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INSTANT
REPLAY
GAMES INSTITUTE FALL ’18 TERM IN REVIEW
uwaterloo.ca/games-institute
WHAT’S INSIDE
DIRECTOR’S NOTE NOVEMBER > 12 SPOTLIGHTS
A note from the Executive Director...........................3 DualPanto featured on the Arduino blog...............12 VR Working Group predicting
motion sickness in VR.................................................21
Toben Racicot at the Mid-Atlantic
NEWS Popular & American Culture Association GI Members organizing “Gaming with
the Subaltern”: Workshop at CHI Play 2018........... 22
(MAPACA) Conference................................................12
SEPTEMBER > 3
Games Institute members present a Docu-video from VR Workshop with Gada
Shawn Dorey and Sarah Stang: panel discussion at Enthusiast Gaming Jane and SpiderWebShow Performance.............. 22
Play-by-post-roleplaying and Queer Identity.......3 Live Expo (EGLX)..........................................................13 Tina Chan for TEDxUW: Bandaids
IMMERSe funded project “Play the Knave” Mark Hancock at the Rochester for Mental Health........................................................23
featured in Shakespeare Quarterly.........................4 Institute of Technology HCI Colloquium..................13 Rina Wehbe at the Grace Hopper
Dr. Lennart Nacke gives a Brown Multisensory Brain and Cognition Celebration (GHC) 2018.............................................. 24
Bag talk at the Communitech Hub............................4 lab researchers at the Society for A firsthand account of a non-programmer’s
Neuroscience 2018 conference.................................14 experience at the GI Jam.........................................26
Emma Vossen presents new
research at QGCon......................................................5 Marco Moran-Ledesma on 3D Printing Lindsay Meaning on analyzing game
in VR at the Inter-University Workshop (IUW)........ 15 adaptations of literary works...................................28
Robert Gauthier gives a GRADTalk on
Social Networks.............................................................6 Caroline Wong at the Inter-University Introducing the GI to Engineering
Workshop (IUW): Interacting with data Exchange Students from Mexico............................29
VR Storytelling Workshop with Gada through touch-enabled systems............................ 15
Jane and SpiderWebShow Performance................6 Spotlight on Alexandra Orlando’s
Tina Chan presents a paper on YouTube channel.......................................................30
GI Research Associate Gada Jane gamification and mental health at
in the Waterloo Record................................................7 the Inter-University Workshop (IUW)....................... 16 Multidisciplinary Panel: Horizon Zero Dawn......... 31
Games Institute HCI researchers redefining Quantum Cats at the Ontario Science Centre...... 16
“Gamefulness” in the International Journal
of Human-Computer Studies......................................7 Sarah Stang at ReFig 2018........................................17 RESEARCH TALKS
Lennart Nacke weighing in on violence Jonathan Rodriguez..................................................34
OCTOBER > 8 in videogames on Kitchener Today........................ 18 Dr. Lewis Chuang........................................................34
Elise Vist at the Fan Studies Network Dr. Ali Mazalek.............................................................35
Justin Carpenter at the Society for Literature,
North America (FSNNA) Conference....................... 19
Science, and the Arts (SLSA) Conference...............8 Toben Racicot.............................................................35
John Yoon at the University of California Amy Liang.....................................................................35
Esports Conference (UCIESC)................................... 9 DECEMBER > 19
Jason Hawreliak.........................................................36
Steve Wilcox at Meaningful Play 2018...................... 9 Mark Hancock receives the 10-Year
Impact Award at ISS.................................................. 19 Jonathan Enns...........................................................36
Milad Soroush at CHI Play 2018 on games
for self-control improvement................................... 10 Lennart Nacke on the “Keeping the Eugenie Roudaia........................................................36
Human in Artificial Intelligence” panel..................20 John Muñoz.................................................................36
Jason Hawreliak’s new book “Multimodal
Semiotics and Rhetoric in Videogames”................. 11 Emma Vossen at ReFiG 2018.....................................20
Digital Oral Histories for Reconciliation
(DOHR) at the Canadian History of Education
Association Conference............................................. 11
B | UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO
DIRECTOR’S NOTE
A NOTE FROM THE
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
As a richly interdisciplinary research centre at the augmented reality, immersive media and technology,
University of Waterloo, the Games Institute supports and interactive narrative, cultural understanding, knowledge
experiences a broad range of activities and initiatives. But mobilization, social media – all of these along with games
NEIL RANDALL conveying all of this is anything but straightforward. Our themselves. And games themselves mean more than
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
website helps, our social media helps, our events help, but just games – serious games, empathy games, training
GAMES INSTITUTE
each captures only part, and only in a limited way. What we games, board games, game adaptations, gamification –
needed, we realized, was something that collected together, you get the point. The Games Institute is about rich,
in one place, everything that goes on in the GI semester by compelling interactive user engagement, in many forms
semester – a journal, perhaps a diary, of a centre comprised and for many purposes.
of active, engaged students, faculty, and staff.
Highlights from Fall 2018, which you’ll read about here,
Instant Replay is the result. In these pages you’ll see
include the extremely well attended GI Jam, the VR
the GI unfold throughout the Fall 2018 semester. Over
Storytelling Workshop, the Human-Computer Interaction
50 students work in our space in East Campus 1, along
(HCI) Industry Panel, and the Multidisciplinary Panel about
with faculty members from various UW faculties, and
Horizon Zero Dawn. And more. We welcomed numerous
all of them contribute to the GI’s culture in various ways.
speakers, including Lewis Chuang and John Munoz who
All of them conduct research, but research means different
traveled internationally to get here, and we saw our students
things to different disciplines, and in our space that means
and faculty travel around the world, sharing their research
different ways of working. The GI exists to value all of
at such high profile conferences as BlizzCon 2018, CHI
these different approaches and to facilitate communication
and collaboration among the students, the faculty Play 2018, Interactive Surfaces and Spaces (ISS), and the
members, and the research partners. This is a space Canadian Game Studies Association (CGSA) at Congress
that strongly supports and proudly strives for day-to- (Canada’s largest academic trade show organized by the
day interdisciplinarity, where the windows between the Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences and
disciplines are opened wide, because the world of games hosted). Collectively, they spread the word about the GI,
and interactive media refuses to let them stay closed. its culture, and its interdisciplinary core.
