Sercan Sengun - Academic adventures in creative technologies, cultural informatics, virtual identities, and videogame studies

About

Dr. Sercan Sengun is a researcher, teacher, and game designer, exploring phenomena at the intersections of video game studies, gamer communities, cultural informatics, virtual identities, and interactive narratives. He is currently an Assistant Professor of Games and Interactive Media at University of Central Florida and a research affiliate for MIT Center for Advanced Virtuality and MIT IDSS (MIT Institute for Data, Systems, and Society) within the Antiracism, Games, and Immersive Media ICSR Project Team. In the past, he conducted research as a part of MIT CSAIL (Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory), MIT ICE Lab (Imagination, Computation, and Expression Laboratory), and Hamad Bin Khalifa University's QCRI (Qatar Computing Research Institute), and taught graduate and undergraduate game design courses at Illinois State University, Northeastern University, Bahcesehir University, and Istanbul Bilgi University.

Profiles: Google Scholar, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Behance

Appointments

University of Central Florida (2023-present)
Assistant Professor of Games and Interactive Media | Games and Interactive Media, Nicholson School of Communication
Courses:
• DIG 3175 – Design for Access and Engagement
• DIG 3728 – Game Testing
• DIG 3840 – Computer as a Medium
• DIG 4630 – Creative Industries

Illinois State University (2019-2023)
Ken Holder Endowed Assistant Professor of Creative Technologies (Game Design) | Creative Technologies, Wonsook Kim School of Art
Area Head for Game Design and Area Co-Coordinator for Graphic Design Sequences
Courses:
• ART 18/19 (Shanghai Normal University Tianhua College): Introduction to Game Design
• ART 444A13-001: Problems in Studio Work
• CTK 351: Game Design I
• CTK 352: Game Design II
• CTK 353: Game Development
• CTK 355A01: Game Studio Capstone I
• CTK 355A02: Game Studio Capstone II
• CTK 380.3/380.4: Introduction to Game Design
• CTK 380.5/380.6: Introduction to Game Development
• CTK 380.8: Games and Society
• CTK 460.1: Computer Arts Studio: Play and Society
• CTK 460.1: Computer Arts Studio: Experimental Technologies for Games
• CTK 480.2: Digital Game Concept Development & Production
• CTK 390/490: Directed Projects in Art Technology
• CTK 499: Independent Research for the Master's Thesis
• HON 202A78: Diversity in Digital Platforms and Equitable Virtual Environments

Northeastern University (2018-2019)
Visiting Assistant Professor of Game Design | College of Art, Media, and Design
Courses:
• GAME 2500: Foundations of Game Design
• GAME 3800: Game Concept Development & Production
• GAME 1110: Games and Society
• GSND 5110: Game Design and Analysis
• GSND 5130: Mixed Research Methods for Games
• GSND 6320: Psychology of Play

Istanbul Bahcesehir University (2014-current)
Lecturer | Game Design Master Degree
Courses:
• GAD 5101: Games and Culture
• GAD 5103: Game Art and Aesthetics
• GAD 5888-1 and 2: Thesis I and II

Massachusettes Institute of Technology (2016-2018)
Postdoctoral Research Associate | MIT CSAIL | MIT ICE LAB
Courses:
• CMS.628/828: Advanced Identity Representation
• CMS 950: Multimedia Workshop

Hamad Bin Khalifa University (2016-2017)
Visiting Postdoctoral Research Associate | Qatar Computing Research Institute

Istanbul Bilgi University (2015-2016)
Lecturer | Digital Game Design Graduate Degree
Courses:
• GAME 103: Introduction to Design and Creative Thinking

Publications

Book Chapters   Journals   Encyclopedia Entries   Proceedings   Theses   Theses Supervised

Book Chapters

Sercan Şengün, “Video Oyunlarında Tabula Rasa Kimlikler ve Pasif Seyircilik: Yürüme Simülatörleri Üzerine Bir Vaka İncelemesi,” (2023) In: Ertuğrul Süngü and Barbaros Bostan (eds.) Dijital Oyunlar 2.0 Kimlik. Istanbul: Nobel Academic Press.

Sercan Şengün, “Sanal Oyun Dünyaları Kime Ait: Üretici Firmalar ve Oyuncular Arasındaki Mülkiyet Gerilimleri,” (2023) In: Ertuğrul Süngü and Barbaros Bostan (eds.) Dijital Oyunlar 2.0 Kimlik. Istanbul: Nobel Academic Press.

Sercan Şengün, Jennifer Price, Lyndsie Schlink, Kristin Walker (2022), Azeroth Has a Workplace Gender Inequality Problem: Gendered Professions Bias in Virtual Worlds, In: Barbaros Bostan (eds.) Games and Narrative: Theory and Practice, International Series on Computer Entertainment and Media Technology, Cham: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-81538-7_7

Özge Mirza, Sercan Şengün (2022), An Analysis of the Use of Religious Elements in Assassin’s Creed Origins, In: Barbaros Bostan (eds.) Games and Narrative: Theory and Practice, International Series on Computer Entertainment and Media Technology, Cham: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-81538-7_16

Sercan Şengün (2022), Six Degrees of Videogame Narrative, In: Barbaros Bostan (eds.) Games and Narrative: Theory and Practice, International Series on Computer Entertainment and Media Technology, Cham: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-81538-7_1

Sercan Şengün (2021), Play and Society (CTK 359/460.1). In: Richard E. Ferdig, Emily Baumgartner, & Enrico Gandolfi (eds.) Teaching the Game: A Collection of Syllabi for Game Design, Development, and Implementation, pp. 3-19, Pittsburgh, PA: Carnegie Mellon University ETC Press. doi: 10.1184/R1/14866866

D. Fox Harrell, Sercan Şengün, and Danielle Olson (2021), Africa and the Avatar Dream: Mapping the Impacts of Videogame Representations of Africa. In: Kelly Josephs and Roopika Risam (eds.) The Digital Black Atlantic, pp. 183-206, Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.

