Communication professors Doug Thomas and Dmitri Williams took the advice of “do what you love” seriously – they eat, sleep, breathe and make a career of researching video games.

While both specialize in online gaming, their approaches to studying the multi-billion-dollar industry are quite different. Thomas, the founding editor of the journal Games & Culture, looks at the culture, history and theory behind the games, and even creates new games to study topics such as ethics and political gerrymandering. Williams focuses on the social and economic impacts of games, including research into whether social settings moderate the effects.

“We complement each other in really important ways,” Thomas says. “Dmitri’s research gives me a frame of reference to understand the things I might be seeing. My research gives him an idea of questions he should be asking in his surveys.”

Both love every minute of their work. For Williams that often includes game play, which helps him to understand the data he receives on certain games and gamers. He says that one of his particular online gaming interests is the social boundary-crossing that results.

“You have a 60-year-old female corporate attorney playing and interacting with a 20-year-old male construction worker,” says Williams. “It’s not something you see very often on the street, but you see it online and in game space every day.”