WELCOME TO THE GAMES & SOCIETY LAB
Games have become among the most influential media of the 21st century.
Yet, we have only just begun to understand their impact on players and society as a whole.
The Games & Society Lab looks at game design, gameplay, players and contexts of play in regards to a wide range of socially relevant issues from education to health, personal development, civics and social behavior.
Cultures of Play
While games can create new and imaginary worlds, they also reflect the world in which they are made and the people that make them. Games are affected by the social and cultural realities impacting the people making them, as well as the lens through which these designers view the world.
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Psychology of play
At the Games & Society Lab, we investigate how games affect the players’ psychology, and how the psychology of players affects play. Because the mind is always present in play experiences, we see psychology as a useful way to look at how players play, as well as how they interact with games and each other.
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Transformative Play
Whether played in leisure time or in professional contexts, play can impact us significantly. Games invite us to shift our perspectives, our behavior, our relationships, and our ways of interacting with the world around us. These shifts in perspective can lead us to feel more empowered, empathetic, aware, engaged, and skilled.
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The Transformative Play Initiative
Can games transform us in profound, meaningful, and lasting ways? Whether played in leisure time or in professional contexts, play can impact us significantly. Games invite us to shift our perspectives, our behavior, our relationships, and our ways of interacting with the world around us. These shifts in perspective can lead us to feel more empowered, empathetic, aware, engaged, and skilled. The Transformative Play Initiative combines these research interests with education.
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News & Events
- Archive for Transformative Game Design Student WorkWe have created an archive that contains games developed for transformative purposes by students in the Transformative Game Design Certificate Track. Click this link to browse the games.
- TPI Seminar 2022: Experience China’s Intangible Cultural Heritages in Role-playing Games — Yuqiao LiuThis poster presentation was delivered on October 21, 2022 at the Transformative Play Initiative Seminar 2022: Role-playing, Culture, and Heritage. Description: In recent years, considerable attention has been devoted to preserving intangible cultural heritage (ICH) through games. From combined game studies and heritage studies perspective, role-playing games (RPGs) have a unique advantage that immerses the… Read more: TPI Seminar 2022: Experience China’s Intangible Cultural Heritages in Role-playing Games — Yuqiao Liu
- TPI Seminar 2022: ‘Make It Urgent’: Prototyping Role-play Design for Intercultural Trainings — Alexandra SchreiberThis poster presentation was delivered on October 20, 2022 at the Transformative Play Initiative Seminar 2022: Role-playing, Culture, and Heritage. Description: Playing games is at the heart of the workshop “Serious Games for Intercultural Learning” offered by the Intercultural Learning Lab at Goettingen University. Leisure games, improv and games designed to take perspective all aim… Read more: TPI Seminar 2022: ‘Make It Urgent’: Prototyping Role-play Design for Intercultural Trainings — Alexandra Schreiber
- TPI Seminar 2022: Learning the History of Ancient Roman Forum of Thessaloniki through Edu-Larp- Theodosiou & GkountonaThis poster presentation was delivered on October 21, 2022 at the Transformative Play Initiative Seminar 2022: Role-playing, Culture, and Heritage. Description: The educational program “Everyday life in the Roman Agora of Thessaloniki, Greece: An experiential approach with the method Edu ‐ L.A.R.P” was implemented at the archaeological site of the Ancient Roman Forum of Thessaloniki… Read more: TPI Seminar 2022: Learning the History of Ancient Roman Forum of Thessaloniki through Edu-Larp- Theodosiou & Gkountona
