Tag: game studies

DiGRA Distinguished Scholar

I am proud to be among the the inaugural group of DiGRA Distinguished Scholars, as recently  appointed by the DiGRA executive board:

Ian Bogost
Mia Consalvo
Suzanne DeCastell
Jussi Holopainen
Jesper Juul
Aphra Kerr
Tanya Krzywinska
Jonas Linderoth
Esther MacCallum-Stewart
Frans Mäyrä
Annika Waern
Jose Zagal

There are similar recognitions that established scholarly associations award in their fields, and I am happy to see game studies also now having this kind of instrument for strengthening the community. – Thank you, everyone, the nomination is a great honour!

Just for the likes?

Using Facebook and Twitter today, like we do these days, liking and sharing and retweeting, it again came to me how complex these basic actions actually, fundamentally are. We click an update to express support, to say “me too”, or just to send a social presence (phatic) style of update: our connection is still working. I am reading what you are saying. In some cases a like or retweet is an endorsement, sometimes not. Sometimes we spread the word because we cannot get our mind around a particular issue or piece of news: could some of you take a look at this, and say if this makes any sense, or not? Many of shared and circulated items are there just for the joke. Tension release and laughing together is important for creating feeling of community.

At the same time, much of these nuances go unnoticed. We just judge the communicative situation, evaluate our social contexts, possibly tweak a bit the distribution range (a closed group, just the closest friends, just the family, all friends, public, etc.) – and then go with the flow. Media is social and our social world is media these days. However, I think it would help to teach, educate and engage more in discussion about “algorithmic literacy”: about our strategies and abilities to read the system that supports, delimits and underlies our media-merged existence today.

This is just a short, late-night note, but I spent a minute trying to find a good primer to contemporary, social media and games related algorithmic literacy, and could not find one. Maybe you can point me to relevant direction? (Blog comments are closed, but my contact details in all leading platforms are readily available.) There are plenty of studies that focus on media literacy, computer literacy, even some on game literacy – but algorithmic literacy focused studies and popular presentations are apparently still harder to come by.

What I mean by everyday algorithmic literacy relates to, for example, how people may strategically follow, like or access social media updates of others, in order to tweak their automated news stream or filter settings: by communicating to the system that I am interested in messages of certain topics, or coming from certain persons, groups or organisations, I am able to influence how my “social graph” develops – until the system logic is again changed, of course. I am not sure how common such “theorycrafting of social media” is these days, but I suspect that pretty much everyone who actively uses these systems instinctively develops some silent knowledge about how their actions produce consequences in their info-sphere, or communicative spaces. Getting that discussion into more self-aware and public ground would be useful. I am sure there are several smart people and teams on social data analysis and information or games literacy fields, at least, who must have much to say on this topic.

Academic Mindtrek 2016 CFP

[Please spread the word, Mindtrek includes also an established game research track]

=============================================
Call for Papers, Posters, Demonstrations and Workshops
17th to 19th October 2016
Tampere, Finland
http://www.mindtrek.org/2016/academic/

Full papers, posters, demonstrations and workshops due on:
—— DEADLINE 27th June, 2016 ——

In cooperation with ACM, ACM SIGMM, and ACM SIGCHI.
Contributions will be published in the ACM digital library.

=============================================

CALL FOR PAPERS, POSTERS, DEMOS & WORKSHOPS
We are pleased to invite you to the Academic Mindtrek conference, 17th to 19th October 2016. Academic Mindtrek is a meeting place where researchers, experts and thinkers present results from their latest work regarding the development of novel technology, media and digital culture for the society of tomorrow.

Academic Mindtrek is part of the renowned Mindtrek business conference. Mindtrek brings together people not only from various fields and domains but also from different sectors such as companies, academia and various other institutions. This is the perfect opportunity for pushing research results in the practice and industry, as well as getting out-the-box research ideas based on the interaction with industry and practitioners. Mindtrek events are accessible for the Academic Mindtrek attendees, and vice versa.

The academic conference features the following major themes:

– Human-Computer Interaction (HCI)
– Interaction design and user experience
– Games and gamification
– Virtual, augmented and mixed reality
– Media education
– Collaboration and multimedia technologies in education
– Crowdsourcing and citizen participation
– Open data and data science
– New forms of journalism and media
– Theatre, performance and media
– Enhancing work in socio-technological environments

We are especially enthusiastic about applied research and papers related to practical work.

