054: The Future of Recreational and Competitive Esports with Dr. Luke Potwarka and Greg Mittler

Co-hosts Toben Racicot (English Language and Literature) and Sid Heeg (Environment) interview Dr. Luke Potwarka (Recreation and Leisure) and Greg Mittler (Athletics and Recreation). Together they are the founders of UWIN aka the University of Waterloo Interdisciplinary Network for Esports.  Sid and Toben chat with Greg and Luke about Esports sustainability, the possible inclusion of Esports in the Olympics, and their recent trip to the University of Warwick for future collaborative research efforts on Esports development and research. Bios Dr. Luke R. Potwarka Associate Professor in the Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies in the Faculty of Health Sciences and Director of the Spectator Experience and Technology Laboratory aka the SEAT Lab. His research involved thinking critically about sports spectatorship and consumer behaviour and wellbeing. Greg Mittler is the Esports and Gaming Coordinator in the Department of Athletics and Recreation and an alumnus of Waterloo’s Recreation and Business program. Greg has been involved in many parts of Camps and Athletics at UW for almost 20 years. Shownotes SEAT LAB: “Our international team of researchers investigate the role of sport spectator experiences in the promotion of individual health and well-being. To achieve this goal, we employ various technologies as both a methodology (e.g., social neuroscience, eye-tracking, second screens, etc), and a means of experiencing sport events (e.g., virtual reality, augmented reality, mobile devices). Our lab's current work focuses on developing a better understanding of the sport consumer experience using social neuroscience methodology. We are interested in addressing the extent to which brain system activation can predict engagement (i.e., flow) and involvement in the sport viewership experience.” UWIN's Mission: “The mission of our proposed network is to strengthen esports-related scholarship, teaching/learning, and student experiences at the University of Waterloo. We will advance this mission through socially just and equity-oriented approaches, which seek to make esports more accessible and inclusive spaces for all. Our mission will consider esports from a holistic wellbeing perspective, with considerations for potential physical, mental, social, and emotional benefits and harms of esports to participants and communities.”  

This month co-hosts Toben Racicot and Sid Heeg interview incoming GI Postdoctoral Fellow Dr. Geneva Smith about her research into NPC emotional believability in games.  Links: G-ScalE Lab at McMaster University. https://gscale.cas.mcmaster.ca/  “Start Your EM(otion En)gine: Towards Computational Models of Emo-tion for Improving the Believability of Video Game Non-Player Characters” - http://hdl.handle.net/11375/28699 “GLaDOS: Integrating Emotion-Based Behaviours into Non-Player Characters in Computer Role-Playing Games” -  http://hdl.handle.net/11375/21369 

This week co-hosts Toben (English Language and Literature) and Sid (Environment) interview faculty member Dr. Gerald Voorhees (Communication Arts), about his past, present, and future research on race, decolonization, whiteness, and masculinity in games. Voorhees reminisces on past research about masculinity and “Dadification” in games, and discusses his research in eSports examining the performance of gender, whiteness, and masculinity. He also talks about joining the GI and First Person Scholar over a decade ago and leading the ADE speaker series that was held at the GI last year. Links: Daddy Issues: Constructions of Fatherhood in The Last of Us and BioShock Infinite Masculinities in Play Performing Neoliberal Masculinity: Reconfiguring Hegemonic Masculinity in Professional Gaming The Culture of Digital Fighting Games: Performance and Practice: Todd Harper Made in Asia/America: Why Video Games Were Never (Really) About Us: Matt Howard ADE for Games Communities Workshop and Speaker Series Skins Deep: Race, Gender, and Nationality in eSports: Tara Fickle Research Disability & Play: Where's the Fun in That?: Katta Spiel Dungeons, Dragons, and Digital Denizens: The Digital Role-Playing Game First Person Scholar Bio: Gerald Voorhees earned a Ph.D. from The University of Iowa (2008) and holds a B.S. in Speech Communication from the University of Texas at Austin, where he was a Senior Fellow in the Honors Program of the College of Communication. His research focuses on games and new media as sites for the construction and contestation of identity and culture. He is also interested in public discourse pertaining to games and new media, as well as rhetorics of race and ethnicity in mediated public discourse. He is Vice-President of the Canadian Game Studies Association, a former member of the Executive Board of the Digital Games Research Association, and a former co-chair of the Game Studies area of the Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association Nation Conference. 

