Games and play
Play is an inherently valuable human activity. Our projects explore how technologies can be used to enhance play and to deliver fulfilling gaming experiences.
Games are an important form of human interaction and cultural expression and, for many, are a crucial part of contemporary social life. Our research explores the ways that people experience and create games and playful experiences, seeking to understand how technology supports these activities. We are interested in digital and physical games; children’s play as well as that of adults; co-located and remote play; novel interaction modalities such as voice, gaze and hybrid tools; and gaming experiences from participation through fandom to spectatorship.
Projects
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AI-enabled assistance for strategic planning in games
Developing a coherent understanding of the role of Autonomous Analyst instances for human-agent teaming for playing complex games.
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Examining the ‘digital’ in hybrid digital boardgames
This project aims to understand how digital technology is being used to enhance, support and extend commercial boardgames through creation of ‘hybrid’ digital-physical boardgames.
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Social play in immersive gaming environments
This project investigates how voice, gaze and gesture affects a gamer’s experience such as immersion, embodiment, identity and control.
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Digital domesticity
Tracing the origins of domestic digital developments with two decades of empirical fieldwork and ethnographic investigation.
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Ethics and digital games
Our goal is to better define and understand the overlapping norms and values that develop around digital gameplay.
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Spectating eSports and Let’s Play
Exploring the experience not of playing games but of watching them, where gameplay becomes a new form of viewing entertainment.*
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Music streaming and algorithmic recommendation
Investigating how music streaming platforms change the way we find, discover and interact with music.
* Photo credit: ESPORTS Live, ESL Intel Extreme Masters Quake Live Semifinals: rapha v. SPART1E, by Michael Arsers, (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Contact
People
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Martin Gibbs, Professor -
Fraser Allison, Research Fellow
News
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HCI researchers nominated for Best Paper Award at IEEE ISMAR 2020
We are pleased to announce that HCI researchers Difeng Yu, Qiushi Zhou, Joshua Newn, Tilman Dingler, Eduardo Velloso, and Jorge Goncalves have received a Best Paper award nomination at the IEEE International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality (ISMAR 2020).
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Human-Computer Interaction group to host DiGRAA 2021
We are delighted to announce that the Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) group at The University of Melbourne will be hosting the 2021 National Conference for the Digital Games Research Association of Australia (DiGRAA).
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You wouldn’t hit a dog, so why kill one in Minecraft? Why violence against virtual animals is an ethical issue
Video game ‘amoralists’ argue killing in gaming isn’t harmful since no living being is actually hurt. But when it comes to hurting virtual animals, we disagree.
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Child’s play in the time of COVID: screen games are still ‘real’ play
Play is a core part of a healthy childhood, through which children develop social, communication, cognitive and physical skills.
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The value of board games
Did you know that board games are a form of technology? Engineering lecturer Dr Melissa Rogerson examines our love of all things board games and their fascinating 5,000-year history.
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Boardgame science at the pub
Melissa Rogerson talks with host of Quantum Sauce, Adam Booth, about her research on boardgames and on hybrid digital games.
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Board gaming to keep the fun in being at home
At a time of self-isolation board games offer interaction, variety and challenges, and don't have to be about winning, says a University of Melbourne expert
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Success at DiGRA 2020 conference
Our researchers have been successful in submitting a range of papers and panels to DiGRA 2020, to be held in Tampere, Finland.
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Our researchers to present at AsiaTOPA Digital Environments Forum
The program features events that celebrate cross-cultural collaborations between a range of practitioners from the Australian and Asian cultural industries.
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IDL researchers to present at esteemed CHI 2020 conference
The 2020 ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2020), is taking place between 25–30 April in Oahu, Hawai’i, USA.
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IDL games researchers secure large presence at DiGRAA 2020
The Human Computer Interaction is home to a group of researchers undertaking projects related to the field of games studies, as it intersects with digital technology.
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IDL researchers contribute to successful OzCHI’19
Presenters and attendees of the 31st Australian Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (OzCHI’19) met on Perth’s sandy shores between 3–5 December 2019.
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Board games are booming. Here’s why (and some holiday boredom busters)
Far from fading away in the digital age, board games are enjoying a boom time because they are social, challenging and tangible. And designers are using technology to create new ways to play.
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Melissa Rogerson awarded Game in Lab grant for hybrid boardgame research
Dr Melissa Rogerson has recently been awarded research grant for her project, ‘Examining the “Digital” in Hybrid Digital Boardgames’.
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Our researchers take home two awards at UbiComp 2019
PhD Candidate Zhanna Sarsenbayeva received the Gaetano Borriello Outstanding Student Award and a Distinguished Paper Award was received by a group of researchers.
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HCI Lab Open House
To mark the completion of the new lab, we held an Open House.
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CHI 2019: Strong participation by the University of Melbourne
The ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, also known as CHI 2019, is the flagship annual conference.
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Room for innovation: lab upgrades
Human Computer Interaction has received a tech-powered update to our research workspace for graduate researchers.
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Our Public Lecture Series at Melbourne Knowledge Week 2019
We were fortunate enough to be represented by a talented group of experts from the University of Melbourne’s Human Computer Interaction at this year’s Melbourne Knowledge Week festival.