The Proceedings are now available:
Proceedings
About the Workshop
Gamification and games have been used and studied in a variety of applications related to health and wellbeing. Nevertheless, their application in the domains of wellbeing and flourishing (the pursuit of a happy and meaningful life rather than the simple inexistence of illness) remain considerably less studied than other more common application areas, such as physical health, fitness, or nutrition.
On the other hand, Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) research has recently begun to apply Positive Psychology, focusing on promoting positive psychological changes. Positive Computing is the use of digital technology to foster flourishing with both hedonic and eudaimonic approaches. Games have been cited as one of the promising approaches to Positive Computing; yet, there are very few studies aimed at designing games or gameful applications for flourishing or even understanding how serious or recreational games can lead to flourishing.
Therefore, this Workshop at CHI PLAY 2017 aims to provoke research and discussion in this direction by bringing together a community of interested researchers to discuss theoretical and practical considerations and promote the development of research projects focused on ‘Positive Gaming’ as a technique for realizing the Positive Computing objective. Thus, the workshop will be majorly focused on gamification and games for flourishing and wellbeing.
Submissions
We invite submissions of contributions to be presented at the Workshop in any format: position papers, works in progress, full research papers, case studies, or design fictions.
We will not make a distinction between different types of papers, but encourage authors to use the number of pages necessary, with a lower limit of 4 pages and an upper limit of 8 pages (excluding references). Submissions must use the SIGCHI paper format (same format as papers and notes) and be in the English language. Submissions do not need to be anonymous.
All submissions will be peer-reviewed by at least two members of the Program Committee before acceptance. Submissions will be evaluated by their relevance and their potential to contribute to the overall Workshop objective and stimulate valuable discussions, rather than the maturity of the reported research. The Workshop proceedings will be published on the CEUR-WS.org for online open access and wider reach.
Workshop topics include, but are not limited to:
- Theoretical considerations or practical applications of using gamification and games to promote flourishing or wellbeing;
- Frameworks for developing positive gaming applications;
- Design, implementation, or evaluation methods of gamification and games for positive computing;
- Personalization of positive gaming applications;
- Implementation of positive psychology interventions (e.g., gratitude, empathy, mindfulness) using games or gamification;
- Challenges to developing gameful applications, serious games, and recreational games for positive gaming;
- Participation of end users or wellbeing experts in the design process of positive games;
- Case studies of positive gaming.
Submissions should be sent directly to [email protected].
Workshop Schedule
The Workshop will be divided in two parts. In the morning, the organizers will coordinate a discussion panel aimed at establishing a common understanding on the topic and identifying research opportunities. Next, participants will have the chance to present the accepted works in the technical section.
In the afternoon, we will articulate and present challenges to designing and evaluating games and gameful application for positive psychology interventions (such as fostering gratitude or empathy). Participants will work in teams to propose and create a low fidelity prototype (e.g., a paper prototype) of a potential solution. Participants will then present these prototypes to the group for feedback and discussion regarding the application potential of the proposed solutions.
The Workshop will conclude with a collective construction of plans for future action, aiming to establish new collaborative projects or continue some of the ideas that were generated during the group discussions.
09:00–09:30: Opening and Introduction
09:30–10:30: Positive Computing principles and their realization with games and gameful apps (panel coordinated by the organizers)
11:00–12:30: Presentation of the work submitted by participants
12:30–14:00: Lunch
14:00–14:30: Challenge set up
14:30–16:00: Team work discussing and prototyping potential solutions for the challenge
16:00–17:00: Presentation of the proposed solutions and playtesting
17:00–17:30: Closing and future action plan
Gustavo F. Tondello
University of Waterloo
Gustavo F. Tondello, M.Sc., is a Ph.D. student at the University of Waterloo with a main interest in gamification and games for health, wellbeing, and learning. He is currently working in projects related to the design and personalization of gameful apps for wellbeing.
Rita Orji
Dalhousie University
Rita Orji, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor at Dalhousie University, Canada. Previously, she was a Banting Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Waterloo, Canada. She has research expertise in personalization, persuasive technologies, and games for health and wellbeing. Dr. Orji has successfully co-organized many workshops on personalizing persuasive technologies and games.
Kellie Vella
Queensland University of Technology
Kellie Vella, Ph.D., is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Queensland University of Technology interested in playful, social technologies and their impacts on wellbeing. She is currently working on the MindMax project, a gamified wellbeing mobile application developed in collaboration with the Australian Football League Players Association.
Daniel Johnson
Queensland University of Technology
Daniel Johnson, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor at the Queensland University of Technology. His research interests include the wellbeing impact of videogames, videogames’ motivations for play, and gamification. He is the head of the Games Research and Interaction Design Lab and has worked in the games industry for companies such as NextGen Videos and The Binary Mill.
Marierose M. M. van Dooren
Delft University of Technology
Marierose M. M. van Dooren, M.Sc., is a Ph.D. candidate on the Persuasive Game Design group at the Delft University of Technology. Her research focuses on personalization and gamification to improve implementation and support therapy in youth mental healthcare. Her research interests focus on topics such as gamification, personalization, and (youth) mental healthcare.
Lennart E. Nacke
University of Waterloo
Lennart E. Nacke, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor for HCI and Game Design at the University of Waterloo and head of the HCI Games Group. He has many years of experience serving on SIGCHI program and steering committees. Dr. Nacke has co-organized many workshops for CHI and CHI PLAY; he also chaired CHI PLAY 2014 and Gamification 2013, and served as technical and subcommittee co-chair for CHI and CHI PLAY.
Workshop Proposal
Download the Workshop proposal: