[Commlist] CfP the 13th International Conference on the Philosophy of Computer Games: The Aesthetics of Computer Games

This is a gentle reminder that the deadline for submission to the 13th 
International Conference on the Philosophy of Computer Games: The 
Aesthetics of Computer Games (St Petersburg State University, Oct 
21-24th) is in just over one month's time. If you have not submitted 
yet, please do so until 23:59 BST, Sunday, 11th August, 2019. Please 
also note that this version of the CFP features some information that is 
additional to what was included the last version, such as on 
teleconferencing.

**

*Call for papers***

**

*The 13th International Conference on the Philosophy of Computer Games: 
The Aesthetics of Computer Games***

**

*Conference Committee:***

**

Program Chair:
Feng Zhu (King’s College London)
(feng.zhu /at/ kcl.ac.uk)

Conference Chairs:
Alina Latypova (St Petersburg State University)

(latypova.al /at/ gmail.com) <mailto:(latypova.al /at/ gmail.com)>

Konstantin Ocheretyany (St Petersburg State University)

(kocheretyany /at/ gmail.com) <mailto:(kocheretyany /at/ gmail.com)>

**

**

We invite submissions to the *13th International Conference on the 
Philosophy of Computer Games, organised by the Game Philosophy Network, 
together with the Centre for Media Philosophy and Laboratory for 
Computer Games Research, in St Petersburg, Russia, on October 21–24, 
2019.***

The theme of this year’s conference is ‘*The Aesthetics of Computer 
Games’*. Playing games yields particular kinds of playful experiences or 
perceptions through the senses, which can be studied with an aesthetic 
focus, emphasising /aísthēsis/ over /noêsis/. Computer games can be 
regarded as playful media that organise our perceptions and modify our 
sensibilities. For this conference, we welcome submissions on (but not 
limited to) the following themes and questions:

*1. Aesthetics as aesthesis*(*aísthēsis).*Is there an aesthetics or mode 
of experience that is specific to computer games? How do their visual, 
audio, and haptic aspects come together to produce distinctive 
experiences? How are ‘experience’ and ‘perception’ explored in computer 
games and shaped by them? Can concepts such as ‘affect’, ‘atmosphere’, 
and ‘rhythm’ be productively applied to computer games? What is the role 
of game interfaces on player experience?

*2. Games as art?*What are the conditions of possibility of games being 
art? How do computer games fit into established categories or 
conventions of aesthetics, and how do they contribute to new ones? Do 
games recognised as having a claim to artistic status differ from 
mainstream games? How do accounts of art based on necessary and 
sufficient conditions match up against anti-essentialist accounts in 
terms of gauging the status of computer games?

*3. The aesthetics of gaming practices.*Are games collaboratively 
authored? How do different kinds of play, or player-game conjunctions, 
bring about different kinds of gaming pleasures or aesthetic 
experiences? How do different bodies encounter computer games and what 
can be said about the way in which gameplay experience is mediated by 
our bodies? Do some kinds of gameplay or extra-gamic player practices 
have an aesthetic orientation? Are computer games performances?
*
4. The ethical, political, and social dimensions of game aesthetics.* 
What is the transformative potential of computer games and how does this 
compare to the transformative capabilities ascribed to artworks? How do 
aesthetic issues interconnect with ethical, social, and political ones – 
what is the autonomy or heteronomy of the aesthetic domain? How are 
taste, sensibility, and habit acquired with respect to gameplay and what 
are the social implications of this?

In addition to this central theme, the conference also features an open 
category, for which we invite welcome contributions that do not fit this 
year’s theme, but that nonetheless offer a valuable contribution to the 
philosophy of computer games.

Submitted proposals should have a clear focus on philosophy and 
philosophical (including media philosophical) issues in relation to 
computer games. They should also refer to specific games rather than 
invoke them in more general terms. *Submissions should be made in the 
form of extended abstracts of up to 1000 words (excluding 
bibliography).* Please indicate if you intend your paper to fit in the 
open category. *The deadline for submissions is 23:59 BST, Sunday, 11th 
August, 2019. *Please submit your abstract through 
*review.gamephilosophy.org*. All submitted abstracts will be subject to 
a double-blind peer review process.

Notification of accepted submissions will be sent out in late August 
2019. A full paper draft must then be submitted by Monday, 14th October 
2019 and will be made available on the conference website.


*We also invite proposals for themed panels and workshops that will take 
place on the 20th and 24^th October, 2019. *Please contact the program 
committee chair if you are interested in organising one.

*We cannot provide grants or subsidies for participants. There will, 
however, be no conference fee. *

For more information about the conference please visit 
http://gameconference.mediaphilosophy.ru/pcg2019.htmland 
gamephilosophy.org <http://gamephilosophy.org>.

Double Game Philosophy Conference in St. Petersburg 
<http://gameconference.mediaphilosophy.ru/pcg2019.html>
gameconference.mediaphilosophy.ru
The 13th International Conference on the Philosophy of Computer Games, 
organised by the Game Philosophy Network, together with the Centre for 
Media Philosophy and Laboratory for Computer Games Research, will be 
held in St Petersburg, Russia, on October 21–24, 2019.. Call for papers

*Workshops and panels*

**

We will accept submissions for workshops and panels in all areas 
pertinent to the philosophy of computer games. This has been a tradition 
of the conference series, which has used this format to gauge emerging 
philosophical issues. This year, we have a particular interest in the 
topics of ‘diversity in computer games’ and ‘the aesthetics of computer 
games’, but workshop and panel proposals in /all /areas concerning the 
philosophy of computer games will be considered.

