[ecrea] Video Game Art Reader Accepting Submissions for 2018 Issue Through Feb. 28

The Video Game Art Reader is currently accepting submissions from 
practitioners, researchers, and educators for its 2018 issue through 
February 28th. Please see below for more details on the theme for our 
next issue and submission requirements.
VGA Reader Call for Papers—Issue 2: SURVIVAL STRATEGY

IT’S DANGEROUS TO GO ALONE! TAKE THIS. - Old Man, The Legend of Zelda

In an era of ecological, social, and political crisis, when contemporary 
media inundates us daily with apocalyptic scenarios, video games can act 
as a valuable means of psychological escape. However, video games— as 
unique, participatory works of art— can also model both individual and 
collaborative means of survival through the experience of play. Video 
games offer opportunities to navigate both historical and fictional 
conflicts, traverse landscapes devastated by climate change or nuclear 
holocaust, and manage the limited resources of individuals, or even 
whole civilizations, on earth and beyond. They offer players a dizzying 
array of dystopian scenarios in which to build and invent, cooperate to 
achieve shared goals, or sometimes merely learn how to survive another 
day. Video games focus attention, hone visuospatial skills, and shape 
cognitive control and physical reflexes. How do video games, through 
these unique methods, participate in the larger context of radical, 
activist artworks that challenge destructive norms and structures of 
power? How can we harness the skills we develop through play— or “game 
the system”— to imagine our best possible future(s) in trying times?

The VGA Reader (VGAR) is accepting submissions that critically analyze 
video game art as a means of survival. Though “survival strategy” exists 
as a defined gaming genre, all video games can be considered as methods 
of human conditioning, coping, and creating.
Possible topics include but are not limited to:
●      How video game artworks development, design, and play are 
uniquely situated to explore personal, social, or ecological crises.
●      How video games participate in larger activist and radical art 
communities/collectives.
●      How video game art prototypes collaborative approaches to survival.
●      How video games explore the long-term implications of human 
activity in relation to ecological crisis.
●      How the history of games engages with dystopias and utopias 
themes of the past and present.
●      How video games provide methods of constructive and collaborative 
play.
●      How we might develop a critical discourse of “casual” games 
through psychological and physiological conditioning.
●      How might we investigate the relationship between survivalist 
subcultures and resource management games.
●      How video games can work as systems for mediating or mollifying 
conflict.
●      How the economies and cultures of world simulators and Massively 
Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPGs) can be viewed as models 
of real-world growth or collapse.
●      How video games create, reflect, or critique current apocalyptic 
real world tragedies, crises, and political upheaval, as well as the 
media narratives that surround them.

Deadline for Submissions is February 28th, 2018

All submissions and questions should be sent to: tfunk (at) vgagallery 
(dot) org.

Video Game Art Reader Mission Statement:
The VGA Reader is a peer-reviewed journal for video game audiences and 
video game practitioners interested in the history, theory, and 
criticism of video games, explored through the lens of art history and 
visual culture. Its primary aim is to facilitate exploration and 
conversation of video game art, documenting and disseminating discourse 
about the far-reaching influence of video games on history, society, and 
culture.
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Submission Guidelines:

The VGA Reader is a scholarly electronic and print journal. It is blind 
peer-reviewed, invitational, and open to submissions in the form of 
theoretical papers, interviews, practitioner statements, and reviews on 
video games and video game-related events. The journal is published 
annually as a singular summer edition. The electronic and print versions 
differ in format but are similar in content.

There are four types of articles the VGA Reader publishes. Each have a 
distinct focus and designated word count:

1) Essays - 2,500 to 5,000 words

The VGA Reader welcomes essays pertaining to any investigation of video 
games, be they historical, theoretical, instructional (dealing with the 
hardware or software involved in creating games), or experimental in 
nature (manifestos, essays proposing new kinds of games, equipment, or 
approach to gaming in general, etc.). We welcome writers of all kinds, 
be they practitioners (game designers, writers, etc.), academics, or 
enthusiastic gamers with novel ideas and information to share. 
Manuscripts must be under the 5,000-word count limit (including 
references and figure captions) before it will be considered for review. 
Because of the length of these essays, they must be accompanied by a 
100-word abstract.

2) Practitioner (Artist/Designer/Writer) Statements
fewer than 2,000 words

The VGA Reader welcomes practitioner statements, constituting articles 
detailing the video game-related work of the author, be it a video game, 
video game-themed artwork/performance, multimedia work/event, etc. These 
essays can take the form of longer artist statements about conceptual 
and narrative-driven concerns, but we also encourage details regarding 
issues of game play, troubleshooting during production, user testing, 
and anecdotes about the creative production process.

3) Reviews of video game-related events (gallery shows, multimedia 
events, etc.)
fewer than 2,000 words

The VGA Reader welcomes reviews, selected by the VGA Reader’s Editor and 
Editorial staff. This section of the journal offers opportunities for 
authors to report on a variety of video game-related events in brief, 
exploratory essays detailing the experience. These essays must be 
accompanied by media (images, video) of the event as illustration, 
provided by the author.

4) The VGA Reader will also publish selected interviews; however, these 
submissions will be by invitation only.


FORMATTING FOR SUBMISSION:

All submissions must be formatted as follows:

-In Microsoft Word .doc or .docx
-Font: Times New Roman
-Size: 12
-Styles: Normal
-Alignment and Spacing: Horizontal, Left aligned, Single space
-Endnotes: Do not use automatic formatting. Place any endnotes after the 
main text of your essay but before your Reference/Bibliography list. 
Place the endnote number reference in parentheses in the left margin, 
using the same number as in the text of the paper. All 
references/citations are written in the format of the Chicago Manual of 
Style. For more information, see: 
http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/home.html.
-Media (images, video, and/or sound files) should be submitted as 
attachments via email. DO NOT embed images onto your Word doc. After 
acceptance, the editor will send copyright permissions documents.

Submissions should contain the following information, in this particular 
order:
1.	Essay title
2.	Author’s name
3.	Author’s affiliation/academic position/affiliation/ etc.: (e.g.: 
Collective/company name, independent designer/artist, researcher / 
Assistant Professor / Professor)
4.	The body of the essay
5.	References (in Chicago Manual of Style format)
6.	Author’s Bio – 50-word count. Email and/or www. can be included at 
the end of the bio.

SUBMISSION FOR ACCESSIBILITY:

Keeping articles accessible to a large, but interested audience is a 
primary goal of the VGA Reader. While general “good-writing” practices 
demand attention in your use of language, style, and organization, 
writing video game scholarship and practitioner statements should also 
avoid too-specific jargon, acronyms, and other specialized language, 
unless defined specifically in the article. Include subheadings and 
bullet points along with section introductions when necessary for 
organization purposes.

Paying attention to these tenets will ensure a fair critique of the 
work, and will greatly improve your chances of publication.

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