Posts tagged game studies

Aca-article: Getting into the Game – Doing Multi-Disciplinary Game Studies

This article focuses on interdisciplinary dialogue and multi-methodology research as an inherent characteristic of game studies. It was originally published in Bernard Perron and Mark J.P. Wolf (eds.) The Video Game Theory Reader 2, New York: Routledge.

Author: Frans Mäyrä

INTRO – This essay will focus on interdisciplinary dialogue and multi-methodology research as an inherent characteristic of game studies. Drawing from the author’s experience as the leader or partner in numerous research projects in games and digital culture, it is pieced together as a travelogue of an ongoing trip into conducting game studies within the contemporary, highly competitive and often project-based academic environment. In practical terms, it aims to provide some advice on how to avoid the pitfalls waiting for those venturing into interdisciplinary games research, as well as to point out some of the benefits that can be obtained from such approaches. The essay will conclude by providing some recent examples from interdisciplinary game studies, highlighting the associated methodological challenges and their solutions, followed by summaries of the key findings.

Read the full paper: http://people.uta.fi/~frans.mayra/Mayra_Multidisciplinary_Game_Studies_2009.pdf

CFP: Making Sense of Converging Media (Finland, due April 28)

The MindTrek conference explores the emerging and frontier-breaking applications of new media in everyday contexts of leisure, business and organizational life, with tracks on Social Media, Ambient & Ubiquitous Media, Business & Media, Human-Computer Interaction, Open Source, and Digital Games.

Due April 28, and May 10, 2013. Extended deadline June 2, 2013 Read more.

October 1-4, 2013, Tampere, Finland.

MORE – The MindTrek Association hosts MindTrek as a yearly conference, where the Academic MindTrek conference has been a part of this unique set of events comprising competitions, world famous keynote speakers, plenary sessions, media festivals, and workshops since 1997. It is a meeting place where researchers, experts and thinkers present results from their latest work regarding the development of Internet, interactive media, and the information society.

Full call available at http://www.academicmindtrek.org/

Survey: Game Classification - help needed!

In this “Game Classification” survey, you can help PhD student Stephanie Heintz in her PhD research work by answering questions about a computer or video game of your choice (a few of the games can be seen in the pic embedded below). Your answers will contribute to a better understanding of differences between games and to a more precise specification of game types.

Take the survey!

New journal: Ada - Journal of Gender, New Media and Technology

Ada is “first open-access, open source, online feminist journal on new media and technology”. First issue is out!

http://adanewmedia.org/

ARTICLES

  • Introduction: Conversations Across the Field
  • A Discrepant Conjuncture: Feminist Theorizing Across Media Cultures
  • Notes Towards a Feminist Futurist Manifesto
  • Confronting toxic gamer culture: A challenge for feminist game studies scholars
  • Queer Female of Color: The Highest Difficulty Setting There Is? Gaming Rhetoric as Gender Capital
  • An Idea Whose Time is Here: FemTechNet – A Distributed Online Collaborative Course (DOCC)
  • Through the Darkness: Musings on New Media

Call for Submissions: The Car as an Arena for Gaming (Workshop @MobileHCI, San Francisco)

The car is unique place to be. Gaming in cars, for safety reasons, cannot be like gaming at home, but also not should be. But gaming in cars has the potential, of making use of all the cool properties of the car itself, the practices of driving, and of driving as a socially shared experience.

Due May 25, 2012. The Car as an Arena for Gaming Workshop at MobileHCI 2012, San Francisco, CA, September 21, 2012.

Read full call here: http://workshops.icts.sbg.ac.at/mobilehci2012/index.html

MORE - In this workshop, we aim to gather both practitioners and academics to work out the possibilities and challenges of this design space that to our experience has been slightly forgotten about since Juhlin and colleagues’ excellent work on the Backseat Playground system.

Topics may include, but are not limited to:

  • in-car gaming or driving or traffic as a social experience
  • the car or driving or traffic as a design space for gaming
  • passengers or children in various car related activities
  • safe driving in relation car gaming
  • learnings from game research or the game industry relevant for the topic

New Book: Artists Re:Thinking Games - challenging the norms of the game and art worlds

Over the last decade, artists have taken the engines and cultures of digital games as their tools and materials. This book looks at how artists and designers have challenged the norms of both game and art worlds.

Editors: Ruth Catlow, Marc Garrett, Corrado Morgana.

