Games Beyond Entertainment
Within this research theme, we situate all research on games and play where entertainment is not the main goal. Rather, games and play are studied in their capacity to persuade, steer, sell or in other ways influence the player through its design. This includes the many examples of serious games and gaming (educational, political, commercial) as well as the various forms and applications of gamification. We look both at the potential of, and provides critical reflection on these developments.
Making data playable: A game co-creation method to promote creative data literacy
This article explores how making data playable, i.e. developing exploratory co-creation techniques that use elements of play and games to interpret small to mid-sized datasets beyond the current focus on visual evidence, can help a) promote creative data literacy in higher education, and b) expand existing definitions of data literacy.
The Playful Citizen. Civic Engagement in a Mediatized Culture
The Playful Citizen edited volume explores how and through what media we are becoming more playful as citizens and how this manifests itself in our ways of doing, living, and thinking.
DietCare: the value of game elements
What if keeping track of your food and fluids intake feels like playing a game rather than paperwork?
Health games symposium
This symposium brought together experts in the fields of game design and development, psychology, neuroscience, physiotherapy, and data and computer science.
Exercise game to reduce the risk of falling
To reduce the falling risk, researchers developed a fun and motivating exercise game for the elderly.
Personalised interactive wall for elderly with dementia
People suffering from dementia often feel confused and depressed. Some of them also display wandering behaviour. We build an interactive wall for people suffering from dementia.
A virtual sleep coach in your pocket
Researchers from Utrecht University, the University of Amsterdam and TU Delft have developed an app that helps users learn to sleep better
Crowds deciphered: simulation and control of the masses
We have researched a model for simulating crowds in big infrastructures, at events, and in computer games.
Game Research Magazine
In 2017, a special issue titled Game Research – Games that Change your Mind was published about the research projects of the Utrecht Center for Game Research.
Playful Identities – The Ludification of Digital Media Cultures
The edited volume Playful Identities Digital deals with media technologies that increasingly shape how people relate to the world, to other people and to themselves. This prompts questions about present-day mediations of identity.