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