DiGRA Call for Ombudspersons

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The DiGRA Diversity Working Group is looking to find volunteers to help in the following positions:

  • Ombudsperson (2-3 people)
  • Ombudsperson Secretary (2-3 people).

We are seeking to appoint a small group of people to share the responsibility of acting as neutral representatives mediating between members of the association and the board to resolve complaints and address issues that arise within the organization and membership.

The idea behind a team with two roles is to ensure sustainability, stability, and continuity of these positions and the work of the group. Elected secretaries will move into officer roles after a period of mentorship (12 months).

The Ombudsperson roles are new positions within the DiGRA organization. Thus, the volunteers would be in a strong position to shape this role and to foster change in the short-term as well as for the future of the DiGRA community.

These roles are open to everyone.

Responsibilities for Ombudsperson Team:

  • The team becomes the first point of contact to raise any grievances and concerns.
  • The team revises, maintains, upholds and enforces the Code of Conduct for DiGRA (across Gamesnetwork, DiGRA’s Discord channel, DiGRA international and local conferences, etc. [See: http://www.digra.org/the-association/digra-mailing-lists/]).
  • The team feeds back to the DiGRA board on existing mechanisms for addressing complaints and, where necessary, proposes amendments.
  • The team liaisons between the DiGRA board, the Diversity Working Group, conference program chairs, and conference chairs to maintain fair practice standards for peer reviews.

Appointment: The Ombuds-Team will be appointed by DiGRA’s international board via the Diversity Working Group. The Diversity Working Group will work in collaboration with the Ombuds-Team to try to create and maintain better initiatives and responses to grievances, on behalf of the DiGRA community. To apply, please send a short statement (250 words) to the DiGRA Diversity Officer (Mahli-Ann Butt: mahli.ann.butt@gmail.com).

Term: 12-24 months

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DiGRA Call for Conference Hosts

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Digital Games Research Conference 2021-2022

The Digital Games Research Association (DiGRA) has as a central goal the support of an international conference on digital gaming. Eleven conferences have taken place, with two more already planned for 2019 and 2020.  This document is a call for proposals for a committee and location to host the next series of DiGRA’s international games research conferences.  We are actively seeking proposals for 2021 and 2022. Proposals for conference hosting in 2023 and beyond are also welcome.

We particularly encourage hosts from countries which have historically been under-represented in games research, and from regions which have not yet hosted a DiGRA international conference (including the “global south”), particularly for 2021. Institutions wishing to put themselves forward should consider the following aims of DiGRA when putting their proposal together and highlight how the event they would organize would achieve these:

  • To support games research as an interdisciplinary field
  • To encourage dialogue between researchers, practitioners, commercial organizations and policy makers
  • To support students and curriculum development
  • To disseminate work produced by the association’s community

DiGRA is keen to receive proposals that tackle these issues in an innovative manner and build upon established conference practices. It is envisaged that DiGRA conferences will each have a central theme but that this will in no way compromise the inclusiveness of research into games from a wide range of researchers, disciplines and empirical domains. The official language of the conference will be English.

DiGRA establishes a program chair (separate from the local hosting committee), who will ensure rigorous and appropriate peer review for abstracts submitted to the conference and the support of ethical practice. The successful hosting institution will be provided with key guidelines for the management of the planning and preparation of a medium-sized conference: hosts should be prepared for as many as 500 attendees (usually the conference has between 300 and 400 attendees.)  There is no compulsory format for conference hosting proposals, but we recommend that they deal with the following:

1. Venue

  • Location: Institution, town/city, country.
  • Background: What is the host city like? Attractions for visitors?
  • Entertainment options: Location for visiting other areas before/after conference? Proximity to local game industries or other relevant sites?
  • Venue: Description, facilities, access, lecture theatres, meeting rooms, exhibition space, technical resources, translation services etc.

2. Conference

  • Potential theme ideas *
  • Potential keynote/plenary speakers*
  • Special events: any special thematic days and/or collaborative events organized in connection to the conference?
  • Social events: What? When? Where? Are they particularly digital gaming relevant or locally typical?  Commissioning a conference game or suitably ‘playful’ activities would lend specificity to the event.
  • Delegate packs: Contents. Proceedings
  • The DiGRA executive committee has a responsibility for ensuring the quality of the delegates’ conference experience and the academic credibility and reputation of the conference. As such it will be involved, and have the right of veto, in the final decisions about programming and other aspects of content.  Once hosts are decided a programming committee will be formed with representatives from the hosts and nominated members acting on behalf of the DiGRA executive board.

