Play Matters with David Galiel, Elbowfish

David will share how emerging developments in HCI are creating virtual civic spaces. Learn how David and Elbowfish succeed in applying game-inspired approaches to improving work, converting customers to fans, and harnessing the power of community.

"If It Isn’t Fun, No One Will Care" with Grant Roberts, E-Line Media

Grant will share a variety of game and human-computer interaction design insights from his long career in the video game industry — which has featured Marvel Comics games for kids, free-to-play games for phones, big-budget sequels for the hardcore, and casino games for the bargain bin.

“Gamers Succeed Where Scientists Don’t- Combining Humans and Computers to Solve Scientific Problems” with Seth Cooper, Center for Game Science, Northeastern University

Rather than solving problems with a purely computational approach, combining humans and computers can provide a means for solving problems neither could solve alone. Seth will describe the challenges of mapping real-world problems onto games and ways to address these challenges. Further, Seth will discuss other current problem solving game projects and future possibilities.

"Mental Health & Social Impact Are No Game - Or Are They?" with Skyler Corbett, University of Portland Online Learning Development and Yori Kvitchko, SleepNinja Games

CHIFOO 2-for-1! Skyler will cover educational developments in the indie gaming, “You Have Gained A Level - Adding Empathy and Understanding to Online Education”. Yori will be filling in and covering the same topic as Will Lewis. He'll share the pros and cons of applying gameful design to HCI in “Games for Social Good”.

"’Outside-In’ Engagement: Identity, Transformation, and Agency in Digital Story Based Games” with Josh Tanenbaum, Transformative Play Lab, University of California

Joshua will help us draw on theories of method acting training to investigate how to support the experience of transforming into a character in a digital narrative. Then we'll discuss the relationships between embodied game interfaces, tangible storytelling, game-based-learning, virtual worlds, and nonverbal communication.

“Online Story-Driven Games” with Rym DeCoster, FIX Flyer, Geek Nights, & Datenighto

Through his geek-focused radio talk show, events and lecturing, Rym has had exposure to and a direct hand in a variety of projects that leverage game-inspired techniques in a computer interface, and will delight us with his stories about how he's observed the unique interaction of gaming and how HCI is maturing.