The Games Institute is about games, but also about more As Executive Director, I am deeply proud of them all,
than games. Far more. Virtual reality, player experience, and I welcome you to recapture a busy, productive
user research, human-computer interaction, semester in a constantly changing field.
GAMES INSTITUTE | 1
2 | UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO
NEWS
SEPTEMBER
These are a sampling of the news items from
September 2018. For a full list please visit
uwaterloo.ca/games-institute/news
GAMES INSTITUTE | 3
NEWS > SEPTEMBER
SHAWN DOREY AND SARAH STANG: PLAY-BY-POST-ROLEPLAYING AND QUEER IDENTITY
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2018
Play-By-Post Roleplaying: Ludic Structures, Creative Before Dorey’s article, PBPRP had been considered to two missions: to create a meaningful and rich
Play, and Queer Identity be collaborative writing by other game studies scholars. conversation that will advance PBPRP, and other
Dorey’s new take on the phenomenon caught Sarah creative roleplay, as a topic of interest in game studies
Shawn Dorey, alumnus of the Games Institute, and
Stang’s attention. She responded in the comments and other academia; and to empower queer identity
Sarah Stang, PhD candidate in the Communication
section to reflect on her own experiences, further and agency by investigating how they emerge and
and Culture joint program at York University
demonstrating the ludic structures governing PBPRP. take shape in PBPRP.
and Ryerson University, will be presenting their
But also, Stang remarked that her queer identity
co-authored research at the Queerness and Games “Overall, the purpose of this presentation is to
developed in part through PBPRP with friends.
Conference in Montreal, September 29-30, 2018. discuss an under-researched form of gameplay and
The two plan to explore the connections between October 2017, Stang published her own article in First encourage our audience to build on, respond to, and
play and queer identity development through Person Scholar entitled, “Friendship, intimacy, and continue to explore the topic” (Dorey and Stang, 2018).
play-by-post-roleplaying (PBPRP). play-by-post-roleplaying”, in which she expanded on
her ideas about queer development. She argued that
Dorey published their article, “Play by post roleplay: WORKS CITED
when it comes to queer identity development, PBPRP
Where player becomes designer and designer becomes
does not happen in a magic circle because, “With my Dorey, S. (2017). Play by post roleplay: Where player
player”, in First Person Scholar, May 2017. They began becomes designer and designer becomes player.
writing, I was literally changing the game world, but
by defining PBPRP as “the act of taking the role of a First Person Scholar. http://www.firstpersonscholar.
I was also changing my physical world. For me, there
character, and implanting them into an imaginary com/play-by-post-roleplay
really was no “magic circle”: roleplay was as important
world that may or may not be based on some greater Dorey, S., & Stang, S. (2018). Play-by-post-roleplaying:
to me as any other type of social interaction, perhaps
metafiction” and “using the power of prose to bring Ludic structures, creative play, and queer identity.
more so” (Stang, 2017).
these worlds to life through lush description and Queerness and Games Conference. https://qgcon.
com/qgcon-2018/talks/play-by-post-roleplaying-
carefully implemented dialogue” (Dorey, 2017). One year later, September 2018, Dorey and Stang will ludic-structures-creative-play-and-queer-identity
Through experiences of their own and observations present the next steps of their research. The two will
of other play experiences with PBPRP, Dorey argued present their personal anecdotes about participating Stang, S. (2017). Friendship, intimacy, and
play-by-post-roleplaying. First Person Scholar.
that PBPRP has recognizable ludic structures, thus in PBPRP communities in order to connect their http://www.firstpersonscholar.com/friendship-
it should be classified as a “game” and should be experiences with theoretical paradigms of identity, intimacy-and-play-by-post-roleplaying
studied as one in game studies. play, queerness, and social hierarchies. They have
4 | UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO
NEWS > SEPTEMBER
IMMERSE FUNDED PROJECT “PLAY THE KNAVE” DR. LENNART NACKE GIVES
FEATURED IN SHAKESPEARE QUARTERLY A BROWN BAG TALK AT THE
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2018 COMMUNITECH HUB
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2018
Play the Knave allows players to become an actor in a Shakespearian play without
having to worry about trivial things like experience, skill, or preparation. The Dr. Lennart Nacke, the director of the (HCI)
game was developed by faculty and students in the ModLab at the University of Games Group at the Games Institute, is giving a
California, Davis, in partnership with the Games Institute through IMMERSe. Brown Bag talk at the Communitech hub in Kitchener,
In this essay “’A whole theater of others’: Amateur Acting and Immersive Wednesday, September 19. Dr. Nacke will be talking
Spectatorship in the Digital Shakespeare Game Play the Knave” published in about the concept of game thinking and how this
Shakespeare Quarterly, Gina Bloom, Sawyer Kemp, Nicholas Toothman, and method can be incorporated to improve user-
Evan Buswell provide in-depth analysis of what happened when an installation experience: “game thinking is a problem-solving
of Play the Knave took up a three-month residency in the Festival Hall at the process that uses strategies from game design
Stratford festival in Ontario. and gamification to help drive the design of user
experiences in digital and non-digital applications”.
Play the Knave is a cross between karaoke and machinima: players’ voices and
actions are projected onto an avatar using recording devices and motion-capture Those in attendance will learn how incorporating
cameras. Bloom, Kemp, Toothman, and Buswell present their findings about player game thinking into the UX process can:
engagement with the game at the Stratford Festival installation. In this essay, you’ll
1) Foster users’ intrinsic and extrinsic motivations
learn about how the game’s digital form and Shakespearian content interacted
to engage with the application
with one another to generate important insights into the ancient rhetorical style
of declamatory actions as well as contemporary perceptions of Shakespearian 2) Engage users in a learning and mastery process,
performance. This research represents the intersection of digital humanities and in which they develop the abilities needed to
theatre studies. It will inspire you to think differently about the way we study accomplish their goals throughout their user journey
Shakespeare, making something we studied in high school seem fresh and new.
IN CASE YOU NEED MORE CONVINCING...
Dr. Nacke is using concepts from game studies to help
IN CASE YOU STILL NEED MORE CONVINCING…
start-ups and tech designers improve user-experiences.
It wasn’t only the players who engaged with Play the Knave; some onlookers that
His work is an impactful example of a real-world
resisted stepping into the role of “player” inevitably found themselves participating
application of game studies theory, bridging games
in the game. This essay discusses how Play the Knave led to unique, unexpected
discourses to the business world.
insights into how people behave in the roles of actor and audience.
