The third day at CHI PLAY 2016 ended the conference with important discussions focused on play, design, and the games industry. If you have not seen them yet, check the first and second day summaries out before continuing!
The day opened with an open discussion of future suggestions for the conference series and followed with the first Industry Panel, which counted with the expertise of Toni Phillips (Triseum), Sheri Graner Ray (Zombie Cat Studios), and Yelena Balin (b.well). The panelists addressed some of the challenges of the game industry, such as keeping up with the technology, innovating, engaging different audiences, and building diversity into games.
#CHIPLAY16 Industry Panel 1 of 2. pic.twitter.com/HqoLmZtguJ
— ACM CHI PLAY (@acmchiplay) October 19, 2016
The morning’s technical session focused on playing games together, with some interesting works on the dynamics of multiplayer games. A highlight to Leveraging Asymmetries in Multiplayer Games: Investigating Design Elements of Interdependent Play, presented by John Harris, which proposed a new framework for understanding asymmetric games (where players have different gameplay activities).
When are players independent? #chiplay16 pic.twitter.com/9Ugp7ffhQL
— Prof Lennart Nacke, PhD (@acagamic) October 19, 2016
The afternoon’s technical session focused on play. I would like to highlight the work Designing Play to Support Hospitalized Children, presented by Floyd Mueller, which introduced an account of the Exertion Games Lab’s work to facilitate play for hospitalized children.
@floydmueller imagine if you could play, think of the barriers to it. How much worse for kids in the hospital? #chiplay16 pic.twitter.com/Ornof1m8K2
— Roger Altizer (@real_rahjur) October 19, 2016
The second Industry Panel counted with the participation of Jason Schklar (UX consultant), Morgan Kennedy (Compulsion Games), and Luiz Kruel (SideFX). The discussion focused on user experience evaluation, procedural generation, and how to enter the games industry.
The closing section was Nick Yee‘s keynote on the Gamer Motivation Profile, which closed the conference with invaluable research about different player motivations.
#CHIPLAY16 @Nick_Yee from @quanticfoundry talking about The Gamer Motivation Profile https://t.co/IavcXbJpGO pic.twitter.com/MXen7uKWMD
— ACM CHI PLAY (@acmchiplay) October 19, 2016
The conference ended with the prizes delivered to the best papers and honorable mentions, as well as the winners of the games design competition: InJustice (people’s choice) and The Falling of Momo (judge’s pick).
Best Papers and Honorable Mentions at #CHIPLAY16!!! Congratulations everyone! pic.twitter.com/aHHppot6zS
— ACM CHI PLAY (@acmchiplay) October 19, 2016
Student Game Competition Winners at #CHIPLAY16 Congratulations #InJustice and #TheFallingofMomo pic.twitter.com/TBSauXo0Va
— ACM CHI PLAY (@acmchiplay) October 19, 2016
The next CHI PLAY will take place from the 15th to 17th of October, 2017 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. If you are interested in games and play research, consider attending it; it’s a great experience!