (but not radical creativity) via workplace friendships. The results further support our prediction that this positive indirect effect on incremental creativity is weaker for managers compared with non-managers. Our findings not only highlight the practical and theoretical importance of fun activities in generating novel and useful ideas, but the results also reveal that the benefits derived from fun activities (i.e., strengthened friendships, incremental creativity) are particularly salient for non-managers.
The Pragmatic Side of Workplace Heroics: A Self-Interest Perspective on Responding to Mistreatment in Work Teams
(Taylor & Francis, 2022-08-30) Boekhorst, Janet A.; Frawley, Shayna
Research on third-party reactions to workplace mistreatment has often focused on a moral perspective, but has devoted limited attention to the role of self-interest. Drawing from a selfinterest perspective, we develop a conceptual model that examines how self-interest influences third-party responses to mistreatment within work teams. Several important relational (justice reputation, social status, relationship with the target, power) and situational (number of observers, mistreatment intensity) factors are posited to influence third-party perceptions of team members’ expectations for their intervention, and perceptions of the expected salience of their response to their team members. These perceived expectations for intervention are theorized to positively influence the expected salience of their response, which is strengthened under conditions of ethical leadership, ethical climate, and ethical HRM practices. In turn, third parties use a cost-benefit analysis to decide how to respond in a manner that serves their interests, which is moderated by several key factors (probability that intervention alleviates the mistreatment, perceived risk of intervention, third-party vulnerability). We advance a novel process-based conceptual model that provides an alternative lens as to why third parties may intervene during mistreatment within work teams.
Organizational Social Activities and Knowledge Management Behaviors: An Affective Events Perspective
(Wiley, 2022-03-16) Good, Jessica R.L.; Halinski, Michael; Boekhorst, Janet A.
Research indicates that relationship-oriented HR practices can increase organizational knowledge, yet we know little about the effects of relationship-oriented HR practices on employee knowledge management behaviors. Drawing from affective events theory, we examine the indirect effect of participation in one type of relationship-oriented HR practice (i.e., organizational social activities) on three knowledge management behaviors (i.e., knowledge sharing, knowledge hiding, and knowledge manipulating) via positive affect, as well as the conditional indirect effect of intrinsic motivation for organizational social activities on these relationships. Utilizing a time-separated field study (n = 163), our analysis reveals positive affect fully mediates the relationship between participation in organizational social activities and (a) knowledge sharing and (b) knowledge hiding, and partially mediates the relationship between participation in organizational social activities, and (c) knowledge manipulating. Most interestingly, we unexpectedly found a positive direct effect of participation in organizational social activities on knowledge manipulation, even though the indirect effect via positive affect was negative. The results also indicate that, for individuals with high intrinsic motivation for social activities, there is a significant indirect effect of participation in organizational social activities on all three knowledge management behaviors.
A Moderated Mediation Examination of Shared Leadership and Team Creativity: A Social Information Processing Perspective
(Springer, 2023) Ali, Ahsan; Wang, Hongwei; Boekhorst, Janet A.
Research has mostly focused on how formal leadership can shape a climate for innovation, but we know little about how informal leadership, such as shared leadership, may affect this process. Departing from this dominant focus, we examine how shared leadership may have a positive influence on team processes and performance. Based on social information processing theory, we develop a moderated mediation model that examines the indirect effect of shared leadership on team creativity via a climate for innovation and further investigates the moderating effect of task uncertainty. The findings reveal that (1) shared leadership positively predicts a climate for innovation, (2) this relationship is stronger when the team faces task uncertainty, (3) a climate for innovation positively predicts team creativity, (4) shared leadership predicts team creativity through the mediating effect of a climate for innovation, and (5) this mediation effect is stronger when task uncertainty is high. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
Not All Those Who (Mind-)Wander Are Lost: Exploring Game-Unrelated Thoughts
(Association for Computing Machinery, 2024-07-01) MacArthur, Cayley; Morayko, Kateryna; Luz, Alessandra; Hancock, Mark
Task-unrelated thoughts (TUTs), colloquially referred to as mind-wandering or daydreaming, are phenomena that can interfere with attention and focus, but are also associated with mental health, creativity, and learning. In digital games, it is unclear how players experience game-unrelated thoughts (GUTs), whether GUTs should be encouraged by game designers, or how it may impact player experience. We ran an initial study to confirm whether GUTs are common (50 of 100 participants reported experiencing them). We then collected 840 minutes of gameplay data from 12 participants playing games they: (1) found relaxing, (2) lost track of time in, and (3) spent most hours playing. Eye-tracking data and experience sampling were used to contextualize a phenomenological analysis of gameplay data. We identified four themes encompassing gameplay, GUTs, and gaze behaviour: these provide a foundation for future research and game design incorporating GUTs.
