Welcome to the Games Institute!
Our Projects
Weekly critical essays, commentaries, and book reviews on games.
Major Events
Waterloo Game Jam is a thrice-annual, multi-day event hosted by The Games Institute (GI). Each of these events are open to the public and are designed to appeal to a wide variety of playful people.
Every Thursday from 6pm-9pm, Proto/Play Night is your opportunity to hang out with local game developers in a more casual atmosphere. Show off your latest projects, receive valuable play-testing feedback from like-minded peers, learn new tools and techniques, and networking with potential collaborators.
What is the importance of play in developing critical thinking and digital literacy skills?
The Games Institute hosted a panel discussion entitled Playful Thinking: A Conversation on Games, Learning, and Literacy on Monday, October 31st from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. This panel of experts, all of which are games scholars, discussed the ways in which games and play in the 21stcentury are implicated by social, political, cultural, and pedagogical components.
If you weren't able to view the livestream, here is a link to the recording of the panel:
The Games Institute at UWaterloo and Why We Need It
Our very own Neil Randall, Director of The Games Institute has been featured in the UWaterloo Alumni blog.
The Games Institute officially came into being in June 2011. Those of us who collaborated to put it together, of whom Drs. Karen Collins (Drama & Speech Communications), Stacey Scott (Systems Design Engineering), and I (English) were the first members, decided we needed a formal research centre if we wanted to push the study of games to the forefront, and to make sure that we were engaging all the departments and faculties that we needed to get involved. Games, by their very nature, are multidisciplinary creations, and whenever we discussed what games could become we knew that we needed research and creativity from essentially all disciplines. The future of games will rely on new technologies and new ways of interacting with those technologies, but it will also rely heavily on psychological and sociological understandings of what we do when we play, on stories and narratives that reach far beyond what today’s games offer, and on extensive work in a wide range of fields, from health to education, into how games can guide us, change us, and help us.
Read more about his views on gaming and how he believes games can help us on the Alumni Blog.
Featured Videos
News
- Aug. 3, 2017Persuasive games to change unhealthy habits
The GI’s own Rita Orji is making waves in the area of persuasive computer games, where she works as a computer science researcher. Orji investigates the various areas and components of personality types and how they are depicted in the literature, with the aim to create interactive persuasive computer games that are tailored to a person’s motivational style.
- Mar. 14, 2017Dr. Barnett-Cowan's Research Showcased at Ontario Science Centre
Biometrics: The Machine Inside exhibit, gives visitors at the Ontario Science Centre a hands-on look at the natural engineering that drives human and animal movement.
- Mar. 2, 2017GI Faculty Members Awarded CFI Grants
Nineteen researchers at the University of Waterloo will receive a total of $1.4 million for infrastructure to support research. The Canadian Foundation for Innovation (CFI) funds will provide researchers with the research infrastructure necessary to lead in their field.
Among those awarded, Games Institute faculty members will receive a total of $165,000.
Events
- Sep. 27, 2017GI State of the Union Address
The Games Institute (GI) presents its "State of the Union Address" on September 27th, 2017.
Presenter: Neil Randall, Director of the Games Institute
Topic: "The Games Institute: The State of the Union"
All Games Institute members are invited to join Director Neil Randall for a discussion on the following:
- Oct. 26, 2017Save the Date! - GI Brown Bag Series - Dr. Nathan Rambukkana
The Games Institute presents the next of a series of "Brown Bag Seminars" on October 26th, 2017. The GI is located in EC-1, and these events are open to all members of the University of Waterloo.
Presenter: Dr. Nathan Rambukkana
Meet our people
Ben Thompson
Associate Professor, Optometry and Vison Science
Ben’s background is in visual neuroscience and his research interests relate to the development and plasticity of human visual brain areas.