Christine Tomlinson
Assistant Professor,
School of Arts Media and Engineering
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Mail code: 5802Campus: Tempe
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Long Bio
Christine Tomlinson is an Assistant Professor of Games and Esports in the School of Arts, Media and Engineering and a games user experience researcher, who has worked both in industry and academia. Dr. Tomlinson comes to ASU following a recent role as a postdoctoral scholar with the SDU Metaverse Lab helping to lead the Games Globally project at the University of Southern Denmark, and as a lecturer in the School of Social Sciences at the University of California, Irvine. Tomlinson has also worked as a UI/UX researcher at Activision — one of the largest video game publishers in the world. Dr. Tomlinson's research covers video game design and content in addition to user experiences with video games, in online spaces, and with online streaming.
Education
- PhD, Sociology, University of California, Irvine, 2017
- Dissertation: “Masters of the Realm: Understanding Success and Achievement among Women Playing Video Games.”
- M.A., Sociology, University of California, Irvine, 2013
- B.A., Sociology, summa cum laude with Honors, University of California, Irvine, 2011
Google Scholar URL
ORCID Profile ID
Research Interests
- Video game player interactions and experiences
- Gaming culture
- Online cultures and interactions
- Identity, gender, sexualities, race/ethnicity
- Game design, aesthetics, and genre
- Game development
- Sociotechnical analytics
- Game analytics
Publications
Articles
- Tomlinson, Christine. 2024. "Designing Romance and the ‘Playersexuality’ Debate:
Love, Romance, Identity, and Player Perceptions of Baldur’s Gate 3 and the Dragon Age Series." International Journal of Games and Social Impact, 2(2), 8-27. https://revistas.ulusofona.pt/index.php/ijgsi/issue/view/893 - Tomlinson, Christine. 2024. “Video Games in the Classroom: Highlighting Biases, Player Behaviours, and Ethical Decision-Making.” Gamevironments. https://journals.suub.uni-bremen.de/index.php/gamevironments/article/view/219/202
- Tomlinson, Christine. 2024. “The ‘Playersexuality’ Debate: Love, Romance, Identity, and Player Perceptions of Baldur’s Gate 3 and the Dragon Age Series.” In The Middle Ages in Modern Games Conference Proceedings. https://middleagesinmoderngames.net/mamg24/inclusivity-exclusion-and-dehumanisation/the-playersexuality-debate-love-romance-identity-and-player-perceptions-of-baldurs-gate-3-and-the-dragon-age-series/
- Tomlinson, Christine. 2023. “Community Grievances, Personal Responsibility, and DIY Protection: Frustrations and Solution-Seeking Among Marginalized Twitch Streamers.” Convergence.
- Tomlinson, Christine. 2022. “Gender, Stress, Satisfaction, and Persistence: The Complex State of Digital Games as Leisure.” Acta Ludologica, 5(1).
- Tomlinson, Christine and Mike Romain. 2022. “Data Collection as a Game: A Brief Creative Research Guide.” DIY Methods Conference.
- Tomlinson, Christine. 2021. “Priority Pixels: The Social and Cultural Implications of Romance in Video Games.” Information, Communication & Society, 24(5), 717-732.
- Tomlinson, Christine and Sam Srauy. 2021. “Beware Asian Servers: Racialized Perceptions of Cheating and Skill Among Video Game Players.” Selected Papers of Internet Research 2021.
- Tomlinson, Christine and Maria J. Anderson-Coto. 2020. “Sowing Seeds of Distrust: Video Game Player Perceptions of Companies in Online Forums.” Selected Papers of Internet Research 2020.
- Tomlinson, Christine. 2020. “The Influence of Gender on Stress Among Video Game Players.” DiGRA.
- Tomlinson, Christine. 2020. “Player Definitions of Success, Skill, and Leadership in Video Games.” DiGRA.
- Anderson-Coto, Maria J., Christine Tomlinson, Justin Collado, and Kurt Squire. 2019. “Fandom Culture and Identity in Esports.” Esports Conference Proceedings.