Sercan Şengün, Güven Çatak, and Mustafa Feyyaz Sonbudak (2020), "It is so good, it cannot be Turkish": A case study of local video game producers versus local gamer communities. In: Tolga Hepdinçler and Hasan Kemal Süher (eds.) Creative Industries in Turkey, pp. 55-72, Berlin: Peter Lang Publishing. doi: 10.3726/b17040

Ysabelle Coutu, Yangyuqi Chang, Wendi Zhang, Sercan Sengun, and Ray LC (2020), Immersiveness and usability in VR: A comparative study of Monstrum and Fruit Ninja. In Barbaros Bostan (ed.) Game User Experience and Player-Centered Design, pp. 349-360, Berlin: Springer.

Sidan Fan, Jin H. Kim, Sonya I. McCree, and Sercan Sengun (2020), Integrate: A digital game for testing conformity in decision making. In Barbaros Bostan (ed.) Game User Experience and Player-Centered Design, pp. 21-42, Berlin: Springer.

Ysabelle Coutu, Yangyuqi Chang, Wendi Zhang, and Sercan Sengun (2020), The relationship between cohesive game design and player immersion: A case study of original versus reboot Thief. In Barbaros Bostan (ed.) Game User Experience and Player-Centered Design, pp. 437-448, Berlin: Springer.

Sercan Sengun (2019), How Turkish Literature Permeated to Hypertext and E-Publishing: The Intertwined Cases of altZine and altKitap. In: Erkan Saka (ed.) New Media Studies V: History of the Turkish Internet, Istanbul, Turkey: Alternative Informatics Association Press, pp. 449-490.

Sercan Sengun (2018), A Survey of Marketing Management for Videogames Industry in Turkey. In: Selcen Ozturkcan and Elif Yolbulan Okan (eds.) Marketing Management in Turkey, Bradford, UK: Emerald Publishing, pp.353-388.

Selcen Ozturkcan and Sercan Sengun (2016), Pleasure in Pain: How Accumulation in Gaming Systems Produce Grief. In: Barbaros Bostan (ed.) Gamer Psychology and Behaviour, Cham, Sweden: Springer International Publishing, pp. 41-55. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-29904-4

Sercan Şengün (2016), Video Oyunlarının Toplumsal ve Politik Değişim Potansiyellerini Okumak Amacı ile Farklı Bir Sınıflandırma Önerisi (Turkish, title trans.: A Classification Proposal to Understanding the Potential of Videogames in Social and Political Change). Yeni Medya Çalışmaları II. Ulusal Kongre Kitabı, pp. 459-471.

Sercan Sengun (2015), Gaze of the Local vs the Other: Images of Istanbul in Video Games. In: Veronika Bernard (ed.) IMAGES (IV) - Images of the Other, Berlin: Lit Verlag, pp. 95-104.

Selcen Ozturkcan and Sercan Sengun (2015), Gaining Rewards vs Avoiding Loss: When Does Gamification Stop Being Fun?. In: Donna Davis and Harsha Gangadharbatla (eds.) Handbook of Research on Trends in Gamification, Hershey: IGI-Global, pp. 48-72.

Sercan Sengun (2015), Sanal Hikaye Anlatıcılığı Çağında Yaşayan Bilimkurgu ve Fantastik Dünyalar Olarak Video Oyunları (Turkish, title trans.: Videogames as Living Science Fiction and Fantasy Worlds in the Age of Virtual Storytelling). In: Seval Şahin, Banu Öztürk, and Didem Ardalı Büyükarman (eds.) Edebiyatın İzinde: Fantastik ve Bilimkurgu, Istanbul: Bağlam Yayınevi, pp. 211-220.

Sercan Şengün (2014), Dijital Avatarlar için Semiyotik Bir Okuma ve Avatarların Dijital İletişimde Belirsizlik Azaltma Rolleri (Turkish with English abstract, title trans.:A Semiotic Reading of Digital Avatars and Their Role of Uncertainty Reduction in Digital Communication). Dijital İletişim Etkisi Uluslararası Akademik Konferansı Bildiri Kitabı, Istanbul: Iskenderiye Kitap, pp. 33-44.

Journals

Sercan Şengün, João M. Santos, Joni Salminen, Milica Milenkovic, Bernard J. Jansen (2023), Is Death Only the Beginning? How People Mourn Artificial Characters in Social Media, Games and Culture, doi:10.1177/15554120231190195

Joni Salminen, Soon-gyo Jung, Lene Nielsen, Sercan Şengün, Bernard J. Jansen (2022), How does varying the number of personas affect user perceptions and behavior? Challenging the ‘small personas’ hypothesis! International Journal of Human - Computer Studies 168 (102915). doi: 10.1016/j.ijhcs.2022.102915.

Sercan Şengün, Peter Mawhorter, James Bowie-Wilson, Yusef Audeh, Haewoon Kwak, D. Fox Harrell (2022), Contours of virtual enfreakment in fighting game characters. Technological Forecasting and Social Change 180 (121797). doi: 10.1016/j.techfore.2022.121707.

Joni Salminen, Sercan Şengün, João M. Santos, Soon-gyo Jung, and Bernard J. Jansen (2022), Can unhappy pictures enhance the effect of personas? A user experiment. ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction 29(2), pp. 1-59. doi: 10.1145/3485872.

Sercan Şengün, João M. Santos, Joni Salminen, Soon-gyo Jung, and Bernard J. Jansen (2022), Do players communicate differently depending on the champion played? Exploring the Proteus effect in League of Legends. Technological Forecasting and Social Change 177(121556). doi: 10.1016/j.techfore.2022.121556.

Sercan Şengün and Selcen Ozturkcan (2020), Re-shaped by Mobile Technologies’ Disruption: The Videogame Industry in Turkey. Studies on Marketing Insights 4(1): pp. 44-56.

Joni Salminen, Juan Conporan, Soon-gyo Jung, Sercan Sengun, and Bernard J. Jansen (2020), Topic-driven Toxicity: Exploring the Relationship between Online Toxicity and News Topics. PLoS ONE 15(2): e0228723. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0228723.

