* Apologies for Cross Posting * Meaningful Play 2012 October 18 - 20, 2012 East Lansing, MI, USA http://meaningfulplay.msu.edu Call for Submissions DEADLINE EXTENDED to July 29, 2012 Whether designed to entertain or to achieve more "serious" purposes, games have the potential to impact players' beliefs, knowledge, attitudes, emotions, cognitive abilities, physical and mental health, and behavior. Meaningful Play 2012 is a conference about theory, research, and game design innovations, principles and practices. Meaningful Play brings scholars and industry professionals together to understand and improve upon games to entertain, inform, educate, and persuade in meaningful ways. The conference will include thought-provoking keynotes from leaders in academia and industry, peer-reviewed paper presentations, panel sessions (including academic and industry discussions), innovative workshops, roundtable discussions, and exhibitions of games and prototypes. Meaningful Play 2012 and the Journal of Gaming and Culture have partnered to bring a special issue of the journal containing top papers from the Meaningful Play 2012 conference. Top paper authors will be invited to revise their Meaningful Play paper for publication consideration in the special issue. The Journal of Games and Culture is a peer-reviewed, international journal that promotes innovative theoretical and empirical research about games and culture within interactive media. Complete details on the journal are available at: http://gac.sagepub.com/ Paper, Panel, Poster, Roundtable, Workshop, and Game Submissions are sought from both researchers and practitioners in academia and industry. Graduate and advanced undergraduate students are also encouraged to submit either jointly with an industry professional or faculty mentor or alone. Details on the conference, including the call for submissions, are available at: http://meaningfulplay.msu.edu Be sure to LIKE us on Facebook for the latest Meaningful Play program announcements (http://www.facebook.com/GamesAndMeaningfulPlay ) Please visit http://seriousgames.msu.edu/ for information on Michigan State University's new fully online graduate certificate in serious games. -- Casey O'Donnell, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Department of Telecommunication, Information Studies and Media (TISM) Games for Entertainment and Learning Lab (GEL) Michigan State University http://www.caseyodonnell.org