CEEGS 2019: Beyond Digital Games
September 26-28, Kraków
ABOUT THE CONFERENCE
CEEGS (Central and Eastern European Game Studies Conference) is a gathering of game scholars organized annually by academics from the region of Central and Eastern Europe, but its thematic scope is not limited to regional topics, and it welcomes participants from anywhere in the world.
The 2019 edition will, for the second time in the history of the conference, be hosted at the Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland, by the Faculty of Polish Studies, Department of Anthropology of Literature and Cultural Studies, and the Institute of Audiovisual Arts.
THEME AND SCOPE
The understanding of ludic phenomena should not be limited to the investigation of hardware and software components of digital games. It needs to include the study of culture, discourses and paratexts in a broad ludic field including not only digital game artifacts, but also phenomena such as tabletop RPG games, LARPs, board games, ARGs, parlour games, and other forms of non-digital play, as well as numerous communities involved in their making.
This year, the scope of the conference is twofold, as we are aiming to go beyond digital games and explore the areas of player cultures and of non-digital games. Player cultures vary in their reach, goals, and political agendas. They also constitute an important part of the contemporary media landscape intertwined with social media platforms, which have influenced the cultures’ formation, codes of conduct, and their ever-increasing social impact. Non-digital games are of equal importance. From the simplest children’s play to the most complex tabletop wargames, not only do they serve as predecessors of the digital gaming paradigm, but they also remain very much alive and relevant, connecting contemporary ludic activities to similar pastimes from time immemorial.
The sixth annual CEEGS conference invites scholars and practitioners to join a discussion on issues concerning players and their material cultures, including various forms of ludic practices, board games, tabletop and live action role-playing games, as well as all forms of digital play. We are equally interested in people and their creations, fandoms and their rituals, forms of communication inside and outside of the realm of social media, and performative and transgressive player behaviours. We also invite inquiries on non-digital games and non-digital ludic activities, both contemporary and historical.
We welcome contributions exploring digital and non-digital forms of play and player cultures from any disciplinary perspective, including – but not limited to – the following topics:
- player discourse on games and gameplay
- platforms for player communication: streamings, video and beyond
- player reception of ludic expressions
- player fanworks: mods, wikis, walkthroughs, machinimas
- discourses of and around games: games and their socio-political environments
- the relationship between player communities and game industries
- lusory attitude in non-game environments
- cultures of play in the institutional context: from scouting to RPG clubs
- (cor)relations between digital and non-digital games
- technology and materiality of play
- game environments, from digital to spatial
- historical perspectives on non-digital games
- local and regional histories and discourses on non-digital games
- locally created digital and non-digital games
- (non-)digital game analysis
- forgotten (non-)digital games of the past
- (non-)digital games as tools for education and social activism
- cultural depictions of (non-)digital games and play
- (non-)digital games as material artifacts
- (non-)digital games as works of art
- (non-)digital game design
- production and distribution of (non-)digital games between crowdfunding and global industry
We encourage contributors to incorporate their own research topics and perspectives into the proposed framework, but we are open to all kinds of game studies papers on digital and non-digital games and play practices. We welcome submissions from academics, educators, students, and designers.
SUBMISSIONS
Papers for CEEGS 2019 should be submitted as abstracts of approximately 500 words (400 words minimum and 600 words maximum). Each submission needs to include a list of references for works cited within the abstract; references do not count towards the word limit.
You can submit your abstracts through EasyChair at:
https://easychair.org/
All abstracts will undergo a process of blind peer review. For this reason, the abstracts cannot contain any information allowing for identification of the author – such as explicit references to own publications (indirect self-citing is allowed). Please note that abstracts containing such information or the name of the author will automatically be rejected, and make sure any sensitive information is removed from the text.
To help us assign reviewers, each abstract has to be submitted to one of the five following sections:
- Game Theory: humanities-informed inquiry on general nature of digital and non-digital games;
- Game History: analysis of games and play practice from historical perspective;
- Game Interpretation and Criticism: in-depth analyses of particular game titles;
- Player Studies: ethnographic, sociological and psychological research on player practices, communities and cultures;
- Game Design and Production Studies: research on game design, production, and industry.
Do note that the section division only applies to the review process. When drafting the conference program, we will group abstracts based on their topics.
Papers can be co-authored, but we only accept individual papers (no posters or pre-constituted panels). There are no limitations on the number of abstracts one can submit, but the maximum of accepted contributions by participant is one, or two, if one of those papers is co-authored. Participation in our workshops and a doctoral consortium does not count towards this limit.
Each presentation will be about 20 minutes long and will be followed by a brief discussion.
Should you have any trouble submitting your abstract through Easychair, or if you have any questions about the submission and review process, please email the program chair (contact below).
WORKSHOPS
CEEGS has a long tradition of hosting inspiring workshops, meant mainly to present and discuss work in progress. Workshops will take place on the first day of the conference, September 26. If you wish to propose a workshop, please contact the Organising Committee at contact@ceegs.eu.
IMPORTANT DATES
- Submission deadline: May 5, 2019
- Notification to authors: June 20, 2019
- Early bird registration deadline: August 1, 2019
- Registration deadline: August 30, 2019
- Conference: September 26-28, 2019
CONFERENCE FEE
Early bird (until September 1st): 30 EUR
Regular: 45 EUR
ORGANISING COMMITTEE
- Magdalena Bednorz
- Marta Błaszkowska
- Magdalena Cielecka
- Justyna Janik
- Filip Jankowski
- Magdalena Kozyra
- Tomasz Z. Majkowski (chair)
- Maciej Nawrocki
- Marcin Petrowicz
- Joanna Płaszewska
- Bartłomiej Schweiger
- Piotr Sterczewski
PROGRAM CHAIR
Mateusz Felczak, Jagiellonian University in Kraków
CONTACT
For information and updates, please refer to the conference website ceegs.eu or our Facebook page. For any inquiries, do not hesitate to contact us at contact@ceegs.eu