Call for Book Chapters -- Fans, Fandoms, and Tabletop Roleplaying Games (6/15/2025)

Call for Book Chapters -- Fans, Fandoms, and Tabletop Roleplaying Games

deadline for submissions: 

June 15, 2025

full name / name of organization: 

Fans, Fandoms, and Tabletop Roleplaying Games

contact email: 

fans.fandoms.and.ttrpgs@gmail.com

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2025/05/05/call-for-book-chapters-fans-fandoms-and-tabletop-roleplaying-games

Call for Book Chapters
on Fans, Fandoms, and Tabletop Roleplaying Games

Deadline for submissions: Sunday, June 15, 2025

Contact email:fans.fandoms.and.ttrpgs@gmail.com 

 

Editors: 

Maria K. Alberto, University of Utah

Adrianna Burton, University of California – Irvine

 

We are seeking proposals for chapters to be included in a peer-reviewed edited collection on fans, fandom(s), and tabletop roleplaying games (TTRPGs). The University of Michigan Press has expressed interest in this collection and the book proposal is currently underway. 

 

TTRPGs are rapidly evolving, as are their players, designers, and content creators. For example, industry titan Wizards of the Coast released a new 2024 Dungeons & Dragons ruleset; Catalyst Games successfully crowdfunded a Frostpunk tabletop adaptation; and indie studios like Evil Hat and Crossed Paths continue launching new games. Meanwhile, actual play (in which players record themselves playing TTRPGs, and the recordings are released as their own media texts) has proven a booming area of interest. Actual play shows like Critical Role and Dimension 20 regularly draw tens of thousands of viewers each week; these shows are also expanding in new directions with spin-offs like live events, novelizations, and more. TTRPGs have even made it mainstream both on the silver screen, in movies like Honor Among Thieves (Paramount Pictures, 2023), and on consoles, as with video games such as Baldur’s Gate 3 (Larian Studios, 2023). 

 

Underlying all of these developments is the undeniable involvement of fans, who play a critical role in the success of TTRPGs both new and established. This edited collection will critically explore relationships between fans, fandom(s), and TTRPGs, examining how these connections impact analog gaming in both its long-standing and emerging forms.

We are interested in close readings of specific texts, in autoethnographic or personal experiences contextualized critically, and in considerations of historical or overall trends and movements, among other approaches. We invite perspectives from game studies, fan studies, and beyond; other disciplines may include performance studies, digital humanities, pop culture studies, sociology, communication, media studies, interdisciplinary work, and more. This collection is ultimately interested in exploring questions such as: who are fans of TTRPGs? How might fans relate their positionality as simultaneously TTRPG players, creators, and/or freelancers? How do TTRPGs and their producers view their fans and fandom? How do fans position themselves in reaction to industry or textual changes?

Potential topics for chapters include, but are not limited to: 

• Fan productions inspired by TTRPGs (fanfiction, fanart, fanvids, etc.) 

• Positionality of TTRPG fans and/as players

• TTRPG fan culture - in general, or for mainstream vs. indie TTRPGs

• Navigation of TTRPG fandom (as fan, creator, consumer, viewer, or other positionalities)

• Industry perspectives on TTRPG fandom

• Design for fans, fandom, and/or fan engagement

• Designers and industry professionals as fans

• Fan reactions to industry or textual changes like the Open Game License (OGL), Open RPG Creative License (ORC), new seasons of actual plays,etc.

• Fans of actual play shows 

• Education and TTRPG fandom

• Technology/digital platforms and TTRPG fandom

• Other topics related to TTRPG fans and fandom(s)

 

Please submit a 300-500 word abstract for your proposed chapter (including title, 3-5 keywords, and a 100-150 word author bio) to fans.fandoms.and.ttrpgs@gmail.com with the subject line “Chapter Proposal [Author Name].” 

 

Deadline for Abstract Submission: June 15, 2025

Notification of Acceptance: July 1, 2025

Full Chapter First Draft Submission Deadline: December 15, 2025

Last updated May 5, 2025

CFP Forgotten Fantasists: A Companion to Fantastic Literature (10/1/2022)

Forgotten Fantasists

Source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2022/03/15/forgotten-fantasists.

deadline for submissions: October 1, 2022

full name / name of organization: Forgotten Fantasists: A Companion to Fantastic Literature

contact email: c.palmerpatel@gmail.com



Who are the unsung heroes of fantastical literature? Who deserves to be recognised for their significant contribution to contemporary Anglophone Fantastika literature but are pushed out of the limelight? This edited companion to fantastical literature hopes to address gaps in research by bringing together considerations of important but underexamined authors and artists. Depending on the number of abstracts received, the collection may be further divided into separate sections – or even individual volumes – taking into consideration different media:

• Textual (novels, short stories, essays, poems, magazines/fanzines, etc)
• Artistic (paintings/illustrations, animation, sculptures, etc)
• Performance (game-playing, plays, opera, ballet, etc)

as well as under-represented voices:

• Female fantasists
• POC and/or non-Anglo fantasists
• LGBTQIA+ fantasists
• Fantasists with disabilities

The editor Dr. C. Palmer-Patel invites abstracts of 500 words with 100-word bionotes to be submitted to c.palmerpatel@gmail.com by 1 October 2022. Early expressions of interest encouraged. Please include in your bionote details of your primary research interests along with recent and relevant contributions to the field.

The collection has been pitched to Bloomsbury Academic. Abstracts should make a clear defense for the importance of the author’s work. Final chapters will be due in 2025 and must take into consideration any previous or relevant critical works on the author.

Note that this CFP is related-to but distinct from the CFP for Fantasy Literature: A Companion. After receiving a number of submissions for one of the suggested topics – challenges to or considerations of influential writers – it was apparent that there is enough interest in the area to warrant a separate collection. Any submissions made for the Fantasy Literature Companion which fall under the remit of the Forgotten Fantasists CFP will be advised to submit their piece to the latter.


Last updated March 15, 2022

CFP 1997 – The Year that Made the Future: A Symposium (expired; Edhe Hill Univeristy, UK 10/26-28-2018)

This seems of potential interest; sorry for the late posting:

1997 – The Year that made the Future: A symposium
https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2018/04/18/1997-%E2%80%93-the-year-that-made-the-future-a-symposium

deadline for submissions: June 8, 2018

full name / name of organization: Matthew Pateman Edge Hill University

contact email: matthew.pateman@edgehill.ac.uk



October 26 - 28, Edhe Hill Univeristy, UK


1997 was a hugely significant year in terms of shaping the modern world. There are iconic popular culture game-changers such as Harry Potter and Buffy the Vampire Slayer; Teletubbies and Titanic. Bollywood continued to make global inroads with films such as Dil To Pagal Hai,and video games became massive with the release of Grand Theft Auto. Fashion saw the murder of Vesrace, the rise of Alexander McQueen and Stella McCartney. The British Empire was being re-defined through appropriation in the Cool Britannia music scene (with McQueen’s complex union flag frock coat and Geri Helliwell’s nationalistic mini-dress), while the UK transferred Hong Kong back to mainland china. Tony Blair spoke of Princess Diana’s death and ushered in the centrist consensus, while a ceasefire in Northern Ireland suggested the chance of peace. The Deep Blue computer beat Grand Master Gary Kasparov at chess, and the domain names Google, Facebook and Netflix were registered; DVD players went on sale in the US for the first time. Stephen Lawrence was murdered in London and there was an overwhelming vote in the UK to ban handguns after the Dunblane massacre to mention nothing of global shifts in politics and trade, EU expansion, climate change agreements and so much else.


