Apologies for any cross posting PLAYING WITH THE FUTURE: DEVELOPMENT AND DIRECTIONS IN COMPUTER GAMING April 5-7, 2002 ESRC Centre for Research on Innovation and Competition, University of Manchester Manchester, England www.cric.ac.uk/cric/gamerz A draft programme and abstracts for papers to be presented at this international conference on computer gaming are now available online as well as facilities for booking a place at the event. The conference will feature approximately sixty papers on various aspects of computer and video gaming from the educational potential of computer gaming to the computer games and violence debate; from investigations of games markets to developing cheat-proofing protocols; from teenagers in Taiwan to senior citizen gamers in the USA. The event has already attracted delegates from around the world including Brunei, Denmark, France, Germany, Iran, Italy, Switzerland, Taiwan, UK, United Arab Emirates and USA. It has drawn the interest not just of academics but also industry and governmental organisations such as ELSPA (European Leisure Software Publishers Association), BECTa (British Education Communication and Technology Agency), and IGDA (International Game Developers Association). Gamers are represented at the event by key figures from the Cyberathletes' Professional League and the organiser of some of the UK's biggest gaming events. Playing with the Future is now only six weeks away and available places at the event are already limited so those interested in attending are encouraged to register as soon as possible. Further information on the conference can be found at www.cric.ac.uk/cric/gamerz Jase -- Dr Jason Rutter (Research Fellow) ESRC Centre for Research on Innovation and Competition (CRIC), The University of Manchester, Ground Floor, Devonshire House, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9QH PH: +44 (0) 161 275 6859 Fax: +44 (0) 161 275 7361 http://www.jasonrutter.org.uk