Sander Bakkes

Name: Sander Bakkes

Position at UvA: Post-doctoral researcher, lecturer

"My Ph.D. thesis was on the subject of adaptive video game artificial intelligence (AI). For video games to provide an immersive, believable experience, they need to be able to adapt and respond adequately to the user; a design aspect that is often underdeveloped in commercial games. I teach subjects that are related to this vision." 

"I find it very important to consider the individual user in the design and development of games. That is, to realise that what games should ideally do, is to provide a personal experience. This requires techniques that can accurately assess the user preferences, desires, and psychological profile, and utilise these assessments for automatically adapting the game experience."

"I research how games and AI techniques can be applied for non-entertainment applications, such as for socially connecting independently living elderly, and for executive function (EF) training of children with ADHD. Specifically, I investigate how the game experience can be tailored automatically to fit the individual user. Occasionally, I lose myself in games with a strong narrative component, such as the Mass Effect trilogy." 

"The interdisciplinary Game Studies master programme is unique in that it teaches recent psychological insight on motivating and connecting users, embedded in courses on games for society, game technology, and research methods. The courses will stimulate students to go out into the real world, interview potential users, propose novel prototype ideas, and validate the ideas together with actual users. No simulation studies, but creating novel answers to real-world problems."

"I expect students to have an interest in envisioning how game concepts, ideas and techniques can be employed for societal benefits, for health purposes, for educational purposes, for policy making. There indeed is a wealth of academic investigation that goes beyond game design and development."