Our mission is to understand digital games more thoroughly, particularly in the context of intercultural communication.

To advance our understanding, we are currently conducting two studies that examine specific aspects of digital games.

The first study relies on usability techniques to examine immersion and engagement within digital games. We are comparing two games (one that is educational in nature and one that is purely entertaining) in terms of their ability to engage players; our model of engagement is based on the Singer/Witmer (1996) model for virtual environments.

The second study looks at a specific massively multiplayer online game and the communication differences that arise among the different cultures for which the game has been translated. This study will lead to conclusions about the quality of the game's localization for other cultures, as well as a clearer understanding of how gamers play and associate with one another in countries other than the USA.