This symposium will seek to address, celebrate, critique and understand 1997; to situate it at the birth of the 21st century in terms of the economic, political, cultural and technological events that it witnessed and produced. Wildly multi- and inter-disciplinary in nature, we welcome papers, panels, posters and presentations from any and all subject area as long as the key theme of the importance of 1997 in future developments related to the paper’s subject is addressed. Given the hoped for wide mix of subjects, we ask that you avoid overly-technical papers and assume an informed but non-specialist audience. Papers should be 20 minutes in length, and panel proposals should aim to last for one hour.


It is hoped that there will be screenings / soundings of some of the most memorable visual and audio culture from the year, as well as fashion and other memorabilia. Please feel free to bring your own.


Proposals should be sent to Professor Matthew Pateman by 8th June 2018. I hope to confirm acceptance or otherwise by July 12 with a final programme to be circulated by early September.

Proposals should be sent to matthew.pateman@edgehill.ac.uk.

CFP Studies in the Fantastic (7/1/2018)

CFP: Studies in the Fantastic
https://www.fantastic-arts.org/2018/cfp-studies-in-the-fantastic-2/
May 1, 2018

Please submit to Studies in the Fantastic, a journal published by the University of Tampa. July 1 deadline.

full name / name of organization: Studies in the Fantastic

contact email: fantastic@ut.edu, afirestone@ut.edu, slauro@ut.edu

Studies in the Fantastic requests submissions for volume 6 of our peer-reviewed academic journal, to be published in winter 2018/19. Essays examining the fantastic from a variety of scholarly perspectives are welcome. For consideration for volume 6, please send submissions to fantastic@ut.edu by July 1, 2018.

Submitted articles should conform to the following guidelines:

6,000-12,000 words
MLA-style citations and bibliography
A separate title page with author information to facilitate blind peer review
1” margins, 12 point serif font, page numbers (but no identifying information in page headers)

Studies in the Fantastic is an annual journal publishing refereed essays, informed by scholarly criticism and theory, on both fantastic texts and their social function. Although grounded in literary studies, we are especially interested in articles examining genres and media that have been underrepresented in humanistic scholarship. Subjects may include, but are not limited to, weird fiction, science/speculative fiction, fantasy, video games, science writing, futurism, and technocracy. Electronic access to Studies in the Fantastic is available via Project MUSE.

CFP The Journal of Games and Gaming (4/30/17)

The Journal of Games and Gaming (JGG)
https://www.cfplist.com/CFP.aspx?CID=10145
Event: 12/31/2017 - 12/31/2017
Abstract: 04/30/2017

Location: United Kingdom
Organization: The Museum of Games and Gaming


The Museum of Games and Gaming is putting together a body of work for publication in its first journal and is pleased to be launching this as an open call for papers. This is a great opportunity to get your work published as there is no publication fee, your paper will be peer reviewed and you will be assigned an editor.

The first edition of the journal is looking for Original Research, Book Reviews and Short Articles in any area covered by our current Research Themes (please see the list on our website).

If you have an idea for a paper or a work in progress please contact us as soon as possible at info@museumofgaming.org.uk with your proposal including an abstract.


Contact Email: info@museumofgaming.org.uk
Website: http://www.museumofgaming.org.uk/research.cfm

CFP Ongoing Video Games Studies for the Popular Culture Review

Ongoing Video Games Studies CFP for the Popular Culture Review
Discussion published by Amy Green on Tuesday, September 15, 2015
https://networks.h-net.org/node/GROUP_NID/discussions/83096/ongoing-video-games-studies-cfp-popular-culture-review


The Popular Culture Review is seeking out scholarly articles on video games to be included as part of an ongoing series featured in each issue. While we want to keep the range of topics open, serious consideration of the digital narrative, especially in the form of focused analyses of specific titles or series, are of special interest. Approaches combining the ludological approach with the narratological approach are also of interest. The goal of the journal is to continue to expand upon a growing and serious consideration of gaming as a storytelling platform.

Please submit your articles, as blind attachments, to Dr. Amy M. Green, who is the editor of the gaming section. The PCR accepts electronic submissions only. Please direct them to amy.green@unlv.edu and indicate PCR Gaming Article Submission in your subject line. Please include all author information and the title of the article in the body of your email message.



Additional Information:

The Popular Culture Review is the refereed journal of Far West Popular Culture and American Culture Associations, sponsored by the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and is published twice yearly. Members of the FWPCA/FWACA receive each issue as part of membership. Single copies may be purchased for $7.50 by individuals. Yearly subscriptions for institutions and libraries are $25.00. Address correspondence to the editor.

Documentation may be in the form appropriate to the discipline of the author. Otherwise, MLA format is preferred. Quotes and paraphrased passages must be followed by their citations within the text. In accordance with copyright laws, we request that quotations not exceed one-hundred (100) words in length.

The author is responsible for obtaining permissions for illustrations, song lyrics, advertisements, etc., which are to be published with the article.

Authors must be members at time of publication. (Persons who have registered for our conference are automatically members for the year of attendance. Those who have been members for at least two years are exempt.)

CFP Collection on Nationalism and Popular Culture (proposals by 11/15/2015)

One last call for the night:

Call for Chapter Proposals - Nationalism and Popular Culture
full name / name of organization:
Tim Nieguth
contact email:
tnieguth@laurentian.ca
http://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/node/63374

Our world is a world of nations. The existence and fundamental importance of nations, national identities, or national boundaries is rarely questioned. Yet, the scholarly literature on nationalism has shown that national communities are socially constructed, that national identities are fluid, and that national boundaries are constantly contested. Clearly, maintaining nations requires a great deal of collective effort. How is it that this effort is rendered invisible? How have nations come to be seen as natural? Why do individuals buy into the idea of national identity?

In order to fully answer these questions, we need to examine the links between nationalism and popular culture. Movies, TV series, popular music, sport, video games, comics and other elements of everyday culture are intimately involved in the production (and contestation) of nationhood. Showtime’s hit series Homeland, for example, closely reflects American values and sensibilities; Britpop played a prominent role in British nation-branding; and the Beijing Olympics offered an important venue for the dissemination of official Chinese nationalism.

This volume will focus on three themes in analyzing nationalism and popular culture:

• Communities (e.g., what are the links between nationalism and social inequality? What, if anything, do members of the nation owe one another? What are the core beliefs, myths, and values of the nation? What are the origins of the nation, and what is its future?)
• Limits (e.g., what are the borders of the nation? Who belongs to the nation and who does not? Who are the nation’s “Others”? Are national boundaries secure or under threat?)
• Sovereignty (e.g., who is seen to rule the nation? What is the relationship between nations, states, and markets? Where does the nation fit in the global order? What actors, rules, or power structures govern the production of national identity and popular culture?)

The editor invites proposals for chapters that address one of these broad themes. The volume is primarily designed as an examination of empirical cases, but theoretically oriented chapter proposals are welcome as well. The editor aims to include case studies from a wide range of geopolitical contexts, covering both the Global North and Global South.

