=Paper=
{{Paper
|id=Vol-2246/GHItaly18_Introduction
|storemode=property
|title=GHItaly18: Game-Computer Interaction in Research
|pdfUrl=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2246/GHItaly18_Introduction.pdf
|volume=Vol-2246
|authors=Maria De Marsico,Laura Anna Ripamonti,Davide Gadia,Dario Maggiorini,Ilaria Mariani
}}
==GHItaly18: Game-Computer Interaction in Research==
https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2246/GHItaly18_Introduction.pdf
GHItaly18: Game-Human Interaction in research
Maria De Marsico Laura Anna Ripamonti Davide Gadia
Sapienza Universita di Roma Universita degli Studi di Milano Universita degli Studi di Milano
Italy Italy Italy
demarsico@di.uniroma1.it laura.ripamonti@unimi.it davide.gadia@unimi.it
Dario Maggiorini Ilaria Mariani
Universita degli Studi di Milano Politecnico di Milano
Italy Italy
dario.maggiorini@unimi.it ilaria1.mariani@polimi.it
ABSTRACT ACM Classification Keywords
The 2nd Workshop on Games-Human Interaction • Human-centered computing → Human computer
(GHItaly18), held jointly with AVI 2018 (International interaction (HCI) • Human-centered computing →
Working Conference on Advanced Visual Interfaces), Interaction design • Human-centered computing →
maintained its original spirit. Its aim was twofold. The first Graphical user interfaces • Social and professional topics
goal was to offer a common ground for scholars and → User characteristics • Applied computing → Arts and
practitioners either working on the topic or interested in humanities • Software and its engineering → Interactive
approaching it. The second, long term goal was to establish games • Information systems → Massively multiplayer
a meeting venue to be held on a regular basis for online games • Computing methodologies → Artificial
researchers in a field that is still too underestimated in Italy, intelligence
and that still presents high fragmentation also at
INTRODUCTION
international level. Of course, the intended scope of the Video games design and development is a fascinating field,
workshop is not limited to a national event. Rather, the that represents a meeting point for very different
hope is to extend the international participation, to support disciplines, such as computer science, math, computer
wider collaboration in research activities and projects. graphics, music, physics, industrial design, literature,
GHItaly18 extended the scope of GHItaly17 (held in history, economy, visual arts, semiotics, psychology and
conjunction with CHItaly17 in Cagliari) by focusing on the neurophysiology, etc. In practice, its foundations embrace
aspects related to the design and development of visual both scientific research and humanities. Hence, its
interfaces, a highly relevant issue for creating an engaging improvement can benefit from the advancements in the
and satisfactory user experience in deeply multidimensional research of all these areas. Furthermore, video games
artefacts such as video games. Moreover, as for the former represent a growing industrial field, whose revenues,
edition, the application range of video games that the impact on the job market and effect on people’s everyday
workshop invited to explore had to be intended in its life has grown at a skyrocketing pace. One of the reasons is
broadest sense: both entertainment and applied finalities. that video games are extending their scope from pure
amusement to an increasing variety of applications, from
Author Keywords
learning to rehabilitation. In this panorama, Italy was – and
HCI; Game design; Level design; Human Computer
still is – a quite “weird” phenomenon, since, as stated in [1],
Interaction applied to visual interfaces; Adaptive and
“[…] though resulting among the first consumers in
Context-Aware Interfaces; Agency of objects; Artificial
Western countries, its investments and resources devoted to
intelligence; Biometric measures for interaction; Critical or
games production are quite irrelevant”. Since a bunch of
meaningful play experience; Distributed and Online
years this situation has – slowly – started to change, both at
systems; Full-body Interaction; Gamification; Immersive
the academic and industrial level. And this quiet revolution
VR systems; Information Visualization; Interaction Design
reached to the point of introducing very specific classes
Tools; Interfaces for Social Interaction and Cooperation
about video game design and development in the master
Motion-based Interaction; Moral choices; Multimodal and
science degree in computer science in at least one Italian
(Multi)Sensory Interfaces; Sensemaking; Player experience;
university. In any case, the field still presents a high
storytelling; Usability and Accessibility.