Peter Mawhorter, Sercan Şengün, Haewoon Kwak, and D. Fox Harrell (2018), Identifying Regional Trends in Avatar Customization. IEEE Transactions on Games, 10(2), pp.1-13. doi: 10.1109/TG.2018.2835776

Joni Salminen, Sercan Şengün, Haewoon Kwak, Jisun An, Bernard J. Jansen, Soon-Gyo Jung, D. Fox Harrell, and Sarah Vieweg (2018), From 2,722 Segments to 5 Personas: Summarizing a Diverse Online Audience by Generating Culturally Adapted Personas. First Monday, 23(6), doi: 10.5210/fm.v23i6.8415

Sercan Şengün and D. Fox Harrell (Spring 2018), Virtual Identity Systems Should Better Support Gulf Nationals. The Oxford Gulf and Arabian Peninsula Studies Forum, University of Oxford, pp. 4-8.

Sercan Şengün (2017), Ludic Voyeurism and Passive Spectatorship in Gone Home and Other "Walking Simulators." Video Game Art Reader, 1(1), pp. 30-42.

Sercan Şengün (2015), Why Do I Fall for the Elf, When I Am No Orc Myself? The Implications of Virtual Avatars in Digital Communication. Comunicação e Sociedade, 27, pp. 181-193, doi: 10.17231/comsoc.27(2015).2096

Sercan Şengün (2015), Por Que é Que Hei de Apaixonar-me Por Um Duende, Quando Também Não Sou Nenhum Ogre? As Implicações Dos Avatares Virtuais Na Comunicação Digital. Comunicação e Sociedade, 27, pp. 181-193, doi: 10.17231/comsoc.27(2015).2096

Sercan Şengün (2015), A Semiotic Reading of Digital Avatars and Their Role of Uncertainty Reduction in Digital Communication. Journal of Media Critiques, Digital Communication Impact Special Issue, doi: 10.17349/jmc114311.

Sercan Şengün (2014), Sanal Hikaye Anlatıcılığı Çağında Yaşayan Bilimkurgu ve Fantastik Dünyalar Olarak Video Oyunları (Turkish, title trans.: Videogames as Living Science Fiction and Fantasy Worlds in the Age of Virtual Storytelling). Varlık, 1278, pp. 16-21.

Sercan Şengün (2013), Silent Hill 2 and The Curious Case of Invisible Agency. Lecture Notes on Computer Science, 8230, pp. 180-185, doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-02756-2_22

Encyclopedia Entries

Erin Elizabeth Ridgely, Sercan Şengün (2022), New Super Mario Bros. Wii, An Analysis. In: Newton Lee (ed.) Encyclopedia of Computer Graphics and Games, Cham, Sweden: Springer International Publishing. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-08234-9_432-1

Rafael Gonzales, Sercan Şengün (2022), Hades: An Analysis. In: Newton Lee (ed.) Encyclopedia of Computer Graphics and Games, Cham, Sweden: Springer International Publishing. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-08234-9_433-1

Rhiannon Kelly, Sercan Şengün (2021), Video Games and Accessibility: A Case Study of The Last of Us II. In: Newton Lee (ed.) Encyclopedia of Computer Graphics and Games, Cham, Sweden: Springer International Publishing. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-08234-9_429-1

Tristan M. Simmons, Sercan Şengün (2021), Animal Crossing: New Horizons and Its Popularity During COVID-19 Pandemic. In: Newton Lee (ed.) Encyclopedia of Computer Graphics and Games, Cham, Sweden: Springer International Publishing. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-08234-9_435-1

Mason Bates, Sercan Şengün (2021), Itch.io, History of. In: Newton Lee (ed.) Encyclopedia of Computer Graphics and Games, Cham, Sweden: Springer International Publishing. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-08234-9_430-1

Lys Bump, Sercan Şengün (2021), Among Us and Its Popularity During COVID-19 Pandemic. In: Newton Lee (ed.) Encyclopedia of Computer Graphics and Games, Cham, Sweden: Springer International Publishing. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-08234-9_431-1

Sam Godby, Sercan Şengün (2021), Resident Evil 2, History of. In: Newton Lee (ed.) Encyclopedia of Computer Graphics and Games, Cham, Sweden: Springer International Publishing. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-08234-9_434-1

Lauren Elizabeth Stipp, Sercan Şengün (2021), The Sims Franchise, a Retrospective of Racial Representation and Skin Tones. In: Newton Lee (ed.) Encyclopedia of Computer Graphics and Games, Cham, Sweden: Springer International Publishing. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-08234-9_436-1

Sercan Sengun (2018), Video Game Engagement: Psychological Frameworks. In: Newton Lee (ed.) Encyclopedia of Computer Graphics and Games, Cham, Sweden: Springer International Publishing. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-08234-9_158-1

Proceedings

Caglar Yildirim, Sercan Sengun, Pakinam Amer, JJ Hawke, D Fox Harrell (2023). “Toward Computationally-Supported Roleplaying for Perspective-Taking,” HCI in Games: 5th International Conference, HCI-Games 2023, Held as Part of the 25th HCI International Conference (23-28 July, Copenhagen, Denmark), pp. 154-171 doi:10.1007/978-3-031-35930-9_11

Sercan Şengün and Barbaros Bostan (2022). “Passive Collaboration and Connections in a ‘Strand Game’: Changing the Way We Play,” GAME-ON’2022: 23rd International Conference on Intelligent Games and Simulation. September 14-16, Lisbon, Portugal.

Joni Salminen, Milica Milenkovic, Sercan Şengün, Soon-gyo Jung, and Bernard Jansen (2021). “Weaponizing Words: Analyzing Fake News Accusations Against Two Online News Channels,” BESC 2021: The 8th International Conference on Behavioural and Social Computing. October 29-31, Doha, Qatar.

