Play with self and personal identity can vary over time, across media, and as a consequence of psychological and social context. Our focus in this panel will be to investigate how digital media designs and services affect the construction and maintenance of self.
Hawaii International Conference on Arts & Humanities, Honolulu, January 10-13, 2015
http://www.hichumanities.org/
IMPORTANT DATES
Submission/Proposal Deadline: August 15th, 2014
Panel sessions will last 90 minutes and it is the presenters’ choice how that time is split between panelists.
PANEL DESCRIPTION
Identity and Play: Playing with Self in Digital Games and Social Media
Play with self and personal identity can vary over time, across media, and as a consequence of psychological and social context. Our focus in this panel will be to investigate how digital media designs and services affect the construction and maintenance of self.
The panel discussion will examine specific examples of self construction in virtual environments and how existing media designs — including, prominently, digital game designs — engage, facilitate, and, potentially, inhibit play with self. We are positioning this panel as a review of existing research.
Questions we would like to address include:
- Is there a “networked” self? What is consistent and what is incongruous in the presentation of self across social media?
- Is the construction of self in game-based media designs more or less gratifying than the construction of self in other (non-game-based) media designs?
- What game design components are most critical to the construction of self? E. g.: Avatar personalization/customization? Use of “alts”? Anonymity? Guilds and/or other multiplayer components?
- How important are traditional “social presence” features to the construction of self? How have digital media design technologies influenced the self construction process?
- To what extent can the construction of self be algorithmized and automated? Are self construction “apps” feasible?
We would like panel participants to address broad questions such as these with reference to existing media designs and services (though accompanying theoretical speculation will also be desired and valued).
CONTACT
If interested in participating in this panel session, please contact before Aug. 15:
David Zemmels, PhD, MFA
zemmels@loyno.edu
+1 (504) 865-3632
School of Mass Communication
Loyola University New Orleans
6363 St. Charles Ave.
New Orleans, LA 70118