Please email chapter proposals of about 300-500 words to tnieguth@laurentian.ca by November 15, 2015, together with your full contact information and a short biographical statement. The editor will review proposals by early December. If accepted for inclusion in the volume, chapters should be completed and submitted to the editor by April 30, 2016. Chapters should be 7,000-8,000 words in length, must be original work, and must not be under review or accepted for publication elsewhere. Please note that it is the responsibility of individual contributors to secure permissions for any copyrighted material included in their chapter.

For further information, please feel free to contact the editor at:

Tim Nieguth
Associate Professor
Department of Political Science
Laurentian University - Barrie
130 Bell Farm Road, Suites 2 & 3
Barrie, Ontario
Canada L4M 5G6
Email: tnieguth@laurentian.ca
URL: https://laurentian.ca/faculty/tnieguth


By web submission at 08/10/2015 - 19:01

CFP Game Studies and Determinism (Spec Issue of Reconstruction) (proposals by 10/1/2015)

Reconstruction 16.3, Games and Determinism (Oct. 1, abstracts)
full name / name of organization: Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture
contact email: reconstruction.submissions@gmail.com
http://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/node/63221

Reconstruction 16.3: Game Studies and Determinism,
edited by Reconstruction staff
(Abstracts 250-500 words, due Oct. 1 2015, completed papers by Feb 1, 2016)

Even though it might be considered a relatively new discipline, Game Studies has galvanized around a readily recognizable set of determinisms. Indeed, the necessity of differentiating between video and computer games instantiates highlights an important pair. Conversely, it might be argued that a set of determinisms have galvanized around Game Studies, not least of which is the ongoing duel of the ludology and narratology dichotomies. Similarly, the mere existence of the debate regarding whether or not games constitute art seems to invoke the potential for invocations of auteur theory, if not definitions of art and aesthetics. Yet, as the “gamergate” fiasco reveals, familiar categories like player and genre break down under the weight of the determinism contained within. Likewise, the complete elision of queer perspectives, readings and subjectivities exists in and through the almost symbiotic relationship between an admittedly sexist industry and an academy eager to criticize it through the equally deterministic sex role theory that continues to dominate academic considerations of gender. Thus, the editors seek papers that explore/explode the various determinisms that have arisen in, through and about game studies. There would be a particular welcome and/or interest in papers from emerging scholars and/or scholars who would like to take the opportunity the revisit their own work or works that have become part of the lexical orthodoxy. Scholars would be invited to consider particular games, game genres and game elements as well as more theoretical considerations, particularly with regard to tertiary or other modes of game related production that have arisen and were not envisioned and/or encompassed when the canonical modes of reading were established as such.

Suggested topics include:

• demythologizing or deconstructing deterministic criticism in Game Studies
• beyond sex role theory
• exclusions of gender performativity and play
• the industry of critical commonplaces
• the empire (building) of gamification tropes
• outside and/or before the "magic circle"
• paratexts and other texts "outside" the game
• beyond gamers
• Game Studies and disciplinary occlusions
• disciplinary occlusions and Game Studies
• win or lose

Please send abstracts and queries to Marc Ouellette at reconstruction.managing@gmail.com with the subject heading “Game Studies and Determinism” by Oct. 1, 2015.

N.B. As an online journal, we are able to incorporate images and multimedia submissions.

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture (ISSN: 1547-4348) is an innovative online cultural studies journal dedicated to fostering an intellectual community composed of scholars and their audience, granting them all the ability to share thoughts and opinions on the most important and influential work in contemporary interdisciplinary studies. Reconstruction publishes three Themed Issues and one Open Issue per year.

Send Open Issue submissions (year round) to: reconstruction.submissions_at_gmail.com and submissions for Themed Issues to the appropriate editors listed on the site at www.reconstruction.eserver.org

Reconstruction also accepts proposal for special issue editors and topics. Reconstruction is indexed in the MLA International Bibliography.


By web submission at 08/01/2015 - 12:28

Videogame Cultures Conference (Oxford 9/11-13/15)

Also of interest:

CFP: Videogame Cultures The Videogame Cultures Project
https://networks.h-net.org/node/13784/discussions/64914/cfp-videogame-cultures-videogame-cultures-project
Discussion published by Daniel Fandino on Thursday, March 19, 2015

Videogame Cultures
The Videogame Cultures Project

Friday 11th September – Sunday 13th September 2015
Mansfield College, Oxford, United Kingdom

Call for Presentations:
Videogames have probably become one of the most progressive mediums in the 21st century. The videogame genres and sub-genres are rapidly diverging and many concepts are merging with those from other media and even with the environment of the “real” world (alternate reality games). Consequently the scope of the project is not limited to videogame studies only, but many other disciplines such as philosophy, psychology, sociology, economics, information science, criminology, military studies or ethology, to name but a few. All have found play, game, game-model, player behaviour, game design and players’ relation to the virtual environment as a high priority within their own fields of research. The result of all these influences is that the discourse on videogame cultures is constantly evolving giving it an ever wider range of influence and an increasingly an inter-, multi-, and trans-disciplinary character.

This year’s Videogame Cultures will be devoted to exploring the various ways in which videogame culture and genres develop within the framework of five thematic tracks. Because of the complexity and variety of videogame culture and the overlapping of issues across themes, we are inviting participants of various and all backgrounds (academic, developer, producer, player, etc.) to submit proposals on several topics of interest to them. Presenters are additionally encouraged to think broadly within and across thematic tracks; we encourage submissions addressing research questions such as (though not limited to) those listed here below.

1) Videogames and their Players:
Gender and Gameplay: How are changing the players demographies? How to solve the situation of gender inequality and sexual harassment in the videogaming environments (Gamer Gate controversy). To what extent is it really possible to study videogame fan cultures? What ethical issues are related to the study of videogame culture?

2) Serious Games and Simulations:
New technologies developed for a future generation of virtual environments as Oculus Rift and Sony Project Morpheus are about to hit the market. Game developers and experience designers are currently developing new forms of gameplay. What principles do govern current game design? What strategies exist for creating believable simulations? What services to be established with virtual reality reborn technology? What visual formats will bring the post-photorealistic era?

3) Gamification/Ludification:
Models of play have an impact in the research areas beyond videogame studies. Playful elements and functional models are built in many applications in economics and social sciences. We would like to explore how playful elements have changed the interaction between the user and applications. What trends in a gamified application design are emerging in mobile and online banking, tele-sports or tele-health?

Other topics with these areas include:

Videogames and Gaming:
– Theories and Concepts of Gaming. Videogames as Text.
– Videogames as Interactive Media.
– Space of Videogames.
– Multidisciplinary Approaches to Videogame Analysis.

Videogame Cultures:
– Usage Trends and Emerging Practices in Online and Offline Gaming. – Games as Cultural Artefacts.
– Pervasive Gaming.
– Studying Fan Cultures.

Games and Society:
– Ethical Issues in Videogames.
– Videogame Controversy – Gender Equality.
– Rating, Violence, Sex, Morality. Censorship.

Immersion and Embodiment:
- New Forms of Interaction.
– Immersion and Collaboration in Videogames.
– Sound, Music, Touch, and Game Space
– Evolution of Gaming.
– The Role of Innovative Interfaces – Virtual Reality reborn (Oculus Rift, Sony Project Morpheus).

Games with Meaning?:
– Gamification.
– The Relationship between Game and Gamer.
– Social Impact Simulations – Games and Virtual Reality as Experience.
– Serious Games and Simulations.

