Dr.-Ing. Katharina Emmerich

Mail:katharina.emmerich[at]uni-due.de

Main Research Areas

Since the beginning of my PhD research, I'm investigating the impact of digital games on players. In general, I'm highly interested in the topics player experience, multiplayer games, serious games (for health), and interaction design. In this broader context, my PHD research is focused on social aspects of the player experience. It includes the investigation of social-psychological effects (e.g., social facilitation) and social interaction in different game scenarios, as well as the evaluation of social consequences. I seek to investigate the complex, multifaceted concept of player experience by conducting empirical studies to unveil cause-and-effect relationships of game elements and their contribution to the game experience, with a special focus on social aspects of the setting. Furthermore, I am also testing different methods to assess and analyze data regarding player experience and social behavior. Hence, my work is established in the intersection between game design and the psychology of game effects.
I finished my PhD in 2019. My dissertation "Investigating the Social Player Experience: Social Effects in Digital Games" can be found online here.

Curriculum Vitae

Academic Career and Education

2013 - 2019 PhD at the Entertainment Computing Group, PhD thesis: Investigating the Social Player Experience: Social Effects in Digital Games
2010 – 2012
Study of Applied Cognitive- and Media Science at the University of Duisburg-Essen, degree Master of Science (M.Sc.)

2007 – 2010

Study of Applied Cognitive- and Media Science at the University of Duisburg-Essen, degree Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.)


Professional Career

10/2011 – 2020 Researcher at the Department of Media and Computer Science and Entertainment Computing
04/2010 – 10/2011             
Student assistant at the Department of Media and Computer Science and Entertainment Computing

