Trans Gamer Prof

Projects

A selection of my research areas and resulting publications are here. A more complete publication record can be accessed via my Google Scholar page and my Monash University Pure profile. All of my texts are available online; if you have trouble getting access, please feel free to contact me.

  1. Designs for Gender / Agender / X-Jendā / Identity Euphoria
  2. Critical Computing Calling Out Gender-Based Harms
  3. History of Computer Game Interfaces
  4. Teams in Disaster Response

Designs for Gender / Agender / X-Jendā / Identity Euphoria

Much of my current work centres finding joy in our identities and how good (game) design can help with that. This is to counter harm-based or medical understandings of gender, making euphoria the important characteristic. I’ve published on transgender gender euphoria and agender euphoria, spoken on our work on X-jendā euphoria, and am working on projects that consider other identities’ forms of euphoria. Ongoing work centres the body in this (e.g., through exertion games).

  • Radical Gender Neutrality: Agender Euphoria in Gaming and Play Experiences. 2026. Katie Seaborn, Shano Liang, Rua Mae Williams, and Phoebe O. Toups Dugas. In Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI ’26). 10.1145/3772318.3790659
  • Designed & Discovered Euphoria: Insights from Trans-Femme Players’ Experiences of Gender Euphoria in Video Games. 2025. Shano Liang, Michelle V Cormier, Rose Bohrer, and Phoebe O. Toups Dugas. In Proceedings of the 2025 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI ’25). 10.1145/3706598.3714081
  • Learning to Fail Beautifully: Pole Dancing as a Case Study of Gender Euphoria & Dysphoria for Embodied Interaction Design. 2024. Phoebe O. Toups Dugas and Theresa Tanenbaum. In Proceedings of the Halfway to the Future Symposium (HttF ’24). 10.1145/3686169.3686180
  • True Sight: How Transgender Perspectives Can Shape Values for Designing Embodied Interactions. 2024. Michelle V. Cormier and Phoebe O. Toups Dugas. In Proceedings of the Halfway to the Future Symposium (HttF ’24). 10.1145/3686169.3686178

Critical Computing Calling Out Gender-Based Harms

Ongoing patriarchal approaches to computing (and many other areas of design) have led to a cis/heteronormative world. I’ve worked with other scholars on highlighting these harms to press for a better, more inclusive, world.

  • The Three Steps to Trans Death: Introducing Trans Cyber-Necropolitics in Digital Media. 2025. Shano Liang, Michelle V. Cormier, Phoebe O. Toups Dugas, and Rose Bohrer. ACM Trans. Comput.-Hum. Interact. 32, 5. 10.1145/3745767
  • Reframing Diversity in Computing on the Basis of Genders. 2025. Jennifer A. Rode, Phoebe O. Toups Dugas, Andruid Kerne. Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) 34 (June 2025). 10.1007/s10606-025-09518-0
  • Analyzing Trans (Mis)Representation in Video Games to Remediate Gender Dysphoria Triggers. 2023. Shano Liang, Michelle V. Cormier, Phoebe O. Toups Dugas, and Rose Bohrer. Proc. ACM Hum.-Comput. Interact. 7, CHI PLAY. 10.1145/3611034

History of Computer Game Interfaces

As a person who grew up alongside the advent of video games and contributed to their scholarly study, I’ve put some of my energy into assembling histories of games. Much of my work involves building ludographies – collections of games with particular design characteristics that we are studying – and these ludographies have ended up becoming the basis of some historical study. These projects synthesise first-hand gaming experience with documentation, records, and others’ writings to unpack the design of games today.

  • A Quest?!: The Secret Life of Gameworld Punctuation. 2023. Nicolas LaLone, Phoebe O. Toups Dugas, and Michelle V. Cormier. Proc. ACM Hum.-Comput. Interact. 7, CHI PLAY. 10.1145/3611040
  • Paper to Pixels: A Chronicle of Map Interfaces in Games. 2020. Phoebe O. Toups Dugas, Nicolas LaLone, Katta Spiel, and Bill Hamilton. In Proceedings of the 2020 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference (DIS ’20). 10.1145/3357236.3395502
  • Making Maps Available for Play: Analyzing the Design of Game Cartography Interfaces. 2019. Phoebe O. Toups Dugas, Nicolas Lalone, Sultan A. Alharthi, Hitesh Nidhi Sharma, and Andrew M. Webb. ACM Trans. Comput.-Hum. Interact. 26, 5. 10.1145/3336144
  • Playing to Wait: A Taxonomy of Idle Games. 2018. Sultan A. Alharthi, Olaa Alsaedi, Phoebe O. Toups Dugas, Theresa Jean Tanenbaum, and Jessica Hammer. In Proceedings of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI ’18). 10.1145/3173574.3174195

Teams in Emergency Management

Much of my early scholarship looked at how we can improve the lives and work of emergency managers and disaster responders. I was one of the first scholars to look at emergencies and interfaces. This work used the design of games to help – supporting training, imagining futures, and seeing what the design of games might teach responders. Some of this work continues today, but is no longer my main focus.

  • CoMap: A Collaborative 3D Sketch Mapping Game to Engage Spatial Communication in Search and Rescue. 2026. Tianyi Xiao, Sailin Zhong, Peter Kiefer, Miki Mizuki, Phoebe O. Toups Dugas, and Martin Raubal. In Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI ’26). 10.1145/3772318.3791175
  • Wildfire@Home: Personalized Immersive Training for Household Situation Awareness. 2026. Tianyi Xiao, Yan Feng, Suvodip Chakraborty, Peter Kiefer, Phoebe O. Toups Dugas, and Martin Raubal. In Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction in the Alps (AlpCHI ’26). 10.1145/3780045.3780049
  • Practical Considerations on Applications of the Popularity of Games: The Case of Location-Based Games and Disaster. 2022. Nicolas LaLone, Phoebe O. Toups Dugas, and Konstantinos Papangelis. In HCI in Games: 4th International Conference, HCI-Games 2022. 10.1007/978-3-031-05637-6_13
  • “I See You!”: A Design Framework for Interface Cues about Agent Visual Perception from a Thematic Analysis of Videogames. 2022. Matthew Rueben, Matthew R Horrocks, Jennifer Eleanor Martinez, Michelle V Cormier, Nicolas LaLone, Marlena Fraune, and Phoebe O. Toups Dugas. In Proceedings of the 2022 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI ’22). 10.1145/3491102.3517699
  • An Activity Theory Analysis of Search & Rescue Collective Sensemaking and Planning Practices. 2021. Sultan A. Alharthi, Nicolas James LaLone, Hitesh Nidhi Sharma, Igor Dolgov, and Phoebe O. Toups Dugas. In Proceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI ’21). 10.1145/3411764.3445272
  • A Vision of Augmented Reality for Urban Search and Rescue. 2019. Nicolas LaLone, Sultan A. Alharthi, and Phoebe O. Toups Dugas. In Proceedings of the Halfway to the Future Symposium 2019 (HttF ’19). 10.1145/3363384.3363466
  • The Team Coordination Game: Zero-fidelity simulation abstracted from fire emergency response practice. 2011. Phoebe O. Toups Dugas, Andruid Kerne, and William A. Hamilton. ACM Trans. Comput.-Hum. Interact. 18, 4. 10.1145/2063231.2063237
  • Implicit coordination in firefighting practice: design implications for teaching fire emergency responders. 2007. Phoebe O. Toups Dugas and Andruid Kerne. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI ’07). 10.1145/1240624.1240734

All opinions expressed here are my own and do not reflect those of current or past employers or funders.