I start from a core belief that a well-designed game is beautiful. A well-structured experience, an elegantly architected interaction, is a form of art. So any game that I am working on, regardless of the purpose, falls into art practice. Likewise, I do believe that there is a real social good that comes out of encouraging people to play cooperatively, and giving people an opportunity to be powerful and superheroes in everyday public spaces. That means for me there is something political in all of these games, as well. Now, whether is it educational, or a marketing experience, or just something I am doing as design research, I will stand behind every game I work on as art and as a political intervention.

People who don’t pay attention to game culture might not be aware of just how seriously game designers take scientific research, particularly around psychology. Game companies have people whose job it is to follow the research and try to implement it. Positive psychology is actually helping players have a more positive experience. I like to say that game designers are essentially happiness engineers. The only thing they really care about is making the player feel these positive emotions, that’s why we play games, it’s the business that we’re in.