Abstract:
There has been increasing interest in games and game design within the HCI community--both in terms of improving the game experience through application of HCI principles and practices, and also, understanding aspects of the gaming experience that can be of benefit in broader HCI contexts. This talk focuses on the latter--I will discuss observations made in my Game Research Lab and over the course of playing games across many genres, about core design choices that can be of interest and benefit to others in the HCI community. Focal points will be the use of animated interactive characters in games and aspects of co-located social games. The talk includes grounding in relevant social psychological theory, as well as discussion of core values in game design that have an impact upon evaluating the success (or failure) of these designs.

Bio:
Katherine Isbister is an Associate Professor of Communication at Rensselaer (RPI), where she is also an Associate of the Social and Behavioral Research Laboratory, and the Director of the M.S. in HCI program. Isbister has designed interfaces in research and commercial contexts, including stints at the NTT Open Lab in Japan and at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, and project work for Microsoft, Paramount, Sun, BMW, and the like. Her book on game character design--Better Game Characters by Design: A Psychological Approach--will be released in 2006 by Morgan Kaufmann. (http://www.friendlymedia.org)

If you would like to meet with Katherine, or for more information, please contact Jofish Kaye.