GAMES INSTITUTE | 5
NEWS > SEPTEMBER
EMMA VOSSEN PRESENTS NEW RESEARCH AT QGCON ROBERT GAUTHIER GIVES
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2018 A GRADTALK ON SOCIAL
Emma Vossen will be speaking at the Queerness heterosexual women differ when experiencing
NETWORKS
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2018
and Games Conference in Montreal (QGCon the hyper-sexualized female characters and ever-
will take place September 29 and 30). Her talk present damsel-in-distress tropes within games.
GI resident Robert Gauthier will be giving
entitled “Queering the Links Between Sexual In this presentation, Emma will argue that her
a GRADtalk about social networks on
Orientation and the Female Gamer Identity” attraction to women could have actually made
September 27 in Needles Hall. Robert is
explores how sexuality interacts with female consuming games comparatively more accessible
a PhD candidate for Public Health and
gamer identity formation. to herself (and potentially other women and
Health Systems. His research contributes to
non-binary people who are attracted to women)
For the past six years, Emma’s work has focused on the fields of HCI and public health because
as opposed to heterosexual women.
investigating the nuances of gender discrimination he investigates how online communities
and gate keeping that make games culture less Her research approach integrates interviews with support sensitive issues such as addiction
accessible to women and non-binary people hetero and queer people and analysis of her own
(download her PhD dissertation here) (Vossen, autoethnographic experience. “Because this is For this upcoming GRADtalk, Robert
2018a). Now she is shifting gears to present new very new research I don’t expect to answer these will be sharing his research on how
research on a complex, understudied aspect of questions in my talk, but I do hope to open up Reddit is used as a platform for online
games culture: how does sexuality interact with avenues of investigation to pursue in future work” communities to provide support for
the formation of the gamer identity? (Vossen, 2018b). recovery from addiction. There are
well known social programs in place
Emma explains that her motivation for the new to support individuals suffering from
research came from questions she has been WORKS CITED addiction, such as needle exchanges and
grappling with for some time but hasn’t had the 12-step programs, and yet these online
Vossen, E. (2018a). “On the cultural inaccessibility
opportunity to explore academically: “why are of gaming: Invading, creating, and reclaiming communities have formed on Reddit
so many of the female gamers I know (especially the cultural clubhouse”. Available on with rules and structures in place separate
within the field of game studies) queer? And, UWSpace. https://uwspace.uwaterloo.ca/
handle/10012/13649
from the gaze of medical professionals.
is my attraction to women somehow connected
to my gamer identity?” (Vossen, 2018b). Vossen, E. (2018b). “Queering the links between
sexual orientation and the female gamer identity”.
Emma’s preliminary research into this question QGCon. https://qgcon.com/qgcon-2018/talks/
queering-the-links-between-sexual-orientation-
asks how the experiences of queer women and
and-the-female-gamer-identity/
6 | UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO
NEWS > SEPTEMBER
GAMES INSTITUTE HCI RESEARCHERS REDEFINING “GAMEFULNESS”
IN THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HUMAN-COMPUTER STUDIES
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2018
The term “gamefulness” is used often in business, of measuring it in the future. Then, we will be able
Robert has been studying these healthcare, and government as the goal of to clearly tell if a system or intervention made to
communities in order to get a better gamification but do we really know what it means? be gameful is fostering the desired user experience,
understanding of how and why they In fact, many disciplines have been using the term which is something that we cannot reliably do yet”.
work. In this talk he will be presenting “gamefulness” interchangeably with “gamification”
Nacke, Tondello, and their colleagues draw from
the results of a thematic analysis he and “game thinking”. We get away with it because
literature on HCI and psychology, as well as other
conducted on two subreddits. Using that there is no precise or consistent definition of
related fields, to define “gameful experience” with
thematic analysis, Robert is exploring “gamefulness” in the game studies literature.
three specific constructs. Then they outline the effects
the context of pseudonymity (protecting
HCI researchers from the Games Institute, of those constructs in process models.
identities without complete anonymity)
Lennart Nacke and Gustavo Tondello, published
to theorize about why Reddit is a valuable “Most critically, we argue that gameful experience is
a paper with Richard N. Landers, Dennis L. Kappen,
tool for addiction recovery. the core focal construct of this theory and define it as
Andrew B. Collmus, and Elisa D. Mekler to address
an interactive state occurring when a person perceives
our need to more precisely describe what happens
JUST A LITTLE TEASER… non-trivial achievable goals created externally, is
when someone interacts with a gameful system.
One of Robert’s findings is that these motivated to pursue them under an arbitrary set of
The paper, entitled “Defining Gameful Experience
online communities are used to support behavioral rules, and evaluates that motivation as
as a Psychological State Caused by Gameplay:
individuals who are struggling with the voluntary” (Landers, Tondello, Kappen, Collmus,
Replacing the Term ‘Gamefulness’ with Three
12-step program. This suggests that these Mekler, & Nacke, 2018).
Distinct Constructs,” was recently published in the
communities might not be replacing
International Journal of Human-Computer Studies.
publicly funded programs, but are in
addition to traditional methods. Not having a specific and theoretically grounded WORKS CITED
definition of “gamefulness” leads to many problems Landers, N. R., Tondello, G. F, Kappen, D. L., Collmus,
in the gamification process. What is the ultimate A. B., Mekler, E. D., & Nacke, L. E. (2018). “Defining
gameful experience as a psychological state caused
goal? What processes can and should be employed?
by gameplay: Replacing the term ‘gamefulness’ with
In the paper, the researchers suggest replacing the three distinct constructs”. International Journal of
term “gamefulness” with “gameful experience”. Human-Computer Science. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
According to Tondello, “having a precise definition ijhcs.2018.08.003
of ‘gameful experience’ will allow us to develop a way
GAMES INSTITUTE | 7
8 | UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO
NEWS
OCTOBER
These are a sampling of the news items from
October 2018. For a full list please visit
uwaterloo.ca/games-institute/news
GAMES INSTITUTE | 9NEWS > OCTOBER
JUSTIN CARPENTER AT THE SOCIETY JOHN YOON AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
FOR LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND THE ESPORTS CONFERENCE (UCIESC)
ARTS (SLSA) CONFERENCE MONDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2018
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2018
John Yoon, GI resident and English PhD student, presented a poster at
Justin Carpenter, GI resident and First Person Scholar Editor, will be this year’s University of California Esports Conference (UCIESC) that took
presenting a paper at this year’s Society for Literature, Science, and the Arts place Oct. 11-12, 2018. His poster examined the cultural practice of sports
(SLSA) conference in Toronto, November 15-18. His paper looks at how the writing in esports.
games Mountain (2014) and Everything (2017) by Irish artist David OReilly
Yoon’s work examines and analyzes narratives in esports writing. He argues
challenge players to reconsider notions of consciousness, things, and nature.
that esports writing is a mode of technical communication that accommodates
Carpenter argues that both games are “meditations on games as a medium”: non-expert audiences through narratives.