CONFERENCE THEMES

HUMAN-COMPUTER INTERACTION (HCI)
Human Computer Interaction (HCI) track addresses the design, development and implementation of user interfaces and the design of human and technology interaction. The track focuses on design of computer systems for human users, human requirements, usability, ergonomics, privacy aspects, trustworthiness, interaction theories, and sociological and psychological factors. The track brings together people from diverse areas that provide a multidisciplinary forum for academics, designers and practitioners to discuss the challenges and processes of contemporary topics in Human-Computer Interaction. The themes include, but are not limited to, the following subject areas:

• Interaction: e.g. interaction theories and models, new interaction techniques, multimodal interaction, multi-device interaction, social interactions mediated by technology.

• Interfaces: e.g. adaptive and personalized interfaces, usability evaluations, autonomous and proactive interfaces and interfaces as artefacts
• Technology: e.g. architectures for HCI, Cloud computing & Mobile HCI, new technology enablers like various sensors and actuators, toolkits and platforms for new interactive systems.
• Evaluation: e.g. evaluation studies of interactive systems, evaluation methods and techniques and user trials and experiments of interactive technology.
• User insight: e.g. methods for user research, ethnography, and understanding the users and contexts of use.

INTERACTION DESIGN AND USER EXPERIENCE
This track focuses on the practice of designing interactive digital products and services and the user experiences and interactions therein. As people’s quality standards tend to constantly increase, providing a delightful user experience and fluent interaction, the most relevant features have become central goals in the development of digital products and services. The areas of interest include, but are not limited to, the following areas:

• Theories, conceptualizations and reflections on user experience, consumer experience, product experience, interaction design, service design and their relations to other design disciplines.
• Understanding various aspects of user experience: e.g. aesthetics, trust and privacy, product attachment, playfulness, engagement, social elements
• Novel design approaches: e.g. experience-driven design, critical design, design visions
• Techniques, methods, tools and patterns for interaction design and service design
• Measuring and assessing user experience, user studies and user experience evaluations
• Creativity and innovation in design of interactive systems

GAMES AND GAMIFICATION
The culture, development and business of games has become increasingly varied. The current trends range from virtual reality and wearable gaming to freemium business models and serious games. Games research is a multidisciplinary field featuring diverse approaches to understand the phenomenon of games and play.

Academic MindTrek has an inclusive approach in the Games track focusing on novel, innovative and even unorthodox games research from theoretical works, empirical case studies to constructive projects. The Games track themes include, but are not limited to, the following subject areas:

• Design (interaction, mechanics, interfaces…)
• Evaluation (game experience, playability, usability…)
• Development (tools, engines, AI, audiovisual…)
• Business (digital distribution, crowdfunding, revenue models, virtual goods…)
• Platforms (online, social, mobile, desktop…)
• Technology (virtual, augmented and altered reality…)
• Serious games (education, health, persuasive, simulations…)
• Gamification (motivation, effects, case studies…)
• eSports (culture, streaming, fandom…)
• Hybrid games (digital-physical, board games, toys…)
• Online gambling (lottery, casino, betting…)
• Players (demographics, inclusivity, accessibility…)
• Indie (innovation, modding, transgressive…)

VIRTUAL, AUGMENTED AND MIXED REALITY
Mixed reality refers to merging of real and digital realms in order to produce new environments where physical and digital objects co-exist and interact in real time. We consider this broadly, covering both purely virtual realities, as well as augmented reality, where the perception of the real-world is enhanced with digital content. With new technologies for capturing, modelling, simulating and tracking the reality and for producing realistic hybrids of the real and digital, this field provides immense opportunities for novel applications in all areas of life. The main focus on this track is on the interactions between technology and its users rather than the technological enablers. Therefore, we welcome submissions related to, e.g.:

• Prototypes of applications or devices for virtual or augmented reality
• Studies of user perceptions, user experience and acceptance of new mixed reality technology
• Methods and processes for producing mixed reality environments
• Augmenting human perception and activity with mixed reality technology
• User interface solutions for mixed reality interactions

MEDIA EDUCATION
Media and IT play an increasingly central, diverse and complex role in contemporary life from early age to adulthood. The essential focus of media education is on developing media literacy linked to information and communication technology in learning, media production and critical thinking in media saturated societies. This field is of keen relevance for the development of education curricula across all levels, and especially for children and young people today. The track encourages papers on, for example, conceptual developments, practical skills that are necessary for competence in the area, learning environments and, methodological discussions.

