Dr Nathan Hughes

University of York

Nathan Hughes is a player experience researcher who focuses on how player make choices within games. Specifically, the work explores open world games such as Skyrim and the Witcher 3, as these games allow players a vast amount of choice with little restrictions on how and when these are made. However, little research has considered these choices, so little is known about how players experience choice in open world games. Therefore, research questions for this work include; why do players choose not to pursue the main quest? What do players choose to do instead? When and how do they make this decision?

His background is in psychology, and so asks these questions from a psychological perspective. The aim is to uncover how the process of choosing unfolds, and how this is influenced. In turn, this may allow reflections on how the decision-making process operates - by analysing choices within open world games, a more controlled (but still intrinsically motivating) setting can be studied.