Hosted by the School of Computing and Information Systems, join guest speaker Dr Alena Denisova as she shares her research findings on game design, data sampling and decision-making based on user feedback.
In this talk, Dr Alena Denisova will discuss the realm of player experience (PX) in video games. While existing PX theories and methods for assessing these experiences largely rely on player insights, she emphasises the importance of considering the experiences intended by the game designers in enhancing our existing theories and tools, as well as fostering the development of new ones. She will share insights from our recent studies with indie game developers, shedding light on the design and evaluation processes they follow as well as the challenges they face during playtesting (with the focus on evaluating PX), including sampling, data handling and decision-making based on collected feedback. Through this research, she aims to explore ways in which games user research (GUR) practices can be adapted and enhanced to better support indie developers, making playtesting more accessible and impactful for them. Come reflect on these findings and explore future avenues for a more comprehensive understanding of playtesting in the gaming industry and other academic research avenues.
Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in Computer Science at the University of York, UK
Dr Alena Denisova is a Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in Computer Science at the University of York, UK. Her interdisciplinary research focuses on conceptualising, measuring and improving user experiences of video game players and designing, developing tools and methods for researching interactive experiences, and building educational and persuasive interactive media. In particular, her work explores the role of the `placebo effect’ of technology in shaping player experiences, perceived challenge and uncertainty in video games, and, more recently, emotionally impactful player experiences - understanding how these experiences are shaped with the view to inform the design of games that promote such experiences.
