Game in’ Action Conference Summary

The Game in´ Action Conference was organised by LearnIT at Göteborg University in Sweden and took place 13–15th of June, 2007. More than fifteen Truants participated! For me it was the first time to meet many of the guild members outside of the WoW server. I came the second day of the conference since I spent the first day, the 13^th of June, in Helsinki with the wonderful people working with the SALERO project. The GIA conference organisers at Göteborg University had put together an impressive program, which you find here. I took notes of the sessions I went to, you find them here on the blog. Do keep in mind they are just my notes while listening, I may have misunderstood things.

I had some moments I could call highlights. First out was LE Bergs presentation about identity formation in games. (my notes here) Berg (social psychology) said in his presentation that our identities are virtual in a general sense, in the meaning that they are always mediated to us from other individuals on our environment. Something for me to dig deeper into, starting with reading his paper. I also appreciated R Tronstad’s presentation on Identity, where she mentioned embodied empathy in relation to narrative empathy. Plus, as soon as someone mentions Paul Riceur, I melt. (my notes here) TL Taylor’s keynote was, as always excellent. Good to get some thinking going on the subject of how add-ons affect play practices. (my notes) Another highlight was Louse Maddens presentation of her research. What caught my interest was that she methodically captures the player’s emotions in various situation of gaming. (my notes)

Klick here for more photos!