A groundbreaking new initiativeled by the University of York, with partners at Cass Business School, part of
City University London, and Durham University Business School, aims to unlock the potential for scientific and social benefits
in digital games.
The £1.2 million
project aims to bring the UK digital games industry closer to scientists,
teachers and healthcare workers to harness their ingenuity and
innovation to contribute to advances in science and society.
Researchers will
work with games companies and industry network associations to explore ways to
promote the production of more games with a social and scientific purpose.
The New
Economic Models and Opportunities for digital Games (NEMOG) initiative, funded jointly by the Engineering and Physical
Sciences Research Council and the Economic and Social Research Council, will
employ three post-doctoral researchers. It also has an advisory board
reflecting the support of more than a dozen games companies and nine creative
industries network organisations.
Principal
investigator Peter Cowling, an Anniversary Professor based in the York Centre
for Complex Systems Analysis (YCSSA), said:
“Every action in an online game,
from an in-game purchase to a simple button push, generates a piece of network
data. This is a truly immense source of information about player behaviours and
preferences. We will develop new algorithms to “mine” that data to
better understand game players as an avenue for making better games, societal
impact and scientific research.””
Researchers will
investigate sustainable business models for digital games, particularly those
with scientific and social goals. This will help to guide how businesses can
start up and grow to develop a new generation of games with the potential to
improve society.
They will also
build simulation models to investigate what might happen if, for example,
Government policy were to encourage the development of games with scientific
and social benefits.
Professor
Cowling added:
“The numbers of games sold and the numbers of game hours played
mean that we only need to persuade a small fraction of the games industry to
consider the potential for social and scientific benefit to achieve a massive
benefit for society. Potentially this will start a movement that will lead to
mainstream distribution of games aimed at scientific and social benefits.””
Professor Nicola
Spence, the chief executive of Science City York, who chairs the NEMOG Advisory
Board, added:
“It is an ambitious programme, but the potential benefits if we
are even partially successful could have a huge impact on children, science and
wider society, as well as the digital economy.””
The NEMOG research team
consists of Professor Peter Cowling, Dr Ignazio Cabras and Dr Daniel Kudenko of
the University of York, Professor Feng Li, of Cass Business School, and Professor
Kiran Fernandes, of Durham University Business School, with three postdoctoral
researchers to be appointed and a wide range of games companies, network organisations
and potential users of games for scientific and social purposes.
The digital games
manufacturers supporting the project are:
4 Door Lemon, AI Factory, Albino
Pixel, Complex City Apps, Creative Assembly, Introversion, LimbsAlive,
MiniMonos, Playgen, Red Kite Games, Revolution, WeR Interactive, ZumFun.
Network organisations
supporting the project are: AIGameDev.com, the Creative Industries Knowledge
Transfer Network, City of York Council, Digital Shoreditch, Game Republic,
Science City York, the SiDE Social Inclusion through the Digital Economy Hub,
Tech City, TIGA.
ENDS
Notes to
Editors:
·
Follow progress of the project at
www.nemog.org