- TPI Seminar 2022: Literature Surrounding the Intersection of Role-Playing Games, Race, and Identity — Marissa BakerThis poster presentation was delivered on October 20, 2022 at the Transformative Play Initiative Seminar 2022: Role-playing, Culture, and Heritage. Read full article here: https://ijrp.subcultures.nl/?page_id=817 Description: Some of the most popular role-playing games (RPGs) limit the potential for diversity among player characters, link character abilities with their racial backgrounds, and provide platforms for real-life racism.… Read more: TPI Seminar 2022: Literature Surrounding the Intersection of Role-Playing Games, Race, and Identity — Marissa Baker
- TPI Seminar 2022: Fictional History Frames in an Intercultural Larp — Michael FreudenthalThis poster presentation was delivered on October 20, 2022 at the Transformative Play Initiative Seminar 2022: Role-playing, Culture, and Heritage. Description: Many larp workshops aim to harmonize player cultures, norms and expectations for their engagement in fiction to flow seamlessly and as safely as possible (Koljonen, 2020). In a historical and physically heavy larp like… Read more: TPI Seminar 2022: Fictional History Frames in an Intercultural Larp — Michael Freudenthal
- TPI Seminar 2022: Looking Behind the Curtain: Assessing the Invisible Work of the Magic Circle — Steven L. DashiellThis poster presentation was delivered on October 20, 2022 at the Transformative Play Initiative Seminar 2022: Role-playing, Culture, and Heritage. Description: This research examines gender difference, associated norms, and their effect on the ability to deeply participate in gameplay. Since the work of Huizinga (1945), there has been the concept of the magic circle, a… Read more: TPI Seminar 2022: Looking Behind the Curtain: Assessing the Invisible Work of the Magic Circle — Steven L. Dashiell
- TPI Seminar 2022: Larp in Cognitive Behavioral Psychotherapy (CBT) — Lennart BartensteinThis poster presentation was delivered on October 20, 2022 at the Transformative Play Initiative Seminar 2022: Role-playing, Culture, and Heritage. Description: Role play is a foundational component of established forms of psychotherapy such as psychodrama (Kipper 1992). Recent literature has indicated the similarities between live action role playing (larp) and psychotherapy (Diakolambrianou 2021, Burns 2014,… Read more: TPI Seminar 2022: Larp in Cognitive Behavioral Psychotherapy (CBT) — Lennart Bartenstein
- TPI Seminar 2022: Vampire Foucault: Erotic Horror Role Playing Games as a Technologies of the Self — Albert SpencerThis poster presentation was delivered on October 20, 2022 at the Transformative Play Initiative Seminar 2022: Role-playing, Culture, and Heritage. Description: In Technologies of the Self (1988), philosopher and sociologist Michel Foucault summarizes his life work as an analysis of how various truth games explore “the relationships between truth, power, and self” and in this… Read more: TPI Seminar 2022: Vampire Foucault: Erotic Horror Role Playing Games as a Technologies of the Self — Albert Spencer
- TPI Seminar 2022: Reparative Play in Dungeons & Dragons — Giuseppe FemiaThis presentation was delivered on October 21, 2022 at the Transformative Play Initiative Seminar 2022: Role-playing, Culture, and Heritage. Description: Spaces for queer discourse remain limited and continue to be marginalized in media. In an act of reclamation, the Queer community has claimed their space in one of the more resistant media forms: games and… Read more: TPI Seminar 2022: Reparative Play in Dungeons & Dragons — Giuseppe Femia
- TPI Seminar 2022: A Coin with Two Sides: Role-Playing Games as Symbolic Devices — Miguel Angel Bastarrachea MagnaniThis presentation was delivered on October 20, 2022 at the Transformative Play Initiative Seminar 2022: Role-playing, Culture, and Heritage. Description: Role-playing games (RPGs) undeniably possess common elements with rituals and myths. The study of these elements remains a timely issue because it unveils the possibility of archetypal engagement. However, it is often overlooked that rituals… Read more: TPI Seminar 2022: A Coin with Two Sides: Role-Playing Games as Symbolic Devices — Miguel Angel Bastarrachea Magnani
- TPI Seminar 2022: Intentionally Designing a Game to Help Alleviate Symptoms of Depression — Pandi CunotiThis presentation was delivered on October 21, 2022 at the Transformative Play Initiative Seminar 2022: Role-playing, Culture, and Heritage. Description: Depression is a common mental health issue in today’s society, unfortunately, mental healthcare is not easily accessible to a large number of people worldwide. Therefore, a lot of researchers have attempted to study the effectiveness… Read more: TPI Seminar 2022: Intentionally Designing a Game to Help Alleviate Symptoms of Depression — Pandi Cunoti
