<div dir="ltr"><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN-US">Dear list members,</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN-US">you are
cordially invited to a guest talk at the <a href="https://www.lincoln.ac.uk/home/fm/">University of Lincoln School of Film and Media</a>, organised by
the <a href="http://games.dev.lincoln.ac.uk/2019/03/18/dr-tom-brock-guest-talk-on-april-3rd/" style="color:rgb(5,99,193)">Lincoln
Games Research Network</a>.</span></p>

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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><b><span lang="EN-US">Counting
Clicks: Gameplay metrics, power and the body politics of competitive videogames</span></b></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN-US">Dr Tom
Brock (Senior Lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University)</span></p>

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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN-US">This talk
develops a critical approach towards competitive videogaming by considering how
gameplay metrics, such as ‘actions-per-minute’ and ‘match-making rank’, extend
neoliberal political formations through the surveillance and control of
players’ bodily practices. By way of examples from <i>DOTA2</i>, it argues that
competitive videogames attune players’ habits and practices to affect economic
methodologies and rationales on themselves and others. This is important for
critiquing how videogames promote the competitive market as an ideal social
formation whilst obscuring its negative psychological and sociological effects.
</span></p>

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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Tom Brock is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of
Sociology at Manchester Metropolitan University. His research interests include
play, games and social theory. He has authored publications on esports, player
skill, failure, player labour and digital games consumption in peer-reviewed
journals including, <i>Games and Culture, Journal of Consumer Culture</i>, and <i>Information,
Communication and Society</i>. Tom has also published widely on social,
political and cultural theory in peer-reviewed journals including, <i>The
Sociological Review, Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour</i> and the <i>Journal
of Critical Realism</i>.</p>

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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN-US">Date: 3^rd
April 2019</span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN-US">Room:
SLB0006</span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN-US">Time: 14:00
– 15:30</span></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span lang="EN-US">Info at <a href="mailto:pruffino@lincoln.ac.uk" style="color:rgb(5,99,193)">pruffino@lincoln.ac.uk</a></span></p><div><br></div><div>Best,</div><br clear="all"><div><br></div>-- <br><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature">Dr. Paolo Ruffino<br><a href="http://paoloruffino.com" target="_blank">http://paoloruffino.com</a></div></div>