Game Research @CHI PLAY 2024!

The Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play (CHI PLAY) is an international and interdisciplinary conference (by ACM SIGCHI) for researchers and professionals across all areas of play, games, and human-computer interaction (HCI). CHI PLAY 2024 (celebrating its 10th anniversary) took place in Tampere, Finland from October 14-17. The conference featured an interesting program with 63 full papers and a variety of other tracks such as works-in-progress, perspectives on play, interactivities, workshops, panels, a student game design competition, and a doctoral consortium.

Our researchers were strongly involved in the organization (serving as papers chair, student volunteer chair, and workshop organizers) and presented a variety of contributions.

Overview of contributions:

How To Tame a Toxic Player?

Michel Wijkstra, Katja Rogers, Regan L. Mandryk, Remco C. Veltkamp and Julian Frommel

Click here to read the paper

Low Latency Feedback: Contrasting Training Outcomes of Immediate versus Delayed Feedback in Speedrunning Super Mario Bros.

Ioannis Bikas, Johannes Pfau, Thomas Muender, Rainer Malaka

Click here to read the paper

Researchers

dr. Julian Frommel

 Julian Frommel is an assistant professor in the Interaction/Multimedia group. He is interested in the design and implementation of interactive digital systems that provide enjoyable, meaningful, safe, and healthy experiences for users. In one research line, he addresses hate in online games. His research also investigates how interactive systems can help mitigate their negative outcomes in adaptivity and intervention approaches.

Federica S. Giusti

Federica is a PhD candidate at the Human-Centered Computing interaction, researching gender representation in digital games to reduce disparity and create a more inclusive player experience. Her work blends design, psychology, and technology to promote respectful, balanced gaming environments.

dr. Johannes Pfau

Johannes is an Assistant Professor within the Interaction/Multimedia group. His work revolves around the intersection of video games, (generative) AI, analytics and data science. Most of his innovations are implemented and evaluated directly within established games and/or developed in direct collaboration with representatives of the industry.

dr. Susanne Poeller

Susanne is an assistant professor in Human-Centred Computing, seeking to create welcoming and inclusive gaming communities. She applies psychological theories of motivation and self-regulation to better understand the problem of online toxicity (especially verbal abuse and discrimination). Specifically, she is focused on how we can promote empathy and positive social interactions to counteract the prevalent negativity.

Michel Wijkstra

Michel is a PhD Candidate with the Interaction and Multimedia group. The subject of his work is toxic behaviors and harassment in multiplayer games. This broad topic includes detection and prevention techniques and analysis of the causes and effects of this type of behavior. In his work he has assessed the current state of the design space for intervention systems and is currenly working on various ways of adressing toxicity. He also teaches game programming and serious games courses and supervises both bachelor and master theses.

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