CFP: From “Early Access” and “Open Worlds” to Game-Cons and Clans: The Production of Spatiality and Community in Contemporary Gaming

The organizers of the Third Graduate Workshop of the Graduate School for East and Southeast European Studies at the University Regensburg, in cooperation with the Leibniz ScienceCampus Europe and America in the Modern World, are seeking proposals from graduate students and early-career researchers. Submissions are due by May 31, 2022.

This graduate workshop seeks to investigate contemporary video games as an emergent space to be considered under the auspices of Area Studies, with special consideration given to practices, memory politics, and identity negotiation. By bringing together scholars and young professionals from a wide array of disciplines, it aims to advance the dialogue concerning methodological and conceptual approaches for video games in the humanities and social sciences.

Especially of interest is the process of community driven negotiation of producing “authenticity” in an otherwise artificially constructed world. The point of view of play is similarly critical, as portrayals of individualism and collectivism can be challenged or reified based on the sort of gaze granted to a player. These aspect should especially be examined from a feminist perspective, as games and gaming communities are predominantly crafted by men, for men.