[ecrea] CFP:The philosophy of Computer Games Conference- Athens 6/9 April 2011, Greece

> Call for Papers We hereby invite scholars in any 
> field of studies who take a professional 
> interest in the phenomenon of computer games to 
> submit papers to the international conference 
> "The Philosophy of Computer Games 2011", to be 
> held in Athens, Greece, on April 6th-9th 2011. 
> Accepted papers will have a clear focus on 
> philosophy and philosophical issues in relation 
> to computer games. They will also attempt to use 
> specific examples rather than merely invoke 
> "computer games" in general terms. The 
> over-arching theme of the conference is Player 
> Identity. Papers are encouraged to explore one 
> of the following topics and invited speakers 
> will focus on this area. On the other hand, this 
> is not the sole domain the conference will cover 
> and submissions dealing with other relevant 
> aspects of game philosophy are also welcome. 
> Player-Avatar Identity In describing gameplay 
> there seems to be a presumed identity-relation 
> between the player and her avatar. What an 
> avatar does can be taken to be what the player 
> does, and what happens to the avatar can be 
> taken to happen to the player. This presumption 
> even makes it possible for a player to point to 
> her avatar and claim â??that is meâ??. What is 
> the nature of the reported identity-relation 
> between player and avatar either as a cognitive 
> relation (such as the construction of oneâ??s 
> self-image and projected intentionality), as a 
> form of embodiment or as a metaphysical relation 
> capable of directly extending personal identity 
> to the avatar? Identity and Conceptions of the 
> Self Modern philosophy offers various models and 
> critiques of the self (and the 'other') through 
> the work of Descartes, Husserl, Wittgenstein 
> etc. Computer games - explicitly as well as 
> implicitly - adopt these models and offer 
> interactive representations of self-models that 
> can be acted out and thereby evaluated. What are 
> the affinities between such philosophical models 
> of the self and the structural elements of 
> computer games? Do the models express or 
> contradict the structures? Identity and 
> Immersion Issues of identity in virtual 
> environments, and consequently in digital games, 
> have been discussed primarily from the 
> perspective of the opportunities for formation, 
> experimentation and expression of social 
> identity. These discussions importantly 
> highlight the role that games play in re-writing 
> identity through digital gameplay. The focus 
> here is on the presentation of self to others in 
> a virtual environment. This addresses one aspect 
> of immersion, namely the increased sense of 
> inhabiting the environment by virtue of others 
> being aware of the player within the 
> environment. We invite papers on a second, 
> equally important aspect of 
> immersion-as-habitation: the effect that this 
> sense of habitation of virtual environments has 
> on the self. What is the influence on player 
> identity of absorbing into consciousness a 
> game-world and its inhabitants? Identity, 
> Artifacts and Memory Recent philosophical (and 
> technological) studies of ontologies for digital 
> documentation and archiving practices connected 
> with the coding and verification of personal, 
> collective, artefactual and other cultural 
> identities make it of pressing interest to 
> examine the role of gameplay activities and 
> digital artefacts that represent new forms of 
> cultural capital. These can be viewed as traces 
> of an ongoing narrative construction of 
> individual and collective memories and 
> identities deposited in game worlds. How is the 
> construction, during gameplay, of individual and 
> collective gameplay identities, memories and 
> forms of gaming capital, related to eventual 
> digital artefacts that derive from such 
> activities? Your abstract should not exceed 1000 
> words including bibliography. If your submission 
> falls under one of the four headings, please 
> indicate which one. Deadline for submissions is 
> 17.00 GMT, February 1st, 2011. Send your 
> abstract to (submissions /at/ gamephilosophy.org). All 
> submitted abstracts will be subject to double 
> blind peer review, and the program committee 
> will make a final selection of papers for the 
> conference on the basis of this. A full paper 
> draft must then be submitted by March 31st and 
> will be made available on the conference 
> website. There will be an opportunity to revise 
> the paper after the conference. Notification of 
> accepted submissions will be sent out by March 
> 1st, 2011. Gordon Calleja John Richard Sageng 
> Patrick Coppock Seth Giddings Stephan Günzel 
> Ian Bogost Anita Leirfall  http.//2011.gamephilosophy.orgÂ

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Nico Carpentier (Phd)
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Vrije Universiteit Brussel - Free University of Brussels
Centre for Studies on Media and Culture (CeMeSO)
Pleinlaan 2 - B-1050 Brussels - Belgium
T: ++ 32 (0)2-629.18.56
F: ++ 32 (0)2-629.36.84
Office: 5B.401a
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European Communication Research and Education Association
Web: http://www.ecrea.eu
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E-mail: (Nico.Carpentier /at/ vub.ac.be)
Web: http://homepages.vub.ac.be/~ncarpent/
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