Playing the Archive
Old games don’t play on modern equipment. To retain this part of our cultural heritage, we took action.
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.
Research Projects
>> All Research ProjectsANTICIPLAY
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
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.
- 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
- Events:
Week of the Game @ Utrecht University
- Education, Events, Publications:
History of Game Research at Utrecht University
Crisis to Resilience
Ecogame Playtesting Series 2025/26
After a successful run last fall, Flora Roberts, Laura op de Beke, and Stefan Werning, representing the Network for Environmental Humanities (NEH) and the Utrecht Game Lab, are back with another series of ecogame play(testing) sessions.
- Education, Events:
Hybrid Franchise Hacking Workshop (Gamelab x Man Met)
- Education, Events:
Franchise Hacking Workshop (Gamelab x WUR Games Hub)
Themes
>> All ThemesGames 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
- Education, Events:
Shape2gether: Sharing our knowledge about discursive game design
- Insights:
Ecogame Playtesting Series 2025/26
Games Beyond Entertainment
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.
- Books, News, Publications:
New book on Historiographies of Game Studies
- Education, News:
Open Mind game challenges to look further
Extended Realities (AR/VR/XR)
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
- Events, News:
Meet the Makers: Roos Groothuizen
- Events, News, Publications:
Game Research at CHI 2024
Criticism and Analysis
New book on Historiographies of Game Studies
We would like to point you in the direction of a recently released edited volume titled Historiographies of Game Studies: What It Has Been, What It Could Be. The chapters in the book, two of which were authored by UU scholars, critically reflect on both the past and potential futures of game studies as a field.
Disciplines
>> All DisciplinesMedia and Culture Studies
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.
- Books:
CFP: “VR as Empathy Machine: Media, Migration and the Humanitarian Predicament”
- Books, News, Publications:
New book on Historiographies of Game Studies
Geosciences
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!
- Education, Events:
Shape2Gether: Experiencing the Bochum Summer School
- Events:
Shape2Gether – Time for Workshops
Computer Sciences
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
- Events, News:
Game Research @ CHI 2025
- Insights, News:
Pinball Research at School
Educational Sciences
Hybrid Franchise Hacking Workshop (Gamelab x Man Met)
On April 30th 2025, the Utrecht Gamelab and the Manchester Game Centre at Manchester Metropolitan University collaborated on a first-of-its-kind hybrid three-hour co-design workshop, building on the work of Chloe Germaine and Paul Wake on ‘game hacking’ and the ‘franchise hacking’ technique developed by the Utrecht Game Lab on the basis of Germaine and Wake’s