The academic programme at Loncon 3, the 72nd World Science Fiction Convention, is offering the opportunity for academics from across the globe to share their ideas with their peers and other convention attendees. To reflect the history and population of the host city, London, United Kingdom, the theme of the academic programme is “Diversity”.
Diversity in Speculative Fiction: Games Studies – Loncon 3, 72nd World Science Fiction Convention
Thursday 14 to Monday 18 August 2014, London, UK
#loncon3
This is a call for academic papers on Game Studies, including non-virtual games. Proposals are particularly welcome on the works (and adaptations of the work) of the Guests of Honour, London as a location and under-represented areas of research, particularly those fitting within the idea of diversity and change in gaming. Participants are also encouraged to suggest panels, workshops or non-traditional submissions such as playtests, forums, and mash-up sessions. By games we mean any games both digital and non-digital, including but not limited to videogaming, videogame communities, boardgames, Live Action Roleplaying, pervasive gaming and indie games, which allow users to experience a form of play or playfulness. Examples of topics to address may include, but are not limited to:
- Diversity and representation in games
- London, geolocation, psychogeography and pervasive gaming.
- Adaptation, translation and transmediality in games
- Representation of alternative bodies, gender and sexual orientations in games.
- The philosophy and politics of representation and diversity in games
- Alternative gaming communities – eg. webcasting, modding, fanart/fiction/mods.
- Representation of characters of different ethnic origin in digital games
- The position of the gamer.
- New directions for gaming, including theoretical and industry perspectives.
- Current debates over the ethics and/or behaviour of gaming communities.
- Azad – Critical and theoretical papers, as well as practice based submissions, on Iain Banks’ games of Azad (from The Player of Games) or any other aspect of gaming in his books are welcomed.
To propose a paper (presentations should not exceed 20 minutes, panels no longer than 1 hour, and workshops or other proposals from 1hour – 1hour 30 mins), please submit a 300 word abstract to Esther MacCallum-Stewart at neveah@gmail.com or esther.maccallum-stewart@ukin2014.org
The deadline for submission is 1 December 2013.
Participants will be notified by 1 February 2014.
All presenters must have acquired convention membership by 1 May 2014.
Please read the Academic Programme’s Frequently Asked Questions (http://academicloncon3.wordpress.com/faq/) . Abstracts will be included in the Academic Programme Book, which will be available to download from the Loncon website (http://www.loncon3.org/index.php), and selected papers might be invited for submission to an edited volume showcasing the diversity of scholarship in current academic research on speculative fiction or to an edited volume in a special edition of the Journal of Virtual Worlds and Gaming.