- Project
- Completed
Digital tools in modern board games
Melissa Rogerson Senior Lecturer in Human-Computer Interactions
Melissa Rogerson is a Senior Lecturer at the School of Computing and Information Systems of the University of Melbourne, Australia. She dedicated her PhD studies to examining the experience of modern board game enthusiasts. She is particularly interested in the hybridization and digitization of board games and their effects on players. Melissa has also worked in the gaming industry as a game German-to-English translator.
For more information: www.melissarogerson.com
-
Project start date :
2021/10/04 -
Status :
Completed -
Research organization :
School of Computing and Information Systems, Université de Melbourne -
Team :
Pr. Martin Gibbs and Dr. Lucy Sparow (Université de Melbourne)
In 2021, a second research project by Melissa Rogerson was selected to study how the use of digital technologies in hybrid board games (combining physical gameplay with a digital application) is perceived by game designers, publishers, app developers, and players. This project follows an initial study that examined the role of digital elements in hybrid board games.
Project overview
The Hybrid Digital Boardgame Model, defined in a previous research project, identifies 41 functions of digital technologies used in hybrid board games, categorized into eight domains. This new project aims to learn and compare how board game designers, publishers, developers and players perceive the use of digital technologies in physical games. The first idea is to develop a visual format of the involvement rate of digital domains in a given game. Another idea is to compare the professionals’ descriptions and the players’ perception of the functions and digital domains used in different games. For example, do players perceive narrative events as random events?
Methodology
Methods quantifying and visualizing the use of digital technologies in hybrid board games are studied in an explorative manner, based on surveys, interviews and focus groups. Game mechanics analyses are also categorized on Board Game Geek and according to the Hybrid Digital Boardgame Model.
Outcomes
The project researchers are currently working on the best format for presenting their results in order to inform players about hybrid board games and help designers throughout the development process.