#41 | Kristie Fisher | Driving new cloud gaming experiences

"What should we be building to provide the most value to people in this product space?" In Episode 41, we chat with Kristie Fisher, Staff UX Researcher at Google. Kristie is currently building the UX Design Research at Google Stadia, and has previously worked on Google Suite and Google Ads, and has previously worked at Xbox and Microsoft.  With a background in cognitive psychology, Kristie’s research interests center on gaming, human-computer interaction in the context of AI, and human learning.  Initially pursuing a career in academia, Kristie discusses what initially drew her into the field of gaming, and how her background in psychology plays into that. The experience of gaming has changed vastly in the last few years; games are no longer a simple linear experience of the player completing levels. They are far more complex, and many are built around social interaction, which we can see with the rise of e-sports. Cloud gaming is a relatively new field in gaming, Kristie gives some insights on what Google is doing in this field with Google Stadia. Designing a game provides many challenges, especially because it is such a creatively focused process. Research plays a very large role, but there may also be times where data can’t provide all the information and Kristie talks about what happens during those challenges. Games are often early adopters of new technology, using them in new and exciting ways which other products could take away from. There is an overarching reason why games are so successful, and Kristie discusses what that is and why games are so powerful. About Interaction 20: Interaction 20 is the annual Interaction Design conference organized by IxDA - the largest community dedicated to interaction design - and in 2020 hosted by the IxDA Milan & Turin local group. Interaction Week 2020 brought together the brightest minds in design, as well as science, philosophy, psychology and business. Interaction 2021 will happen fully online. You can get more details here: https://interaction21.ixda.org