In the history of mankind’s technological development the importance of computer games is underestimated. Even the first computer games, which by today’s standards might seem primitive, allowed the user to control the flow of information on the screen, something that changes the relation between the media and the audience. Games do not have viewers they have users and are therefore radically different from media like cartoons or television. Online games, connecting gamers in a virtual play-ground, adds further complexity and makes it even harder to grasp games in relation to older forms of media. How computer gaming as a historically new activity influence different aspects of human life therefore becomes an urgent topic for the academic community. How do gamers construct identity and present themselves when playing games? What are the conditions for learning in the gaming activity? What forms of literacy is developed in gaming? How do socialisation of norms and values develop in relation to gaming? How do game practices change the everyday life of families and the roles between family members? How can we understand the game experience and the pleasure of gaming?

These are some of the issues addressed at the academic conference Game’in action at Göteborg University, Sweden 13th – 15th of June 2007. The conference aims at focusing on the research of different aspects of the activity of gaming and will accept papers in the following themes:

• Gaming and identity
• Gaming and conditions for learning
• Educational gaming
• Gaming and socialisation of norms and values
• Online gaming as social practices
• Fan-cultures as social practices
• Gaming and families
• Gaming in childhood and adolescence
• Amateur game-making and machinima
• Political perspectives on gaming
• Gaming as a boundary practice between school, work and leisure