Challenges and Potentials of User Involve- ment in the Process of Creating Games

This article gives a short overview about the history of user involvement in the area of digital games and describes the specific challenges and potentials of the participation and motivation of users in this application area. It specifies the different degrees and types of user involvement and outlines the current state of the art. Moreover, the article discusses the implications of user involvement for game companies and users with a special regard to user-generated content and gives an outlook on future development.