The department of Game Design at Uppsala University, campus Gotland
Category: Blog
This is the highly informal blog of the GAME-department. We use it mostly to document the things we do outside of running one of the worlds strongest game educations. For information about our education, programs and courses, check the official site at Uppsala University.
Posted on - Comments Off on Behind the scenes CategoriesBlog, GGC Updates
A peek behind the curtains on a Saturday; our 1st year students hard at work building their games for the GGC Show Floor. Only 15 days to go!
It might be weekend-work, but it’s not in vain; there are well over 300 people currently signed up to come and playtest! Make sure you have a ticket too. The Visitors Pass is the cheapest option (pay what you want) and is good for the entire conference – play games, listen to lectures, the award show and the party!
See you there!
Posted on - Comments Off on Educators: don’t forget to register for the Summit CategoriesBlog, GGC Updates TagsHEVGA
There is still some room in the Game Educators Summit. Are you too pressed for time to attend the full Summit + GGC? We have a suggestion!
Why not attend just the last two days: Tue 30 – Wed 31. That will get you the final day of the GGC show floor, with awards and mingle (= get to know everyone), and the summit working day on 31/5. You can even make the evening flight or ferry back that same day.
So if you are teaching university level game design- och development and haven’t already done so, please:
Our local computer shop arranges an IT exhibition every year. For 2017 they rechristened it “Digitala Gotland” and moved down to Wisby Strand – literally across the street from campus. So they reached out and invited us to their show floor and scene program, which were happy to avail ourselves off. 🙂
A few of our students put up three new games for the public to try out, while Adam Mayes spoke, twice, about the promising research done on using games as therapy and a tool for social work.
Posted on - Comments Off on A Dangerous Game? Problematic Aspects of Digital Gaming CategoriesBlog Tagsoutreach
“Rather than taking games away, we need to add life back.”
“Focusing only on the screen, the game, or even the gamer in treating (or even diagnosing) problem gaming is paradigmatically wrong.” – Patrick Prax
From the program
More people than ever before are playing digital games. For many it is just an enjoyable leisure activity but games and gaming are also associated with concerns about gaming addiction, violent content and problematic representation as well as hate speech and harassment among players.
The Swedish Media Council report on youth media use (2012) showed that digital games was the media category young people felt most concerned about and was most favorable about age limits for. It was also the media category they felt adults were least interested in.
Is there such a thing as digital gaming addiction and if so, how common is it? Are the gamers affected by violent content and values expressed in games? What are the judicial aspects of harassment in online games? Is the talk of “problematic gaming” just a part of a moral panic? These are some of the questions that will be discussed by our invited speakers at this symposium.
The schedule (for future reference): 9:30-10:00 Registration and fika (coffee).
10:00-10:10 Introduction and Welcome - Peter Du Rietz, Curator at the National Museum of Science and Technology, Tekniska museet.
10:10-11:00 The multiple dimensions of video game effects: Getting beyond dichotomous thinking - Douglas Gentile. Professor of Psychology, Media Research Lab, Iowa State University
11:00-11:30 Behavioral addictions as a Trojan horse - Karin Helmersson Bergmark, Professor of Sociology, Department of Sociology, Stockholm University
11:30-12:30 LUNCH
12:30-13:00 Un-pausing your life: Problem Gaming from the Perspective of Treatment - Patrick Prax, Department of Informatics and Media, Uppsala university.
13:00-13:30 My life as a gaming addict - Fredrik Reis-Nilsson, Gaming addict.
13:30-14:20 Dark game design patterns: Engaging or exploiting the player? - Faltin Karlsen, Professor of Media Studies at Westerdals Oslo School of Arts, Communication and Technology.
14:20-14:50 FIKA (coffee)
14:50-15:20 Cyber hate – Cyber crime? - Amanda Redin, the Swedish Institute of Law and Internet.
15:20-15:50 Gaming culture and the struggle against hate speech - Alexander Hallberg, SVEROK (The Swedish Gaming Federation)
15:50-16:30 Panel discussion