Subsequently we encourage submission of proposals for short workshops, practitioner-based activities, best practice showcases, how-to sessions, live demonstrations, performances, and pre-formed panels. We particularly welcome short film screenings; photographic essays; installations; interactive talks and alternative presentation styles that encourage engagement.

What to Send:
300 word proposals should be submitted by Friday 1st May 2015. All submissions are at least double blind peer reviewed. Proposals should be submitted simultaneously to the Organising Chairs; abstracts may be in Word or RTF formats with the following information and in this order:

a) author(s), b) affiliation as you would like it to appear in programme, c) email address, d) title of proposal, e) body of proposal, f) up to 10 keywords.
E-mails should be entitled: VG7 Proposal Submission.

All abstracts will be at least double blind peer reviewed. Please use plain text (Times Roman 12) and abstain from using footnotes and any special formatting, characters or emphasis (such as bold, italics or underline). We acknowledge receipt and answer to all paper proposals submitted. If you do not receive a reply from us in a week you should assume we did not receive your proposal; it might be lost in cyberspace! We suggest, then, to look for an alternative electronic route or resend.

Organising Chairs:
Daniel Riha: rihad@inter-disciplinary.net
Rob Fisher: vg7@inter-disciplinary.net

The conference is part of the ‘Critical Issues’ series of research projects run by Inter-Disciplinary.Net. It aims to bring together people from different areas and interests to share ideas and explore various discussions which are innovative and challenging. All papers accepted for and presented at the conference must be in English and will be eligible for publication in an ISBN eBook.  Selected papers may be developed for publication in a themed hard copy volume(s). All publications from the conference will require editors, to be chosen from interested delegates from the conference.

Inter-Disciplinary.Net believes it is a mark of personal courtesy and professional respect to your colleagues that all delegates should attend for the full duration of the meeting. If you are unable to make this commitment, please do not submit an abstract for presentation.

For further details of the conference, please visit:
http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/critical-issues/cyber/videogame-cultures-the-future-of-interactive-entertainment/call-for-papers/

Please note: Inter-Disciplinary.Net is a not-for-profit network and we are not in a position to be able to assist with conference travel or subsistence.

Dr. Rob Fisher
Priory House
149B Wroslyn Road
Freeland, Oxfordshire OX29 8HR
United Kingdom

Tel: +44 (0)1993 882087
Email: vg7@inter-disciplinary.net
Visit the website at http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/critical-issues/cyber/videogame-cultures-the-future-of-interactive-entertainment/call-for-papers/

CFP Game Studies Area (10/1/15; PCA/ACA 2016)

Still cleaning my inbox:

Call for Submissions - Game Studies Area of Popular Culture Association/ American Culture Association
https://networks.h-net.org/node/13784/discussions/72221/call-submissions-game-studies-area-popular-culture-association
Discussion published by Daniel Fandino on Wednesday, June 10, 2015

Game Studies Area: 2016 PCA/ACA National Conference.

 The Game Studies area of the National Popular Culture Association and the American Culture Association Conference invites proposals for papers and panels on games and game studies for the Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association National Conference to be held Monday, March 21 through Friday, March 25, 2016 at the Sheraton in Seattle, WA.

The database for proposal submissions opens July 1.

Below, please find:

I. Topics of Interest

II. Submission Process

III. Information about the Conference

IV. Contact Information



----------------------------------------------------------------------

I. Topics of Interest

The organizers seek proposals and papers covering all aspects of gaming, gaming culture and game studies.  Proposals can address any game medium (computer, social, console, tabletop, etc) and all theoretical and methodological approaches are welcome.

Possible topics include but are not limited to:

-- new game mediums and platforms (Facebook, iPhone/iPad/iPod, etc)

-- representation or performance of race, class, gender and sexuality in games

-- gaming culture, game specific cultures, and multicultural and cross-cultural issues

-- game development, design, authorship and other industry issues

-- game advertising, reviews, packaging, promotion, integrated marketing and other commercial concerns

-- political and legal entailments such as regulation, censorship, intellectual property

-- ludology, textual criticism, media ecology, narratology, etc as paradigms for games studies

-- player generated content in MUDs and MMORPGs, Mods, maps and machinima

-- game genres, platforms, consoles, console wars and connections to other media

-- serious games for education, business, healthcare, (military) training, etc

-- space and place in games, play spaces, virtual/physical communities, mobile gaming and localization

-- digital literacy, discourse practices, social norms and norming, the politics of play

-- public discourse/controversy over violence, militarism, sex, criminality, racism, etc in games

-- game pedagogy and classroom practices, gamification, learning as play



II. Submission Process

The Game Studies area of the National Popular Culture Association and the American Culture Association Conference, which began as the Video Games Studies area in 2003, has the most enduring footprint of any North American academic organization that give serious attention to the social and cultural impact of games and gaming. The area continues to grow and offers two avenues for scholars to participate and present their work.

A. Paper Proposals

For individual paper proposal submissions, please submit a 250-word (maximum) abstract by October 1, 2015.  Submissions must be made online at http://ncp.pcaaca.org.  Detailed instructions for using the online submission system can be found at http://www.pcaaca.org/conference/instructions.php.

B. Panel Proposals

For panel submissions, please submit a 250-word (maximum) panel abstract, as well as 100-word abstracts for each individual presentation, by October 1, 2015. Panel proposals must be emailed to digitalgames.pcaaca@gmail.com. Be sure to include the proposed title of the panel, the organizer’s name, affiliation, mailing address, and email, as well as this information for all panelists. Panel submissions may take the form of debates, dialogs, roundtable discussions, thematic panels, (or other format,) and should be designed to last approximately eighty minutes.



III. Information about the Conference

A. So that there will be ample time for discussion, each individual paper presentation should be designed to last approximately twelve to fifteen minutes (there will typically be four presentations per session with time for Q&A).

B. Technology for use during presentations may be limited. More information about the conference can be found at http://www.pcaaca.org/

C. Presenters will be required to join either the Popular Culture Association or the American Culture Association prior to attending the conference, as well as pay a registration fee for the conference. Information about these fees can be found at http://www.pcaaca.org/conference/membership_registration.php.

D. Awards and Travel Grants are offered, on a competitive basis, by the National Popular Culture Association / American Culture Association

1. Travel Grants

The Michael Schoenecke Travel Grant for Graduate Students to the National Conference. For application requirements, please visit http://www.pcaaca.org/grant/schoenecke.php

The Peter Rollins Travel Grant for Early-Career Faculty. For application requirements, please visit http://www.pcaaca.org/grant/rollins.php

The Madonna Marsden International Travel Grant for Individuals presenting at the National Conference. For application requirements, please visit http://www.pcaaca.org/grant/marsden.php

2. Graduate Student Awards

William E. Brigman Award for the Outstanding Graduate Student Paper presented at the National Conference in a specific year. Applications go to Brigman Award, c/o Gary Hoppenstand, Journal of Popular Culture, 4C Morrill Hall, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824 . Please send three hard copies of the paper (without author's name), as well as a copy on disc and photocopy of your student identification card. Those concerned for their privacy may obscure the Social Security number should it appear on the card. Please also include a copy of the acceptance letter/email from the PCA area chair who accepted the paper for presentation in the national conference. Papers should address popular culture and be accepted for a PCA panel. Submissions must be received by January 7th of the year the conference is held. The winning paper must be presented at the upcoming PCA/ACA meeting in the year it is accepted. Should the winning paper not be presented in person, the award will be forfeited. The winning author is invited to submit the essay to The Journal of Popular Culture and work with the editor toward its publication. This award is selected by a panel chosen by the editor of the journal. The winner receives a $500 travel award to attend the national conference in the year the paper is selected.