fragmentation at international level too. As a matter of fact,
at the moment, the research in the field of video games is
scattered through many different and separated disciplinary
areas. Since its first edition [2], the GHItaly workshop their paper titled “Semiotic Framework for Virtual Reality
aimed at trying to bridge this cultural gap and establishing a Usability and UX Evaluation: a Pilot Study” [8] presented a
common ground on the topic and a crossroads for related pilot study aimed at validating the Semiotic Framework for
research. Arisen from the consonance among Game Virtual Reality (VR) usability and user experience
Studies, Game Design and Human Computer Interaction, evaluation (UX). The framework offers a theoretical model
the GHItaly workshop series is a deliberate attempt to for VR applications classification, together with a
provoke debate, creating a space of interdisciplinary combination of evaluation methods and a study protocol to
dialogue and exchange. In particular, it welcomes and be used for testing usability and UX in the VR field.
encourages the presence of different and complementary
The second group of works has dealt with the impact of the
perspectives. The peculiar focus of this edition has been to
user interface design on the player experience. This topic is
point special attention on the user experience from the
extremely relevant in the field of video games, since the
perspective of the design and development of visual
interface is the media through which the players interact
interfaces, which are of paramount importance for an
with this special form of art that is intended to entertain
artifact whose purpose is to entertain and elicit fun [3, 4, 5,
them. The common point of the works presented at the
6]. We hope that the meaningful discussion and exchanges
workshop, explored from different angulations, has been to
of ideas that occurred during the meeting will nurture and
investigate at what extent the endeavor to take the quality of
inspire new more holistic and informed ways of
user experience into account in designing a game user
researching, teaching, and working on the design and
interface can affect how the player enjoys the overall
development of video games.
gaming activity. Following the outcomes of these studies,
GHITALY18 CONTRIBUTIONS some sort of key lines or best practices to follow when
The workshop discussion has benefited from the approaching this type of design are proposed. The
enlightening keynote intervention “Collaborative Editing in contribution titled “The impact of user interfaces for the
the Cloud - First Steps and Challenges Ahead” by Prof. enhancement of narrative elements of a video game” by
Fabio Pellacini (Sapienza Università di Roma – Italy), who Bellini [8], a researcher with a background in humanities,
discussed how to design and implement prototypes that aimed at shedding some light on the impact of the interface
allow seamless collaboration for editing meshes and game on the narrative elements of a video game. Actually, user
levels, and the challenges in developing these types of interfaces are substantial parts of the gamer’s experience.
systems and underlying architectures. This approach could They do not only show useful information to the player:
represent the basis for a huge leap in the way of distributing they can also be used to enhance storytelling; hence their
and coordinating development tasks not only in the video design should also rely on a sufficient awareness of issues
game industry, but also in its older sister discipline: visual related to the narrative theory. A slightly different
effects development for cinema and TV. perspective was that adopted by Mariani and Mattiassi in
The remaining contributions collected by GHItaly18 can be the work “Things from Another World. VR, UI and UX
grouped into three main areas: “assessing player experience through Run of Mydan” [10]. The authors focused their
in VR”, “interface design impact on user experience” and attention on the user experience in VR-based games,
“applied games and gamification”. putting a special accent on how an effective diegetic
interface facilitates the player in effortlessly understanding
The first area includes papers that especially focused on the virtual world and in reaching the complete immersion in
how and to what extent the introduction of Virtual Reality- the game world.
based interfaces could affect the experience of the user.