Co-hosts Toben Racicot (English Language and Literature) and Sid Heeg (Environment) interview Computing and Software PhD candidate Sasha Soraine (McMaster University) about her experiences with games and games research. Sasha is part of the interdisciplinary Gaming Scalability Environment (G-ScalE) Lab at McMaster. Fun fact, G-ScalE was a part of the IMMERSe network that helped establish the GI! For our 51st episode, Sasha goes in-depth about the concept of "mechanically achievable gameplay" and how it could help the game industry. This concept systemically evaluates if the target demographic will be able to play the game that is being developed. Sasha explains, “If we are building a game that we know we're going to target kids eight to nine [years old] or adults fifty to sixty [years old], are we, in our design thinking, in our design stage, when we're planning out the games, is that actually something they can even engage with or is it something that, in our design, is so far out of the realm of what they can do?" In addition, Sasha shares her experiences from the G-ScalE lab and why she sought out a more interdisciplinary style of research. Links IMMERSe Grant Game Scalability Lab Game Scalability Lab – Sasha Soraine Sasha Soraine’s Website Bio  Sasha Soraine is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Computing and Software at McMaster University. Her research interests focus on understanding the player-game relationship through the intersections of game design and human-computer interactions. Her work with the G-ScalE lab focuses on understanding player experiences through the cognitive and motor requirements of common gameplay challenges. The core argument of her doctoral work is published in “Mechanical Experiences, Competency Profiles, and Jutsu” in the Journal of Games, Self, and Society. Her recent book chapter collaboration, “Pandemic Gaming and Wholesome Philosophy: How New Players Reimaged Gaming Practices” in Gaming and Gamers in Times of Pandemic, explores how gaming identities and practices have changed over the pandemic. When she’s not researching games, Sasha enjoys playing a variety of video games, board games, and tabletop roleplaying games.

For our 50th episode, Toben (English Language and Literature) and Sid (Environment) interview OG GI member Dr. Emma Vossen about her academic life with games before becoming the GI’s Research Communication Officer. She discusses how she got into games as a kid, her time as EIC of First Person Scholar, and how much game studies has changed since she started her PhD in 2012. Links First Person Scholar Emma’s FPS essay about GG Katherine Cross’ essay about GG Emma’s dissertation Steve Wilcox Steve’s writing about middle-state publishing Historiographies of Game Studies: What it Has Been, What it Could Be - ***Not “Game Studies Historiographies” as Emma said*** Adrienne Shaw CBC Documentary Doppelganger by Naomi Klein Lost Girls by Alan Moore and Melinda Gebbie 25,000 Years of Erotic Freedom by Alan Moore Ducks by Kate Beaton It’s a Good Life if you Don’t Weaken by Seth Pentiment Night in the Woods The Excavation of Hobs Burrow Inscryption Tunic

This month, hosts Sid Heeg and Toben Racicot are joined by Pamela Maria Schmidt and AC Atienza as they discuss the games they've played in 2023 and are looking forward to in 2024. Catch the latest details about their experiences with Tears of the Kingdom, Baldur's Gate 3, and some exciting indie games. All this and more on this special edition of the GI podcast! Stay in touch with the Games Institute! LinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/company/the-games-institute X: https://twitter.com/GamesInstitute Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thegamesinstitute/

This week we are joined by Joe Tu, who is a PhD student and GI member pursing a degree in Systems Design Engineering. Follow along as we discuss Joe's experiences with gaming, his educational journey at The University of Waterloo, and his experiences/work at the GI. Further, we dive into the insights of Joe's recent project on incorporating heartrate monitors into gaming, and his goals for potential future projects. In addition, we reminisce about Joe's experiences at CHI Play (Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction), and gaming in his free time. Email: [email protected] Or find Joe's desk at the GI (It has a Christmas tree)  

 This month we are joined by Shawn Desouza-Coelho, who is GI alumni, U-Waterloo Graduate with a Masters in English - Experimental and Digital Media, avid gamer and theatrical performer. Follow along as Shawn discusses topics around the amazing impacts of gaming in games like Final Fantasy, Dungeons and Dragons, Baldurs Gate, and ­­­­plenty more. Shawn also explores his experience’s in the early days of The Game Institute, the projects he worked at the GI and how they relate to digital games and modern cinema. In addition, Shawn discusses his love of theater and his current research in how racialized performers navigate and negotiate theatrical space in the southern Ontario theater industry.   Links: Email: [email protected]

This month we are joined by Dr. Derritt Mason, who is a associate professor in English at the University of Calgary. Follow along as Dr. Mason discucsses topics surrounding their love of video games, queer representation in games, and coming of age stories in gaming. Dr. Mason additonal dives into how adolescent roles are displayed in horror games, the unique aspects of "bildungsroman" in gaming, and his book “Queer Anxieties of Young Adult Literature and Culture”.    Email: [email protected]   Website: https://derrittmason.com/   Book: Queer Anxieties of Young Adult Literature and Culture   University Profile: https://english.ucalgary.ca/profiles/derritt-m

Dr. Neil Randall is not only the Executive Director of the Games Institute Research Facility at the University of Waterloo, but also an avid guide and participant in the fellowship of the Lord of the Rings universe. Here, he discusses interesting particulars in how the Lord of the Rings franchise has reconfigured itself through decades of adapatations. Alongside the scope of adaptation, our three experts touch on the importance of medium in adaptation, the specific cultures affiliated with adapatations, and issues surrounding the importance of source text.  More information:  Phrase "LOTRO": Lord of the Rings Online  LOTRO: Play Lord of The Rings Online Dr. Niel Randall: See his bio here