SPECIAL PUBLICATION GAME RESEARCHUTRECHT CENTER FOR GAME RESEARCH GAMES THAT CHANGE YOUR MIND INTRO Utrecht Center for Game Research ver the past four years, Utrecht Uni- edge about games, technology, persuasion as versity has created four strategic a means of changing attitudes and behaviour, Othemes and twelve research focus learning processes, and design. The necessary areas to strengthen the focus and enhance expertise was provided by our research groups the societal impact of its research. Game from disciplines including sociology, psychol- Research is one of these research focus are- ogy, media studies, computer science, edu- as. We started the Utrecht Center for Game cation, and medicine. All faculties at Utrecht Research in 2014 to develop an integrated University were involved. approach to scientific and social questions For the years ahead, we are looking forward by linking academic excellence and funda- to implementing the university-wide objec- mental research to the university's societal tives as they were set out in its Strategic Plan: mission. 2016-2020. We will further strengthen our in- terdisciplinary research collaborations on a By organizing networking meetings, offer- local, national, and international scale; we will ing valorisation support, and allocating seed continue to contribute to the education of the money grants to interdisciplinary projects, we next generation of game scholars; and we will have strengthened our research and teaching, keep on addressing the question of how seri- expanded our research volume, and increased ous games can best be theorised, designed, societal impact, especially within the three and validated to help solve major global issues, domains of Games for Learning, Games for and by doing so contribute to a better world. Health, and Games for Change. We would like to thank Utrecht University’s Executive Board for making Game Research • Games for Learning: e.g. games for chil- one of Utrecht University’s focus areas for the dren, higher education, and professional period 2014-2018. Our special thanks go to our skills. Examples of research projects are deans, Professor Gerrit van Meer (Faculty of the use of games to develop number sense Science) and Professor Keimpe Algra (Faculty with children, and to train pharmacists in of Humanities); without their support, Utre- communication skills. cht University would not have acquired such • Games for Health: e.g. healthy living, a prominent international position in the field well-being, and rehabilitation. Our re- of Game Studies. search includes game-based enhance- ment of behaviour control, and training stroke patients in a virtual reality envi- ronment. • Games for Change: e.g. for sustainability, social inclusion, smart cities, conflict and security. We perform research, for exam- ple, on playful cities, and how games can be used for energy saving. In this magazine, we present an overview of the work we have done during the past four years. We have invested not just in research but also in a broad field of game-related edu- cation and in collaborative efforts with part- ners in government, business, society, and other universities. We achieved high-quality research results through our interdiscipli- Joost Raessens & Remco Veltkamp nary collaborations. We combined knowl- Utrecht University, September 2017 GAME RESEARCH MAGAZINE • UTRECHT UNIVERSITY • 3 INTRO Facts & Figures GAME RESEARCH MAGAZINE Editors about the Joost Raessens Remco Veltkamp [email protected] [email protected] Utrecht Center for Contributors & interviewees Wouter Boendermaker, Sasja Duijff, Jan Dirk Fijnheer, Stefan van Game Research Geelen, Alex Gekker, Coert van Gemeren, Roland Geraerts, René Glas, Stef Haarler, Teresa de la Hera, Marries van de Hoef, Johan Jeuring, Ioannis Lampropoulos, Michiel de Lange, Heidi Lesscher, Sjors Martens, Sanne Nijhof, Tom Overmans, Ronald Poppe, Nina Rosa, Stephanie de Smale, Nieske Vergunst, Joost Vervoort, Christiaan Vinkers, Jesse de Vos, Jasper van Vught, Stefan Werning, Zerrin Yumak Production, design, editing Het Redactielokaal PARTICIPATING Matthijs Dierckx 100RESEARCHERS [email protected] Eric Bartelson & Alessandra van Otterlo Additional editing Textcase Vertalingen [email protected] UTRECHT CENTER FOR GAME RESEARCH Faculties Executive board Project management Joost Raessens & Lisanne Walma 7 @ Remco Veltkamp L.W.B.WALMA UU.NL Heleen Groenendijk Steering committee Mirko Lukács Harold van Rijen UU Holding BV Medicine - UMC Utrecht Albert Postma Liesbeth Kester Social and Behavioural Sciences Social and Behavioural Sciences Psychology Education & Pedagogy Research domains EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS Games for Learning Games for Change Liesbeth Kester Sustainability: Joost Raessens VII Marieke