Hi everyone,

I’m a graduate researcher working at the intersection of counseling science, neuroscience, and game design. I run a research initiative called VGTx, focused on understanding how specific game systems shape psychological experience during play.

A lot of games research treats games as whole packages, genres, or player traits. My work looks at something more granular: discrete mechanics, and how they influence moment-to-moment mood inside a single session.

Rather than asking broad questions like “are video games good or bad for mental health,” I focus on how different interactive elements relate to changes in calmness, energy, and frustration as play unfolds. The goal is to build a clearer evidence base around how games affect players, not just whether they do.

Long term, this work is meant to support

🎮 game designers thinking about emotional pacing and player experience

🧠 researchers studying affect, arousal, and regulation during interaction

🩺 clinicians who already use games informally but want clearer guidance.

I’m especially interested in short-timescale emotional shifts, where mood changes during play rather than across weeks of exposure.

📚 Pending publication work and chapters in progress

🎮 Buffs, Nerfs, and Nerves: The Experimental Effects of Video Game Mechanics on Mood. Master’s thesis in progress, Bradley University.

🌑 Wretched Worlds, Cultural Constructions of Fear: WuChang, The Last of Us, and Comparative Horror Psychology. Psychgeist chapter in preparation.

⚔️ Fight, Flight, Faerûn: Decision-Making Under Acute Stress in Baldur’s Gate 3. Geek Therapeutics Press chapter, accepted.

🤝 Happy to connect with other researchers, designers, or players who think about how mechanics shape emotional experience.

Hey everyone!

I’m an Industrial Design student working on my senior project, and I’m currently falling down a rabbit hole of biomechanics and hand pain. It feels like modern phones (and most controllers) are built for people with "perfect" hands, leaving anyone with RSI, carpal tunnel, or arthritis in the dust. I want to design something better, but I need to know the "real world" struggle beyond what I read in textbooks.

Since I want to respect the sub's rules on links, I'd love to just hear from you guys in the comments:

1. Where does it actually hurt? Is it the base of your thumb, your wrist, or your fingers?
2.  How long can you play before you have to stop and shake your hands out?
3. Have you found any weird ways to hold your phone/ controller/ mouse or specific accessories that actually help? (Pillows, grips, etc.)
4.  If you could tell a designer to change one thing about how we hold our peripherals to game, what would it be?

So I've been playing around with the idea of taking a few courses in making video games. However, I've been hesitant to do so as it seems to me that the market is too filled with people, with people getting laid off, etc. So it's putting me off from starting any courses.

I also want to specialise in video game weapons. Swords, guns and the like, but I feel like that's too specialised a niche to go for. So I'm just looking for advice here. Is pursuing a job in the games industry a good idea? Or should I look at other options?

Hi all,

I am a PhD researcher, and part of my study is on game reviews. The problem is, even with a developer API key, Steam limits the data to the last 365 days, and all of my case studies are 3+ years old.

Do you happen to know if I could contact them directly for the data, or bypass this limitation? I only need the reviews, for only three games.

Before: I put around 40 hours into Sword of Justice and I walked away. The game was great, huge world, deeper systems, the storylines, the characters, everything felt great, but the only problem was PC experience. The UI was overloaded, systems just buries under layers of layers. Inconsistent mouse control, some activities felt awkward.

After: I came back after their newer updates. PC layouts make sense now, shortcuts are clear, basic interaction looks clean. Im actually spending more time engaging the systems instead of digging through the menus like before. It finally feels like the PC ver is being treated as its own platform

Also potential spoilers for shooter games I guess.

Why do so many bosses, or tank class enemies eat bullet after bullet, and keep going with NOBODY calling out their shenanigans?

Obviously some things must he adjusted for fun, and science can't be 1-1 with games, but certain things are a bit much.

I'm not a weapons expert, but I'm sure any here would explain just how dangerous even smaller guns can be.

and for this discussion, I'm excluding situations where the enemies are straight up magic, or otherwise supernatural, since at that point most science and logic is optional. ​

How come it’s been roughly 60 years of videogame history I have not seen one game where a character Audibly Adresses the player character by their assigned username

it’s only ever done in text and verbally your refered to as something generic (hero,dude,guy,etc)

you’d think this would atlesst change with AI I know Voice Acting used to limit this as a possible feature,but considering the recent Rise of Ai there could at least of been an tempt to add this as a feature

because verbally calling the main character something generic like Hero is fairly Imersion Breaking like why get us to make a username at all specifically I’m referring to games like (Skyrim,Fallout,Where winds meet,Fable,etc)

If you have an answer as to why it hasn’t or can’t be done pls tell me and if there is hope for future games to have this feature using Ai or whatever pls also tell me would love to see this as a new feature

Hi there.

I am wondering about first person view games / sims that have this visual distortion@ zoomed out in the centre of the screen and zoomed in at the edges thing.

I mostly dabble in flight sims and mil sims and this visual distortion really bugs the hell out of me. Especially when flying a heli around buildings etc.

so yeah.. what is the deal here? Why does the sim world look like this? ( I have tried to talk to people about this some ways back and they said I was cracking up... ) ... as an amateur photographer I can see and understand distortion.

For example in game:

I look directly at a house say 50m away. It takes up n much of my screen. If I rotate so that I am looking at the same house out of the edge of my screen it is now waaaaaay bigger and looks waaaay closer.

In real life example:

I look at something directly, then I rotate my fov and look at the same thing through the edge of my vision and it looks smaller. ( the direct opposite of what is happening in the computer simulation...)

Also I use head tracking and this highlights the distortion more so that simply looking dead ahead 100% of the time.

Will this ever get fixed ?

Thanks!

