Key details
Dr Tom Cole
Senior Lecturer in Games Development
Tom is Senior Lecturer in Games Development at the University of Greenwich. Until recently he was Lecturer in Computing at Goldsmiths, University of London and before that founded and led the BA Games Design degree at the University for the Creative Arts, Rochester. He had solid experience of online learning, having written modules and provided extensive support to other module authors for the Online BSc Computer Science at University of London.
His research is situated at the boundary of Human Computer Interaction (HCI) and Games Studies and focuses on how we can broaden and deepen emotional engagement in videogames with a particular focus on the eudaimonic gameplay experience. He has published papers and spoken on mixed-affect and reflective gameplay experiences, player agency and grounded theory methodology.
He also organises AdventureX - the Narrative Games Convention (http://adventurexpo.org). The only event of its kind in the world, it's been an internationally recognised sell-out event for several years now.
Before entering academia, Tom worked at Supermassive Games where he was a designer on the BAFTA award-winning horror game Until Dawn and artist on Killzone Shadow Fall. He is also an experienced High School Science Teacher and English Language (CELTA/TEFL) teacher. He holds a BSc in Biological Sciences with Industrial Experience from Manchester University, an MA in Digital Games: Theory and Design from Brunel University and a PhD from Goldsmiths, University of London.
Responsibilities within the university
Lecturer in Games Development.
Awards
A funded PhD through the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Intelligent Games and Game Intelligence (IGGI).
Research / Scholarly interests
Tom’s research focuses on emotion and affect in videogames, in particular eudaimonic and mixed-affect emotional experiences arising from single-player gameplay. He also has a strong interest in Grounded Theory Methodology and qualitative HCI research.
Recent publications
Article
Cole, Thomas and , Gillies, Marco (2019), Thinking and doing: challenge, agency, and the eudaimonic experience in videogames. SAGE. In: , , , . SAGE, Games and Culture, 16 (2) . pp. 187-207 ISSN: 1555-4120 (Print), 1555-4139 (Online) (doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/1555412019881536).
Conference item
Cole, Tom and , (2024), The History of Nintendo. In: The History of Nintendo - evening lecture in collaboration with Seed Talks, 1st Feb & 28th Feb, 2024, Market House, London; Brighthelm Centre, Brighton , . , (doi: https://dice.fm/event/mnbxr-the-history-of-nintendo-with-dr-tom-cole-28th-feb-brighthelm-centre-brighton-tickets).
Cole, Tom and , (2022), 'Lost in the Woods': The importance and utility of grounded theory methodology and qualitative research in games (iGGi CON 2022 Keynote). In: IGGI Conference 2022, 6th - 7th Sep, 2022, Ron Cooke Hub, York, UK , . , (doi: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pe5FfHTk-4).
Conference proceedings
Cole, Tom , Denisova, Alena, Iacovides, Jo (2023), 2nd Eudaimonia in digital games workshop. Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). In: 2nd Workshop on Eudaimonia in Digital Games: Foundations of Digital Games 2024, 21st - 24th May, 2024, Worcester, USA In: Phil Lopes, Filipe Costa Luz, Antonios Liapis, Henrik Engström (eds.), FDG 2023: Foundations of Digital Games 2023. April 12th - 14th, 2023, Lisbon, Portugal. Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), New York, USA (1st) . ISBN: 9781450398558 (doi: https://dl.acm.org/doi/proceedings/10.1145/3582437).
Cole, Tom , Denisova, Alena, Iacovides, Jo (2023), Workshop on Eudaimonia in Digital Games. Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). In: 18th Foundations of Digital Games 2023 (FDG), 11th - 14th Apr 2023, Lisbon, Portugal In: Phil Lopes, Filipe Costa Luz, Antonios Liapis, Henrik Engström (eds.), FDG 2023: Foundations of Digital Games 2023. April 12th - 14th, 2023, Lisbon, Portugal. Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), New York, USA (1st) . ISBN: 9781450398558 (doi: https://dl.acm.org/doi/proceedings/10.1145/3582437).
Cole, Thomas and , Gillies, Marco (2022), More than a bit of coding: (un-)Grounded (non-)Theory in HCI. Association of Computing Machinery (ACM). In: , , In: Simone Barbosa, Cliff Lampe, Caroline Appert, David A. Shamma (eds.), CHI EA '22: CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems Extended Abstracts. LA, New Orleans, USA. 29th April 2022 - 5th May 2022. Association of Computing Machinery (ACM), New York (11) (1st) . pp. 1-11 . ISBN: 9781450391566 (doi: https://doi.org/10.1145/3491101).
Cole, Thomas and , Gillies, Marco (2022), Emotional exploration and the eudaimonic gameplay experience: a grounded theory. Association of Computing Machinery (ACM). In: , , In: Simone Barbosa, Cliff Lampe, Caroline Appert, David A. Shamma, Steven Drucker, Julie Williamson, Koji Yatani (eds.), CHI '22: CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. LA, New Orleans, USA. 29th April 2022 - 5th May 2022. Association of Computing Machinery (ACM), New York (470) (1st) . pp. 1-16 . ISBN: 9781450391573 (doi: https://doi.org/10.1145/3491102.3502002).
Cole, Tom and , Salisbury, John Hamon (2016), Grounded Theory in games research: making the case and exploring the options. Digital Games Research Association. In: DiGRA/FDG '16 - Proceedings of the First International Joint Conference of DiGRA and FDG, 1st - 6th August 2016, School of Arts, Media and Computer Games, Abertay University Dundee, Scotland, UK In: Jose Zagal (ed.), DIGRA/FDG '16 - Proceedings of the First International Joint conference of DIGRA and FDG. Digital Games Research Association, Finland DiGRA/FDG ཌ - Proceedings of the First International Joint Conference of DiGRA and FDG (1st) . ISBN: 23429666 (doi: http://www.digra.org/wp-content/uploads/digital-library/paper_400revised.pdf).