Bringing Digital Games to User Research and User Experience

In recent years, the gaming industry has grown up and digital games have become more complex products. With this maturity comes an increasing need for formal playtesting methods from user research and scientific methods from academia. Employing user research methods in game development, especially combined qualitative (e.g., questionnaires, interviews) and quantitative (e.g., EEG, EMG, game metrics) methods lead to a better understanding of the relationship and interactions between players and games. This panel gathers game user research industry and academic experts for discussing current methodological advancements and future challenges in playtesting, usability, playability evaluation, and general game user research.