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VR, Immersion and Narrative event at University of Glasgow

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/immaterial-vr-immersion-and-narrative-tickets-72369351679

IM/MATERIAL EVENT #3: VR, IMMERSION, AND NARRATIVE

4 October 2019, 14:00-17:00

Sir Alwyn Williams Building, University of Glasgow

Video games have long been used to tell stories, and the medium offers unique affordances for doing so. From the emergent narratives of titles such as Journey (thatgamecompany, 2012) and No Man’s Sky (Hello Games, 2016) to the meticulously crafted stories of Firewatch (Campo Santo, 2016) and What Remains of Edith Finch (Giant Sparrow, 2017), games are often said to offer immersive and interactive storytelling opportunities. However, games also present unique challenges for storytellers, challenges that relate to these very same properties.

Players, fully immersed in a game world with which they may interact at will, are empowered to wrest authorial control from the game’s designers and writers. The author of a novel may assume that the reader will encounter the story in the order intended, but this is not the case in a game where the player may explore the world at will. The director of a film may frame a camera shot to ensure that key narrative beats are granted the necessary on-screen prominence, but this is not a given where the player enjoys control over the in-game camera.

PlayStation London Studio’s Blood & Truth

For VR games, many of these issues are exacerbated, and further challenges and concerns begin to emerge. How immersive an experience can a VR game offer if the player character’s movement is limited to teleporting from one spot to another? Does current-generation hardware offer sufficient fidelity when it comes to interacting with the game world? Should we be concerned about the accessibility of VR, particularly as the technology begins to be used more widely in education?

These are some of the questions we aim to tackle here.

SPEAKERS

Jon King (Sony, London Studio – Blood & Truth)

Rhoda Ellis (University of Dundee)

Chris McLaughlin (Moon Mode)

Mal Abbas (Biome Collective)

MODERATOR

Matthew Barr (University of Glasgow, British DiGRA)

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/immaterial-vr-immersion-and-narrative-tickets-72369351679

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Ludic Literature: The Converging Interests of Writing, Games and Play

University of Glasgow: 16th-17th July

ludicliterature.blog

It is our pleasure to invite your paper submissions to Ludic Literature: The Converging Interests of Writing, Games and Play. The two-day symposium is funded by the Scottish Graduate School of the Arts and Humanities (SGSAH) and will be held at the University of Glasgow on the 16th-17th of July.

Ludic Literature’s purpose is to collide perspectives from contemporary literary writers and theorists; game studies theorists and video game developers to explore the essentially ludic element of constructing texts, be they games, literary productions or other works of art. By exposing the often-hidden process of textual construction, the conference seeks to present the playfulness at the heart of producing meaning-making texts. As such, we wish to bring those who create and interpret these texts together, giving equal voice to academic and industry concerns to enable cross-institutional collaborations and partnerships that blur the boundaries of writing, games and play. To begin the conversation, day one provides a selection of academic papers, finishing with a roundtable discussion between writers and game developers on the converging interests of their work. These interactions will inspire day two’s event: A ‘literature’ jam where an assetless video game – provided in collaboration with Abertay, Edinburgh and Glasgow universities – will be transformed into experimental video games by the symposium’s participants using assets provided by the organising committee. We welcome ten-minute papers that are encouraged to approach, but are not limited to, the following topics:

– Analysis of literary games or ludic literature

– Intersectionality through the converging interests of writing, games and play

– The playful nature of semiotic choices in video game and literary textual construction

– Methods for reckoning with subversive literary and video game textual choices

– Methods for analysing ‘shifting’ texts or textual practices (early access video games, public textual editing)

– The (dis)similarities between textual creation in video game and literary forms

– The (dis)similarities between indie/AAA game development and writing

– Uncovering the processes and cultures of writing and game development for qualitative analysis

– Accounts and critiques of literary and video game collaborations

– The ontological and phenomenological implications for literary and video game textual creation when figured as play

– Presentations of creative works invested in the converging interests of writing, games and play

Guide for submissions

Please submit a 100 word abstract detailing the subject of your paper and a 50 word bio to ludicliterature@gmail.com (please submit as one word document and not as a PDF).