- TPI Seminar 2022: How Larp Can Facilitate Cultural and Historical Understanding” — Liv Hernø-ToftildThis presentation was delivered on October 20, 2022 at the Transformative Play Initiative Seminar 2022: Role-playing, Culture, and Heritage. Description: Modern museum education has a focus on interactivity and visitor engagement. Edu-larp expands traditional teaching methods and facilitates the development of historical and cultural empathy. This keynote will reflect on the experiences and challenges of… Read more: TPI Seminar 2022: How Larp Can Facilitate Cultural and Historical Understanding” — Liv Hernø-Toftild
- TPI Seminar 2022: Heritage of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in Polish Role-playing and Reenactment — Michał MochockiThis presentation was delivered on October 20, 2022 at the Transformative Play Initiative Seminar 2022: Role-playing, Culture, and Heritage. Description: Swallowed by neighbouring empires for 123 years, Poland’s sense of identity relied mainly on prosthetic memory of its pre-colonial past: the 1569-1795 PLC. Its legacy remains a significant, though contested, part of the national imaginarium.… Read more: TPI Seminar 2022: Heritage of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in Polish Role-playing and Reenactment — Michał Mochocki
- TPI Seminar 2022: Role-playing Games and Education — Josefin WestborgThis presentation was delivered on October 20, 2022 at the Transformative Play Initiative Seminar 2022: Role-playing, Culture, and Heritage. Description: When designing role-playing games and larps, in contrast to digital games, the design will often include not only what happens as part of the gameplay but also what happens before and after the game. From… Read more: TPI Seminar 2022: Role-playing Games and Education — Josefin Westborg
- TPI Seminar 2022: Using the Inspirisles RPG to Teach ASL and Cultural Awareness — Cullinan and OxenhamThis presentation was delivered on October 20, 2022 at the Transformative Play Initiative Seminar 2022: Role-playing, Culture, and Heritage. Description: Can an RPG teach sign language to hearing middle schoolers? As role-playing games move from the recreational sphere to applied uses in fields such as therapy and education, the efficacy of content delivery becomes as… Read more: TPI Seminar 2022: Using the Inspirisles RPG to Teach ASL and Cultural Awareness — Cullinan and Oxenham
- TPI Seminar 2022: Adapting Edu-larp Design for Different Learning Environments — Erik Strömberg and Karin JohanssonThis presentation was delivered on October 21, 2022 at the Transformative Play Initiative Seminar 2022: Role-playing, Culture, and Heritage. Description: Educational live action role-play (edu-larp) has a huge potential as a learning tool in both formal and informal education. There are many ways to design edu-larps, and by finding the right ways to adapt designs… Read more: TPI Seminar 2022: Adapting Edu-larp Design for Different Learning Environments — Erik Strömberg and Karin Johansson
- TPI Seminar 2022: Transforming Organization Culture with Aesthetic Doubling — Susi Mikael NousiainenThis presentation was delivered on October 20, 2022 at the Transformative Play Initiative Seminar 2022: Role-playing, Culture, and Heritage. Description: In this presentation I ask how role-playing in applied drama could be used as a method for researching organization culture, especially D&I (diversity and inclusion) processes. The presentation is a part of designing my doctoral… Read more: TPI Seminar 2022: Transforming Organization Culture with Aesthetic Doubling — Susi Mikael Nousiainen
- TPI Seminar 2022: Larp as Rapid Prototyping of Cultural Experiences – Karin Johansson, Paulina Rajkowska, Annika WaernThis presentation was delivered on October 20, 2022 at the Transformative Play Initiative Seminar 2022: Role-playing, Culture, and Heritage. Description: Roleplay at museums is commonly discussed from the perspective of visitor experiences [1], but it can also be an important tool for design teams. Design processes at museums are often complex [2], with cross-sectorial design… Read more: TPI Seminar 2022: Larp as Rapid Prototyping of Cultural Experiences – Karin Johansson, Paulina Rajkowska, Annika Waern