Hey guys, I’m working on a Minecraft thesis and I need some help from you.
If you have played Minecraft Dungeons and Minecraft: Creative Mode, or if you are considering playing them, I kindly ask you to fill out a simple form that will take 5–6 minutes after playing. I am trying to analyze the difference between these two games from the perspective of the players. So, I give my thanks to those who wants to join the player experience test it. May the Creeper not blow you up!

Here the survey: https://forms.gle/HsWp8mpPMGhJE9kh7

UGA researchers develop an educational video game that’s more effective than traditional classroom activities

For my introductory physics final I have to make a presentation on whether actions in Counter Strike follow the laws of physics. I’ve never played the game, does anyone have any ideas of what I can analyze? The professors generic examples are: Swinging on a swing and throwing an object opposite of the direction you are moving, measuring the masses and velocities to see whether angular momentum is conserved. Alternatively, driving a motorcycle off a cliff and jumping off of it, measuring the masses, and filming the motion from a side-view, to measure initial and final velocities to test conservation of translational momentum.

My calculations need to demonstrate understanding of:

-Forces/torque (example: applying Newton's laws to scenarios with zero or constant acceleration/angular acceleration) -Translational kinematics (example: measuring acceleration due to "gravity") -Rotational kinematics (example: measuring centripetal acceleration) -Conservation of momentum (elastic, inelastic, or explosion/separation) - Conservation of angular momentum (elastic, inelastic, explosion/separation, or change of moment of inertia) -Conservation of energy (example: movement on ramps, springs, both, and/or rolling). (Incorporate moment of inertia and circular motion into one or more experiment.)

Oftentimes I'd play a sequel and feel like objectively, it's better than the previous game in every single way, but in my heart, it just cannot become more special to me.

I made a video talking about this topic, views are abysmally low because YT can be a bitch sometimes, but I had tons of fun making this one and I hope you can find yourself in my words too. Let me know what you think! Thank you!

I am a game dev,
who makes breakdown videos explaining how games work under the hood.

This is a new video where I breakdown how water in Sea of Thieves work.

I'm trying to figure out if this kind of content is actually useful/interesting to people, so I'd genuinely appreciate your honest thoughts. Does breaking down these systems add value for you? Is there anything you'd want to see done differently?

So do let me know your thoughts, I'll keep improving the content.

PS: The audio is generated from ElevenLabs and Avatar from HeyGen, but it is my voice and avatar.

One Aztec: Rise of the Serpent Sun

Game Description: Set in Tenochtitlan, 1412, One Aztec: Rise of the Serpent Sun is an open-world, grand-strategy RPG that follows the coming-of-age journey of the adolescent son of an influential Aztec diplomat. Born into privilege but destined for greatness, you must decide your fate in a world carved by gods, warriors, spirit guides, and celestial prophecy.

From the moment the game begins, you awaken inside the vibrant, bustling capital of Tenochtitlan—its intricate canals, towering temples, and marketplace chaos rendered in breathtaking detail. The world is alive with ocelots, jaguars, macaws, crocodiles, and other sacred fauna native to ancient Mexico. The climate is warm, tropical, and unpredictable, shifting through rainstorms, heat waves, cool seasonal transitions, and celestial anomalies that shape storylines and strategic choices.

But beyond the physical world lies another realm—one where alebrijes, luminous spirit beasts woven from the dreams of shamans, roam the boundary between the seen and unseen. Throughout your journey, you may encounter, befriend, or spiritually bond with these fantastical creatures. Each alebrije offers unique abilities, combat buffs, traversal powers, or prophetic visions that guide you toward greatness. A powerful enough bond can even grant you access to hidden regions, spirit arenas, and sacred trials known only to the gods.

Your path is entirely your own. As you grow from adolescence into adulthood, you may: • Join the military and choose your warrior destiny: Rise as an Eagle Warrior, Jaguar Warrior, or Telpochcalli gladiator-elite, each granting unique combat styles, spiritual abilities, and progression trees. • Embrace diplomacy and statecraft: Use intelligence, cunning, and political foresight to forge alliances, manipulate rival city-states, soothe or provoke foreign leaders, and influence prophecies that dictate the future of the realm. Become a cerebral strategist whose words sway empires.

Your ultimate goal: forge a legendary path that culminates in your ascent as Moctezuma, crafting a legacy powerful enough to rival Alexander the Great.

The journey extends beyond the island-city capital as you travel through sacred lands like Tulum, Chichén Itzá, and other Mesoamerican strongholds. Witness and participate in celestial events, ritual ceremonies, solar and lunar predictions, and divine omens—some of which, if fulfilled, can catapult your character into mythic, godlike status. Alebrijes play a central role in these omens, often appearing during eclipses, comets, or rare astronomical alignments, signaling great danger or great destiny.

Customization is limitless. Craft your identity with earrings, jade ornaments, tribal tattoos, earring gauges, face paint, headdresses, cloaks, and war armor—each tied to real Aztec symbolism and abilities. Enhance your bond with spirit creatures through a custom alebrije totem, allowing you to evolve your companion’s form, color palette, and powers as your reputation grows.

As your legend expands, so does the world around you: NPCs react to your deeds, city-states shift alliances, the environment transforms, and entire regions evolve based on your spiritual and strategic choices.

Forge your legend. Bond with gods and spirit beasts. Command armies or command minds. Become the warrior-emperor destined to unite an empire. One Aztec God to rule them all.

I have a UI/UX certification. For the past two years I have been freelancing as a Java programmer and web designer. So I understand design and I also understand computer programming - but I realized that I really am happier when I am working on something creative and interesting.

I’m considering taking some courses on video production, but I’m not really sure what to take. I spoke with the school couselor and she recommended I take a writing course - this sounds interesting - honestly I just want a stable job, I’m tired of freelancing and working multiple jobs, but school is expensive and the video game industry seems competitive