This study explored the impact of diversity on performance in groups by using an online experiment. The main focus was whether diverse groups performed better in group decision-making tasks than did non-diverse groups. The NASA exercise was conducted using an online conference system. In particular, I focused on faultlines studied in diversity research. Faultlines refer to hypothetical dividing lines that split groups into subgroups based on individual differences such as gender, race, education, and so forth, and they would lead to negative effects on group processes. The experiment involved 80 students aged from 18 to 29 years old. They were asked to participate in a decision-making task using an online meeting tool. I manipulated the diversity aspects so that faultlines were formed, and conducted a 2 (diverse vs. non-diverse)×2 (high-cognitive accessibility vs. low-cognitive accessibility) experimental study. The main findings are twofold: group performance was better in diverse groups than in non-diverse groups; group performance was also better in the virtual group with the camera turned off than in the group with the camera turned on. The former result supported previous studies indicating that diversity improves group performance. The latter finding has not been found previously; therefore, additional studies should be done to confirm this result.

This study aims to resolve sound-related issues encountered during online or hybrid Gaming, which refers to the combination of in-person and during the COVID-19 pandemic, Japanese universities have integrated both online and hybrid lectures that combine in-person and online components. The inclusion of these teaching modalities has become increasingly necessary in maintaining academic continuity while ensuring the safety of students and faculty members. Specifically, we seek to address the problems of silence and simultaneous speech, which can hinder online participants from accessing information and diminish the effectiveness of Gaming. We refer to it as IDD (Inverted Digital Divide), which is a contrasting concept to the well-known digital divide and pertains to the gap in information accessibility between in-person and online participants. We attempted to address this issue by utilizing videoconferencing, smart software oVice, and high-quality audio equipment to improve sound control. Although the questionnaire surveys revealed some improvement in sound control, these methods could not provide a fundamental solution. However, this experiment demonstrated that IDD can be useful in certain gaming situations.

The purpose of this study is to clarify the relationship between news sources and news frames on the newspaper coverage of gacha in major Japanese newspapers to explore one of the factors on the diffusion of gacha in Japan. This study adopted content analysis based on 233 news articles and 697 news sources that appeared from January 2001 to December 2019. The results show that major Japanese newspapers not only focused on social and consumer frames, but also used many business frames. Business and industry persons were frequently used as news sources. In addition, it was confirmed that the news sources used many business frames with a central focus on gaming companies. In the Japanese news coverage of gacha, it was frequently used as a favorable news source before 2011 mainly about capsule toy gacha, but it changed to an unfavorable news source in 2012. It was gradually accepted as the new in-game purchase system with a central focus on gacha after 2013.

Our Japan Association of Simulation and Gaming (JASAG) was founded in 1988 by a Japanese group of simulation and gaming researchers. JASAG has hosted the first and Second World Conferences of the International Simulation and Gaming Association in Japan. In Kyoto, both at the International Conference Center Kyoto, Takaragaike in 1991 and at the Saionji Memorial Hall at the Kinugasa campus of Ritsumeikan University in 1991. Until 2024, JASAG had successfully hosted the ISAGA World Congress in Japan twice every 12 years since 1991, the second time in 2003 at Kazusa Academia Park in Chiba Prefecture, and the third time in 2015, again at Ritsumeikan University’s Suzaku Campus. JASAG has successfully hosted the ISAGA World Conference.

In addition to this article by Arata Ichikawa (2017) and one of the authors ourselves, Kanegae (2017) paper presents a report by the authors of the JASAG 2023 Fall Annual Conference (at Edogawa University, Chiba) entitled “Toward International Simulation and Gaming Association (ISAGA) World Conference in Japan in 2027, based on the report of the general session titled “Memorandum of 1991, 2003, and 2015 ISAGA World Conferences” and its discussion at the conference symposium on “Considering the ISAGA 2027 Bid for JASAG,” and another discussion at the conference symposium on the theme of “Considering the ISAGA 2027 Bid for JASAG” from 2015 to The article includes those discussions of the possibility of Japan hosting the conference in 2027, the 12th year after 2015, a unified comparison and evaluation of the possibilities of hosting the conference in Japan, and the authors’ recollections to the best of their knowledge.