“OReilly uses simplistic graphics and absurd design choices His analysis is based on Jeanne Fahnestock’s model of genre shifts in scientific
to dissect the qualities typically associated with video games, writing. When scientific knowledge is translated into digestible information
namely player agency, immersion, and identity. Through this for public audiences, Fahnestock calls that process “accommodation”:
self-reflexive approach OReilly’s games are able to represent
“My paper argues that this generic transformation is
matter as mindful, challenge anthropocentrism, and
paralleled in esports writing when highly technical
reconsider the problems of hyperobjectivity and nature.”
games analyses geared towards knowledgeable fan bases
This talk is a spectacular fit for the SLSA conference theme “Out of Mind”. are decoded into much broader terms for the public
Carpenter will explore how OReilly’s design choices in Mountain and unfamiliar with the game, or even esports as a whole.”
Everything emulate the philosophy of panpsychism - the idea that all
Yoon proposes that esports writing utilizes narrative as its rhetorical
matter has some form of mind.
mode because relatable story-building fosters emotional investment
For game studies and game science scholars, this talk is of particular in the audience toward the highly technical esports competition.
interest because Carpenter will present ways that Mountain and Everything’s
“With a new model for approaching cultural production
disruption of conventional video game tropes leads to deep and engaging
surrounding esports, we can better understand, guide, and
philosophical criticism.
communicate the culture of competitive play […] allowing
How does the parody subvert player expectations? And, furthermore, the industry to more effectively present itself not only to
how does the violation of player expectations force them to engage with its fans but also the world at large.”
unfamiliar philosophical ideas? - John Yoon
10 | UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOONEWS > OCTOBER
STEVE WILCOX AT CITY AS PLATFORM LAB IN WATERLOO NEWS FOR
MEANINGFUL PLAY 2018 “RIGHT TO THE SMART CITY” WHITEPAPER
MONDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2018 TUESDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2018
Steve Wilcox, GI alum and Assistant Professor The City as Platform lab (cityasplatform.com), These five “plays” were identified by stakeholders
of Game Design and Development at Laurier, an associate lab of the Games Institute, published from academia, government, and private sectors
presented a paper at the International Academic a Whitepaper to present their findings from their from across North America who attended the
Conference on Meaningful Play in East Lansing, “Right to the Smart City” symposium that took “Right to the Smart City” symposium:
Michigan on Oct. 11. place March, 2018 at Harvard University. Their work 1. Embracing smart cities
aims to help municipalities, experts, and community 2. Cultivating local innovation ecosystems
Wilcox’s paper entitled “(Re)Thinking Empathy
members plan smart cities together. 3. Inviting public influence
Games” looks at empathy games through
4. Questioning data
the perspectives of feminist epistemology, An announcement about the Whitepaper and
phenomenology, psychology, disability studies, toolkit was featured on Waterloo News this 5. Designing for play and civic imagination
and rhetorical theory. This research comes from morning. The toolkit is a crucial step forward Read the Whitepaper that accompanies the toolkit to
Wilcox’s recognition of our need for a new for developing a paradigm for “smart” cities. learn more about how these “plays” were developed
understanding how empathy functions in games: and why they are essential for building “smart” cities.
According to the Whitepaper, the toolkit is
“Empathy games have recently and “a template for municipalities to reproduce To learn more about the “Right to the Smart City”
deservedly been criticized as facile our process on a local level in order to ground-truth symposium, check out their website.
attempts to reproduce fundamentally our general findings and provide local texture to
The City as Platform lab is directed by Beth Coleman,
inimitable experiences. As a result the definition of smart”.
an Associate Professor of Experimental Digital Media
empathy games have increasingly been
The toolkit provides five major actions, what at the University of Waterloo. She is quoted in the press
viewed with skepticism at best and
the City as Platform Lab calls “plays” that should release, saying:
derision at their worst.”
be taken by any organization or municipality
- Steve Wilcox “Civic engagement must be part of a
looking to engage the public with plans for
smart city if it is to be a city of innovation,
By analyzing empathy in games through different integrating technology in city decisions.
generosity, play, and opportunity.”
paradigms and theoretical frameworks, Wilcox
argues that we can chart a new path forward for
designing more effective tools for honing empathy
in gameful systems.
GAMES INSTITUTE | 11NEWS > OCTOBER
MILAD SOROUSH AT CHI JASON HAWRELIAK’S NEW BOOK “MULTIMODAL
PLAY 2018 ON GAMES FOR SEMIOTICS AND RHETORIC IN VIDEOGAMES”
SELF-CONTROL IMPROVEMENT FRIDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2018
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2018
Jason Hawreliak, co-founder of FPS and Assistant Professor of Game Studies at Brock University,
Milad Soroush, GI Resident and PhD authored “Multimodal Semiotics and Rhetoric in Videogames,” published Oct 10, 2018. The book
student in the department of Management is available in hardcopy and as an eBook.
Sciences, will be presenting his paper entitled
“Multimodal Semiotics and Rhetoric in Videogames” explores how different videogame forms
“Investigating game mechanics that target
convey meaning, and how that meaning is interpreted by game designers and players. This text
players’ self-control while maintaining
is of particular interest to students and researchers in multimodal studies, game studies, rhetoric,
engagement” at CHI Play 2018.
semiotics, and discourse analysis.
