[Air-L] MIT CFP deadline reminder - Games and Covid

[Piotr Siuda]

Fellow AOiR Member,
this is just to remind you that the deadline for submitting a chapter's
extended abstract for collection "Gaming and Gamers in Times of Pandemic"
is May 1. You can find the Timeframe and Submission Procedure below.

The editors of this CfP are already in discussion with the MIT Press GAME
HISTORIES SERIES editors who enthusiastically voiced support for the
collection. The website of the series:
https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/series/game-histories

The Covid-19 pandemic is a historical moment with social, cultural, and
economic repercussions and unprecedented government responses. The pandemic
has impacted virtually every aspect of our lives regardless of where we
live. This volume seeks to examine the impact of this epochal and
significant period and resulting government policies, especially the
lockdowns, on one particular cultural sphere: games.

In the initial months, many industry reports noted the unexpected positive
impact on online digital game sales. Games weren’t just lockdown-proof, but
boosted by lockdowns: stay-at-home orders triggered a rush toward games as
an alternative form of entertainment, and the ubiquity of mobile phones
allowed wider than ever participation. This was seen in esports as it was a
successful “extension” of traditional sports, and it forced immediate brand
innovation and far-reaching changes in marketing strategies. On the other
hand, the growth in esports online viewership came with a price, as many
local arena events had to be canceled.

However, sales growth and marketing aside, the impact on the game industry
overall was more complex and often pernicious. Game developers experienced
a rapid and often challenging shift to remote work. This shift towards
virtual communication also affected universities, where students could no
longer be hosted in campus laboratories, requiring new forms of student
engagement. Some digital games encountered unexpected challenges: how
indeed to adapt a location-based augmented reality game to a locked-down
world?

Equally complex was the impact on non-digital games. Typically designed for
direct face-to-face contact, board games, pen & paper role-playing games,
and even live-action role-playing games and their players were forced to
move online, or to employ complex safety protocols to minimize transmission
risk and conform to legal requirements. With the manufacturing and shipping
chain of board game components being drastically distorted, the market for
board games has undergone a dramatic change. Also, the virtual market
management concept overtook a fair share of the market, with the leading
role of crowdfunding specialists. Large scale events were canceled,
postponed, downsized, or virtualized. The same, indeed, was the case not
only for game-playing events but also for industry and academic conferences.

The pandemic also affected game players, game developers, game journalists,
and game scholars alike in many other ways, starting with the most direct –
illness, and sometimes death. New cultural rifts also opened up due to
political tensions. Some effects are temporary: others are here to stay.
All deserve to be studied.

In this volume, we invite authors to reflect on the various impacts of the
Covid-19 pandemic on gaming, gamers, as well as those who make and study
games. The volume encourages, but is not limited to, the following topics:
Digital and non-digital games in the pandemic
Visions of Covid-19 and other pandemics in games
Pandemic impact on the game industry and game-related events
Will the pandemic accelerate the evolution of the game industry (games as a
social platform, expansion of the free-to-play model, mobile leading the
industry, etc.)
The pandemic and esports (e.g. growth and virtualization of esports,
ongoing relations between traditional sports and esports)
Pandemic impact on game culture and gamer communities
Teaching and developing games in the pandemic
AR and VR Games and VR in the service of education online
Games and players’ well-being (games as tools for therapy and the
improvement of anxiety vs. excessive use, abuse, and possible addiction)
Ludology in the time of the pandemic
Serious games developed for and around the pandemic
Digitalization of board games and LARPs

TIMELINE

*Deadline for Initial Proposals (Extended Abstracts): May 1, 2022*
Notification of Acceptance: June 1, 2022
First Drafts Due: October 1, 2022
Editor Comments: November 1, 2022
Final Drafts Due: January 1, 2023

Please note that the dates of “Notification of Acceptance”; “First Drafts
Due”; “Editor Comments”; “Final Drafts Due” may change due to the
publishing process – the authors will be informed in case of any changes
happening.

*SUBMISSION PROCEDURE*

Prospective authors should submit a short chapter proposal as a Word
document to games.covid.book at gmail.com. The proposal should contain:
The name and contact information of the author(s), along with a brief bio
The title of the proposed chapter
Extended abstract of approximately 1000-1200 words excluding references.
The abstract should indicate the consistency, rigor, and relevance of the
work.

Paper submissions should articulate the issue or research question to be
discussed, the methodological or critical framework used, and indicate the
findings or conclusions and/or the relevance to general volume. Papers can
present any kind of research, analysis, or theoretical framing, but should
be written so that the importance of the work can be indicated. Please note
that empirical chapters should include the research question and data to be
analyzed.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

Please use the latest edition of the Chicago Manual of Style. The editors
strongly recommend that authors follow the Chicago Manual.
Please note that chapters not adhering to the guidelines will be returned
to the author(s) for revision.

EDITORS

Piotr Siuda (Primary Contact)
Kazimierz Wielki University in Bydgoszcz
piotr.siuda at gmail.com

Jakub Majewski
Kazimierz Wielki University in Bydgoszcz
jakubm at ukw.edu.pl

Krzysztof Chmielewski
Kazimierz Wielki University in Bydgoszcz
k.shaman at ukw.edu.pl

Piotr Siuda (PhD) is a media studies scholar, Associate Professor at the
Institute of Social Communication and Media at the Kazimierz Wielki
University in Bydgoszcz, Poland. Member of The Association of Internet
Researchers and the Polish Society for Social Communication.
http://piotrsiuda.com

Jakub Majewski (PhD) is an Assistant Professor at Kazimierz Wielki
University in Bydgoszcz, Poland. His research interests include
role-playing games and cultural heritage, game storytelling techniques,
game industry history, among others. He is also a game developer with two
decades' worth of experience and a portfolio of about forty diverse games.

Krzysztof Chmielewski (MA) is a Senior Lecturer of Game Design at Kazimierz
Wielki University in Bydgoszcz, Poland. LARP researcher and game designer
and producer of games for different platforms (PC/mobile/AR, board/card,
live games, gamebooks). R&D specialist in experiential learning and gaming
solutions.F


--

*Piotr Siuda* (PhD, Professor of Media Studies)

piotrsiuda.com

Institute of Social Communication and Media

Kazimierz Wielki University in Bydgoszcz, Poland


*Recent papers:*

*--** Microtransaction politics in FIFA Ultimate Team: game fans, Twitch
streamers, and Electronic Art*, in*: **EA Sports FIFA: Feeling the Game,
Bloomsbury Academic Press*.
https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/ea-sports-fifa-9781501375347

*-- **Cancer entertainment education and Netflix – an exploratory
study, **Educational
Media International**, *59(1), doi:
http://doi.org/10.1080/09523987.2022.2054115

*-- Sports gamers practices as a form of subversiveness - the example of
the FIFA ultimate team*, *Critical Studies in Media Communication*,
https://doi.org/10.1080/15295036.2021.1876897