Welcome to the Games Institute
The Games Institute (GI) is an interdisciplinary research centre at the University of Waterloo, advancing the study of games, gamification, interactive technologies and immersive environments (AR/VR).
Racial Equity Board Game Design Resources
Blogs | Games | Talks | Articles | Podcasts | Books
Blogs
- Cooperative games: Advice from the experts – League of Gamemakers
- Design Tips: Make Losing Feel Good – Cloudfall Studios
- How three academics created a game about Indigenous culture and philosophy – Ruel Gaviola, Geek & Sundry
- Inclusive Game Design: Key Starting Principles – Filament Games
- Pipelies: Gamifying pipeline politics – Marisa Benjamin
- This is how board games spark social change – TESA Collective
- Tips on how to make a fun cooperative board game – Honest Rogue Games
- Unique problems of cooperative game design – Victoria Tran (Indie Megabooth)
Games
- Anti-racism education games & activities for Australian Schools - List by Racism No Way
- Arranged! – Nashra Balagamwala
- AUXGOD
- Freedom: The Underground Railroad
- Black Card Revoked – Latesha Williams and Jay Bobo
- Dawn of Peacemakers
- Games for Change 2020 Showcase
- Racism 24 board game
- Rap Godz – Omari Akil
- Rise Up: The Game of People and Power – TESA Collective
- Road to Racial Justice
- S.C.O.R.E – Audrey Clausen
- Spirit Island – R. Eric Reuss
- Steal away Jordan: Slave Narrative RPG – Julia Bond Ellingboe
- TESA Collective game library
- The Gift of Food – Beth LaPensée
- Trials & Triumph – April Preyar
Talks
- Black Industrial Designers Talk About Race and Design, Part 1 – Core 77
- Building for Inclusivity: How Games Have the Power to Transform People – Panel from GFC2020
- Cooperative Games Panel: Spirit Island and Overcooked 2 – Games Institute
- Games for a Change – Brenda Brathwaite
- Speeches on the Games for Change YouTube Channel
- Walk a mile in our moccasins - Janelle Pewapsconias
Articles
- “Designing Games to Foster Empathy.” Cognitive Technology 14(2), 2009, pp. 5-15. – Jonathan Belman and Mary Flanagan
- Designing Games That Foster Equity and Inclusion: Encouraging Equitable Social Experiences Across Gender and Ethnicity in Online Games – Gabriela T. Richard, CHI 2013
- Cultural framing of computer/video games – Kurt Squire, Game Studies
- Educational board gaming and counter politics – Anton Oehmsen-Clark, FPS
- Fighting bias with board games – Maanvi Singh, NPR
- “Indigenously-Determined Games of the Future,” kimiwan zine, Issue 8: Indigenous Futurisms (2014) – Elizabeth LaPensée
- (Re)Coding survivance and the regenerative narrative – S. Rose O’Leary, FPS
- Saskatchewan woman creates indigenous board game – CBC News
- The burden on our back: Conveying Nahua survivance through games – Joshua A. Wood, First Person Scholar (FPS)
- We need to have our stories: The Black Girl Gamers fighting for inclusion – Hani Richter, Vice
Podcasts
- Beyond Competition – The Magic of Cooperative Games — Suzanne Lyons
- Black games matter: Great games from black game designers – Tabletop Bellhop
- Games for Change/Cooperative Games with Rina Wehbe – Games Institute Podcast
- (Re)Coding survivance: Sovereign video games special issue – First Person Podcast
Books
- Critical Play: Radical Game Design – Mary Flanagan
- Discursive Design: Critical, Speculative, and Alternative Things – Bruce M. Tharp and Stephanie M. Tharp
- How to be Antiracist - Ibram X. Kendi
- Persuasive Games – Ian Bogost
- Tabletop Role-Playing Games and the Experience of Imagined Worlds – Nicholas J. Mizer
- Values at Play in Digital Games – Mary Flanagan and Helen Nissenbaum
- Woke Gaming: Digital Challenges to Oppression and Social Injustice – Kishonna Gray and David J. Leonard
Please also refer to the list of Anti-Racism Resources from the Equity Office at the University of Waterloo.
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
- Jan. 20, 2021Play Illuminate, the Climate change simulation game
Illuminate is an educational simulation game where you learn about the impacts of climate change and explore ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) and respond to climate risks.
- Jan. 19, 2021Pi and Power receives $100,000 from the Velocity Fund Pitch Competition
Pi and Power (Π ∩ ϟ) was awarded $100,000 from the Velocity Fund Pitch Competition to advance their research into medical devices/applications, neuroscience and bioinformatics. Π ∩ ϟ was founded by GI members Dr. Janelle Resch and Eric Ocelewski.
- Jan. 5, 2021GI Members collaborate to offer training for Research Assistants
Spearheaded by Drs Aynur Kadir and Shana MacDonald, Games Institute members from multiple disciplines have teamed up to offer a day-long training for incoming Research Assistants. The training will involve a series of sessions exploring interdisciplinary research topics, each led by a professor, graduate researcher, or GI alum.
Blog
- Jan. 15, 2021 "My avatar – my self?": Mitchell Loewen's thesis published in Frontiers in Psychology
Do our self-perceptions influence our preferences when designing avatars in the games we play? GI members Mitchell Loewen and Dr. Lennart E. Nacke, with Dr. Christopher Burris of St. Jerome’s University, co-authored a paper about the psychology of preferences toward game avatar styles.
- Dec. 9, 2020Research during COVID-19: VR Exergames for Older Adults Living with Dementia, ft. John Muñoz
The COVID-19 pandemic has greatly impacted the research landscape. In this series, we explore how our community is navigating their daily lives and innovating to adapt their research and collaboration techniques.
- Nov. 16, 2020Research during COVID-19: Collaborating during CHI Season
The COVID-19 pandemic has greatly impacted the research landscape. In this series, we explore how our community is navigating their daily lives and innovating to adapt their research and collaboration techniques.
The Human-Computer Interaction labs at the Games Institute, and at the University of Waterloo overall, emphasize collaboration between and within groups so any one student is uplifted by the entire network of HCI researchers.
Meet our people
Neil Randall
Associate Professor, English Language and Literature
Executive Director of The Games Institute
In addition to directing The Games Institute, Neil Randall has also earned large grants for The Interactive and Multi-Modal Research Syndicate (IMMERSe) and the Waterloo Game Analysis and Monitoring Environment (WatGAME). He is the Faculty Advisor to the Games Institute's First Person Scholar.
