PhD Opportunities in Digital Design, Digital Media and Digital Arts (England)

The 3D3 Centre for Doctoral Training in Digital Design, Media and Arts is now inviting applications for its first cohort of PhD studentships. 3D3 is an AHRC-funded partnership between the universities of the West of England (UWE Bristol), Plymouth and Falmouth, creating exciting opportunities for practice-led doctoral students in three fields of study: digital design, digital media and digital arts (including music and performance). Up to ten PhD studentships (covering fees plus an annual stipend) will be offered to applicants of the highest quality each year for the next five years. Some research masters studentships will also be available each year through the consortium in the same fields of study.

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CfP: EduGaming Conference – Aug 4-5, 2014 (Pennsylvania, USA)

The Edugaming Conference is seeking paper proposals from the academic, creative, and industrial communities for our inaugural event.  This conference is underwritten by an Advanced Technological Education Grant from the National Science Foundation and will take place at Lehigh Carbon Community College (Schnecksville, Pennsylvania).

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Job: Assistant Professor Visual Communications Program @ Cecil College (Maryland, USA)

Cecil College, the fastest growing community college in Maryland seeks qualified applicants to fill a full-time Assistant Professor of Visual Communications beginning August 2014 academic year. The College is conveniently located half way between the Baltimore and Philadelphia corridor. Cecil College fosters a collegial working environment, is dedicated to student success, and ranks among the nation’s leaders in faculty/student engagement. Responsibilities include: lead teacher for developmental and visual communications courses, curriculum planning/revision and committee work. Additional responsibilities include supporting the VCP Director in developing curriculum, assisting in recruitment efforts and coordinating course work and adjunct faculty. Teach Game Design, Interactive Media, Animation, Website and Mobile Design courses with industry-standard equipment and practices. Courses included Introduction to Game Design, Introduction to Mobile Application Development, 3D Modeling and Animation for Graphic Design and Video and Web Design I. . Other specializations of interest would include mobile-application development and graphics, 3D modeling, internet ethics and policy, programming, computer networking, interactive advertising design, media technology design and development, game software design and development. This full-time, 10-month renewable position begins August 2014.

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CfP: GAMEON’2014 – University of Lincoln, UK (Sep 9-11)

The aim of the 15th annual European GAMEON® Conference (GAMEON®’2014) on Simulation and AI in Computer Games, is to bring together researchers and games people in order to exchange ideas on programming and programming techniques, which will be beneficial to the gaming industry and academia. Secondly it aims to steer young people into this industry by providing how-to tutorials and giving them the opportunity to show their ideas and demos to the gaming industry. The conference will concentrate mostly on the programming of games, with special emphasis on simulation, AI and fuzzy sets, and physics related computer graphics. Next to that, all of this will be fused in the topic of computer game design in stand-alone and networked games. Software providers will be able to show their latest packages and give hand-on tutorials for the participants.

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Special issue “Religion in Digital Games” now available

The editors of “online – Heidelberg Journal of Religions on the Internet” (http://online.uni-hd.de) are pleased to announce the publication of the special issue “Religion in Digital Games” featuring a multitude of exciting scientific perspectives on videogames as new research focus in Cultural and Religious Studies by authors from many different disciplines. It includes articles on theory and method as well as case studies with a focus on both game content and the player.

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Job: Lecturer in Simulation and Digital Entertainment, Yale Gordon College of Arts and Sciences, Maryland USA

The Division of Science, Information Arts and Technologies of the innovative Yale Gordon College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Baltimore invites applications for a full-time lecturer position (one-year renewable) in game design to begin in August 2014. For consideration, applicants must have a doctorate in a technical field or an MFA, or substantial industry experience. Also necessary are a strong commitment to teaching and a demonstrated ability to teach a range of courses on game and simulation-related technologies, including 3D animation, at both the undergraduate and graduate level.

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GLS Doctoral Consortium – now accepting applications

The Games+Learning+Society Doctoral Consortium offers select graduate students the opportunity for valuable career advice and critical feedback on their scholarship. Graduate students working on their dissertations will receive feedback on their research trajectories, publishing advice from successful authors and journal editors, and timely information about the job search from early career scholars who have recently been on the market. They will also have the opportunity to build new peer relationships and potential collaborations with other graduate students who are part of the consortium.

CfP: 5th conference on Games for Health Europe 27-28 Oct. 2014

The Games for Health Conference brings together researchers, medical professionals and game developers to share information about the impact of games, playful interaction and game technologies on health, health care and health policy. Over three days, more than 400 attendees will participate in over 60 sessions provided by an international array of 80 speakers, cutting across a wide range of activities in health and health care. Topics include exergaming, physical therapy, disease management, health behavior change, biofeedback, scientific validation, rehabilitation, epidemiology, training, cognitive health, nutrition and education.

CfP: Special Issue of Well Played: Weird Games

What makes for a weird game? Weird might be aesthetic or thematic, for example, we can play as animals at the end of the world in Tokyo Jungle or wage war on disease from the inside in Rex Ronan – Experimental Surgeon. Weird might be in the mechanics or the nature of the interaction as we are asked to strike awkward poses in Wario Ware Smooth Moves, stab at peas with forks or pluck hairs from onions to the beat in Rhythm Tengoku and ping at the bikini straps of surgically enhanced ladies with a demonically possessed scarf in Freak Out. The weird might be in the authorial voice or the design ethos as with the La La Land games, the titles by the Arcane Kids and 505 Games’ Simple Series. Weird can be produced by the player: the hackers, griefers, cheaters and the spoil sports. Weird may be accidental in the form of the glitch, or, the weirdness of videogames might be inherent as even  the ‘normal’ things we find ourselves doing in games such as collecting, shooting, powering up and dying repeatedly are, in fact, rather weird. In this way, the weirdest of games are perhaps those which represent the banal and the everyday like Street Sweeper Simulator.