Sea SEARCH

CFP: THE 5TH ANNUAL CHINESE DIGRA

CONFERENCE
Chinese DiGRA is excited to announce the fifth annual conference to be held at the
CityU Shenzhen Research Institute from the 7th to the 9th of September 2018.
Conference themes We invite submissions on any aspect of Chinese games, game
industries, game … Continue reading →

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F EAT UR E D

DIGRA CALL FOR

OMBUDSPERSONS
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

Posted in Association News | Tagged Featured

F EAT UR E D

DIGRA CALL FOR CONFERENCE

HOSTS
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).
Posted in Association News, Conferences and Seminars, frontpagebanner | Tagged Featured

POSTDOCTORAL POSITION IN GAMES, NORTHEASTERN

UNIVERSITY
Posted on June 26, 2019 by Jessica 'jynnie' Tang

Description
They are seeking one or two Post Doctoral Research Associates (Post Docs) to join our fast-growing game
research group. The research position involves assisting in developing games for impact, empirical studies
using quantitative and qualitative data, and writing research papers on the main topic of gaming and decision
making. Additional responsibilities include grant proposal preparation, lab management, and supervision of
graduate and undergraduate students.

Playing games is about making decisions. The Post Doc will be involved in advancing the use of games as a
research environment to study how people make decisions as well as to improve their decisions and develop
tools to assist in this. We also find it of great importance to educate the next generation of problem solvers
and, therefore, a significant amount of our work is dedicated toward improving existing education. We are
currently pursuing these topics across a dozen projects: from a crowdsourcing game where players can
participate in and create social experiments (httsp://studycrafter.com) to the development of a curriculum
where students create games about climate change. A complete list of projects can be viewed at
http://www.northeastern.edu/casperharteveld.

The work will be performed under the guidance of Dr. Casper Harteveld, an Associate Professor of Game
Design. As most projects will involve collaborations with faculty from across Northeastern University
(Computer Science, Engineering, School of Law, School of Public Policy, and Marine Science Center), the
Post Doc will experience a wide variety of interactions with researchers and students.
Qualifications
They seek candidates who have a PhD in Computer Science, Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Cognitive
Science, Learning Science, Management Science, Industrial Engineering or related areas. A successful
candidate will have an interdisciplinary background and an interest in games for impact. Although they will
consider a wide range of candidates, we welcome candidates with strong technical expertise in empirical
research (quantitative preferred) or in machine learning/data science. Candidates should ideally also have
experience with game design, in particular using game engines such as Unity.
Details
Deadline: July 1st; applications after will be considered
Start date: Very flexible but looking at Sept 1, 2019
Funding is for one year, renewal contingent on performance and funding

To apply
https://neu.peopleadmin.com/postings/62022
Posted in PhD Positions

CFP: BCI FOR (MEDIA) ART AND GAMES, AALBORG

Posted on June 26, 2019 by Jessica 'jynnie' Tang

Brain-computer interfaces (BCI) have been used for entertainment, gaming, and artistic expression. These
application areas for BCI have been explored in the previous decades. Although commercial applications
hardly exist, the general public has been able to get acquainted with BCI and use BCI in artistic installations
in urban public spaces, in museums, or during public scientific events. There are also BCI games. Such
games can serve different purposes: entertainment (just fun), treatment of mental disorders, or rehabilitation.
Affordable BCI devices and BCI software platforms have made it possible for artists and game designers to
develop ideas and design installations and applications that do not require them to invest extensive and
frustrating time in getting a BCI to work or tuning it to their application. Whether it is about games or artistic
BCI installations, multiple users are often involved, and there is direct two-sided interaction between the
user(s) and the BCI controlled environment. Moreover, in contrast to clinical BCI research, efficiency and
robustness are not the most important issues.

The aim of this workshop is to review current (research) activities in BCIs for games, entertainment, and
artistic expression and to identify research areas that are of interest for both BCI and HCI researchers as well
as for game designers and media artists using BCI for their interactive installations. Hence, in addition to BCI
researchers, game designers, artists, and performers are asked to contribute to this workshop with papers,
presentations, and demonstrations.

Topics of the submissions may include, but are not limited to:

Design, implementation, and evaluation of BCI games and artistic BCIs;

Affective BCI in game, art and entertainment environments
BCI, Augmented and Virtual Reality, serious games;
The impact of BCI Hackathons on research and applications;
Multi-brain and multimodal interaction in game and artistic environments;
BCI environments for self-reflection, empathizing, and therapy;
BCI control of instruments and tools for games and artistic expression; and
Agency in BCI games and interactive art installations

Publication

All registered papers will be published by Springer and made available through SpringerLink Digital Library.

ArtsIT proceedings are indexed in leading indexing services, including Ei Compendex, ISI Web of Science,
Scopus, CrossRef, Google Scholar, DBLP, as well as EAI’s own EU Digital Library (EUDL).

