Call: 2nd International Workshop on Evaluating Player Experience in Games (epex11)

2nd International Workshop on Evaluating Player Experience in Games (epex11)

Bordeaux, 28 June 2011

Workshop in conjunction with the Foundations of Digital Games (FDG) Conference 2011

There is a rapidly growing interest in evaluating player experience in games context, as well as other forms of digital interactive entertainment, for example via applying psychophysiological signals and user telemetry to obtain data on the user experience and the interaction between user and game, Developing useful methods for evaluating player experience in games is paramount for the design of interfaces that can better account for the user experience while interacting with different media (i.e., games, social media, pervasive marketing).

This workshop aims at presenting and discussing quantitative and qualitative methods for evaluating player experience in games. The workshop focuses especially on novel evaluation techniques such as psychophysiological measures and behavioral game metrics that supplement user experience evaluation methods, which can be used to e.g. evaluate and validate game designs, mechanics, and balancing.

Additional issues include the specific nature and industrial value of evaluation techniques that can be used during the game development process and provide actionable results, the player experience associated with it and its implications for interface and game design, visualization and reporting of user experience data, dissemination to company stakeholders, management of user experience processes, novel approaches for player experience testing, theory and innovation in the field.

Call for papers

Submissions are invited on the use of different evaluation methods for digital games, especially case studies, work in progress reports, vision papers, and full research studies, as well as topics that connect the topic of evaluation of player experience in games.

The main goals of the workshop and the expected outcomes are:

  1. To create synergies between game design issues and player experience measures.
  2. To identify better and more usable ways to measure the player experience in different interactive entertainment contexts, across academia and industry.
  3. To enhance the evaluation methodologies typical of games-oriented HCI, for example by including an accessible use of psychophysiological and behavioral measurements.
  4. To identify challenges in using psychophysiological and behavioral measurement in in-situ evaluations and ex-situ evaluations.
  5. To explore the synergy between psychophysiological methods, user telemetry and metrics, and other game-user research evaluation approaches.

The workshop will include thematically organized formal presentations, followed by group discussions in combination with more creative approaches towards working with the topics of the workshop.

Submissions are invited on the following topics (but are certainly not limited to):

  • Ways of measuring player experience
  • Methodologies for measuring the player’s behavior, cognitive states, and emotions
  • The correlation between psychophysiological measures and other measures of player experience
  • The conversion of psychophysiological measures to actionable results in a game design or evaluation context
  • The combination of user telemetry with psychophysiological measures and with other game user research methodologies
  • The possibility of deploying psychophysiological measures in the practical context of industrial game development
  • The data analysis techniques that are best suited to process psychophysiological data.

Additional issues include the specific nature and value of evaluation techniques that can be used during the game development process, the player experience associated with it and its implications for interface design. Attention is also given to quantitative metrics, especially when applied to casual games.

This workshop is intended for researchers interested in game evaluation, player experience, game user research and psychophysiological measurements, as well as professionals interested in obtaining knowledge about the newest research in the area of user experience evaluation in games.

Submissions are expected in the form of six-page position papers, describing the area of research, specific work (position papers, empirical or theoretical papers) on the workshop topic and the innovative character of the research at hand.

All submissions should be formatted according to the official ACM SIG proceedings template.

Submission

Papers must be submitted via the EasyChair submission system.

Participants will be selected on the basis of the relevance of their work and their interests and familiarity with the topic.

The workshop organizers will consider, after the workshop, the publication of a revised version of the papers presented as a special issue of a peer-reviewed journal such as Game Studies, Entertainment Computing or Computers in Entertainment. In order to be considered for publication in this special issue, papers will have to be resubmitted and undergo another peer reviewing process with external reviews (still to be defined).

Inclusion of workshop papers in the ACM digital library is currently under discussion.

Deadlines

  • 28 March 2011: Workshop submission deadline.
  • 15 May 2011: Workshop acceptance/rejection deadline.
  • 28 June 2011: Workshop at FDG 2011.

Organizing Commitee

Licia Calvi, NHTV Breda University of Applied Sciences (The Netherlands)
Lennart Nacke, University of Saskatchewan (Canada)
Anders Drachen, User Data Analyst, AGORA Informatics (Denmark)

Programme Committee

TBA

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