On Thursday May 26 the Centre for the Study of Digital Games and Play (GAP) will host its seventh seminar at Muntstraat 2a, room 1.11 from 15:00-17:00 with drinks afterwards. The aim of these regular meet-ups is to create a physical space for game scholars and excellent students to present research, to provide room for game-related discussions, and to expand our academic and professional network. This meeting, we will share three game-related projects from national and international game scholars that focus on understanding play and games from a biological, theoretical, and methodological perspective. First, prof. dr.

Louk Vanderschuren (Utrecht University), will share his research on the relationship between play and social behavior in animals. Then, Laura Cañete Sanz (University of Murcia) discusses her research on advergames and their use in brand design. Lastly, Nico Lopez Coombs (Utrecht University) will present the analytical game design methodology used in the Utrecht game lab.

<strong>All Work and No Play: Neural Mechanisms of Social Play Behaviour</strong>
<a href=”http://www.uu.nl/medewerkers/LJMJVanderschuren”>Prof. dr. Louk Vanderschuren</a>, <em>Utrecht University, Department of Animals in Science and Society </em>
Play has intrigued biological scientists for many decades. It is easy to recognize, yet difficult to define. Play is probably multifunctional, and it may subserve different functions in different animal species. I will present work on the developmental function and brain mechanisms of social play behaviour in rats.
<strong>
Studying the terminology of advergames </strong>
<a href=”https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Laura_Canete”>Laura Cañete Sanz</a>,<em> University of Murcia, Department of information and documentation</em>
The aim of this presentation is to trace alternative concepts related to play and marketing and how they are associated to digital games and brand design. It concludes by considering a model and discussing to what extent it can be used to measure the effectiveness of advergames.

<strong>Remixing the classic Asteroids game at the Utrecht Game Lab</strong>
<a href=”https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolas-l%C3%B3pez-coombs-ba9036b6″>Nico Lopez Coombs</a>, Utrecht University, Department of media and culture studies, RMA Media and Performance Studies
In this presentation the Analytical Game Design methodology is presented. Several playable alternative prototypes (remixes) of the classic game Asteroids (1981) were showcased in a public exhibition. Different takes on the classic game could be played to experience the modularity of the original arcade game, the fragility of gameplay systems (Pippin Barr) in general and the activities of the game lab.

<strong>Date</strong>: Thursday May 26, 2016
<strong>Time</strong>: 15:00 – 17:00 + drinks
<strong>Location</strong>: Muntstraat 2a, room 1.11
<strong>Registration</strong>: Please register via <a href=”mailto:S.deSmale@uu.nl”>e-mail</a>

On Tuesday March 22 the Centre for the Study of Digital Games and Play (GAP) will host its sixth seminar at Muntstraat 2a, room 1.11 from 15:00-17:00 with drinks afterwards. The aim of these regular meet-ups is to create a physical space for game scholars and excellent students to present research, to provide room for game-related discussions, and to expand our academic and professional network. This meeting, we will share three game-related projects from national and international game scholars that focus on inclusive design for serious games. First, Ingrid Hoofd (Utrecht University), will reflect on the moral concerns and ethical implications of serious gaming aesthetics, practices, and discourses. Then, Fares Kayali (Vienna University) shares his research in designing a game for cultural diversity and social interaction. Lastly, Paola Monarchesi (Utrecht University) will present a playable prototype for planning and negotiating urban space in mega-cities such as Mumbai.

The Ambiguous Ethics of Serious Games: Towards a Critique of the Game Apparatus
Ingrid Hoofd, Utrecht University, Department of media and culture Studies

This presentation focuses on the larger ethical implications of serious gaming. It foregrounds the relationship between global and local injustices, and serious gaming aesthetics, practices, and discourses. The presentation will start from the premise that the very quest for instantaneity that research around digital media has displayed through the development of interactive technologies for education – a quest that also implicitly informs the current development of serious games – is itself already by no means a neutral affair. The ethical issue with serious games is therefore not simply one of game content, or of the problematic stereotypical representations in such games. Rather, the main moral issue lies in how serious games, as at base a technology of distancing, militarisation, and archiving, lead to what the presentation will call a ‘double objectification’ through its formal aesthetics, in favour of a neoliberal ‘speed elite’.

