Gaming and Gameness: Relating Avatars, Bodies, Perceptions, Actions, Virtualities, and Materialities in Computer Games

Date: 22-24 November 2010
Course Venue: The scenic Sandbjerg Gods Conference Centre, Denmark:
http://www.sandbjerg.dk/eng/welcome.aspx

Confirmed Keynote Speakers:

• Associate Professor Espen Aarseth, Center for Computer Games Research, IT University of Copenhagen, Denmark
• Associate Professor Christian Ulrik Andersen, Department of Information and Media Studies, University of Aarhus, Denmark
• Ph.D. Fellow Stine Ejsing Dunn, Center for Playware, The Danish School of Education, Denmark
• Professor Charles Ess, Guest Professor at Department of Information and Media Studies, University of Aarhus, Denmark
• Senior Lecturer Dr Graeme Kirkpatrick, School of Social Sciences, University of Manchester, United Kingdom
• Associate Professor Jonas Linderoth, Department of Education, University of Gothenburg, Sweden

Abstract:

Aarhus University will in collaboration with FMKJ (The Danish Research School for Media, Communication, and Journalism) be offering a PhD course entitled “Gaming and Gameness: Relating Avatars, Bodies, Perceptions, Actions, Virtualities, and Materialities in Computer Games”. The course puts emphasis on the connections between player body and player avatar, materiality and virtuality, material input-devices and digital interfaces; trying neither to privilege the mind over the body nor the body over the mind. The goal is, by calling attention to these relations, to add new perspectives to the established stances in game research, and to explore the complexity of the connections between the game as physical and cultural activity and the player as a unified mind-body in the world. The body and actions of the player, the tools involved, the gameworld, and the form itself cannot be understood independently of one another; computer games is the coming together of all these elements in the game and in gaming. By seeing games and gaming in this alternative framework, we are maybe able to see new ways forward for contemporary games research that involve a richer and more nuanced development of its form. (For further details see http://fmkj.dk/?p=1849)

The intended participants are PhD students researching computer games, gaming, and/or gamers. The course will be relevant for PhD students theorizing about the concept/definition of games and/or gaming, analyzing the structure of games and gaming, or doing empirical research on games, gaming, and/or gamers. Contributions relating to any or all of the programs three tracks (see below) are welcome.

Course format:
Seminar alternating between presentations by senior lectures, paper presentations by PhD students, and feedback sessions from senior lectures and PhD students.

Organizers:
PhD Fellow Rikke Toft Nørgård & PhD Fellow Henrik Smed Nielsen, Department of Information and Media Studies, University of Aarhus, Denmark (Adviser: Associate Professor Christian Ulrik Andersen, Department of Information and Media Studies, University of Aarhus, Denmark)

Course enrolment and application deadline:
The course application, including a 1-page paper outline, should be sent by email no later than 1 August 2010 to the FMKJ office at [email protected]  Participants who want to present a paper (ca. 10 pages) for feedback must submit the paper no later than 1 October 2010. Papers will be made available to other course participants on the course site in the weeks prior to the course, and will then be deleted. Participants who prefer to distribute their paper directly to the other participants should organize this with the FMKJ secretary. Registration form available at http://www.fmkj.ruc.dk/eng/skemaer/

Provisional program:

Day 1: The In-Game and Onscreen

• The Aesthetic Interface
• Avatars as Roles, Tools and Props & In-game Action and Experience
• The (Phenomenology of the) In-game and On-screen
• 5 PhD Students Presentations and Feedback
• Social Event + Dinner

Day 2: The In-World and Offscreen

• Physical Interfaces, Tools and Bodily Interactions
• The Kin-Aesthetic of Computer Games
• Bodily Experience and Computer Games
• 5 PhD Students Presentations and Feedback
• Social Event: Physical Games and Dinner

Day 3: Relations; Bodies In-World and Avatars In-Game; Onscreen Virtuality and Offscreen Materiality

• Relating Materiality and Virtuality, Offscreen and Onscreen
• Relating Bodily Action and Embodied Action
• 5 PhD Students Presentations and Feedback
• Conclusions and Wrap Up

Please feel free to distribute widely and contact us with any questions.

We are looking forward to your visit and to an inspiring course

Greetings,

Christian Ulrik Andersen, Rikke Toft Noergaard and Henrik Smed Nielsen Department of Information and Media Science, Aarhus University, Denmark

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