Purchase book: http://www.furtherfield.org/researchpublicatios/artists-rethinking-games

ABOUT - Digital games are important not only because of their cultural ubiquity or their sales figures but for what they can offer as a space for creative practice. Games are significant for what they embody; human computer interface, notions of agency, sociality, visualisation, cybernetics, representation, embodiment, activism, narrative and play. These and a whole host of other issues are significant not only to the game designer but also present in the work of the artist that thinks and rethinks games. Re-appropriated for activism, activation, commentary and critique within games and culture, artists have responded vigorously.

Over the last decade artists have taken the engines and culture of digital games as their tools and materials. In doing so their work has connected with hacker mentalities and a culture of critical mash-up, recalling Situationist practices of the 1950s and 60s and challenging and overturning expected practice.

This publication looks at how a selection of leading artists, designers and commentators have challenged the norms and expectations of both game and art worlds with both criticality and popular appeal. It explores themes adopted by the artist that thinks and rethinks games and includes essays, interviews and artists’ projects from Jeremy Bailey, Ruth Catlow, Heather Corcoran, Daphne Dragona, Mary Flanagan, Mathias Fuchs, Alex Galloway, Marc Garrett, Corrado Morgana, Anne-Marie Schleiner, David Surman, Tale of Tales, Bill Viola, and Emma Westecott.

CFP: Serious Games for Cultural Heritage - Special Issue of the ACM Journal of Computing and Cultural Heritage

While multimedia archives offer easy access of cultural content, it is through game mechanics that a much larger public could be motivated to explore such impressive resources. For this reason, games with educational purposes are becoming more and more popular. The goal of this special Issue is to collect papers on case studies, perspective applications, technological and methodological issues related to serious games for Cultural Heritage to define the best practices and highlight both the challenges and benefits of serious games in the Cultural Heritage sector.

Due June 15, 2012.

http://jocch.acm.org/seriousgames

ICTs provide powerful tools to build Cultural Heritage applications enabling a better understanding and appreciation of our present and past both by specialists and the general public, supporting the preservation, reproduction, representation and fruition of artifacts, sites and intangible goods in the form of Virtual Heritage.

While multimedia archives and the digitization of artefacts and sites offer easy access of cultural content to people regardless of space and time constraints, it is through game mechanics that a much larger public could be motivated to explore such impressive resources. For this reason, games with educational purposes, namely Serious Games (SG), are becoming more and more popular. The target of SGs in the Cultural Heritage domain is to actually spread cultural content at its maximum extent by exploiting this medium’s intrinsic features.

The goal of this Special Issue is to collect papers on case studies, perspective applications, technological and methodological issues related to SGs for Cultural Heritage to define the best practices and highlight both the challenges and benefits of SGs in the Cultural Heritage sector.

Authors are invited to submit papers on original and unpublished research and practical applications concerning SGs for a range of educational objectives related to tangible and intangible heritage, including history, archaeology, art, cultural awareness, natural/environmental heritage.

In particular, we call for contributions on topics including but not limited to:

  • Challenges and trends in Serious Games for Cultural Heritage
  • User engagement and motivation
  • Assessment of the learning impact
  • Human-Computer Interaction
  • Game mechanics suited for CH education
  • Personalization, adaptivity and Artificial Intelligence
  • Game architectures
  • Psychology and pedagogy
  • Best practices in the development and adoption of SGs for CH
  • Generation and representation of cultural content in games
  • Culturally relevant Non-Player Characters
  • Applications and case studies

Accepted papers will be published in the ACM Journal on Computing and Cultural Heritage - http://www.acm.org/pubs/jocch

Dissertation: Location-based Games - From Screen to Streets

The dissertation contributes to the field of location-based game research by offering an enhanced understanding of location-based games, and location-based game player experiences, as well as providing an expanded vocabulary describing location-based game elements. In addition, the dissertation provides design knowledge concerning creating location-based games that uses certain emergent opportunities when combining location-aware technologies with game mechanics to make use of the six dimensions of location-based games and to involve the player’s body – i.e. make a meaningful meeting possible.

Author: Stine Ejsing-Duun, PhD fellow at Centre for Playware, University of Aarhus, Danish School of Education.