Research in this area is highly relevant, due to the The growing diffusion of video games focused on the mere
rampaging diffusion of VR-based devices and their related entertainment, and the related designing techniques, also
applications (mainly video games). Such applications too impact on both the development of games aimed at less
often seem to have been developed mainly to emphasize the “frivolous” ends, and on the production processes of
opportunities offered by the technology, rather than to neighboring sectors. The last, more numerically consistent,
effectively entertain and amuse the player. Two synergic group of works concentrated on issues concerning the so-
contributions dug into the aspects related to the definition called applied games (that is to say, video games whose
of standardized approaches to evaluate the user experience main aim is not necessarily the entertainment, such as
in VR-enhanced environments. In particular, Norman, in its educational games, exergames, and the like) and/or on the
work "Evaluation of Virtual Reality Games: Simulator use of games-related technologies in other fields. Celata et
Sickness and Human Factors” [7] tackled the problem of al. in the work “G.E.M.I.X.: Game Engine Movie
assessing which are the appropriate drivers of discomfort to Interaction eXperience” [11] tackled the technical
measure the impact of playing a game in VR; the scope of convergence of the movie and gaming industries. They
this work has been to define and validate a standardized described the design and implementation of a tool for the
questionnaire to evaluate the (negative) impact of VR on interactive production of previsualizations, implemented as
the gaming experience. In a similar vein, Barricelli et al., in an extension of the Unreal 4 game engine. The
previsualization step of the movie production pipeline helps
to visually evaluate the potentiality of a scene before its CONCLUSION
final production, hence it has a crucial importance in the Video game design and development is a technically and
productive process. Nonetheless, the current state-of-the-art culturally rich area, which not only involves issues from
approaches require that each time a change or an edit needs different other research fields, but that can also inform the
to be done on a scene, this has to be rendered again in order research conducted in neighboring areas, whose cross-
to be evaluated by the movie or commercial director. This fertilization can produce benefits affecting both academic
implies frequent waste of time and potential very long and industrial worlds. Hence, as clearly emerged from the
useless interruptions introduced in the process. Hence, the works presented at GHItaly18, this field is fascinating for
adoption of tools optimized for the real-time rendering, both researchers and practitioners. Moreover,
such as game engines, could be of great help, if improvements in the techniques, approaches and inter-
appropriately personalized to suit the needs of the movie cultural connections adopted in the field of game design
sector. A totally different perspective is that assumed by and development can result in an improved experience for
Liberti et al. in “EmoBrain: Playing with Emotions in the the final users, being them people playing just for fun or for
Target” [12], whose purpose has been to implement a more serious reasons. Therefore, as already observed
platform able to recognize and employ human emotions regarding the previous edition of the workshop, the inherent
during an interactive game. The EmoBrain Interface (EI), complexity of video games can spur different investigations
which has been used in the context of a serious game, aims with its rich set of interconnected facets. These
at allowing players to manage their own emotional state. In investigations can tackle either general aspects (such as
particular, the EI exploits a cycle of stimulus and design strategies and techniques), game aspects (like
feedbacks: the users receive a visual input and complete playability and engagement), and user evaluation, as well as
their tasks, just controlling their emotional state by specific application contexts (as in the case of applied
activating self-training. Another interesting work has games). Albeit their diversity, each contribution presented
tackled the topic of offering some partial solution to the at the workshop challenged the idea that games are artefacts
growing problem of the long-term care needed by the by far more complex and cross-disciplinary than it could be
increasingly ageing of western population. Among the imagined from a superficial analysis. Moreover, their
many problems deriving from this disequilibrium in the fruition and the impact they have on the media through
distribution of the age groups, there is the necessity to which they are used has deep implications from the point of
support seniors in their everyday physical exercises. The view of the experience lived by the player: they can no
work “Creation of Physiatric Exercises for Remote Use in longer be classified as only “simple” software applications
Rehabilitation Exergames” presented by Maggiorini et al. aimed at producing mere fun and just-in-time amusement.
[13] tried to define a viable solution to design and propose Hence a more frequent, intense and fruitful exchange
physiatry exercises from a remote location, hence among the different disciplines involved should take place,
broadening the number of patients that could benefit from as we hope this will happen in the next future.
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