Computational Aeroacoustic Prediction of Tonal Noise for Low Reynolds Number Airfoils
(American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 2024-05-30) Zilstra, Alison; Johnson, David A.
Airfoils operating in low Reynolds number, Re, conditions can generate tonal aeroacoustic noise due to the laminar or transitional boundary layer (BL) at the airfoil trailing edge (TE). At modest Re of less than 1×10⁵, an elongated laminar separation bubble (LSB) can occur near the TE which adds complexity to the BL transition and also generates tonal noise. Computational fluid dynamic and computational aeroacoustic simulations of the SD 7037 airfoil at Re=4.1×10⁴ are completed to study this phenomenon. The numerical methods used are incompressible wall-resolved large eddy simulation (LES) and the Ffowcs-Williams and Hawkings acoustic analogy, with the results of both methods validated against experimental data. The LES simulation of the airfoil BL development is critical to the tonal noise prediction and the accuracy of the predicted tones were assessed for a series of mesh refinements in the near-wall and separated BL regions. The mesh refinements in the regions of BL separation resulted in the correct simulation of the LSB and the associated aeroacoustic tonal noise for 1° angle of attack (AOA). Simulations at higher AOAs showed the sensitivity of the transient BL behaviour to the mesh refinements in the BL, while the time-averaged BL behaviour remained stable. Spectral analysis of the velocity in the BL determined that the source of the tone originates from the Tollmien-Schlichting wave frequency in the attached laminar BL, which is then amplified by the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability that forms in the LSB. The accurate tonal noise prediction occurred in the absence of the acoustic feedback mechanism.
Deceived by Immersion: A Systematic Analysis of Deceptive Design in Extended Reality
(Association for Computing Machinery, 2024-05-14) Hadan, Hilda; Choong, Lydia; Zhang-Kennedy, Leah; Nacke, Lennart
The well-established deceptive design literature has focused on conventional user interfaces. With the rise of extended reality (XR), understanding deceptive design’s unique manifestations in this immersive domain is crucial. However, existing research lacks a full, cross-disciplinary analysis that analyzes how XR technologies enable new forms of deceptive design. Our study reviews the literature on deceptive design in XR environments. We use thematic synthesis to identify key themes. We found that XR’s immersive capabilities and extensive data collection enable subtle and powerful manipulation strategies. We identified eight themes outlining these strategies and discussed existing countermeasures. Our findings show the unique risks of deceptive design in XR, highlighting implications for researchers, designers, and policymakers. We propose future research directions that explore unintentional deceptive design, data-driven manipulation solutions, user education, and the link between ethical design and policy regulations.
Privacy in Immersive Extended Reality: Exploring User Perceptions, Concerns, and Coping Strategies
(Association for Computing Machinery, 2024-05-11) Hadan, Hilda; Wang, Derrick; Nacke, Lennart; Zhang-Kennedy, Leah
Extended Reality (XR) technology is changing online interactions, but its granular data collection sensors may be more invasive to user privacy than web, mobile, and the Internet of Things technologies. Despite an increased interest in studying developers’ concerns about XR device privacy, user perceptions have rarely been addressed. We surveyed 464 XR users to assess their awareness, concerns, and coping strategies around XR data in 18 scenarios. Our findings demonstrate that many factors, such as data types and sensitivity, affect users’ perceptions of privacy in XR. However, users’ limited awareness of XR sensors’ granular data collection capabilities, such as involuntary body signals of emotional responses, restricted the range of privacy-protective strategies they used. Our results highlight a need to enhance users’ awareness of data privacy threats in XR, design privacy-choice interfaces tailored to XR environments, and develop transparent XR data practices.
Persistent Identifiers in Canada: ORCID Use Cases and a National PID Strategy
(Bibliometrics and Research Impact Community Conference, 2024-06-05) Bredahl, Laura; Aspler, John
Research generates a huge amount of information across many disconnected systems and technologies. Persistent Identifiers (PIDs) act as labels to uniquely identify research information ‘entities,’ like scholars, institutions, datasets, and publications. PIDs are anchors that help connect information about related entities (e.g., a scholar with their publications) and can enable software systems to effectively exchange information, making them more interoperable and FAIR. The gold standard PID for People is the ORCID iD provided by ORCID, an international not-for-profit sustained by institutional membership. In Canada, members are supported by the local consortium, ORCID-CA, in both English and French. In this session, first, we will explore what ORCID iDs are and, why they matter. We will place ORCID iDs within the broader PID ecosystem context, and then highlight the value of specific ORCID member tools, such as the Affiliation Manager (which enables institutions to add trusted affiliation information on behalf of their scholars, with scholar permission) and the Affiliation Report (a tool to measure ORCID impact and uptake at a given institution). Then, we will explore a community use case to demonstrate ORCID’s value and the usefulness of PIDs in assessing research impact. Finally, an update will be provided on the state of the development of a National PID Strategy for Canada, which was last discussed at BRIC 2022. Significant advancements have been made and a Roadmap to (PID) Success (community recommendations based on work to date) will be presented.
