[Air-L] Call for Participation: Games and Sustainability (CGSA Pre-conference)

[Scott DeJong]

Hello,

Please see the CFP for this hybrid 1-day conference happening in Montreal
on June 10.

Location: Concordia University 4th Space / Online

Date: June 10, 2026

Time: 10:30am to 5:30pm (Depending on the number of submissions, organizers
may  also schedule an online event June 9.)

Website: To be updated - https://www.badgamearcade.ca/

How are games and sustainability intertwined? Or broken? Serious games
offer a chance to educate, express, and intervene, where play becomes a
tool for comprehension and exploration.

In a climate-shifting world, we see game makers and players expressing
climate anxieties about the impact of human industry on our globe. We see
games and their play explore  a variety of narrative themes and design
tactics around sustainability. Titles like Daybreak demonstrate the
complexity of climate action, game makers are building games running on
renewable energy, and others are using games to illustrate how related
themes (climate misinformation, overconsumption) are contributing to
climate harms.

The theme of this year’s Serious Game Arcade is Games and Sustainability,
asking how games can seriously help to build sustainable and regenerative
futures. We are taking a broad approach to the concept. We are accepting
contributions that  ranging from how games can model sustainable practices
or improve science literacy to how they represent living through the
climate crisis, as well as how game makers tackle the nuanced challenges of
sustainable game design.

This event is a chance to talk, share, and explore how games and
sustainability intertwine. Unlike other academic conferences, it’s a chance
to workshop ideas, share prototypes, and talk about the larger questions
many of us face in the world of serious games. The program is open to:


   1.

   Completed Interactive Projects: From games to controllers or servers, we
   will offer a space at the event to showcase your work.
   2.

   Design Work in Progress: We love works in progress, and are happy to
   provide you with an opportunity to get feedback from other game makers,
   industry experts, and academics.
   3.

   Short Research Abstracts: We invite you to share abstracts on your
   research so we can curate roundtables on the challenges and emerging
   directions of serious games.

We invite anyone working or researching in the space of serious games to
apply, and encourage any CGSA conference participant to arrive a day early
and check out this compelling and interactive program. This event will be
entirely free and recorded, and hybrid participation is welcome. We are
accepting all serious games submissions, but we will prioritize titles that
align with the theme.

Submission Criteria

Please use this form to submit
<https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdWG--8l3yA63zXqYcMgfDj1fGZ_8jjMbRwnZjKbY0AdnevnA/viewform?usp=header>
an abstract or summary of your game (~300 words).
<https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdWG--8l3yA63zXqYcMgfDj1fGZ_8jjMbRwnZjKbY0AdnevnA/viewform?usp=header>
Be sure to list any needs you might have for showcasing your work.

If you have any questions or issues, please reach out to Scott DeJong (
scottbdejong at gmail.com).

Please submit your expression of interest no later than March 20, 2026

Any questions, please reach out.

Best,
Scott
-- 
*Scott DeJong*
Communications PhD Candidate
<https://www.concordia.ca/content/shared/en/profiles/artsci/coms/phd/scott-dejong.html?c=/artsci/coms/research/graduate-profiles/phd-bios>
Twitter <https://x.com/SWBdejong>/ LinkedIn
<https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-dejong-204a9519b/>/ Personal Website
<https://www.scottbdejong.ca/> / Instagram
<https://www.instagram.com/dejong_scott/> / BlueSky
<https://bsky.app/profile/scottdejong.bsky.social>
Games: Lizards and Lies <https://www.lizardsandlies.ca/>, The Feed
<https://www.thefeedgame.com/>,
Check out my most recent publications here
<https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=9puMhRAAAAAJ&view_op=list_works&sortby=pubdate>
.