Publications

  • Patrizia Ring, Julius Tietenberg, Katharina Emmerich and Maic Masuch. Development and validation of the collision anxiety questionnaire for vr applications. In [Accepted] Proceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, ACM, 2024, pp. . (2024)
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  • Linda Graf, Katharina Emmerich, Stefan Liszio and Maic Masuch. The impact of emotional virtual characters on emotional state and player experience in vr horror games. In [Accepted] Proceedings of the 19th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games (FDG 2024), ACM, 2024, pp. . (2024)
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  • Philipp Sykownik, Sukran Karaosmanoglu, Katharina Emmerich, Frank Steinicke and Maic Masuch. Vr almost there: simulating co-located multiplayer experiences in social virtual reality. In Proceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 2023, pp. 1–19. (2023)
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  • Linda Graf, Maximilian Altmeyer, Katharina Emmerich, Marc Herrlich, Andrey Krekhov and Katta Spiel. Development and validation of a german version of the player experience inventory (pxi). Mensch und Computer 2022-Tagungsband, 2022. (2022)
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  • Philipp Sykownik, Katharina Emmerich and Maic Masuch. Like in the good old times, but virtual - a case for simulating co-located multiplayer games in vr. In Extended Abstracts of the 2020 Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play, CHI PLAY 20 EA, ACM, 2020. (2020)
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  • Philipp Sykownik, Katharina Emmerich, Jochen Peketz and Maic Masuch. Blending Science and Practice: A Collaborative Approach for Evaluating the Value of Heart Rate Measurement . In Proceedings of the Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play - CHI PLAY 2019, 2019. (2019)
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  • Katharina Emmerich. Investigating the Social Player Experience: Social Effects in Digital Games. PhD Thesis. DuEPublico, University of Duisburg-Essen, 2019. (2019)
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  • Andrey Krekhov, Sebastian Cmentowski, Katharina Emmerich and Jens Krueger. Beyond Human: Animals as an Escape from Stereotype Avatars in Virtual Reality Games. In Proceedings of the Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play - CHI PLAY 2019, 2019. (2019)
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  • Katharina Emmerich, Patrizia Ring and Maic Masuch. I am glad you are on my side: how to design compelling game companions. In Proceedings of the 2018 Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play, 2018, pp. 141–152. (2018)
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  • Andrey Krekhov, Sebastian Cmentowski, Katharina Emmerich, Maic Masuch and Jens Krueger. GulliVR: A Walking-Oriented Technique for Navigation in Virtual Reality Games Based on Virtual Body Resizing. In Florian Floyd Mueller, Daniel Johnson, Ben Schouten, Zachary O. Toups and Peta Wyeth (eds.), Proceedings of the Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play - CHI PLAY 2018, ACM Press, New York, New York, USA, 2018, pp. 243–256. (2018)
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  • Katharina Emmerich and Maic Masuch. Watch Me Play: Does Social Facilitation Apply to Digital Games?. In Regan Mandryk, Mark Hancock, Mark Perry and Anna Cox (eds.), Proceedings of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - CHI 2018, ACM Press, New York, New York, USA, 2018, pp. 1–12. (2018)
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  • Philipp Sykownik, Katharina Emmerich and Maic Masuch. Exploring Patterns of Shared Control in Digital Multiplayer Games. In 14th international Conference on Advances in Computer Entertainment Technology, Springer-Verlag, 2017. (2017)
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  • Katharina Emmerich and Maic Masuch. The impact of game patterns on player experience and social interaction in co-located multiplayer games. In Ben Schouten, Panos Markopoulos, Zachary Toups, Paul Cairns and Tilde Bekker (eds.), Proceedings of the Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play - CHI PLAY 2017, ACM, New York, NY, USA, 2017. (2017)
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  • Stefan Liszio, Katharina Emmerich and Maic Masuch. The influence of social entities in virtual reality games on player experience and immersion. In Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games, ACM, 2017. (2017)
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  • Andrey Krekhov, Katharina Emmerich, Philipp Bergmann, Sebastian Cmentowski and Jens Krueger. Self-transforming controllers for virtual reality first person shooters. In Ben Schouten, Panos Markopoulos, Zachary Toups, Paul Cairns and Tilde Bekker (eds.), Proceedings of the Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play - CHI PLAY 2017, ACM Press, New York, New York, USA, 2017, pp. 517–529. (2017)
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  • Andrey Krekhov, Katharina Emmerich, Maxim Babinski and Jens Krueger. Gestures from the point of view of an audience. In Gloria Mark, Susan Fussell, Cliff Lampe, M. C. Schraefel, Juan Pablo Hourcade, Caroline Appert and Daniel Wigdor (eds.), Proceedings of the 2017 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - CHI 2017, ACM Press, New York, New York, USA, 2017, pp. 5284–5294. (2017)
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  • Katharina Emmerich, Natalya Bogacheva, Mareike Bockholt and Viktor Wendel. Operationalization and measurement of evaluation constructs. In Ralf Doerner, Stefan Goebel, Michael Kickmeier-Rust, Maic Masuch and Katharina Zweig (eds.), Entertainment Computing and Serious Games: International GI-Dagstuhl Seminar 15283, Dagstuhl Castle, Germany, July 5-10, 2015, Revised Selected Papers, Springer International Publishing, Cham, 2016, pp. 306–331. (2016)
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  • Katharina Emmerich and Mareike Bockholt. Serious games evaluation: processes, models, and concepts. In Ralf Doerner, Stefan Goebel, Michael Kickmeier-Rust, Maic Masuch and Katharina Zweig (eds.), Entertainment Computing and Serious Games: International GI-Dagstuhl Seminar 15283, Dagstuhl Castle, Germany, July 5-10, 2015, Revised Selected Papers, Springer International Publishing, Cham, 2016, pp. 265–283. (2016)
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  • Ralf Schmidt, Katharina Emmerich and Maic Masuch. Forschen und Lehren mit der Gesellschaft: Community Based Research und Service Learning an Hochschulen: The Science Behind: Ein Projekt im Rahmen der Initiative zur Unterstuetzung krebskranker Kinder und Jugendlicher in Langzeittherapie. Springer-Verlag, 2016. (2016)
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  • Katharina Emmerich and Maic Masuch. Game metrics for evaluating social in-game behavior and interaction in multiplayer games. In International Conference on Advances in Computer Entertainment Technology (ACE 2016), ACM, Osaka, Japan, 2016. (2016)
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  • Katharina Emmerich and Maic Masuch. The influence of virtual agents on player experience and performance. In ACM SIGCHI Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play (CHI PLAY), ACM, Austin, Texas, 2016. (2016)
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  • Carina Gansohr, Katharina Emmerich and Maic Masuch. Hold me tight: a tangible interface for mediating closeness to overcome physical separation. In 8th International Conference on Intelligent Technologies for Interactive Entertainment (Intetain), EAI, Utrecht, 2016. (2016)
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  • Ralf Schmidt, Katharina Emmerich and Burkhard Schmidt. Applied Games - In search of a new definition. In Konstantinos Chorianopoulos, Monica Divitini, Hauge J. Baalsrud, Letizia Jaccheri and Rainer Malaka (eds.), Proceedings of International Conference on Entertainment Computing (ICEC), Springer, 2015. (2015)
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  • Maic Masuch and Katharina Emmerich. Digitale Spiele. In Kevin Dadaczynski, Stephan Schiemann and Peter Paulus (eds.), Gesundheit spielend foerdern: Potenziale und Herausforderungen von digitalen Spieleanwendungen fuer die Gesundheitsfoerderung und Praevention, Beltz Juventa, 2015. (2015)
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  • Katharina Emmerich, Stefan Liszio and Maic Masuch. Defining Second Screen Gaming: Exploration of New Design Patterns. In Yoram Chisik, Christian Geiger and Shoichi Hasegawa (eds.), Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Advances in Computer Entertainment Technology (ACE 2014), ACM, New York, NY, USA, 2014. (2014)
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  • Katharina Emmerich, Maic Masuch and Ralf Schmidt. Digital Entertaining Health Applications: Researching the Fundamentals of a Cause-Effect Relationship. In Workshop on Designing Systems for Health and Entertainment: What are we missing? (ACE), , 2014. (2014)
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  • Carina Gansohr, Katharina Emmerich, Maic Masuch, Oliver Basu and Lorenz Grigull. Creating age-specific interactive environments about medical treatments for children and adolescent patients diagnosed with cancer. Springer International Publishing, 2014. (2014)
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  • Ralf Schmidt, Katharina Emmerich, Oliver Basu, Lorenz Grigull and Maic Masuch. Wolkenlos - eine Initiative zur Unterstuetzung haemato-onkologisch erkrankter Kinder und Jugendlicher. In Kinder und Jugendmedizin 2/2014, Schattenhauer Verlag, Stuttgart, 2014. (2014)
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  • Ralf Schmidt, Katharina Emmerich, Carola Freidank and Maic Masuch. Serious Games: Unterhaltung, aber mit Lerneffekt. In JuKiP, Georg Thieme Verlag, Stuttgart, 2014, pp. 275–279. (2014)
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  • Katharina Emmerich and Maic Masuch. Helping Friends or Fighting Foes - The Influence of Collaboration and Competition on Player Experience. In Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games, 2013. (2013)
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  • Alberto Fuchslocher, Katharina Emmerich, Maic Masuch and Nicole Kraemer. Social health games for wellbeing: a methodological approach. In Designing Interactive Systems Conference (DIS), , Newcastle, England, 2012. (2012)
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Supervised Theses

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