Joni Salminen, Sercan Şengün, Soon-gyo Jung, and Bernard Jansen (2021). “Comparing Persona Analytics and Social Media Analytics for a User-Centric Task Using Eye-Tracking and Think-Aloud,” CHItaly 2021: Proceedings of the 14th Biannual Conference of the Italian SIGCHI Chapter. July 11-13, Bozen-Bolzano, Italy, pp. 1–8, doi: 10.1145/3464385.3464734

Joni Salminen, Soon-gyo Jung, Shammur Chowdhury, Sercan Şengün, and Bernard J. Jansen (2020), Personas and Analytics: A Comparative User Study of Efficiency and Effectiveness for a User Identification Task. CHI '20: Proceedings of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pp. 1-13. April 24-30, 2020, Honolulu, Hawaii, doi: 10.1145/3313831.3376770

Joni Salminen, Liu Ying-Hsang, João Santos, Sercan Şengün, and Bernard J. Jansen (2020), The effect of numerical and textual information on visual engagement and perceptions of AI-driven persona interfaces. IUI '20: Proceedings of the 25th International Conference on Intelligent User Interfaces, March 17-20, 2020, Cagliari, Italy, pp. 357–368, doi: 10.1145/3377325.3377492

Sercan Şengün, Joni Salminen, Peter Mawhorter, Soon-Gyo Jung, and Bernard J. Jansen (2019), Exploring the Relationship Between Game Content and Culture-based Toxicity: A Case Study of League of Legends and MENA Players. HT '19 Proceedings of the 30th ACM Conference on Hypertext and Social Media, September 17-20, 2019, Hof, Germany, pp. 87-95, doi: 10.1145/3342220.3343652.

Sercan Şengün, Joni Salminen, Soon-Gyo Jung, Peter Mawhorter, and Bernard J. Jansen (2019), Analyzing Hate Speech Toward Players from the MENA in League of Legends. CHI EA '19 Extended Abstracts of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. Paper No. LBW0173 , May 4-9, 2019, Glasgow, Scotland, pp. 1-6, doi: 10.1145/3290607.3312924.

Joni Salminen, Sercan Şengün, Soon-Gyo Jung, and Bernard J. Jansen (2019), Design Issues in Automatically Generated Persona Profiles: A Qualitative Analysis From 38 Think-aloud Transcripts. CHIIR '19: Proceedings of the 2019 Conference on Human Information Interaction and Retrieval, March 10-14, 2019, Glasgow, Scotland, pp. 225-229, doi: 10.1145/3295750.3298942.

Ali Jahanian, Sercan Şengün, Peter Mawhorter, Haewoon Kwak, and D. Fox Harrell (2018), Grounding AI-driven Cross-cultural Analysis with Community Insights. CHI 2018 Workshop: ArabHCI Working with Arab Communities, April 21-26, 2018, Montreal, Canada.

Joni Salminen, Sercan Şengün, Haewoon Kwak, Bernard Jansen, Jisun An, Soon-Gyo Jung, Sarah Vieweg, and D. Fox Harrell (2017), Generating Cultural Personas from Social Data: A Perspective of Middle Eastern Users. IEEE International Conference on Future Internet of Things and Cloud (FiCloud-2017), August 21-23, 2017, Prague, Czech Republic, doi: 10.1109/FiCloudW.2017.97

D. Fox Harrell, Sarah Vieweg, Haewoon Kwak, Chong-U Lim, Sercan Sengun, Ali Jahanian, and Pablo Ortiz (2017), Culturally-grounded Analysis of Everyday Creativity in Social Media: A Case Study in Qatari Context. C&C '17: Proceedings of the 2017 ACM SIGCHI Conference on Creativity and Cognition, June 27-30, 2017, Singapore, pp. 209-221, doi: 10.1145/3059454.3059456.

Sercan Şengün (2013), Cybertexts, Hypertexts and Interactive Fiction: Why Shan't the Prodigal Children Overthrow Their Forefathers. LIT FICTION: Innovation, Difference, Irregularity, Istanbul: Mimar Sinan University Press, pp. 58-66.

Sercan Şengün (2012), Engagement Model as the Basis for Video Game Design. ECREA 2012 Pre-conference: Experiencing Digital Games: Use, Effects & Culture of Gaming, Istanbul.

Theses

Ph.D. Dissertation: Sercan Şengün (2016) Narra Ludens: Explaining Video Game Narrative Engagement Through Player Types and Motivations. Istanbul Bilgi University, Thesis advisor: Ast. Prof. Selcen Öztürkcan.

Master's Thesis: Sercan Şengün (2013) Six Degrees of Video Game Narration: A Comprehensive Classification of Narrative in Video Games According to Interactivity and Autonomy. Istanbul Bilgi University, Thesis advisor: Ast. Prof. Tuna Erdem.

Theses Supervised

Directed Studies: Ian Cooper (2022) Occentatia. Illinois State University, Wonsook Kim School of Art, MFA Graduate Degree.

Directed Studies: Mojde Kalantari (2022) Bitter Truth. Illinois State University, Wonsook Kim College of Fine Arts, Creative Technologies Graduate Degree.

Directed Studies: Sargylana Cherepanova (2021) sulustar kꭢstybetter. Illinois State University, Wonsook Kim School of Art, MFA Graduate Degree.

Directed Studies: Ethan Cossio (2021) Business Or Pleasure: A Qualitative Report On How People Present Themselves Digitally. Illinois State University, Wonsook Kim College of Fine Arts, Creative Technologies Graduate Degree.

Directed Studies: Mason Bates (2020) Gamespective: A Nuanced and Collaborative Online Game Database Through the Lens of Humanities. Illinois State University, Wonsook Kim College of Fine Arts, Creative Technologies Graduate Degree.

M.A. Dissertation: Ufuk Çetincan (defended 2020) An Analysis of the visual aesthetics and referentiality of Mortal Kombat 1. Bahcesehir University, Faculty of Media and Communications, Game Design Graduate Degree.

M.A. Dissertation: Orçun Ağca (defended 2020) A framework for quest generation based on NPC motivations. Bahcesehir University, Faculty of Media and Communications, Game Design Graduate Degree.

M.A. Dissertation: Özge Mirza (defended 2019) An analysis of religious imagery in Assassin’s Creed Origins. Bahcesehir University, Faculty of Media and Communications, Game Design Graduate Degree.

M.A. Dissertation: Yeliz Kurt (defended 2019) Social Behaviour Learning with Digital Games: An Experimental Study. Bahcesehir University, Faculty of Media and Communications, Game Design Graduate Degree.