3. Travel and Accommodation

  • Distance from international airport/s
  • Access by bus, cab, coach, train, etc
  • Travel between conference venue and accommodation
  • Estimated travel costs from a range of major cities
  • Costs & Finance (in €, US$ as well as in local currency)
  • Conference registration: full and day rates, student rates, DiGRA member rates (DiGRA membership is included in the DiGRA conference registration fee, with those membership monies directed afterwards to the association by the organizer, thereby guaranteeing its basic funding and continuity.) Registration fees should be tiered to reflect varying levels of affordability for different countries of origin: the board will work with the local organizing committee to determine the appropriate rates.
  • Accommodation: Description, university/hotel options, location in relation to conference venue, facilities, capacity, etc. Per person, room share options? Discount for DiGRA delegates?
  • Meals/Conference Dinner
  • How will booking be handled?
  • What bursaries or discounts will be offered to graduate students in the field?

4. Organization

  • Conference committee: Details of organizers, responsibilities, administrative support, etc. If working with a PCO, they should be named. It is expected than key individuals in the proposal and proposed conference committee will hold current DiGRA membership, Identify one member of the host team who is the main contact with DIGRA.
  • Outline means of keeping in regular, consistent communication with the DIGRA board.
  • Short research biographies. Plan for coordination of duties within committees as well as with DiGRA executive board; estimate of deadlines for conference planning schedule.
  • Institutional support: Level and nature of department/institution involvement and funding.
  • Additional support: Details of finance, facilities, sponsorship or other involvement from additional organizations at a regional, national or international level.
  • Dates: Proposed conference dates, deadline for abstracts, etc. (It is strongly recommended that proposers avoid dates conflicting with events such as AoIR, DAC, Future Play, FDG , etc.)

5. Publicity & Dissemination

  • Conference proceedings: How will they be made available – in book format and/or electronically? When will they be available to delegates? (Note that all DiGRA conference papers need to be archived in the online DiGRA Digital Library, and conference organizers are expected to collaborate in this. Likewise, the ToDiGRA journal editors will be collaborating with the Program Chair to publish a subset of best papers from the conference.)
  • Publications: Are special editions of journals planned for after the conference? Are publishing contracts for edited collections planned? Who will edit these? What is the planned timescale?
  • How will conference publicity be planned?

6. Other Considerations

It is recommended that proposers produce a basic business plan to estimate incoming and outgoing monies for the conference depending on different levels of attendance and financial support. Issues such as how any loss will be accounted for should be dealt with, as DiGRA cannot currently offer any financial guarantee. Procedures should be in place so that in the event that the conference makes a profit DiGRA will receive 30% of this. The association will use this towards developing funds to support conference costs for some students or researchers coming from economically unstable countries.

A Conference License Agreement will need to be signed by the representatives of the conference organizer and the DiGRA. This will detail all the arrangements and specifications of the planning and execution of the Conference. The Agreement must be signed before the actual conference arrangements are set in motion.

The DIGRA executive board requires a letter of intent by May 1, 2019 and a full proposal by July 15, 2019.

Letters of intent, completed proposals or general enquires about the conference hosting call, and details of the License Agreement etc. should be directed to William Huber (w.huber@abertay.ac.uk).

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CFP: The Aesthetics of Computer Games

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The 13th International Conference on the Philosophy of Computer Games: The Aesthetics of Computer Games

Conference Committee:

Program Chair:
Feng Zhu (King’s College London)
feng.zhu@kcl.ac.uk

Conference Chairs:
Alina Latypova (St Petersburg State University)
latypova.al@gmail.com
Konstantin Ocheretyany (St Petersburg State University)
kocheretyany@gmail.com

Inviting submissions to the 13th International Conference on the Philosophy of Computer Games, organised by the Game Philosophy Network, together with the Centre for Media Philosophy and Laboratory for Computer Games Research, in St Petersburg, Russia, on October 21–24, 2019.

The theme of this year’s conference is ‘The Aesthetics of Computer Games’. Playing games yields particular kinds of playful experiences or perceptions through the senses, which can be studied with an aesthetic focus, emphasising aísthēsis over noêsis. Computer games can be regarded as playful media that organise our perceptions and modify our sensibilities. For this conference, they welcome submissions on (but not limited to) the following themes and questions:

1. Aesthetics as aesthesis (aísthēsis). Is there an aesthetics or mode of experience that is specific to computer games? How do their visual, audio, and haptic aspects come together to produce distinctive experiences? How are ‘experience’ and ‘perception’ explored in computer games and shaped by them? Can concepts such as ‘affect’, ‘atmosphere’, and ‘rhythm’ be productively applied to computer games? What is the role of game interfaces on player experience?

