Gamer user research
Measures for improving gaming experience
(Applied) experimental psychology
Studies on behaviour + attention + emotion eliciatation for good and evil
Games for education
Emphasizing conceptiual exploration
Games as philosophical tools
reflections about philosophical concepts
Explain how games have been serious for a long time
They have been instructional tools for a long time
- Training of military strategies
- Educational tasks for children
- Medical training
- Business management
What is psychology to gaming in research
- Probably earliest academic field involving games
- Experimental psychology naturally gravitates towards game-like conditions
- Video games provide opportunities for studies with high ecological / external validity
Ecological validity
(Aspect of external validity)
Ability to generalize experimental results to different populations + situations + variables
Narrower concept → Whether experiment contains cues that preclude generalization from lab to real life
Johan Huizinga’s Magic Circle
Metaphorical boudary between game and out-of-game context
What is Natural sciences to gaming in research
- Primarily involving games as education content OR to drive outreach efforts
- Data creation or processing through citizen science games: involving players to create or process data which is useful for research purposes
- Challenging to design and build
What is Computer science to gaming in research
- Games as experimental test beds for algorithms + mathematical models
- Intersection with principles of game theory (mathematical economics)
- Strict rules + may not require actual players to be useful
What is Philosophy to gaming in research
- Games as experiential test beds for thought and reflection
- Overlap with game studies
- Rarely involves the creation of game titles
Forms of involving games
- Stimulus
- Broadcasting
- Motivator
- Modelling
Involving computer games in research only seem to make sense if an entity capable of + open to play is involved
Explain the stimulus form of involving games
- Invoke measurable behaviour
- No data without game artifact
Explain the broadcasting form of involving games
For (structured) learning
For familiarization
- Personal transformation
Explain the Motivator form of involving games
- For data collection
- For data processing
- Data independent of artefact
Explain the modelling form of involving games
- Analysis of rule-based processes
Give motivations for involvement
- Attracting a wider audience or a specific audience
- Ecological validity while maintaining ability to track confounding variables
measure requires specific game contect
control over affective states
facilitating experiential thought experiments
Forms of measuring
Observations: Annotated or ethnographies
Game metrics: counts, timestamps, etc.
Biometrics: biometrics, heart-rate, GSR, expressions
Interviews: usually post-play, structured or semi-structured
Focus groups: insight into discourse and group dynamics
Questionnaires: individual (post-play) data
Diaries and auto-ethnographies: longitudinal; qualitative
