Under the Mask: Perspectives on the Gamer Conference
Friday 3rd June 2011
Research Institute for Media, Art and Design
University of Bedfordshire
Luton Campus, Park Square
Luton
Bedfordshire, UK
Without the gamer, games do not exist. As
Galloway reminds the reader, games are simply
rules waiting to be enacted by the player. This
conference aims to address the issues that
surround the player of digital games as
contributor, consumer and propagator of their
culture, not only through presentation and
discussion, but also through actively engaging with games and their users.
Topics include:
? What takes place between player and screen?
? How does the control interface and game content shape player behaviour?
? What consequences are there to the increasing
surveillance of players within online games?
? What role does gender assume in game culture and community?
? Are there consequences of play for gamers,
psychologically, socially and culturally?
? The impact of gamer culture on traditional
institutions, such as government, NGOs, commercial and statutory
institutions.
Also of interest is the notion of the fan in
games: fiction, art, walkthroughs, and game
interpretations - what do these communities have
to say on the place of the user within their communal/cultural hierarchy?
Call for papers:
? New methodologies or adapted methodologies for studying the player;
? Case studies of gamers interacting with novel control interfaces;;
? Case studies of users in social settings;
? Case studies of social networking and alternate reality gaming;
? Case studies of the relationship between gender and games;
? Case studies of gamers in competitive/professional settings;
? Case studies of government, NGO and mainstream institutional gaming;
? Methodologies relating to Psychoanalysis and Analytical Psychology;
? Genre and its relation to player performance;
? The role of professional, casual and social gaming within game culture and
? Presentations/Analyses of fan fiction and fan art.
Topics may include: sport simulations, MMOGs,
first-person shooters, performance games (Dance,
Dance Revolution, Guitar Hero etc), mobile
games, novel interfaces, sociological
methodologies (adapted and new), audience
reception, gender studies,
psychoanalysis/analytical psychology,
behavioural case studies, professional gaming,
competitive gaming, social gaming, game art, fan fiction, fan art, and so on.
Abstracts of 250 words, accompanied by contact
details and a brief biography to be received by
Friday 18th March 2011 to: <mailto:(gamer /at/ beds.ac.uk)>(gamer /at/ beds.ac.uk)
For further information, please go to:
<http://underthemask.wikidot.com/>http://underthemask.wikidot.com