M.A. Dissertation: Selim Özkil (defended 2019) From Monetization to Creating an In-game Economy: Roles of a Game Designer. Bahcesehir University, Faculty of Media and Communications, Game Design Graduate Degree.

M.A. Dissertation: Ali Han Şimşek (defended 2019) Streamlining of Games and its Effect on Casual and Hardcore Players. Bahcesehir University, Faculty of Media and Communications, Game Design Graduate Degree.

M.A. Dissertation: Sezin Engür (defended 2018) The Impact of Machine Learning on Gaming Industry. Bahcesehir University, Faculty of Media and Communications, Game Design Graduate Degree.

M.A. Dissertation: Doruk Kıcıkoğlu (defended 2017) Comparing Players' Self-perceived and Actual Gaming Dedication Levels. Bahcesehir University, Faculty of Media and Communications, Game Design Graduate Degree.

Projects

Computation & Expression   Analog Game Design   Digital Game Design   Design   Other

Computation & Expression

Who goes there? is a random NPC generator for any type of fantasy game. It was created in collaboration with CTK 352 Game Design II Fall 2021 Course students. See it live here.

No Poets, No Lovers, Algorithmic Art Installation, 2020 Faculty Biennial @University Galleries, Normal, IL. No Poets, No Lovers is an expressive computing project comprised of a pair of machine learning algorithms imitating poetry inspired by Western and Eastern sources. No Poets is trained using poetry from Ottoman and Middle Eastern ashiqs (in Turkish and Arabic, the words poet and lover are one and the same: aşık or ashiq)—its data set has no poets. No Lovers is trained using poetry from European and American poets—its data set has no ashiqs. Brought together, the name, No Poets, No Lovers, constructs an additional layer where love and affection cannot emerge without poetry and literary (there could be no lovers without poets) while underlining the non-existence of sentience in the created verses. Moreover, exhibiting them side by side explores the commonalities and contrasts between the sentiments of both worlds, which are often considered as diametrical, as well as the fluidity of language, meaning, and imagination.

No Poets, No Lovers mobilizes NLTK (The Natural Language ToolKit) to tokenize the training poetry sets by converting sentences into words and removing punctuation and stop words. It performs simple stemming and lemmatization techniques to solidify word arrays. Then, it creates BOWs (Bag of Words) and performs word embedding without looking at sentiments or a corpus of relationships other than word classes. The results are mostly quirky but frequently surprising.

Neverwhere (Updated!) randomly generates location names in West Germanic / Early Medieval English context. The names are best suitable for medieval fantasy settings and would be usable to authors, game designers, role players, dungeon masters or whoever that needs ideas. See it live here. Neverwhere also has a Turkic version called Ademâbâd now! See Ademâbâd live here.

Why do they fight? is a data visualization project which mobilizes a sample data from the upcoming paper "Enfreakment: Skewed Representations of Race, Ethnicity, and Gender in Fighting Videogames." The project explores the gender bias in fighting videogames regarding the personal mythos of the fighters. See it live here.

@neosavbot is a Twitter bot that publishes random neosavs of neoteric concepts. @neosavbot reimagines the oral Turkic language tradition and structures of savs in contemporary discourse. See it live here.

Where2Begin is an expressive computing project that aims to show the fluidity of language, meaning, gender, and imagination. Where2Begin randomly generates an opening sentence for a novel/story by mashing together the opening sentences of 100 famous novels. See it live here.

Analog Game Design

Student Collaboration Print-and-Play Games on Itch.io Various print-and-play games published on Itch.io in collaboration with students. ISU CTK @Itch.io.

You Are On Mute (2022) Are you stuck in a long and boring online meeting? Collect and match the participants to earn the highest score and win the meeting! The Game Crafter.

Cavern Crawlers (2022) Cavern Crawlers is a tile-based game where 4 to 6 players dig their way through a cavern network to find treasures and bring them back to their underground lair. (In collaboration with 2021-2022 Game Design Capstone) The Game Crafter.

Hidden Pandemic (2021) There are multiple pandemics ravaging the globe. As a politician, will you put public health and safety first or focus on your own interests? Just kidding! You are a politician; of course, you will serve your own interests. (In collaboration with Lauren Elizabeth Stipp and Sam Fewkes)The Game Crafter.

The Next Best President (2021) A game of campaigning and scoring votes to win the presidency (In collaboration with Kendra Goeken and Rhiannon Kelly)The Game Crafter.

Your Quest, Should You Choose to Accept It! (2020) allows you to play the role of a Procedural Quest Generation AI (QAI) during the playtest of an unreleased MMORPG. The QAI that earns the most XP will run the final game; others will be deleted. The game can be bought from The Game Crafter.

A Murder Most Fowl (Updated!) (2015) is a peculiar card game about crypto communication, people reading, bluffing, and card counting. A Murder Most Fowl: Bloody Plumage (2020) replaces the previous version and can be bought from The Game Crafter.

Digital Game Design

Painting Gallery with Niru Niru & Friends is a digital colouring book with an infinite number of pages. Download from AppStore or visit Official Page and Facebook Page.

Save Christmas with Niru Niru & Friends is a Christmas-themed fun mini game collection for kids. Download from AppStore or visit Official Page and Facebook Page.

Pathika is a puzzle game in which the player makes correct use of tiles and colors in order to solve a labyrinth. Download from AppStore or visit Facebook Page to see reviews of the game in various websites.

Quiz Apps: World Football is a mobile trivia game about soccer. Download from AppStore.

Quiz Apps: Hollywood is a mobile trivia game about the Oscars. Download from AppStore.

Design

Murat Gülsoy – Tanrı Beni Görüyor Mu? (2010) was printed in 2010 by CAN Yayinlari. The book has a colored middle section that features a graphic novel for the short story “Bize Kuşdili Öğretildi”, written by Murat Gülsoy and illustrated/designed by Sercan Şengün.

