Center for Game Research

Center for Game Research

The central hub for disseminating game research from Utrecht University

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    • Designing Social Interactions
    • Making Game Studies’ Research Practical with Discursive Game Design
    • All Will Rise – crowdfunding campaign now live!
    • Jamming for Climate Justice!
    • Take a course, build a video game, change the world
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    Playable Personas: Using Games and Play to Expand the Repertoire of Learner Personas

    This article explores how playing and co-creating games in higher education contexts contributes to expanding learner personas and facilitating a multimodal learning experience. Working from the interdisciplinary perspectives of media/games studies, pedagogy, and linguistic anthropology, Stefan Werning, Deborah Cole, and Andrea Maragliano conceptualize in-class learning as the making and playing of games, reporting on game experiments and playful practices targeted at learning key theoretical concepts in our disciplines.

    Editorial Team
    16-03-2021 // Insights // Criticism and Analysis, Games Beyond Entertainment

    Making Games – The Politics and Poetics of Game Creation Tools

    In Making Games, Stefan Werning considers the role of tools (primarily but not exclusively software), their design affordances, and the role they play as sociotechnical actors. He frames game-making as a (meta)game in itself and shows that tools, like games, have their own “procedural rhetoric” and should not always be conceived simply in terms of optimization and best practices.

    Editorial Team
    16-02-2021 // Books // Criticism and Analysis

    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.

    Editorial Team
    14-12-2020 // Insights, Publications // Criticism and Analysis, Games Beyond Entertainment

    Research Projects

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    ANTICIPLAY

    Making Game Studies’ Research Practical with Discursive Game Design

    Co-creation of games, participatory design, open dialogue, and social perspective-taking currently lie at the centre of game research at Utrecht University. All these practices are characteristic of Discursive Game Design (DGD), a method that highlights the processes underlying practice-based game research, rather than a final "fixed" product.

    Marijn Benschop
    02-03-2026 // Insights // Criticism and Analysis, Game Design, Games Beyond Entertainment
    • Education, News:

      Take a course, build a video game, change the world

    • Insights, Longread:

      “Change makers don’t understand games; game makers don’t understand change”

    Comenius - Fostering an Open Mind

    Open Mind game challenges to look further

    From now on, the Open Mind game, a creative educational game in the style of “whodunit”, is available in the Apple App and Google Play store. Students play the game on their own smartphones and receive mysterious messages from an unknown sender. By talking to various characters about their traits, values and beliefs, they have

    14-07-2025 // Education, News // Games Beyond Entertainment, Social Games and Play
    • Events, Insights, News:

      Taking Perspectives with Game Design: Teachers wanted for pilot!

    • Insights, Longread, News:

      A new game that opens up your mind

    Shape2Gether - Erasmus+

    Shape2gether: Sharing our knowledge about discursive game design

    Last November Aengus, Isabel and Mick visited two conferences to share some of the outcomes of the Erasmus+ hape2gether project with a broader audience.

    Mick Raamsteeboers, Isabel Rump, Aengus Schulte
    10-01-2026 // Education, Events // Games and Sustainability, Games Beyond Entertainment
    • Education, Events:

      Shape2Gether: Experiencing the Bochum Summer School

    • Events:

      Shape2Gether – Time for Workshops

    Virtual Reality as Empathy Machine

    CFP: “VR as Empathy Machine: Media, Migration and the Humanitarian Predicament”

     Book Title: Beyond the Empathy Machine: Critical Perspectives on Virtual Reality  Editors: Professor Sandra Ponzanesi (s.ponzanesi@uu.nl), Dr. Jenny Andrine Madsen Evang (j.a.m.evang@uu.nl), Dr. Wouter Oomen (w.a.oomen@uu.nl), Laurence Herfs (l.l.herfs@uu.nl), and Lisa Burghardt (l.burghardt@uu.nl)  Over the last decade or so, Virtual Reality (VR) has been honed as a new frontier in social tech. From Chris Milk and Gabo

    Editorial Team
    07-01-2026 // Books // Extended Realities (AR/VR/XR)
    • Events:

      Week of the Game @ Utrecht University

    • Education, Events, Publications:

      History of Game Research at Utrecht University

    Themes

    >> All Themes

    Games Beyond Entertainment

    Designing Social Interactions

    This article explores how game studies scholars may apply their findings with a focus on the design of social interactions. Specifically, Molleindustria’s Casual Games for Protesters is analysed, looking at the ways in which its playful design undermines dominant narratives and invites new perspectives.