Differentiable Curl-Noise: Boundary-Respecting Procedural Incompressible Flows Without Discontinuities
(Association for Computing Machinery, 2023-05-16) Ding, Xinwen; Batty, Christopher
We present Differentiable Curl-Noise, a C1 procedural method to animate strictly incompressible fluid flows in two dimensions. While both the original Curl-Noise method of Bridson et al. [2007] and a recent modification by Chang et al. [2022] have been used to design incompressible flow fields, they often suffer from non-smoothness in their handling of obstacles, owing in part to properties of the underlying Euclidean distance function or closest point function. We therefore propose a differentiable scheme that modulates the background potential in a manner that respects arbitrary solid simple polygonal objects placed at any location, without introducing discontinuities. We demonstrate that our new method yields improved flow fields in a set of two dimensional examples, including when obstacles are in close proximity or possess concavities.
Spatial Atomic Layer Deposition of Nitrogen-doped Alumina Thin Films for High-Performance Perovskite Solar Cell Encapsulation
(Elsevier, 2024-08) Asgarimoghaddam, Hatameh; Chen, Qiaoyun; Ye, Fan; Shahin, Ahmed; Marchione, Olivia; Song, Bo; Musselman, Kevin
An atmospheric-pressure spatial atomic layer deposition (AP-SALD) system is used to deposit nitrogen-doped alumina (N-AlOx) thin-film-encapsulation layers. The rapid nature of the AP-SALD process facilitates deposition of 60-nm layers directly on perovskite solar cells at 130 °C with no damage to the temperature-sensitive perovskite and organic materials. Varying the bubbling of a NH4OH precursor varied the nitrogen concentration from 0.08 to 0.68 atomic %. These small concentrations were found to have a significant impact on the structural properties of the films and their moisture barrier performance. The N-AlOx thin films had slightly higher growth rates than undoped AlOx, less unwanted hydroxyl and carbon content, and were smoother and more compact, which was attributed to a higher flux of reactive species from the volatile NH4OH. Optical calcium tests showed that the N-AlOx films had lower water-vapor-transmission rates (~10-5 g/m2/day) than undoped AlOx films and the transmission was minimized for 0.28% nitrogen. The increased compactness of the N-AlOx films is expected to minimize nanoscale percolation pathways, whereas higher nitrogen-defect concentrations may facilitate water permeation through these pathways. The stability of n-i-p and p-i-n perovskite solar cells under standard ISOS-D-1 and ISOS-D-3 testing conditions was significantly enhanced by the encapsulation layers. An N-AlOx encapsulation layer with 0.28% nitrogen improved the T80 value of a p-i-n formamidinium methylammonium lead iodide solar cell from 144 hrs to 855 hrs (ISOS-D-1) and 52 hrs to 300 hrs (ISOS-D-3).
Refusing to Smile for the Patriarchy
(International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts, 2019) MacDonald, Shana
This article considers how season one of Netflix’s Jessica Jones functions as a feminist revenge narrative that situates the titular protagonist as a survivor of patriarchal abuses at the hands of her ex-boyfriend and supervillain Kilgrave. The article explores how Jessica embodies Sara Ahmed’s concept of the feminist killjoy. Jessica is a feminist anti-hero who provides an alternative, angry, superhumanly strong avatar of women’s everyday negotiations with misogynist excesses. The article reads her as a flawed character who importantly fails the perfectionism tied to postfeminist and neoliberal requirement of contemporary women. This makes her both sympathetic and resonant in the current moment of feminism. As both a symbolic figure and a site of catharsis, the article considers Jones’s journey to greater forms of agency in her fight against Kilgrave.
Modes of Intersubjective Address in The Central Character (1977) and Our Marilyn (1987)
(University of Toronto Press, 2016-03) MacDonald, Shana
Le présent article examine l’emploi des formules de politesse intersubjectives dans le cinéma expérimental féministe canadien entre 1979 et 1987. Il compare The Central Character (1979) de Patricia Gruben et Our Marilyn (1987) de Brenda Longfellow, analysant les façons dont l’usage des formules de politesse expérimentales dans ces deux films brouille la frontière entre l’espace diégétique et l’espace non diégétique, sans jamais laisser le spectateur s’engourdir dans ses certitudes. Cet article prend le contre-pied de la lecture interprétative du cinéma féministe d’avant-garde de cette décennie perçu comme étant engagé dans des pratiques perturbatrices. Cependant que la dissonance et la dislocation font partie intégrante de l’histoire de l’esthétique du cinéma féministe expérimental, le présent article soutient qu’il est également nécessaire de faire ressortir des moments de résonance et d’échanges intersubjectifs dans ces films. Les expériences de Gruben et de Longfellow concernant les formules de politesse cinématographiques sont considérées comme étant des interventions importantes dans les formes dominantes de représentation qui étendent le champ de possibilités aussi bien pour l’image de la femme à l’écran que pour le spectateur féministe présent dans le public.
