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The University of Glasgow has officially unveiled its new Games and Gaming Lab (GGLab), based at the College of Arts, which is designed to investigate how games can assist in research and education in new ways.
The lab was launched on 19 November and covers games from tabletop to electronic, across all time periods.
GGLab is a follow-on to a number of attempts to implement games in research and education by the University, such as a tabletop recreation of the Battle of Waterloo, the world’s largest historical tabletop game, in aid of the charity Waterloo Uncovered.
Four academics are co-directing GGLab, including Dr Timothy Peacock, lecturer in History; Dr Dimitra Fimi, a lecturer in Fantasy and Children’s Literature; Dr Jane Draycott, lecturer in Classics; and Dr Matthew Barr, a lecturer in Computing Science. Dr Barr this year released a book titled “Graduate Skills and Game-Based Learning”, which addresses his research into how video games could be used to enhance graduate skills.
Dr Peacock said: “Games are increasingly being used for research, teaching, training and simulations alongside their traditional entertainment value, as well as part of treatment and rehabilitation of physical and mental health trauma…we [the University] have been looking at the uses of games from modern computer games to table top and board games to help showcase exciting new research and perspectives.”
The University has a page for GGLab on its website where any upcoming events held by the lab will be posted.