Although scrutinized by a number of individual papers, meta-referentiality in and surrounding games is still under-researched. Following a round-table discussion at this year’s DiGRA conference at Leuphana University, Lüneburg, and a small workshop hosted by the University of Cologne’s media studies department in June, the workshop co-located with the Central and Eastern European Game Studies Conference (CEEGS) 2015 is meant to explore additional facets of meta-phenomena connected with games and to further facilitate the formation of an international network of scholars interested in their study.
Workshop on Meta-Games and Meta-Gaming
Wednesday, October 21, 2015
Special event at CEEGS 2015, Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Poland
(http://ceegs.eu/)
Organizer: Hans-Joachim Backe, IT University Copenhagen, Denmark
Ever since Gregory Bateson popularized the notion of play as
meta-communication, digital games have been argued to be inherently
self-referential. At the same time, they are complex media constructs
situated in intricate semiotic relationships. By virtue of these
different, multi-faceted referentialities, both games as objects and
play activities have a remarkably high potential for meta-referentiality
– a special form of self-referentiality that reflects and comments upon
the artefact in question, its generic conventions, its medium, and its
role within culture.
To this end, the workshop invites contributions which inquire into the
ontology, practices and medialities of metaization. Possible topics thus
include (but are not limited to) games that reflect upon games –
reboots, ludo-narrative dissonances, metaleptic gameworlds, etc. –,
practices that produce a critical stance on gaming – theory-crafting,
modding, transgressive play etc. – or the critical dimension inherent in
the relationship of games and other media – positioning games in an
art-history context, explicit references to film, literature, or
photography in games, etc.
All submissions will be assessed by a peer-review committee. Abstracts
should be no longer than 500 words (excluding a mandatory
bibliography/ludography) and be sent directly to the organizer
(hanj@itu.dk).
Dates and deadlines:
August 16: Submission deadline for abstracts
August 31: Notification of acceptance
October 1: Conference registration deadline
October 21: Workshop (the day BEFORE the start of CEEGS)
Please don’t hesitate to contact the workshop organizer (hanj@itu.dk) or
the CEEGS organizers (contact@ceegs.eu) in case of any questions.
