[Air-L] CFP: Games & Culture Special Issue on Casual Games

[Paul, Christopher]

CALL FOR PAPERS
GAMES & CULTURE
SPECIAL ISSUE: CASUAL GAMES AND GAMING
Editors:
Shira Chess, University of Georgia (schess at uga.edu<mailto:schess at uga.edu>)
Christopher A. Paul, Seattle University (paulc at seattleu.edu<mailto:paulc at seattleu.edu>)
Call for Papers:
As the video game medium continues to shift, the casual games market has grown increasingly robust.  In "casual" we are referring to games meant to be played in short bursts of time, are inexpensive or free, require minimal expertise on the part of the player, and are typically played on mobile devices and computers.  The texts, genres, audiences, and industries of these games has grown exponentially in the past decade.
Given these shifts in platform and style, this special issue seeks to push at research within the casual games market. Juul's foundational work A Casual Revolution: Reinventing Video Games and Their Players (2010) helped establish much of the groundwork in this area. Further research continues to suggest the need to use a variety of methodological approaches to capture the often-ephemeral nature of the casual games market and its players (Leaver & Willson, 2015). Possible areas of investigation could include (but are not limited to):

*      Historicizing the term "casual"

*      Analysis of the casual/hardcore breakdown

*      Methodological approaches to casual games

*      Analysis of specific casual genres (Time Management, Hidden Object, Invest/Express, Puzzle, etc.)

*      Audience studies on casual games

*      Industry and studies in casual

*      Formal/textual analysis of specific casual games

*      Research on mobile games
We are looking for new voices and innovative research that push the boundaries of casual. We are happy to give some basic feedback on abstracts pre-submission.
Deadline & Submission Information
Essays are due by October 10, 2017.
Final essays should be 6000 words or less, including references and should use APA style (5th edition). Submissions should be posted to Manuscript Central portal, at http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/games.  When submitting, please be sure to submit as a "special issue for casual games."
If you have questions, please contact us at schess at uga.edu<mailto:schess at uga.edu> or paulc at seattleu.edu<mailto:paulc at seattleu.edu>


Dr. Christopher A. Paul
Associate Professor and Chair
Communication Department
Seattle University
paulc at seattleu.edu