The Games Institute (GI) is an interdisciplinary research centre at the University of Waterloo, advancing the study of interactive and immersive technologies and experiences.
News Bites
Stay up-to-date with the latest GI activities. Our News Bites report on recent conferences, keynote addresses, and recent research activities of our members.
Research Spotlights
For more in-depth breakdowns of ongoing research projects, check out our Research Spotlights for full write ups of events and up close and personal testimonies with our researchers and members.
News
GI members attended the 10th annual CHI PLAY conference
GI members present at The Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play (CHI PLAY). The conference takes place in Tampere, Finland from October 14 to October 17, 2024. GI members attended to present their papers, in-progress studies, and projects.
GI Members Present at Beyond Play 2024 Conference
On October 2nd, GI members Pamela Maria Schmidt (Interdisciplinary Research and Communications Manager) and Sid Heeg (PhD Candidate in Sustainability Management) presented at the Beyond Play 2024 Conference in Bremen, Germany.
GI Faculty Member Dr. John Muñoz Releases First Patent Design
On August 27th, Dr. John Muñoz (Wilfrid Laurier University) released his first patent that uses biofeedback technology to explore how we approach tense situations.
Blog
ICGaN 2023 - Isolation and Return Through the World of Hybrid Viewing
From May 15 – 19, 2023, the Games Institute (GI) hosted the second International Conference on Games and Narrative (ICGaN). It focused on the theme Isolation and Return: The Making of Narrative Worlds. Speakers from 40 universities joined from around the world explained how, societally, we have all been forced to consider and rethink personal and communal lives necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The final turnout of the 2023 conference resulted in 17 sessions, 47 unique presentations, 5 keynotes, 3 workshops, 4 academic game streams, and a game jam.
Dr. Cayley MacArthur Gives Keynote Speech at the Jeux & Accessibilité Conference
Dr. Cayley MacArthur (Stratford) delivered the keynote address at the inaugural Jeux & Accessibilité / Game Accessibility conference took place on August 17 – 18, 2023 in Montreal, Québec. Her address - “Can Making Games Inclusively Help to Make More Inclusive Games?” – responded to the conference themes of video game accessibility.
Physiological Measures for Games and VR: Novel Tools and Approaches
On August 9, 2023, Dr. Ifi Mavridou and Dr. John E. Muñoz (J&F Alliance, Adjunct) spoke at a panel on the use of physiological monitoring, biofeedback equipment, and tools for VR applications and research. Both researchers are experts in this field, with Mavridou talking about the creation and design of hardware and Muñoz about design and the use of software, they presented their experiences on what these tools can offer for research in games and more. The applications that both Mavridou and Muñoz work with are cutting edge and provide researchers with a toolkit on how they can design and approach their studies. This approach personalizes and tailors the study design not only to make it easier for researchers but also for study participants to jointly design and study immersive experiences.