Call for Abstracts
“Playing at Intimacy”: Character Intimacy-centered video games, intimacy with game characters
A workshop at the Central and Eastern European Game Studies conference (CEEGS 2022)
Conference theme: Ludic Realities
October 13, 2022
Tallinn University
Tallinn, Estonia
Workshop: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FrTv0LPGpXS7MZi-YE5xlEf3SdQ2tOAe/view
CEEGS 2022 Workshops: https://web.htk.tlu.ee/ceegs2022/#workshop-info
CEEGS 2022: https://web.htk.tlu.ee/ceegs2022
Organizer: Luca Bruno (Leipzig University, PhD Candidate)
Submission deadline: September 15, 2022
Japanese video games centered on developing imagined intimate relationships with anime-manga characters, chiefly known as ‘visual novels’, are predominantly collocated within the domain of Japanese pop culture and anime-manga media. Such collocations obscure the gamic dimension of character intimacy, in favor of connections with the wider domain of anime-manga media. Re-focusing on the gamic aspects of visual novels and similar games, on the other hand, opens the way for discussing how the inherently fuzzy and unstructured concept of intimacy – both a euphemism for sexual intercourse and a marker of both emotional and physical closeness – may be gamified and transformed into a framework for a distinct typology of video games, of which Japanese visual novels are only one example?
Building upon these interrogatives, we are interested in intimacy within video games, in connection with in-game modes of traversal and experiential foci, including:
- Structures of in-game intimate character interaction (feedback loops, dialogue trees, ‘love meters’ etc.)
- Character intimacy as mode of in-game traversal
- Aesthetics in and of intimate character interaction
- Characters and players as recipients of intimate engagement(s)
- Genderization of in-game intimate interaction(s)
- Methodologies for the study of in-game intimacy
Abstracts should be no longer than 500 words (excluding bibliography) and be sent by email to Luca Bruno at lbruno010@gmail.com. This workshop seeks to include both presentations and extended discussion; submission of work in progress is highly encouraged. The deadline for abstracts is September 15th. The workshop welcomes presenters already accepted for the main CEEGS 2022 program but will give priority to external presenters. Acceptance notifications will be sent on September 19th.