DiGRA is the international association for academics (and professionals) who research digital games and associated phenomena, with DiGRA Flanders being the Flemish chapter. It encourages high-quality research on games, and promotes collaboration and dissemination of work by its members. On November 30, 2018 the DiGRA Flanders Conference took place at the City Campus of the University of Antwerp.
Scope
For the DiGRA Flanders conference, we welcomed research from a range of disciplines that study digital games, as well as topics related to the study of digital games. From an interdisciplinary point of view, this research comes from the intersection between communication and media studies, social sciences, cultural studies, design, education, health studies, computer sciences, etc. In addition to digital games, the scope also included several forms of advanced immersive media like virtual environments (VEs) and simulations. Finally, we encouraged submissions using a wide array of theoretical and methodological approaches (including but not limited to critical/rhetorical, qualitative, and quantitative research methods). In sum, research related to at least one of the following concepts:
- Digital entertainment games
- Gamification
- Games for learning/serious games/persuasive games/DGBL
- Game design
- Augmented/Virtual/Mixed Reality “games”
The DiGRA Flanders 2018 conference was jointly organized by:
- DiGRA (Digital Games Research Association) Flanders chapter
- University of Antwerp (MIOS research group – Media & ICT in Organizations & Society)
Presentations
- Videogames and the Paradox of (Interactive) Fiction. By Nele Van de Mosselaer (University of Antwerp)
- Subversive Ludic Performance: Towards a framework for analysing gender role enactment in digital games. By Kilian Biscop & Steven Malliet (University of Antwerp)
- Games of Social Control: A Sociological Study of Addiction to Massively Multiplayer Online (Role-Playing) Games. By Cindy Krassen (KU Leuven)
- The Flemish/Belgian Game Industry. By David Verbruggen (Flega vzw, Kortrijk)
- Developing ‘Antigraviator’. By Mike Coeck (Cybernetic Walrus, Antwerp)
- Developing ‘The Almost Gone’. By Jeroen Janssen (Happy Volcano, Leuven)
- Immersive game technology projects and use cases. By Vicky Vermeulen (Howest DAE Research)
- Visualisations to Support eSports Spectator Experiences. By Sven Charleer (KU Leuven)
- Exploring Wheelchair-Accessible VR Gaming. By Kathrin Gerling (KU Leuven)
- Player 2 Don’t Press Start: “Secondary Players” and “In-Person” Game Spectatorship Practices. By Julie Delbouille (University of Liège)
- The Ambivalent Motivational Power of Game Elements in Education: Nuancing the Gamification Debate. By Rob van Roy (KU Leuven)