Archive for March 2023

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[Commlist] CfP Automation in Game Production - Workshop at DiGRA 2023

Sun Mar 26 06:03:01 GMT 2023






*Call for Papers - Automation in Game Production
*Workshop at DiGRA 2023 (19-23 June Seville, Spain)
Curated by Paolo Ruffino (University of Liverpool) (p.ruffino /at/ liverpool.ac.uk) <mailto:(p.ruffino /at/ liverpool.ac.uk)> and Aleena Chia (Goldsmiths, University of London) (a.chia /at/ gold.ac.uk) <mailto:(a.chia /at/ gold.ac.uk)>

The workshop will investigate the automation of videogame production through a critical lens, drawing on literature on games, media, and cultural studies.


We will explore the implications of Procedural Content Generation (PCG) and other automated and computer-assisted techniques of development on both the aesthetics of videogames and labour conditions of game makers. Automated techniques of content production have for long been adopted as part of the videogame and interactive media industries (Johnson, 2019). The 1984 game Elite by David Braben used procedural generation to assemble new combinations of virtual environments in each iteration of the game. More recent titles, such as Hello Games’ No Man’s Sky (2016), revamped the same technique on a much larger scale (Ruffino, forthcoming). PCG, the “algorithmic creation of game content with limited or indirect user input” (Shaker, Togelius and Nelson, 2016: 1), is now used in both independent and mainstream productions. Game makers exploit the possibilities offered by PCG as part of the design of their products, for instance in the roguelike subgenre of role-playing and adventure games (e.g. The Binding of Isaac by Edmund McMillen, 2011; Hades by Supergiant Games, 2021). A number of titles thematise automation as part of their narrative and environmental setting, for instance in titles such as Factorio (Wube Software, 2020) and The Last Clockwinder (Pontoco, 2022).

The automated generation of visual and interactive content raises questions regarding the potential of nonhuman agents to create original experiences, and challenges the supposed originality of human creativity. Established techniques such as PCG and automated playtesting are more deterministic processes requiring constant human supervision; this contrasts with the recent hype surrounding generative AI tools based on machine learning techniques that are harder to document, but are hyped as revolutionising game production. Works of art, including videogames, are produced through assemblages of human and nonhuman agents, and the emergence of automated systems of content generation can be interpreted as the acceleration of pre-existing practices of posthuman and inhuman creation (Zylinska, 2020; Lyotard, 1991). At the same time, PCG and other techniques of automation redraw the line separating the glamorised and highly paid workforce involved in creative labour from those whose occupations are considered expendable. Therefore, automation production can be interrogated through its material implications, and as part of the ongoing project of reduction of labour costs in the videogame industry (Bulut, 2020). Along with outsourcing and precarisation, automation challenges creative workers and reinforces gendered and racial stratifications of game labour (Chia, 2022).

The workshop will gather international researchers investigating the cultural and societal implications of automation in videogame production and development. It will present the work of 6-8 speakers over 4-5 hours of discussion and Q&A. The workshop will facilitate the production of future publications, and potentially lead to a special journal issue, curated volume, and/or grant applications. When selecting papers, the curators will pay attention to issues of diversity and inclusivity in relation to gender, race, geographical background and level of career. Presentations and discussion will be open to the public of DiGRA2023. Remote participation will be considered as an option.


Please send abstract (max 350 words) and bio (max 150 words) to
(p.ruffino /at/ liverpool.ac.uk) <mailto:(p.ruffino /at/ liverpool.ac.uk)>
(a.chia /at/ gold.ac.uk) <mailto:(a.chia /at/ gold.ac.uk)>

Deadline abstract submission: April 14th
Notification of acceptance: April 20th

*List of references
*Bulut, Ergin. 2020. /A Precarious Game: The Illusion of Dream Jobs in the Video Game Industry/. Cornell University Press. Chia, Aleena. 2022. The Artist and the Automaton in Digital Game Production. /Convergence /28(2), 389–412. Johnson, Mark, R. 2019. /The Unpredictability of Gameplay/. New York (NY): Bloomsbury. Lyotard, Jean-François. 1991. /The Inhuman: Reflections on Time/. Stanford (CA): Stanford University Press. Ruffino, Paolo. forthcoming. “No Man’s Game: The Infinite Boredom of Procedurally Generated Environments” in Frasca, Gerald, Op de Beke, Laura, Raessens, Joost and Werning, Stefan (eds.) /Ecogames/, University of Amsterdam Press. Shaker, Nook, Togelius, Julian and Nelson, Mark J. 2016. /Procedural Content Generation in Games/. Cham (Switzerland): Springer. Zylinska, Joanna. 2020. /AI Art: Machine Visions and Warped Dreams/. London: Open Humanities Press.


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