Researcher of human computer interaction and digital games Katherine Isbister spoke at TEDxHarkerSchool this Saturday.

People love computer games, but researcher of human computer interaction and digital games Katherine Isbister provided a new perspective on the effects of their design at HarkerTEDx.

She is currently a professor in the Department of Computational Media at the University of California, Santa Cruz. There, she is a faculty member in the Center for Games and Playable Media program. Isbister is also the founding research director of the Game Innovation Lab at New York University’s School of Engineering.

This was Ibister’s first time speaking at TEDxHarkerSchool. She spoke about her research and how developers’ design choices affect how a digital game player feels.

“Game designers have come up with some pretty powerful ways to transform our feelings,” Isbister said. “They’re using those ways for all kinds of really interesting and worthy purposes.”

She recently wrote a book “How Games Move Us” and has also published many other works, including “Better Game Characters by Design” and “Game Usability.” Isbister was chosen in the MIT Technology Review as a TR100 Young Innovator because of her potential to shape the future of technology.

“What I hope people take away is that games are a true artform, like literature [or] great films,” Isbister said.

Isbister’s research has been featured on Wired, a tech magazine, and Scientific American, a science magazine, as well as other sites. She has spoken at several at other academic conferences and public talks.

“She’s got some really fascinating ideas on the topics of video game design and we just think that she’s going to bring something really awesome, some really cool ideas, to our event this weekend,” Aditya Dhar (12), co-curator of TEDxHarkerSchool, said.

She was the third speaker and spoke from 11 a.m. to 11:35 a.m. this past Saturday in Nichols after the interactive booths.