The Player-Centered User Experience of Multiplayer Online Games; Apple’s Monopolistic App Store and its Effect on Less Powerful Entities

With mobile computing becoming ever so prevalent and depended upon in today’s
modern sphere of technology, one giant player in that realm is Apple. Their domination on
mobile computing is not to be understated, as their technical systems are robust and they have
great ethos among the social followings and values of humans, no matter their level of
technological expertise. Apple’s infrastructure combined with their reputation allows them to
leverage their operations to their advantage, whether it be economically, socially, or politically.
Because the modern boom in computing, including advanced mobile systems, is rather
unprecedented, there is a lack of regulation when Apple builds their systems, giving them
freedom, perhaps a bit too much, when making decisions surrounding such systems and their
influence. As a result of Apple’s freedoms when creating and controlling their mobile systems,
the App Store has become what seems like the perfect source for mobile software distribution
entangled with underlying monopolistic practices. Such practices of Apple’s App Store affect
numerous groups of people due to its characteristics and regulations, both of which will be
enumerated and dissected within the STS Prospectus.
The technical topic is about how player-centered design guidelines are incorporated into
how multiplayer online games (MOGs) are designed. MOGs are extensively interactive systems
of entertainment for a lot of video game players, and it is vital to understand how such systems
are able to grasp and retain the attention of players through the use of design tactics and player
psychology. Ultimately, the success and failure of MOGs can be sourced back to such design
guidelines being focused upon or omitted.
The technical subject of the STS prospectus and the technical topic for the Department of
Computer Science are not related.

School of Engineering and Applied Science
Bachelor of Science in Computer Science
Technical Advisor: Panagiotis Apostolellis, Seongkook Heo
STS Advisor: Tsai-Hsuan Ku
Technical Team Members: Naresha Namana