2. Games as art? What are the conditions of possibility of games being art? How do computer games fit into established categories or conventions of aesthetics, and how do they contribute to new ones? Do games recognised as having a claim to artistic status differ from mainstream games? How do accounts of art based on necessary and sufficient conditions match up against anti-essentialist accounts in terms of gauging the status of computer games?

3. The aesthetics of gaming practices. Are games collaboratively authored? How do different kinds of play, or player-game conjunctions, bring about different kinds of gaming pleasures or aesthetic experiences? How do different bodies encounter computer games and what can be said about the way in which gameplay experience is mediated by our bodies?
Do some kinds of gameplay or extra-gamic player practices have an aesthetic orientation? Are computer games performances?

4. The ethical, political, and social dimensions of game aesthetics. What is the transformative potential of computer games and how does this compare to the transformative capabilities ascribed to artworks? How do aesthetic issues interconnect with ethical, social, and political ones – what is the autonomy or heteronomy of the aesthetic domain? How are taste, sensibility, and habit acquired with respect to gameplay and what are the social implications of this?

In addition to this central theme, the conference also features an open category, for which they invite welcome contributions that do not fit this year’s theme, but that nonetheless offer a valuable contribution to the philosophy of computer games.

Submitted proposals should have a clear focus on philosophy and philosophical (including media philosophical) issues in relation to computer games. They should also refer to specific games rather than invoke them in more general terms. Submissions should be made in the form of extended abstracts of up to 1000 words (excluding bibliography). Please indicate if you intend your paper to fit in the open category. The deadline for submissions is 23:59 GMT, Sunday, 11th August, 2019. Please submit your abstract through review.gamephilosophy.org. All submitted abstracts will be subject to a double-blind peer review process.

Notification of accepted submissions will be sent out in late August 2019. A full paper draft must then be submitted by Monday, 14th October 2019 and will be made available on the conference website.

They also invite proposals for themed panels and workshops that will take place on the 20th and 24th October, 2019. Please contact the program committee chair if you are interested in organising one.

They cannot provide grants or subsidies for participants. There will, however, be no conference fee.

For more information about the conference please visit http://gameconference.mediaphilosophy.ru/pcg2019.html and gamephilosophy.org.

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CFP: Zip-Scene Conference

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II. Zip-Scene Conference on Analogue and Digital Immersive Spaces

Budapest, 10-12 November, 2019

Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design
Application deadline: 17th of June
New digital tools provide novel opportunities for interactive digital narratives (IDN) in mixed reality environments, performance art and analogue immersive spaces. But does this mean that we can tell existing stories in a better way in these environments? Or should we change our way of thinking about how we perceive our world in order to create more comprehensive narrative experiences? In a recent keynote (ICIDS 2018 conference) Janet H. Murray – author of the groundbreaking volume Hamlet on Holodeck – the Future of Narrative in Cyberspace (1997/2016), reminds us that “a kaleidoscopic habit of thinking” can help us “envision a more integrated transformational future” and “open up the possibility of expanding our understanding of the world and our cognitive capacity” (Murray, 2018:17). To better grasp the complexity of the world, it is important to enhance emerging artistic practices in order to create opportunities for critical reflection while acknowledging the changed relationship between creators and audiences turned participants/prosumers/experiencers.

This conference aims to investigate whether XR/extended reality (VR/AR/MR) works will acquire a status comparable to film, performing arts and video games in the near future. On this basis, we are looking forward to papers that address narrative experiences enabled by XR and especially VR technologies. Papers should address either one or several of the following questions:

  • What kind of narratives can be used to create possibility spaces in such immersive productions?
  • How much engagement with and control over the narrative path is desirable for the audience turned participants?
  • What design strategies can guide these participatory experiences: for example, live performers, orchestrators, and set designers using the sensorium of New Horror (see Ndalianis, 2012) or somaesthetic design concepts (see Höök, 2018) to create novel forms of immersion in these environments?
  • What kind of design strategies can we use to provide a satisfying level of agency to participant audiences and provide opportunities for co-creation?
  • What is the current status of interactive digital narrative experiences, have they completed their evolution from being media of attraction (see Rouse, 2016) or there is still a long way for them to go in order to find the right direction?
  • What can we learn from a comparison of site-specific live arts productions with those of VR projects?
  • How can we explore free-form play and rule-based gaming as different types of performances within mixed-reality theatre and immersive theatre?

