< Back Dr Laura Helsby University of York iGGi Alum Laura has been gaming since she was five years old and got her first Gameboy Colour. She achieved a BSc in Psychology from the University of York and a MSc in Foundations in Clinical Psychology from Newcastle University. Currently she is employed as a Lecturer in Psychology at LJMU. Her research interests include the impact of technology on wellbeing and mental health, including research into games, social media, AI and other forms of technology use. She has a particular interest in qualitative work and is interested in both academic and industry collaborations. Laura's PhD focused on how people with persistent low mood play and experience games, and how this interacts with their mood and wellbeing. It explored gaming preferences, motivations for play, and changes in mood and wellbeing experienced during play. Overall, this thesis made three key contributions to knowledge: 1) People with persistent low mood desire low-effort gaming experiences, 2) Games have an overall positive impact on persistent low mood and this impact motivates play, and 3) Persistent low mood symptoms may reduce the benefits gained from gaming. This research has applications in game design, mental health and helps contribute to the understanding of player experience. Email l.j.helsby@ljmu.ac.uk Website LinkedIn Mastodon BlueSky GitHub Other Link Supervisors: Prof. Paul Cairns Dr Jo Iacovides Featured Publication(s): ‘The bandwidth comes and goes’: Gaming preferences, habits and attitudes in a persistent low mood population Exploring the player experience of people with persistent low mood "Leave our kids alone!": Exploring Concerns Reported by Parents in 1-star Reviews "Leave our kids alone!": Exploring Concerns Reported by Parents in 1-star Reviews Do People Use Games to Compensate for Psychological Needs During Crises? A Mixed-Methods Study of Gaming During COVID-19 Lockdowns Themes Applied Games Player Research - Previous Next

< Back Dr Fiona McNab University of York Supervisor During a postdoc at the Karolinksa Institute in Stockholm, Fiona investigated working memory and attention, providing empirical support for a role for the basal ganglia in the control of access to working memory and identification of changes in the dopamine system related to working memory training. At The Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, UCL, with a Wellcome Trust Career Development Fellowship, she designed the working memory game in the large-scale smartphone study; “The Great Brain Experiment ”, leading to studies of different types of distraction in younger adults as well as in healthy ageing. In 2013 she moved to Birmingham University, where she conducted fMRI and behavioural studies of attention and working memory, and behavioural studies of the effects of competition on working memory. Fiona is now a lecturer in the Department of Psychology at the University of York. She is using fMRI and behavioural studies to investigate what limits working memory, how different types of distractors are successfully ignored and how working memory changes through development, with healthy aging, as well as in certain patient groups. Part of her work uses data from a new set of working memory games, which are currently available to play (York Memory Games, YORMEGA ). She is particularly interested in supervising students on the following topics: Understanding the limitations of working memory and the role of attention using games Understanding age-related changes in cognition using games, Cognitive training using games. Research themes: Game Design Games with a Purpose Player Experience Gamification Games for Cognition Research Games for Cognitive Training Email fiona.mcnab@york.ac.uk Website LinkedIn Mastodon BlueSky GitHub Other Link Themes Applied Games - Previous Next

