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
WatSPEED Arrives for Research Demo at the GI
On October 15th, Jennifer Bentley (Manager of Events and Engagement) and Karina Graf (Associate Director, Marketing and Digital Sales) from WatSPEED visited the GI for a demo of select research projects by GI members.
GI Faculty Members Named University Research Chairs
Congratulations to GI faculty members Drs. Lennart Nacke (Stratford School of Interaction Design and Business) and Marcel O’Gorman (English Language and Literature) who have been appointed University Research Chairs at Waterloo.
International Conference on Games and Narrative 2025 Puts out Call For Participation
The Games Institute is excited to announce the CfP for the upcoming International Conference on Games and Narrative 2025 (ICGaN'25). This year’s conference theme is “Adapt, Adopt, Adjust: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Adaptation, Storytelling, and Simulation” asks us to consider the power of adapted and adaptive narratives, experiences, genres, and mechanics.
Blog
The Legacy of the Stickers: A Snapshot of Florian Marcher's Time at the GI
Florian Marcher’s first contact with the GI was—like with many international students—with Dr. Lennart Nacke at a CHI conference. Then, through the suggestion of his master’s supervisor in Graz, Austria, Marcher applied as an International Visiting Graduate Student (IVGS) to Dr. Nacke not only for his guidance, but also for Dr. Nacke’s expertise in the field of Human Computer Interactions (HCI). After he was accepted, Marcher made the trip over to Waterloo, Ontario to make progress on his Master’s thesis “Procedural Generational Tools for Green Spaces” with a focus on their usability and feasibility.
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.