In addition, we want to challenge established storytelling strategies and instead more thoroughly analyze ways of creating engaging experiences:

What kind of principles of video game design do XR productions make use of (e.g. puzzle dependency charts and plot-shaped level design – see Short, 2019)?
What design strategies createed the experience of full immersivity and presence for their users-turned-participants (see 2018/4 issue of the journal of Performance Arts and Digital Media).

Further developing Murray’s perspective on the ‘kaleidoscopic habit’, we expect presentations that engage with the practice of transdisciplinary creators to adapt video game mechanics, various sensorium settings and interactive narrative design strategies in order to create fully immersive environments. Possible analyzes can be on topics such as overall aesthetics authorial affordances, design principles and conventions (Koenitz et al, 2018) as well as the audience’s experience (especially engagement and empowering mechanisms) and, last but not least, as interactive narratives. Some possible perspectives include Murray’s affordances and aesthetic qualities of the digital medium, Bogost’s procedural rhetoric, Kwastek’s “aesthetics of interactivity”, somaesthetic design concepts (Höök), guiding strategies based on New Horror’s sensorium (Ndalianis, 2012) the trajectories offered by them (based on Benford-Giannachi’s concept) and interactive narrative systems (Koenitz, 2015).

Conference themes:

  • Interactive storytelling methods
  • Interactive videos
  • Video games
  • Location-based technology (with augmented reality)
  • Virtual reality experiences&movies
  • Augmented reality in interactive storytelling
  • Games-based performing arts practices using new technology tools
  • Interactive Museum
  • Immersive environments (media archeology and phenomenological approach)
  • Transmedia storytelling

Proposals may be for a paper or a panel and should be related to at least one of the conference themes. Deadline for submitting the proposals is June 17, 2019. Please send us your abstract (max 350 words) and a short bio (max. 300 words) to the address: zipscene@mome.hu and please in CC: bakk@mome.hu. The papers will be reviewed by the conference committee. If your proposal will be accepted you will be given 20 minutes for your presentation.

Registration fee: EUR 50

The organizers cannot cover travel, accommodation and lodging costs. Upon request we can provide you invitation letter.

For Whom
The conference addresses scientific researchers, game professionals, programmers, artists, scholars and professionals from the field of performing arts, game studies, interactive storytellers, experience designers, narrative designers, VR-professionals and philosophers concerned with the conference topics. The conference aims to bring together emerging scholars, professionals and creators in order to create a joint platform which would later help individuals to understand and to develop these types of productions.

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CFP: VJ 2019 11th Conference on Videogame Sciences and Arts

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27-29 November 2019, Aveiro, Portugal
http://videojogos2019.web.ua.pt/

*** SCOPE ***

Ten years, and ten years more

The 11th Conference on Videogame Sciences and Arts will be held on November 27-29, organised by the Departament of Communication and Art of the University of Aveiro, and the Society of Video Games Sciences (SPCV). The annual conferences of the SPCV promote the scientific gathering of researchers in Portugal. These conferences are attended by researchers and professionals in the expanded field of videogames — Multimedia, Communication, Technology, Education, Psychology and Arts — to disseminate work and exchange experiences between the academic community and with the industry.

In 2009 the conference was held at University of Aveiro. 2019 will mark the coming back after 10 years. They intend then to show a thorough roadmap of the evolution of the national and international game research during these 10 years, as also ideas and speculations for the next 10 years.

Also, this time they plan going full international, using as working language English, for the CFP, the website, as the Proceedings. Therefore, if you’ve never participated in one Videojogos, this may be the best time to do it. They are calling for papers on games research from all over the world.

*** TOPICS ***

They welcome research proposals, long and short papers, and demos. All presenting new scientific results, innovative technologies, best practices, or improvements to existing techniques and approaches in the multidisciplinary research field of Games Research.

Suggested research topics for contributions include, but are not limited to:

  • Tabletop Games
  • Hybrid Games
  • Gamification
  • Technology
  • Aesthetics
  • Culture
  • Development
  • Learning
  • Methodology
  • Design
  • Criticism
  • Transmedia
  • Narrative
  • Serious Games

*** SUBMISSIONS ***

Papers (short and full) must be in English. Only submissions that receive high ratings in the review process will be selected for publication by the Program Committee.

All submissions should follow the Springer Communications in Computer and Information Science (CCIS) format (see “Information for Authors of Springer Computer Science Proceedings” at https://www.springer.com/gp/computer-science/lncs/conference-proceedings-guidelines) use the Word Template https://resource-cms.springernature.com/springer-cms/rest/v1/content/7117506/data/v1.

