Videogame Cultures

Videogame Cultures 8th Global Meeting Call for Presentations 2016 Monday 5th September – Wednesday 7th September 2016 Mansfield College, Oxford, United Kingdom This year's Videogame Cultures will explore various ways in which videogame culture and genres develop within the framework of five thematic tracks. As the videogame development and videogame cultures are highly complex and variant phenomenon, this often leads to the overlap of the issues across themes, so we are inviting participants of all backgrounds (academic, developer, producer, player, fan etc.) to submit their proposals. The potential participants are encouraged to think broadly within and across thematic tracks; the submissions shall address topics and questions such as (though not limited to) those listed further: 1) Gameplay Ethics: Principles of Ethical Game Design. Ethics of Experience. Role of Agency. Games as Empowerment. Modes of limited/guided/free choice to act. Ethical Fun. 2) Gender and Gameplay: How are changing the players demographics? Love (Romance) Sex in Videogames. Socializing and gender inequality (sexual harassment) in the virtual gaming environments. Case Studies (Gamer Gate; Post-Rapelay Design in Japan; Dead or Alive Xtreme3). 3) Affective Turn in Games Studies: How is the affective turn reflected in computer game studies and videogame design? What's the role of affect and emotion in the experience of play and how computer game design implements emotion (or fails to do so)? 4) Games for Virtual Reality: Games with meaning. Social Impact Simulations. 2016 has been expected as a year zero in the implementation of virtual reality technology for gaming. HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, Sony Playstation VR and other VR hardware is about to hit the market this season, but game developers and experience designers have been developing new forms of gameplay already for many years. How will virtual reality change the principles of current gameplay? What is the future of immersion and embodiment? 5) Gamification/Ludification: Studying the models of gameplay have become influential trend beyond videogame studies. Playful elements and functional models are built in many applications even in economics or social sciences. We would like to explore how playful elements have changed the interaction between the user and serious applications. Other topics related to above mentioned areas include: Videogames and Gaming: – Theories and Concepts of Gaming. Empowerement. – Videogames beyond Entertainment, Convergence Culture – Space of Videogames. – Multidisciplinary Approaches to Videogame Analysis. Designer´s Perspective: – (R)evolutionary Game Design – How to overcome a dictate of fun – Music and Sound Design for Games – Post-mortems Videogame Cultures: – Usage Trends and Emerging Practices in Online and Offline Gaming. – Games as Cultural Artefacts. – Pervasive Gaming. – Studying Fan Cultures. Stardom of Fanboy. What means Fun. Subsequently we encourage submission of proposals for short workshops, practitioner-based activities, best practice showcases, how-to sessions, live demonstrations, performances, and pre-formed panels. We particularly welcome short film screenings; photographic essays; installations; interactive talks and alternative presentation styles that encourage engagement. Further details can be found at our conference website: http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/critical-issues/cyber/videogame-cultures-the-future-of-interactive-entertainment/call-for-papers/ Details about our review policy can be found here: http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/critical-issues/cyber/videogame-cultures-the-future-of-interactive-entertainment/call-for-papers/details/ Call for Cross-Over Presentations The Videogames project will be meeting at the same time as projects on Fashion, The Patient and another project on (in)Security. We welcome submissions which cross the divide between both project areas. If you would like to be considered for a cross project session, please mark your submission "Crossover Submission". What to Send: 300 word abstracts, proposals and other forms of contribution should be submitted by Friday 22nd April 2016. All submissions will be minimally double reviewed, under anonymous (blind) conditions, by a global panel drawn from members of the Project Team and the Advisory Board. In practice our procedures usually entail that by the time a proposal is accepted, it will have been triple and quadruple reviewed. You will be notified of the panel's decision by Friday 6th May 2016. If your submission is accepted for the conference, a full draft of your contribution should be submitted by Friday 5th August 2016. Abstracts may be in Word, RTF or Notepad formats with the following information and in this order: a) author(s), b) affiliation as you would like it to appear in programme, c) email address, d) title of proposal, e) body of proposal, f) up to 10 keywords. Two versions are required: 1) One version with no author identification, and 2) the other version with the following information and in this order: E-mails should be entitled: Videogames Abstract Submission Organising Chairs: Daniel Riha: rihad@inter-disciplinary.net Rob Fisher: vg8@inter-disciplinary.net This event is an inclusive interdisciplinary research and publishing project. It aims to bring together people from different areas and interests to share ideas and explore various discussions which are innovative and exciting. A number of eBooks and paperback books have been published or are in press as a result of the work of the Cyber collectyion of events. All papers accepted for and presented at the conference must be in English and will be eligible for publication in an ISBN eBook. Selected papers may be developed for publication in a themed hard copy volume(s). All publications from the conference will require editors, to be chosen from interested delegates from the conference. Ethos Inter-Disciplinary.Net believes it is a mark of personal courtesy and professional respect to your colleagues that all delegates should attend for the full duration of the meeting. If you are unable to make this commitment, please do not submit an abstract for presentation. Please note: Inter-Disciplinary.Net is a not-for-profit network and we are not in a position to be able to assist with conference travel or subsistence.