Soroush researches how games can be used as
Read the full summary from the publishers, CRC Press:
interventions for self-control improvement. In
this study, he ran participants through a game “This book merges recent trends in game studies and multimodal studies to explore the relationship
he created called “Save the Garden” and then between the interaction between video games’ different modes and the ways in which they inform
asked them to complete a questionnaire. meaning for both players and designers. The volume begins by laying the foundation for integrating
the two disciplines, drawing upon social semiotic and discourse analytic traditions to examine
“Save the Garden” was designed to test how their relationship with meaning in videogames. The book uses a wide range of games as examples
participants perform in interactive, long-term to demonstrate the medium’s various forms of expression at work, including audio, visual, textual,
game tasks that challenge their self-control. haptic, and procedural modes, with a particular focus on the procedural form, which emphasizes
Performances were then compared with the processes and causal relationships, to better showcase its link with meaning-making. The second half
subsequent questionnaire that looked at self- of the book engages in a discussion of different multimodal configurations and user generated content
reports on perceived competence, enjoyment, to show how they contribute to the negotiation of meaning in the player experience, including their
and trait self-control. role in constructing and perpetuating persuasive messages and in driving interesting and unique
player decisions in gameplay. Making the case for the benefits of multimodal approaches to game
Soroush will discuss his findings on game
studies, this volume is key reading for students and researchers in multimodal studies, game studies,
performance and player experience with the
rhetoric, semiotics, and discourse analysis.”
audience at CHI Play 2018 in Melbourne,
Australia. This study is a part of Soroush’s “This volume is key reading for students and researchers in multimodal studies,
ongoing research. game studies, rhetoric, semiotics, and discourse analysis.”
- CRC Press
12 | UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOONEWS > OCTOBER
DIGITAL ORAL HISTORIES FOR RECONCILIATION (DOHR) AT THE
CANADIAN HISTORY OF EDUCATION ASSOCIATION CONFERENCE
MONDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2018
Tony Smith and Kristina Llewellyn represented the Digital Oral Histories for Reconciliation (DOHR)
project at the Canadian History of Education Association (CHEA) conference in New Brunswick,
October 18-21, 2018. Their co-presentation was entitled “Building Just Relations: Oral History and
Virtual Reality in History Education”.
Tony Smith is a survivor of the Nova Scotia Home for Colored Children, a segregated welfare
institution for black children. Kristina Llewellyn, faculty member of the Games Institute and Social
Development Studies professor at UWaterloo, founded the DOHR project with support from Smith
and other survivors in partnership with the NSHCC Restorative Inquiry and the organization Victims
of Infant and Child Exploitation Services (VOICES):
“DOHR is a project that creates and assesses virtual reality oral histories
for students to address the historical harms of racism. The Nova Scotia Home
for Colored Children (NSHCC) opened in 1921 as a welfare institution for black
children who were segregated from white-only welfare institutions. Residents suffered
the effects of institutionalized racism and abuse during the 70 years of its operation.”
- DOHR
The first project of DOHR is a Virtual Reality experience that brings students into a digitally
rendered representation of the Nova Scotia Home for Colored Children. They explore the home
and listen to stories from Smith, and survivors Gerry Morrison and Tracey Dorrington-Skinner.
Smith and Llewellyn co-presented on the importance of oral storytelling for a restorative approach
to history learning in schools. They shared a demo of DOHR and explained the goals of the project
with teachers who were attending CHEA.
The DOHR project is funded in part by the IMMERSe partnership grant. Follow @projectDOHR
on twitter for more updates.
GAMES INSTITUTE | 1314 | UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO
NEWS
NOVEMBER
These are a sampling of the news items from
November 2018. For a full list please visit
uwaterloo.ca/games-institute/news
GAMES INSTITUTE | 15NEWS > NOVEMBER
DUALPANTO FEATURED ON THE TOBEN RACICOT AT THE MID-ATLANTIC
ARDUINO BLOG POPULAR & AMERICAN CULTURE
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2018 ASSOCIATION (MAPACA) CONFERENCE
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2018
DualPanto, a non-visual haptic device for the blind, was featured
on the Arduino blog, October 22. The device allows visually Toben Racicot, GI resident and English PhD student, will be attending
impaired users to engage with video games that would otherwise the Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association conference
be inaccessible to them: in Baltimore, November 8-10. His paper, “Trauma and Demogorgons:
Analyzing Dungeons & Dragons in Stranger Things”, examines the
“The device features two handles. Users interact with
impact that roleplaying games have in strengthening psychic
DualPanto by actively moving the ‘me’ handle with one
protections in anticipation of future traumas.
hand and passively holding on to the ‘it’ handle with
the other. DualPanto applications generally use the “When I first saw Stranger Things I was struck by
‘me’ handle to represent the user’s avatar in the virtual the parallels between their D&D campaign and how
world and the ‘it’ handle to represent some other moving they later negotiated the real-world traumas in their
entity, such as the opponent in a soccer game.” storylines. I started researching the connection between
- Arduino Team roleplaying and trauma, considering how Stranger
Things models Freudian psychoanalytic theories.”
DualPanto allows visually impaired users to gain an awareness
- Toben Racicot
of a virtual field, track moving objects, and control an avatar
simultaneously. Arduino featured DualPanto on their blog because Drawing from the psychoanalytic theories of repetition-compulsion,
the gaming system uses an Arduino Due to interface the physical pre-traumatic stress syndrome, and the Fort-Da! game, Racicot
hardware with the setup of the software. examines the impact roleplaying has on the younger characters
in Stranger things in their preparation and execution of coping
DualPanto was developed by Oliver Schneider, a faculty member of
with trauma.
the Games Institute and Assistant Professor of Human-Computer
Interaction, with his team from the Hasso Plattner Institute In this paper, Racicot highlights how imagination, storytelling,
(University of Potsdam, Germany): Prof. Patrick Baudisch, Jotaro and play for children helps to bolster their confidence and mental
Shigeyama, Robert Kovacs, Thijs Jan Roumen, Sebastian Marwecki, armatures. This paper is part of Racicot’s ongoing research on the
Nico Boeckhoff, Daniel Amadeus Gloeckner, and Jonas Bounama. benefits of roleplaying games.
