Our Research

In this research, to reasonable and effectively find such patterns, we introduced two theories for extracting features from existing games. One is from a modern edition of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, and the other is from the factors of a mainstream questionnaire of measuring player experience. Such techniques are then used to generate an original questionnaire, which is applied to...

We look at players’ mechanical experience of gameplay challenges. We consider mechanical experience as fundamental design knowledge: designers need to analyze the challenges hey craft to understand the skills necessary from their players for success. One application of this study is to explain why some challenges may be inaccessible to certain players. There is currently no comprehensive framework for describing...

Utilizing a theoretical framework that follows Coleman’s Becoming of Bodies, this talk examines elements of problematic design surrounding two digital platforms: World of Warcraft and VRChat. Through an understanding of avatar bodies as continuously becoming, digital scholarship can more holistically work to uncover how hateful rhetoric materializes upon the practices of user bodies through relations between the online communities these...

In this blogpost, I attempt to define the feelings that impress binary gender expectations in place with the concept of hetero-comfortability from my ongoing ethnographic work in VRChat. Hetero-comfortability is a process of recognition, where feelings of familiarity — historically established through hetero-conditioning — creates impressions that allows one to find comfort in the continuing appearance of hetero-signifiers. As Sara...

We explore the relationship between a player’s cognitive and motor abilities, and the abilities necessary for completing specific challenges. Existing engineering-focused work does not treat the player on the same footing as the game. We view (the mechanical part of) games as a system of systems composed of the game mechanics (including challenges), and the player via their cognitive and...

Recent Computer Role Playing Games, such as Skyrim and Breath of the Wild, have entranced us with their expansive, complex worlds. However, the Non-Player Characters (NPCs) in these games remain lackluster outside of scripted events. This is, in part, because games typically do not simulate NPC emotions. Wouldn’t these games be more interesting, if NPCs reacted more appropriately to the...