COLLABORATION AND MULTIMEDIA TECHNOLOGIES IN EDUCATION
Education is increasingly using tools and solutions to support learning and collaboration on mobile, online and distance platforms and with related applications. Furthermore, various types of multimedia technologies and solutions can be used in educational context.

We welcome submissions on the collaboration and multimedia technologies, platforms, solutions, and trials in mobile, online, and distance learning contexts as well as in developing and rural regions. Theoretical, methodological and empirical submissions are welcome on design, development, evaluation, and actual use of tools, solutions, and multimedia technologies and created data from lab to real-life context. The submissions can address contexts such as daycare, schools and higher education, as well as in professional development in continuing education, MOOCs, or in informal learning contexts. Learners’ or educators’ viewpoint, or the educational aspects and goals can also be covered in the submissions, for example.

CROWDSOURCING AND CITIZEN PARTICIPATION
Crowdsourcing and citizen participation have become part of everyday activities in media landscape. Crowds or citizens, can solve problems, create, contribute, share, and analyze multimedia content and data, participate and influence decision making. Crowds contributing to open data can enable creating innovative applications, new multimedia forms, novel business models and platforms by utilizing the emerging opportunities. This track welcomes submissions on using crowdsourcing and citizen participation in multimedia and open data landscape. Submissions can include design, development, evaluation and use of solutions and platforms and processes for supporting crowdsourcing and citizen participation. Topics related to the cross-section of multimedia or open data, and crowdsourcing or citizen participation, such as gamification, motivation, incentives, privacy, as well as design and evaluation by using crowdsourcing and citizen participation are welcome to this track.

OPEN DATA AND DATA SCIENCE
Accessing, creating, analysing and utilizing good-quality data plays a central role in the development of the digital economy. The exponential accumulation of data, both sensor-based and user-created, opens new avenues for applications in, for example, various industry sectors, science, management, E-Government and E-Learning, artificial intelligence, predictive analytics, and knowledge work. But what data is interesting and where does it come from? How to access it, analyse it, make sense of it, or to build applications or ecosystems based on it? We are looking for submissions that address the challenges and opportunities related to Open data, Data science and Big Data. The submissions can, e.g., introduce computational methods for analysing, visualizing or acquiring various types of data, envision opportunities for or present developed applications that utilize open data, describe and analyse new (open) data sets, or present procedures for extracting insight from various data. In addition to the usual scientific peer review criteria, the evaluation of submissions about new data sets includes novelty, design and availability. This track is organized in association with the W3C Finnish office.

NEW FORMS OF JOURNALISM AND MEDIA
The hottest topic in journalism and publishing industry in recent years has been the “mobile first” approach. This means that particularly in the news media focus has shift more and more from print or desktop-oriented publishing to mobile-first strategies. Smartphones and tablets enhanced with the publications presence in social media are now at the core as the news media tries to meet its audience and customers at first hand. Engaging the audience with the help of these new tools is increasingly important also for non-news media, such as traditional magazines.

This track focuses on new and emerging forms of creating, distributing and presenting journalism in this new era. We have an emphasis on visual forms of storytelling and engaging audiences. This doesn’t mean other forms or genres of journalism and media are excluded.

We welcome submissions related to, e.g. use of online video, multimedia and data visualization projects in journalism, news mobile services, innovative ways of utilizing time lapse, hyper lapse, web videos, metadata, interactivity and news games. We are particularly interested in papers discussing the use and experiences of augmented, mixed and virtual reality and omni-directional video in journalism and immersive storytelling.

THEATRE, PERFORMANCE AND MEDIA
Discussions on the mediatization of performance and the use of theories and methods of theatre
and performance studies in media research enable new analytic paths to questions of cultural activity and representation. Human actions in the media, and the automated, semi-automated or computer-controlled processes used in creative practices generate unforeseen modes of performativity. Consequently, the fields of art and media now promote a culture of participation that calls for critical notions of transformative identity, new forms of co-creation and open performative environments, as represented by the many platforms of social media and emerging forms of non-linear/non- human game play. As components of user-centered ecologies and economies, these mostly digital phenomena suggest a cultural milieu where communicative processes, environments of operation, and shared or individual experiences are constantly performed and re-performed (created) by their users. The theater, performance and media track welcomes papers that discuss (but are not necessarily limited to) the following topics:

• The use of media in performance
• Digital / non-digital / hybrid performance
• Performances in specific media environments
• The performative aspects of media
• Performances in video games and other virtual environments
• The use of Motion Capture and other real time technologies in performance
• Live streaming of theatre performances
• Non-human performativity

ENHANCING WORK IN SOCIO-TECHNOLOGICAL ENVIRONMENTS
The aim of the track is to present novel approaches on research of socio-digital working environments. The underlying theme is information ergonomics, yet it covers many disciplines and perspectives. The track welcomes methodological, theoretical and empirical papers on contemporary work settings.