Submission
Papers should be from 6 to 9 pages long and submitted via the Confy submission system. See:
http://artsit.org/

Deadlines

Submission Deadline: 10 August 2019

Notification Deadline: 10 September 2019
Camera-ready Deadline: 10 October 2019

Posted in Call for Papers, Conferences and Seminars

CFP: GAMIFIN 2020

Posted on June 26, 2019 by Jessica 'jynnie' Tang

Conference website: http://gamifinconference.com/

Full CFP: http://gamifinconference.com/cfp2020/

=== IMPORTANT DATES

- October 20, 2019: Submissions deadline for papers
- December 20, 2019: Notifications of acceptance sent to authors of papers
- January 15, 2020: Submissions deadline for posters and doctoral consortium
- January 31, 2020: Acceptance for posters and doctoral consortium entries
- February 28, 2020: Registration deadline for authors
- March 8, 2020: Deadline for camera-ready
- April 1-3, 2020: Conference

=== THEMES
Gamification is a multi-faceted phenomenon that affects many domains of
human life. Therefore, they welcome submissions related to this ludic
transformation of reality under several domains and related (but not
limited) to the following keywords:

- Users: e.g. Engagement, experience, user types

- Education: e.g. Gamification in education, serious games, game-based
learning, games & math
- Media: e.g. Esports, streaming, social media and gamification,
gamification in journalism & media
- Commerce: e.g. Business models, free-to-play, gambling, gamification in
marketing/advergaming
- Work: e.g. Organizational gamification, gameful work, gamification in
leadership
- Technology: e.g. Virtual reality, augmented reality, Internet of things,
wearables, AI, machine learning
- Toys & play: e.g. Toy play, toy design/creation, toys in education,
internet of toys, toyfication
- Health: e.g. Quantified self, games & gamification for health
- Culture: e.g. Ludification, history of games and gamification,
gamification in society
- Theories/concepts/methods: Contributions to science around gamification
- Critical approach to gamification: e.g. detrimental effects of
gamification, metrification, aspects of poor quality of gamification and
gamification research, extrinsic control, panopticon society

=== GENERAL INFORMATION

4th Annual International GamiFIN conference, April 1-3, 2020, Levi, Lapland,
Finland!

Welcome to the gathering of international gamification research community in

the Finnish Lapland, Levi. Levi is a ski resort located in Finnish Lapland,
above the Arctic Circle and features incredible Finnish scenery, nature and
winter activities. They hope all of their guests take the time to enjoy the
surroundings and activities provided by this unique and exotic location.
Organized winter activities before and/or after the main conference days
will be announced later.

GamiFIN is a leading international conference for gamification research. The

conference is chaired by the professor of gamification Juho Hamari and
gamification scholar Jonna Koivisto. The conference is organized by the
Gamification Group and past keynotes have included notable scholars from the
field of Gamification such as Lennart Nacke, Frans Mäyrä, Sebastian
Deterding, Richard Landers and T.L. Taylor. Keynotes of GamiFIN 2020 will be
announced later.

GamiFIN 2020 conference welcomes 1) paper, 2) poster, and 3) doctoral

consortium paper submissions.

The GamiFIN conference will offer an entry to the Gamification Publication

Track (http://gamifinconference.com/gamification-track/). The gamification
publication track is a one of a kind, “gamified” way to develop your
research paper through GamiFIN conference, HICSS Gamification Track and
toward the eventual publication in an associated journal issue. The aim of
the gamification publication track is to increase the predictability and
rigorousness of the peer-review and publication processes by providing a
concise review continuum and discussion with peers.

=== PROCEEDINGS, PUBLICATIONS & PRESENTATIONS

Accepted papers will be sent for consideration for publication in CEUR
Workshop Proceedings in the GamiFIN Conference volume. CEUR-WS.org is a free
open-access publication service and recognized ISSN publication series, ISSN
1613-0073. (In the Finnish classification of publication forums,
CEUR-WS-proceedings are classified as JUFO1).

=== SUPPORTED AND HOSTED BY

Gamification Group, Tampere University, University of Turku and University
Consortium of Pori (UCPori)

=== CONTACT
Email: info@gamifinconference.com
Website: http://gamifinconference.com/

Posted in Call for Papers, Conferences and Seminars

CFP: THE AESTHETICS OF COMPUTER GAMES

Posted on June 7, 2019 by Jessica 'jynnie' Tang

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.
Posted in Call for Papers, Conferences and Seminars

CFP: ZIP-SCENE CONFERENCE

Posted on June 7, 2019 by Jessica 'jynnie' Tang

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.

Posted in Call for Papers, Conferences and Seminars

CFP: VJ 2019 11TH CONFERENCE ON VIDEOGAME SCIENCES

AND ARTS
Posted on June 7, 2019 by Jessica 'jynnie' Tang

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
Posted in Call for Papers, Conferences and Seminars

JOB: POSITIONS ON CHARACTER ANIMATION, CROWD

SIMULATION, INTERACTIONS AND AVATARS IN VR
Posted on June 7, 2019 by Jessica 'jynnie' Tang

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

Posted in Job Announcements

BOOK: APPROACHES TO VIDEOGAME DISCOURSE

Posted on June 7, 2019 by Jessica 'jynnie' Tang

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

Posted in Book Announcements

G|A|M|E – CALL FOR PAPERS N.8 – ‘WOULD YOU KINDLY?’
Posted on June 7, 2019 by Jessica 'jynnie' Tang

‘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)

Posted in Call for Papers, Journal Issues

TWO SUMMER SCHOOLS ON GAME RESEARCH AND DESIGN

AT UTRECHT UNIVERSITY (AUGUST 2019)
Posted on June 7, 2019 by Jessica 'jynnie' Tang
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.

Posted in Summer Schools

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