- TPI Seminar 2022: Playing with Wonders, Objects and Role-playing Games — Rian Rezende and Denise PortinariThis presentation was delivered on October 20, 2022 at the Transformative Play Initiative Seminar 2022: Role-playing, Culture, and Heritage. Description: This work explores the influence of objects on thoughts and how they can help reflect on a place’s memories. The initial question that guided this study was: how do objects impact thinking? Moreover, from this… Read more: TPI Seminar 2022: Playing with Wonders, Objects and Role-playing Games — Rian Rezende and Denise Portinari
- TPI Seminar 2022: A Conceptual Model of Bleed — Kjell Hedgard HugaasThis presentation was delivered on October 20, 2022 at the Transformative Play Initiative Seminar 2022: Role-playing, Culture, and Heritage. Description: There are numerous theories and studies from different fields such as psychology (Erikson 1950, Marcia 1966, Piaget 1972, Jung 1976), social psychology (Goffman 1959, 1986, Stryker 1968, Burke and Stets 2009, Stets and Serpe 2013),… Read more: TPI Seminar 2022: A Conceptual Model of Bleed — Kjell Hedgard Hugaas
- TPI Seminar 2022: Building Gaming Worlds: The Construction of TRPG Scenes — White, Mizer and LaLoneThis presentation was delivered on October 20, 2022 at the Transformative Play Initiative Seminar 2022: Role-playing, Culture, and Heritage. Description: We elaborate a grounded-theoretic (Glaser & Strauss 1967) approach to discovering a framework for understanding the way that tabletop role-playing gamers (“TRPGers”) make sense of the Socio-Cultural Systemic (Archer 1996) spaces they articulate during their… Read more: TPI Seminar 2022: Building Gaming Worlds: The Construction of TRPG Scenes — White, Mizer and LaLone
- TPI Seminar 2022: Self Arcana: A Self-Reflective, Story Based Tarot Game — Ayça Durmuş and Ege Sedef TopçuoğluThis presentation was delivered on October 20, 2022 at the Transformative Play Initiative Seminar 2022: Role-playing, Culture, and Heritage. Description: Tarot, though traditionally used for “fortune telling” purposes, can also be a tool for story generation and self-reflection. Based on the previous research on tarot’s use of self reflection, roleplay immersion and Jungian theory, we… Read more: TPI Seminar 2022: Self Arcana: A Self-Reflective, Story Based Tarot Game — Ayça Durmuş and Ege Sedef Topçuoğlu
- TPI Seminar 2022: Playing the Belly of the Beast: Exploring Conflicting Roles for Social Change — Aditya AnupamThis presentation was delivered on October 20, 2022 at the Transformative Play Initiative Seminar 2022: Role-playing, Culture, and Heritage. Description: Many of us occupy multiple conflicting roles in society—both conforming to and challenging the social structures we inhabit. For example, educators challenge the idea of standardized testing while also preparing students for them (Ladson-Billings, 1995).… Read more: TPI Seminar 2022: Playing the Belly of the Beast: Exploring Conflicting Roles for Social Change — Aditya Anupam
- TPI Seminar 2022: Bridging Historical and Present Day Community through Embodied Role-playing — Hilda LevinThis presentation was delivered on October 21, 2022 at the Transformative Play Initiative Seminar 2022: Role-playing, Culture, and Heritage. Description: In my research in embodied arts, I’m interested in the constructive relationship between the players’ creative fiction and their lived lives. Through metareflection, our ability to draw connections between reality and fiction while playing, we… Read more: TPI Seminar 2022: Bridging Historical and Present Day Community through Embodied Role-playing — Hilda Levin
- TPI Seminar 2022: Exploring the Erotic in Honey & Hot Wax — Katherine Castiello JonesThis presentation was delivered on October 21, 2022 at the Transformative Play Initiative Seminar 2022: Role-playing, Culture, and Heritage. Description: Scholars have documented the varied presence of erotic play in role-playing games, from using health scores to determine if a character can have sex, to sexuality themed supplements like the Book of Erotic Fantasy (Brown… Read more: TPI Seminar 2022: Exploring the Erotic in Honey & Hot Wax — Katherine Castiello Jones
COLLABORATE WITH US
We love to collaborate and we get frequent requests to do so from other units inside the university as well as outside.