Welcome to the Games Institute
We share the following sources with anyone seeing this
- 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 6, 2020The Games Institute Celebrates FDA Approving The First Prescription Video Game For Kids With ADHD
For the first time, US doctors can prescribe a video game. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has just approved EndeavorRX as an effective treatment for kids with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD
– quoted from "The FDA Just Approved The First Prescription Video Game For Kids With ADHD" by David Nield in Science Alert.
- June 26, 2020Watch the YouTube Video of GEDI's panel event with 6 GI Members "The Post-COVID-19 Reboot: Our virtual future"
Missed the event from Thursday, June 25? Watch it now on YouTube. Drs. Aynur Kadir, Jennifer Boger, Jim Wallace, and Michael Barnett-Cowan of the Games Institute, Scotiabank's Andrea Kerswill, and Glove System's Ray Simonson talk about what we have seen so far about our attempt to capitalize on virtual technology to manage through the crisis, the pros and cons of virtual connectivity, what weaknesses of virtual reality have been exposed, and how to reinvent the future.
- June 19, 2020Panel featuring six GI members: "Rebooting with Research: Our virtual future"
Gateway for Enterprises to Discover Innovation (GEDI) presents the culmination of their 6-part event series, Post-COVID-19 Reboot...
"Rebooting with Research: Our virtual future" will take place June 25, 2020, at 1pm, featuring a fully-packed GI member panel. Dr. Neil Randall, Games Institute Executive Director and Chair of the Council for Responsible Innovation and Technology, moderates the event.
Expert panelists include:
Blog
- July 9, 2020“Games as learning sandbox” Approach: The story behind the Ideas Clinic and Games Institute crossover
We asked Dr. John Harris, valued GI alum from Computer Science and founder of the Playful Pixel, to tell us the story of his collaboration with the Ideas Clinic, a Software Engineering initiative that offers creative crash-courses for first-year students. Dr. Harris stepped in to support the clinic in designing and delivering a game experience. Read on to discover the results of this unique interdisciplinary collaboration and find out what “Games as learning sandbox” means.
- June 24, 2020Resources assist healthcare and social service providers to help those who experience family violence
An online platform built with the assistance of the The Games Institute at the University of Waterloo has been launched to assist healthcare and social service providers to recognize and respond safely to family violence.
- June 22, 2020The Pam Report part 2: What do we mean when we say Interdisciplinary?
What do we mean when we say “Interdisciplinary”?
“Interdisciplinary” has recently become an ill-defined buzzword across academia and industry. At the Games Institute, we used to shuffle through multiple prefixes including multidisciplinary, transdisciplinary, and interdisciplinary based on what felt right for the project. Throughout my co-op term, we often discussed which term best suited our ethos, mission, and debated how to define our boundary-crossing identity.
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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
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.
