Günter Wallner

Günter Wallner is an Assistant Professor (Part-time) in the Systemic Change Cluster within the Department of Industrial Design at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e). He simultaneously holds positions as Professor for Game Computing at Johannes Kepler University Linz, Adjunct Professor at Ontario Tech University, and Senior Scientist at the University of Applied Arts Vienna, Institute of Art & Technology. His work bridges multiple institutions and focuses on the intersection of games, data analytics, and visualization.

Wallner's academic credentials include:

• Diploma in Computer Science from University of Technology, graduated with distinction in 2005
• Doctoral degree in Natural Sciences from University of Applied Arts Vienna, graduated with distinction in 2009

His research program centers on understanding player behavior in games and developing methods to explore and communicate collected data for actionable game design insights. Wallner's expertise spans three interconnected domains: games user research examining player engagement, data analytics specifically for game-related behavioral datasets, and information visualization techniques for representing complex game data. A significant portion of his work focuses on creating data visualizations to support analysis of increasingly large-scale player behavioral datasets used in game analytics.

Wallner's recent publications reveal several key research trends. His work shows a strong focus on visual analytics for games with multiple papers exploring effective representation of player behavior through visualization techniques. There's growing interdisciplinary reach into healthcare applications, as seen in his 2024 paper on MR imaging preparation. Many publications address practical applications in competitive gaming environments like League of Legends and Hollow Knight. The interdisciplinary nature of his work is evident in publication venues spanning top-tier HCI conferences (CHI, CHI PLAY), visualization conferences (EuroVis), and specialized game research venues (FDG).

Wallner has received various awards and recognitions for his work on games, though specific awards are not detailed in available information.

As an active researcher, Wallner provides substantial service to the academic community. He frequently serves on program committees for games, visualization, and human-computer interaction conferences. He has held significant organizational roles including Program Chair for CHI PLAY 2019 and currently serves as Steering Committee Vice-Chair for CHI PLAY since 2023. His editorial work includes serving on boards of ACM Games: Research and Practice and Behaviour & Information Technology. He has been instrumental in organizing workshops such as the PLEY series on Eye Tracking in Games and Play.

At TU/e, Wallner is affiliated with multiple research groups: EAISI Foundational, Industrial Design Research, and specifically the Design Of Empowering Systems subgroup. His work demonstrates extensive interdisciplinary collaboration across game studies, human-computer interaction, and data visualization researchers, particularly within the EAISI (Eindhoven Artificial Intelligence Systems Institute) ecosystem.