A Serious Game to Further Cultural Diversity
Fares Kayali, Vienna University of Technology, Human computer interaction group

This talk explores how game design can shape social interaction using the serious game ›YourTurn! The Video-Game‹ YourTurn is a social impact game about creating video mash-ups with other players to foster social interaction and the reflection of cultural identity among juvenile minority groups in Vienna, Austria.

You place it! A geo-game for planning and negotiation in mega-cities
Paola Monachesi, Utrecht University, Department of languages, literature, and communication

This is an interactive presentation of a web-based urban planning game. The prototype is designed for Dharavi, a low-income area of Mumbai. The presentation will focus on the design challenges in making a multiplayer version of the game and adding a language component to support the negotiation process. Furthermore, we will play test the prototype and collect feedback for further development.

Date: Tuesday March 22, 2016
Time: 15:00 – 17:00 + drinks
Location: Muntstraat 2a, room 1.11
Registration: Please register via e-mail
More information: GAP: Center for the Study of Digital games and Play

On Tuesday February 2 the Centre for the Study of Digital Games and Play (GAP) will host its fifth seminar at Muntstraat 2a, room 1.11 from 15:00-17:00 with drinks afterwards. The aim of these regular meet-ups is to create a physical space for game scholars and excellent students to present research, to provide room for game-related discussions, and to expand our academic and professional network. This meeting, we will share three game-related projects from Utrecht University dealing with: the politics of playful cartography, identity and identity in digital games, and intergenerational game design.

Casual Power: Understanding User Interfaces through Quantification
Alex Gekker, Utrecht University, Department of Media and Culture Studies.
This presentation examines the interrelations of digital maps, power, technology and interfaces, asking how is power (or attempts of it) being exerted through mutable reconfiguration of geographical signs on screens and the databases behind them.

Identity and Gender in Game Avatars
Gui Wei, Utrecht University, Department of Media and Culture Studies.
In my dissertation I approach the game avatar as research object. From the perspective of embodiment, I explore concepts of corporeality, sex, and gender in online digital games. I introduce the concept of synchronicity as “missing link” between theories on virtual/real, human/machine, and the body in the physical/digital world.

Exploring the possibilities of intergenerational digital game design
Eugène Loos, Utrecht University, School of Governance; Monique Simons, Geosciences; Teresa de la Hera, Department of Media and Culture Studies.
This explorative study aims to shed light on intergenerational digital game design patterns. The question is how intergenerational gaming between older and younger individuals (e.g. grandparents and grandchildren) can be designed and used to promote their mental, physical and social wellbeing/bonding.

Date: Tuesday February 2, 2016
Time: 15:00 – 17:00 + drinks
Location: Muntstraat 2a, room 1.11
Registration: Please register via e-mail

On Monday June 8, the research focus area Game Research will host its third Games and Play Research seminar. The aim of these regular meet-ups is to create a physical space for game scholars and excellent students to present research, to provide room for game-related discussions, and to expand our academic and professional network. On the programme for this meeting are four game-related presentations.

The Hackable City – Michiel de Lange (UU) & Martijn de Waal (UvA/HvA)

In the hackable city, new media technologies are used to open up urban institutions and infrastructures to systemic change in the public interest. It combines top-down smart-city technologies with bottom-up “smart citizen” initiatives. Playful hacker mentality and practices play an important role in making the city hackable, a place in which citizens can be agents of change and shapers of their own environments and experiences.

Body Travel: Zooming into Games in Healthcare with Microscopic Vision – Stephanie de Smale (RMA Media and Performance Studies)

Studying the early reception and invention of medical media visualises a recurring pattern of fantasy and pleasure in discovering new corporeal realities. Examining claims about serious games in healthcare as a starting point, this presentation uses the microscope as a media-archaeological case study. It illustrates that the act of visualising the invisible is a powerful imaginative trope used in medical culture and ludic practices.
Ludic Selfies: Playing with Mobile Phones in Grand Theft Auto V – René Glas (UU) & Imar de Vries (UU)
The ability of the selfie as both a communicational and representational tool has already attracted some academic attention. In this presentation, Glas and De Vries extend the existing body of work by building upon notions of mobile phones as playful devices and investigating the selfie as a manifestation of playful cultural practices. They will do so by focussing on the gameworld of Grand Theft Auto V (Rockstar North 2013).