< Back Alex Flint University of York iGGi PG Researcher Available for placement Alex has an academic background in Psychology and Human-Computer Interaction. Their Master’s dissertation comparing measures of perceived challenge and demand in video games was published at CHI 2023. Alex has previously worked on the Research Operations team at PlaytestCloud and as a freelance Games User Researcher. They are also a Student Video Games Ambassador for UKIE, and regularly volunteer at conferences such as CHI Play and the GamesUR Summit. When they aren’t at their desk, you can find Alex figure skating, playing roller derby, or DJing 80’s rock. Alex’s research focuses on levelling up the narrative testing practices of indie video game developers. Narrative testing is a specialised games user research (GUR) practice that requires resources and knowledge not easily accessible to indie developers, meaning they are often disadvantaged compared to their larger AAA counterparts. Thus, Alex's work proposes the direct study of indie developers to level the playing field by democratising narrative testing best practices and empowering non-research team members to conduct GUR activities. Alex aims to achieve this goal by: 1) Defining narrative testing best practices. 2) Identifying key challenges indie developers face when evaluating narrative. 3) Co-designing and evaluating narrative testing prototype(s). 4) Assessing methods for disseminating GUR knowledge. The successful completion of this work will impact how indie studios conduct narrative testing, ultimately leading to the creation of better games. Email alex.flint@york.ac.uk Website LinkedIn Mastodon BlueSky GitHub Other Link Supervisor: Dr Alena Denisova Dr Jon Hook Featured Publication(s): Comparing Measures of perceived challenge and demand in video games: Exploring the conceptual dimensions of CORGIS and VGDS Faking handedness: Individual differences in ability to fake handedness, social cognitions of the handedness of others, and a forensic application using Bayes’ theorem Themes Design & Development Player Research - Previous Next

< Back Karl Clarke Queen Mary University of London iGGi PG Researcher Available for placement Karl Clarke is a PhD researcher focused on how virtual environments influence social interaction. He was born in England, grew up in the Middle East, and returned to the UK for university. He holds a Bachelor's and a Master's degree in Audio Technology. During the COVID-19 lockdown, he began exploring virtual reality after getting access to a headset, which led to a shift in focus toward social VR. He is now part of the Intelligent Games and Game Intelligence (iGGi) doctoral programme, where his research looks at how spatial layouts and group behavior are shaped by virtual environments in free-standing social settings. Outside of his research, Karl runs SONAR, a music group hosted in VRChat that uses social VR for live performance and shared listening experiences. Through this project, he has independently learned game development skills in 3D modelling, scripting, and a small amount of graphics programming. He is currently looking to collaborate with VR studios or social platforms working on immersive and social experiences. Email karl.clarke@qmul.ac.uk Website LinkedIn Mastodon BlueSky GitHub Other Link Supervisors: Themes Design & Development Immersive Technology Player Research https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ldehhn_LdhA Previous Next

< Back Dr Adam Katona University of York iGGi Alum Adam did his MSc in mechatronics at Budapest University of Technology and Economics. After graduation, he spent two years working on automated driving at Robert Bosch GmbH, during which he got exposed to both the classical and the machine learning approach of creating intelligent agents. Evolutionary computation continues to surprise us by producing creative and efficient designs. However despite our best efforts, artificial evolution had not produced anything ascomplex and interesting as natural evolution. As our hardware is becoming faster and number of cores in our chips increase, the lack of computational power is becoming less of an excuse. It is starting to become more and more obvious that some fundamental component of natural evolution is missing from our simulations. One possible candidate is the evolution of evolvability. Evolution seems to produce organisms which are well suited for further evolution. The goal of my research is to find mechanisms which allows evolution to increase evolvability, and incorporate these in the design of more efficient neuroevolution algorithms.This research is in the intersection of evolutionary computation, evolutionary developmental biology and neural networks. Email mail.adamkatona@gmail.com Website LinkedIn Mastodon BlueSky GitHub Other Link Featured Publication(s): Complex computation from developmental priors Utilizing the Untapped Potential of Indirect Encoding for Neural Networks with Meta Learning Quality Evolvability ES: Evolving Individuals With a Distribution of Well Performing and Diverse Offspring Growing 3d artefacts and functional machines with neural cellular automata Time to die: Death prediction in dota 2 using deep learning Themes Game AI - Previous Next