Altkitap is the first online publishing house that produces free e-books in Turkey. It was founded in 2005 and till 2013 its board of editors consisted of Murat Gülsoy, Adnan Kurt and Yekta Kopan, book designer Cem Uçan, website designer Sercan Şengün, and software engineer Onur Yıldırım. In 2013 this team has delegated their work to a new team. Read about Altkitap in Wikipedia.

altZine is a hypertext literature and culture magazine that launched in 1998, during the 10th Istanbul Theatre Festival, as a part of a theatre performance called 80060, which was written by Özen Yula and directed by Murat Daltaban. Joining forces with author Yekta Kopan and designer Sercan Şengün, altZine was born. The website continued for 9 years till 2007. Between 2007-2010 it lied dormant. On January 2010, the website was re-created by a new editorial and design team. Read about altZine in Wikipedia.

Other

Nintendocu Magazine was published by Nortec Eurasia with ISSN #13090062 between 2009-2011, led by Sercan Sengun as editor-in-chief. Download digital versions from Nintendocu.com

Zindanlar & Ejderhalar Oyuncunun El Kitabi (Dungeons & Dragons Player's Handbook) was translated into Turkish by Sercan Sengun and printed by Arka Bahçe Yayincilik with ISBN #9789758518241 in 2003.

Magic: The Gathering Portal 2-Player Starter Set was translated into Turkish by Sercan Sengun and printed by Wizards of the Coast with ISBN #1575302594 in 2003.

Participations & Service

University Committee Memberships   Academic Peer Review & Conference Committees   RSO Advising & Student Activities   Professional Development   Conference Presentations   Panels, Workshops, & Industry   Columns & News

University Committee Memberships

Member 2022-2023: Graphic Design Faculty Search

Member 2022-Present: Milner Library Game Collection Working Group

Member 2022: Curriculum Software RFP Evaluation Working Group

Member 2021-Present: Member, University Technology Advisory Committee

Chair 2021-2022: Game Design and Game Design/ART Faculty Search Committee

Chair 2021-Present: College Curriculum Committee, Committee Chair

Member 2020-2021: College Curriculum Committee, Member

Member 2020-Present: School Scholarship and Recruiting Committee, Member

Member 2020-2021: Ad Hoc School Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee, Member

Faculty Member @ISU Graduate School: Faculty Member at Illinois State University Graduate School

Member 2019: Ad Hoc Program Curriculum Committee, Game Design and Interdisciplinary Technologies Sequences under the Creative Technologies Program

Faculty Member @NULab: Faculty Member at NULab for Texts, Maps, and Networks, Northeastern University.

Academic Peer Review & Conference Committees

Program Committee Member 2021-2022: Special Track in Esports and Online Gaming at the ACM Web Conference 2022, Lyon-France, April 25-29, 2022.

Reviewer 2021-2022: ACM CHI 2022 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems.

Guest Lecture 2021, ISU BE 354 - Educational Technology Information System, “Game Design and Gamification,”

Editorial Advisory Board Member 2021: Editorial Advisory Board Member for the book "Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Narrative Aesthetics in Video Games" published by Peter Lang Publishing, Berlin, July 2021, ISBN 978-3-631-83805-1.

Reviewer 2021-: Digital Humanities Quarterly

Reviewer 2021-: Morgan & Claypool Publishers

Scientific Committee Member @ IPCC 2021 – Interdisciplinary PhD Communication Conference: IPCC 2021 Istanbul-Turkey, Virtual, May 7-8, 2021.

Guest Lecture 2021, BAU Research Methodologies Studio, “Virtual Identities & Game Research Methods”

Editorial Board Member 2020-: Encyclopedia of Computer Graphics and Games (ECGG), an academic MRW from Springer

Collaborator: Collaborator in the data-driven personas project at QCRI

Guest Lecture 2020, Bilgi University Communication Doctorate Program Talks, “Virtual Identities, Avatars, and Other Digital Human Proxies”

Guest Lecture 2020, ISU Music Composition Studio, “Creating Music for Games”

Scientific Committee Member @ Game + Design Education PUDCAD Universal Design Education Practice Conference: PUDCAD Universal Design Education Practice Conference, Istanbul Technical University, Istanbul-Turkey, June 24-26, 2020

Reviewer 2020-: Galatasaray University Journal of Communication

Reviewer 2020-: Peter Lang Publishing

Reviewer 2020-: IGI Global

Reviewer 2020-: Journal of National Cultural Studies

Reviewer 2019-: SAGE Convergence Journal

Reviewer 2019-: IEEE Transactions in Games Journal

Reviewer 2019-: SAGE New Media & Society Journal

Reviewer 2019-: Springer International Publishing

Reviewer 2018-: MDPI Education Sciences Journal

Tech Program Member @TIE 2019: Technical Program Member at TIE 2019 - 3rd EAI International Conference on Technology, Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Education.

Reviewer 2018: ArtsIT 2018 Conference

Reviewer 2018-: Mugla Journal of Science and Technology

Committee Member @ ArtsIT 2018: Technical Program Committee Member, ArtsIT 2018, 7th EAI Int. Conf. Interactivity & Game Creation.

Reviewer 2018: ACM CHI 2018 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems.

Reviewer 2018-: MDPI Arts Journal

Reviewer 2018-: MDPI Heritage Journal

Reviewer 2017: Eurasia Graphics 2017 Conference on Virtual and Interactive Worlds

Reviewer 2016: ACM CHI 2016 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

The 8th Philosophy of Computer Games Conference: Member of the organization committee for The 8th Philosophy of Computer Games Conference that took place in Istanbul between 13 and 15 November 2014.

