Creative and Entertainment Games

Professor: Mata Haggis-Burridge
Research topic: the content, creation, and cultural context of artistic/entertainment video games

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The professorship of Creative and Entertainment Games at Breda University of Applied Sciences aims to generate knowledge with, and for, education and the video game development industry.

To do this, the professorship connects with the bachelor’s and master’s programmes at BUas (Creative Media and Game Technologies and Master Game Technology, respectively), engages in original research, provides consultancy to the industry, and participates in local/national/international policy networks and industry conferences.

There are three main areas of study:

Content of games – What do games contain? Studying everything from the graphics and gameplay to the embedded ideologies of game-worlds
Creation of games – What technologies, team dynamics, and other factors influence the success and quality of games?
Cultural context of games – How are games interacting with player and non-player communities? In what ways are video games acting for the benefit and/or detriment of society?

There are three lenses that are most used in examining these areas:

Narrative design and storytelling in video games
‘World readability’ – user interface, experience, and level design theory and practice
Diversity and inclusion, driven by intersectional perspectives.

The artistic and entertainment aspects of the video game industry are critically under-researched when compared to serious/applied video games. Where research has happened, it is often held internally at companies, the sample sizes do not reflect the scale of the industry’s reach, or the methodology is hard to apply in working studios. The goal of the professorship is to make progress in addressing these problems, creating knowledge and expertise for students, lecturers, and developers.

As a long-term goal, the professorship aims to improve policy towards creative and entertainment games by championing the intrinsic value that entertainment brings to our lives: giving everyone time to play and access to entertainment should be seen as a metric of a healthy and well-balanced society.

This professorship of Storytelling is closely linked to the professorships of Serious Games, Innovation and Society and Digital Media Concepts.