William M. Jones Award for the Outstanding Graduate Student Paper presented at the National Conference in a specific year. Entries are submitted to Amy Dudley, Editorial Assistant, William M. Jones Graduate Student Paper Award Selection Committee, the Journal of American Culture, Virginia Wesleyan College, 1584 Wesleyan Drive, Norfolk, VA 23502. Papers must be submitted by January 7th of the year the conference is held. Three copies of the paper, as well as a photocopy of the applicant's student identification card must be submitted. Papers should address American culture. The winning paper must be presented at the PCA/ACA conference. The winner receives a $500 travel award to attend the national conference in the year the paper is selected. Should the winning paper not be presented in person, the award will be forfeited. The winning author should also submit the essay to the Journal of American Culture and work with the editor toward its publication. This award is selected by a panel chosen by the editor of the journal.



IV. Contact Information

Questions and concerns can be sent to digitalgames.pcaaca@gmail.com, or may be directed to one of the area chairs listed below.

Matthew Wysocki, Department of Communication, Flagler College

mwysocki@flagler.edu

Nicholas Mizer,

nicholas.j.mizer@gmail.com

Matthew Wysocki
Flagler College

Email: mwysocki@flagler.edu

CFP Gaming/Gender: 2015 Mechademia Conference on Asian Popular Cultures (9/1/15; Minneapolis 9/25-27/15)

CFP: Mechademia Conference on Asian Popular Cultures, 2015 “Gaming/Gender”
https://networks.h-net.org/node/73374/announcements/74516/cfp-mechademia-conference-asian-popular-cultures-2015-
Announcement published by Jen Caruso on Wednesday, July 8, 2015

Type:
Call for Papers
Date:
September 1, 2015
Location:
Minnesota, United States
Subject Fields:
Asian History / Studies, Digital Humanities
Mechademia Conference on Asian Popular Cultures, 2015

“Gaming/Gender”

September 25-27, 2015

Minneapolis College of Art and Design

Minneapolis, Minnesota

Special Guest: Brianna Wu

The recent rash of death threats toward feminist media critic, Anita Sarkeesian after her polemic on the violence toward women in video games, has focused attention on what has always been “accepted” as a given: video games are made by males for males. In the crosshairs of a narrowed, constructed male gaze, representations of women have indeed been predominately the sexualized subjects of extreme violence in gaming. This is the case despite the fact that women also play video games, critique and write about video games, and even create video games. An article from The Guardian from September 17th of 2014 stated, “While ‘hardcore’ gaming is clearly still rooted in its traditional user base (playing games is considered the most entertaining media amongst males aged 16-24), what the study shows is a widening audience who are exploring games through new platforms.”

 Additionally, in light of the fact that in spite of its massively misogynist aspects, indeed many women not only play these hardcore video games, but actually apparently enjoy playing them; we question how to address these problems -- not only just the rampant misogyny, but the broader abuses of that can underlay the misogyny; those societal issues of class, race, ethnicity, gender, and sexualities.

• How women are depicted is not always strictly about sex and violence, but being as those are significant factors, how should women be portrayed in games – particularly action/war games?

• Is gaming as exclusively a “man’s world” and the only role for women being the over-sexualized, highly “consumable” victims?

• Do videogames, anime, and manga simply reinforce negative gender, ethnic, class, and racial stereotypes, or is there a possibility for critique embedded in the games or cultures that produce and consume them?

These topics represent only a few of the broad concerns over issues of gender and gaming currently in the news.

This conference invites scholars, fans, and creators to consider the situation and respond with presentations as we expand the discursive field against the vast mediated (dis)information found on the web. We welcome both in-person presentations at the conference as well as remote presentations via Zoom (much like Skype) for those unable to make it to Minneapolis.

Teachers: We also have an “Emerging Scholars Panel” for your advanced undergraduate students to participate in during this event. They can also register at the same site below.

Please send 250 word proposals to mechademia@mcad.edu by September 1, 2015.



Contact Email:
mechademia@mcad.edu
URL:
http://mcad.edu/events-fellowships/mechademia

CFP Video Games, Culture, & Justice (10/1/15)

CFP: Video Games, Culture, & Justice
https://networks.h-net.org/node/73374/announcements/74784/cfp-video-games-culture-justice

Announcement published by Kishonna Gray on Friday, July 10, 2015

Type:
Call for Papers
Date:
July 11, 2015 to October 1, 2015
Subject Fields:
Communication, Contemporary History, Cultural History / Studies, Digital Humanities, Demographic History / Studies, History of Science, Medicine, and Technology, Library and Information Science

Call for Papers: Video Games, Culture, & Justice

The purpose of this edited volume is to propel game studies towards a more responsive existence in the area of social justice.  The text will attempt to move beyond the descriptive level of analysis of what and begin engaging the why, highlighting the structural and institutional factors perpetuating inequalities that permeate gaming culture and extend into a myriad of institutions.  The public outcry associated with GamerGate has put 'why' at the forefront of game studies. GamerGaters, who gained media attention through their misogynist and racist attacks on women gamers and developers, even tried to justify their campaign as an attempt to restore the ethics needed in video game journalism. This attack directed at 'social justice warriors' brought the hidden reality of harassment, cyberbullying, sexism, racism, homophobia, transphobia, and other injustices to light.  These attacks are part and parcel of gaming culture; challenges to the lack of diversity or the gross stereotypes are often met with demonization and rhetorical violence directed at those who merely seek to help gaming reach its fullest potential. Yet, in these struggles, we must move beyond individual acts of prejudice, discrimination, and microaggressions to examine the structural and institutional factors that allow them to exist.   We must look at how the daily practices sustain what Mark Anthony Neal calls "micro-nooses" and lived reality of violence on and offline.



Amid this culture of violence, the gaming industry has embraced the rhetoric of diversity and inclusion.  In response to protests, game developers have incorporated statements asserting their commitment to producing diverse games and building an industry no longer dominated by white men. Given the post-racial rhetorical turn of the last six years, it is important to push conversations about gaming and gamers beyond diversity, to expose the disconnect between rhetorics of multiculturalism and the struggle for justice and equity.  It is important to highlight the contradiction between ideals of inclusion espoused within the video game industry and society as a whole and the persistence of injustices within the structural and institutional context in which they may have developed. This compilation not only seeks to answer these questions but also to produce work that intervenes in the culture of violence and inequity from which these works emanate from inside and outside of academia.



Traditionally, academic public discourses concerned with criminal justice focused on issues pertaining to crime and legal justice; within game studies, there has an effort to examine criminogenic effects of violent video games on the streets.  We must move beyond this simple construction of justice and video games.  This interdisciplinary text defines justice broadly, but in terms to speak to the struggle of racial, gender, and social justice.  Moving beyond abstract principles, the collection focuses on the stakes playing out in virtual reality, demonstrating the ways that struggles for justice online, in the policy booth, in the court house, in our schools, in legislatures and in streets must be waged online.



As such, this collection seeks a broader range of critical perspectives on justice issues within gaming culture seeking whether gaming culture can foster critical consciousness, aid in participatory democracy, and effect social change.  It will give voice to the silenced and marginalized, offering counter narratives to those post-racial and post-gendered fantasies that so often obscure the violent context of production and consumption. In offering this framework, this volume will be grounded in the concrete situations of marginalized members within gaming culture.



