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Bad Games colloquium

www.playfulsubjects.org

Saturday 18th July, 10am - 6pm
Pervasive Media Studio
Leadworks, Bristol

The Play Research Group at the University of the West of England, Bristol 
seeks contributions in the form of research outlines, position papers, media 
projects and provocations on the theme of 
Bad Games. 

Bad Games will: 
· Thematise games and play as a central yet ambivalent characteristic of 
digital culture
Question influential assumptions of the liberatory potential of interactivity
· Reflect on, revise, reject, renovate or otherwise refresh critical modelings of 
ludic digital culture that assume it be an intrinsically positive, creative or 
subversive alternative to ‘old media’ 
· Complicate simplistic moral panics about bad games and their effects
· Consider bad games in the context and rubrics of other ‘bad’ media theory 
topics like paracinema, trash culture, and comics 

Bad Games might include

Sex games
Mind games
War games
Boring games
Work games
Power games
Horror games
Cruel Games
E-gambling
SimCulture 
Ludic figures in cinema, from Funny Games USA to The Nines, to Intacto 
The atrocity exhibition of Reality TV
The military-entertainment complex 
The infantilization of adults by Nintendo ds 
Parental guidance: children playing violence
Computer games' temporal and financial demands
Repetitive games

The colloquium will be structured so that participants share proposals and 
dialogue, discussion and responses rather than as a presenter/question time 
format.

Send proposals (no more 200 words) for 15 min presentations to: 
[log in to unmask]
By Friday 19th June 2009
COST: £20 – payable on the day.
Tea/Coffee and Lunch will be provided.