Games Research Today
Analyzing the Academic Landscape 2000 – 2014
Overview
Since the turn of the century, games research has both become an established domain of study and broadly diversified the range of topics explored under the heading of "games". While this expansion can be viewed positively for the field as a whole, the large number of venues and topics can become overwhelming for researchers trying to understand where their work best fits and should be published. Some studies have tried to reduce this confusion by identifying paradigms of games research with respect to particular domains and venues, but little has been done to investigate the field as a whole. For our work, we have taken a data driven approach to gain a better understanding of the academic landscape of the Games Research field over the past 15 years where we collected and analyzed publications from 48 core publication venues of games research from the years 2000 through 2014. Our analysis utilizes co-occurrence methods and community detection techniques to provide a comprehensive overview of the field. With co-word analysis we identified 20 distinct research themes, and through co-venue analysis we also determined 7 communities for these themes. We visualized results using co-occurrence analysis artifacts such as strategic diagrams and keyword network maps.
Publications
[PDF] Melcer, Edward, Truong-Huy Dinh Nguyen, Zhengxing Chen, Alessandro Canossa, Magy Seif El-Nasr, and Katherine Isbister. "Games Research Today: Analyzing the Academic Landscape 2000 – 2014." Foundations of Digital Games. 2015. Best Paper in Game Studies.
Core Venues
|
|
Research Themes
|
ID |
10 Most Frequent Keywords |
|
T1 |
Game Design, Serious Games, Game Based Learning, Educational Games, Game Development, Motivation, Case Study, Engagement, Gamification, Collaborative Learning |
|
T2 |
Interactive Storytelling, Interactive Narrative, Role Playing, Real World, Multiplayer Online, Massively Multiplayer, Interactive Drama, Game World, Non Player, Digital Storytelling |
|
T3 |
Real Time, Virtual Reality, Virtual Environments, Virtual Characters, Game Engine, Motion Capture, Time Strategy, Animation, Virtual Storytelling, Computer Animation |
|
T4 |
Virtual Words, Massively Multiplayer Online Games, Second Life, Online Games, Avatars, Social Interaction, Gender, Multiplayer, World of Warcraft, Ethnography |
|
T5 |
Gameplay, User Experience, Entertainment, Player Experience, Immersion, Usability, Flow, Interface, Ludology, Game Environment |
|
T6 |
Narrative, Art, Interactivity, Emotion, Aesthetics, Music, Agency, Interactive Art, Affective Computing, Interactive Systems |
|
T7 |
Game Theory, Evolutionary Computation, Computational Intelligence, Genetic Algorithms, Search Problems, Standards, Optimization, Trees Mathematics, Mathematical Model, Statistics |
|
T8 |
Augmented Reality, Mixed Reality, User Interface, Pervasive Games, Mobile Games, Magic Circle, Mobile, Ubiquitous Computing, Mobile Gaming, Location Based |
|
T9 |
Artificial Intelligence, Decision Making, Planning, Context, Cognition, Game AI, Multi-Agent Systems, Real-Time Systems, Human Player, Measurement |
|
T10 |
Human Computer Interaction, Digital Media, Interaction Design, New Media, Psychology, Interactive Media, Human Factors, Interface Design, Level Design, Gesture Recognition |
|
T11 |
Simulation, Role Play, History, Experiential Learning, Cooperation, Representation, Modeling, Negotiation, Participation, Simulation Gaming |
|
T12 |
Learning Artificial Intelligence, Training, Machine Learning, Reinforcement Learning, Learning Systems, Game Playing, Data Mining, Sport, Predictive Models, Feature Extraction |
|
T13 |
Servers, Internet, Computer Architecture, Mobile Computing, Delay, Peer to Peer Computing, Media, Tiles, Cloud Computing, Scalability |
|
T14 |
Learning, Education, Children, Storytelling, Creativity, Teaching, Reflection, Tangible Interfaces, Educational Technology, Survey |
|
T15 |
Humans, Neural Networks, Software Agents, Testing, Navigation, Computer Simulation, Artificial Neural Networks, Games of Skill, Robots |
|
T16 |
Interaction, Communication, Role Playing Games, Player Behavior, Content Creation, Personality, Fun, Multi-Touch |
|
T17 |
Educational Institutions, Computer Aided Instruction, Software Engineering, Software, Computer Science Education, Technological Innovation |
|
T18 |
Collaboration, Board Games, Social Networks, Multiplayer Games, Social Media |
|
T19 |
Monte Carlo Methods, Tree Searching, Algorithm Design and Analysis, Monte Carlo Tree Search |
|
T20 |
Computational Modeling, Visualization, Engines, Databases |
Keyword network map visualizing strong connections (Pearson correlation coefficient > .033) between the two most frequent keywords for each research theme.
Research Communities
|
ID |
Conferences |
5 Most Frequent Keywords |
|
C1 |
DIGRA, S & G, JVWR, G & C, iDMAa, The Philosophy of Computer Games, JGVW, Game Studies, Eludamos, Under the Mask, ISAGA, G|A|M|E, IJRP |
Virtual Worlds, Simulation, Game Design, Second Life, Role Playing |
|
C2 |
ACE, ICEC, Edutainment, CIE, Intetain, Entertainment Computing, IJCGT, NetGames |
Augmented Reality, Real Time, Virtual Reality, Game Design, Virtual Environments |
|
C3 |
IJART, Sandbox, IGIC, FuturePlay, CGames, Gamification, JGDDE |
Game Design, Serious Games, Education, Computer Aided Instruction, Human Computer Interaction |
|
C4 |
CIG, AIIDE, FDG, TCIAIG, ICGA, INT |
Artificial Intelligence, Game Theory, Humans, Evolutionary Computation, Computational Intelligence |
|
C5 |
ICIDS, ICVS, TIDSE, AAAISAIIE, JOGD |
Interactive Storytelling, Interactive Narrative, Real Time, Interactive Drama, Digital Storytelling |
|
C6 |
GLS, Meaningful Play, IJGCMS, TCGJ, Well Played |
Game Design, Gameplay, Educational Games, Real World, Case Study |
|
C7 |
ECGBL, IJGBL, SGDA, IJSG |
Game Based Learning, Serious Games, Game Design, Learning, Educational Games, Education, Assessment |