van der Schaaf Social Inclusion: Teresa de la Hera Wouter van Joolingen Smart Cities: Michiel de Lange Conflict and Security: Games for Health Roland Geraerts & Tanja Nijboer Stephanie de Smale Participating research groups Faculty of Science Faculty of Law, Economics and projects Artificial Intelligence Governance Interaction Technology School of Governance 20 Software Systems Virtual Worlds Faculty of Veterinary Medicine Behavioural Neuroscience Faculty of Humanities €5,000,000 GAP: Center for the Study of Faculty of Medicine – UMCU total funding Digital Games and Play Blended learning Faculty of Social and Faculty of Geosciences Behavioural Sciences Healthy Urban Living Education & Learning Psychology Contact Postal Address Game Research, attn. G. Leebeek Dept. of Information and Computing Sciences, Utrecht University P.O. Box 80089 • 3508 TB Utrecht, The Netherlands collaborating companies Online 50 Web: www.gameresearch.nl E-mail: [email protected] Facebook: facebook.com/groups/UtrechtGameResearch 4 • GAME RESEARCH MAGAZINE • UTRECHT UNIVERSITY Contents. CHANGE HEALTH LEARNING GAMES 6 26 36 46 Sustainability Games for Health L2TOR: the RoboTeach ‘I know that song!’ The impact of ecogames Health games –or games with a focus Child friendly tutoring Citizen science Joost Raessens, with Jan Dirk on health, healthcare, and well- Remco Veltkamp being– are interactive virtual worlds robot Fijnheer, Ioannis Lampropoulos, Language acquisition benefits from How can you persuade a sufficient Michiel de Lange, Joost Vervoort, for playing, training, and learning, large number of people to often in a form of simulation. early, personalised and interactive Stefan Werning tutoring, thus, a robot is created participate in a scientific research? Games with a focus on ecosystems to teach preschoolers a second Making separate collections of folk and sustainability improve language. Its name? L2TOR. songs and songs broadcast on early awareness of climate issues. They 28 radio accessible to the general imagine both a future world and how Annihilating alcohol public. to turn this world into a better one. abuse… with a game 38 13 Interview with Wouter The Virtual Patient 48 Boendermaker Persuasive games Preventing binge drinking among The good news about Playing the archive Games that change your adolescents? Let them play games, bad news René Glas, Jasper van Vught, Jesse de Vos Old games don’t play on modern mind but not just any. Interview with Johan Jeuring Good news: delivering bad news can equipment. To retain this part of our Interview with Teresa de la Hera cultural heritage, we took action. Games that make you think, change be trained. And thanks to a game, your behaviour, or mentally prepare 32 that training just got a whole lot you for medical treatment. Teresa To play, or not to play more accessible. 51 de la Hera helps us understand this Healthy play, better 4 PhD-candidates & phenomenon. coping 41 their research projects 16 Sanne Nijhof, Stefan van Geelen, Island of science The Graduate Stef Haarler, Sasja Duijff, Christiaan Control the crowd... Vinkers, Heidi Lesscher Go Go Gozo – a playful Programme & save the day Stimulating play through games may field course Four excellent PhD students were Roland Geraerts empower chronically ill children in Alex Gekker, René Glas, selected for this programme and Have you ever felt unsafe when their everyday lives. Stephanie de Smale present their PhD research projects. walking in a dense crowd? We have The Erasmus+ funded Go Go Gozo researched a model for simulating field course project explored the 54 crowds in big infrastructures, at links between play, mapping and Body movement events, and in computer games. mobility, delivering informal learning Detecting lies, UTRECHT UNIVERSITY through field-based methodologies. 20 improving games Smart cities evolved 44 Interview with Ronald Poppe Measuring and analysing body Turning citizens into Simulations and games movement and posture helps to creators for tertiary education detect lies. The same technology can Michiel de Lange 62 Play to learn? be applied to improve serious games. Thanks to digital media technologies, Utrecht: game city Games and simulations are finding 56 our cities will become smart. How their way into the university. But to can games and play involve urban Utrecht is the home and birthplace RAGE! Europe’s prime of many Dutch game studios. what extent? And are they proper stakeholders in making the smart city? educational tools? An interfaculty ecosystem for applied 23 63 study has the answers. games Change: inclusion Activate! Our RAGE project Games have the unique quality to An overview of some of the activities Zerrin Yumak break through any of the barriers that were organised at Utrecht Social animations for virtual humans