[Commlist] CFP: Sixth International Video Games Studies Conference (SVI 2027) - Games and communities – Players, fans, gamers

CFP: Sixth International Video Games Studies Conference (SVI 2027) 
-GAMES AND COMMUNITIES – PLAYERS, FANS, GAMERS, University of Zadar, Croatia

*International Conference *

*Games and Communities – Players, Fans, Gamers, Sixth International 
Video Games Studies Conference (SVI 2027)  *

* 8-9 April 2027, University of Zadar, Croatia*

Organized by: Department of English Studies, University of Zadar, in 
cooperation with the Academy of Arts, University of Novi Sad, and the 
Faculty of Cultural Studies, Kazimierz Wielki University in Bydgoszcz

Video games become culturally important and politically consequential in 
part through the immediate impact they have on players, and through the 
ways players, in turn, shape them. Video games are formed through the 
situated practices of those who play, watch, collect, discuss, modify, 
preserve, and contest them. Whether described as players, gamers, or 
fans, those who engage with games actively participate in shaping their 
meaning, value, and cultural significance. They are not passive or 
monolithic recipients within the contemporary game ecosystem: they 
interpret, transform, critique, archive, preserve, and expand games and 
play beyond their original publication and purpose. Through community 
formation, affective investment, creative production, collecting, and 
public discourse, players continuously reshape the cultural and 
political landscapes surrounding video games and the platforms on which 
they play them.From ambient play to the creation of fan folklore, from 
children’s learning practices in digital environments to coping 
mechanisms embedded in single-player and multiplayer narratives, 
players’ activities provide crucial insight into how video games 
function as cultural systems.

Thus, it becomes essential to examine video game culture through the 
activities, practices, and creative engagements of players themselves. 
This year’s Video Game Studies Conference places players, fans, gamers, 
and communities at the forefront of academic discussions on the 
significance of researching video games, fandom, and popular culture 
more broadly.

The scope and impact of this topic are vast and complex. We seek 
contributions that treat fandom and player communities not as peripheral 
contexts but as core analytic objects - crucial to theorizing games as 
cultural artifacts, affective experiences, and political formations. For 
this reason, the conference invites interdisciplinary and 
multidisciplinary approaches that examine players and communities from 
diverse methodological and theoretical perspectives, including but not 
limited to literary studies, cultural studies, media studies, fan 
studies, sociology, anthropology, psychology, education, history, 
platform studies, and digital humanities.

We welcome proposals that engage with, but are not limited to, the 
following themes:

  * Fan cultures and participatory production
  * Avatars and identity construction
  * Collectors and collecting practices
  * Gamers, fans, players, users? Rethinking terminology
  * Histories of gaming communities
  * Fan-created folklore and myth-making
  * Affective play and emotional investment
  * Toxicity, harassment, and governance in online environments
  * Online communities and social networks
  * Gamer fan art and cosplay
  * Walkthroughs and paratextual practices
  * Fan-made trailers and paratexts
  * Influencers, streamers, YouTubers, and video game culture
  * Preservation, archiving, and community memory
  * Mental health and video game communities
  * Learning, pedagogy, and childhood gaming cultures
  * Modding and user-generated content
  * Community labor and unpaid digital work
  * Political activism within gaming communities

Abstracts of up to 300 words, accompanied by up to five keywords and a 
short biographical note of up to 100 words, should be submitted by 
December 1st, 2026, to (conference.svi /at/ gmail.com) 
<mailto:(conference.svi /at/ gmail.com)>. We warmly invite all interested 
scholars and researchers to submit their proposals and join us in Zadar 
for SVI 2027.

Official web page: https://sviconference.org/svi-conference-2027/





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