Please distribute as appropriate: *Foundations of Digital Games 2012 May 29 - June 1, 2012 Raleigh, North Carolina http://www.fdg2012.org * CALL FOR PARTICIPATION * Important Dates* Workshop Proposal Submission: 17 October 2011 Full Paper & Panel Submission: 19 December 2011 Doctoral Consortium Submission: 09 January 2012 Research & Experimental Games Festival Submission: 19 January 2012 Paper, Panel & Doctoral Consortium Author Notification: 01 March 2012 Research & Experimental Games Festival Notification: 01 March 2012 Poster and Demo Submission: 12 March 2012 Poster and Demo Notification: 25 March 2012 Camera Ready Full Papers & Research Games: 27 March 2012 Camera Ready Posters and Demos: 29 March 2012 FDG 2012, the International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games, is a focal point for academic efforts in all areas of research and education involving games, game technologies, gameplay, and game design. The goal of the conference is the advancement of the study of digital games, including new game technologies, capabilities, designs, applications, educational uses, and modes of play. We invite researchers and educators to submit to FDG 2012 and share insights and cutting-edge research related to game technologies and their use. FDG 2012 will include presentations of peer-reviewed papers, invited talks by high-profile industry and academic leaders, panels, and posters. The conference will also host an interactive game demo session as well as Doctoral Consortium sessions. The Doctoral Consortium serves as a forum for young researchers and graduate students to present their work, exchange experiences with peers, discuss ideas for future research and receive feedback from established games researchers and the wider FDG community. The game festival event will showcase the latest experimental and research games and game technology created by university students and academic or industrial research groups. In addition, the conference organizers invite workshop proposals. Workshops are full-day and half-day sessions focused on emerging game topics, particularly those that bridge different communities. *Submission type:* Full Papers with a maximum length of 8 pages Posters with a maximum length of 2 pages Doctoral Consortium with a maximum of 3 pages (extended abstract) Demos with a maximum length of 2 pages Workshops with a maximum length of 2-page abstract Panel with a maximum length of 2-page abstract Research & Experimental Games with a maximum length of 2-4 pages *Submission Tracks*: Authors should submit to either general conference or to one of the following tracks: Game Studies (studying games, players, and their role in society and culture) Game design (methods, techniques, studies) Serious games (building and evaluating games for a purpose; learning in games) Games education (preparing students to design and develop games) Artificial Intelligence (agents, motion and camera planning, navigation, adaptivity, dialog) Game development (tools, frameworks, networking, databases) Graphics and Interaction (rendering, modeling, animation, understanding players and interfaces, interaction techniques) Panels (all areas) All submissions will be rigorously peer reviewed for their scholarly merit, significance, novelty, clarity and relevance to the advancement of the study and creation of games. All full papers must describe a completed unit of work and show rigorous and compelling evaluation of the ideas they present. Posters should describe novel work in progress that is not at the same level of research maturity as a full submission. Workshops should engage informal discussion around emerging areas. Papers and Panel Submissions Papers and panels must be submitted by 11:59PM HST on December 19, 2011. Papers must not exceed eight pages and panel submissions must not exceed two pages. Panel submissions should describe the focus of the panel, provide a list of confirmed speakers, and indicate their areas of expertise relative to the topic. All submissions must comply with the official ACM proceedings format using one of the templates provided at http://www.acm.org/sigs/pubs/proceed/template.html. Submissions must not have been published previously. In addition, a submission identical or substantially similar in content (in its entirety or in part) to one submitted to FDG should not be simultaneously under consideration at another conference or journal during the entire FDG review process (from the submission deadline until notifications of decisions are emailed to authors). Authors of an accepted paper that focuses on an experimental or prototype game will also be invited to demo the game on which their paper is based in the Research Games Festival. Technical and Game Demo Submissions FDG 2012 will include an interactive technical demo and game demo event to showcase the latest tools, systems, and games created by university students and academic or industrial research groups. Demos submissions will be accepted until 11:59PM HST on March 12, 2012. Research and Experimental Games Festival Submissions The Festival is designed to showcase games that are experimental or have a research