Welcome to the Games Institute
We share the following sources with anyone seeing this
Indigenous Lives:
- Delivering on Truth and Reconciliation Commission Calls to Action
- #IndigenousReads
- 5 Indigenous Video Games You Should Be Playing
- The Difficult History of Indigenous People in Video Games
- WPL: Indigenous Voices
BLM:
- Blacklivesmatter.ca
- Office of Human Rights, Equity, and Inclusion: Anti-Racism Resources
- DOHR: Digital Oral Histories for Reconciliation
- Where are all the Black Designers?
FPS Links:
- FPS: Agniq Suaŋŋaktuq And Kisima Inŋitchuŋa (Never Alone)
- An FPS interview with Tanya DePass, Black gaming scholar, that touches on the #Blackout
- FPS Articles on How Fantasy Games Deal with Race
- FPS Book Review on Woke Gaming: Digital Challenges and Oppression and Social Justice
The Games Institute (GI) is a multidisciplinary research centre at the University of Waterloo focused on the study of games, gamification, interactive technologies and immersive environments (AR/VR).
News Items
Our members are busy people; whether they’re taking their research to conferences, delivering keynote addresses, or running workshops at museums, we bring you the news to keep you informed on the latest research and activities.
Research Spotlights Blog
Every story offers an insider’s look into the Games Institute. How does brainstorming lead to new research directions? What really happens at the GI Game Jams? How does play-testing drive better game design? All this and more.
News
- July 31, 2020Touchless Elevator Concept presents accessible solution for COVID-19 contamination
The Touchless Elevator Concept was developed by GI member Tanay Singhal, Research Intern for the Haptic Computing Lab, and co-author Mahika Phutane, a PhD student at Cornell doing research in HCI and Accessibility. A story about this work is featured on the Waterloo Homepage: Elevating haptics.
- July 30, 2020Virtually There Summer Contest
About the Contest
This contest will help the community remember and re-envision the GI physical space while we’re all sadly separated from it. Contest entries will seek to recapture feelings, visuals, or stories about the goingson, memories, or longings for the building we’re locked out of. These can be serious, funny, contemplative, research-amped, meme-y—whatever you want to express.
- July 20, 2020Grand Prize Winners Announced for Terrorarium Level-Building Contest
June 30, 2020 — Stitch Media announced the grand prize winners of the "Inaugural Intergalactic Murder Gardening Contest", otherwise known as a level-building contest for their 3D action-platformer Terrorarium.The contest was designed to recognize talented game design students and recent graduates by giving them an opportunity to increase their design portfolios and receive feedback from industry members.
Blog
- Aug. 4, 2020The Pam Report part 4: Building interdisciplinary, boundary-breaking environments
Building interdisciplinary, boundary-breaking environments
Although interdisciplinarity is stressed in academia, there is an evident gap in facilitating this in the corporate and administrative worlds. Much like academia, working environments from multidisciplinary teams with people bringing in perspectives from numerous academic backgrounds and various positions on methodology and knowledge. The GI administrative team is in a unique position where they must work with the academic world along with the internal, University structure, and external industry partners.
- July 31, 2020Touchless Elevator Concept researchers take us behind the scenes of their process
The Touchless Elevator Concept was developed by GI member Tanay Singhal, Research Intern for the Haptic Computing Lab, and co-author Mahika Phutane, a PhD student at Cornell doing research in HCI and Accessibility.
- July 28, 2020The Pam Report part 3: Games facilitate interdisciplinary discourse
Wait… so you’re telling me playing games facilitates interdisciplinary discourse?
This preliminary exposure to games as icebreakers helped form lasting bonds with the other co-op students after only an hour of playing Werewolf. Throughout the term, I watched many other groups bond over play. However, what is “play” and how does it help to 1) sustain the environment; and 2) encourage discourse.
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Participate in Our Research
Subscribe to our Research Participants Mailing List to hear about opportunities to be a study participant in the work done by The Games Institute researchers!
First Person Scholar
Weekly critical essays, commentaries, and book reviews on games.
GI Jam
A thrice-annual, multi-day event hosted by The Games Institute (GI). Each of the events are open to the public and are designed to appeal to a wide variety of playful people.
Game Dev Club
Every Tuesday and Thursday from 6pm-9pm at the GI.
This is your opportunity to meet and collaborate with local game developers in a casual atmosphere.
Show off your latest projects, receive valuable play-testing feedback from like-minded peers, learn new tools and techniques, and network with potential collaborators.
Meet our people
Jim Wallace
Assistant Professor, Department of Public Health and Health Systems
Jim Wallace is an Assistant Professor at the School of Public Health and Health Systems at University of Waterloo. His research focuses on interaction techniques for computing systems that involve multiple devices, such as smartphones, tablets, and large interactive wall displays, and how these systems can address problems in Public Health.
