Programme

 

MONDAY  JULY 10 10:00   Welcome
‘Framework’ 1010 Ben Abraham and Darshana Jayemanne Case Study: Developing a typology of ecological models in games
1040 Marcus Carter Constructing Multiplayer Games
1110 MORNING BREAK  
1140 Iain Hart Icarus gets new wings: The death and rebirth of Microsoft Flight

 

1210 Arseniy Deriglazov Ludology Meets Narratology: Conceptualizing the Ludonarrative

 

1240-1340 LUNCH  Optional Heritage Walking Tour of The University of Sydney
‘Technique’ 1340 Rune KL Nielsen What would a smart person do? An essay on the perplexing experience of researching something that one does not belief to exist

 

1410 Lars de Wildt and Stef Aupers Re-Learning Stupidity, Unlearning Games & Interviewing Well

 

1440 AFTERNOON BREAK
‘Embodiment’ 1510 Ben Egliston Exploring technics through Twitch and YouTube: Broadcast videogame platforms as visual method
1540 John Tonkin The genesis of a participant/player: interactive installation art as a site of practice based research
1610 Melissa Rogerson, Martin Gibbs, and Wally Smith

 

Using gaze data in understanding tabletop boardgame play
17:30-10:00 PARTY  

 

 

TUESDAY  JULY 11  
Situated play’ 1000 Kyle Moore Playful Ethnographic Encounters: A Method for Location-Based Gaming

 

1030 Jacob Grice Playing Life as a Gaymer: An Ethnographic Study of Sydney’s Queer Gaming Groups

 

1100 MORNING BREAK  
1130 Thiago Falcao Agency, The Fact of the Matter: Reassessing the Social Fabric of Endgame Raiding Guilds

 

1200 Rene Glas and Jasper van Vught Considering play: From method to analysis

 

1230-1330 LUNCH  
1330   Book activity/workshop
1430 AFTERNOON BREAK
1500 Closing remarks

 

Submitting

Submissions are due April 17. Authors will be notified by April 24.

Submissions should be no more than 1,200 words, excluding references. Submissions can be made via EasyChair.

The symposium will be free, but all attendees must register.

International delegates planning their trip to Australia around DiGRA 2017 are invited to apply for early registration to confirm their travel plans prior to booking flights. Please contact <mahli.ann.butt (at) gmail.com>.

Attending

The Games Research Methods Symposium will be held at The University of Sydney in the heritage listed Main Quadrangle (pictured), in The Old Refectory (Google Maps Link).

There will be an informal social event on the evening of July 10 with light catering.

Registration is free, please contact Marcus Carter <marcus.carter@sydney.edu.au>

There are numerous hotels, hostels and AirBnB properties near The University of Sydney within short distance of the conference venue. The University of Sydney is easily accessed via public transport.

If you have any further questions regarding the venue or staying in Sydney, please contact Mahli-Ann Butt <mahli.ann.butt (at) gmail.com>.

Committee

Local Committee

Marcus Carter, The University of Sydney
Kyle Moore, The University of Sydney
Ben Egliston, The University of Sydney
Mahli-Ann Butt,  The University of Sydney
Jacob Grice, The University of Sydney

 

Editorial Committee

Thomas Apperley, University of New South Wales, Australia
Kelly Bergstrom, York University, Canada
Staffan Björk, University of Gothenberg, Sweden
Ashley Brown, University of Utah, USA
Adam Chapman, University of Gothenberg, Sweden
Mia Consalvo, Concordia Univeristy, Canada
René Glas, Utrecht University, Netherlands
Brendan Keogh, SAE Brisbane, Australia
Darshana Jayemanne, Abertay University, Scotland

More TBC

Call for Papers

Call for Papers: Games Research Methods Symposium

Due Date Extended to April 17

Digital Cultures @ The University of Sydney
July 10-11, 2017, Sydney
(the week after DiGRA 2017 in Melbourne)

 

Where is play, in games research methods? Where is location? time? money? expertise? literacy? story? ethics? What are videogame research methods? Board game research methods? Are they different? What does the fall of the MMO mean for games ethnography? Can the increasingly diasporic field of game studies share a critical discourse around research methods?

The goal of this symposium is to challenge and extend the existing academic scholarship of games research methods. As noted by Petri Lankowski and Staffan Björk in  the Games Research Methods Textbook, games research methods is a research field in its own right. Yet discussions about methods alone, as in any area, are difficult to fit into game studies journals and conferences. They become wrapped in reports of ‘results’ contributions to ‘theory’, and methods can almost never be the sole contribution. This precludes the rich contribution of mistakes and failures; surprises and flukes; and the focused critique of existing games research methods.   Methods are not simply tradition, but must be continually re-examined in the context of the rapidly changing landscape of contemporary games research.

 

We invite two forms of submissions; case studies and critical methods.

Case Study submissions should refer to original research projects and describe the methodological approach, and highlight the challenges of the research site. What makes this case unique and interesting to others? The focus of the submission should not be on the research findings, but the methodological lessons. Case studies which describe and acknowledge failures will be positively reviewed, as will works-in-progress (such as by PhD students) who are seeking feedback and advice on their methods going forward.

Critical Method submissions do not need to refer to specific projects, and instead should primarily engage critically with existing scholarly work on games research methods. These should not just describe methods, but present an argument for or against approaches. Alternatively, a submission could also contribute to critical discourse about methods, integrated with a clearly defined epistemology and theoretical perspective.

This Symposium is organised by The University of Sydney’s Digital Cultures Research Group. We welcome any and all scholarly work on the intersection of research methods and games.

Our aim is to assemble an edited collection or journal special issue based on the papers presented at the symposium, potentially with a subsequent public call.