Research team
Expertise
Rowan has research expertise on digital games and media entertainment, mainly from a media psychology perspective. This includes looking at selection processes of and experiences during the use of media entertainment/digital games, as well as a focus on the effects that games can have on players. A particular focus here is on the more profound, emotional and thought-provoking (also defined as 'eudaimonic') potential of digital games specifically, and media entertainment broadly. In his doctoral research (2017-2023), he conducted several literature reviews and empirical studies into the eudaimonic experiences and motives while playing digital games. For his postdoc research, he is currently involved in an FWO Senior project on boredom and media selection, where he will conduct research into how the state of boredom influences players' gaming motives and the selection of specific games. Other areas of research include the study of realism in digital games (and how this links to the historical representation in historically-themed games); eSports; extended reality technology (e.g. VR); and methodological innovations in how to systematically analyze digital games.