Call for Papers: Game Studies, Culture, Play, and Practice Area 34th Annual SW/TX PCA/ACA Conference February 13-16, 2013 Hyatt Regency Hotel and Conference Center Albuquerque, NM The Game Studies, Culture, Play, and Practice Area welcomes papers, panels, and other proposals on games (digital and otherwise) and their study and development. The Area is also offering a three hour workshop titled “Teaching About and With Games” on the first day of the conference. - PROPOSAL SUBMISSION - Possible topics include (but are in no way limited to): Alternative reality games Archiving and artifactual preservation Competitive/clan gaming Design and development Economic and industrial histories and studies Educational games and their pedagogies Foreign language games and culture Advertising (both in-game and out) Game art/game-based art Haptics and interface studies Localization Machinima MOGs, MMOGs, and other forms of online/networked gaming Performance Pornographic games Religion and games Representations of race and gender Representations of space and place The rhetoric of games and game systems Serious games Strategy games Table-top games and gaming Technological, aesthetic, economic, and ideological convergence Theories of play Wireless and mobile gaming For paper proposals: Please submit a 250 word abstract and brief biographical sketch to the conference event management site: http://conference2013.swtxpca.org. Make sure to select the Game Studies, Culture, Play, and Practice topic area. The submission deadline is 11/16/2012. For panel and other proposals: Feel free to query the Area Chair first (Judd Ruggill, jruggill@asu.edu). Panel and other proposals should also be submitted to the conference event management site and include the information requested for individual paper proposals, as well as a 100-word statement of the panel’s raison d’etre and any noteworthy organizational features. As always, proposals are welcome from any and all scholars (including graduate students, independent scholars, and tenured, tenure-track, and emeritus faculty) and practitioners (developers, artists, archivists, and so forth). Also, unusual formats, technologies, and the like are encouraged. - AWARD - Graduate students accepted to present in this area may apply for the conference’s monetary Computer Culture and Game Studies Award. The full paper is due to the judges on 1/1/2013. For details on this award and the conference’s other awards for the best graduate papers, see http://www.swtxpca.org/documents/112.html. - WORKSHOP - The Area Research Coordinator is pleased to announce this year’s Game Studies, Culture, Play, and Practice workshop, “Teaching About and With Games.” This three hour workshop is geared toward participants interested in game-based pedagogies. Many disciplines are experimenting with incorporating games into their curricula to increase student engagement and teach content in a participatory manner. As with any pedagogical approach, there are challenges and rewards to incorporating games. The workshop organizers will work with participants to articulate goals for a unit, course, or program of study. They will help participants begin to evaluate whether games are appropriate for a particular pedagogical goal, and if so, suggest useful games and game types. The workshop will also discuss the technologies needed for all skill- levels and technological goals. The workshop is limited to 10 participants, and the goal is for participants to leave with a framework for implementation or to refine previous game-based pedagogies. The limited number of participants will ensure that everyone involved will get the time and attention they need. Those interested in participating in the workshop should email a 100-250 word statement to the Area Research Coordinator (Jennifer deWinter@wpi.edu) outlining what they are thinking about doing, so that the organizers can best prepare to meet the specific needs of the participants. Nota bene: There is no charge for the workshop (for registered conference presenters/attendees). The submission deadline is 1/15/13. - COLLABORATION & PUBLICATION OPPORTUNITIES - The Game Studies, Culture, Play, and Practice Area is international in scope and emphasizes diversity, an openness to innovative approaches and presentations, and the energetic practice of post-conference collaboration and publication. The Area Research Coordinator would like to note the following publication opportunities for this year’s participants: Technical Writing and Computer Games: The editors of this collection are interested in representing the intersection of technical communication theory, practice, and pedagogy. The editors are attending the conference. If you are interested in the CFP, contact Ryan Moeller (rylish.moeller@usu.edu) or Jennifer deWinter (jdewinter@wpi.edu). Computer Game Policy and the Shaping of Play (tentative title): This is a collection of essays that arose out of the 2012 SW/TX PCA/ACA conference. The editors are soliciting submissions that critically engage with national, corporate, and educational policy on computer games. The editors are attending the conference. If your are interested in the CFP, contact Steven Conway (sconway@swin.edu.au) or Jennifer deWinter (jdewinter@wpi.edu). Computer Game Production: The editors of this collection are soliciting web-texts for Kairos: A Journal of Rhetoric, Technology, and Pedagogy, an online multimedia journal. This collection is interested particularly in computer game production. Most inquiry into computer games in the fields of English, Composition, and Rhetoric have been on consuming/playing computer games or critiquing the larger culture of games. This special issue will be about the composing process, to use terminology from those disciplines. The editors are attending the conference. If you are interested in the CFP, contact Stephanie Vie at (vie_s@fortlewis.edu) or Jennifer deWinter (jdewinter@wpi.edu). For more information about these opportunities, or to discuss others, please email the Area Research Coordinator (Jennifer deWinter, jdewinter@wpi.edu). Cheers, Judd Ruggill, Area Chair Game Studies, Culture, Play, and Practice jruggill@asu.edu http://www.swtxpca.org Jennifer deWinter, Research Coordinator Game Studies, Culture, Play, and Practice jdewinter@wpi.edu http://www.swtxpca.org