Games and Literary Theory Conference 2013
University of Malta, Valletta Campus
31 October – 1 November 2013
Organised by
Institute of Digital Games
University of Malta
&
The Department of English
University of Malta
Thursday 31st October 2013
8.30 – Registration
9.30 – Welcome and Opening Addresses
Prof. Gordon Calleja (Institute of Digital Games, University of Malta) & Prof. Ivan Callus (Department of English, University of Malta)
Session 1 (9.45 – 11.00): Games, Theory, Meaning
Chair: Espen Aarseth
Meaning Effects in Video Games: Converting meaning-making tools from literary studies to game design
Jonne Arjoranta, University of Jyväskylä (Finland)
“The Game Itself?”: Towards a Hermeneutics of Computer Games
Sebastian Möring, IT University of Copenhagen (Denmark)
11.00 – Coffee break
Session 2 (11.30 – 12.45): Games, Theory, Reception
Chair: Daniel Vella
Pseudo and digital parapraxis in video games
Marion Haza, Université de Poitiers (France)
Implications of Online Fan-Fiction on the Mediality of Video Games and Narrative Construction
Roger Dale Jones, Justus-Liebig University (Denmark)
12.45 – Lunch
Session 3 (14.00 – 15.45): Games, Theory, Narrative
Chair: Gordon Calleja
Twisty Passages, All Different: An exploratory data-analysis of ludo-narrative genres
Espen Aarseth, IT University of Copenhagen (Denmark), Johs. Hjellbrekke, University of Bergen (Norway)
Demanding, Nondemanding and Extrademanding Narratives
Veli-Matti Karhulahti, University of Turku (Finland)
15.45 – Coffee break
Session 4 (16.15 – 18.15): Games. Theory, Borderlines
Chair: Ivan Callus
Ludo-Hermeneutics and the Semiotics and Ontology of Game Objects
Espen Aarseth, IT University of Copenhagen (Denmark)
Sea and Spar and Portals Between
Stuart Moulthrop and Justin Schumaker, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (United States of America)
Incomplete Worlds: Videogames and Metafiction
Timothy J Welsh, Loyola University (United States of America)
18.15 – End
Friday 1st November 2013
9.00 – Registration
Session 5 (9.30 – 11.00): Games, Theory and the Reconceptualisation of Categories in Literary Studies I
Chair: Ivan Callus
Is that my score?: In between literature and games
Mario Aquilina, University of Malta (Malta)
Coleridge and Metal Gear: Rehabilitating suspension of disbelief for videogames
Douglas Brown, Brunel University (United Kingdom)
“I’m a writer’”: Alan Wake and the (De?)Construction of Authorship
Michael Fuchs, University of Graz (Austria)
11.00 – Coffee Break
Session 6 (11.30 – 12.30): Games, Theory and the Reconceptualisation of Categories in Literary Studies II
Chair: Giuliana Fenech
Self-Reflexivity and Humour in Adventure Games
Krista Bonello Rutter Giappone, University of Kent (United Kingdom)
No Mastery without Mystery: Dark Souls and the Ludic Sublime
Daniel Vella, IT University of Copenhagen (Denmark)
12.30 – Lunch
Session 7 (14.00 – 15.30) Games, Theory and the Politico-Aesthetic
Chair: Mario Aquilina
Green Gaming: Proposals for an Ecocriticism of Digital Games’ Research Interest and Scope
Hans-Joachim Backe, Ruhr–Universität Bochum (Germany)
Phobos and Deimos: An Application of Literary Fear and Terror to Video Games
Jean-Charles Ray, University Sorbonne Nouvelle (France)
An Aesthetics of Subjectivity
Daniel Vella, IT University of Copenhagen (Denmark)
15.30 – Coffee break
Panel (16.00 – 17.00): Games, Theory and their Conversations
Chair: Gordon Calleja
Repetitive Pleasures: Gaming and Addiction
Joyce Goggin, University of Amsterdam (Netherlands)
(title tbc)
Jonas Linderoth, University of Gothenburg (Sweden)
17.00 – Coffee break
17.30 – Roundtable Discussion
18.30 – End
Games and Literary Theory 2013 