[Air-l] CFP: Gamers in Society Seminar, April 17-18, 2007

[Olli Sotamaa]

Hi,

I thought some of you might find this interesting. Feel free to  
distribute the call as you see fit.

bw,

Olli Sotamaa
MA, PhD Student
Media Culture, University of Tampere


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CFP: Gamers in Society Seminar

Gamers in Society, Play in Culture
The Third Annual Game Studies Seminar
organised by the University of Tampere Game Research Lab
April 17-18, 2007, Tampere, Finland

The social aspects of digital gaming are gaining increasing attention by
academics, game developers and media alike. Popular controversy on the
supposedly detrimental effects of games are countered by growing
attention to the social value and cultural significance that
contemporary games present to their players. New research is probing the
precise roles games and playing occupy in the lives of various groups
and individuals, producing interesting data about the multiple domains
of life within information technology saturated societies.
Simultaneously this kind of socio-cultural studies of game players
require novel approaches into existing theories and methodologies in
human sciences, informed by dialogue within the emerging field of game
studies.

Gamers in Society seminar invites presentations on this
multidisciplinary and dynamic field; the seminar is third in the annual
series of game studies working seminars organised by the Games Research
Lab in the University of Tampere. The list of possible presentation
topics includes, but is not limited to:

•	ethnographic studies of particular groups of game players
•	studies about social networks or communities created around, or within
games
•	research into the social roles and dynamics within such game communities
•	inquiries into the everyday uses and social significance of games
•	studies into issues related with status, value and social norms that
govern the position of games and gamers within the wider context of
contemporary society
•	demographic studies mapping the time, money or other investments into
games by various parts of the population
•	studies discussing the concept of game culture, or applying cultural
and social approach into game studies

Due to the work-in-progress emphasis, we strongly encourage submitting
late breaking results, working papers and/or submissions from graduate
students. Early considerations from projects currently in progress are
most welcome, as the purpose of the seminar is to have peer-to-peer
discussions and thereby provide support in refining and improving
research work in this area. After the seminar, a printed publication may
be edited from the final versions of the selected papers of the seminar,
or they might be published within an electronic repository such as the
DiGRA digital library. However, all such publication plans are finally
subject to discussions and agreement among the seminar participants.

The papers to be presented will be chosen based on abstract review. Full
papers are submitted prior the event to all participants, in order to
facilitate discussion.

The two-day event consists of themed sessions that aim to introduce
current research projects and discuss ongoing work in social and
cultural study of players. The seminar will be chaired by professor
Frans Mäyrä (Hypermedia Laboratory, University of Tampere). Paper
commentators include associate professor T.L. Taylor, the author of Play
Between Worlds: Exploring Online Game Culture (The MIT Press, 2006).

The seminar will be held in Tampere, Finland and will be free of charge;
the number of participants will be restricted.

Important Dates

Abstract Deadline	January 15th, 2007
Notification of Acceptance	January 30, 2007
Full Paper	March 31, 2007
Seminar	April 17-18, 2007

Submission Guidelines

Abstract submissions should range from 800 to 1.000 words + references.
Abstracts should be send to info-gamestudies at uta.fi as plain text only
(no attachments). Guidelines for submitting a full seminar paper will be
provided with the notification of acceptance.

As the seminar is intended as a relatively informal forum for
discussion, no strict length restrictions apply for the full papers; the
scope of the papers may vary from 3.000 to 8.000 words. If the selected
works are published after the seminar, further guidelines will be
provided in the editorial process.

The presentations held at the seminar should also encourage discussion,
instead of only repeating the information presented in the papers.
Tentatively every paper will be presented for 10 minutes and discussed
for 20 minutes.

Contacts, seminar organising team

Frans Mäyrä, tel. +358 50 336 7650
Olli Sotamaa
Jaakko Stenros
Annakaisa Kultima

firstname.lastname at uta.fi
http://gamelab.uta.fi/socialgamer-seminar/