W&L Students Accepted for Publication at the Gaming and Technology Conference

By Lily Caldwell
May 21, 2026

Washington and Lee University students Trey Custodio '26 and Sanjog Basnet '27 recently co-authored a paper alongside Liz Matthews, associate professor of computer science, titled "Exploring User Demographics for Research on Video Games." The paper was accepted for publication at the Gaming and Technology Conference, an international conference concentrated on game and entertainment technologies.

Custodio and Basnet's research focused on designing a survey centered around gaming preferences and player behavior. Their goal was to identify meaningful and consistent patterns that could help researchers better group and classify gamers in future research containing video games. Custodio and Basnet began the foundation for a non-linear classification system driven by capturing which enjoyment factors drive the participant to play games such as game flow, engagement or external motivating factors.

"Sanjog and Trey focused on the preliminary design of the questionnaire based on current established enjoyment factors, refining of the questionnaire with my guidance, distribution of the questionnaire, collection, verification and sanitization of the data, preliminary analysis of the data and drafting the publication," said Matthews.

Custodio and Basnet conducted the research under Matthews as Summer Research Scholars in 2025.

"It was my first experience conducting research at this scale, so it was both exciting and a little intimidating at first, especially since the topic was something we were genuinely passionate about," said Basnet, a computer science and cognitive and behavioral science double major from Kathmandu, Nepal. "There were a lot of small details and processes that were completely new to me, but it ended up being an incredibly valuable learning experience."

The Gaming and Technology Conference, at which Matthews will present their work, will be held July 25-27 in Valencia, Spain. The conference aims to bring together research and practice from creative, social and business practitioners and researchers in the field of game and entertainment technologies. The focus of this year's conference is on design, development and evaluation of games, entertainment technologies and the nature of play.

"Having our research accepted for publication means a great deal to us," said Basnet. "For anyone conducting research they genuinely care about, publication is both validating and motivating. It feels rewarding to know that our work is being recognized and that we now have the opportunity to share it with a wider audience."

Custodio is a computer science major from Virginia Beach, Virginia. He is a computer science teaching assistant and technical assistant for the Center of International Education. Custodio is a four-year member of the wrestling team and has received five W&L scholar-athlete recognitions and two ODAC All-Academic Team honors.

Basnet is a computer science teaching assistant and works in the Lenfest Center for the Arts as a house director and production assistant. In the future, he hopes to pursue a field at the intersection of computer science, cognitive and behavioral science and Japanese studies, particularly in areas such as Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), UX development and computer ethics.

Matthews has been a member of the W&L faculty since 2018. Before W&L, she taught at the University of Florida and Clemson University. She holds a Bachelor of Science in computer science from Western Washington University, a Master of Science in computer science from Clemson University and a Ph.D. in human-centered computing from the University of Florida.

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