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
Martin Gibbs, Professor
Fraser Allison, Research Fellow