Early career scholars, game industry personnel, gaming activists, graduate students, and others are invited to submit work addressing the connected themes of Video Games, Culture, & Justice.  Suggested essay topics may include (but are not limited to):



·         Representation and Identity in Video Games

·         Examining the complex nature of intersections

·         Marginalized identities within gaming culture

·         Developing culturally responsive games

·         Activism within video games

·         Power and anonymity

·         Negative experiences in multiplayer settings

·         Applying social justice theories to gaming

·         Militarization and video games

·         Cyberbullying, online harassment, and other virtual violence

·         Policing game communities

·         Swatting and blurring boundaries of virtual and physical spaces

·         Online disinhibition, anonymity, and trolling

·         The impact of serious games and games for change

·         Hacking inequalities (sexism, racism, heterosexism, ableism, etc)

·         Solutions to eliminate bias

·         Hypermasculinity in tech culture

·         Methodological successes and challenges

·         Genre, representation, and social justice

·         Gaming interfaces as social praxis

·         The graphical arms race: hyperreality, phenotype, and identity



Please submit abstracts (500 word max) along with a short bio and your CV/resume to gamesculturejustice@gmail.com by September 15th, 2015.  Authors will be notified by October 5th, 2015 if their proposals have been accepted for the prospectus.  Final essays should be within the range of 4000 – 6000 words, submitted as a Word or Rich Text Format.  Notifications to submit full essays will occur shortly after abstracts are submitted and they will be due December 28th, 2015.  For more information please contact the co-editors at gamesculturejustice@gmail.com.



Deadline for Abstracts: September 15th, 2015

Full Essays Due: December 28th, 2015



André Brock (Ph.D., University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign) is an Assistant Professor of Communication Studies at the University of Michigan.  His research interests include digital and online performances of race and culture, African American technoculture, and critical cultural informatics.  Follow him on Twitter @DocDre.



Kishonna L. Gray (Ph.D., Arizona State University) is the Director of the Critical Gaming Lab at Eastern Kentucky University as well as faculty in the School of Justice Studies, African/African-American Studies, & Women & Gender Studies.  Her work broadly intersects identity and new media although she has a particular focus on gaming.  Her most recent book, Race, Gender, & Deviance in Xbox Live, provides a much-needed theoretical framework for examining deviant behavior and deviant bodies within that virtual gaming community.  Her work can be found at www.kishonnagray.com and at www.criticalgaminglab.com.  Follow her on Twitter @DrGrayThaPhx and @CriticalGameLab.



David J. Leonard (Ph.D., University of California – Berkeley) is Associate Professor and chair in the Department of Critical Culture, Gender and Race Studies at Washington State University, Pullman.  He regularly writes about issues of race, gender, inequality, and popular culture.  His work has appeared in a number of academic journals and anthologies.  His works can be found at http://www.drdavidjleonard.com. Follow him on Twitter @drdavidjleonard.



Contact Info:
For more information please contact the co-editors at gamesculturejustice@gmail.com

André Brock (University of Michigan), Co-Editor

Kishonna L Gray (Eastern Kentucky University), Co-Editor

David J Leonard (Washington State University), Co-Editor

Contact Email:
gamesculturejustice@gmail.com
URL:
http://www.criticalgaminglab.com/cfp-video-games-culture--justice.html

CFP Crank up the Resolution: Cyberpunk in Visual/Virtual Media (abstract by 8/1/15)

A reminder from the SFRA Listserv:

Call for Contributions
Crank up the Resolution: Cyberpunk in Visual/Virtual Media

“The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.”
William Gibson, Neuromancer (1984)

Contributions are invited for a critical anthology focusing on cyberpunk beyond its literary dimension, its presentation in visual/virtual media, and its ongoing relevance in the 21st century.

Cyberpunk, that immensely popular form of 1980s science fiction (SF), was shaped by the innovative and highly stylized literary works of writers such as William Gibson, Bruce Sterling, Pat Cadigan, Rudy Rucker, John Shirley, and Lewis Shiner, to name a few. Gibson’s debut novel Neuromancer is the ur-text of cyberpunk, and as the opening line quoted above reveals, it is a genre that relied strongly on visual motifs for its brushed-chrome literary splendor. The cyberpunk imaginary is richly saturated with computer-generated worlds, video games, music videos, simulated stimuli, consensual hallucinations, and many other technologies that highlight the visual and/or the virtual. As a result, the importance of the visual/virtual component readily translated cyberpunk into contemporaneous film, television, and video games, such as Blade Runner (1982), Tron (1982), Videodrome (1983), Max Headroom (1985; 1987), Wasteland (1987), Akira (1988), and so forth.

It is in no small part due to this visual/virtual form that cyberpunk survived many pronouncements of its demise over the years and decades that followed its initial popularity. Cyberpunk has evolved beyond the original cadre of eighties-era authors and undergone transformations in successive waves with increasingly varied thematic and political interests and goals; in other words, as Thomas Foster remarks in The Souls of Cyberfolk, cyberpunk “didn’t so much die as experience a sea change into a more generalized cultural formation.”

Visual and virtual embodiments of cyberpunk have continued to resonate well into the new millennium, in media as varied as film, television, video games, comic books/graphic novels, and art (photography, painting, design, fashion, etc.); yet, monographs and anthologies tend to focus overwhelmingly on literary cyberpunk with little attention paid to its visual/virtual offspring. Crank up the Resolution: Cyberpunk in Visual/Virtual Media seeks to redress this oversight by focusing on the ‘sea changes’ of cyberpunk in visual/virtual media, including (but not limited to) the following:

Cyberpunk in Film and Television

·     Aeon Flux
·     Akira
·     Almost Human
·     Avalon
·     Blade Runner
·     Dollhouse
·     Elysium
·     Gamer
·     Ghost in the Shell
·     Hackers
·     Hardwired
·     Johnny Mnemonic
·     Lawnmower Man
·     RoboCop
·     Sleep Dealer
·     Strange Days
·     TekWar
·     Terminator
·     The Matrix
·     Total Recall
·     Tron
·     Ultraviolet
·     Videodrome
·     Virtuosity

Cyberpunk in Video Games

·     Beneath a Steel Sky
·     Cyberpunk 2077  
·     Cypher
·     Deus Ex
·     Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon  
·     Fear Effect
·     Metal Gear Solid
·     Neocron
·     Remember Me  
·     Shadowrun  
·     Shin Megami Tensei
·     Syndicate
·     System Shock
·     Wasteland
·     Watch Dogs

Cyberpunk in Comic Books/Graphic Novels

·     Transmetropolitan
·     The Resistance
·     Hard Boiled
·     Heavy Liquid
·     Singularity 7
·     Channel Zero
·     Hard Drive
·     Ballistic
·     Doktor Sleepless
·     The Surrogates


Cyberpunk in art/photography/design/fashion/advertisement 

The visual/virtual in Cyberpunk-derived genres 

Theoretical approaches to visual/virtual cyberpunk

Aesthetics of visual/virtual cyberpunk

Crank up the Resolution: Cyberpunk in Visual/Virtual Media seeks to highlight visual and virtual forms of cyberpunk with outstanding academic scholarship and new critical approaches in an anthology that can be readily accessible to academics, scholars, teachers, and students alike. 1-2 page abstracts (Word or RTF) and brief biographies are invited by August 1st, 2015.

