Critical voices from across the games community— including designers, activists, researchers, educators, journalists and others— are invited to present new and recent work as part of our three day program.
Submissions are invited before 6/15/18 have been extended to 6/29/18 in the following categories:
Paper Presentations and Talks: We invite academics and creative minds alike to share recent work (written or otherwise) as speakers on our conference panels. We encourage participants from every field to submit writing or talks exploring topics pertaining to diversity and inclusion. Possible topics may include, but are not limited to: post mortems, design methodology, reflections on playtesting, analysis/commentary on games content (theme, gender, sexuality, etc.), game reception, and game culture/communities.
Pre-constituted Panels: We invite topic specific or nuanced understandings regarding games that align with Different Games Conference’s mission of cultivating inclusivity and diversity in gaming communities and gaming culture. A panel should be comprised of 3 or 4 separate talks that contribute to a larger concept. Your proposal should include: a panel abstract that provides an overview of each panelist’s contribution; an abstract for each talk, and the names and bios of 3-4 panelists as well as abstracts for each talk.
Workshop Sessions: We invite topic specific or exploratory discussions on challenges and solutions for promoting diversity and inclusion in the broader game community/communities and other pertinent subjects. Hands-on workshop sessions geared towards learning design and development skills are also invited. Your proposal should include an explanation of any equipment participants will need for your workshop. If your session will be facilitated collaboratively, please include bios and links for all co-facilitators.
To submit a game, please see our Call for Games!
Introducing our 2018 Special Tracks and Track Chairs
This year, Different Games is thrilled to welcome 7 respected colleagues on board as our DG 2018 Special Track Chairs. This group of artists, game designers and scholars have proposed calls for content in areas of interest to the DG community and will join us in reviewing the 2018 submissions. We’re humbled to have them join us by volunteering their vision and expertise to shape the content of this year’s event.
While submissions are welcome on all topics related to inclusivity, diversity and other themes of interest to the DG community, we’re pleased to announce the following DG Conference tracks and the chairs who will be presenting them:
System-driven / Procedural Game Design [Presentations]
Chaired by Tanya X. Short
This track offers forward-thinking looks into work being done in the procedural and system-driven design arena, rejecting purely human authorship to broaden the possibility space of games and the kinds of experiences they can offer. This track is particularly interested in game and system design explorations that work with non-human co-authors to create meaningfully unpredictable and surprising outcomes. How does your game define its possibility space? How do your players (mis)understand its limits and boundaries? What constitutes a meaningfully “different” outcome within your game’s systems, and why? This track especially encourages submissions on game designs that critically explore real-world systems, society’s rule-sets and laws, and/or alternative social possibilities.
Different Tools for Different Game Developers [Presentations]
Chaired by Alex Leitch
This track is dedicated to making technically weird problems less daunting. Let’s explore the freedom you can find in tooling – new programming languages based in inclusive patterns like knitting, interesting details about how to use C# in a less frustrating way, domain-specific languages that solve small problems really well. Submissions might discuss new/emerging tools, more inclusive uses of established tools, or discussing some current projects in relation to this track, with the goal of making the inner processes of how we construct interactive experiences more accessible.
Multiculturalism in Video Games [Presentation]
Chaired by Ahmed K. Yousof
This track explores different issues and themes related to multiculturalism in video games in terms of gameplay, industry, and culture. The centrality of multiculturalism in video games derives from the diversity of the population that designs, develops, and most importantly plays those games. This track welcomes talks and paper presentations that tackle topics that mirror diversity in VG and multiple views such as (but not limited to): identification, gender in video game play and/or industry, ideology and religion, values, race, multilingualism, family life and community, and arts. Those topics mainly represent the pillars that constitute many different cultures. The main purpose of this track is to investigate the “functionality” of the above-mentioned topics in video game industry, game play experience, and culture. Thus, the audiences are able to see and sense the impact of multiculturalism and diversity on video games and vice versa.
When we create and play games that show marginalized groups—or don’t—what does that mean for us in the lived world? For developers, what is the impact of diversity within the industry? “Serious games” discuss these issues more directly and innovate through gameplay / user experience, while traditional games sometimes discuss these issues in a more subtle way. The focus of this track is the impact that games can have on the representation and inclusion of marginalized people; this includes both art/experimental games as well as more traditional games.
This track invites presentations and talks from both academia and from within the industry to discuss issues of race, queerness, and other forms of representation in order to discuss the current state of games and the industry and how to move forward from it.
Virtual Mechanics in Actual Reality [Workshop]
Chaired by Alenn Predko
This track explores how to create games in new ways. Physical games can use mechanics from video games to become clearer, more engaging, and more streamlined. From creating alternative controllers which challenge and engage players to physical installations with clear directions, this track will give designers a toolkit to create games in the physical world. This focus opens up game making to a larger audience as it allows for varying learning styles to engage with the creation of games in physical spaces. Workshop applicants can submit abstracts on this special topic to participate in this structured session.
{Craft | Game} Play [Workshop]
Chaired by Gillian Smith
Games have much to learn from craft, and vice versa. Craft is collaborative, open-ended, creative, meditative, and often focus on visual aesthetic goals. Games can be competitive, strategic or luck-based, and focus on player engagement. This workshop aims to bring these communities closer together by looking at the similarities and differences between craft-play and game-play. We will focus on the lessons that can be learned from each community with a view towards being able to create new kinds of game and/or craft experiences. The {Craft|Game} Play workshop aims to bring together students, scholars, and practitioners interested in the intersection of crafting communities and practices, playful design, and computer science. We intend to host short lightning talks at the beginning of the workshop from practitioners and scholars, to share ideas that will seed a mini-game jam that explores the “different” kinds of games and interactive media that can be envisioned when starting from the values associated with crafting communities. As part of a larger and ongoing effort to build a network of scholars working at the intersection of crafts and games, we envision also using the workshop as an opportunity to identify collaboration opportunities between participants. Workshop applicants can submit abstracts on this special topic to participate in this structured session.
Use this form to submit your proposal.
Send questions to DifferentGamesConference@gmail.com.
You may view our website at differentgames.org