16 | UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOONEWS > NOVEMBER
GAMES INSTITUTE MEMBERS PRESENT A PANEL MARCO MORAN-LEDESMA ON 3D
DISCUSSION AT ENTHUSIAST GAMING LIVE EXPO (EGLX) PRINTING IN VR AT THE INTER-
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2018 UNIVERSITY WORKSHOP (IUW)
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2018
John Yoon, GI resident and English PhD “Various levels of community have
student, chaired a panel at the Enthusiast blossomed ranging from grassroots Marco Moran-Ledesma, a System Design Engineering Master’s
Gaming Live Expo (EGLX) in Toronto, competitions, collegiate level play, student, will be presenting a poster at the Inter-University Workshop
October 26-28. His co-panelists were Campbell and professional organized play. (IUW) at the University of Toronto, Nov. 17. In this poster, he
Macrae, Executive at the UW Smash club, What should these strata of our outlines his preliminary research on a system he proposes to
Andre Paradis, Founder of the UW LoL club, industry do to further their growth improve the VR experience.
Alexandra Orlando, Games Institute alumnus and foster meaningful community
and Games studies researcher and streamer, engagement for the future?” Virtual Reality (VR) represents the potential for stepping into
and Charlie Watson, CEO and founder of realistic, computer-generated three-dimensional virtual worlds, but
A recurring question the panel addressed the most recent technology provides haptic input through hand-held
SetToDestroyX.
was “who is responsible for shaping how controllers. This means that users do not have realistic interactions
The purpose of the EGLX panel was to the industry develops?” How do players with virtual objects: if you can’t touch or hold objects with your
generate conversations and ideas about shape eSports? What about fans, organization, hands and fingers, how realistic is the overall VR experience?
important considerations for eSports, or administrators?
particularly as it becomes a more established Moran-Ledesma explores how integrating 3D printed models
As eSports grows, there are increasing with low-priced micro-electromechanical sensors and affordable
fixture in popular culture. According to Yoon:
concerns about fostering inclusivity and single-board computers enables more physical-like interaction
“It’s time we move past the clichéd representation in the scene. The panelists with virtual objects in VR. He proposes that the integration
discussions of the legitimacy of considered who should have the responsibility of these three technologies into a system will enhance the
eSports as bona fide competition. and authority over these sensitive decisions. realism of VR experiences:
We have to shift our attention from
Esports is currently an inchoate industry so “In the short-term, I will explore the design space
what eSports is to what eSports
the panelists argued that it’s crucial to pose of 3D printed objects in VR by incorporating sensors
can accomplish.”
these questions now while we have time into 3D printed models and testing their viability as
ESports is more nuanced than competitive to determine the course of development. controllers. In the long-term, I intend to provide a
gaming: it is a cooperative society. The panel This was a dedicated dialogue for honing design vocabulary of 3D-printed widgets for use in VR
considered the state and role of eSports in our the questions and considerations, bringing so that designers and researchers can build systems that
communities, examining how the industry them to the fore of eSports discourse, and leverage hand and finger interaction in virtual worlds.”
can contribute to community building online examining how the industry should pursue - Marco Moran-Ledesma
and offline. the answers.
GAMES INSTITUTE | 17NEWS > NOVEMBER
CAROLINE WONG AT THE INTER-UNIVERSITY TINA CHAN PRESENTS A PAPER ON
WORKSHOP (IUW): INTERACTING WITH DATA GAMIFICATION AND MENTAL HEALTH AT
THROUGH TOUCH-ENABLED SYSTEMS THE INTER-UNIVERSITY WORKSHOP (IUW)
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2018 MONDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2018
Caroline Wong will be presenting a poster at IUW, 2018 at the University Tina Chan, Masters of Science candidate in the School of Public
of Toronto. Wong is a Master’s student of Management Sciences studying Health and Health Systems, is presenting a paper at IUW entitled
the benefits of touch-enabled systems that improve our interaction with “Designing for Engagement in Peer to Peer Support Using Cognitive
large datasets. Behavioural Therapy with Gamification and the Proteus Effect”.
Wong argues that making data visualization tools touch-enabled can Chan’s research draws from crowdsourcing studies that combine
make personal data more meaningful and accessible to non-experts online peer to peer (P2P) support with cognitive behavioural
rather than technologies that only allow for point-and-click. therapy (CBT), as well as the Proteus Effect.
“The underlying assumption is that touch/mobile provides In P2P support with CBT, researchers have found there is therapeutic
easier access; however, the benefits of multi-touch interaction value for mood disorders when strangers are asked to cognitively
to gaining insight about data are not well understood.” appraise each other’s negative thoughts. Chan’s work investigates
- Caroline Wong how gamification can improve how users engage with this niche
therapeutic practice.
Wong’s poster at IUW investigates how multi-touch interaction with data
improves immersion, engagement, and competency in data interpretation: She proposes that the Proteus Effect, a phenomenon where
To evaluate interaction experiences, Wong uses data visualization tools to players perform stereotyped behaviours of their avatars, represents
conduct a series of tests that measure people’s engagement with data. a promising theoretical background for developing a gamified
version of P2P support using CBT:
This preliminary research is a part of Wong’s ongoing research in her
Master’s program: “[My objective is] to understand if the Proteus
Effect can persuade increased helpful contributions
“The progress of this research [so far] has been a literature
in a gamified P2P CBT platform, if avatars with
review along with a touch and mouse version of a visualization
stereotypical supportive qualities are used.”
tool that is ready to test. The findings from this research will be
- Tina Chan from her abstract
used to iteratively make appropriate design recommendations,
implement, and evaluate future touch visualizations.”
- Caroline Wong
18 | UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOONEWS > NOVEMBER
QUANTUM CATS AT THE ONTARIO SCIENCE CENTRE
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2018
Quantum Cats (2015), a game that allows players to learn and engage with concepts from quantum physics,
is currently featured at the Ontario Science Centre exhibit “Quantum: The Exhibition,” an exhibit created
by the Institute for Quantum Computing (IQC).
Chan’s method involves designing
and developing a computer game Quantum Cats was created by a team of researchers from the IQC and the Games Institute. James Wallace
and then measuring how study and Victor Cheung are credited for the conceptualization and design, Mike Brown and Jagger Nast are
participants interact with their credited for the programming, and Keith McLean is credited for the art.
avatars. This project is a part of
Chan’s ongoing research: Quantum Cats asks players to rescue kittens by sending cats to their rescue, but the catch is that the cats are
affected by different properties from quantum physics: quantum mechanics, superposition, the uncertainty
“The developed game is principle, and quantum tunnelling.
currently undergoing pilot
testing with lab members, “The Quantum Cats are on a mission to rescue the kittens. But we need your help! Using
and the study is to run with the weird and spooky laws of quantum mechanics, help the Quantum Cats save the kittens.”
participants from November - Quantum Cats team, from “What’s Happened to the World’s Kittens?!”
to December 2018.”
