MEDI@TERRA 06
INTERNATIONAL ART AND TECHNOLOGY FESTIVAL
27 September – 1 October 2006
Athens, Greece
www.mediaterra.org


CALL FOR PAPERS AND PRESENTATIONS
“Gaming Realities: the Challenge of Digital Culture”
Conference

The Conference “Gaming Realities: the Challenge of Digital Culture” focuses on four Subject Areas covering a wide range of crucial issues and questions concerning Games and their position in Digital Culture, studied from the Observers’ as well as from the Players’ point of view: in Subject Area Α the Socio-Political, Psychological, Cognitive and Philosophical aspects of Game are analysed; in Subject Area B the influences of Game in Art and the Game as 21st century’s New Art are studied; in Subject Area C Technologies and Techniques that develop or are developed by the Game are presented; and finally Subject Area D concerns the emergence and growth of the New Economy of Games defining its impact in Art and Society of the 21st century;

The subject areas that constitute the four basic axes of the Conference are described by indicative topics around which the speakers are invited to communicate.

A. The borders between Games and Reality
(When Games influence Reality)

a. The World of Game
> Real Games – Virtual Life
> Net-Games and Virtual Communities: a utopian space
> Social and Anti-Social games
> MUDs and Net-Individualism
> Game and Communication Utopia
> Collective and Individual representation of the World through the Game

b. The Identity of the Player – The Identity of the Digital World Citizen
> The Embodiment and Dis-Embodiment of the Player and the Game
> Virtual Bodies, Games and Gender
> What avatars do we choose and what avatars do we create (or they create for us)
> Games and Identity
> The Essence of Play and the Psychology of the Player

c. Serious Games
> Game Politics and politic propaganda in Games
> Simulation and Game environments for learning and training
> Scientific and Military Games
> Freedom, Choice and Censorship in Games
> Games and Cognitive Sciences

B. Game in Art and Art of Game
(Game as 21st century’s New Art)

a. Game as a new field for artistic expression
> Game based artworks
> Art criticizing Games
> The Integration of Game in Art
> The Aesthetics of the New Media and “art games”
> "Commercial" Game as Art


b. Interactive Narratives and Multi-scenarios: the New Storytelling
> Audiovisual and Narrative aspects of Games
> Linear and non-linear narratives in art games, and in commercial Games
> Multi-scenario strategies
> From image to text and from text to image
> Responsive Play Environments

c. Game Aesthetics: the emergence of a New Art
> Game as a New Form of Art and the new Aesthetics of Digital Games
> Artistic expression through Game
> Aesthetics of New Interactive Media
> Aesthetics of Multi-centric Narratives


C. Game Technologies
(Game Evolution through Technology and Technology Evolution through Game)

a. History and Evolution of Game Technologies
> Game and “traditional” audiovisual media
> From 2D to 3D Game
> Mobile gaming: mobile phones and the evolution of Games
> Artificial Intelligence Techniques and Intelligent Games
> Integration of New Technologies in Game
> New Technologies development for Game

b. "Building" a Game: Design and Game Development
> From conception to production
> Creating a Game scenario: narrative techniques for multimedia/hypermedia
> Aesthetics and Techniques for the creation of Virtual Worlds
> 3D Game in the Web
> Architecture and Game Design
> “Serious” games techniques
> Sound and Graphics in Game
> Designing the Interface: the contact with the Player
> Games dramaturgy
> Designing virtual actors

c. Game-Engines VS PC
> Evolution of Game-Engines
> Game-Engines and PC evolution
> The Future of Game-Engines

d. Innovative and Experimental Game Techniques, Technologies and Interfaces
> Innovative interactive techniques for Games
> Innovative and Experimental Game Interfaces
> Special programs, software and programming for Games
> New audiovisual techniques and original applications in Games
> Original Game Design
> Original use of the New Media in Games


D. The Real Virtual Economy of Games

a. The emergence of a New Economy
> Net-Economy and Games
> The relation of the Games with the Cinema Industry
> Virtual and Real Game Products

b. The Geography of the Game Economy
> Games and New Markets
> Games in the East and the West
> The New Internet Geography and the Game Markets

c. The Future of the Game Economy
> Virtual Commerce and its Future
> The Future of the Game as a Product
> Legislation, Rights and Copyrights in Web-Games

