[ecrea] CFP Avatars and Humans: Representing Users in Digital Games

> Reminder: CFP "Avatars and
> Humans: Representting Users in Digital Games" ends April 30
>
> Apologies for cross-postings. Please send to interested
> colleagues and students.
>
> REMINDER: CALL FOR PAPERS
>
> AVATARS AND HUMANS. REPRESENTING USERS IN DIGITAL GAMES
>
> Preconference to the ECREA 2010 – 3rd European Communication
> Conference
> 12 October 2010, Hamburg, Germany
>
> http://www.ecrea2010hamburg.eu
>
> ==Topic & Questions==
>
> With the rise of digital interactive media, “avatars” – computer
> generated visual representations of users  – have become a crucial
> link
> between users and the digital spaces they navigate. While the term
> “avatar” reaches back to Hinduist scriptures ca. 200 BC, and the use
> of
> player representations in games can be traced to the earliest known
> games played more than 4.000 years ago, it was only in 1985 that the
> multi-user domain Habitat introduced the term for user
> representations
> in virtual worlds. Today, avatars are used in digital games as well
> as
> e-commerce applications, social virtual environments, virtual
> meetings
> and conferences, and many more digital spaces and applications.
>
> However, avatars are not just an interface users manipulate to
> access
> and act in digital spaces – avatars and their human users form
> complex
> relationships. For instance, avatars may represent the users’ own or
> created identity, users may develop an emotional attachment or
> parasocial relation to their avatars, or the design or activities of
> an
> avatar may infringe rights or develop an economic value.
>
> For the pre-conference “Avatars and Humans”, we encourage
> submissions
> from all disciplinary and methodological backgrounds on the complex
> relations between avatars and their users. Submissions might
> address,
> but are not limited to the following topics and questions:
>
> * Creating and Using Avatars: How and why do we create avatars, what
> are
> the motives and effects of specific kinds of avatars and avatar
> usage?
> Do we create avatars similar or dissimilar to us? What kinds of
> in-game
> avatars and avatar features enhance or delimit qualities of user
> experience, such as presence, immersion or enjoyment?
>
> * My Avatar and Me: How might we describe the (long-term)
> relationship
> between users and their avatars? Which factors influence the users’
> identification with and emotional attachment to their avatars?
>
> * The (Para-)Sociality of Avatars: Which social psychological
> factors
> affect our (avatar’s) interaction with other avatars, either
> controlled
> by users or an algorithm?
>
> * Avatars and Profiles: How do avatar-based interactive spaces and
> the
> (mostly) „profile-based” spaces of social network sites and social
> media
> relate, especially in regard to matters of identity and relationship
> management? Can we observe a growing convergence or interdependence
> of
> the two?
>
> * Analyzing Avatars: Exploring the user-avatar relationship also
> requires the description of the avatar itself. What are the relevant
> properties of avatars? Which analytical instruments can and should
> be
> employed for systematic descriptions, codings, analyses of
> avatars?
>
> * Coding Avatars: As computer-generated representations of users,
> avatars have to be designed and coded, which puts important material
> constraints and preconditions on potential user-avatar relations.
> Which
> factors afford or constraint the customizability and variability of
> avatars? Which models of artifical intelligence guide the simulated
> behaviour of computer-controlled avatars?
>
> * Avatar Rights and Regulations: People invest time and sometimes
> sizeable amounts of money in their avatars, and avatars develop
> reputations that might radiate on their users (or vice versa). Put
> differently, users develop vested interests in their avatars, and
> avatars develop an „avatar biography”: Do we need specific “avatar
> rights” to protect the histories, experiences and reputation of
> avatars?
> Which virtual as well as real-life circumstances are neccessary to
> govern avatars effectively?
>
> * Behind and Beyond the Avatar: Which social and cultural processes
> take
> place between individuals, avatars and the communities they play in?
> How
> do the performances, gestures and emotions of avatars affect
> community
> building or the emergence of public communication in game worlds as
> well
> as everyday social behavior and society and vice versa? Does
> avatar-based interaction show the same social dynamics like
> face-to-face
> interaction (social control, negotiation, face work etc.), or does
> it
> differ – and how?
>
> * Methodology of Avatar Research: Which paradigms and instruments
> might
> be applied to research concerning the above questions? What is the
> specific potential, what are possible obstacles of methodological
> and/or
> ethical nature when researching avatars?
>
> ==Link==
>
> For further details, see the website and download the Call for
> Papers
> at:
> http://bit.ly/ECREAgames
>
> ==Sumbission==
>
> All abstracts should be submitted through the ECREA 2010 website no
> later than: 30 April 2010.
>
> Please note that this submission deadline will not be extended!
>
> Enter your submissions at
>
> http://www.ecrea2010hamburg.eu.
>
> To avoid technical problems, early submission is strongly
> encouraged.
>
> ==Timeline==
>
>    * Deadline for submission of abstracts: April 30, 2010.
>    * Notification of acceptance: May 31, 2010
>    * Submission of Full Papers: September 15, 2010
>    * Early Bird Get together: October 11, 2010
>    * Pre-Conference: October 12, 2010 December 2009: Online
> submission
> system open
>
> ==Local Organizers==
>
> Hamburg Media School, Hans Bredow Institute for Media Research,
> Ilmenau
> University of Technology
>
> ==Venue==
>
> The pre-conference will take place at:
>
> Hamburg Media School
> Finkenau 35
> D-22081 Hamburg, Germany
>
> ==Contact==
>
> Dr. Jan-Hinrik Schmidt
> Hans-Bredow-Institute for Media Research
> Warburgstr. 8-10, D-20354 Hamburg, Germany
>  
> (j.schmidt /at/ hans-bredow-institut.de)
> http://www.hans-bredow-institut.de/en
>
> Prof. Dr. Sabine Trepte
> Hamburg Media School
> Finkenau 35, D-22081 Hamburg, Germany
> (s.trepte /at/ hamburgmediaschool.com)
> http://www.hamburgmediaschool.com/english
>
> Prof. Dr. Jeffrey Wimmer
> Ilmenau University of Technology
> Ehrenbergstr. 29, D-98693 Ilmenau, Germany
> (jeffrey.wimmer /at/ tu-ilmenau.de)
> http://www.tu-ilmenau.de/fakmn/Virtuelle-Welten-Dig.vwds.0.html

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Nico Carpentier (Phd)
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Vrije Universiteit Brussel - Free University of Brussels
Centre for Studies on Media and Culture (CeMeSO)
Pleinlaan 2 - B-1050 Brussels - Belgium
T: ++ 32 (0)2-629.18.56
F: ++ 32 (0)2-629.36.84
Office: 5B.401a
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European Communication Research and Education Association
Web: http://www.ecrea.eu
----------------------------
E-mail: (Nico.Carpentier /at/ vub.ac.be)
Web: http://homepages.vub.ac.be/~ncarpent/
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