Through observing and adapting to how the cats behave under different quantum principles, players gain
- Tina Chan
an understanding of complex quantum principles:
from her abstract
“Quantum technologies are emerging from research labs faster and faster. From highly
secure communications to ultra-sensitive devices to powerful quantum computers, these
technologies are going to transform how we live, work and play. We here at The Institute
for Quantum Computing (IQC) want to help people become familiar with the science
behind these quantum technologies.”
- Quantum Cats team, from “The Story Behind Quantum Cats”
Visit Quantum Cats at “Quantum: The Exhibition” until January 6, or play Quantum Cats by downloading
on Google Play or the App Store.
GAMES INSTITUTE | 19NEWS > NOVEMBER
SARAH STANG AT REFIG 2018 LENNART NACKE WEIGHING IN
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2018 ON VIOLENCE IN VIDEOGAMES
Sarah Stang, Essays Editor for First Person from mythology are categorized and classified
ON KITCHENER TODAY
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2018
Scholar and PhD student in the Communication in the Monster Manual.
and Culture program at York University, delivered
The scope of the presentation included a Dr. Lennart Nacke joined reporter Brian
a co-presentation with Dr. Aaron Trammel at
discussion of D&D, its history, and its connection Bourke from Kitchener Today to weigh in
ReFig 2018.
to the bestiary. Stang focused specifically on a on the societal value of games. Nacke was
Their presentation, entitled “The Misogynist Ludic case study of the abject monstrous feminine – invited to join Bourke because interest in
Bestiary: How Women are Made Monstrous in the figure of the Hag: the negative effects of violent videogames
Dungeons & Dragons (D&D)” was a condensed is re-emerging in the media following the
“The Hag is a particularly troubling publication of a meta-study showing the
version of a longer article the two co-authored:
example because not only are Hag results of 24 studies looking at heightened
“In our article we discuss the Monster monsters at the intersection of sexism physical aggression post-gameplay in youths
Manual - the bestiary for D&D - as a text and ageism, the Monster Manual also from 9-19.
which draws on the (sexist) conventions describes them as reproducing in a
of the Medieval Bestiary which often monstrous way, as sexually dangerous, as Nacke’s work involves studying motivations
labelled women monstrous and evil. well as being hideous, grotesque, evil, etc.” in games. Why do people play? What do
Gygax was also influenced by Tolkienesque - Sarah Stang they gain by playing? How can designers
fantasy and mythology, so many of the better develop gameful systems to actualize
The presentation and article are connected to
female monsters in the Monster Manual their intent?
Stang’s dissertation work which looks at monsters
are drawn from mythology, like the
as symbolic representations of marginalized
Medusa, Sirens, Harpies, Banshees, etc.” Nacke’s research is not specifically focused
identities in digital games. Stang’s research employs
- Sarah Stang on the effect of violence in video games;
textual and visual analysis and the concepts of the
rather, he looks at motivational and
Stang does visual and textual analysis of monsters in Abject, the Monstrous-Feminine, and the Grotesque.
behavioural outcomes from playing games.
games, while Trammell’s expertise is in the history
Slides from the presentation, “The Misogynist In this conversation, Nacke gave Bourke the
of D&D and its material culture and circuits of
Ludic Bestiary: How Women are Made Monstrous example of how the game as a medium can
distribution. Their article combines these efforts to
in Dungeons & Dragons (D&D)” be a powerful educational tool.
look at how really horrific female monsters drawn
20 | UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOONEWS > NOVEMBER
“We learn and comprehend much
better in an interactive context […]
Games can be much more powerful
than traditional [media] so the question
becomes how can we design those
ELISE VIST AT THE FAN STUDIES NETWORK
games so that there is an effect that NORTH AMERICA (FSNNA) CONFERENCE
the students can actually learn?” WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2019
- Lennart Nacke,
Elise Vist presented a paper at the Fan Studies In this presentation, Vist shared her findings
on Kitchener Today
Network North America (FSNNA) 2018 Conference on how these intimate publics help reconcile
at DePaul University in Chicago, October 25-27, the tension that queer fans have about being
Nacke also reminded listeners that the evidence
2018. Vist is an English PhD candidate studying fans, a fan of a sport with a culture that is
can be misleading if we don’t understand how
immersion, and queerness at the Games Institute, as unwelcoming to queer identities. However, she
the researchers quantified violence:
well as the producer for First Person Podcast. also acknowledged that Hockey RPF doesn’t
solve all of the problems of public fandoms:
“... we have to be careful about what we Vist’s paper, entitled “Hockey RPF and Intimate
classify as a violent video game. In the Fandoms of Hockey”, examined real person fanfiction “P.K. Subban is one of the very few black men
study, sometimes they look at challenge, (RPF) of players in the NHL. She argued that in the NHL, […] the racism that hounds Subban
and competitive play in aggression ... mainstream Hockey fandoms aren’t inclusive or in reality is not absent, even in an intimate
so we have to think about how they accessible to many queer and POC fans. Instead, fandom that celebrates queerness through
measure aggression.” queer fans of hockey are drawn to Hockey RPF, of Hockey RPF, because not every intimate fandom
which there are several intimate publics of fandom. of hockey prioritizes blackness in the same way
How do these studies conceptualize and measure
it prioritizes queerness.”
violence in videogames? How do they measure Intimate publics are small, relational groups of
instances of aggression following gameplay – people who identify with one another in a fandom Hockey RPF and intimate publics of fandom
are they using self-reports or physical acts? to the extent that they disidentify with the norm are parts of Vist’s ongoing research for her
of the public fandoms: PhD. She also maintains a blog where she writes
Nacke challenges us to consider the positive about specific findings from her research, such
experiences that come from playing videogames. “In my intimate fandom of hockey, I can’t
as the term “bromance” and the homosexual
Aggression, conflict, and competition are simply identify with hockey players, because
paradox of the sport.
common human experiences: to take them on as objects of identification
would be to let go of the identities that
“You have to think about healthy ways make me, me: queer, anti-racist, anti-
of expressing violence and aggressive capitalist, feminist. The alternative, though,
emotions. It helps [young players] reflect can’t be to avoid hockey or its athletes
on what they’re currently experiencing. altogether, because – however hypocritical
There’s a lot of positive power.” it is – I like hockey.”