Link for submission: https://easychair.org/my/conference?conf=vj2019

*** IMPORTANT DATES ***

  • Submission deadline (full and short paper): July 31, 2019
  • Author notification of the review: September 15, 2019
  • Submission of the print-ready version: October 1, 2019
  • VJ2019 conference: November 27-29, 2019

*** PUBLICATION ***

Full papers: 12-15 pages
Short papers: < 12 pages

The proceedings are planned to be published by Springer in their Communications in Computer and Information Science series, pending of final approval.

The Communications in Computer and Information Science is a book proceedings series by Springer and Indexed by SCOPUS, SCImago, and ISI Proceedings. More info at https://www.springer.com/series/7899

*** Contacts ***
Ana Veloso, aiv@ua.pt
Nelson Zagalo, nzagalo@ua.pt

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Job: Positions on character animation, crowd simulation, interactions and avatars in VR

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The Inria group in Rennes working on character animation, crowd simulation, interactions and avatars in VR, is recruting PhD candidates and research fellows on several of these topics. Here are some of the positions currently open, with more details available on the corresponding job offers.

PhD position:

  • Realistic, Reactive and Interactive Virtual Humans for Virtual Reality (H2020 ICT 25 PRESENT), https://jobs.inria.fr/public/classic/fr/offres/2019-01713

Postdoc positions:

  • Personalising Virtual Character Motions for Crowd Animation (ANR JCJC PER2), https://jobs.inria.fr/public/classic/fr/offres/2019-01750
  • Physio-synchronised 3D virtual avatars (INRIA IPL AVATAR), https://jobs.inria.fr/public/classic/fr/offres/2019-01477
  • Video-based crowd motion analysis, https://jobs.inria.fr/public/classic/en/offres/2019-01722

R&D technical position

  • Project manager for Robotics and Smart environments (H2020 ICT 25 CROWDBOT), https://jobs.inria.fr/public/classic/fr/offres/2019-01630
  • Engineer for video analysis of crowd movements, https://jobs.inria.fr/public/classic/en/offres/2019-01722
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Book: Approaches to Videogame Discourse

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Announcing the publication of their new book, Approaches to Videogame Discourse: Lexis, Interaction, Textuality (Bloomsbury, 2019, ed. Astrid Ensslin and Isabel Balteiro):

The first significant collection of research in videogame linguistics, Approaches to Videogame Discourse features an international array of scholars in linguistics, media and communication studies exploring lexis, interaction and textuality in digital games.

In the first section, “Lexicology, Localisation and Variation,” chapters cover productive processes surrounding gamer slang (ludolects), creativity and borrowing across languages, as well as industry-, genre-, game- and player-specific issues relating to localization, legal jargon and slang. “Player Interactions” moves on to examine communicative patterns between videogame players, focusing in particular on (un)collaborative language, functions and negotiations of impoliteness and issues of power in player discourse. In the final section, “Beyond the ‘Text’,” scholars grapple with issues of multimodality, paratextuality and transmediality in videogames in order to develop and enrich multimodal theory, drawing on key concepts from ludonarratology, language ideology, immersion and transmedia studies.

With implications for meaningful game design and communication theory, Approaches to Videogame Discourse examines in detail how video games function as means and objects of communication; how they give rise to new vocabularies, textual genres and discourse practices; and how they serve as rich vehicles of ideological signification and social engagement.

Endorsements:

“Finally! A concerted take on the richly, intricately discursive world of gaming. Edited collections have proved to be defining moments in digital discourse studies; this one will be no exception.” –  Crispin Thurlow, Professor of Language and Communication, University of Bern, Switzerland

“Approaches to Video-Game Discourse is a field-shaping collection of essays which show how interesting and varied the study of online gaming can be. The book is impressive in its scope, including research about the micro-level features such as word formation and moving through to broader concerns such as the narrativity of particular games. The book should be commended for reaching beyond the study of individual games and paying attention to various paratexts such as video walkthroughs, manuals and the legal language relating to games. The scholars who have contributed to this collection embrace the full range of approaches that are found in discourse studies, using corpus driven analyses, ethnography, pragmatics, and multimodality to explore the texts and interactions of game-playing from empirically informed perspectives. The book will be of interest to linguists and new media scholars alike as a timely resource which helps us all understand how gaming is meaningful in m!
any different ways.” –  Dr. Ruth Page, Senior Lecturer in Applied Linguistics, University of Birmingham, UK

“Fueled by a new generation of scholars, this volume sketches out videogame discourse studies as a new field of research that extends from corpus-assisted lexical analysis to the multimodal study of paratexts that surround games. The authors draw on concepts and questions from applied, media and sociolinguistics, such as language ideologies, (im)politeness, plain language, and localization. This volume offers an accessible introduction to a field of practice that is massively popular on a global scale, yet quite understudied from a language and discourse perspective.” –  Jannis Androutsopoulos, Professor of German and Media Linguistics, Universität Hamburg, Germany

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G|A|M|E – Call For Papers N.8 – ‘Would you kindly?’

