[Commlist] Call for papers - gamevironments special issue Beyond Play: The Transformative Power of Digital Gaming in a Deeply Mediatized Society

Dom Ford is happy to share the following call for papers with you for 
the diamond open access journal. You can also find this CfP at our 
website, along with our 2025 regular issue CfP: 
https://journals.suub.uni-bremen.de/index.php/gamevironments/openquests


*/BEYOND PLAY: THE TRANSFORMATIVE POWER OF DIGITAL GAMING IN A DEEPLY 
MEDIATIZED SOCIETY/*

/Guest editors: Kerstin Radde-Antweiler, Karsten D. Wolf and Christian 
Schwarzenegger/

Digital games and gaming are carriers, accelerators and subjects of 
change in media, culture and society. In this capacity they serve as an 
interlink between media industries, digital technologies, social 
practices, cultural norms and values, making them ideal cases to analyze 
contemporary transformation processes in the context of (deep) 
mediatization, digitalization, and datafication. A world with digital 
gaming in it is different from a world without digital gaming. But what 
does that mean and imply for the study of games and gaming and for the 
broader investigation of change in the broader contexts of media, 
communication and technology related transformation processes in culture 
and society? For this special issue we invite submissions that explore 
the transformative power of digital gaming in deeply mediatized 
societies: We seek to shed light on how digital gaming is related to 
mediatization, digitalization and datafication of society and how games 
and gaming are conversely shaped by the same processes. We invite 
conceptual, theoretical and methodological contributions as well as 
empirical studies from all disciplines. Topics to be addressed include 
but are not limited to

  * The transformative power of digital gaming for the proliferation and
    diffusion of new digital technologies, devices and imaginaries
  * The transformative power of digital gaming for the emergence of new
    media cultures and practices, especially in non-gaming related
    contexts and beyond play
  * The transformative power of digital gaming for representation,
    inclusion and the negotiation as well as transformation of social
    norms and values
  * The transformative power of digital gaming for education, political
    discourse and social exchange
  * The transformative power of digital gaming for media and
    communication environments around beyond play (e.g., games
    journalism, game streaming, Let’s plays, reviews and walkthroughs;
    gamification and language use in non-gaming settings; serious games)
  * The transformative power of digital gaming for individual and
    collaborative communicative practices and experiences (e.g.,
    informal learning, co-creation, modding, etc.)
  * The transformative power of digital gaming in the context of the
    media manifold (e.g., transmedia storytelling, franchises across
    multiple platforms and multiple media formats)
  * Conceptual and methodological challenges and innovations for
    researching the transformative power of digital gaming in deeply
    mediatized societies
  * The impact of digitalization and datafication on digital games and
    gaming
  * Transformation processes in the gaming (related) industries as
    related to broader transformations in deeply mediatized societies
  * Transformative processes in the academic, ethical, and regulatory
    evaluation of games and gaming

This special issue invites scholars and researchers from a variety of 
fields to contribute to the exploration of the transformative power of 
digital gaming in a deeply mediatized society and includes the various 
gamevironments.

For all contributions, please submit a title, a 300-500 word abstract 
and a 100-word biographical statement about each author no later than 
*31.05.2025* to *(gameskon /at/ uni-bremen.de) <mailto:(gameskon /at/ uni-bremen.de)>*.

*SUBMISSION DETAILS*

Journal articles should be 5,000-10,000 words in length and will be 
subject to double-blind peer review. Furthermore, we encourage the 
submission of contributions beyond the classic article format. Reviews, 
interviews and other formats will be reviewed by the special issue 
editors. Submission _guidelines and the journal style guide_ can be 
found here 
<https://journals.suub.uni-bremen.de/index.php/gamevironments/about/submissions>. 
There is no article processing charge.

Authors are encouraged to use images but will be required to request 
permission from copyright-holders when needed.

*TIMELINE*

*_Notification of acceptance of abstracts: 15th June 2025_*
*_Full text submission of all contributions: 15th December 2025_*


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