The following description of this dissertation is a copy-paste from http://pervasivegames.blogspot.com/2011/12/dissertation-on-location-based-games.html

In the dissertation, it is explored which prerequisites are necessary in location-based games to make meaningful the meeting between players and spatiality with an emphasis on physical locations. Throughout the dissertation, it has been shown that LBGs affect players’ perception of and behavior in everyday spaces, as the games reside on the boundaries between the continuums of play and ordinary, authentic and fictional, and as they merge physical and digital media. These are termed the six dimensions of location-based games. location-based games let the player explore the boundaries between these dimensions and the dimensions are related through play. The location-based game acts as a mediator for the meeting between the player and locations through the boundaries between these six dimensions. The motivation of the dissertation is to push the development of and research in location-based games toward actualizing the potential for expanding location-based games’ spatial aspect even further and to contribute with a cohesive framework on location-based games.

This dissertation consists of a review of previous research and existing location-based games, and a theoretical discussion of the elements of location-based games encompassing: 1) Spatiality: space and place, digital space, mediated spaces (physical and digital), locations as play-spaces. 2) Structure: rules, frames, fiction and authenticity, and uncertainty and ambiguity. 3) Interface: Location-aware devices, seams, and objects and players. 4) Player experience: Motivation, mobility, meaning, and finally, a discussion of flow, immersion or incorporation. The combination of these elements is used to conceptualize location-based games.

The theoretical point of departure for the dissertation is Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology of perception and Michael Apter’s theory on motivation (reversal theory). The phenomenology of perception contributes with a framework describing our experiences of being in the world and the creation of meaning. The theory on motivation defines what motivation consists of and how it relates to our actions. This theory has been combined with theories concerning play and play culture, digital media, (digital) games, (optimal) experiences, landscape architecture, everyday practices (related to walking in the city), and the existing theories on location-based games as well as pervasive games.

The methodological approach incorporates design-based research. It combines and aims at improving design, research, and practice concurrently. A design of an location-based game – Visions of Sara – has been created and implemented. It evolved out of the initial observations and participation in three location-based games (DJEEO Education, Land of Possibilities?, and Fruit Farmer), the review of the literature, and relevant theoretical models. After creating Visions of Sara, three more location-based games were played and they are included as part of the empirical data – Ghost Patrol, Spy in the City, and Foursquare. These seven games, interviews, and observations, along with my own experiences both playing and designing are included in the analysis of the relation between locations and location-based game; the ways in which players use them to create meaningful experiences; and of the prerequisites of a meaningful meeting between players and locations.

The dissertation contributes to the field of location-based game research by offering an enhanced understanding of location-based games, and location-based game player experiences, as well as providing an expanded vocabulary describing location-based game elements. In addition, the dissertation provides design knowledge concerning creating location-based games that uses certain emergent opportunities when combining location-aware technologies with game mechanics to make use of the six dimensions of location-based games and to involve the player’s body – i.e. make a meaningful meeting possible.

The practical contribution is my creation of the location-based game Visions of Sara. People continue to play this game in Odense more than two years after its launch, and DJEEO uses it as a showcase, enabling the company to sell similar location-based games.

Please feel free to download, read and distribute the dissertation: Location-based Games: From Screen to Streets

pervasivegames.blogspot.com

New Book: The Language of Gaming

This book examines videogames and gaming from the point of view of discourse analysis. In particular, it studies two major aspects of videogame-related communication: the ways in which videogames and their makers convey meanings to their audiences, and the ways in which gamers, industry professionals, journalists and other stakeholders talk about games. In doing so, the book offers systematic analyses of games as artefacts and activities, and the discourses surrounding them.

By: Astrid Ensslin, Senior Lecturer in Digital Humanities at Bangor University, UK.

Focal areas explored in this book include:

  • aspects of videogame textuality and how games relate to other texts
  • the formation of lexical terms and use of metaphor in the language of gaming
  • gamer slang and ‘buddylects’
  • the construction of game worlds and their rules, of gamer identities and communities
  • dominant discourse patterns among gamers and how they relate to the nature of gaming
  • the multimodal language of games and gaming
  • the ways in which ideologies of race, gender, media effects and language are constructed.

Informed by the very latest scholarship and illustrated with topical examples throughout, The Language of Gaming is ideal for students of applied linguistics, videogame studies and media studies who are seeking a wide-ranging introduction to the field.

