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Regan Mandryk can still remember a time when she hid the focus of her research experiments.

When she would write papers to submit for conferences or journals, the titles would describe research through experiments or simulations.

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The taboo term of “video games” was tucked into the body of the work.

Now, she said, people don’t bat an eye when she goes to publish articles based on how video games can be used to teach social skills or foster human connections.

“We’re in charge of what (video games) like as designers and researchers,” Mandryk said. “I think it’s important for us to understand that to harness their potential for good and not ill.

Mandryk is now a professor at the University of Saskatchewan, in the Human — Computer Interaction Lab located in the old Thorvaldson Building.

She studies the way people play videos games, and the way different games affect those who play them. Or, in Mandryk’s own words, her focus is on the “touchy-feely” side of computer science.