Cheryl Platz

Cheryl Platz is a creative director, game designer, author, speaker, and educator whose work spans video games, interaction design, voice user interfaces, and applied AI. She is the author of The Game Development Strategy Guide and Design Beyond Devices, creator/host of Enduring Play, and has held roles or led design work connected to The Pokémon Company International, Riot Games, Alexa, Azure, Disney, EA, and The Sims.

Game Studios Are Overbuilding for Competition as Players Seek Stress Relief

Cheryl Platz, a game developer, designer and author speaking at Stanford’s CS547 HCI seminar, argues that game strategy should start with why people play rather than with genre conventions, monetization or production scope. Her case is that the industry still overbuilds for competitive, mastery-driven players while evidence she cites points to rising demand for stress relief, self-expression, companionship, comfort and education. Platz presents a nine-part motivator framework as a practical tool for decisions about mechanics, teaching, community design, monetization and modernization.

Stanford OnlineJun 5, 202624 min read