You find the book on http://www.palgrave.com/products/title.aspx?PID=363273

Call for Papers: Game Studies National Conference 2012

The Game Studies area of the National Popular Culture Association and the American Culture Association Conference invites proposals for papers, panels and completed papers on games and game studies for the Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association National Conference to be held Wednesday, April 11, through Saturday, April 14, 2012, at the Boston Marriott Copley, Boston, MA.

I. Topics of Interest

The organizers seek proposals and papers covering all aspects of gaming, gaming culture and game studies. Proposals can address any game medium (computer, social, console, tabletop, etc) and all theoretical and methodological approaches are welcome.

Possible topics include but are not limited to:

  • new game mediums and platforms (Facebook, iPhone/iPad/iPod, etc)
  • representation or performance of race, class, gender and sexuality in games
  • gaming culture, game specific cultures, and multicultural and cross-cultural issues
  • game development, design, authorship and other industry issues
  • game advertising, reviews, packaging, promotion, integrated marketing and other commercial concerns
  • political and legal entailments such as regulation, censorship, intellectual property
  • ludology, textual criticism, media ecology, narratology, etc as paradigms for games studies
  • player generated content in MUDs and MMORPGs, Mods, maps and machinima
  • game genres, platforms, consoles, console wars and connections to other media
  • serious games for education, business, healthcare, (military) training, etc
  • space and place in games, play spaces, virtual/physical communities, mobile gaming and localization
  • digital literacy, discourse practices, social norms and norming, the politics of play
  • public discourse/controversy over violence, militarism, sex, criminality, racism, etc in games

II. Submission Process

The Game Studies area of the National Popular Culture Association and the American Culture Association Conference, which began as the Video Games Studies area in 2003, has the most enduring footprint of any North American academic organization that gives serious attention to the social and cultural impact of games and gaming. The area continues to grow and this year offers three avenues for scholars to participate and present their work. Please email all paper and panel proposals to digitalgames.pcaaca(at)gmail.com.

A. Paper Proposals

For individual paper proposal submissions, please submit a 250-word (maximum) abstract by *December 23, 2011*.  At the top of your proposal, please include the title of the paper, your name (and the name of any co-presenters), affiliation, mailing address, and e-mail address. This information will be used in the program and to mail your conference materials. At the end of your abstract, please include a list of 3 to 5 keywords. Submissions may also be made online at http://ncp.pcaaca.org. Detailed instructions for using the online submission system can be found at http://www.pcaaca.org/conference/instructions.php.

B. Panel Proposals

For panel submissions, please submit a 250-word panel abstract, as well as 100-word abstracts for each individual presentation, by December 23, 2011. Be sure to include the proposed title of the panel, the organizer’s name, affiliation, mailing address, and email, as well as this information for all panelists. Panel submissions may take the form of debates, dialogs, roundtable discussions, thematic panels, (or other format,) and should be designed to last approximately eighty minutes. Submissions may also be made online at http://ncp.pcaaca.org.  Detailed instructions for using the online submission system can be found at http://www.pcaaca.org/conference/instructions.php.

C. Completed Papers

In an effort to reward the many promising scholarly offerings evident at this conference, the area will award a Game Studies area Top Paper (for faculty and professional members) and Top Student Paper (for graduate students). To facilitate this, we are requesting complete papers to allow for a blind review process which can be completed in time for the conference itself.  If you are interested in being considered for this award, please submit a 3000 – 4500 word paper by *December 04, 2011*. Complete paper submissions should have a title page with a 250 word (maximum) abstract and 3 to 5 keywords. To facilitate blind review, please ensure there is no author identifying information in the paper or title page. In a separate document, include the title of the paper, your name (and the name of any co-presenters), affiliation, mailing address, and e-mail address. Students should clearly indicate on the title page that the paper is authored solely by a student or students. Those who elect to submit full papers should also consider submitting their work for other awards at the conference as noted below.

III. Information about the Conference

*A.* So that there will be ample time for discussion, each individual paper presentation should be designed to last approximately fifteen minutes (there will be four presentations per session with time for Q&A).

*B.* Technology for use during presentations may be limited. More information about the conference can be found at http://www.pcaaca.org/**

*C.* Please also note that presenters will be required to join either the Popular Culture Association or the American Culture Association prior to attending the conference, as well as pay a registration fee for the conference. Information about these fees can be found at http://www.pcaaca.org/conference/membership_registration.php.

IV. Contact Information

http://www.pcaaca.org/