CONFERENCE PUBLICATIONS
Academic Mindtrek is organized in cooperation with ACM SIGMM, and ACM SIGCHI. The conference proceedings will be published in the ACM Digital Library, which includes full papers, posters, workshop proposals and demonstration proposals. All papers should follow the style guidelines of the conference. In the Finnish classification of publication forums, Academic Mindtrek proceedings are classified as Jufo 1.

There will also be rewards for the best papers from the academic conference.

FULL PAPER PROPOSALS
All submissions will be peer-reviewed double blinded, therefore please remove any information that could give an indication of the authorship. The papers should contain 6-10 pages, including the list of references.

WORKSHOP PROPOSALS
Workshop proposals should be between 2-4 pages long. We welcome you to suggest workshops as part of the Academic Mindtrek. Workshop proposals should include the organizing committee, a description of the theme and goals of the workshop, a short CV of organizers, duration, and the schedule. Workshop organizers can create their own proceedings of the accepted position papers.

Depending on the attracted number of papers for each workshop, we provide space for either half-day or full-day workshops. Previous examples include e.g. a workshop on eLearning.

DEMONSTRATION PROPOSALS
Interactive experience demonstrator proposals should be either short papers (2-4 pages long) or full papers (6-10 pages) and include: a) a description and motivation of the interactive experience demonstrator; b) general architecture of the interactive experience demonstrator; c) description of the main features of the demonstrator; d) a brief comparison with other existing related interactive experience demonstrators; e) audio-visual materials to illustrate the interactive experience demonstrator (a poster or a roll-up and other material on a laptop, for example); f) the type of license (if applicable), g) the Internet address of the interactive experience demonstrator (if applicable), and h) description of the scientific basis behind the interactive experience demonstrator (e.g., a regular paper presentation). It is strongly recommended that the authors make a video of the interactive experience demonstrator available on the Internet to accompany the article submission.

POSTER PRESENTATIONS
Posters proposals should be between 2-4 pages long and a poster should be presented during the conference. Attendees have the possibility to exhibit their posters on a A0 poster wall during the conference.

SUBMISSION DEADLINES

June 27th, 2016: Deadline for full papers, posters, demonstrations and workshops submissions.

August 19th, 2016: Notification of acceptance/rejection.

August 26th, 2016: Conference registration & copyright forms submission.

September 2nd 2016: Camera-ready papers submission.

October 17th to 19th, 2016: Academic Mindtrek Conference 2016

ORGANIZING COMMITTEE

Academic Mindtrek Conference Chair
Markku Turunen, University of Tampere

Program Chair
Janne Paavilainen, University of Tampere

Proceedings
Silvia Rubio Hernandez, University of Tampere

Local Arrangement Chair and Conference Management
Olli Purma, COSS Association

Mindtrek Conference Chair
Timo Väliharju, COSS Association

LOCAL ORGANIZERS
Ossi Nykänen, Tampere University of Technology
Riku Roihankorpi, University of Tampere
Heli Väätäjä, Tampere University of Technology
Pekka Kallioniemi, SIGCHI Finland and University of Tampere
Thomas Olsson, SIGCHI Finland and Tampere University of Technology
Anssi Männistö, University of Tampere
Sirkku Kotilainen, University of Tampere
Mikko Kanninen, University of Tampere
Marleena Huuhka, University of Tampere

For more info, contact academic.info@mindtrek.org

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
Please use the templates provided on the style guidelines site. A template for .doc can be downloaded from https://www.acm.org/binaries/content/assets/publications/article-templates/pubform.docx and the LaTeX guidelines can be found in http://www.acm.org/sigs/publications/proceedings-templates .

Note that since the papers will be published by the ACM digital library all authors need to sign an ACM copyright form. For further guidelines please go to the ACM copyright form website (http://www.acm.org/publications/copyright_form). The copyright form would be sent through an automated system only for accepted papers.

You can start sending in your papers from April 15th onwards.

