[Commlist] Call for Participation: Games and Sustainability Pre-conference

Location: Concordia University 4th Space / Online

Date: June 10, 2026

Time: 10:30am to 5:30pm (Depending on the number of submissions, 
organizers may  also schedule an online event June 9.)

Website: To be updated - https://www.badgamearcade.ca/ 
<https://www.badgamearcade.ca/>


How are games and sustainability intertwined? Or broken? Serious games 
offer a chance to educate, express, and intervene, where play becomes a 
tool for comprehension and exploration.


In a climate-shifting world, we see game makers and players expressing 
climate anxieties about the impact of human industry on our globe. We 
see games and their play explore  a variety of narrative themes and 
design tactics around sustainability. Titles like Daybreak demonstrate 
the complexity of climate action, game makers are building games running 
on renewable energy, and others are using games to illustrate how 
related themes (climate misinformation, overconsumption) are 
contributing to climate harms.


The theme of this year’s Serious Game Arcade is Games and 
Sustainability, asking how games can seriously help to build sustainable 
and regenerative futures. We are taking a broad approach to the concept. 
We are accepting contributions that  ranging from how games can model 
sustainable practices or improve science literacy to how they represent 
living through the climate crisis, as well as how game makers tackle the 
nuanced challenges of sustainable game design.


This event is a chance to talk, share, and explore how games and 
sustainability intertwine. Unlike other academic conferences, it’s a 
chance to workshop ideas, share prototypes, and talk about the larger 
questions many of us face in the world of serious games. The program is 
open to:


 1.

    Completed Interactive Projects:From games to controllers or servers,
    we will offer a space at the event to showcase your work.

 2.

    Design Work in Progress:We love works in progress, and are happy to
    provide you with an opportunity to get feedback from other game
    makers, industry experts, and academics..

 3.

    Short Research Abstracts:We invite you to share abstracts on your
    research so we can curate roundtables on the challenges and emerging
    directions of serious games.

We invite anyone working or researching in the space of serious games to 
apply, and encourage any CGSA conference participant to arrive a day 
early and check out this compelling and interactive program. This event 
will be entirely free and recorded, and hybrid participation is welcome. 
We are accepting all serious games submissions, but we will prioritize 
titles that align with the theme.


Submission Criteria

Please use this form to submit 
<https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdWG--8l3yA63zXqYcMgfDj1fGZ_8jjMbRwnZjKbY0AdnevnA/viewform?usp=header>an 
abstract or summary of your game (~300 words). 
<https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdWG--8l3yA63zXqYcMgfDj1fGZ_8jjMbRwnZjKbY0AdnevnA/viewform?usp=header>Be 
sure to list any needs you might have for showcasing your work.


If you have any questions or issues, please reach out to Scott DeJong 
((scottbdejong /at/ gmail.com) <mailto:(scottbdejong /at/ gmail.com)>).


Please submit your expression of interest no later than March 20, 2026

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