The enormous popularity of arcade,
computer, console, online and mobile phone games is having a dynamic effect
on screen based culture. The Plaything Symposium is a major international conference
over three days, presented in partnership with Sydney University's Sydney College
of the Arts and the School of English, Art History, Film and Media and the
Arts Informatics Program. The symposium includes a series of presentations
by key academics, game developers and artists and focuses on current and future
trends in the field of digital games, exploring gameplay, avatars, gender,
wargames, immersion, diversity and independent game development.
Download the Symposium Overview here
.
Symposium Launch - Friday 10th October
2003
University of Sydney, Eastern Avenue Auditorium |
| |
| 6.30pm |
Registration
|
| 7.00pm |
Welcome
|
| Keynote Speakers |
Mary
Flanagan (USA) artist, writer
and independent games developer, Playculture: Domestic Space
and the Sims
Eric Zimmerman (USA) game
designer and CEO of Game Lab, New York, Expanding the boundaries
of the gaming world and reshaping the culture of games.
|
| |
| Symposium - Saturday 11th October 2003 |
| |
| 9.30am |
Introduction & Welcome
|
| 9.45am-11.15am |
Second Skin chaired by Kathy
Cleland.
In digital games we play with notions of identity through our
chosen avatars, and their interaction with imaginary spaces,
enabling us to indulge in multiple personalities, and explore
shifts in
our own subjectivity. Andrea
Blundell In your hands,
Melinda Rackham Soft skinned
species and
Mark Pesce (USA) "Be
Seeing You".
|
| 11.15am-11.45pm |
Morning Tea. For your purchase The 3 Amigos will provide
a selection of natural and organic coffee, tea and pastries.
|
| 11.45am-1.15pm |
Theorising the Zone chaired by Eric
Zimmerman
Should we analyse digital games using the same methods as other
media, or do we need a new language? The speakers explore the structure
of games and the subjective experience of the gamer immersed in the
Zone.
Eugenie Shinkle (UK) Corporealis
ergo sum: Rez, affect, and the end of the Cartesian subject, Anne
Mette Thorhauge (DK) Playing while making sense
- How to understand the position of the videogame player,
and
Chris Chesher Game
Screens: Not the Gaze, nor the Glance, but the Glaze.
|
| 1.15pm-2.00pm |
Lunch. For your purchase lunch in a box
Vietnamese style.
Fresh, light and authentic vegetarian and meat options.
|
| 2.00pm-2.30pm |
Artist Presentation: Feng
Mengbo (China) QUAKE POWERED: FROM Q3 TO AH_Q, 1999-2003.
Feng Mengbo is a Chinese artist whose work uses the styles and
structures of contemporary electronic games. He combines this
with cultural influences
of China, from traditional opera legends to more recent stories
from the Cultural Revolution and Hong Kong action cinema.
|
| 2.30pm-4.00pm |
Body Count chaired by David
Cranswick
This panel explores the relationship between war and digital
games, moving beyond the cliches evolving from public debate
about violent
content in games and it’s contribution to aggressive behaviour. Captain
Simon Geddes Instructional strategies for scenario based
eLearning software. Melanie
Swalwell This
isn’t a computer game you know!: revisiting the computer games/televised
war analogy, Jason
Wilson Videophones and America’s Army: games and/of/for
war?
.
|
| 4.00pm-4.30pm |
Afternoon Tea. For your purchase The 3 Amigos
will provide a selection of natural and organic coffee, tea and
pastries.
|
| 4.30pm-6.00pm |
The Language of Gameplay: artist presentations.
Artists are incorporating various types of gameplay into their
practice resulting in new hybrid forms. Michael
Goldberg catchingafallingknife:
Greed, Fear and Irrational Exuberance - A Game of Financial
and Cultural Speculation, Natalie
Bookchin (USA) Metapet and Troy
Innocent Exploring the nature of electronic space
through Semiotic Morphism.
|
| |
| Symposium - Sunday 12th October 2003 |
| |
|
| 10.00am-11.30am |
The Language of Gameplay 2: artist
presentations.
Artists are incorporating various types of gameplay into their
practice resulting in new hybrid forms. Leon
Cmielewski GameArt: playing to lose, Laurens
Tan The
minute you walked in the joint...... and Rebecca
Cannon Introduction to game modification.
.
|
| 11.30am-12.00pm |
Morning Tea. For your purchase The 3 Amigos
will provide a
selection of natural and organic coffee, tea and pastries.
|
| 12.00pm-1.30pm |
Boys and Girls Come Out to Play chaired
by Zina Kaye
This panel takes on the common perception that women don’t
play games, and explores gender issues in game design. Vanessa
Sowerwine Play with me, Camille
Scaysbrook GAMES FOR GIRLS ... GIRLS FOR GAMES, and Mary
Flanagan (USA)
Let down your long hair? projects for girls.
|
| 1.30pm-2.30pm |
Lunch. For your purchase lunch in a box
Vietnamese style.
Fresh, light and authentic vegetarian and meat options.
|
| 2.30pm-3.00pm |
Artist Presentation: Vicky Smith (NZ),
AvatarBodyCollision Meatspace vs Meetplace: a theatrical journey
into immersive technologies.
|
| 3.00pm-3.30pm |
Ben Lorenzo, Perception Games: Overview
of the Australian digital games Industry
|
| 3.30pm-4.00pm |
Afternoon Tea. For your purchase The 3 Amigos
will provide a
selection of natural and organic coffee, tea and pastries.
|
| 4.00pm-5.30pm |
Indy Game Developers chaired by Josephine
Starrs.
Game development will be explored from both a cultural and economic perspective
while investigating strategies to intervene in the market and to encourage diversity
in future commercial products. Chad Chatterton Select
Parks, Kipper - Escape
from Corporate Detention: Escape From Woomera in the context of independent game
development, and Eric Zimmerman (USA) Gamelab,
a model for Independent game developers.
|
Post Symposium Playtime!
Join us for a post symposium party! Performance by
Sydney band Toydeath, Sims Machinima by Jason Gee and Anna Davis
and visuals by Shaun Poustie and his fabulous Orbitiser! Sunday
12th
October,
7pm
- 12 at Lanfranchi’s Memorial Discoteque, 2/144 Cleveland
St Chippendale, Entry $5.00 . Download the invitation here. |
|
|
