11.4. – 12.4.2014 in Lueneburg.
By the Gamification Lab and the Working Group Games (AG Games) of the German Society for Media Studies (GfM)
The history of Game Studies is as short as eventful. It already encompasses a multitude of completely different approaches, methods and research perspectives of increasing divergence. Despite numerous institutionalizations, consolidations, and a rapid growth in publications, the field of computer games research still appears diffuse and maybe even chaotic.
It therefore is time to look back and to do some inventory work: Which topics dominate Game Studies? Which interdisciplinary cooperations have been fruitful? What follows from the growing divergence of the research field (e.g. Serious Games, Gamification, Casual Gaming)? What’s the relationship between Game Studies and Game Design; what the one between research and industry? How did the new mass medium of computer games influence other academic disciplines? What is the effect of Game Studies on other fields of research? Are Game Studies just a symptom of the proclaimed “ludic turn” or its very paradigm? What are the answers Game Studies can give to questions raised by the phenomenon and techniques of Gamification? How can Game Studies contribute to the analysis of the epistemological shift caused by the ubiquitous use of computer simulations in the hard and social sciences? What are the hot topics of today and tomorrow? Which perspectives have proven to be productive, which to be dead ends?
The workshop will gather German and international Game Studies scholars in order to discuss these questions. It will consist out of two parts:
On Friday (11.4.) morning and afternoon, the field of and challenges for German Game Studies will be mapped via presentations and discussion in German.
The second part starts on Friday evening with an international keynote by Espen Aarseth on the development of Game Studies and will continue on Saturday (12.4.) morning with an extended discussion in English. Topics will be the differences between German Game Studies and the English discourse, possibilities and chances to connect them, and the challenges and opportunities both have to face today.
If you want to participate with a presentation, please send a short abstract (1.000 words) until the 10th March 2014 to: workshop2014@ag-games.de
If you want to participate as a guest, please register until the 31th March 2014.
We are looking forward to meeting you in Lueneburg!
The Gamification Lab