The University of Waterloo has an amazing place called the Games Institute dedicated to studying the effects games have on humans.
The Games Institute is located in East Campus 1 (EC1) near Columbia and Philip. If you are interested in visiting, you can look for East Campus 1 (EC1) on the University of Waterloo Campus Map.
Are there any courses related to what the Games Institute does?
The answer to this question is yes and it is ENGL 294, Game Studies. The official course description from the Undergraduate Course Descriptions website:
“This course introduces students to the field of humanities-based game studies. Topics may include the debate between ludological (rules-based) and narratological (story-based) approaches, procedural studies, platform and software studies, gamification, games and adaptation studies, and games as rhetorical objects” [1].
The Game Studies course contains concepts that apply to the different projects being conducted at the Games Institute, including First Person Scholar (FPS).
What is the purpose of Games Institute?
The Games Institute has six goals:
- Become a central hub for games-related research in Canada and a key partner in the international games research initiative though building relationships with Canadian and international institutions and creating a large network of associated researchers.
- Establish strong academic and industry research projects and programs.
- Collaborate with industry partners on the development of commercialisation projects, community/student outreach events, conferences, and conventions.
- Establish an innovative, cross-disciplinary graduate teaching, and research institution.
- Obtain funding for research fellows, graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, and artists/designers/developers in residence.
- Encourage students, faculty, and public engagement by organizing interactive games-related exhibitions on campus, hosting a regular conference and speaker series, and founding a games research journal [2].
Who works at the Games Institute?
- Researchers work at the Games Institute from all sorts of areas of studies from the arts to the sciences. These researchers may work at the University of Waterloo or they may come from other academic institutions. These researchers include professors, graduate students, and undergraduate students who may be volunteering for a game study.
For example, Neil Randall is the director of the Games Institute and he’s a University of Waterloo Associate Professor in the Department of English. Mark Hancock is the associate director of the Games Institute and he is a University of Waterloo associate professor in the Department of Management Sciences (Faculty of Engineering). - Health institutions have partners who are interested in games for health and rehabilitation.
- Cultural institutions have partners who are interested in games for connecting with people and audiences.
What are they working on?
The following are three notable projects going on at the Games Institute:
https://www.facebook.com/pg/FirstPersonScholar/photos/?ref=page_internal First Person Scholar (FPS) is a website dedicated to game studies. The project was co-founded by graduate students Steve Wilcox, Kent Aardse, and Michael Hancock. Their profiles can be located from the Games Institute projects page. More specifically, it is an online periodical consisting of book reviews, game commentary, editorials, essays, interviews, and podcasts.
The objective behind First Person Scholar (FPS) is to challenge common perceptions on games and games studies concepts. For instance, essays are meant to discuss concepts from game studies and how they connect to elements in a variety of games. In addition, news articles and videos are published on the website every Wednesday.
Authors for First Person Scholar (FPS) are reminded to submit controversial content in order to challenge common perspectives of game definitions and practices. In addition, anyone can have their documents published on the First Person Scholar (FPS) website as long as it passes the review by the editorial staff and follows the guidelines listed on the Contribute page.
The First Person Scholar (FPS) Facebook page provides previews and links to the newest publications on the First Person Scholar website each week. Similarly, the First Person Scholar (FPS) Twitter page provides users with previews and links to the newest publications. Furthermore, First Person Scholar (FPS) has a YouTube account that only contains three videos, where two are interviews and the other is a video essay. On top of that, First Person Scholar (FPS) even created a SoundCloud account dedicated for their podcasts.
https://uwaterloo.ca/games-institute/Projects Games Institute Janes (G.I. Janes) is co-founded by graduate students Emma Vossen, Elise Vist, and Judy Ehrentraut, whose information can be located from the Games Institute project page.
Historically, women have not had their voices heard in the production of games. Games Institute Janes (G.I. Janes) purpose is to support women and their allies with games by establishing a community they can focus on game studies.
Games Institute Janes (G.I. Janes) accomplishes this by hosting monthly socials, workshops, and discussion groups. Games Institute Janes (G.I. Janes) Facebook page provides news related to the project.- The Genetics, Environment and Therapies: Food Allergy Clinical Tolerance Studies (GET FACTS) project works on studying the immune tolerance by people with food allergies. Some of these members are Neil Randall, Ryan Clement, and Kayla Marie Oliveria.
Their people profiles can be found from the Games Institute projects page. This project even works with researchers outside of academia like the AllerGen Network Centre of Excellence (AllerGen-NCE).
The project focuses on “Genetic Determinants of Food Allergy and Tolerance, Environmental Exposures that may Predispose to Food Allergy, Novel Biomarkers for Food Allergy; and Knowledge Translation and Dissemination”. The Games Institute has members who create board games such as Monopoly and Sorry for allergy awareness.
Did you know?
- Any University of Waterloo student from any faculty can volunteer.
- There are lectures offered by Games Institute for people to watch.
- Students can participate in game design jams and game play events.
- Students have the potential of getting Games Institute coops.
- Fourth year students who need to do a Capstone Design project can work with Games Institute on games-related tech. [2]
Conclusion
If you would like to learn more information about the Games institute, you can email them at games.institute@uwaterloo.ca or call them (519)-888-4567 extension 37818 [3].
References
[1] Engl 294. (n.d.). Flow. Retrieved October 30, 2017, from https://uwflow.com/course/engl294
[2] About the Games Institute. (2017, June 30). Retrieved October 2, 2017, from https://uwaterloo.ca/games-institute/about-games-institute
[3] Contact. (2017, September 29). Retrieved October 20, 2017, from https://uwaterloo.ca/games-institute/contact