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‘Would you kindly?’: Claiming Video Game Agency as Interdisciplinary Concept
(https://www.gamejournal.it/n-8-2019-would-you-kindly-claiming-video-game-agency-as-interdisciplinary-concept/)

The new issue of G|A|M|E proposes a re-examination of the concept of agency in games. They welcome contributions that address the idea of agency from a variety of academic perspectives, taking into account its interdisciplinary history and application, in order to expand our critical understanding of the concept more broadly. They therefore invite scholars from all fields to reflect on different notions of agency, not only in relation to physical and digital games, but also to other media and art forms as they impact on games and game studies. At the end of the influential first-person shooter Bioshock (2K Games, 2007), its critique of the rhetoric of choice and freedom emerges from the dialogue between the protagonist Jack and the visionary despot of Rapture, Andrew Rayan. Rayan’s seemingly innocent question ‘Would You Kindly?’ conceals a cognitive trigger that casts a shadow over the protagonist’s actions. By shattering the illusion of free will for both character and player, the game breaks the fourth wall and confronts the user with the question: who is being/has been controlled?

Already central to the fields of Human-Computer Interaction as well as that of design (e.g. Sherry Turkle, 1984; Brenda Laurel, 1991), agency was redefined more than twenty years ago in Janet Murray’s seminal volume Hamlet on the Holodeck (1996, p. 123) as ‘the satisfying power to take meaningful action and see the results of our decisions and choices’. To this day, the concept of agency is still prominent in scholarly debates on video game and game design: to describe a key ontological category that delineates the multiplicity of paths as well as the breadth of choices made available by interactive texts; and also –closer to Murray’s acceptation– to define a primary category of video game aesthetics, a textual effect attached to the pleasure of taking meaningful decisions within virtual environments.

On one level, agency informs media objects, texts and devices. Agency can be observed in relation to old and new game genres (adventure games with branching narratives, interactive movies, sandbox and open-world games); degrees of agency are provided by the affordances of VR/AR and mixed reality technologies (Oculus, PlayStationVR, HoloLens etc.); forms of agency are conceptualised across diverse media and art forms (interactive design, experimental film, on- demand TV, experiential theatre, museum installations) as well as in physical and digital hypertexts (Choose You Own Adventure books); agency is reallocated through new modes of distribution and fruition (VoD, streaming platforms and digital piracy); and agency is also embedded in sub-cultural practices and products (machinima, fan-fiction etc.).

On another level, agency is crucial to debating conceptual categories relevant to interactive digital media. Digital artefacts are immersed in a cross- and trans-media landscape, in which the interface constantly brings into question the relationship between objects, developers and users, blurring the boundaries between authors and audiences and questioning the sovereignty over these objects on multiple fronts. Here, agency provides an opening to explore aesthetic, social and political tensions (gender, race, class), and can be used to analyse discourses that challenge the role of the spectator/reader/player in relation to media object and their creators (art and exhibition, authorship, fandom, prosumer culture).

With its eighth issue, G|A|M|E wants to investigate the agency afforded by games, software and interfaces, as well as the agency claimed by players, users and spectators. Exceeding Murray’s original aesthetic understanding of the term, they intend to expand their examination of agency within and beyond the virtual borders of game studies. Agency is, in fact, a pivotal concept in philosophy, adopted to address relations of intentionality and causality between actors and actions (e.g. Anscombe, 1957; Davidson, 1963); as well as in social sciences, which locate agency within material and immaterial networks between human and non-human agents (Latour, 2005). In light of the vast interdisciplinary history of this concept, they seek contributions that can productively inform and renew our understandings of agency in gaming and play, while also using game agency to inform larger political, philosophical and cultural issues, developing current critical debates in game studies and in other disciplines.

