CfP: Think Design Play – 5th International DiGRA Conference, 14-17 September, 2011 – Utrecht

THINK DESIGN PLAY 5th International Digital Games Research Association (DiGRA) Conference 14-17 September 2011

Hosted by the Utrecht School of the Arts in the Netherlands

Call for participation

After Leveling Up in the Netherlands (2003), Changing Views in Canada (2005), Situated Play in Japan (2007) and Breaking New Ground in England (2009) the 5th DiGRA Conference returns to Utrecht for Think Design Play

The goal of the DiGRA conference is to advance the study of games and playfulness. DiGRA 2011 seeks to connect game research to the creative industries and society by fostering the development of an integrated practice of game research, design, engineering, entrepreneurship and play. The conference is designed as a physical and online playground for meaningful dialogue between all players in the field of games. Whilst the conference will include the presentation of (peer-reviewed) papers and practice, invited talks and workshops, we are also very interested in supporting alternative forms and processes through which to participate and stimulate debate and discussion.

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The Best Games of 2010

Guardian lists their top 20:

Red Dead Redemption is number one, Mass Effect 2 is number two, and Heavy Rain is number three in their list. It seems that these games has win critics; they have been praised elsewhere also. Their also mention Alan Wake (17) and Angry Birds (12).

Fear and Disgust

I have proposed, following Power and Dalgleish (1997), that emotional reactions to monsters in horror games are disgust-based, not purely fear-based in Goals, Affects, and Empathy in Computer Games (Lankoski, 2007) and in Hear-Raising Entertainment (Ekman, Lankoski, 2009).

Power and Dalgleish (1997) argue that emotional reactions to snakes and spiders relate to disgust, not to fear. However, in the study by Mobbs et al (2010) people responded with fear to  a tarantula.  The study shows that amygdala grow more active when the spider approach and less active when it retreats. Amygdala activation is associated with fear reactions. For example, in a study by Anderson et al (2003) show evidence that anterior insula responds to the facial expression of disgust  and amygdala to the facial expressions of fear.

In addition to amygdala, Mobbs et al (2010) report also activation in the midbrain,  PAG, ventral striatum, BNST, bilateral anterior insula, and dorsar anterrior cingulate cortex when the tarantula was placed near to the subject’s foot. Anterior insulate correlate to disgust reactions. So, is there disgust reaction to the tarantula or only fear reaction?

It would be interesting to see a comparison between the brain activations of an enemy (e.g., human in the Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion) and a monster (e.g., an insect-hybrid in Silent Hill 3).

References

  • Anderson et al (2003).Neural Correlates of the Automatic Processing of Threat Facial Signals. The Journal of Neuroscience 23(12).
  • Ekman, Lankoski (2009). Hair -Raising Entertainment. In Berron (ed.) Horror Video Games. McFarland, pp. 181–1999.
  • Lankoski (2007). Goals, affects, and empathy in computer games. Paper presented at the Philosophy of Computer Games, Reggio-Emilia, Italy.
  • Mobbs et al (2010). Neural activity associated with monitoring tbe oscilating threat value of a tarantula. PNAS Early Edition. DOI=10.1073/pnas.1009076107

Leisure Suite Larry Backrground

Al Lowe shares some design documents on his site http://www.allowe.com/gamedesign/index.htm, including Leisure Suite Larry 5–7.

Some concept art for the game are available on the page http://www.allowe.com/Larry/7characters.htm and then some information what connects Larry and Softporn Adventure on the page http://www.allowe.com/Larry/softporn.htm. An interview of Al Lowe on Hard Core Gaming reveals some details behind his games.