Important Dates
Participation deadline (abstract submission): 10 March 2006
Notification of acceptance by the Scientific Committee: 8 May 2006
Deadline for full paper submission (3500-5000 words): 12 June 2006

PLEASE VISIT www.mediaterra.org
FOR THE ONLINE SUBMISSION OF YOUR ABSTRACT
OR FOR THE CALL FOR GAMES WHICH IS ALSO AVAILABLE

Medi@terra Organizing Committee

Dodo Santorineos, Director of Fournos Center and Medi@terra Festival
Manthos Santorineos, Artistic Director of Fournos Center and Medi@terra Festival, Assistant Professor in the Athens School of Fine Arts
Daphne Dragona, Programme Curator & Coordinator of Medi@terra Festival, Coordinator of Fournos Center, Museologist
Nefeli Dimitriadi, Researcher and New Media Artist
Maria Roussou, Researcher, makebelieve experience design and consulting
Nikos Bubaris, Lecturer, Dpt. οf Cultural Technology and Communication, University of the Aegean
Dimitris Charitos, Lecturer, Dpt of Communication and Media Studies National and Kapodistrian university of Athens
Dimitris Delikolas, New Media Artist, Filmmaker
Panagiotis Delinikolas, New Media Musician, MMORPG-OD
Fotis Hadginikos, Ph.D Computer Science, Programmer
Yiannis Konstantinou, New Media Artist
Maria Pesli, New Media Artist
Alexandros Spiropoulos, Researcher, New Media artist, Member of the Personal Cinema collective
Panagiotis Stathopoulos, Ph.D Computer Engineer
Konstantinos Tiligadis, New Media Artist
Stavroula Zoi, Ph.D Informatics, Research & Teaching Associate at the Athens School of Fine Arts

Medi@terra Programme Committee

Prof Espen Aarseth, Associate Professor and Principal Researcher at the Center for Computer Games Research at the IT-University of Copenhagen, Co-founder and Editor-in-Chief of Gamestudies.org
Dr Dimitris Charitos, Lecturer, Dpt of Communication and Media Studies National and Kapodistrian university of Athens
Prof Adrian David Cheok, Director of the Mixed Reality Lab, Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, Associate Professor in the Schools of Computer Engineering and Art, Design, and Media
Julian Dibbell, Contributing editor, Wired magazine, Author, "My Tiny
Life: Crime and Passion in a Virtual World"
Gonzalo Frasca, Academic and Professional Game Designer, Editor of www.ludology.org, and co-editor of www.gamestudies.org and www.watercoolergames.org, PhD programme in the Computer Game Research at the IT University of Copenhagen
Dr Kenji Ito, Research Associate, Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Tokyo, Japan
Prof Jesper Juul, Assistant Professor in the Center of Computer Games Research at the IT- University of Copenhagen, Game designer, Editor of www.gamestudies.org
Prof John Kontos, Professor of Artificial Intelligence at the Department of Methodology, History and Theory of Science, University of Athens
Kristian Lukic, Writer, artist, cultural and game researcher, Founder of Eastwood - Real Time Strategy Group
Dr Frans Mäyrä, DIGRA president, Research Director, Hypermedia Laboratory, University of Tampere
Julian Oliver, Free-software developer, composer and media-theorist. Founder of www.selectparks.net
Prof Zhigeng Pan, Acting Director of the Digital Entertainment and Animation Research Cener, Zhejiang Univ., China
Prof Narcis Pares, Assistant professor of the Technology Department of the Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Researcher in the group for Experimentation on Interactive Communication of the Audio-visual Institute at the UPF
Maria Roussou, Researcher, Co-Founder of makebelieve experience design and
consulting.
Manthos Santorineos, Artistic Director of Fournos Center and Medi@terra Festival, Assistant Professor in the Athens School of Fine Arts
Dr Christa Sommerer, New media artist, Professor for Interface Culture, Institute for Media, University of Art and Design Linz, International Co-editor of the Leonardo Journal
Eddo Stern, New Media Artist, Game designer, Founder of C-Level
David Surman, Senior Lecturer in Computer Games Design at Newport School of Art, Media and Design, Co-editor of Animation: An Interdisciplinary Journal, Editorial board member for Games and Culture.
Eric Zimmerman, Game Designer, CEO and Co-Founder of gameLab