- Tomlinson, Christine. 2019. “Disappointing and Being Disappointed: Video Game Player Trust in Each Other.” Selected Papers of Internet Research 2019.
- Tomlinson, Christine. 2019. “Building a Gamer: Player Preferences and Motivations Across Gender and Genre.” DiGRA.
- Polletta, Francesca and Christine Tomlinson. 2014. “Date Rape After the After School Special.” Sociological Forum 29(3):527-548.
Books
- Burton, Anthony Glyn, Wendy Hui Kyong Chun with Liliana Bounegru, Melody Devries, Amy Harris, hannah holtzclaw, Ioana Jucan, Alex Juhasz, D. W. Kamish, Ganaele Langlois, Jasmine Proctor, Christine Tomlinson, Roopa Vasudevan, and Esther Weltevrede. 2023. Algorithmic Authenticity. Meson Press.
Book Chapters
- Tomlinson, Christine. Forthcoming. “Horror, But Make It Cozy: Beacon Pines’ Use of Alternative Narrative and Design Strategies For Scary Video Games.”
- Tomlinson, Christine. Forthcoming. “Pushing Digital Boundaries: Exploring Sex and Love in Video Games.” In Handbook on Sex and Sexuality in Video Games. Bloomsbury.
- Tomlinson, Christine, Jared Kilmer, and Rachel Kowert. Forthcoming. “Who’s Your Daddy? How and Why We Love Joel.” In A. Domasin (Ed). The Psychgeist of Pop Culture: The Last of Us. Pittsburgh: ETC Press.
- Tomlinson, Christine. 2024. “‘This Whole War is on You’: Historical and Military Framing of Iraq in House of Ashes.” In Asian Histories and Heritages in Video Games. Eds. Yowei Kang, Kenneth C. C. Yang, Michał Mochocki, Jakub Majewski, Paweł Schreiber. Routledge.
- Tomlinson, Christine. 2023. “Light, Blood, Stone, and Order: The Religious Beliefs and Systems of Dragon Age.” In Fictional Practices of Spirituality I. Eds. Leonardo Marcato and Felix Schniz. Columbia University Press.
- Tomlinson, Christine. 2023. “Dragon Age.” In Learning, Education, & Games Volume 4: 50 Games to Use for Inclusion, Equity, and Justice. Eds. Karen Schrier, Rachel Kowert, Diana Leonard, and Tarja Porkka-Kontturi. Carnegie Mellon University: ETC Press.
- Tomlinson, Christine. 2022. “UX Screeners.” In Playtest Kit by Steve Bromley. https://gamesuserresearch.com/playtest-kit/
- Tomlinson, Christine. 2021. “SocSci 189: Introduction to Video Gaming.” In Teaching the Game. Eds. Richard E. Ferdig, Emily Baumgartner, & Enrico Gandolfi. Carnegie Mellon University: ETC Press.
Honors / Awards
- Nomination: Lecturer of the Year Award, University of California, Irvine, May 2024
- Outstanding Teaching Award, University of California, Irvine, June 2022
- Outstanding Teaching Award, University of California, Irvine, Dec 2019
Editorships
- Editor, The Psychgeist of Dragon Age, ETC Press.
- Editorial Board Member, Popular Culture Review, 2023-Present
Service
- Co-chair, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee for the CITAMS section of the American Sociological Association, Nov 2020-Aug 2022
- Ombuds Secretary, Digital Games Research Association, Nov 2019-Jan 2022
Consulting
Consultant for game companies on game design, multiplayer play/dynamics, and user research.
Industry Positions
Former UX/UI lead for the User Research team at Activision.
Game Credits
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II (Infinity Ward, 2022)
- Call of Duty Mobile (Activision, 2019)
- Crash Team Rumble (Toys for Bob, 2023)
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III (Infinity Ward/Sledgehammer Games, 2023)