STAY INFORMED
Email: academic.info@mindtrek.org
Facebook: www.facebook.com/groups/AcademicMindTrekConference/

SUPPORTED BY
COSS Association, City of Tampere, Tampere University of Technology (TUT), Tampere University (UTA), Tampere University of Applied Sciences (TAMK) and SIGCHI Finland.

Money & Games blog note, #moneygames

A quick note about the Money & Games seminar, based on the first day: I was expecting the relationships between money and games to be diverse and rather complex field, and I was not disappointed by the seminar. The idea that game could be seen as a straightforward product that someone just builds, and then sells to someone else for a fixed sum of money is not how things play out – and, as the historical reviews of the seminar pointed out, is not that typical about how things have been in the past, either. For example, the entire era of game arcades was based on coin-operated games, where the economic incentive was to design for short, micropayment style transactions: every time the player failed, the was room for another coin to be spend (something that Sebastian Deterding’s ambitious “Toward Economic Platform Studies” paper and presentation was particularly emphasising). Value of games and monetary and time-based investments are intricately intertwined, and it is clear that e.g. putting a higher price tag on something can mean that pleyers are more likely to expect it to be of higher quality, or value, than a cheap game. Thus, setting the right price involves theorycrafting practice of game business economics of its own – or “valuecrafting”, like the paper presented by Mia Consalvo suggested about indie developers. Free-to-play business model and the associated monetization strategies were particularly discussed in the seminar, with several interesting case studies focusing on that, plus the more philosophically oriented paper by Olli Heimo et al. used it, plus industry advertising practices as a target of (Aristotelian) virtue ethics based criticism. There were comments expressed in the seminar that the political economy angle of the entire free-to-play sector would be something that would be valuable at this point. On the other hand, while Janne Paavilainen presented the first results from a detailed micro-ethnography in Armoured Warfare game, pointing out the multiple “dark design patterns” or manipulative tricks that tempt the free-riding player to become a paying player, Markus Montola was quick to point out that many of the analysed design choices actually sounded just like good, regular game design that is balanced and appropriately both challenges and rewards the player – and Janne agreed that Armoured Warfare is an example of good game design; free-to-play payments are just used to make an already good game to play even better. Great papers, presentations, and discussions, thanks everyone! Also, our invited commentators, Pauliina Raento and Juho Hamari, did excellent job in providing commentary and guidance, Pauliina also giving a keynote talk of her own about doing gambling studies, about the lessons she personally has learned from her history in this field, and that made the valuable point about importance of bridge building between isolated academic communities. – Link to the seminar program page: https://gamemoneyseminar.wordpress.com/program/

Dl. 27.1.: haku Internet- ja pelitutkimuksen maisteriopintoihin

Vielä suomenkielinen muistutus tästä internet- ja pelitutkimuksen maisteriopintomahdollisuudesta – ohjelmaan ovat siis tervetulleita hakemaan myös suomalaiset opiskelijat (opintosuorituksia voi tehdä myös suomeksi, vaikka opintokieli onkin kursseilla yleensä englanti). Kotimaisessa maisteriopintojen erillishaussa tälle IGS-linjalle ei voi enää muuten hakea, deadline on tosiaan nyt 27.1. Kiitos jos levitätte tietoa eteenpäin mahdollisesti kiinnostuneille tahoille.

Perustiedot englanniksi:

The application period is now open (until 27 January) for doing the Master’s Degree in Internet and Game Studies in the University of Tampere – if you want to work in your studies with the team of researchers and teachers at UTAgamelab, check out the information below:

Master’s Degree Programme in Internet and Game Studies aims to provide an in-depth view to the fundamental character and development of games and Internet. Games have grown into an important form of culture and human interaction, expanding from entertainment to other areas of life. Internet and social media form an increasingly vital part of communication, social life and distribution of media and services. Degree Programme in Internet and Game Studies is particularly targeted at the questions of analysis, design and application of online services and digital games from user- and culturally focused perspectives. The programme directs students to develop academic skills like critical thinking, scientific writing and carrying out research projects while encouraging active and comprehensive involvement with the practical processes and phenomena related to games and Internet.

The programme is offered by the School of Information Sciences. The school has high profile research groups that are focused on Internet and game studies. There has also been a long history of education in hypermedia and in Information Studies and Interactive Media that forms the basis of this degree programme.

