16.2.2026 State of Accessibility in the Most Played Games Barriers and inaccessible game-design are still issues in gaming – but exactly how accessible are some of the most popular games? #MostPlayed #Accessibility #GameDesign Game Research Highlights
13.1.2026 Myths for a Better Tomorrow What if the stories you live through in games were the myths of today? Ludomythologies is a fresh research publication that unpacks how games create and transform modern myths that shape culture and imagination. Ready to see your favorite games from a new, surprising perspective? #GameStudies #MythMaking #Ludomythologies Game Research Highlights
8.1.2026 The Ludic Sublime from Dark Souls to Animal Well What makes a game world feel mysterious and unknowable? A ten-year-old game studies paper provides a compelling answer. #mystery #adventure Features Game Research Highlights
5.1.2025 Positive Impacts of Game Jams: Finding Hope By Making Games Game jams are a fun way to develop games as a hobby, but maybe there could be serious positive impacts of these game creation events. Game Research Highlights
27.2.2024 Choose Wisely - Enhancing Career Prospects Through Games Your choice of game can help develop soft skills related for your future profession. Game Research Highlights
17.2.2024 Hard to define genre We should (re)think about video game labels, and there is research to show us why. Features Game Research Highlights
9.2.2024 Forgotten in the Shadows: Exploring the Ambiguity of Unexceptional Consoles A study about unexceptional consoles, forgotten in the shadows of the more popular platforms. Game Research Highlights
11.12.2023 Exploring On Their Own - The Value of Implicit Video Game Tutorials Giving players freedom to roam can be more beneficial than holding their hand too much. Game Research Highlights
4.12.2023 Socializing, exploring or perhaps challenging oneself – different motivations of play. Eleven motivations of play were found in this research, some more obvious than others. Game Research Highlights
30.11.2023 "I never asked for this": Reinforcing social-emotional skills through video game interactions Social interaction between player and non-player characters can be useful for developing social-emotional skills. Game Research Highlights
26.11.2022 Who gets to decide? - Representation and inclusion in Overwatch community When two Overwatch characters were revealed to be LGBTQ, discussions flared in the community. Tanja Välisalo and Maria Ruotsalainen ask: Who has the right to have a say in what kind of representation is included in a game? Game Research Highlights
31.10.2022 Underrepresented group – A content analysis of child characters in video games How do video games portray children? Reay analyses a collection of 506 popular titles from the year 2009 to 2019 through an content analysis to find out representation. Game Research Highlights
19.10.2022 Backseat Gaming: An Alternate Way into The Gaming Community In their research article, Neta Yodovich and Jinju Kim explore how women can access the male-dominant Gaming Community through Backseat Gaming with a lower chance of being criticized. Game Research Highlights
7.1.2022 Finding structure and connections through Animal Crossing: Horizons – how games can help us cope with crises This is an overview of a study on how Nintendo's Animal Crossing: New Leaf has helped players cope with the isolation of COVID-19 lockdowns in early 2020. The study centers around the routines and player identities that arise from the game. Game Research Highlights
5.1.2022 Archaeological Approach to Catastrophe and Mass Migration in No Man’s Sky An archaeologist used real-life methods to study an abandoned community of player settlements in No Man’s Sky. Game Research Highlights
29.12.2021 More Queer Romances in Roleplay Games, Please Not only is queer romance in RPG a good way to explore and and possibly self-discover, it can also be a way to fight against sexism and heteronormativity. Game Research Highlights
28.12.2021 What if we created games to aid us conversate about global issues? Do games and gamification pose a solution for the multidisciplinary conversation of sustainable development? Game Research Highlights
8.11.2021 Winning and losing play an important role in social player behaviour over the level of violent content The level of violent content in video games doesn’t lead to anti-social player behaviour on its own. Game Research Highlights
30.6.2021 Dungeons and dragons as the first gaming platform First there was Atari, then Nintendo and so on. WRONG - first there was D&D. Game Research Highlights
22.6.2021 Watching Full Motion Video While Playing – FMV Games and Their Design Patterns What Game design patterns are behind the FMV games that were popular during the nineties and are again gaining popularity? Therrien, Poremba, and Ray explore these design patterns through a large amount of FMV games. Game Research Highlights
16.6.2021 Four waves of historical awareness – history of Finnish gaming Jaakko Suominen categorizes four different waves of historical awareness in digital gaming that emphasize certain characteristics in writing and presenting Finnish gaming history. Game Research Highlights
26.4.2021 Toxic behaviour in Dead by Daylight as perceived by the players. Researchers used Dead by Daylight’s subreddit to analyze different factors and perceptions surrounding toxic behavior. Game Research Highlights
21.4.2021 White Nationalist Interpretations within The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim A study that researches the interpretations of white nationalism within the game The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Game Research Highlights
19.4.2021 The meanings of gameplay and interactivity for video games researcher Jonathan Frome’s article considers the importance of separating the terms “interactivity” and “gameplay” when discussing emotional reactions to video games. The article encourages scholars to use more distinct terminology and definitions. Game Research Highlights