"I'm not alone in that battle": Designing Mobile AR for Mental Health Communication and Community Connectedness
(Association for Computing Machinery, 2024-07-01) Woo, Rachel; Harley, Daniel; Wallace, James
For researchers at the intersection of health and human computer interaction, mobile AR presents a compelling platform for public health communication: it is increasingly available, highly customizable, and can present interactive visualizations of complex data. However, designers face challenges not only in adapting appropriate data and relevant public health metrics, but also in assessing their communicative potential and effectiveness for the target community. To contribute insight into this research area, we designed four mobile AR visualizations based on mental health issues and resources for our local university community. We then conducted a mixed-methods field experiment to investigate the impact of our AR visualizations on participants' awareness and understanding of pressing health issues, and to document barriers to use in this context. We show that our visualizations increased participants' sense of community connectedness and prompted them to reflect on their relationship with the university community. Based on these findings, we discuss opportunities for the field of human-computer interaction to further support public health communication.
PATHWAYS TO PRECARIOUSNESS: CANADA’S INTENTIONAL FAILURE OF MIGRANT AND UNDOCUMENTED CARE WORKERS
(University of Waterloo, 2024) Van Katwyk, Trish; Jeyakumaran, Atheven; Wong, Veen
In this report, we, the research team, are going to consider the policies that come together to create an exploitative and precarious labour conditions for migrant care workers, who are predominantly financially challenged racialized women. We have conducted a systematic narrative synthesis analysis of the policies that are relevant to migrant care workers. In our consideration of these myriad policies, we will present a narrative that emerges in the coordinated design of these policies. The narrative that has emerged presented a journey to precariousness through a heightened likelihood of human rights violations that is facilitated by a network of policies and practices. We identify policies and practices that obscure care workers and the conditions of their labour, as well as the discriminatory impact of various policies and practices that support devaluing and delegitimizing the identities and labour of care workers. Finally, we consider the ways in which multiple policies and practices come together to create significant authorities with the capacity to surveil, restrict, and punish workers. When the erasures, devaluing, and heightened authority come together, a “synergy of failures”1 emerges with the outcome of unreasonable limits to the autonomy and choice-making capacity of care workers, thus paving the way for human rights violations. We have presented the work of care workers, advocates and activists who have addressed the human rights violations which represent the lived experiences of the policies we have studied. These care workers, advocates, and activists have also provided important recommendations for changes in labour and immigration policies. We will present these recommendations through an upstream lens, exploring the root causes that these recommendations are responding to.
Transient inhibition of the cerebellum impairs change-detection processes: Cerebellar contributions to sensorimotor integration.
(Elsevier, 2020-01) Andrew, Danielle; Ibey, Robyn J.; Staines, W. Richard
Patients with cerebellar lesions have shown altered responses to unpredictable stimuli. This finding has led to the belief that the cerebellum is involved in comparing incoming stimuli with previously experienced stimuli in order to predict and coordinate responses. The role of the cerebellum is thought to extend beyond motor control to higher-order executive functions, which allow for the evaluation of stimuli that influence our personal reactions, emotions, and thoughts. This current study tested the role of the cerebellum on cognitive function by examining incoming sensory stimuli being unattended by the participant. Median and ulnar nerve somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) were elicited by electrical stimulation via surface electrodes. Nerve stimulation was presented in an oddball fashion where median and ulnar stimulation were presented as frequent and deviant stimuli, respectively. Electroencephalography (EEG) was used to measure participants’ cortical responses both before and after either continuous theta burst stimulation (cTBS) used to transiently inhibit cerebellar activity, or a sham condition. The N140 was shown to be modulated in response to deviant stimuli, resulting in a large negativity pre-cTBS, referred to as the mismatch-negativity (MMN). Following cTBS, the MMN was reduced, resulting in similar waveform patterns in response to both the frequent and deviant stimuli. The mechanisms that are thought to modulate this change within the N140 in response to deviant stimuli are believed to be different from those that govern its response to frequent stimuli. The cerebellum may be involved in attentive change detection processes that are critical for a wide-range of everyday processes.

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