Nordic DiGRA 2018 Call for Papers

“Subversion, Transgression, and Controversy in Play”

University of Bergen, Norway, Nov 28-30, 2018

Video games have a reputation of being rebellious, often being the target of controversies and criticism for their inclusion of excessive and speculative content, as well as for the opportunities for players to engage in subversive practices. Today video games are no longer a subcultural medium, but are addressing the mainstream as well as diverse subcultures. Also, analogue genres such as board games and role-playing games are becoming more visible for a broader audience. As games mature as a medium, there is also a growing expectation that games should be able to tackle difficult content in a meaningful way, for instance by provoking the player into reflecting upon what they have just encountered, what it means and how they feel about it in the context of play. In this conference, we are focusing on subversive play practices, the engagement with controversial topics, and the debate about games and the freedom of expression.

This call has focus on subversion, transgression, and controversy in games and play but also invites submissions on a range of topics relating to research on both digital and analogue games, including, but not limited to the following:

•   Game cultures
•   Player studies
•   Minority gamers
•   Gender and gaming
•   Games and freedom of expression
•   Games and representation
•   Game content
•   Research methods
•   Game controversies
•   Subversive gameplay practices
•   Game design
•   Game journalism
•   Game production and industry studies

Review process: The conference accepts the following submissions:

• full papers(4000-6000 words excluding references), which will be handled in blind peer review.
• extended abstracts (800-1000 words excluding references)
• workshop proposals (800-1000 words excluding references)
• panels of 3-5 presenters (800-1000 words excluding references per participant, with a 100-word biography of each participant)

Full papers and extended abstracts will be subject to a double-blind peer review. Panels and workshops will be reviewed by the organizing committee. All submissions must use the Nordic DiGRA 2018 submission template. All word and page limits exclude references, and references are expected for full papers and extended abstracts.

All submissions will be handled through Easychair.org, which will be opened for submissions to DiGRA Nordic 2018 no later than June 01, 2018.

Deadline for all submissions is August 13, 2018.

Conference dates:

November 28-30, 2018, Bergen, Norway

Conference committee:

Nordic DiGRA chairs: Harko Verhagen (Stockholm University), Petri Lankoski (Södertörn University)

Local chairs: Kristine Jørgensen (University of Bergen), Jaroslav Svelch (University of Bergen)

Review chairs: Holger Pötzsch (University of Tromsø), Doris C. Rusch (DePaul University), with Staffan Björk (Gothenburg University/Chalmers University of Technology)