< Back Dr Cristiana Pacheco Queen Mary University of London iGGi Alum Cristiana is a researcher with a passion for game development. Her research explores how to assess believability in video games and model/develop human-like behaviour. In addition, her research investigates applying these techniques in general, rather than a single specific game. She finished her BSc in Computer Games in Essex, where she also worked as a research assistant for an autonomous car racing project. She then started her PhD at Queen Mary University of London focused on games believability. Since, she has completed her placement at Ninja Theory, where she collaborated with Microsoft Research in Project Paidia. This opportunity provided experience with both game development and research. As a PhD student in her last year, she is working on the modelling of players through gameplay data and how this can be used to develop more human-like AI. The goal is to combine her research concepts into agents that do not always play to win, but rather present a diverse set of behaviours. Email c.pacheco@qmul.ac.uk Website LinkedIn Mastodon BlueSky GitHub Other Link Supervisor(s): Prof. Richard Bartle Dr Laurissa Tokarchuk Dr Diego Pérez-Liébana Featured Publication(s): Predictive models and monte carlo tree search: A pipeline for believable agents Believability Assessment and Modelling in Video Games Predictive models and monte carlo tree search: A pipeline for believable agents Discrete versus Ordinal Time-Continuous Believability Assessment Trace it like you believe it: Time-continuous believability prediction Studying believability assessment in racing games PAGAN for Character Believability Assessment Rolling Horizon Co-evolution in Two-player General Video Game Playing Themes Creative Computing - Previous Next

< Back Dr Oliver Scholten University of York iGGi Alum Oliver Scholten is working on understanding the use of cryptocurrency technologies for gambling and gaming. His work provides researchers with the tools and context needed to understand player behaviours in these technologically advanced domains. He is the creator of gamba - a python library designed to enable quick replication of existing player behaviour tracking studies. He has also published several peer reviewed articles, and had written evidence published by the UK House of Lords which describes the mechanics behind decentralised gambling applications. As a PhD student, his thesis focuses on decoding and analysing cryptocurrency gambling and cryptocurrency gaming transactions. These transactions offer a more granular insight for researchers into both gambling and gaming than has been historically possible, this work therefore lays the foundations for explorations across different schools of research, and more specifically, advanced player transaction analytics. Please note: Updating of profile text in progress Email oliver@gamba.dev Website LinkedIn Mastodon BlueSky GitHub Other Link Featured Publication(s): On the Evaluation of Procedural Level Generation Systems On the Behavioural Profiling of Gamblers Using Cryptocurrency Transaction Data Inside the decentralised casino: A longitudinal study of actual cryptocurrency gambling transactions Decentralised Gambling Overview Decentralised Gambling: The York Combined Transaction Set Unconventional Exchange: Methods for Statistical Analysis of Virtual Goods Utilising VIPER for Parameter Space Exploration in Agent Based Wealth Distribution Models Ethereum Crypto-Games: Mechanics, Prevalence, and Gambling Similarities Themes Game Data - Previous Next

Partners (All) iGGi is a collaboration between Uni of York + Queen Mary Uni of London: the largest training programme worldwide for doing a PhD in digital games. iGGi Partners We are excited to be collaborating with a number of industry partners. iGGi works with industry in some of the following ways: Researcher Industry Knowledge Exchange - this can take many forms, from what looks like a traditional placement, to a short term consultancy, to an ongoing relationship between the researcher and their industry partner. Researcher Sponsorship - for some of our researchers, their relationship with their industry partner is reinforced by sponsorship from the company. This is an excellent demonstration of the strength of the commitment and the success of the collaborations. In Kind Contributions - iGGi industry partners can contribute by attending and/or featuring in our annual conference, offering their time to give talks and masterclasses for our students, or even taking part in our annual game jam! Check out our Industry Info page here to see these types of collaboration described in more detail. There are many ways for our industry partners to work with iGGi. If you are interested in becoming involved, please do contact us so we can discuss what might be suitable for you. 22 Cans AI and Games Autistica BT BetaJester Limited BiG BlitzGame Studios Bossa Studios British Broadcasting Corporation BBC British Games Institute (BGI) CBT Clinics COMIC Research Carnegie Mellon University Cooperative Innovations Creative AI Creative Assembly Die Gute Fabrik Digital Catapult Dubit Limited Durham University ESL UK Electronic Arts (EA) Enigmatic Studios Falmouth University Fluttermind LLC

