Seminar Programme

Thursday, April 8, 2010

10.00-10.30 Opening Words

10.30-12.00 Session 1: Social and Ethnographic Approaches to Gaming

• Emma Witkowski: Mature, Efficient, Mad Skill Ethnographer Looking for World First!
• (CANCELLED:  Tom Apperley: Digital Game Methods: Rhythms, Levels, and Scales)
• Markus Montola: Social Constructionism in Game Studies

12.00-13.00 Lunch

13.00-14.30 Session 2: Methods for Measuring and Understanding Player Experiences

• Ekman, I.; Kivikangas, J. M.; Salminen, M.; Chanel, G.; Järvelä, S.; and Ravaja, N.: Psychophysiological Methods for Game Experience Research: Directions for Assessing Social Experience
• Pejman Mirza-Babaei, Graham McAllister: Using Physiological Measures in Conjunction with Other UX Approaches for Better Understanding of the Player’s Gameplay Experiences
• Annika Waern & Jaakko Stenros: Studying the Elusive Experience in Pervasive Games

14.30-15.00 Coffee

15.00-16.30 Session 3: Approaches for the Study of Language and Information Processes of Play

• J. Tuomas Harviainen: Liminality Informatics for Game Studies
• Jose P. Zagal, Noriko Tomuro, Andriy Shepitsen: Natural Language Processing for Games Studies Research
• Petri Lankoski & Staffan Björk: Harvesting Gameplay Design Patterns Using Theory Lenses

Friday, April 9, 2010

10.00-10.30 Coffee

10.30-12.00 Session 4: Methods for Game Design and Evaluation

• Janne Paavilainen: Critical Review on Game Evaluation Heuristics: Social Games Perspective
• Kristine Jørgensen: A Match Made in Heaven or in Hell? Combining Player Research and Design Research
• Mirjam Palosaari Eladhari & Elina M.I. Ollila: Design for Results: Considerations for Experimental Prototyping and Play Testing Using Iterative Game Design

12.00-13.00 Lunch

13.00-14.30 Session 5: Approaches for the Study of Players and Player Creativity

• Tracy Harwood: Using Participant Observation in Machinima Research
• Tero Karppi & Olli Sotamaa: Rethinking Playing Research: Methodological Observations from Behind the Decks
• Ulrika Bennerstedt: A Theory of Play: A Request for Studying Players’ Gaming Practices

14.30-15.00 Coffee

15.00-16.30 Session 6: Methods for Studying Educational Play and Serious Games

• Jeroen Bourgonjon, Kris Rutten, Ronald Soetaert and Martin Valcke: From Counter-Strike to Counter-Statement: Using Burke’s Pentad as a Tool for Reflecting on Video Games
• Johannes Breuer: The Player’s View: Studying How Digital Games Can Change Our Perceptions of the World
• Valentina Rao: Some Methodological Questions Related to the Analysis of Persuasive Rhetoric in Serious Games

Closing of the seminar.

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Note that changes are possible in the programme.