CFP: Games and Social Networks

Good-looking workshop on Sept. 6, 2004, at the University of Leeds. Organisers (note the "s") are John Halloran, Geraldine Fitzpatrick and Barry Brown. According to the website: "This workshop brings together researchers and professionals interested in the social potential of online multiplayer computer games. These games support complex social networks which are both large or small, ad-hoc or pre-organised. This workshop addresses how these networks support connections between players and new forms of social behavior and interaction."

Good stuff. CFP in full below. (Thanks to Gonzalo, for spotting this.)

CALL FOR PAPERS

We welcome researchers from academia, and designers from industry, particularly those involved in games and communications design. The workshop will be limited to 20 participants, with each potential participant submiting a four-page position paper describing their research in this area and how it relates to the workshop themes. We will ask accepted participants to submit, in addition, selected digital video data or data extracts relating to their research and to identify the workshop themes that the segment potentially addresses.

Following recent interest in studies of play, we particularly encourage submission of work based on the empirical study of games, and game players, either through ‘real’ or ‘virtual’ observation.

Individuals interested in participating in this one-day workshop should e-mail a 2-3 page position paper to [email protected] by July 2nd, 2004.

Potential topics include:

What kinds of talk do gamers engage in and how does this enable sociability? What is the role of text versus speech in facilitating interactions? How does talk (voice- or text-mediated) interact with activity in online games? What influence do different game genres (e.g. ‘first person shooters’, role-play games, race games) have on social interaction? How can the emerging mobile and ubicomp games support sociability? What connections are made between social interactions online and off? What interactions do games have with the wider culture? How do games interact with wider social activities? How should games be studied? What kinds of data capture and analysis are important? What are the ethical issues and how should they be addressed?

Due: July 2th 2004

Comments

[greglas]

1.

And btw, it is well worth taking a trip through the publications pages of the three organisers. Lots of good thinking/data on VWs as games & social platforms.

E.g., check out this recent paper by Barry Brown and Marek Bell, 'There' as a collaborative virtual environment.

http://www.dcs.gla.ac.uk/~barry/papers/playdraft.pdf.

[ren]

2.

And for anyone who does not know the north of England, Leeds is a wonderful place to visit and surrounded by beautiful country side, there is a direct rail link from London or you can fly either from London or direct from several continental European locations.
/takes travel guide hat off

“The workshop will be limited to 20 participants, with each potential participant submiting a four-page position paper describing their research in this area”

I like small tight workshops where people really _have_ to contribute and participate, but just sometimes its nice to go and not have to work for it, so I guess I wish they relax the entry requirements a little.