Games Institute Podcast

057: Discovering Rhetorical Figures with Citizen Science with Adeshola Ogunsanya, Drake Dong, Nathan D'Silva, and Dr. Randy Harris

On this episode of the GI Podcast, co-hosts Sid Heeg and Dr. Emma Vossen sit down with the Rhetoricon Team. Led by Dr. Randy Harris of the English Language and Literature department at the University of Waterloo, the Rhetoricon project is the longest running project at the Games Institute. Dr. Harris' project examines rhetorical figures in language for the purposes of building ethical language learning models and utilizing citizen science to contribute to the database. Joining the conversation are three students on the project Adeshola Ogunsanya, Drake Dong, and Nathan D'Silva, who provide their expertise from working on the database and explore how working on this interdisciplinary project has impacted them. Links https://rhetoricon.uwaterloo.ca/ https://gofigure.uwaterloo.ca/ https://uwaterloo.ca/english/profiles/randy-harris  

056: Diversity and Inclusion in Social Virtual Reality with Dr. Eugene Kukshinov

In this episode of the GI Podcast, co-hosts Toben Racicot and Sid Heeg sit down with postdoctoral fellow Dr. Eugene Kukshinov and his work in social virtual reality and exploring the concept of presence within VR environments.  Bio: Dr. Eugene Kukshinov is a media psychology and HCI postdoctoral researcher. He got his PhD in Media and Communication from Temple University, USA. His focus is on understanding psychological processing of media and technology. This includes immersive experiences and their interrelationships in different contexts such as (Social) VR, video games, or storytelling. Links: Dr. Kukshinov's website: https://eugenekukshinov.com/  Kukshinov, E. (2024). It's (not) me: Dynamic Nature of Immersive Experiences in Video Game Play. Human Studies. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10746-024-09768-9

055: A Year in Gaming - 2024 Review

This month, hosts Sid Heeg and Toben Racicot are joined by Pamela Maria Schmidt and Dr. Emma Vossen as they discuss the games they've played in 2024 and are looking forward to in 2025. Catch the latest details about their experiences with Balatro, It Takes Two, and The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom. All this and more on this special edition of the GI podcast! Stay in touch with the Games Institute! LinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/company/the-games-institute Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/thegamesinstitute.bsky.social Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thegamesinstitute/ Links: "Playing as the Princess: Nintendo, Gender Roles, and Echoes of Wisdom" by Emma Vossen and Sarah Stang

054: The Future of Recreational and Competitive Esports with Dr. Luke Potwarka and Greg Mittler

Co-hosts Toben Racicot (English Language and Literature) and Sid Heeg (Environment) interview Dr. Luke Potwarka (Recreation and Leisure) and Greg Mittler (Athletics and Recreation). Together they are the founders of UWIN aka the University of Waterloo Interdisciplinary Network for Esports.  Sid and Toben chat with Greg and Luke about Esports sustainability, the possible inclusion of Esports in the Olympics, and their recent trip to the University of Warwick for future collaborative research efforts on Esports development and research. Bios Dr. Luke R. Potwarka Associate Professor in the Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies in the Faculty of Health Sciences and Director of the Spectator Experience and Technology Laboratory aka the SEAT Lab. His research involved thinking critically about sports spectatorship and consumer behaviour and wellbeing. Greg Mittler is the Esports and Gaming Coordinator in the Department of Athletics and Recreation and an alumnus of Waterloo's Recreation and Business program. Greg has been involved in many parts of Camps and Athletics at UW for almost 20 years. Shownotes SEAT LAB: "Our international team of researchers investigate the role of sport spectator experiences in the promotion of individual health and well-being. To achieve this goal, we employ various technologies as both a methodology (e.g., social neuroscience, eye-tracking, second screens, etc), and a means of experiencing sport events (e.g., virtual reality, augmented reality, mobile devices). Our lab's current work focuses on developing a better understanding of the sport consumer experience using social neuroscience methodology. We are interested in addressing the extent to which brain system activation can predict engagement (i.e., flow) and involvement in the sport viewership experience." UWIN's Mission: "The mission of our proposed network is to strengthen esports-related scholarship, teaching/learning, and student experiences at the University of Waterloo. We will advance this mission through socially just and equity-oriented approaches, which seek to make esports more accessible and inclusive spaces for all. Our mission will consider esports from a holistic wellbeing perspective, with considerations for potential physical, mental, social, and emotional benefits and harms of esports to participants and communities."  

053: Non Playable Characters and Believable Emotion Design with Dr. Geneva Smith

This month co-hosts Toben Racicot and Sid Heeg interview incoming GI Postdoctoral Fellow Dr. Geneva Smith about her research into NPC emotional believability in games.  Links: G-ScalE Lab at McMaster University. https://gscale.cas.mcmaster.ca/  "Start Your EM(otion En)gine: Towards Computational Models of Emo-tion for Improving the Believability of Video Game Non-Player Characters" - http://hdl.handle.net/11375/28699 "GLaDOS: Integrating Emotion-Based Behaviours into Non-Player Characters in Computer Role-Playing Games" -  http://hdl.handle.net/11375/21369