Graduates typically combine the skills and knowledge derived from Degree Programme in Internet and Game Studies with studies and proficiencies that enable them to work as experts of games and Internet in various professional roles, in research, public sector as well as in industry. The need for knowledgeable workforce is growing in the fields related to games and interactive media, but the students should adopt an active attitude in fashioning their own specific area of expertise and professional profile. The possible jobs of graduates include researchers, developers, critics and specialists working with the interpretation, evaluation or implementation of games and social media.

More about admission: http://www.uta.fi/admissions/degreeprog/programmes/igs.html

More about IGS programme: http://www.uta.fi/admissions/degreeprog/programmes/igs.html

Short history of game studies in UTA: http://gameresearchlab.uta.fi/history/

Some featured alumni from IGS and UTAgamelab: http://gameresearchlab.uta.fi/igs-alumni/

Also, feel free to send us mail, if you want further information;

– Frans Mäyrä (frans.mayra at uta.fi / 050 336 7650)

Year in review – my 2015 in game studies

The year 2015 was a busy year, and hard to summarise as it feels like there never really was any time to stop and reflect; thus I welcome this short review note as such opportunity. Much of my time this year was spent on administrative things, related processes, projects, work contracts and plans of restructuring at the multiple levels of the Finnish university system, Tampere 3 university fusion, internal University of Tampere structures, the School of Information Sciences, our degree programmes and the IGS master’s degree programme, TRIM as the research centre and our Game Research Lab, and its individual research projects and other work.

In terms of published research, it was delightful to follow how many interesting book projects were finished and came out during 2015 (many of these are already out and available, even if their official publication year is 2016). Particularly the Routledge Advances in Game Studies series was in high gear, as several important research volumes were published there; my research articles were included in The Dark Side of Game Play, The Video Game Debate and Video Game Policy books. (There were other important books in the series, too, including Rachel Kowert’s Video Games and Social Competence, and Ashley ML Brown’s Sexuality in Role-Playing Games.) For more, see: https://www.routledge.com/series/RAIGS My own work included analysing the subversive uses of chidren’s games, exploring the gaming communities, and (together with Gareth Schott) re-conceptualizing game violence.

In other published work, I was proud to be part of the editorial board of Finnish Yearbook of Game Studies (Pelitutkimuksen vuosikirja; with the new editor-in-chief Raine Koskimaa), have in-depth analyses of our game researcher survey study come out in esteemed Journal of Communication (Thorsten Quandt, Jan Van Looy as the main authors in this article). I also published a historically oriented overview of Finnish games and game culture in the Video Games Around the World volume, edited by the amazingly productive Mark Wolf for the MIT Press. I also wrote an article exploring the character and development of mobile games that was published in the International Encyclopedia of Digital Communication & Society (Wiley-Blackwell). Last but not least, the long-waited book, Playful Identities: The Ludification of Digital Media Cultures came out from Amsterdam University Press. My piece there deals with the culture and identity of casual online play.

Our research team’s work in 2015 again covered a large part of the games, player experiences, design research and game cultures landscapes. Our particular emphasis is on the emerging and transforming aspects of these, multiple and interconnected phenomena and research topics. In 2015 we wrapped up the research projects Hybridex – The User Experience in the Future Playful Hybrid Services and Free2Play – Best Practices for Free-to-Play Game Services. Some of the research publications, including the full final reports from these projects are still coming out, but you can find some of this work at: https://free2playproject.wordpress.com/publications/ and https://hybridex.wordpress.com/ . Our work in the emerging, and newly re-configured borderlines of physical and digital dimensions in play also included also practical design experiments in the TSR funded OASIS research that studied intermixing of work and play, as well as with the playful MurMur chairs (originating from the Hybridex project). Featured in local as well as in international media, such practical implementations of fundamental research particularly appear to attract the attention of wider audiences. The high-quality research on gamification was also getting wider notice this year, including many publications that were coming out from Koukku, Neuroeconomics of Gaming and Free2Play research projects on this theme. Many thanks to all members of our research team, from these, as well as other research projects.

Much of such research that includes direct applications and links with games industry and other end user or interest groups were funded by Tekes, the Finnish Funding Agency for Innovation, as well as by various industry partners. Many thanks to all our collaborating partners, and Tekes in particular for their interest and belief in the significance of games and games related research. The Skene games programme ended in 2015, but everyone very much hopes that the huge funding cuts to Tekes, Academy of Finland and directly to the basic funding of Finnish universities does not stop work in themes that are important for the advancement of fundamental knowledge, cultural richness, and capacity for innovation – be those related to arts, technology, humanities, social sciences or e.g. human well-being (studies of games, play, gamification and playfulness relate and touch upon all those research areas).