- Elise Vist
GAMES INSTITUTE | 2122 | UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO
NEWS
DECEMBER
GAMES INSTITUTE | 23NEWS > DECEMBER
MARK HANCOCK RECEIVES THE 10-YEAR LENNART NACKE ON THE “KEEPING
IMPACT AWARD AT ISS THE HUMAN IN ARTIFICIAL
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2018 INTELLIGENCE” PANEL
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2018
Mark Hancock, Associate Director of the Games Institute and Director
of the UW Touchlab, was honoured with the 10-Year Impact Award on Lennart Nacke, faculty member of the Games
Tuesday, Nov. 27 at the ACM International Conference on Interactive Institute and director of the HCI Games Group,
Surfaces and Spaces (ISS) in Tokyo. spoke on a panel, entitled “Keeping the Human
in Artificial Intelligence”, on December 3 at the
Every year, the ISS steering committee selects a paper to receive the 10-Year
Kitchener Public Library.
Impact Award based on the how it has impacted the ISS community. They
consider the number of times the work was cited, how those citations The other panelists were Carla Fehr, professor
benefited future work, and how and if the work was cited by researchers of philosophy and Wolfe Chair in Scientific and
from other disciplines. Technological Literacy, and Joel Bilt, economics
professor. The event asked the panelists to share
Hancock and his co-authors, Thomas ten Cate and Sheelagh Carpendale,
their ideas about how Artificial Intelligence (AI)
received the 10-Year Impact Award for their paper “Sticky tools: Full 6DOF
can, or will, impact society and the human condition
force-based interaction for multi-touch tables” because of its significance to
through the lens of their disciplinary backgrounds.
the field.
Nacke’s Human-Computer Interaction work looks
Also at ISS, Stacey Scott, Associate Professor of HCI at the University of
at player behaviour and motivation in response
Guelph and a founding member of the Games Institute, was awarded an
to gameful systems. During the panel he discussed
honourable mention for her work on “Post-meeting curation of whiteboard
the implications of the relationship between user
content captured with mobile devices” with Danniel Varona-Marin, Jan A.
engagement and AI and argued that gamification
Oberholzer, and Edward Tse. This work was based on a Mitacs-SSHRC joint
can help support the user-AI relationship.
initiative internship through the IMMERSe SSHRC Partnership Network,
managed by the GI. Waterloo stories covered the event and published
an article on the University of Waterloo home page.
24 | UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOONEWS > DECEMBER
EMMA VOSSEN AT REFIG 2018
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2018
Emma Vossen, alum of the Games Institute and former Editor in
Chief of First Person Scholar, ran the Refiguring Innovation in Games
(ReFiG) conference in Vancouver on October 25, 26, and 27, 2018.
Vossen also presented a talk about teaching games related classes.
Vossen is presently a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at York University
where she helps to run the ReFiG network and all its associated projects.
ReFiG aims to promote diversity and equity in the games industry and
culture by intervening in games culture, the games industry, informal
learning environments, and formal education.
GAMES INSTITUTE | 2526 | UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO
SPOTLIGHTS
GAMES INSTITUTE | 27SPOTLIGHTS
GI MEMBERS ORGANIZING
“GAMING WITH THE
SUBALTERN”: WORKSHOP
AT CHI PLAY 2018
VR WORKING GROUP PREDICTING MOTION SICKNESS IN VR THURSDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2018
MONDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2018
GAMING WITH THE SUBALTERN:
Last week, neurophysiologists and VR researchers “We found that the sway in response to vection
A WORKSHOP ON DIVERSITY AND
at the University of Waterloo started making stimuli had the strongest predictive power for
INCLUSION IN GAMES
headlines because of their findings on how to [cybersickness] among all measures collected.”
predict which VR users might be more susceptible Cayley MacArthur, Systems Design PhD
Media outlets have been excited about these findings
to cybersickness. student, and Mark Hancock, Associate
because of the broad implications for VR research.
Director of the Games Institute, are co-
Séamas Weech, Jessy Varghese, and Michael For one, this predictive model means researchers now
organizing a workshop in collaboration
Barnett-Cowan, members of the VR working have a way of predicting motion sickness without
with six other international scholars.
group at the Games Institute, co-authored inducing nausea in participants.
The workshop, entitled “Gaming with
a paper entitled “Estimating the sensorimotor
Weech, Varghese and Barnett-Cowan speculate the subaltern: A workshop on diversity
components of cybersickness” published in
that the more we understand about this correlation and inclusion in games,” is scheduled for
the Journal of Neurophysiology.
between sensitivity to vection stimuli and cybersickness, CHI Play 2018 in Melbourne, Australia.
Their results caught the attention of many, the more researchers will be able to develop strategies
many news outlets who were picking the story for overcoming VR motion sickness. Despite the fact that games are played by
up and claiming that UW researchers are on the a highly diverse group of people, game
cusp of curing cybersickness ... What exactly did
NEED MORE CONVINCING? development teams are comprised of 70% +
Weech, Varghese and Barnett-Cowan measured balance white men. We have known this for a while,
Weech, Varghese, and Barnett-Cowan publish?
control, vection responses, and vestibular sensitivity - but the problem persists because there is
Their paper presents the findings that participant in other words, they measured how well participants little diversity among the groups of people
sway patterns during vection stimuli, the sensation maintained balance, how their bodies moved in who are attempting to implement change.
of body movement produced by visual motion response to visual stimulation, and how prone they
cues, is a strong predictor for VR motion sickness. were to dizziness. In the article they discuss how sway How can we make gaming research,
responses aren’t the only neurophysiological processes development, and play more diverse
Their study involved conducting tests to
affecting cybersickness. if the people in conversations about
measure individual differences in specific
solutions don’t have lived experiences
neurophysiological ltraits, and then measuring
of the problems?
participants’ experiences of VR motion sickness. WORKS CITED
In the article, Weech says:
Weech, S., Varghese, J. S., & Barnett-Cowan, M. (2018) This workshop is designed and structured
Journal of Neurophysiology. https://www.physiology.
to disrupt the patterns of non- and
org/doi/abs/10.1152/jn.00477.2018
misrepresentation in order to stimulate
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