Imagine a game based on Frogger where you guide Mexican immigrants across the border. Or how about the same theme played out in a Space Invader's format, with border guards trying to stop the invasion?

Welcome to the world of games as social commentary.

LEVEL UP
Digital Games Research Conference 2003


www.gamesconference.org

4-6 November 2003

University of Utrecht, The Netherlands


CALL FOR PARTICIPATION

University of Utrecht, Faculty of Arts, Department of New Media and Digital Culture organizes the inaugural world conference in digital games research. The conference will be the first official event of the new Digital Games Research Association (DiGRA). The Department of New Media and Digital Culture is collaborating closely with DiGRA, the Research Institute for History and Culture, the Institute for Media and Re/presentation (TFT & CIW) and numerous other academic and non-academic partners in the conference implementation.

The conference aims to promote high-quality research of games, recognition of game studies as an academic field of enquiry, as well as interdisciplinary collaboration in games research, design and development. The conference will include keynote lectures, paper sessions, symposia, workshops, poster presentations, a Gamefair and numerous social events.

Frans Mäyrä, President, Digital Games Research Association: “The program for the inaugural Digital Games Research Conference 2003, ‘Level Up’, organized by the University of Utrecht in collaboration with DiGRA, looks very promising. The emphasis has been on providing a showroom for the variety and scope of academic games research as it is currently practiced. As you take a look at the program, you will see that it is quite many things. Yet, this is just the opening: the young researchers, students and veterans of academia as well as games research and design professionals meeting in Utrecht will no doubt continue to create even more stimulating, challenging and quality research in the future. On behalf of the DiGRA Executive Board, I welcome you all to Utrecht in November!”

Go to www.gamesconference.org to have a look at the complete program. You can now register for the conference through the website. To make sure you are among the participants, send your registration as fast as possible.



Mailinglist

For up to date info on the conference please register for the conference newsletter on the website (news> mailinglist).



We’re all hoping to see you in Utrecht in November!



Contact/University of Utrecht:

info@gamesconference.org

Dr. Joost Raessens, Conference Chair
Drs. Marinka Copier, Conference Manager; marinka.copier@let.uu.nl
Prof. Dr. Jeffrey Goldstein


Contact/DiGRA:
Prof. Frans Mäyrä, President; frans.mayra@uta.fi
Dr. Jason Rutter, Vice-President; Jason.Rutter@man.ac.uk
Celia Peirce, Liaison Officer; celiap@uci.edu
Chris Crawford

If you haven’t read the recent article on the IGDA site: Violence & Social Issues: Key Points, you should do so now. This concise article outlines the big issues behind the big complaints about video games. It provides some measured perspective and links to useful resources that helps clarify some of the most egregious misunderstandings on the subject of game violence and social relevance.

It also was an inspiration (although in no way responsible!) for this list:

What makes the videogame generation different?

I've suspected for a long time that it wasn't videogames. But to a growing contingent of educators, policymakers and parents, there is a growing concern that videogames are making kids, well, if not stupid, at least different.

To my mind, the people who talk about revising curriculum to keep up with the demanding and supposedly short attention spans of the videogame kids always strike me as the sort of folks who haven't spent much time around kids. At least not listening to them.

The argument they make, as I see it, is this:

Saturated in information, weaned on the immediate gratification of Google and videogames, kids these days lack the mental discipline to learn using traditional methods. So, either you attack the problem at the systemic root--try to teach kids the old ways, or you update your pedagogy to reflect the videogame lifestyle of the average videot.

When I look at the videogame generation, I see something else. Sure, something is going on and the next generation looks to be shaping up differently than those preceding it. But it’s not videogames, cell phone and the Internet per se. I am now thinking it might come down to a little cognitive pysch concept called metacognition.

Welcome to the world of the metacog kids.

Videogames don't cause real world violence. Therefore, videogame developers don't have an obligation to mitigate or censor their violent content.

It's an airtight conclusion that has grown in popularity in the electronic entertainment business. It's also the sort of dogma that the industry will grow to regret if it continues to toe this defensive line.

People that make videogames hold people that talk about videogames with general suspicion. Who are these people that are not content to just play the games, but seem bound and determined to sit around and talk about them?

Another Comment from a friend, 14-years-old. He is starting high school next year and offers this opnion:

As all of you know, back in the early days of gaming, anyone who freely admitted that they played games every week was instantly labeled as a nerd. All the jocks and popular kids most likely played video games, but never admitted it in fear of being tormented or discriminated against. Now in the "future", anyone from any background can enjoy the love and heartbreak known as the video game. Does this situation sound familiar? Of course it does.

Back in the days of old (about twenty years ago) anyone that even mentioned that they were a homosexual was instantly labeled different and then hated and teased and discriminated against.

Just like the video gaming public but in a toned down version, the homosexual situation is getting better and better, and just like video games, it?s a thing that anyone can openly speak about what was once was touchy subject.

Now don?t get me wrong. People who are very obsessive about video games and people who are very "out there" are still hated by some and teased by some. But anything that is happening for the better I will take without a blink. I only have one thing to say; Video games are more than games, they are a mock up of what has happened in our world, what is happing in our world, and what is to become of our world.

Even though the notion of a formal education system dates back to at least Plato, the rise of the machine and electronic ages have inspired educators to look for technological solutions to find new ways to teach people to do things.

Folks like Mark Prensky have made a big fuss about how the video game generation wont sit still to learn in a traditional setting. And while there are certainly better and worse instructional approaches to teaching, there is nothing to date to suggest that the medium used in teaching has much relevance on the pedagogical outcome.

The “No Significant Difference Phenomenon” shows that distance learning efforts have not yieldied significantly different educational outcomes when compared to more traditional educational forms such as classroom instruction in studies conducted over the past 75 years. Since the more modern forms of distance education have included online learning and computer-based training, the “no significant” indictment applies equally well to eLearning as it does to the old-fashioned correspondence course.

The study of interactive electronic entertainment typically equates to the study of video games. In fact, we routinely use the term "video game" as a synonym for electronic entertainment even though we suspect that forms of the interactive digital medium exist that don't fall neatly into the category of games.

Interactive electronic art and digital toys are two clear extension of the interactive into spaces that refuse quick classification as video games.

The future for independent game development looks pretty grim. With top-selling titles commanding budgets of millions of dollars, the notion that a bunch of dedicated garage developers could put together a best seller, or even a break-even seller, seem like a thing of the past.

Sure, you might still get a Chris Sawyer Roller Coaster Tycoon as the exception that proves the rule. But by and large, the age of independent development appears to have turned into the age of development by the independently wealthy, or by the big publishers.

Is the fate of the independent game developer to be crushed under the wheels of big business?