[Air-L] CFP: Esports minitrack at HICSS-58

[Piotr Siuda]

Dear Colleagues

We'd like to invite you to submit your research to the HICSS Esports
minitrack.

Fast-track journal options are involved: accepted research will be
considered for publication in the Journal of Electronic Gaming and Esports
(Human Kinetics) special issue. Selected articles (both rejected and
accepted) will be proposed to the special issue of the Journal of Creative
Communication (SAGE; IF: 1.5) with the guarantee of going to the review
stage.

Here is the full CfP:

Esports research is a young yet burgeoning field with both extensive
challenges and opportunities. Despite the ever-growing breadth of esports
research, esports presents many opportunities for academics and industry
professionals to continue examining new and unique ways in which electronic
games will impact and change societies worldwide. In the last decade,
esports have ceased to be seen solely as entertainment and have burgeoned
into a multi-billion dollar area within the wider video gaming industry. We
also continue to see increases in the number of esports players and games,
events organized, viewership online and in-person, and the growing
professionalization of the industry as a whole. Traditional sports still
draw more viewers and generate more revenue. However, esports continue to
increase their reach and potential through the growing number of
broadcasted games, tournament prize pools, and increasing advertising
potential of esports games. Despite the increasing popularity of esports,
much more research is still needed in all areas. Moreover, because
electronic gaming technology continues to develop at a rapid pace (e.g.,
augmented reality, virtual reality, the “metaverse”), there is virtually no
limit to esports research.

This minitrack aims to provide insight into any and all areas of esports’
theoretical development and practical understanding without excluding any
methodological approach or scientific disciplines. Conceptual, theoretical,
empirical, and methodological contributions that enrich our understanding
of esports are welcome.

Given the diverse goals of this minitrack, possible topics include, but are
not limited to:
Business, e.g., discovering esports consumers’ motivations; designing
effective marketing tools; understanding players’/esports’ networks and
organizations; gamers/fans as consumers.
Cognitive Science/Psychology, e.g., studying factors influencing athletes’
performance; their abilities and skills; cognitive and behavioral
differences between athletes.
IT and Computer Science, e.g., using game telemetry, biometrics,
user-generated data, or text mining to study esports, e.g., team dynamics,
players’ interactions, and in-game performance.
Law, e.g., copyright issues; gambling.
Sociology, e.g., gamers’ and athletes’ interactions, experiences, and
identities; live events and streaming dynamics; gender issues (gender gap).
Media Studies, e.g., relations between esports, traditional sports, and the
media; offline spaces versus live-streaming; understanding esports in terms
of virtual versus actual; how technology mediates gaming; and how esports’
communities fit here.
Sports Science, e.g., comparing esports and ‘traditional’ sports; esports
as ‘real’, ‘genuine’ sports or new quality.

Accepted research will be considered for publication in the Journal of
Electronic Gaming and Esports (Human Kinetics) special issue.

Selected articles (both rejected and accepted) will be proposed to the
special issue of the Journal of Creative Communication (SAGE; IF: 1.5) with
the guarantee of going to the review stage.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:
Author Instructions: https://hicss.hawaii.edu/authors/
Esports minitrack website:
https://hicss.hawaii.edu/tracks-55/internet-and-the-digital-economy/#esports-minitrack


IMPORTANT DATES:
April 15, 2024: Paper submission begins (through HICSS systems:
https://hicss-submissions.org/)
June 15, 2024: Paper submission deadline (11:59 pm HST)
August 17, 2024: Notification of acceptance/rejection
September 22, 2024: Deadline for authors to submit final manuscript for
publication
October 1, 2024: Deadline for at least one author for each paper to
register for the conference

MINITRACK CO-CHAIRS:

Piotr Siuda (Primary Contact)
Kazimierz Wielki University in Bydgoszcz, Poland
piotr.siuda at ukw.edu.pl

David P. Hedlund
St. John’s University
hedlundd at stjohns.edu

Emma Witkowski
RMIT University
Emma.witkowski at rmit.edu.au

Lindsey Darvin
Syracuse University
ledarvin at syr.edu

There are several mini-tracks related to gaming. They include Gamification
(in Decision Analytics and Service Science), Streaming Media in
Entertainment (in Digital and Social Media), Games & Gaming (in Digital and
Social Media), Digitalization of Work (in Knowledge Innovation and
Entrepreneurial Systems), Game-based Learning (in Knowledge Innovation and
Entrepreneurial Systems), and the Metaverse (in Organizational Systems and
Technology).

--

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

piotrsiuda.com

Faculty of Cultural Studies

Department of Game Studies and Digital Culture

Kazimierz Wielki University in Bydgoszcz, Poland


Associate Editor; *Journal of Creative Communication
<https://journals.sagepub.com/home/crc> *(SAGE Journals)


*Recent papers:*

-- *Gaming and Gamers in Times of Pandemic*, *Bloomsbury Academic Press*,
https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/gaming-and-gamers-in-times-of-pandemic-9798765110232/

*-- The Next Level of Horror Entertainment: Facing Fear in Cooperative
Interactive Drama Survival Horror Games*, *Proceedings of the 57th Annual
Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences*,
https://hdl.handle.net/10125/106706

*-- The Problematic nature of evaluating esports' "genuineness" using
traditional sports' criteria: In-depth interviews with traditional sports
and electronic sports journalists,* *Leisure Studies*,
https://doi.org/10.1080/02614367.2023.2215471