Meaningful Play 2012

October 18-20, 2012
Michigan State University

http://meaningfulplay.msu.edu/

Whether designed to entertain or to achieve more “serious” purposes, games have the potential to impact players’ beliefs, knowledge, attitudes, emotions, cognitive abilities, physical and mental health, and behavior.

Meaningful Play 2012 is a conference about theory, research, and game design innovations, principles and practices. Meaningful Play brings scholars and industry professionals together to understand and improve upon games to entertain, inform, educate, and persuade in meaningful ways.

The conference will include thought-provoking keynotes from leaders in academia and industry, peer-reviewed paper presentations, panel sessions (including academic and industry discussions), innovative workshops, roundtable discussions, and exhibitions of games and prototypes.

Previous Meaningful Plays

View details on Meaningful Play 2008 and Meaningful Play 2010.

Call for Submissions

Submissions are sought from both researchers and practitioners in academia and industry. Graduate students are also encouraged to submit either jointly with an academic/member of industry or alone.

Submissions to Meaningful Play 2012 can include:

• Papers
• Posters
• Panel Sessions
• Roundtable Discussions
• Workshops
• Individual Speakers
• Games and Prototypes

[Details about each type of submission are on the conference web site at http://meaningfulplay.msu.edu/submissions.php]

Conference Submission Topics

While any topic related to games for entertainment and learning is appropriate to submit to Meaningful Play 2012, topics of particular interest include:

• Exploring meaningful applications of games
• Games to change attitudes, beliefs, or behaviors (including social impact games and personal health games)
• Games to stimulate creativity or innovation
• Games to build social skills
• Games to advertise and persuade
• Games to exercise specific cognitive functions
• Games to explore personal beliefs and help make decisions
• Games to build knowledge and skills (games for learning)
• Serious games for history and cultural heritage learning
• Games to promote civic, social, and humanitarian organization and participation
• Issues in designing meaningful play
• Game design for specific audience segments
• Player types and play styles
• Story and storytelling in games
• Competitive and cooperative play (single player, multiplayer and massively multiplayer)
• Balancing entertainment and serious goals
• Repurposing entertainment games for serious purposes (and vice versa)
• Unintended and unexpected effects of games
• Using psychology and neuroscience to design and understand games
• Emerging design research methods to help create better games
• Measuring game impacts
• Innovative techniques and technologies for the design of meaningful play (e.g. game mechanics, reward systems, and user interfaces)

Important Submission Dates

• July 16, 2012:  Paper submissions due
• July 30, 2012:  Poster, Panel, Roundtable, Workshop, Speaker, and Game submissions due
• August 13, 2012:  Notification of acceptance on papers
• September 7, 2012:  Notification of acceptance of Posters, Panels, Roundtables, Workshops, Speakers, and Games
• September 14, 2012:  Revised papers due for inclusion in conference proceedings
• October 18, 2012:  Conference begins
• October 20, 2012:  Conference concludes
• November 12, 2012:  Top paper authors must submit revised manuscript for possible publication in the International Journal of Gaming and Computer-Mediated Simulations (IJGCMS)
• TBA:  Journal distribution date

Publication and Recognition

Submitting to Meaningful Play 2012 offers several opportunities for publication and recognition beyond presenting at the actual event, including:

• Conference Proceedings
  The conference proceedings will contain papers or extended abstracts of accepted papers and abstracts of panels and posters. The conference proceedings will be published online.
• Top Paper Awards
  Paper submissions will be considered for Top Paper awards by the program committee. All authors will receive reviewer comments and revision suggestions but particularly elaborate guidance will be provided to award winning papers to help them prepare a journal-worthy manuscript.
• Journal Publication
  Award winners will be invited to revise their submissions and submit them for possible publication in a special issue of the International Journal of Gaming and Computer-Mediated Simulations (IJGCMS).

How to Submit

All submissions must be submitted electronically, in PDF format, through the online system at:

http://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=mp2012

Deadline for all paper submissions is July 16^th, 2012 at 11:55pm Eastern Standard time. Notification of acceptance will be given by August 13^th, 2012.

Deadline for all other submissions is July 30^th, 2012 at 11:55pm Eastern Standard time. Notification of acceptance will be given by September 7^th, 2012.

Peer Review Process

All paper and poster proposals will be peer-reviewed by at least three members of the program committee specializing in the area of the paper topic. Authors will be provided with reviewers’ critical comments as well as any suggestions for revision. If accepted, individual papers will be combined together into topical paper sessions.

All panel, roundtable, workshop, and speaker submissions will be reviewed by the organizing committee