< Back Dr Nick Ballou Queen Mary University of London iGGi Alum Hi there! I’m a psychology and human-computer interaction researcher interested in two main topics: how games affect wellbeing, and how we can reform the research ecosystem to be more trustworthy and efficient (aka “open science” or “metascience”). I’m originally from the US, and have bachelor and master’s degrees in linguistics, a topic that prepared me well for social science research, but whose use is relegated to excitedly sharing language fun facts at this point. In my free time, I play tennis, cook and bake, read—and of course play games (mostly deckbuilders, roguelikes, and AAA RPGs). A description of Nick's research: Psychological need frustration—experiences of feeling controlled and coerced, failure and self-doubt, or loneliness and exclusion—is a promising framework for understanding how players engage with video games. Grounded in self-determination theory, one of the most robust psychological theories, need frustration might help explain how and why players (dis)engage with a game and how gameplay impacts well-being. To realize this aim, however, we’re missing key building blocks: 1) a better grasp on when and why need-frustrating situations arise during play; 2) a questionnaire that can assess how much need frustration people experience in games quantitatively; and 3) studies that combine data on need frustration with carefully tracked behavioral data over time, rather than relying on simple self-reports like “how much time did you spend playing video games last week?” My thesis attempts to address all of these one step at a time and is underpinned by a strong emphasis on open and transparent methods. Results so far are promising—contact me to hear more! Email nick@nickballou.com Website LinkedIn Mastodon BlueSky GitHub Other Link Supervisors: Prof. Sebastian Deterding Dr David Zendle Dr Laurissa Tokarchuk Featured Publication(s): The basic needs in games model of video game play and mental health "I just wanted to get it over and done with": a grounded theory of psychological need frustration in video games 01 01V A manifesto for more productive psychological games research All BANG, little buck: Need-related experiences are weakly linked with behavior in the video game domain Awareness and Use of Open Research Practices: An International Survey of Researchers Across Disciplines Building collaborative digital behavioural science: A cross-sector agenda from video games research Commentary: Prediction of problem gambling by demographics, gaming behavior and psychological correlates among gacha gamers: A cross-sectional online survey in Chinese young adults From Breakups to Lethargy: Player Accounts of Third Variables Affecting Video Game Playtime and Wellbeing Fundamental Flaws in the Design and Reporting of Chew and Neo (2024) Ill Health and Grief Fuel Gaming, while Lethargy Slows It: Playtime-Wellbeing Confounds from the Player Perspective Open Play: A longitudinal dataset of multi-platform video game digital trace data and psychological measures Perceived value of video games, but not hours played, predicts mental well-being in casual adult Nintendo players Psychological wellbeing, sleep, and video gaming: Analyses of comprehensive digital traces stage 1 programmatic registered report Self-determination theory in HCI: advancing the field Reliving 10 years old: Descriptive Insights into Retro Gaming UKRN Local Network Lead Guidebook Claims for no evidence also need evidence From social media to artificial intelligence: improving research on digital harms in youth The Basic Needs in Games (BANG) Model of Video Game Play and Mental Health The Basic Needs in Games (BANG) Model of Video Games and Mental Health: Untangling the Positive and Negative Effects of Games with Better Science The Relationship Between Lockdowns and Video Game Playtime: Multilevel Time-Series Analysis Using Massive-Scale Data Telemetry Affective Uplift During Video Game Play: A Naturalistic Case Study No evidence that Chinese playtime mandates reduced heavy gaming in one segment of the video games industry A manifesto for more productive psychological games research Four grand challenges for video game effects scholars: How digital trace data can improve the way we study games Perceived value of video games, but not hours played, predicts mental well-being in adult Nintendo players Development of the Brief Open Research Survey (BORS) to measure awareness and uptake of Open Research practices The Basic Needs in Games Scale (BANGS): A new tool for investigating positive and negative video game experiences How does Juicy Game Feedback Motivate? Testing Curiosity, Competence, and Effectance Themes Game Data Player Research Previous Next

