Theme: Players and their material cultures
Keynotes: Torill Elvira Mortensen, Jaakko Stenros, Ignacy Trzewiczek
The understanding of ludic phenomena should not be limited to the investigation of hardware and software components of digital games. It needs to include the study of culture, discourses and paratexts in a broad ludic field including not only digital game artifacts, but also phenomena such as tabletop RPG games, LARPs, board games, ARGs, parlour games, and other forms of non-digital play, as well as numerous communities involved in their making.
This year, the scope of the conference is twofold, as we are aiming to go beyond digital games and explore the areas of player cultures and of non-digital games. Player cultures vary in their reach, goals, and political agendas. They also constitute an important part of the contemporary media landscape intertwined with social media platforms, which have influenced the cultures’ formation, codes of conduct, and their ever-increasing social impact. Non-digital games are of equal importance. From the simplest children’s play to the most complex tabletop wargames, not only do they serve as predecessors of the digital gaming paradigm, but they also remain very much alive and relevant, connecting contemporary ludic activities to similar pastimes from time immemorial.
The sixth annual CEEGS conference invites scholars and practitioners to join a discussion on issues concerning players and their material cultures, including various forms of ludic practices, board games, tabletop and live action role-playing games, as well as all forms of digital play. We are equally interested in people and their creations, fandoms and their rituals, forms of communication inside and outside of the realm of social media, and performative and transgressive player behaviours. We also invite inquiries on non-digital games and non-digital ludic activities, both contemporary and historical.
We welcome contributions exploring digital and non-digital forms of play and player cultures from any disciplinary perspective, including – but not limited to – the following topics:
- player discourse on games and gameplay
- platforms for player communication: streamings, video and beyond
- player reception of ludic expressions
- player fanworks: mods, wikis, walkthroughs, machinimas
- discourses of and around games: games and their socio-political environments
- the relationship between player communities and game industries
- lusory attitude in non-game environments
- cultures of play in the institutional context: from scouting to RPG clubs
- (cor)relations between digital and non-digital games
- technology and materiality of play
- game environments, from digital to spatial
- historical perspectives on non-digital games
- local and regional histories and discourses on non-digital games
- locally created digital and non-digital games
- (non-)digital game analysis
- forgotten (non-)digital games of the past
- (non-)digital games as tools for education and social activism
- cultural depictions of (non-)digital games and play
- (non-)digital games as material artifacts
- (non-)digital games as works of art
- (non-)digital game design
- production and distribution of (non-)digital games between crowdfunding and global industry