Deadline for submissions: July 5th 2019

Attendance

If you would like to attend Ludic Literature, please confirm your interest by following the link: https://ludicliterature.eventbrite.co.uk  and downloading or printing your ticket. Attendance is free and there are provisions for SGSAH affiliated postgraduate students to reimburse their travel expenses.

For enquiries regarding the programme, please contact ludicliterature@gmail.com and visit ludicliterature.blog for more details.

Organising Committee

Alexander Tarvet (Abertay University)

Francis Butterworth-Parr (University of Glasgow)

Zack Abrams (University of Edinburgh)

We look forward to seeing you at Ludic Literature.

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We are sorry to announce that we will be cancelling this year’s DiGRA UK

Dear all,

We are sorry to announce that we will be cancelling this year’s DiGRA UK.

The organising team thought hard about this decision, but we simply did not receive enough submissions to make the conference viable. We suspect that this is due to a number of reasons, including the extremely high level of excellent conferences also available around this time (which we very much encourage you to attend and enjoy). Should we host this event again, we may consider a different time of year as a viable option.

If you have bought a ticket, we will be refunding these via EventBrite. Please contact Alan O’Dea at alan.odea@staffs.ac.uk with any queries.

 

With regret, the DiGRA UK team.

 

Esther MacCallum-Stewart. Chair, British DiGRA.

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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.

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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.

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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
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Call for Papers – British Digra 2019 – 6 -7 June 2019 – Staffordshire University, Stoke on Trent

Call for Papers – British DiGRA 2019

 

The third annual conference of British DiGRA.

6 -7 June 2019

Staffordshire University, Stoke on Trent

 

The Diverging Game Mix.

 

We welcome submissions that move beyond digital gaming, for example submissions relating to boardgames, LARP, pervasive games or other forms of analog gaming.

As with last year, we actively encourage early scholars and PhD candidates, and wish to programme our conference to provide a welcoming environment for newer voices as well as those more established.

Once again, our theme playfully engages with that of DiGRA 2019, aiming to present a counter perspective to the work being discussed there. We may even get some sets of giant Ludo in!

Submissions should consider, but not be restricted to, the following topics in this light:

  • Revisiting Games as Inter/Multidisciplinary subject
  • Gaming as Media
  • Representation in Games
  • Licensed and Franchised Games
  • Playfulness and the Medium of Games
  • Design as practice
  • Pedagogy and gaming
  • Game design/development/theory
  • Casual Games
  • Changes in gaming culture
  • Spectatorship and play
  • Esports theory
  • Underrepresented Games and Audiences
  • Close readings and ‘well played’ games.

We welcome the following submission types:

Full papers, of 5000 – 7000 words, to be presented as papers in a panel session.

A template for full papers is available here: https://www.overleaf.com/latex/templates/digra-template-2018/fdtmqscfgzpc

(with thanks to Mirjam Palosaari Eladhari, Adam Summerville and Mark Nelson for this resource)

Abstracts of 500 words, to be presented in a series of quickfire round table sessions.

Please follow the relevant areas of the template, including Abstract, Keywords and References.

Workshops to last approx half a day – to be submitted as precis of approx 500 – 1000 words underlining core objectives and aims.

Discussion panels – to be submitted as precis of approx 500 – 1000 words underlining core objectives and aims.

Paper Paramedic and Mentorship. Following on from the very successful sessions last year, we will be offering a paper paramedic session to contributors whose work we believe is not quite ready for submission. We encourage everyone to submit work, irrespective of academic level.

 

We are looking for reviewers! Contact us before we contact you! 😉

 

Please submit work to BritishDigra@gmail.com by 22nd April 2019. Papers and abstracts should be anonymised, but please make sure you identify yourself in the e-mail so that we can respond when the paper has been reviewed.

 

Notification of acceptance of papers 10th May 2019

 

Selected proceedings may be published in a special edition of ToDiGRA, in second quarter 2020.

 

We have decided to charge a small attendance fee of £30 and £15 for students  to cover costs. Volunteers may attend for free. Any surplus funding will be carried over to future BDiGRA events.