The projected timeline for the anthology is: Abstracts due by August 1st , 2015; participants notified by Sep 1st 2015; finished papers due Jan 1st , 2016; revisions in spring 2016; publication in fall 2016 (pending publisher timelines).

Submissions and queries can be sent to the editors Graham J. Murphy (Seneca College, Toronto, Canada) and Lars Schmeink (Hans Bredow Institute for Media Research, Hamburg, Germany) via email. Regular mail addresses will be provided upon request.

Graham J. Murphy: gjamurphy@gmail.com
Lars Schmeink: lars@wortraub.com

CFP Current Research in Speculative Fiction (3/9/15; Liverpool, UK 6/8/15)

Europeans have all the fun:

Current Research in Speculative Fiction [CRSF] 2015
http://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/node/60481
full name / name of organization:
Current Research in Speculative Fiction [CRSF] / University of Liverpool
contact email:
CRSF.team@gmail.com
Current Research in Speculative Fiction 2015
Monday 8th June 2015
University of Liverpool

With Keynote Lectures from:
Dr. Andrew M. Butler (Canterbury Christ Church University)
Dr. Sarah Dillon (University of Cambridge)

Returning for its fifth consecutive year, CRSF is a one day postgraduate conference designed to promote the research of speculative fictions, including SCIENCE FICTION, FANTASY and HORROR; showcasing some of the latest developments in these dynamic and evolving fields. CRSF attracts an international selection of delegates and provides a platform for postgraduate students to present their current research, encourages discussion with scholars in related subjects and the construction of crucial networks with fellow researchers. The University of Liverpool, a leading centre for the study of speculative fiction and home to the Science Fiction Foundation Collection, will host the conference. We are seeking abstracts relating to speculative fiction, including, but not limited to, papers on the following topics:

•Alternate History •Alternative Culture •Animal Studies •Anime •Apocalypse •Body Horror •Consciousness •Cyber Culture •Drama •Eco-criticism •Fan Culture •Gaming •(Geo)Politics •Genre •Gender •Graphic Novels •The Grotesque •The Heroic Tradition •Liminal Fantasy •Magic •Meta-Franchises •Morality •Monstrosity •Music •Non-Anglo-American SF •Otherness •Pastoral •Poetry •Politics •Post-Colonialism and Empire •Proto-SF •Psychology •Quests •Realism •Sexuality •Slipstream •Spiritualism •Steampunk •Supernatural •Technology •Time •TV and Film •Urban Fantasy •Utopia/Dystopia •(Virtual) Spaces and Environments •Weird Fiction •World Building •Young Adult Fiction.

Please submit an abstract of 300 words for a 20 minute English language paper and a 100 word biography to CRSF.team@gmail.com by Monday 9th March 2015. Queries can be sent to the same address.

By web submission at 01/27/2015 - 16:25

CFP Creating, Questioning, and Playing with Reality: Living in Worlds of Pure Imagination? (6/15/14) (Grad Conf; Ohio 10/10-12/14)

Apologies for having missed this: 

Creating, Questioning, and Playing with Reality: Living in Worlds of Pure Imagination?
Location: Ohio, United States
Call for Papers Date: 2014-10-10
Date Submitted: 2014-05-06
Announcement ID: 213537
Creating, Questioning, and Playing with Reality: Living in Worlds of Pure Imagination?

Alex Hogue, Matthew Bauman, Acacia Diniz

Department of German Studies

University of Cincinnati, USA

10-12 October 2014, Cincinnati, University of Cincinnati


Please send 250 word abstracts to fogs.editor@gmail.com by June 15, 2014.


The German Graduate Student Association of the University of Cincinnati and the editors of the graduate student journal Focus on German Studies present the Nineteenth Annual Focus Graduate Student Conference to be held 10-12 October 2014 at the University of Cincinnati.

Keynote Speaker: TBD


Whether set in a far off time and space, in an alternate world, or in the mind of a character, narratives that create, question, and play with reality reflect the abilities of authors, filmmakers, and video game designers to not only explore their own creativity, but also to lay bare our understanding of reality from the safe distance offered by fiction. Theorist Fredric Jameson has argued that science fiction in particular offers insights less about any alternative past or future, but about the present in which the work was produced. In expanding Jameson’s idea beyond a single genre, this interdisciplinary conference will explore how and why various notions of reality are constructed.


Submissions are welcome from any discipline. Papers may be presented in either German or English.

Possible panels include but are not limited to:

• “Warp, Hyperdrive, or the TARDIS? Overcoming the Here and Now in Science Fiction”
• “Seeing is Believing. Perceiving and Constructing Reality in Visual Culture”
• “Me and My Avatar: Games, Gaming, and Interactivity”
• “And Now for Something Completely Different: Counterfactual Histories and Historical Fiction”

Other possible topics include but are not limited to:

• Science fiction
• Fantasy
• Counterfactual history
• Alternate Reality
• Video games
• Superheroes
• Comic books and graphic novels
• Philosophy of mind
• Digital culture
• Digital humanities
• Social media
• Stream of consciousness
• Based on a true story…

Alex Hogue
University of Cincinnati

Email: fogs.editor@gmail.com

CFP Queerness and Games Conference (6/15/14; UC Berkeley 10/25-26/14)

CFP Queerness and Games Conference
full name / name of organization:
Queerness and Games
contact email:
qgconference@gmail.com
Call for Speakers
Deadline June 15, 2014

The Queerness and Games Conference
Theme: “Difference at Play”
UC Berkeley, October 25 and 26, 2014
qgcon.com // @qgcon // qgconference@gmail.com

The second annual Queerness and Games Conference (QGCon), hosted at UC Berkeley on October 25 and October 26, 2014, is happy to invite proposals for conference sessions now through June 15. Applicants will be notified by July 15. To submit, see instructions below.

Now in its second year, QGCon is a free, weekend-long, interdisciplinary event. The goal of QGCon is to create an open and inclusive environment for discussing the intersection of video games and LGBTQ issues, however you define them. QGCon brings together academics and game developers to foster dialogues that break traditional disciplinary boundaries. The QGCon organizers believe in the importance of creativity and play as tools for intellectual and personal exploration. We are particularly interested in broadening our focus to address issues of race and gender non-normativity, and we encourage submissions from folks who have long gone underrepresented in games and the games industry.

The theme for this year’s QGcon is Difference at Play. This theme is designed to spark ideas, not to limit them. Feel free to submit a session proposal even if your idea falls outside the theme. Some questions inspired by the theme might include:

- What does it mean to play differently?
- What does it mean to play at difference itself?
- In what way can “difference” speaks to questions of race, gender, and sexuality for games and those who play them?
- How do we define “mainstream” and how do we define “different”?

Other questions related to queerness and games that speakers might consider include:

- What does it mean to play queerly?
- What does it mean to design queerly?
- In what ways are queer characters depicted in games?
- What is the place of queer gamers in larger gaming communities?
- How is queerness perceived in the games industry?
- What happens when we put queer studies in conversation with game studies?

QGCon welcomes proposals from speakers of all backgrounds, including but not limited to: game developers, indie designers, academics, artists, and activists. Potential session types include but are also not limited to: solo talks, pair or group talks, panels, workshops, live interviews, microtalks, and play sessions. Please feel free to be creative when envisioning your presentation.

