Philosophy of Computer Games Conference 2016 Complete program

Venue: Institute of Digital Games Lab (Msida campus)

10:00 – 12.30    PhD consortium

10.00 – 12.30    Workshop: 'Building Playful Musical Experiences'
Chair: Phoenix Perry (Goldsmiths University)

Venue: KSU Common Room (Msida campus)

14.00 – 15.30    Panel: Video Games and (and as) Scientific Research: The Case of “Games on Games: game design as critical reflexive practice”

Speakers:  Riccardo Fassone (Universita’ degli Studi di Torino), Stefano Gualeni (University of Malta), Michelle Westerlaken (Malmö University), Josef Florian Micallef (University of Malta), Vanessa Camilleri (University of Malta)

16.00 – 17.30    Panel: What Does it Mean to do Game Philosophy?

Speakers: John Richard Sageng (University of Oslo), Sebastian Möring (University of Potsdam), Feng Zhu (University of Manchester), Olli Tapio Leino (City University of Hong Kong), Marta Matylda Kania (University of Lower Silesia)

Venue: Aula Magna (Valletta campus)

9.30 – 10.00      Welcome & opening address: Gordon Calleja, Stefano Gualeni, and Daniel Vella (University of Malta)

10.00 – 11.00    Keynote presentation: Jos De Mul (Erasmus University Rotterdam)
'Games as the True Organon of Philosophy:  On Schelling, Huizinga and Playful Ontologies'

11.15 – 12.45    Session 1: Knowledge and Systems

Sebastian Möring (University of Potsdam)
'Understanding Single Player Computer Games as Experimental Systems'

Michael Straeubig (Plymouth University)
'Do Playful Systems Know That They Play?'

14.15 – 15.45    Session 2:  The Politics of Knowledge

Mateusz Felczak (Jagiellonian University)
'Justice and Violence: The Study of Gameplay in the Infinity Engine cRPGs'

Felix Schniz (University of Mannheim)
'Skeptical Hunter(s): A Critical Approach to the Cryptic Ludonarrative of Bloodborne and Its Player Community'

Feng Zhu (University of Manchester)
'Analytical Gameplay and the Politics of Cognitive Mapping'

16.00 – 17.30    Session 3: Beyond the Human

Leonardo Marcato (Universita’ Ca’ Foscari di Venezia)
'Of Human and Posthuman – Videogames and the Future of the Human'

Sandy Appleöff Lyons and Lisa Brown Jaloza (Laguna College of Art and Design)
'More Human than Non/Human: Posthumanism, Embodied Cognition and Video Games as Affective Experience'

Michelle Westerlaken (Malmö University) and Stefano Gualeni (University of Malta)
'Situated Knowledges through Game Design: A Transformative Exercise with Ants'

17.30 – 18.30    Session 4:  Forms of Knowledge

Marc Bonner (University of Cologne)
'Puzzle About The Island: Multi-Perspective Studies on Knowledge in The Witness'

Victor Navarro-Remesal (CESAG - UP Comillas)
'What’s Zen About Zen Modes? Prajna Knowledge versus Mindfulness in Game Design'

Venue: Aula Magna (Valletta campus)

10.00 – 11.00    Keynote presentation: Dan Pinchbeck (University of Portsmouth, The Chinese Room) - 'The Unreliable Philosophics of The Chinese Room'

11.15 – 12.45    Session 5: Aesthetics and Knowledge

Gordon Calleja and Ivan Callus (University of Malta)
'Digital Games and Philosophies of Fiction: Derrida, Knowledge, and the Aesthetic Illusion'

Stephan Günzel (BTK University of Art & Design in Berlin)
'Mind and Body Expanded – The Aesthetic Paradigms of Video Games'

Justyna Janik (Jagiellonian University)
'Glitched Perception: On the Transparency and Visibility of the Video Game Medium'

14.15 – 15.45    Session 6: Spaces and Landscapes of Knowledge

Francesca Borg Taylor-East (University of Malta)
'Non-Space in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim'

Nathan Hulsey (Nazarbayev University)
'Space Bites Back: Agency and Archive in Gamespace'

Peter Nelson (City University of Hong Kong)
'Colliders with Context: Trees in First Person Shooter Computer Games'

16.00 – 17.30    Session 7: Selfhood and Identity

Hans-Joachim Backe (IT University of Copenhagen)
'Past Time: Questionable Epistemologies of Time and Identity in Metal Gear Acid 2'

Johnathan Harrington (University of Malta)
'Yours Truly: Self Narrative and Narrative Designs of a Self'

Josef Florian Micallef (University of Malta)
'Play, Effect, Reflect: A Phenomenological Study of Reflective Self-Consciousness in Players’ Experience of Digital Games'

Venue: Aula Magna (Valletta campus)

10.00 – 11.00    Keynote presentation: Katja Kwastek (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)
'Aesthetic Experience as Game Changer: Understanding Through Interaction with (Post-)Digital Rule-Based Systems'

11.15 – 12.45    Session 8: The Limits of Knowledge

Peter Howell (University of Portsmouth)
'A Theoretical Framework of Ludic Knowledge: A Case Study in Disruption and Cognitive Engagement'

Olli Tapio Leino (City University of Hong Kong)
'STONE + LIFE = EGG: Little Alchemy as a Limit-idea for Thinking about Ontological Knowledge and Discovery in Computer Games'

Adam Russell (Falmouth University)
'On Playful Ignorance: The Union of Opposites in Videogame Epistemology'

14.15 – 15.45    Session 9: Knowing the Other

Kasper Guldberg Husted (IT University of Copenhagen)
'Responsibility in Silence: Player-Avatar Relations in the Virtual Face-to-face'

Darshana Jayemanne (Abertay University)
'Ludology is Strange: Temporal Experience in Gaming and Life is Strange'

Veli-Matti Karhulahti (University of Turku)
'Subjectivist and Objectivist Ludo-Ethics'

16.00 – 17.30    Session 10: Knowledge at the Fringes of Play

Laureline Chiapello (Université de Montréal)
'From ‘Spectator Knowledge’ to ‘Pragmatic Knowledge’: How a Philosophical Understanding of Knowledge Can Help Create Better Video Game Tutorials'

William Huber (Abertay University)
'Extreme Simulation: The Status of the Stunt'

José Messias (Universidade Federal Fluminense)
'Exploration beyond gameplay: modding as knowledge in Guitar Hero customs and Pro Evolution Soccer patches from Brazil'