The study of video games and the game experience offers opportunities for the study of human communication involving multidisciplinary approaches merging the disciplines of communication studies with cultural studies, arts and visual design, cognitive sciences, computer sciences, engineering, social sciences, education, health sciences, and information design.
The interest group welcomes papers, panels, and poster presentations on topics involving the social and psychological uses and impacts of video games, the cultural affordances, uses and meanings of games, games as training or instructional media, comparative media analyses involving games, human-computer interaction in games, design research in the context of games, and game players' motivations and emotional and psychophysiological experiences while playing games. This list is far from exhaustive and is provided only as an indication of the scope of inquiry welcomed by the interest group.
We encourage the submission of papers and proposals using a wide array of theoretical and methodological approaches. Full papers, fully developed panel proposals, and poster-only proposals will be considered for review. Alternative formats and ideas can be suggested via email with the interest group's vice chair.
Submissions are especially welcome for topics that are consistent with this year's conference theme, "Communication and Community," which refers to a broad range of concepts, issues, and contexts dealing with community and communication.
Accepted papers may be scheduled in traditional research presentation sessions (featuring oral presentations 10-12 minutes in length), in high-density sessions (featuring brief oral presentations accompanied by a poster presentations), in the conference's interactive paper plenary session (featuring poster presentations in a plenary session), or in a virtual conference session (featuring innovative presentation formats accessible to the virtual conference's broader audience).
Full paper submissions should be a maximum of 25 pages (double-spaced) in length, plus figures, tables, and references. Poster-only proposals, which should be restricted to works-in-progress or late-breaking results, will be considered only for the interactive paper plenary session, and must be accompanied by short papers (5 -10 double-spaced pages) describing the research, the form of the presentation, and indicating any results not available at the time of submission that will likely be included in the final interactive presentation. The poster presented at the conference should be in actual poster form and not a series of printed pages from a manuscript or presentation. Panel proposals should include a 400-word rationale for the panel, a 150-word abstract describing each participant's contribution, a description of each panelist's qualifications regarding the proposed topic, and complete contact information for each panelist. Suggestions for co-sponsored panels with other ICA divisions are also welcomed. Each panelist must be willing to register for and attend the conference if the panel is accepted. Student submissions must be clearly identified, with the understanding that student authors are the primary creators of the work and are the sole author or first author of any paper labeled as a student submission.
Reviewers will evaluate submissions based on these five criteria: Quality of Theory Development/Literature Review, Quality of Method & Analysis Employed, Significance of the Findings, Relevance to the Game Studies Special Interest Group, and Quality of the Writing.
Questions? Contact:
James D. Ivory, Vice Chair
Department of Communication, Virginia Tech
111 Shanks Hall (Mail Code: 0311)
Blacksburg, VA 24061
E-mail: jivory@vt.edu
Department of Communication, Virginia Tech
111 Shanks Hall (Mail Code: 0311)
Blacksburg, VA 24061
E-mail: jivory@vt.edu