Games design research through game design practice

Coulton, Paul and Hook, Alan (2017) Games design research through game design practice. In: Game Design Research. ETC Press, Pittsburgh, pp. 97-116. ISBN 9781387408368

Abstract

Whilst many game design academics are also game designers, their research is often presented through the lens of other disciplines (philosophy, media theory, human computer interaction [HCI], etc.) and practice-based design research is arguably underrepresented in the games research community. Although game design research espouses to open an inclusive community, at present, research approaches and the presentation of results is dominated by those inherited from either the social sciences or HCI. This dominance of loaded and prescriptive academic frameworks is arguably why many of those creating games outside academia feel such research is unrepresentative of their own practices.