We have chosen to extend the submission deadline for workshops and 
panels (not papers) to the *25th Aug 2019, 23:59 BST.*

*Teleconferencing*

**

It will be possible for a limited number of authors to present their 
work via teleconferencing. If your submission is accepted and you wish 
to present via teleconferencing, please inform the program chair.

The proportion of papers presented in person to those presented through 
teleconferencing has not been definitely settled and will be more 
thoroughly discussed by the program committee at a later point. We hope 
to be able to accept as many as is viable. If the number of requests for 
teleconferencing exceeds the number of available places that have been 
decided upon, we will ask you to provide details of your situation that 
make it difficult or impossible to travel to St Petersburg. Individuals 
that are selected to present via teleconferencing will be chosen on a 
case-by-case basis, taking into account /their circumstances as a whole/.

We strongly advise presenters who wish to make use of teleconferencing, 
where possible, to submit their presentation as a video, which would 
bypass any potential connectivity issues that would threaten the 
presentation of the paper within the allotted time frame, and to use 
teleconferencing only for the Q&A section.

*Additional resources*

**

Further, please note that certain additional resources, some of which 
may be relevant for LGBT+ travellers, will be made available in the 
‘VISA information’ and ‘Location’ section of the conference website. We 
cannot, however, verify the contents of all of these resources.

A statement regarding the selection of the location will be issued by 
the steering committee in the near future. This will include reflections 
on how as wide a variety of voices can be heard in the future on the 
matter of the conference location.

*Visa information*

**

Please note that you may need to obtain a visa to enter Russia.

If you need a visa you should apply for it at the Russian consulate in 
your country or at the visa service (the most popular is VisaGlobal 
<https://www.vfsglobal.com>). All visa services have an additional fee.

St. Petersburg State University provides attendees with an invitation 
letter, which helps to obtain the humanitarian visa. Normally the costs 
of the humanitarian visa is less than the tourist or business one (for 
German and Polish citizens, for instance, the humanitarian visa is free 
if they apply for it in the consulate).

The cost of visas varies from country to country. Here is a list of some 
countries <http://gameconference.mediaphilosophy.ru/files/HVR.pdf>.

All the information concerning the visa costs and the processing time 
(normally it takes from 4 to 20 days, depending on the country) is 
available here: https://www.vfsglobal.com. If you have any questions 
concerning visas, do not hesitate to contact Alina Latypova 
((latypova.al /at/ gmail.com) <mailto:(latypova.al /at/ gmail.com)>).

Attendees from the following countries do not need to obtain a Russian visa:

*Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, 
Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Ukraine.*

Citizens of the countries of the CIS (the Commonwealth of Independent 
States) are permitted to stay in the Russian Federation for up to 90 
days without a visa.

*Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Israel, Nicaragua, Peru, Venezuela.*
Citizens of these countries are allowed to stay in the Russian 
Federation without a visa for up to 90 days in each 180-day period, 
provided they will not be involved in any commercial or work-related 
activities during their stay.

*Cuba, Montenegro, Serbia (with biometric passport), Thailand, Hong Kong 
SAR (up to 14 days), Macao SAR.*
Citizens of the countries in this group can stay in the Russian 
Federation for up to 30 days without a visa. They are not entitled to 
work while in Russia.

*Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia.*
Citizens of these Balkan countries can also stay in Russia without a 
visa for up to 30 days, but must also show tourist documents (tourist 
confirmation and tourist voucher) or an official invitation to 
immigration officials.

*About*

**

The Centre for Media Philosophy at the Institute of Philosophy, St. 
Petersburg State University, in collaboration with the Game Philosophy 
Network, have come together to organize a double conference on 
philosophical issues raised by computer games.

The 13th International Philosophy of Computer Games Conference, "The 
Aesthetics of Computer Games" 
<http://gameconference.mediaphilosophy.ru/pcg2019.html>(Oct 21-24), will 
explore various philosophical issues in thinking about the aesthetics of 
games and gameplay, whilst "Computer Games as Interfaces to Media 
Reality" <http://gameconference.mediaphilosophy.ru/subtitle1>(Oct 21-25) 
will address issues that spring from considering computer games to be 
“experience machines” for the modification of sensibility, thought, and 
imagination. Our aim is to provide a meeting place for scholars of media 
philosophy and game philosophy in order to inspire future investigations 
into the commonalities and differences between these approaches.

*Conference Committee (full)*

Program Committee:

Alina Latypova (St Petersburg State University)

Anita Leirfall (University of Bergen)

Darshana Jayemanne (Abertay University)

Feng Zhu (King’s College London)(chair)

Grant Tavinor (Lincoln University)

Hans-Joachim Backe (IT University of Copenhagen)

John Richard Sageng (Game Philosophy Network)

Konstantin Ocheretyany (St Petersburg State University)

Marc Bonner (University of Cologne)

Margarita Skomorokh (St Petersburg State University)

Mathias Fuchs(Leuphana University of Lüneburg)

Olli Leino (City University of Hong Kong)

Pawel Grabarczyk (IT University of Copenhagen)

Sebastian Möring (University of Potsdam)

Sonia Fizek (Media Academy Stuttgart)

Veli-Matti Karhulahti (University of Jyväskylä/University of Turku)

William Huber (Abertay University)

Organizing Committee:

Alexander Lenkevich (St Petersburg State University)

Alina Latypova (St Petersburg State University)(chair)

Konstantin Ocheretyany (St Petersburg State University)(chair)

Margarita Skomorokh (St Petersburg State University)

For additional queries, do not hesitate to email the organisers using 
the following email address: *feng (dot) zhu (at) kcl (dot) ac (dot) uk*


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