David Storeys' PhD

Modelling User Performance in Computer Games

I am David Storey, currently a PhD student at the School of Information Technologies within the University of Sydney and located in Sydney, Australia.
My research has entered its second year now and has settled on the task of measuring a player's ability, then using these measurements to improve existing features found within games and as an avenue into some exciting new features.

The research is being supervised by two people:

• Judy Kay - Lead Supervisor with substantial knowledge in the field of User Modelling
• Irena Koprinska - Associate Supervisor with knowledge in the field of Machine Learning

Research Objectives

Any research must have a set of objectives, and over time mine have settled on a mix of academic and commercial:

1. Determine the key factors in a player's gameplay that define their ability to play a specific game.
2. Develop a combination of Algorithmic and Machine Learning approaches that let us measure this ability, assigning it numeric value.
3. Test our measurement for validity by comparing the values generated against the player's perception of their ability, and also compare with the player's peers perceptions of ability.
4. Once validated explore the potential for our work to improve existing game features, such as providing more detailed feedback after a match and offering more detailed comparisons with your opponents.
5. Explore the versatility of our approach beyond a single game into that games genre, and then between game genres and also into various Real Life situations.

Progress

Progress is moving along.

Contacting David