RSO Advising & Student Activities

CTK Visions 2022: Curator, CTK Visions, an exhibition of work created by students of the Creative Technologies Program, September 13-27, 2022, Student Gallery

Games Showcase 2022: Organizer, Games Showcase 2022 event that took place on May 6 in CVA 110, see: https://news.illinoisstate.edu/2022/05/choose-your-own-adventure-students-demonstrate-creations-at-games-showcase/ and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZHM3a4-Qng

RSO advisor 2021-: ISU Game Dev Club

Games Showcase 2021: Organizer, Production of a virtual Games Showcase 2021 event in the form of a video games exhibition that can be watched here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9r-7goWnNoQ

Sixty-Six Game Expo 2021: Organizer, Organized the booth and participated in Sixty-Six Game Expo in Redbird Arena (October 8-10) representing the Creative Technologies program Game Design Sequence

Games Showcase 2020: Organizer, Production of a virtual Games Showcase 2020 event in the form of a video games exhibition that can be watched here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIzxA_Fz6zY

Sixty-Six Game Expo 2020: Organizer, Organized the booth and participated in Sixty-Six Game Expo and Game Jam in Bloomington, IL (January 17-19) representing the Creative Technologies program Game Design Sequence

RSO advisor 2020-: ISU Gen Games Club

RSO advisor 2020-: ISU RedBird Rocket League Club

RSO advisor 2019-: ISU Super Smash Bros Club

Professional Development

Fall 2022 CTLT: Safe Zone, Equitable and Inclusive Syllabus

Summer 2022 CTLT: Effective Research Mentoring for Student Success; Anti-Ableist Access and Universal Accommodations; Gender as a Landscape: Meeting Your Students Beyond the Binary; Making Course Materials More Affordable for Students; Teaching Civic Skills through Deliberative Dialogues

2022 University-Wide Teaching & Learning: Participated in CTLT’s 2022 University-Wide Teaching & Learning Symposium on Jan 5

Fall 2021 ISU UMFN: Increasing Your Visibility as a Scholar; Building your Network of Support to Prepare you for Tenure and Promotion

Fall 2021 ISU CTLT: The Safe Zone Project for Instructors

Fall 2021 WKCFA-GCT: at-risk for University and College Faculty and Staff (Kognito) online training

Spring 2021 ISU CTLT: Exploring Curiosity as a Tool to Engage Students with Course Content; Creative Student Protest; Help Students Develop a Professional Persona in the Classroom; Build Confidence in Creating Inclusive Course Materials; Increase Synchronous and Asynchronous Engagement with Nearpod, Padlet, Flipgrid, and EdPuzzle

Spring 2021 WKCFA-GCT: Trauma Informed Teaching with Dr. Jimmy Chrismon; Equity Toolkit-Self Paced Resources; Reinvent Your Course for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Fall 2020 ISU CTLT: Asynchronous Communication to Enhance Student Engagement and Problem-Solving Workshop; Teaching into the Void; Early Faculty Development Circle: Overview of Scholarly Teaching Practices; 2021 ISU CTLT Teaching and Learning Symposium

Fall 2020 ISU SoTL: Engaging in Professional Networks Using Social Media; Using Social Media as a Culturally Responsive Teaching Tool; and earned DIY Certificate of: Class Climate and Culture in Online Environments

Fall 2020 WKCFA-GCT: QM (Quality Matters) Improving Your Online Course

Summer 2020 ISU CTLT: CTLT SI20 Design Your Course

Summer 2020 ISU CTLT Institute: Short Workshops: Hybrid Teaching for Fall 2020; Online Course Design; Welcoming Students and Course Introduction; Establishing Clear Expectations; Facilitating Discussion; Creating Micro-lectures; Equity and Diversity; Engaging Students; Accessibility and Accommodations; Teaching Large Online Courses; Long Workshops: Using Data to Inform a Metacognitive Approach to Instruction; Mental Health First Kid

Spring 2020 ISU CTLT: Introduction to the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning; Seeing White Series: Creation of Whiteness; Seeing White Series: Historical Context of Whiteness

Fall 2019 ISU CTLT: ReggieNet: Create Basic Assignments & Tests and Quizzes; International Students at ISU; Early Career Faculty Circle and Luncheon; Foundations of Diversity: Microaggressions & Privilege and Power; Formstack for Beginners; Diversity TLC

Conference Presentations

ISU University Research Symposium 2022: Lauren Stipp and Sercan Sengun, “The Sims Franchise: A Retrospective of Racial Representation and Skin Tones”

ISU University Research Symposium 2022: Mojde Kalantari, Ellie Parvin, and Sercan Sengun, “Who Governs the Virtual Worlds: Tensions Between Developers and Players as Forms of Cultural Governance in MMO Videogames”

Presentation @ Design 4 Diversity: Design 4 Diversity, An IMLS National Forum Project, Northeastern University, Boston.

Paper presentation @ ACM Creativity and Cognition 2017: ACM Creativity and Cognition 2017 on 27-30 June 2017 @ National Gallery of Singapore, Singapore.

Paper presentation @ New Media II. National Congress 2016: Kadir Has University, Istanbul.

Paper presentation @ IMAGES (IV) – Images of the Other Conference 2015: Austrian Embassy, Istanbul.

Paper presentation @ Türkçe Edebiyatın Hayalperver Çocuğu: Fantastik ve Bilimkurgu Edebiyatı: 15th of November 2015 @ Yıldız Technical University, Istanbul.

Paper presentation @ International Digital Communication Impact Conference 2014: International Digital Communication Impact Conference 2014 on 16-17 October 2014 @ Istanbul Commerce University, Istanbul.

Paper presentation @ Literary Fiction 2013: Innovation, Difference, Irregularity: LIT FICTION ’13 was hosted by DAKAM (Eastern Mediterranean Academic Research Center) on 21st of November 2013 @ MSFAU (Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University), Istanbul.

Paper presentation @ ICIDS 2013: International Conference on Interactive Digital Storytelling 2013 on 7th of November 2013 @ Istanbul Bahçesehir University, Istanbul.

Paper presentation @ ECREA 2012 Experiencing Digital Games: Use, Effects & Culture of Gaming: ECREA 2012 Pre-Conference: Experiencing Digital Games: Use, Effects & Culture of Gaming on 24th of October 2012 was organized by the ECREA Temporary Working Group (TWG) on Digital Games Research hosted by the Plato College of Higher Education and organized in collaboration with Turkish Chapter of the the Digital Games Research Association (DIGRA) & BUG – Game Lab, Bahçeşehir University.

Panels, Workshops, & Industry

Jury @ Next in Game Startup Competition 2021 & 2022: nextgamestartup.com

Workshop Instructor @ YSO Corp Hyper Lab 2021: DECKS Framework

Panelist @ AmberFest Games for Change Panel: Panelist at "AmberFest Games for Change Panel" on 6th of November 2015 @ AmberFest, Istanbul.

