[Commlist] Call for Abstracts: European Sociology Association (ESA) 2019 / Digital Games track

Call for Abstracts: European Sociology Association (ESA) 2019

Track: Gaming at the Boundaries: Imagining Inclusive Futures

Despite the cliché that digital games are played almost exclusively by 
young, white, cisgendered, heterosexual men, gaming is now more diverse 
than ever. Some elements of this diversity has seen extensive study, 
such as gender, whilst others – such as age or class – have been 
comparatively overlooked. For this stream, participants are invited to 
submit papers that consider diversity and cultural change within the 
production and consumption of digital games. Past, present and future 
visions of digital gaming affect how social inclusion is viewed by 
players, developers and policy makers. We seek papers that interrogate 
those who exist at the ‘boundaries’ of games culture, whether as a 
matter of gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality and/or class, to make 
visible the ‘barriers’ but also examples of ‘belonging’ that emerge 
through digital gameplay.

As such, this stream responds to the identity crisis (or crises) 
materializing within games culture. Phenomena such as GamerGate, the 
rise of live streaming on Twitch.tv, and the growth of “independent” 
games that tackle serious real-world issues, all push us to reconsider 
who gamers are, and who they might be. As stereotypes of ‘the gamer’ 
breakdown to reflect the appeal of digital games across society, labels 
of ‘addiction’ and ‘gambling’ are in danger of stigmatizing play, and 
casting players as pathological subjects. We invite papers that contest 
these barriers and challenge the social construction of gaming as a 
‘disorder’. What alternative futures are possible? How do we confront 
these controversies? Why must inclusivity be a core part of our imaginings?

More information: 
https://www.europeansociology.org/sites/default/files/public/Coordinator/ESA_2019_CFP_Manchester_v1.pdf

Submission link: https://www.conftool.pro/esa2019/

Deadline: Feb 1 2019

Coordinators: Thomas Brock, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK, 
t.brock[at]mmu.ac.uk <http://mmu.ac.uk>; Aphra Kerr, Maynooth 
University, Ireland, aphra.kerr[at]mu.ie <http://mu.ie>; Mark R Johnson, 
University of Alberta, Canada, markrjohnsongames[at]gmail.com 
<http://gmail.com>; Paolo Ruffino, University of Lincoln, UK, 
pruffino[at]lincoln.ac.uk <http://lincoln.ac.uk>.


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