Workshop on Eudaimonia in Games

Workshop - Eudaimonia in Games

Tom Cole
University of Greenwich

The concept of eudaimonia in the study of video games has been of increasing interest in recent years, especially as juxtaposed to the idea of hedonia which is often assumed as lying at the heart of most video game play experiences. However, there is a lack of consensus on what eudaimonia exactly is, how it manifests in the player experience, and what effect it could have on the emotional experience of game play. This workshop discusses this emerging and important concept and explores how it may be applied in the field of digital game design.

Bio: Tom is Lecturer in Games Development at the University of Greenwich. His research is situated at the boundary of Human Computer Interaction (HCI) and Games Studies, and focuses on the broadening and deepening of emotional engagement in videogames, focusing on the concept of Eudaimonia and how it manifests in gameplay. He organises game jams, and until recently ran AdventureX - the Narrative Games Convention, an internationally recognised sell-out event for over 600 people. He's also a public speaker, and recently lectured on the topic of 'The History of Nintendo'. Tom was previously at Supermassive Games where he was a designer on the BAFTA award-winning horror game Until Dawn and artist on Killzone Shadow Fall.

http://tommakesgames.com/wp/