Lecturer @ Video Games and Kids Seminar: Lecturer at "Video Games and Kids Seminar" invited by Ministry of Education Besiktas District targeted at 600 high school teachers on 23-24th of June 2015 @ Besiktas, Istanbul.

OYUNDER Board Membership: Sercan Sengun has been selected as a board member for OYUNDER (Game Developers, Publishers and Distributors Association) for the period of 2016-2019. The announcement could be read here.

Workshop Instructor @ Startup BootCamp Istanbul (Game BootCamp): Sercan Sengun gave a workshop on "Creativity in Game Design" on 8th of January 2016 @ Startup BootCamp Istanbul. See a list of all mentors and workshops here.

Workshop Instructor @ Games & Narrative Workshop (Oyunder/GameX 2015): Sercan Sengun gave a workshop on "Games & Narrative" on 19th of December 2015 @ GameX, Lütfü Kirdar Center, Istanbul. See the gallery of the workshop here.

Jury @ StartupBootCamp (GameBootCamp): Sercan Sengun was a jury for the finalists of "StartupBootCamp (GameBootCamp)" on 7th of November 2015 @ StartupBootCamp, Istanbul.

Jury @ Microsoft Windows 10 Game Jam: Sercan Sengun was a jury for the finalists of "Microsoft Windows 10 Game Jam" on 23-24th of May 2015 @ BUG Game Lab, Istanbul.

Panelist @ Mobile Day 2015: Sercan Sengun was a panelist for "Mobile Day 2015" on 23rd of May 2015 @ Bahcesehir University, Istanbul.

Oyunder /G Industry Talks #5: UNITY in Turkey: Sercan Sengun was the moderator for "Oyunder /G Industry Talks #5" on 7th of May 2015 @ Koc University Incubation Center - an event which hosted guests from Unity Europe.

Oyunder /G Industry Talks #4: Meet-up Sercan Sengun was the moderator for "Oyunder /G Industry Talks #4" on 2nd of January 2015 @ Koc University Incubation Center - an event which hosted guests from Disney Interactive, Blizzard Entertainment & Riot Games.

Oyunder /G Industry Talks #3: GameX Sercan Sengun was the moderator for "Oyunder /G Industry Talks #3" on 5-6th of December 2014 @ GameX.

Panelist @ II. Istanbul Design Biennial: Sercan Sengun was a panelist for "II. Istanbul Design Biennial / “The Future of Fashion, Advertisement and Game Design”" on 29th of November 2014 @ Galata Rum Okulu.

Oyunder /G Industry Talks #2: Game Audio Day Sercan Sengun was the moderator for "Oyunder /G Industry Talks #2" on 15th of November 2014 @ SAE Institute.

Jury @ Turkcell Coding Future Mobile Games Atelier Sercan Sengun was a jury for "Turkcell Coding Future Mobile Games Atelier" during March-April and June-September 2014 in Istanbul Bahçesehir University Game Lab.

Moderator/Speaker @ Istanbul Aydin University Career Days Sercan Sengun was a moderator/speaker for "Digital Game Production in Turkey Panel" in Istanbul Aydin University Career Days on 16th of April 2014.

Moderator/Speaker @ GILT Academy 14 Sercan Sengun was a moderator/speaker for "Mobile Gaming Industry in Turkey Panel" in GILT Academy 14 on 4th of April 2014. Video recording available here.

Oyunder /G Industry Talks #1 Sercan Sengun was the moderator for "Oyunder /G Industry Talks #1" on 22nd of March 2014 @ Istanbul Bahçesehir University.

Lecturer @ Istanbul Ticaret University Sercan Sengun was the lecturer for "Highlights of Mobile Gaming Industry in the World and a Focus on Turkey" on 7nd of March 2014 @ Istanbul Ticaret University, Mobile Technologies Development Lab.

Columns & News

ISU News: Read ISU News' coverage "Choose your own adventure: Students demonstrate creations at Games Showcase."

ISU News: Read ISU News' coverage "Illinois State game design course uses online tools to build community, awareness."

WGLT Radio's Sound Ideas: Read and listen to WGLT Radio's coverage "Illinois State's Creative Technologies Program Is Leveling Up."

Vidette Feature: Read Vidette's coverage "Creative Technologies Program plans to bring video game design sequence to campus."

Monograf Journal Issue #4 featured Sevket Tüfekci's analysis article of hypertext joint projects by Murat Gülsoy and Sercan Sengun.

TurkGamer.net Video Interview: The Turkish videogame news website TurkGamer.net has conducted a video interview with Sercan Sengun about his academic work and ideas on education for videogame design. The interview could be watched here.

Monograf Journal Issue #2 featured Sevket Tüfekci's in-depth analysis article of “Bize Kuşdili Öğretildi” - a joint project by Murat Gülsoy and Sercan Sengun.

Oyungezer featured an article from Sercan Sengun's blog VOT? as a news piece.

Oyunder.org, the website of Game Designers, Developers and Publishers Association in Turkey features Sercan Sengun's column on contemporary industry issues.

Education

Ph.D. in Communication Sciences Istanbul Bilgi University (2013-2016)
National Post-Graduate Scholarship from TUBITAK (The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey) and Faculty Scholarship from Faculty of Communications. Graduation grade; 3,91 of 4,00.

M.A. in Film and Television Istanbul Bilgi University (2011-2013)
Full Faculty Scholarship from Faculty of Communications. Graduated as 2nd in Social Sciences Institute and High Honors Student with a grade of 3,96 of 4,00.

B.A. in Communication Design Istanbul Bilgi University (2001-2005)
Full Faculty Scholarship from Faculty of Communications. Graduated as 1st in Department and Honors Student with a grade of 3,49 of 4,00.

Other Work Experience

BORN (2022-2023)
Trainings and Partnerships Advisor | VR

kreatiFabrika (2011-2013)
Managing Partner | Digital Agency

Nortec Eurasia (Nintendo Turkey) (2005-2011)
Brand and Marketing | Video Games

Avaturk (2003-2005)
Customer Relations and Services | Video Games

Arti Interaktif (plus v.2) (1998-2003)
Brand and Marketing | Digital Agency

©2021 Sercan Sengun. All Rights Reserved.