The development and validation of tools and measurements for gaming experiences is an ongoing challenge for game studies researcher. This paper describes a questionnaire that collects information on fine-grained gaming preferences across genres. The data is analyzed quantitatively. Results obtained from this tool point out to what specific aspects of games are preferred.

Video games rely extensively on visual information displayed to the players. Current digital games show enormous amounts of data, and generally in complex 3D virtual worlds. During a game, there is new data added constantly, but it's also important to have access to information already collected. Menus, minimaps, aiming cursor, character's health and capabilities are some of the data categories displayed in games. This paper aims to identify how video games present useful visual information to the player, if principles of visualization are applied, and highlight techniques that would be addressed to games for improving their data visualization.

Practising Games User Research within a video game company possesses unique challenges, ranging from tight turnaround of findings to collaborating with the development team and incorporating the needs of the rest of company. This chapter describes processes and best practices for applying GUR in the industry while identifying and avoiding potential pitfalls.

Games User Research (GUR) is an emerging field that ties together Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and Game Development. The GUR community has rapidly evolved over the past few years (spawning an International Game Developers Association Special Interest Group). In this workshop, we are investigating different methodologies currently used in practice. We will highlight benefits and drawbacks in assessing game design issues hoping to gain insights into player experience. The outcome will be a collection of best practices online, showing practitioners and researchers how to apply these techniques. We will also peer-review and publish extended versions of paper submissions in a Cognitive Science Research Papers Special Issue on GUR. This will extend the discussion of topics beyond the workshop and serve as a platform for future work.

No abstract