ICG JKU Linz Lab Talk: The Power of Social Gaze in Games Michael Lankes

Michael Lankes University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria The Power of Social Gaze in Games April 12th 14:00 pm CET Room: S3 055ZoomYoutube About the Speaker: Michael Lankes is working as a professor at the Digital Media department at the University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria on game art design and usability interaction design. Since 2017 he is also the head of the research group Playful Interactive Environments PIE. His expertise ranges from VR in games serious games in the health domain to playful interactions supported by nonverbal communication channels which has been documented in more than 50 publications. Lankes together with his research network established a strong track record in the field of gaze-based interactions in games disseminating his work to journals and conferences. He is an active member of the HCI games community by co-organizing conferences such as the CHI PLAY conference series. Abstract: Gaze-based interactions have found their way into the games domain. AAA games such as Assassins Creed Valhalla support eye-tracking devices to grant players a more natural form of game interaction. Furthermore hardware devices e.g. PlayStation VR 2 indicate that this technology might play an essential role in the following years. Currently many gaze-supported games use gaze input as a supporting element and in some cases as a complete replacement for mouse input and game controllers. Besides that the inclusion of gaze has the potential to enrich social interactions by adding a valuable channel of non-verbal communication between players. Social gaze regulates information flow turn-taking and mediates shared attention on an area of interest. Gazing at an object during an interaction can also establish a mutual understanding of what is being discussed. In this talk the concept of social gaze will be introduced and different case studies will be presented that illustrate the design potentials and pitfalls. The talk shall provide insights for researchers and designers that are interested in games in general and that are keen on employing and investigating social gaze in their research projects.,

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