In this experimental study, the effect of playing an MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role playing game) on the size of interpersonal networks of players was examined. With a total of 69 students (average age: 19.95), the size of their interpersonal network was measured and compared after 2 weeks, 4 weeks, and 6 weeks of play. The study did not show any significant differences between the experimental and control groups. Then, the effect of group behavior in the MMORPG on the size of an interpersonal network was examined with the experimental group using the structural equation model. The result indicated that group behavior in the MMORPG hardly had any effect on the size of an interpersonal network. However, the result indicated a causal relationship of the reversed direction in which group behavior in the MMORPG increased as the size of an interpersonal network became larger.

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This study attempts to elucidate the characteristics of the Doujin and Indie Games and its productivity in Japan through qualitative data analysis. It was clarified that the development of Doujin and Indie games has six characteristics: 1) value, 2) autonomy, 3) flexibility, 4) development speed, 5) sales and income, and 6) distance between developers and users. We also clarified that business units and ecosystems enabling small-scale game development are formed, and that challenging games reflecting the personality of the producers can be easily created. These results suggest the possibility of sustaining small-scale game development in Japan.

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The social history of digital games plays an important role in many research fields. First, this paper describes how journalists developed this area by referring to Steven Levy’s Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution. The game study course in universities then began to follow this area by offering subjects such as “history of game design” or “game development.” However, digital game preservation has never been ready for serious studies. With regard to governmental agencies or developers’ NPO, the new strategies for digital game preservation are approaching a new stage of implementation and evaluation.

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The video game machine, which brings game play to a television set, was born in the U.S., and the time of the half-century flowed. While several playthings loved by people have been in existence since long, a video game can be regarded as one of the newest gadgets. The fact that the television set and the electronic formula table-top calculator, which were the typical goods for the public and created a rage after World War II, held the key to the birth of the video game and its spread is an important point to be remembered when considering the history of the video game. And a still more nearly technical change is accomplished till now, supporting a video game as well as many goods for the public in the rapid spread phenomenon called a “boom.” Part I of this paper surveys the history of video games until the world’s first video game boom. Part II introduces the history and the outline of the design concept that led to the development of the Famicom (official name of the family computer), which is supposed to have laid the foundation of the present video game industry. This paper is based on a research conducted for understanding the chronology of various occurrences experienced when the author participated in the development of the Famicom as an engineer.

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