Our work continues in active mode also in 2016, thanks to two new Tekes research projects (Hybrid Social Play; STREAM/eSports), the Academy of Finland funded Ludification of Culture and Society project, and other ongoing work that is based on individual research grants that members of our research teams have won, as well as other continuing research projects. There are many important themes that are logical continuation of the earlier work we have done (and I have probably forgot to mention many important achievements above), but there are also new innovations and expansions into new areas that are going on. Directing my time and energy into new research on e.g. hybrid play applications while simultaneously participating in other ongoing work will probably mean that in 2016 there will not be as many publications coming out from myself, but that is part of the natural rhythm, ebb and flow of academic life. It is also important that the new tenure-track associate professor in game culture studies position, announded in summer 2015, will be filled hopefully in early 2016. We are also joining forces among the Finnish game scholars to have more supportive structures and collaborative initiatives to start in 2016.

Again: many thanks for everyone in our team, project collaborators and international friends who have made 2015 such a successful and productive year – wishing you all the best, and hoping to make 2016 also a great year together!

Edit: Oh yes – Jaakko Stenros defending his PhD thesis should of course be mentioned here; every doctoral dissertation from our research team is a major milestone!

CFP: CHI PLAY 2016

CHI PLAY 2016

The 3rd ACM SIGCHI Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play
http://chiplay.acm.org
Twitter: #chiplay
Austin, Texas
October 16 – 19, 2016

CHI PLAY is an international and interdisciplinary conference (by ACM SIGCHI) for researchers and professionals across all areas of play, games and human-computer interaction (HCI). We call this area “player-computer interaction.” The goal of the conference is to highlight and foster discussion of current high quality research in games and HCI as foundations for the future of digital play. To this end, the conference will feature streams that blend academic research and games with research papers, interactive demos, and industry case studies. CHI PLAY grew out of the increasing work around games and play emerging from the ACM annual conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI) as well as smaller conferences such as Fun and Games and Gamification. CHI PLAY is sponsored by the ACM Special Interest Group for Computer-Human Interaction (SIGCHI).

Submission Deadlines:

– April 18, 2016: Full papers
– May 27, 2016: Workshop and course proposals, Student game competition
– July 15, 2016: Doctoral consortium, industry case studies, and works-in-progress

As a SIGCHI-sponsored conference, CHI PLAY will consider submissions related to games and play. We encourage submissions on novel and innovative game interactions and mechanics and acknowledge that contributions on systems research may involve less extensive evaluation than more traditional research papers. We welcome submissions from all topics in interactive game research that are relevant to player-computer interaction, including but not limited to the following:

  • Game Interaction
  • Novel Game Control Novel Implementation Techniques that Affect Player Experience
  • Evaluation of Feedback and Display Technologies for Games
  • Gamification
  • Neurogaming
  • Persuasive Games
  • Games for Health, Learning and Change
  • Exertion Games
  • Player Experience
  • Virtual and Augmented Reality Games
  • Games User Research
  • Game Evaluation Methods
  • Psychology of Players and Games
  • Player Typologies
  • Accessible and Inclusive Game Design
  • Novel Game Mechanics Impacting Player Experience
  • Casual Game Design Studies
  • Social Game Experiences
  • Serious Games
  • Alternate Reality Games
  • Tools for Game Creation
  • Developer Experiences and Studies of Developers
  • Industry Case Studies

Although we are interested in papers on the effects of various technologies, software, or algorithms on player or developer experience, technical contributions without clear indications of the impact on players or developers are not within the scope of CHI PLAY. – See more at: http://chiplay.acm.org/submissions/#sthash.5WF9f5fG.dpuf

CFP: DiGRA/FDG 2016

Please spread the word:

CFP DiGRA/FDG 2016 – 1st Joint International Conference of DiGRA and FDG

For the first time, the Digital Games Research Association (DiGRA) and the Foundation of Digital Games (FDG) will partner in an unprecedented gathering of games researchers. We invite researchers and educators within game research, broadly construed, to submit their work.

