WHO AM I?

I am Assistant Professor of Persuasive Gaming at Erasmus University Rotterdam, where I am a member of the Research Cluster Gaming Matters. My expertise is focused on understanding how digital games are used as media for communication and tools for engagement, motivation, and persuasion. 

I am the author of Digital Gaming and the Advertising Landscape (2019), and main editor of Persuasive Gaming in Context (2021), both published by Amsterdam University Press.

My PhD thesis Persuasive Structures in Advergames was awarded the First Prize for the Best Academic Text in 2014 in the field of Audiovisual Communication by the Consell de l’Audiovisual de Catalunya (Spain). This thesis was the inspiration for the innovative research project Persuasive Gaming in Context, which received 1 million euros of funding from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research, in this project I worked as postdoctoral researcher.

I am vice-chair of the Digital Games Section of the European Communication Research and Education Association (ECREA). 


Book: PERSUASIVE GAMING IN CONTEXT

(Available Open Access:https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/47211)

The rapid developments of new communication technologies have facilitated the popularization of digital games, which has translated into an exponential growth of the game industry in the last decades. The ubiquitous presence of digital games has resulted in an expansion of the applications of these games from mere entertainment purposes to a great variety of serious purposes. In this edited volume, we narrow the scope of attention by focusing on what game theorist Ian Bogost has called «persuasive games», that is, gaming practices that combine the dissemination of information with attempts to engage players in particular attitudes and behaviors.

This volume offers a multifaceted reflection on persuasive gaming, that is, on the process of these particular games being played by players. The purpose is to better understand when and how digital games can be used for persuasion, by further exploring persuasive games and some other kinds of persuasive playful interaction as well. The book critically integrates what has been accomplished in separate research traditions to offer a multidisciplinary approach to understanding persuasive gaming that is closely linked to developments in the industry by including the exploration of relevant case studies.

Edited by: Teresa de la Hera, Jeroen Jansz, Joost Raessens and Ben Schouten

Also available as hardback:
https://www.aup.nl/en/book/9789463728805/persuasive-gaming-in-context


Book: DIGITAL GAMING AND THE ADVERTISING LANDSCAPE

(Available Open Access: https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvnp0j4g)

The evolution of the game industry and changes in the advertising landscape in recent years have led to a keen interest of marketers in using digital games for advertising purposes. However, despite the increasing interest in this marketing strategy, the potential of digital games as a medium to convey advertising messages remains unexploited.

Digital Gaming and the Advertising Landscape explores the different ways advertising messages can be embedded within digital games. An interdisciplinary approach is used to help explain how persuasive communication works within digital games. It does so by forging new links within the area of game studies where the emphasis of this book clearly lies, while also taking up new subjects such as design theories and their relation to games as well as how this relationship may be used in a practical context.

Buy it here:
https://www.aup.nl/en/book/9789048538676/digital-gaming-and-the-advertising-landscape