An Eventbrite with booking details will be forthcoming.

All attendees are expected to abide by the BDiGRA Inclusivity Policy:

 

http://bdigra.org.uk/inclusivity-policy

 

Ying-Ying Law

Esther MacCallum-Stewart

Alan O’Dea

Nia Wearn

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Call for Papers – Last Symposium Standing: Interdisciplinary Symposium on Survival Media

Last Symposium Standing: Interdisciplinary Symposium on Survival Media

April 30 @ 9:30 am – 5:30 pm

Since the early 2000s, a wide range of ‘survival’ media has been created, watched, played and explored. Alongside the rise in the production of survival media, this popularity is also evidenced by the prevalence of survival narratives in more traditionally established genres such as horror, disaster and thrillers. From reality TV shows like ‘Survivor’ to video games such as The Long Dark, from advertising to films such as ‘Trapped’ and ‘127 Hours’, this symposium explores what can be learnt from examining these narratives which foreground human survival. What does the popularity of survival narratives in contemporary media tell us about the realities and concerns of individual and collective survival across the world? Positioning survival media as a 21st century global phenomenon, how can we understand the challenges of our survival in the contemporary world such as climate change by exploring the landscapes and terrains imagined by survival media?

This symposium aims to engage with these questions and bring together all who are who working on survival media across the disciplines. Inviting works on survival films, reality and fictional television, literature, video games, advertising, all work will be shared in a day-long event on April 30th 2019 hosted by the Department of Film Studies, University of St Andrews. We invite conference-style papers of 20 minutes, more informal 5 minute interventions and debates, and other more experimental presentations of both academic and practice-based work. There will also be a survival media-themed activity followed by a plenary Q&A. The symposium is designed to facilitate discussion on this engaging topic, aid inter-disciplinary PG networking and provoke new questions on the notion of ‘survival’. ​

We invite papers (short and long) and other presentations of work on the following topics, and others:

Spaces of survival and world creation​

Narratives of survival​

Transnational media and survival​

Survival as an inter-disciplinary topic​

Aesthetics of survival​

Transmedial survival​

Politics and ideology of survival​

The ‘surviving’ body​

Gender and identity in survival​

Proposals of no more than 250 words and a 50 word bio should be sent no later than February 15th 2019 to: ​

Cassice Last- cl225@st-andrews.ac.uk​

Shruti Narayanswamy- sn52@st-andrews.ac.uk ​

There are a few travel bursaries available for PG students and ECRs which will be assigned by a lottery system. 

This symposium is brought to you with financial support from the St Leonard’s Doctoral and Postgraduate College Community Fund, the University of St Andrews CAPOD GRADskills Innovation Grant / PG Conference Fund and the BAFTSS Event Grant Scheme.​

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Call for papers: Beyond the Console: Gender and Narrative Games

Beyond the Console: Gender and Narrative Games

8 / 9 February 2019, at the V&A and London South Bank University, UK

Call for Papers

The conference invites submissions from a broad range of disciplines, and is particularly interested in fostering links between research scholarship, game making, and curation. We are interested in paper proposals (including theoretical and methodological proposals, comparative studies, and case studies), as well as creative research demonstrations from scholars, art practitioners, curators and gamemakers. Possible areas for consideration might include, but are not limited to:

· ‘The personal game’: subjectivity and game authorship
· Gender (re-)activism: social media, authoring tools, crowdsourcing
· Language, gender, programming: translation, procedural narratives
· Gender through immersive live action role play (LARP) games
· Gender in interactive performance
· Radical reappraisals of game genres
· The state of ontological play: who plays who, what, where and how

The conference will include a live keynote game by Porpentine, introduced and chaired by Emily Short, hosted by the V&A Museum. The keynote speaker is the interactive artist and scholar Hannah Wood.

Proposals

Proposals (20 minute length for papers; 10 minutes for demonstrations and provocations) should include a title, an abstract of max. 300 words, and a brief biography.

The proposal deadline is 26 November 2018.
Please address proposals to: digitalstorymakingresearch@gmail.com

Conference Organiser: Dr Karlien van den Beukel, Arts and Creative Industries, London South Bank University

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