[DiGRA UK] Spelunking 2020: Games, Cultures, Societies > CFP

[Matt Coward]

Spelunking 2020: Games, Cultures, Societies

22 July 2020, University of York (ENV/005)



Call for papers:

In her recent monograph *Playing with Feelings* (2018), Aubrey Anable
contends that games researchers should become lost and disorientated in
games in order to reach deeper critical insights, an action which she
refers to as *spelunking*.



Gaming is a diverse term used to encapsulate a variety of experiences:
analog or digital; singular or multiplayer; simple or complex; equitable or
contentious; long or short; professional or amateur; all consuming or just
engaged with in short bursts. In the context of this symposium we engage
with the term ‘gaming’ at its broadest experiential understanding.



Pockets of sociological enquiry have interacted with games including Gary
Alan Fine’s seminal work on frame analysis in *Shared Fantasy* (1983). More
recently, Garry Crawford’s (2012) work on gamer identities, or Daniel
Muriel and Crawford’s recent volume *Video Games as Culture *(2018) have
demonstrated the need for further considered sociological analysis on
gaming and gaming culture. As such, it becomes apparent that there is an
urgent need to address this vibrant yet underdeveloped area of research.
Especially when considering that by 2020, according to a report published
by UKIE (2018, 33), that the ‘total UK games revenue is expected to
overtake total spending on books.’



Moving into a new decade, this symposium aims to consider the variety of
forms in which games impact on both culture and society, and the diverse
narratives which they create, develop and propagate. Alongside a keynote
address from Dr Jo Twist (UKIE <https://ukie.org.uk/content/our-team>), we
welcome abstracts from members of any discipline which look to engage in
critical enquiry of games, gamers and their culture, based on themes
including:



·         Games industries

·         Value of gaming in society

·         Gaming as labour

·         Critical readings of games

·         Histories of gaming

·         Studies of gamers

·         Theoretical approaches

·         Pedagogy and gaming

·         Economies of play/games

·         Social stratification and games

·         Women, trans and non-binary identities

·         LGBTQ identities in gaming

·         Mobile gaming

·         Analog gaming

·         Live Action Roleplay Gaming



*Submitting abstracts and further information*

Abstracts of no longer than 200 words, accompanied by a 50-word biography,
should be submitted to matt.coward at york.ac.uk by no later than 31 March
2020. Accepted papers will be 20 minutes in length, with an additional ten
minutes allotted for Q&A.


*This event is supported by the British Sociological Association’s
Postgraduate Forum Regional Day Event Fund *with assistance from *DaCNet*.


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[image: University of York]

Matt Coward-Gibbs (he/his/him)
PhD Student | Sociology
+44 (0)7800 502 500
twitter <http://twitter.com/mattcowardgibbs> | DaCNet
<http://www.york.ac.uk/dacnet> | profile
<https://www.york.ac.uk/sociology/our-staff/students/matt-coward/> | ORCiD
<https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5982-7630>
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