CFP – PLAYPAUSE SYMPOSIUM 2019: IMMERSION|DISSONANCE

PLAYPAUSE are excited to announce our second symposium, Immersion|Dissonance which will be taking place at the University of Birmingham on Wednesday 22nd May 2019. See below for information about the conference and this year’s call for papers.

PLAYPAUSE 2019 SYMPOSIUM – Wednesday 22nd May 2019, University of Birmingham, B15 2TT.

CFP – PLAYPAUSE SYMPOSIUM 2019: Immersion|Dissonance

For our second annual symposium, PLAY/PAUSE is looking for papers that interrogate the continuum between immersion and dissonance within videogames and virtual reality. We therefore welcome papers from any disciplinary background that relate to (but are not limited to) the following topics:

  • New immersive media (Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality)
  • Embodiment and virtual environments
  • Glitches and breaking immersion
  • Flow and gaming expertise
  • Identification and social gaming
  • Constructed authenticity
  • Queerness and the player body
  • Detail, labour and the ‘crunch’
  • Boredom and negative affects

Abstracts of no more than 250 words, along with a bibliography and short bio, should be sent to playpauseuob@gmail.com by Friday 15th March 2019. We particularly welcome proposals from PGRs and early career researchers.

LANCASTER VIDEOGAME STUDIES – Call For Papers 2019

LANCASTER VIDEOGAME STUDIES

A Postgraduate Videogame Research Group

Call For Papers 2019

We are inviting papers of 20 minutes in length on any topic related to videogames and we particularly invite interdisciplinary responses. We accept proposed group panels of 3 people. Possible foci for papers may include but are in no way limited to:

  • Interactions between Videogames and other forms of media (e.g. film adaptations, interactive television such as Black Mirror: Bandersnatch (2018), and multi-media franchises such as Marvel and Harry Potter).
  • Ramifications and ongoing growth of choice-based play (e.g. alternate endings and cross-game ramifications).
  • The recent surge in revived, rebooted and remade videogames (e.g. God of War (2018), Shadow of the Colossus(2018) and Spyro Reignited Trilogy (2018)).
  • The creation of increasingly larger and more complex game worlds.
  • Influences of literary and cinematic movements and modes on gaming (e.g. the Gothic, Horror, Film Noir, etc).
  • Representation of minorities within videogames (e.g. the growth of both female and non-white protagonists, and the choice of non-hetero romance options in some games)
  • Presentism within portrayals of historical periods (e.g. the Red Dead Redemption, Assassin’s Creed and Call of Duty franchises).
  • Non-linear or non-traditional narrative styles (e.g. the Dark SoulsTrilogy)

For more details go to their website

Please submit a title, 200-word abstract and a 50-word bionote in a single document for consideration by the 30th April 2019 to lancastergamestudies@gmail.com. Group panels please submit as one document containing all titles, abstracts, and bionotes as well as a proposed title for your panel.

Keep up with the news about the study day by following @lu_gamestudies and remember to use #LU_nextgen19 in your tweets.

British Digra 2019 Tickets are Live

The Eventbrite for bDigra2019 is now live – https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/british-digra-conference-2019-tickets-57972642735

The 2019 Conference is again being hosted at Staffordshire University, on the College Rd Campus in sunny Stoke-on-Trent, UK. The campus is incredibly close to the Stoke-on-Trent train station.

Here’s the university’s suggested list of accommodation, but there are B&Bs and AirBNB’s around the place too.

Hotel Address and Contact Telephone Number Proximity to the University
Best Western Plus, Moat House, Stoke on Trent Etruria Hall, Festival Way, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, ST1 5BQ. 0870 225 4601 2.4 miles – Approx 10 minutes’ drive
Holiday Inn, Stoke on Trent  Clayton Road, Newcastle Under Lyme, ST5 4DL. 0871 942 9077 4.2 miles – Approx 15 minutes’ drive
Holiday Inn Express, Stoke on Trent  Stanley Matthews Way, Trentham Lakes, Stoke-on-Trent, ST4 4EG. 3.3 miles – Approx 10 minutes’ drive
North Stafford Hotel Winton Square, Station Road, Stoke-on-Trent, ST4 2AE. 0871 222 0097 0.4 miles – Approx 3-5 minutes’ walk
Premiere Inn, Trentham Gardens  Stone Road, Stoke-on-Trent, ST4 8JG. 0871 527 9050 4.4 miles – Approx 16 minutes’ drive
Quality Hotel, Hanley  66 Trinity Street, Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, ST1 5NB. 01782 202 361 2.1 miles – Approx 8 minutes’ drive
Premiere Inn, Hanley Etruria Road, Hanley, ST1 5NH. 0871 527 9476 1.9 miles – Approx 10 minutes’ drive