Conference Location
DiGRA Australia 2019 will be held at The University of Sydney, Camperdown Campus in the new Social Sciences Building at The University of Sydney [Google Maps Link]. Registration will be on level 1 of the building in the foyer outside LT200 – the lecture theatre for the main conference.
The venue can be easily accessed via public transport along Parramatta Rd.
A casual social event on the evening of the 12th will be held at the Nag’s Head, a short walk away.
Keynote Address
The Keynote Address will be delivered by Professor Mia Consalvo, thanks to the support of the Sydney Social Sciences and Humanities Advanced Research Centre (SSSHARC)
Playing with choices and moral dilemmas: Analyzing the challenges of the gamer mindset
This talk builds off my early work studying players who enjoy games with moral and ethical dilemmas, as well as additional work creating a game that features such elements. Advancing that work, it asks how “regular” players, or those less likely to deeply engage with such game components, deal with such choices. Through a preliminary examination of You Tube Let’s Play videos as well as Twitch live streams of games including Firewatch and Life is Strange 2, the talk highlights the greater diversity of approaches that players take, and the particular issue of the ‘gamer mindset’ that many players employ. Additionally, the talk considers the challenges that game designers face when building such games, and how to possibly circumvent these limitations.
Biography:
Mia Consalvo is Professor and Canada Research Chair in Game Studies and Design at Concordia University in Montreal. She is the co-author of Players and their Pets, co-editor of Sports Videogames and author of Cheating: Gaining Advantage in Videogames. She has most recently completed the book Atari to Zelda: Japan’s Videogames in Global Context, about Japan’s influence on the videogame industry and game culture.
Mia runs the mLab, a space dedicated to developing innovative methods for studying games and game players. She’s a member of the Centre for Technoculture, Art & Games (TAG), she has presented her work at professional as well as academic conferences including regular presentations at the Game Developers Conference. She is the Past President of the Digital Games Research Association, and has held positions at MIT, Ohio University, Chubu University in Japan and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
