Hi, I am Sai Maram.

I craft intuitive experiences, and solve complex problems.

My work explores how design, AI, and community come together to support the development of intuitive experiences. I have previously worked with Meta, Microsoft, and Xbox. If you'd like to connect or collaborate, feel free to reach out at msaisiddartha1@gmail.com

Selected Work

ACM DIS 2025🏆, CHI PLAY 2024

Shloka: Climate Action through Cultural Games

Ethnographic research exploring how religious narratives drive environmental behavior change.

CHI PLAY 2024

Religious Inclusivity in Games

Digital ethnography analyzing 10,000+ Reddit posts to understand religious representation in gaming.

CHI 2024

Game Play Reflection Systems

Design research developing visualization systems to enhance learning in educational games.

IFIP-ICEC 2022

AstraVerse Character Design

Visual ethnography creating culturally-sensitive game character frameworks.

META 2022

Facebook Home Redesign

Generative research identifying user needs and prototyping 21 new experiences.

MICROSOFT 2024

Xbox Family Safety 🔒

Unified 6 disparate parental control endpoints through 13 usability studies.

MICROSOFT 2025

LLM UX Research 🔒

Under NDA - Contact for details about my work on AI-powered experiences.

UPCOMING

LLM Games Research 🚧

Exploring the intersection of large language models and game design.

Microsoft (Xbox)

UX Research Intern | Jun 2024 - Sep 2024

Conducted 13 usability studies on parental controls, identifying key pain points in family gaming experiences
Developed strategy to unify 6 disparate parental control endpoints into a single streamlined application
Created taxonomy of mental models that influenced Xbox's family safety roadmap

GUII Lab, UC Santa Cruz

Graduate Research Assistant | Sep 2021 - Present

Led 10+ user studies establishing design frameworks for cultural elements in games (, CSCW)
Conducted mixed-methods research with 500+ participants using surveys, interviews, and statistical analysis
Published 15+ papers in top-tier conferences on game UX and player behavior

Invento Robotics

R&D Engineer | Jun 2020 - Mar 2021

Executed 17 contextual inquiries identifying 6 critical bottlenecks in robot deployment workflow
Redesigned fleet management portal through card sorting and IA optimization
Reduced deployment time by 12 hours and increased fleet health by 34%

Publications

Title	Venue	Year
"Pray For Green, Play For Green": Integrating Religion into Climate Change Serious Games	ACM DIS	2025
A Topic Modeling Approach Towards Understanding the Discourse between Religion and Videogames on Reddit	ACM CHI PLAY	2024
Shloka: Developing Climate Change interventions through a lens of Religion and Videogames	ACM CHI PLAY	2024
"Ah! I see" - Facilitating Process Reflection in Gameplay through a Novel Spatio-Temporal Visualization System	ACM CHI	2024
Open Player Modeling - Using AI to help Reflection and Learning in Serious Games	ACM SAC	2024
Designing Religious Games for Climate Action	ACM CSCW	2023
Mining Player Behavior Patterns from Domain-Based Spatial Abstraction in Games	IEEE CoG	2023
A Visual Ethnographic Study at Cultural Spaces to Identify Character Creation Opportunities	ACM FDG	2023
AstraVerse: Establishing a Culturally Sensitive Framework for Integrating Elements from Mythological Backgrounds	IFIP-ICEC	2022
Player Segmentation with INSPECT: Revealing Systematic Behavior Differences	ACM CHI	2022
A Data-driven Design of AR Alternate Reality Games to Measure Resilience	ACM HCII	2022