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 | Other
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
Other
- Anti-Asian Racism in Canada - The RepresentASIAN Project
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
- Apr. 29, 2021Mara Gagiu wins Best Student Research Poster for "MMPX Style-Preserving Pixel Art Magnification" at Interactive 3D Graphics Symposium
Congratulations to Mara Gagiu for winning the Best Student Research Poster at the ACM SIGGRAPH Symposium on Interactive 3D Graphics and Games Online. Her poster entitled "MMPX Style-Preserving Pixel Art Magnification" presented her research about the MMPX algorithm with GI faculty member Dr.
- Apr. 27, 2021Dr. Luke Potwarka publishes "In search of Inspiration: Re-thinking the Potential for Demonstration Effects" with the Sports Information Resource Centre
Dr. Luke Potwarka, GI faculty member and Associate Professor of Recreation and Leisure studies, published “In Search of Inspiration: Re-thinking the Potential for Demonstration Effects” with the Sports Information Resource Centre.
- Apr. 13, 2021Dakota Pinheiro receives the Jack Gray Graduate Fellowship Award for academic excellence
Dakota Pinheiro, English PhD student researching 21st century American protest and crisis literatures, has been awarded the Jack Gray Graduate Fellowship Award from the Department of English Language and Literature. This scholarship is awarded once a year to a full-time graduate student based on academic excellence. Read about the award here.
Events
- May 14, 2021Guest Talk: Product Management and Analytics in the Gaming Industry with Vik Agarwal
Vik Agarwal, Lead Product Manager at Zynga, will talk about product management and analytics.
Abstract
How do I make the next big game? Should I work as a Product Manager or a Producer? What's the best way to run live operations and monetize my game? It's easy to feel overwhelmed by all these questions, whether you're trying to break into the gaming industry or optimizing games to land on the top charts.
Blog
- Feb. 18, 2021CRIT Council's Pallavi Sodhi presents "Inclusive Board Game Design"
Pallavi Sodhi, Research Intern for the Council for Responsible Innovation and Technology (CRIT) and Dr. Jason Lajoie, Research Associate for CRIT, gave a guest lecture about inclusive board game design for students at Branksome Hall in Toronto.
- 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.
Meet our people
John Muñoz
Postdoc - Systems Design
"I am interested in using human body signals to create more "humanized" assistive technologies based on games and interactive systems. My research has been applied mainly in healthcare scenarios from physical activity promotion for the seniors to neurorehabilitation games for stroke patients.