Topics may include:

  • agency in game studies
  • agency and gaming technologies (VR, AR, mixed reality)
  • agency and interactivity
  • agency in video game criticism
  • close textual analysis of games in relation to agency
  • player reception and agency: modding, fandom etc.
  • agency in traditional games: board games, sports etc.
  • video game agency and issues of authorship
  • agency as interdisciplinary concept, from games to: arts, social sciences, law and philosophy
  • game agency in relation to other cultural forms (experimental film, cinema, art, architecture, design)
  • agency and non-linear textuality
  • politics (race, class, sexuality, gender, geopolitics) and video game agency
  • agency and media ecologies

Scholars are invited to submit an extended abstract (between 500-1,000 words excluding references) or full papers by Friday the 19th of July, 2019 to editors@gamejournal.it

Extended Abstract deadline: 19th of July 2019; Notification of acceptance: 25th of July 2019

All accepted authors will be asked to submit the full paper by the 15th of October 2019. We expect to release this issue in Winter 2019

Editors: Ivan Girina (Brunel University London), Berenike Jung (University of Tübingen)

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Two summer schools on Game Research and Design at Utrecht University (August 2019)

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Between August 12th and 23rd 2019, Utrecht University is organizing two separate, but consecutive and interrelated summer schools on digital games and play in contemporary society and culture, supported by the Center for Game Research, and conducted by senior staff members from the Department of Information and Computing Sciences and the Department of Media & Culture Studies, the University of Arts, as well as affiliated institutions.

The first summer course “Game Design and Development” (August 12-16) provides a step-by-step introduction to making games in the industry-standard game engine Unity, accompanied by workshops and lectures on topics like entrepreneurship as well as (serious) game design. Students will form teams and create a game of their own on a “games for good” topic, tying into the ongoing public and academic debate about the benefits of games in promoting e.g. wellbeing and a sustainable lifestyle. Expert feedback on the content as well as the design process will be  provided by experienced game designers.

For more information, including a day-to-day program, and to apply online, visit https://www.utrechtsummerschool.nl/courses/science/game-design-and-development.

The second summer course “Applied Games – A Multidisciplinary Research Perspective” (August 19-23) offers an overview of current research perspectives on the complex phenomenon of Applied Games, which range from (digital) serious games over interactive digital narratives (e.g. in journalism or activism) to playful interventions and pedagogies. Each day is dedicated to a different angle, starting with applied game analysis, moving on to games for learning, games in environmental communication and policy-making (Eco games), narrative aspects of Applied Games, and finally games and play experiences that involve the whole body. Apart from the interactive workshops, joint social activities with the UDS summer school ‘Exploring Culture Through Data’ and a tour of the Mo-Cap Lab at Utrecht University round off the program.

The detailed curriculum, describing all modules of the summer course, has just been uploaded on the Utrecht Summer school website. Thus, for more information and to apply online, visit https://www.utrechtsummerschool.nl/courses/science/applied_games_a_multidisciplinary_research_perspective.

While each summer course can be followed individually, the two programs are designed to be complementary, so combining them provides an even more holistic perspective on the creation, interpretation and deployment of (applied) games in contemporary society and culture.

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CfP: Audio Mostly 2019

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The Audio Mostly (www.audiomostly.com) conference series is interested in sound Interaction Design & Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) in general. Audio Mostly will take place from the 18th to 20th of September 2019 at the University of Nottingham in the city of Nottingham in the UK. The conference provides a space to reflect on the role of sound/music in our lives and how to understand, develop and design systems which relate to sound and music. The special theme for the conference this year is ‘A Journey in Sound’. This year the theme of the conference is open to interpretation, but people might think about the following, in relation to the theme:

  • Sonic aspects of digital stories, documentaries and archives
  • The soundtrack to our lives. Archiving and sharing sound
  • The emotional potential of a sound, how might this be used to support interaction
  • The different uses of sound and music across different settings
  • The re-use of recollections and memories by composers and sound designers
  • The development of musical tools that can let us express our experiences over time
  • Socio-technical uses of AI create highly personalised soundtracks that respond to one’s context
  • Adaptive sound and music use in journeys, time and the creative use of data

We encourage original regular papers (oral/poster presentation) addressing the conference theme or other topics from the list provided below. We welcome multidisciplinary approaches involving fields such as music informatics, information and communication technologies, sound design, music performance, visualisation, composition, perception/cognition and aesthetics.

  • Accessibility
  • Aesthetics
  • Affective computing applied to sound/music
  • AI, HCI and Music
  • Acoustics and Psychoacoustics
  • Auditory display and sonification
  • Augmented and virtual reality with or for sound and music
  • Computational musicology
  • Critical approaches to interaction, design and sound
  • Digital augmentation (e.g. musical instruments, stage, studio, audiences, performers, objects)
  • Digital music libraries
  • Ethnographic studies

For more information and other topics please see: https://audiomostly.com/2019/call/cfp/
The Audio Mostly 2019 proceedings will be published by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) (awaiting approval) and made available through their digital library. Regular papers, posters and demos/installations will be double-blind peer reviewed. It is envisaged that there will be a special issue of a journal relating to the conference, as with previous years.

