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HCI Games Group

Researching Affective Systems and Engaging Interactions

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Researchers

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Andrew Cen

Master's Student, Game Design Research

Andrew is a user experience designer and researcher within the HCI Games Group lab. He is currently completing his graduate studies within the faculty of System Design Engineering, under the supervision of Dr. Lennart Nacke. Andrew’s primary research area focuses on Human computer interactions (HCI), user experience (UX), and gamification. His current thesis examines a user’s experience of immersion and enjoyability across controllers of different fidelities. He is also researching financial literacy through applied gamification. In his spare time he designs for hackathons and various side projects that explore health and big tech.

Projects

SWaGUR: Saskatchewan-Waterloo Games User Research
Developing and Analysing Adaptive, Enjoyable, and Engaging Human-Computer Interfaces
Improving Consumer Personal Financial Management Needs Through Gamification
Developing and Analyzing Immersive Game Technologies and Components for Motivation, Wellbeing, and Guidance

Publications

Year 2019


Proceedings

" It Started as a Joke" On the Design of Idle Game

Katta Spiel, Sultan Alharthi, Andrew Cen, Jessica Hammer, Lennart Nacke, Zachary Toups, and Tess Tanenbaum. 2019. " It Started as a Joke" On the Design of Idle Game. In Proceedings of the Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play. 495-508. doi:10.1145/3311350.3347180
DOIBibTeXAbstractExternal URL
@inproceedings{spiel2019started,
  title={" It Started as a Joke" On the Design of Idle Games},
  author={Spiel, Katta and Alharthi, Sultan A and Cen, Andrew Jian-lan and Hammer, Jessica and Nacke, Lennart E and Toups, Z O and Tanenbaum, Tess},
  booktitle={Proceedings of the Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play},
  pages={495--508},
  year={2019}
}
With idle games, active withdrawal from the game comprises an essential part of gameplay as players wait for the game state to change over time. This mode of interaction is paradigmatic for the change of roles technologies have in our lives. However, the design elements of idle games are less well understood, particularly from the perspectives of developers. We interviewed six designers of six different popular idle games and inquired into their individual approaches. Via thematic analysis, we refine and expand on existing definitions of idle games as a genre, shed light on ethically charged practices of care in their design, and identify shared core characteristics between the games and processes. We then generate intermediate-level knowledge on the design of idle games. Our work contributes designers' perspectives on idle games and their design to a growing body of literature on the genre.

Proceedings

“I don't fit into a single type”: A Trait Model and Scale of Game Playing Preferences

Gustavo Fortes Tondello, Karina Arrambide, Giovanni Ribeiro, Andrew Cen, and Lennart Nacke. 2019. “I don't fit into a single type”: A Trait Model and Scale of Game Playing Preferences. In Proceedings of INTERACT 2019, LNCS 11747. Springer. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-29384-0_23
PDFDOIBibTeXAbstractSlides
@inproceedings{Tondello2019b,
author = {Tondello, Gustavo F. and Arrambide, Karina and Ribeiro, Giovanni and Cen, Andrew and Nacke, Lennart E.},
booktitle = {Proceedings of INTERACT 2019, LNCS 11747},
publisher = {Springer},
title = {{“I don't fit into a single type”: A Trait Model and Scale of Game Playing Preferences}},
year = {2019},
doi = {10.1007/978-3-030-29384-0_23}
}
Player typology models classify different player motivations and behaviours. These models are necessary to design personalized games or to target specific audiences. However, many models lack validation and standard measurement instruments. Additionally, they rely on type theories, which split players into separate categories. Yet, personality research has lately favoured trait theories, which recognize that people's preferences are composed of a sum of different characteristics. Given these shortcomings of existing models, we developed a player traits model built on a detailed review and synthesis of the extant literature, which introduces five player traits: aesthetic orientation, narrative orientation, goal orientation, social orientation, and challenge orientation. Furthermore, we created and validated a 25-item measurement scale for the five player traits. This scale outputs a player profile, which describes participants' preferences for different game elements and game playing styles. Finally, we demonstrate that this is the first validated player preferences model and how it serves as an actionable tool for personalized game design.
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