Current students

Subscribe to Current students

The Haptics Experience Lab is seeking a full stack developer to rebuild the Haptiverse platform from scratch within a project timeline of 1.5 to 2 months. The developer should have experience with both front-end and back-end technologies, databases, DevOps skills, communication skills, and experience with support and maintenance. The developer will be provided design/assets and any support as needed. There’s a requirement document and a preliminary database architecture available.

Details:

Thursday, March 30, 2023 2:00 pm - 3:15 pm EDT (GMT -04:00)

Panel on Designing for Disability and Accessibility

Join us for a virtual panel with three researchers about their work and research in Accessibility in Digital Games and Virtual Reality. The panel will include Triskal deHaven, Dr. Katta Spiel, and Dr. Cayley McArthur. Triskal deHaven will lead the panel with frequently asked questions about Virtual Reality and Accessibility, research studies within higher level education, and some of the gaps in Accessibility that students could pursue. Students are encouraged to ask their own questions about these topics during the event.

Thursday, March 23, 2023 2:30 pm - 4:00 pm EDT (GMT -04:00)

Researching Disability and Play - Where's the fun in that?

Games research is slowly diversifying in matters of representation as well as accessibility related investigations. Similarly, a materialist and embodied understanding of play (also digitally) seeps in more on a theoretical basis. However, we need to critically examine what kind of bodies are invited to participate in play and how. Where games and play are mostly conceptualized as entertainment for the majority of bodies, disabled people are often relegated to playing for externally motivated purposes that are often driven by deficit oriented medical models of disability. Using the theory on the surrogate body in play, they illustrate how it can be instrumental to critically engage with norms governing digital play and identifying design opportunities playing with said bodily norms to holistically cater to disabled audiences. They do so by focusing on the critical analytical category of disability not just through an access oriented lens per se, but rather to bring principles of disability justice to play.

A promotional poster for Toben Racicot's lecture on "Everything Should be FIndable"

GI member and PhD candidate, Toben Racicot (English Language and Literature) braved the weather on January 25, 2023, to present a lecture on making loot in role-playing games (RPGs) more accessible and enjoyable. This was a part of the “Projects and Research by English Students” (PRES) lecture series run outside of the UW English Languages and Literature Department.

On January 24th, the Office of Research hosted “The AI Tsunami – Where will it take us?”, a panel discussion on the future and Artificial Intelligence (AI) at Jobsite Brewing Co. in Stratford, Ontario. Dr. Will Zhao (Stratford School of Interaction Design and Business) and Evan Jones (GI Advisory Board Member) were among those speaking on the panel.

A promotional poster for Elaine Gomez-Sanchez's guest lecture at the Games Institute, University of Waterloo.

Join Elaine Gómez as she will describe the importance of representation in games and digital media. She will speak to how gaming has the power to destroy the perpetuation of stereotypical perceptions and will explain how games can be designed to create social impact in meaningful ways.

Congratulations to Drs. Lili Liu (Dean of the Faculty of Health) and Ben Thompson (Optometry and Vision Science) who were awarded the Graham Seed Fund, launched by the Health Initiatives team at UW!

A promotional poster for Dr. Adan Jerreat-Poole's talk on Glitch Feminism

On January 19th, 2023, Dr. Adan Jerreat-Poole (Communication Arts) was a speaker at the 6-part “DS Bytes: A Lunchtime Speaker Series” where they discussed Glitch Feminism, disability, and technology.

A woman sits in front of a computer using a mouse and head set

The University of Waterloo Games Institute has secured $25,000 of funding per year over two years from the Ontario government to provide scholarships to students pursuing careers in the gaming and esports industries. The successful application was an interdisciplinary collaborative effort between the Games Institute (GI) and the faculties of Arts, Health, Math, Engineering, and Science.

A goose wearing a hat and holding a game controler in their mouth

Thursday, February 2, 2023 5:00 pm - Sunday, February 5, 2023 6:00 pm EST (GMT -05:00)

WINTER 2023 Global Game Jam

On February 2nd- February 5th, 2023, join us for the GLOBAL GAME JAM! Build a game with your team, join a thriving community & have lots of fun over the weekend!

WINTER 2023 Global Jam

Start: Time TBD, Thursday, February 2nd

End: Time TBD, Sunday, February 5th

Current students

Haptics Experience Lab is looking for a developer for the development of the Haptiverse research platform

Panel on Designing for Disability and Accessibility

Researching Disability and Play - Where's the fun in that?

GI Member Toben Racicot Presents Everything Should Be Findable: Redesigning Loot in RPGs

GI Faculty Member Will Zhao and GI Collaborator Evan Jones, Discuss the Impacts and Future of Artificial Intelligence

The Impact of Genuine and Mindful Inclusion of Marginalized Communities in Creative Works.

GI Faculty Members Lili Liu and Ben Thompson Awarded Graham Seed Fund

GI Faculty Member Adan Jerreat-Poole Gives Virtual Talk to McMaster’s Sherman Centre for Digital Scholarship

The Games Institute secures $50,000 of funding for Esports Scholarship Program

WINTER 2023 Global Game Jam

WINTER 2023 Global Jam

Departments Involved

Research Centres