Games and virtual environments are playing an increasingly powerful role 
in Western entertainment and narrative culture. Of particular importance 
are the constant re- and de-construction of the embodied playing self 
and the post-industrialist, customisable fluidity of personal and social 
identity.This interdisciplinary conference will shed light on how 
virtual communities are ‘read’ and ‘written’, i.e. constructed textually 
through linguistic and semiotic en- and decoding, by producers and 
receivers of video and massively multiplayer online games as well as 
virtual worlds such as Second Life.

The conference’s major intention is to bring together researchers from a 
wide range of different areas, who share an interest in semiotics, 
stylistics, codification, new media design, 3D programming and 
media/cultural studies but do not always speak the same ‘language’. The 
conference will facilitate cross-disciplinary dialogue and understanding 
by providing room and material for discussions between scholars, 
scientists and professionals from the gaming industry. By doing so, it 
will help experts identify and debate current and future developments 
particularly in relation to the textual construction of subjectivities, 
communities and ideologies. Date: 24-25 October 2008. Venue: Bangor 
University.

Abstracts of 250-300 words are invited on any topic relating to the 
following themes and questions:

- How do we ‘read’ and ‘write’ virtual communities, i.e. how are 
identities, communities and ideologies constructed textually and 
discursively in video games and other digital environments?
- How are user identities ‘coded into’ virtual communities?
- To what extent and to what effect can we apply contemporary stylistic 
and semiotic theory and analysis to virtual, interactive communities?
- How do avatars impersonate networks, communities and societies?
- What are the roles of body and mind in virtual communities? Do they 
separate or amalgamate?
- To what extent do we need to revisit the notions of ‘virtual’, 
‘actual’ and ‘real’ in relation to entextualised social and communal 
worlds and realities?
- How does and will 3D graphic design contribute – now and in the 
foreseeable future – to the construction of social identity?
- What programming tools and methodologies are/may be used to create 
virtual communities and inter-'personal' relationships?

Keynote speakers will include Prof Espen Aarseth, Co-founder and 
Editor-in-Chief of Gamestudies.org and author of Cybertext: Perspectives 
on Ergodic Literature, and Fred Hasson, founding CEO of TIGA, the UK 
Games Development Trade Association.

Deadline for abstracts: 5 May 2008 (to be sent to [log in to unmask])

Conference organisers: NIECI Research Centre for Video Games and Virtual 
Environments (Dr Astrid Ensslin, Dr Eben Muse)

For further enquiries, please contact Astrid Ensslin at 
[log in to unmask] or visit the Conference website at 
http://nieci.bangor.ac.uk/conf/?q=callforpapers/3.

-- 
========================================
Dr. Eben Muse
Cyfryngau Newydd a Chreadigedd y Dyfodol
Prifysgol Bangor / Bangor University
+44 (0)1248 388628
========================================


-- 
Gall y neges e-bost hon, ac unrhyw atodiadau a anfonwyd gyda hi,
gynnwys deunydd cyfrinachol ac wedi eu bwriadu i'w defnyddio'n unig
gan y sawl y cawsant eu cyfeirio ato (atynt). Os ydych wedi derbyn y
neges e-bost hon trwy gamgymeriad, rhowch wybod i'r anfonwr ar
unwaith a dilëwch y neges. Os na fwriadwyd anfon y neges atoch chi,
rhaid i chi beidio â defnyddio, cadw neu ddatgelu unrhyw wybodaeth a
gynhwysir ynddi. Mae unrhyw farn neu safbwynt yn eiddo i'r sawl a'i
hanfonodd yn unig  ac nid yw o anghenraid yn cynrychioli barn
Prifysgol Bangor. Nid yw Prifysgol Bangor yn gwarantu
bod y neges e-bost hon neu unrhyw atodiadau yn rhydd rhag firysau neu
100% yn ddiogel. Oni bai fod hyn wedi ei ddatgan yn uniongyrchol yn
nhestun yr e-bost, nid bwriad y neges e-bost hon yw ffurfio contract
rhwymol - mae rhestr o lofnodwyr awdurdodedig ar gael o Swyddfa
Cyllid Prifysgol Bangor.  www.bangor.ac.uk

This email and any attachments may contain confidential material and
is solely for the use of the intended recipient(s).  If you have
received this email in error, please notify the sender immediately
and delete this email.  If you are not the intended recipient(s), you
must not use, retain or disclose any information contained in this
email.  Any views or opinions are solely those of the sender and do
not necessarily represent those of the Bangor University.
Bangor University does not guarantee that this email or
any attachments are free from viruses or 100% secure.  Unless
expressly stated in the body of the text of the email, this email is
not intended to form a binding contract - a list of authorised
signatories is available from the Bangor University Finance
Office.  www.bangor.ac.uk