For more information, please visit the conference’s website: www.digra-fdg2016.org

Tracks

DiGRA/FDG aims at being a venue for game research from all research disciplines. In line with this, it accepts and encourages submissions in the following six tracks, on a wide range of subjects including, but not limited to:

  • Game design: Design techniques, practices, methods, post mortems, etc.
  • Game criticism and analysis: Close readings, ontologies and frameworks, historical studies, philosophical explorations, and other humanities-informed approaches
  • Play studies + Interaction and player experience: studies of play, observations and interviews of players, and research based on other methods from the social sciences; game interfaces, player metrics, modeling player experience
  • Artificial intelligence: agents, motion/camera planning, navigation, adaptivity, procedural content generation, dialog, authoring tools, general game playing
  • Game technology: engines, frameworks, graphics, networking, animation
  • Game production: studies of game production processes, studio studies, software studies, platform studies and software engineering

Due to the interdisciplinary nature of the DiGRA/FDG conference, authors and reviewers alike will be required to describe their research background and field of study as part of the submission process. The intention for this is to help reviewers be conscious of when they are reviewing work outside their own field as well as making clear the proportions of contributing fields.

Submission categories

DiGRA/FDG 2016 supports two different categories for submitting research:

  • Full Papers (no more than 16 pages)
  • Extended Abstracts with a maximum length of 2-pages

This structure reflects the cross-disciplinary nature and different conference traditions of the conference attendants. A full paper submission is recommended for completed research work, in particular empirical or technical work. The extended abstract format is suitable for discussion topics and ideas. Both full papers and abstracts are subject to a double-blind review process. These two categories are the only ones that will be published in DiGRA’s digital library.

Deadlines full papers and extended abstracts

Submission deadline

  • January 29 2016 (hard deadline)

Acceptance/rejection notification

  • March 21 2016

Rebuttals

  • March 25 2016

Notification of final decisions

  • March 31 2016

Camera ready

  • April 29 2016

In addition to this, DiGRA/FDG 2016 accepts submissions for:

  • Events with a maximum length of 2-page abstract
  • Panels with a maximum length of 2-page abstract

These are curated by the local organizers and do not go through an anonymized process.

Deadlines panels and events

Submission deadline

  • January 29 2016 (hard deadline)

Acceptance/rejection notification

  • March 21 2016

Camera ready

  • April 29 2016

Some work does not fit as paper presentations due to its nature or research maturity. For this, DiGRA/FDG 2016 is open to submission to the following categories:

  • Posters with a maximum length of 2-page abstract
  • Demos with a maximum length of 2-page abstract

These categories have late deadlines to allow the most recent research and results to be submitted.

Deadlines posters and demos

Submission deadline

  • April 8 2016 (hard deadline)

Acceptance/rejection notification

  • May 9 2016

Camera ready

  • May 23 2016

DiGRA/FDG 2016 provides a doctoral consortium for PhD students. Those interested in attending this should submit a position paper in the extended abstract format with a maximum length of 2 pages.

Deadlines doctoral consortium

Submission deadline

  • April 22 2016 (hard deadline)

Acceptance/rejection notification

  • May 9 2016

DiGRA/FDG 2016 also welcomes submissions to arrange workshops. These have an earlier deadline than other submission to support workshops that wish to have their own peer reviewing process for submissions. These should be submitted as extended abstracts with a maximum length of 2 pages. Please submit workshop proposals by email to the three program chairs, and place “[FDG/DiGRA 2016 Workshop Submission]” in the subject line.

Deadlines workshops

Submission deadlines

  • November 16 2015 (hard deadline)

Acceptance/rejection notification

  • December 11 2015

Location & Date

  • August 1-6 2016
  • The School of Arts, Media and Computer Games, Abertay University
  • Dundee, Scotland, UK

For more information see: www.digra-fdg2016.org

Program Chairs

 

Skene: loppuseminaari

[I will be speaking in the final seminar of Skene r&d-program about the basic research and innovations in games tomorrow in Helsinki] Huomenna on Helsingissä Tekesin pelialan Skene-ohjelman päätösseminaari. Oma alustukseni on otsikoltaan “Pelitutkimus: yhteistyöllä innovaatioita ja tieteen huippuja”. Tapahtumassa on mukana vahva kattaus pelialan osaamista ja toimijoita – tapahtuman ohjelma löytyy täältä: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/tekes-skene-ohjelman-loppuseminaari-registration-18162678059.

Clash of Realities, keynote

Next week, I will be in Cologne, presenting a keynote in the fascinating Clash of Realities conference. My title is “Playful Culture: Are We Undergoing a Ludic Turn?” Other speakers include e.g. Janet Murray, Jussi Holopainen and Rachel Kowert. More at: http://www.clashofrealities.com/.