From Game Studies to Studies of Play in Society – Joost Raessens (UU)

Recent years have been a period of changes both in game cultures as well as in the study of games and play. Such changes include transfer of focus in the subject matters, methodologies, theory frameworks as well as in the institutional placement and allegiances of game studies. Joost Raessens will discuss the changes in the focus areas of academic game studies and the possible ongoing transformations in how play informs and shapes culture and society.

Start date and time: 8 June 2015 10:00
End date and time: 8 June 2015 12:00
Location: Muntstraat 2a, room 1.11

Program
15.00 – 15.10 Welcome and Opening: drs. Mirko Lukács
15.10 – 15.45 Persuasieve communication, gaming and apps in UU research (prof. dr. Joost Raessens)
15.45 – 16.15 Apps as persuasive technologies in culture and education (dr. Stefan Werning)
16.20 – 16.50 Case ‘Persuasiveness in the SleepCare App’ (dr. Robbert Jan Beun)

From the ‘science’ perspective are present, apart from the speakers: Fiemke Griffioen and Thomas Dohmenfrom Informatica and Martin Kempen and Jeanette Verstappen from Utrecht Holdings.

From the ‘business’ the following participants will be present:

– DGG (Christel van Grinsven)
– RANJ Serious Games (Michael Bas)
– Little Chicken (Tomas Sala)
– Ijsfontein
– G4 (Monique van Rijen)
– Boldmindz (Rowan van ‘t Hoogt)
– QLVR (Jaap Gerretsen)
– VICTAS/GBGGZ Utrecht (Mirjam Simons)
– Vrije Ruimte/Stichting Volte (Henk van Zeijts)
– Expertisecentrum Beroepsonderwijs (Pieter Baay)
– SOON/RABO NEST (Suze Klaverstijn)

On Monday May 11 the Centre for the Study of Digital Games and Play (GAP) will host its second seminar at Muntstraat 2a, room 1.11 from 10:00-12:00. Sjors Martens and Joleen Blom (both RMA students) will share their game-related work with us. For these discussions we will read short texts in preparation (see attached).

Connecting the Dots: The Playful Ontology of Media Constellations – Sjors Martens (RMA Media & Performance Studies)
Transmedial universes rank amongst the most elaborate entities in current media culture. Despite their current prevalence little holistic approaches exist that address the worlds themselves instead of singular instalments. In his presentation Sjors provides a model based on Miguel Sicart’s definition of play to deal with what he understands as Transmedial Universes. The different characteristics of play shall be scrutinised and related to the main characteristics of transmedial universes. This model shall then be tested on different cases that fit with the discussion group, such as videogames and urban practices. In this discussion we will critically examine this theoretical framing of play and the model’s limits.
In preparation we will read the the first chapter of Miguel Sicart’s latest book Play Matters (2014).

Japan and Games: A Hybrid Culture in a Hidden Environment – Joleen Blom (RMA Media & Performance Studies)
During this presentation Joleen discusses the issues and revelations she discovered in her on-going thesis research on Japanese Studies and Game Theory. She will adress questions such as “why can we not speak of a clear division between Japanese and Western Games?”, “Why do we need to take manga (Japanese comics), and anime (Japanese animation) into consideration when addressing Japanese Games?”, and “from what perspective is she planning to approach Japanese and Western gaming in regad to each other?”. Through this presentation, Joleen will try to bring forth a better understanding of the background she is coming from, while at the same time, trying to open up a discussion on how one might be able to open up the bridge between the Western and Japanese gaming culture on an academic level.
In preparation we will read chapter three, starting from page 94 “Disney as Model and Rival“, of the book The Soul of Anime (2013) by Ian Condry.