component: including technological components that represent research advancements, or games that are designed to answer a research question or experiment with the design process. Submissions should include a link to the game as well as a 2-4 page writeup of the project, addressing how the game is innovative and how successfully the game fulfilled the goals of the developer. WORKSHOP PROPOSALS The conference workshops, held the day prior to the main conference, provide an informal setting for new developments to be discussed and demonstrated. We invite proposals for full-day and half-day workshops focused on specific topics related to the broader themes around games. We are particularly interested in topics that bridge different communities and disciplines. Concise proposals (max. 2 pages) should include: an extended abstract, the objectives and expected outcome of the workshop, the planned activities, the background of the organizer(s), the anticipated number of participants, and the means for soliciting and selecting participants. Workshop proposals should be submitted directly to the Workshops Chair, Rafael Bidarra, at R.Bidarra@tudelft.nl, no later than October 17th, 2011. DOCTORAL CONSORTIUM FDG 2012 is soliciting submissions from doctoral students for the FDG Doctoral Consortium. The FDG 2012 Doctoral Consortium provides a supportive environment in which PhD students can get early feedback on their research directions, both from fellow students and from experienced faculty in the area. The consortium is intended primarily for beginning PhD students who intend to pursue a career in academia. Since the goal of the Doctoral Consortium is to enable greater number of new PhDs in the area, applications from students who are close to completing their PhD will have lower priority (or are discouraged). Approximately 5 students will be invited to participate. Students participating in the consortium will submit a 3 page extended abstract describing their research, which will be reviewed by the conference program committee. Accepted abstracts will appear in the conference proceedings. Student authors of accepted papers will be invited to participate in both the main conference and the doctoral consortium and will receive financial support including conference registration, and an allowance for travel expenses. Accepted authors should contact the consortium chair for specifics. All students accepted into the Doctoral Consortium will be expected to attend both the conference and the Doctoral Consortium session. Interested students should submit a CV and 3 page extended abstract that discusses: * What the goals of your research are * Why those goals are important and who they would be important to * How your approach differs from previous approaches, if any * Your current results, if any * Plans for completing this research The extended abstract should not be a paper describing completed work, but a research proposal describing a promising unexplored research direction. Applicants should upload their 3 page extended abstract (PDF format) and their CV (as an attachment, PDF format ) to ?, by January 9, 2012. Applications should also have their advisors email a letter of recommendation by this date directly to Tiffany Barnes, with the subject line "FDG DC Recommendation". Applicants should make sure that advisors send the support letter by January 9, 2012. Important Dates for Doctoral Consortium: Doctoral Consortium proposal submissions: 9 January 2012 Advisor support letter: 9 January 2012 Doctoral Consortium notification of results: 1 March 2012 Registration for Authors: 20 March 2012 Please direct your questions to the Doctoral Consortium Chair Tiffany Barnes, at Tiffany.Barnes@uncc.edu. *FDG 2012 ORGANIZING COMMITTEE* Conference Chair Magy Seif El-Nasr, Simon Fraser University Program Chairs Mia Consalvo, Concordia University Steven Feiner, Columbia University Doctoral Consortium Chair Tiffany Barnes, University of North Carolina at Charlotte Workshops Chair Rafael Bidarra, Delft University of Technology Industrial Relations/Finance Chairs Susan Gold, Full Sail University Kent Foster, Microsoft Game Studios Local Arrangements Chair R. Michael Young, North Carolina State University Webmaster Pooya Amini, Simon Fraser University/Electronic Arts Program Committee Game studies: Nina Huntemann, Suffolk University Game design: Andrew Nealen, Rutgers University Games education: Jose Zagal, Depaul University Artificial intelligence: Ana Paiva, INESC-ID, Portugal Graphics and interaction: Joe Laviola, University of Central Florida Panels: Ian Bogost, Georgia Institute of Technology Serious games: Jen Jenson, York University Game development: TBA Games Research Festival: Cindy Poremba, Georgia Institute of Technology ADDITIONAL INFORMATION Please see www.foundationsofdigitalgames.org for additional information, or email Magy Seif El-Nasr, Conference Chair, at magyse@gmail.com -- Mia Consalvo, Ph.D. Visiting Associate Professor Comparative Media Studies Massachusetts Institute of Technology 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Building 14N-226 Cambridge, MA 02139-4307 USA consalvo@mit.edu 617.324.1868