I study player experiences of failure and learning in video games.
About me:
My work is found at the intersections of games, cognition, data science, and learning. I am currently serving as a Researcher 6 and PI of the Playful Puzzle Mechanics grant in the Department of Educational Psychology at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities studying how game developers create engaging puzzles that encourage players to persist and learn through failure.
Expertise
Game metrics
Failure
Mixed methods
Player Experience
Cognitive Interviews
Analytics & Data
Select publications
Anderson, C. G., & Cullen, A. L. L. (2023). Failing to see a difference: Closing a gender gap in a challenging video game. Games & Culture. Advance online publication.
Anderson, C. G., Goeke, M., Hussein, B., Carpenter, Z.L., Salehi, S., DeLiema, D. (2022). Baba is Hint -Designing a Scaffolding Guidebook for Game-Based Learning [Paper presentation]. Games+Learning+Society Conference 2022, Irvine CA.
Anderson, C. G. (2020). Game On: Mastery Orientation Through the Lens of A Challenging Video Game. In the Proceedings of the 42nd Annual Virtual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society. Cognitive Science Society.
Anderson, C. G., Campbell, K., & Steinkuehler, C. (2019, August). Building persistence through failure: the role of challenge in video games. In Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games (p. 34). ACM.
Anderson, C. G., Dalsen, J., Kumar, V., Berland, M., & Steinkuehler, C. (2018). Failing up: How failure in a game environment promotes learning through discourse. Thinking Skills and Creativity, 30, 135-144.
Current projects
Puzzle game design for better problem solving
Player problem-solving strategies in Baba is You
Mastery orientation in Cuphead