Dates

  • Submission Deadline: 14th of June 2019 (new deadline)
  • Acceptance: 14th July 2019
  • Camera Ready: 9th August 2019
  • Conference: 18th to 20th of September at the University of Nottingham in the city of Nottingham in the UK

Submission Site

https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=am2019

Contact

For more information or questions, please contact either Konstantinos Papangelis at k.papangelis@liverpool.ac.uk or the Paper and Poster Chairs: Adrian Hazzard – adrian.hazzard@nottingham.ac.uk Elizabeth Kelly –elizabeth.kelly@nottingham.ac.uk

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Trust in Play Mentoring Program

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“Trust in Play / the European School of Urban Game Design” invites applications until May 31. Information and application forms at http://trustinplay.eu

Trust in Play supports emerging practitioners in forming a career out of making urban games and playful urban experiences. Benefits include enhancing professional capacities (artistic and business skills) and acquiring the tools to kickstart a career in urban game design.

Trust in Play invites all kinds of designers, artists, architects, urban planners and social innovators. Recent graduates or young professionals will have the chance to develop their skills in interdisciplinary design teams working on urban game projects.

Trust in Play is a 1-year mentoring program, leading up to the creation and production of urban game prototypes. Selected trainees will receive:
- a grant to support travel and daily allowance for the International Training Week in Athens in October 2019;
- ongoing training and support from local and international mentors;
- the opportunity to be part of an active community of creative practitioners;
- production budget for projects realized in teams during the second half of the traineeship in 2020 (about 3500€ per project).

Trust in Play is organized in three branches:
1) a “nomadic” branch, where trainees interact online;
2) a Dutch branch, based in Amsterdam;
3) a Greek branch, based in Athens

Trainees from all three branches will meet in Athens in October 2019 (travel & lodging costs paid).

Trust in Play is funded through a Creative Europe grant, and co-organized by:
- Goethe-Institut,
- Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences,
- EdgeRyders,
- Innovathens / Technopolis City of Athens,
- Resilient Athens

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CfP: Special Issue – Intergenerational Gaming, Accessibility, Motivation, and Engagement (iGAME)

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Overview:
The CGJ is pleased to announce a CFP for the forthcoming special issue: iGAME (intergenerational: Gaming, Accessibility, Motivation, and Engagement).

The field of Games Studies has received a vast amount of interest and investigation over the last 50 years, ranging from game addiction, gender, engagement/interaction, to health rehabilitation and cohorts (i.e. baby boomers). However, intergenerational gaming has received less attention, with the exception of works by Voida and Greenberg (2009;2010), de Schutter et al. (2017), and Wang et al. (2018).

Given the nature of play and the developments of game technologies over the last couple of decades, intergenerational gaming offers a myriad of experiences for both gamers and nongamers, novice and expert gamers alike. Intergenerational gaming can facilitate several motivations in a milieu of domains from health and rehabilitation, to co-op and online gaming.

They invite submissions for this special issue of TCGJ, which focus on cutting edge research and perspectives in relation to intergenerational gaming. They welcome contributions from academics, industry professionals, students, and those with direct experience of intergenerational gaming. They will also consider papers concerning non-computing related intergenerational gaming, which reflect the intersectional and interlinked nature of intergenerational gaming.

Deadline:

Please see below for all important submission dates:

  • Title and abstract of proposed paper 30th June 2019
  • Draft paper for peer review 30th September 2019
  • Revised paper 10th December 2019

Topics include, but are not limited to:

  • Flow/immersion
  • Design
  • Usability, accessibility
  • Player experiences
  • Multi-methods
  • Health and rehabilitation
  • Culture and/or Environment
  • Multi-disciplinary
  • Player modelling
  • Predictive analysis

For queries regarding scope and applicability, please contact the guest editor, Dr Hannah R. Marston, by sending an email to: Hannah.Marston@open.ac.uk

For submission enquiries, please contact Drs John Sutherland (Editor-in-chief) or Malcolm Sutherland (Assistant Editor-in-chief) at: thecomputergamesjournal@gmail.com

Abstract & Proposed Title – Submission Instructions
Please submit your abstract & proposed title to: Hannah.Marston@open.ac.uk

Paper Submission Instructions
1. All submissions should be emailed to: Hannah.Marston@open.ac.uk.
2. All submissions should follow the Journal formatting and guidelines https://www.springer.com/computer/journal/40869
3. In your email, please add <Paper Submission – Title for Intergen Special Issue> in the subject box

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