< Back Dr James Walker University of York iGGi Industry Liaison Supervisor Dr James Walker is a Senior Lecturer in Computer Science and Digital Creativity at the University of York. A member of the Digital Creativity Labs, and the York Cross-disciplinary Centre for Systems Analysis (YCCSA). His current research focuses on bio-inspired algorithms (including AI and machine learning) and their application to games and game data analytics. He is also a senior member of the IEEE. Email James@digitalcreativity.ac.uk Website LinkedIn Mastodon BlueSky GitHub Other Link Themes Creative Computing Esports Game AI Game Data - Previous Next

< Back Dr Marko Tot Queen Mary University of London iGGi Alum Hello! I'm Marko, and welcome to my page! As a part of the IGGI programme and Game AI research group, I'm working on adapting Statistical Forward Planning methods for complex environments. Statistical Forward Planning methods have proven to be effective in some simpler domains and, without requiring any prior learning, they provide a good out of the box AI algorithm. However, while these algorithms shine in certain games, they struggle to perform well in cases where the reward received from the game is sparse. In games where it takes a series of optimal actions to reach the goal, without any significant feedback from the environment in between, their performance drops significantly. My research is centered on solving this problem through automatic sub-goal generation and utilisation of local learned forward models. Creation of the sub-goals could be used to simulate the feedback from the environment and give regular rewards to the agent even in sparse and complex environments. I started my journey in video games when I got my first PC at the age of six, and at that point it was decided that I'm going to make a career out of it. So here I am, ~20 years later, a PhD. student at Queen Mary University of London, trying to make AI agents that can play games, and regularly spending too much time playing games under the excuse that it's all for 'research purpose'. Email m.tot@qmul.ac.uk Website LinkedIn Mastodon BlueSky GitHub Other Link Supervisor(s): Dr Diego Pérez-Liébana Featured Publication(s): Adapting a world model for trajectory following in a 3d game Bootstrap Your Own Teacher: Online Policy Distillation for Multi-Game Reinforcement Learning Statistical Forward Planning Algorithms World and human action models towards gameplay ideation Turning Zeroes into Non-Zeroes: Sample Efficient Exploration with Monte Carlo Graph Search Making Something Out of Nothing: Monte Carlo Graph Search in Sparse Reward Environments What are you looking at? Team fight prediction through player camera Themes Game AI - Previous Next

< Back Dr Debbie Maxwell University of York iGGi Research Collaboration Coordinator Supervisor Debbie is a lecturer in User Experience Design and Interactive Media at the Department of Theatre, Film and Television. Her background spans computing, HCI and Design and she currently teaches user experience (UX) design and design methods and critical design on the BSc Interactive Media programme. Her research focuses on the roles of traditional storytelling and engagement in digital contexts. I’m interested in the ways that people interact with and reshape technology through stories, as both method and artefacts, and across media. She is particularly focuses on applying design and stories across health and wellbeing and environmental design drawing on speculative design processes and approaches. Debbie uses interdisciplinary approaches that draw on a range of fields including Human Computer Interaction (HCI), ethnography, interaction design, social anthropology, and service design. Her research always involves working with communities using participatory methods. She is particularly interested in supervising students with a design or HCI background on the following topics: design of applied games for environmental education or knowledge exchange design and application of serious games to mental health and wellbeing contexts design and application of serious games to outdoor spaces, particularly cultural heritage settings Research themes: Games with a Purpose User experience design Design methods and ethnography Speculative design Email debbie.maxwell@york.ac.uk Website LinkedIn Mastodon BlueSky GitHub Other Link Themes Applied Games Design & Development Player Research - Previous Next