    Marijn Benschop
    12-03-2026 // Insights // Criticism and Analysis, Games Beyond Entertainment
    • Insights:

      Making Game Studies’ Research Practical with Discursive Game Design

    • Education, Events, Interview:

      Jamming for Climate Justice!

    Criticism and Analysis

    Making Game Studies’ Research Practical with Discursive Game Design

    Co-creation of games, participatory design, open dialogue, and social perspective-taking currently lie at the centre of game research at Utrecht University. All these practices are characteristic of Discursive Game Design (DGD), a method that highlights the processes underlying practice-based game research, rather than a final "fixed" product.

    Marijn Benschop
    02-03-2026 // Insights // Criticism and Analysis, Game Design, Games Beyond Entertainment
    • Education, Events, Interview:

      Jamming for Climate Justice!

    • Books, News, Publications:

      New book on Historiographies of Game Studies

    Game Design

    All Will Rise – crowdfunding campaign now live!

    The Kickstarter campaign for All Will Rise: a narrative courtroom deck-builder has gone live. This game, developed by the team of Speculative Agency, has our own Joost Vervoort as science and impact director. He leads the academic side of the project and focus on the societal impact of the game.

    Editorial Team
    19-02-2026 // In the media, News // Game Design, Games and Sustainability
    • Education, Events:

      Hybrid Franchise Hacking Workshop (Gamelab x Man Met)

    Games and Sustainability

    Take a course, build a video game, change the world

    Heads up UU students! Ever wondered what it would be like to build a video game to change the world? We have a few late registration spots left in our BSc course ‘The Sustainability Game’! This course is open to all 2nd and 3rd year Utrecht University students who have some previous interest and background

    dr. Joost Vervoort
    14-01-2026 // Education, News // Games and Sustainability
    • Education, Events:

      Shape2gether: Sharing our knowledge about discursive game design

    • Insights:

      Ecogame Playtesting Series 2025/26

    Disciplines

    >> All Disciplines

    Media and Culture Studies

    Designing Social Interactions

    This article explores how game studies scholars may apply their findings with a focus on the design of social interactions. Specifically, Molleindustria’s Casual Games for Protesters is analysed, looking at the ways in which its playful design undermines dominant narratives and invites new perspectives.

    Marijn Benschop
    12-03-2026 // Insights // Criticism and Analysis, Games Beyond Entertainment
    • Insights:

      Making Game Studies’ Research Practical with Discursive Game Design

    • Education, Events, Interview:

      Jamming for Climate Justice!

    Anthropology

    Jamming for Climate Justice!

    How do you simulate a climate crisis? How can you convey an ecocritical message that invites reflection and, perhaps, action? Participants of the Mzansi Game Jam (MGJ) developed games that addressed these questions from various angles.

    Marijn Benschop
    18-02-2026 // Education, Events, Interview // Criticism and Analysis, Games Beyond Entertainment
    • Events, Insights, News:

      Dutch DiGRA Symposium 2025: Futures for Game and Play Research.

    • Books:

      Book: Toys and Communication

    History and Art History

    Dutch DiGRA Symposium 2025: Futures for Game and Play Research.

    Programme, sign-up sheet, and abstracts now available! This year the Dutch DiGRA is hosted by Utrecht University. The programme is filled with research about the future of game studies, gamification and play in contemporary society, and much more! All are welcome, so sign up using the Google Form in this post!

    Marijn Benschop, dr. Laura op de Beke
    21-05-2025 // Events, Insights, News // Multi theme
    • News:

      New digital escape room MedievalMe brings the Middle Ages to life

    • Education, Events, Publications:

      History of Game Research at Utrecht University

    Geosciences

    Shape2gether: Sharing our knowledge about discursive game design

    Last November Aengus, Isabel and Mick visited two conferences to share some of the outcomes of the Erasmus+ hape2gether project with a broader audience.

    Mick Raamsteeboers, Isabel Rump, Aengus Schulte
    10-01-2026 // Education, Events // Games and Sustainability, Games Beyond Entertainment
    • Education, Events:

      Shape2Gether: Experiencing the Bochum Summer School

    • Events:

      Shape2Gether – Time for Workshops

    Center for Game Research

    Central hub for disseminating high-quality game research from Utrecht University to a diverse audience that includes academics, students, game developers, and journalists.

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    Drift 10, 3512 BS Utrecht

    The Netherlands

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