[Posted on behalf of Daniel Riha]
Videogame Cultures: 8th Global Meeting
Monday 5th September - Wednesday 7th September 2016
Mansfield College, Oxford, United Kingdom
Call for Presentations 2016
300 word abstracts, proposals and other forms of contribution should be
submitted by Friday 22nd April 2016
This year’s Videogame Cultures will explore various ways in which
videogame culture and genres develop within the framework of five
thematic tracks. As the videogame development and videogame cultures are
highly complex and variant phenomenon, this often leads to the overlap
of the issues across themes, so we are inviting participants of all
backgrounds (academic, developer, producer, player, fan etc.) to submit
their proposals. The potential participants are encouraged to think
broadly within and across thematic tracks; the submissions shall address
topics and questions such as (though not limited to) those listed
further:
1) Gameplay Ethics:
Principles of Ethical Game Design. Ethics of Experience. Role of Agency.
Games as Empowerment. Modes of limited/guided/free choice to act.
Ethical Fun.
2) Gender and Gameplay: How are changing the players demographics?
Love (Romance) Sex in Videogames. Socializing and gender inequality
(sexual harassment) in the virtual gaming environments. Case Studies
(Gamer Gate; Post-Rapelay Design in Japan; Dead or Alive Xtreme3).
3) Affective Turn in Games Studies:
How is the affective turn reflected in computer game studies and
videogame design?
What’s the role of affect and emotion in the experience of play and how
computer game design implements emotion (or fails to do so)?
4) Games for Virtual Reality:
Games with meaning. Social Impact Simulations. 2016 has been expected as
a year zero in the implementation of virtual reality technology for
gaming. HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, Sony Playstation VR and other VR hardware
is about to hit the market this season, but game developers and
experience designers have been developing new forms of gameplay already
for many years. How will virtual reality change the principles of
current gameplay? What is the future of immersion and embodiment?
5) Gamification/Ludification:
Studying the models of gameplay have become influential trend beyond
videogame studies. Playful elements and functional models are built in
many applications even in economics or social sciences. We would like to
explore how playful elements have changed the interaction between the
user and serious applications.
Other topics related to above mentioned areas include:
Videogames and Gaming:
– Theories and Concepts of Gaming. Empowerement.
– Videogames beyond Entertainment, Convergence Culture
– Space of Videogames.
– Multidisciplinary Approaches to Videogame Analysis.
Designer´s Perspective:
– (R)evolutionary Game Design
– How to overcome a dictate of fun
– Music and Sound Design for Games
– Post-mortems
Videogame Cultures:
– Usage Trends and Emerging Practices in Online and Offline Gaming. –
Games as Cultural Artefacts.
– Pervasive Gaming.
– Studying Fan Cultures. Stardom of Fanboy. What means Fun.
Subsequently we encourage submission of proposals for short workshops,
practitioner-based activities, best practice showcases, how-to sessions,
live demonstrations, performances, and pre-formed panels. We
particularly welcome short film screenings; photographic essays;
installations; interactive talks and alternative presentation styles
that encourage engagement.
What to send:
300 word abstracts, proposals and other forms of contribution should be
submitted by Friday 22nd April 2016. All submissions will be minimally
double reviewed, under anonymous (blind) conditions, by a global panel
drawn from members of the Project Team and the Advisory Board. In
practice our procedures usually entail that by the time a proposal is
accepted, it will have been triple and quadruple reviewed.
You will be notified of the panel’s decision by Friday 6th May 2016.
If your submission is accepted for the conference, a full draft of your
contribution should be submitted by Friday 5th August 2016.
Abstracts may be in Word, RTF or Notepad formats with the following
information and in this order:
a) author(s), b) affiliation as you would like it to appear in
programme, c) email address, d) title of proposal, e) body of proposal,
f) up to 10 keywords.
Two versions are required:
1) One version with no author identification, and 2) the other version
with the following information and in this order: E-mails should be
entitled: Videogames Abstract Submission
Organising Chairs:
This event is an inclusive interdisciplinary research and publishing
project. It aims to bring together people from different areas and
interests to share ideas and explore various discussions which are
innovative and exciting.
A number of eBooks and paperback books have been published or are in
press as a result of the work of the Cyber collectyion of events. All
papers accepted for and presented at the conference must be in English
and will be eligible for publication in an ISBN eBook. Selected papers
may be developed for publication in a themed hard copy volume(s). All
publications from the conference will require editors, to be chosen from
interested delegates from the conference.