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​Transformative Effects

Why do we play? What is the purpose of fun? Can we design play experiences to improve our cognition, behavior, or emotions? Understanding play allows us to utilize beneficial transformative effects like motivation and learning caused by digital games in various domains such as health, education, and economy.

Interaction Design

We create, evaluate, and refine innovative and gameful interaction concepts for novel or experimental entertainment applications. There-fore, we synthesize knowledge from human computer interaction, cognitive psychology, and best practices from digital games.

User Experience

We follow a user-centered approach to develop intended user experiences: We evaluate our concepts and implementations in user studies and use qualitative as well as quantitative data assessed by self-reports, observation, video analysis, or physiological measures to inform design processes.

Social Play

Social interactions substantially determine the experience of playing digital games. We investigate social experiences as a result of various influencing factors given in specific gaming contexts. We aim at under-standing group dynamics and social-psychological processes during play in order to comprehend their impact on the overall player experience.

Virtual Reality

We investigate the design and application of VR games and explore the benefits and challenges of VR as a novel interaction technology. Ranging from VR interaction design to game specific domains like VR level design, 360° storytelling, and player navigation, we create compelling VR experiences for specific target groups.