In order to submit, please send the following to qgconference@gmail.com by June 15, 2015. Applications will receive notifications by July 15.

1) A 300- to 500- word abstract of your proposed session, including a description of any visual or interactive elements. Be sure to specify what type of session you are proposing, if you are proposing to speak with other speakers (e.g. on a panel), and how long you would like to present for.

2) A 50- to 100-word bio for each presenter.

Feel free to direct any questions to qgconference@gmail.com. We look forward to your submission, and we can’t wait to see you at QGCon 2014!


By web submission at 05/05/2014 - 21:14

CFP Cultural Influences of Role-Playing Games Collection (proposals 6/1/14)

Call for Papers: Edited Collection on the Cultural Influences of Role-Playing Games
full name / name of organization:
Andrew Byers and Francesco Crocco
contact email:
rpgbook2014@gmail.com

Since its initial publication in 1974, the iconic role-playing game (RPG) Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) has spawned hundreds of other analog and digital RPGs, as well as an entirely new industry and subculture. In the last decade, scholars from across the disciplinary spectrum have explored the origins, characteristics, cultures, and player experiences of RPGs. Yet, little scholarly attention has been devoted to the meaningful ways RPGs have shaped and transformed society at large over the past forty years. We are seeking chapters for an upcoming collection of essays that addresses the broader cultural impact, influence, and significance of RPGs (analog or digital). Topics may include, but are not limited to:

* The social and cultural influences of and responses to RPGs from the 1970s through the present
* The influence of RPGs on other types of games and entertainment, including videogames, massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs), live-action role-playing games (LARPs), collectible card games, and the like
* Representations or adaptations of RPGs in literature, film, or other media
* Educational or pedagogical uses of RPGs or RPG elements
* Role-playing approaches to counseling and therapy
* RPGs in military and corporate worlds

We also welcome other topics that show a clear connection with these themes.

Please send proposed abstracts of 250-500 words, along with a brief (250 word) biography and C.V., in either *.rtf (rich text format) or *.doc (MS Word document format), to editors Andrew Byers and Francesco Crocco at rpgbook2014@gmail.com by June 1, 2014. If accepted for the collection, completed essays of 8,000 to 10,000 words will be due by January 1, 2015.


By web submission at 03/08/2014 - 02:59

CFP Exploring JRPG Virtual Worlds -- Spec. Issue of Synaesthesia (11/30/14)

Exploring JRPG Virtual Worlds
full name / name of organization:
Synaesthesia: Communication Across Cultures (ISSN 1883-5953)
contact email:
editors@synaesthesiajournal.com

Synaesthesia: Communication Across Cultures is an international, open-access interdisciplinary journal, rigorously peer-reviewed and oriented toward advancing new perspectives and understandings of how thought, engagement, and the communication of meanings hinge upon human perception.

The journal encourages new dialogues in communication theory and research by publishing original scholarship from scholars within the international community that explores issues from the interpersonal to mass-marketed, regional to global, academic to corporate, among genders and across time. The journal welcomes innovative theoretical essays and research articles and aims to advance the progressive exchange of ideas.

Synaesthesia invites submissions for a special themed edition of the journal devoted to Japanese role-playing video games (JRPG’s), entitled ‘Exploring JRPG Virtual Worlds’ (Vol. 2, no. 4).

Synaesthesia managing editors Dr. Christopher Melley and Dr. Daniel Broudy are pleased to announce that Dr. Jeffery Klaehn will be acting as lead editor on this special edition of the journal.

Possible themes/topics that may be explored include JRPG’s within the context of social theory, representation, narrative, masculinity and femininity, race and ethnicity, inequality (social, political, economic), power, agency, identity, media, channels of distribution, Western RPG’s, and fandom.

JRPG franchises that may be discussed include (but are not limited to) Dragon Warrior/Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy, .hack, Persona, Shin Megami Tensei, Pokémon, Grandia, Suikoden, Skies of Arcadia, the SaGa series, Chrono Trigger, Xenogears, Breath of Fire, Wild Arms, Lunar, Eternal Sonata, The World Ends With You, Xenoblade Chronicles, Baten Kaitos, Phantasy Star, Star Ocean, and the Tales series.

All articles considered for publication will undergo a peer-review process.

Scholarly work accepted for publication with the online journal will receive subsequent consideration for publication within future collected volumes.

Submissions should be rigorous in scholarship yet accessible in style for audiences across a wide spectrum of disciplines.

Submissions lodged by e-mail should include a title, abstract, author's name, and institutional affiliation. Please include the proposed title of your paper in the subject line of your e-mail submission. If including images within the manuscript, please adhere to fair use policy and include relevant caption/copyright information. Manuscripts attached to e-mail submissions should be saved in the MSWord .doc(x) format.

Submission Deadline: November 30, 2014

editors@synaesthesiajournal.com


By web submission at 03/07/2014 - 04:39

CFP Nine Worlds' Academia and Geek Culture Conference (4/1/14; London 8/8-10/14)

Sorry for the late posting:

Nine Worlds' Academia and Geek Culture Conference (8-10 August 2014)
full name / name of organization:
Nine Worlds
contact email:
sffacademic@nineworlds.co.uk
Academia and Geek Culture

Last year, the Nine Worlds convention hosted an academic conference. You can find the details of it at www.sffacademic.wordpress.com. This year, we’re intending to do it somewhat differently. Instead of having an academic conference in its own devoted room, we’ll be placing talks, panellists and other speakers in tracks on their own topic.

With that in mind, we’re inviting submissions for papers and suggested panels, as well as volunteers to talk on pre-organised panels. All areas of study surrounding ‘geek media’ are accepted – from video games to classic fantasy, and we welcome submissions from anyone who is a current student or has graduated with a degree in a relevant field. Talks will be ideally 20-30 minutes in length, and the standard panel time is 1 hour, 15 minutes.

Nine Worlds will take place in London (Heathrow) between the 8th and 10th of August 2014. Tickets are available for purchase on www.nineworlds.co.uk, and they will grant you access to the whole convention – not just the academic content.

Suggested areas of submission include:

- Video Games and the surrounding culture
- Board, Social and Role-playing Game
- Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature*
- Diversity and representation in geek culture
- ‘Geek’ film and TV
- Comics
- Religion/culture and geek culture
- Steampunk/other alternative history movements
- Fanfiction
- Science and its relation to geek media/culture

* We’re especially looking for some Game of Thrones content here.

Please ensure your paper/panel is suited to non-academics. Ideally, you may assume the audience has full knowledge of primary sources, but little secondary, so please take this into consideration. We intend to each session be accessible and understandable to those outside of the usual academic groups.

Please send a title, a 300 word abstract, your name and affiliation (university) to sffacademic@nineworlds.co.uk

The deadline for submissions is April 1st, 2014. This deadline is for abstracts only – the completed papers will be due mid-July.

Registration will be completed through the purchase of a ticket to the convention as a whole. Accommodation is available at the hotel, but should be booked separately by individual participants. All profits from the conference/convention will go to charity. Please do email if you have questions.

Nine Worlds deliberately tries to include parity of race, sexual orientation, genders and creeds as a part of its programming remit, wherever possible. We aim to follow this in our selection of panellists, and would also be interested in including papers or panels that address these issues. However, we are aware that some people do not want to discuss these as direct topics, and wish to be sensitive to this, so you will only be asked to speak on topics that you offer to.


By web submission at 02/13/2014 - 15:32