Lauren Winter

University of York

Lauren was introduced to gaming from an early age when they received a PlayStation One as a gift. From there, video games became a huge part of their life, exploring new worlds through the eyes of a vast array of characters. Following their undergraduate degree in Psychology with Sociology, they completed their MSc in Psychology Research Methods at the University of Nottingham. A fascination with looking for trends in data and creating complex spreadsheets in Excel led them to a job analysing student information in a school, where they also ran four Esports teams competing across three games. Their research interests primarily focus on player research in team-based PVP games and looking at players’ awareness of each other in these environments.

A description of Lauren's research:

Lauren’s research investigates the differences in human-human and human-AI interaction in team-based digital games.  Simultaneous combinations of competitive and cooperative play are found in many high grossing games, such as Call of Duty and League of Legends.  These games provide environments for players to play with strangers, friends, and AI, and elicit social presence, a term used to describe the awareness of others in a digital environment.  Lauren’s research will focus on two types of social presence: cooperative presence and competitive presence.  Despite the popularity of these games, little is known about the juncture between the two and the effects they have on player experience.  Due to the increasing inclusion of AI in daily life, including the gaming space, investigating these effects will have implications for future research in team-based digital games, as well as in the creation of AI that works with and against users.

Through the development of a bespoke game, created in Unity, Lauren will investigate how people work together and against other players and AI, identifying aspects of the AI that can be manipulated into better player experiences and more enjoyable games.