Valve is looking for economists, statisticians, and psychologists to help shape gameplay.
The gaming company is currently hiring many academic positions, especially research psychologists with experience in experimental psychology. Based on the to-do list, Valve wants to learn more about "the motivations and impacts of human behavior and how and why people do things."
"In a sense, we consider all game designers to be experimental psychologists. That's why we are looking for an experimental psychologist with excellent research skills to apply psychological knowledge and methods to Game design and all aspects of Valve operations. We hope to leverage your experience in experimental design, research methods, statistics and human behavior to provide a more engaging gaming experience for future Valve games. We also hope you can research and weigh All topics related to improving the experience of our customers, partners and employees. "
This position requires someone with a degree in psychology and at least four years of experience in experimental design and research methods to provide "relevant insight into human behavior to shape gameplay and customer experience." The list also mentions researching new hardware technologies.
At last year's GDC, Valve's chief experimental psychologist Mike Ambinder talked about speculative technologies such as brain-computer interfaces in his "Brain-Computer Interface: A Possible Future for Our Gameplay" talk.
"(W) The current mode of interaction is limited to the interpretation of the mouse, keyboard, gamepad, and gesture control, and the next-generation interface may include the ability to interpret nervous system signals with faster, more sensitive actions, and a wider range of possible actions. Input, the real-time adaptability of the game state to the player's internal state and the qualitative different types of gaming experience, "read the description of the presentation.
Valve is also looking for statisticians to use data mining and create statistical models to "explain past behavior and predict the future behavior of all Valve products." Similarly, the role of economists is to find someone to develop " Economic models to identify what brings fun and rewarding experiences on games and Steam. "
Valve has recruited a total of 14 positions, including a software engineer with esports experience and two writing positions. You can view these on the official website of Valve Software.
