Call for Participation:

Beyond Game Mechanics
October 8-9, 2025
School of Creative Media, The City University of Hong Kong  (offline participation only)
[From a post on the Gamesnetwork electronic mailing list; use contact emails below for more information –Matthew]

Deadline for submission: July 15, 2025

“Game mechanics” is a frequently referenced yet contested term in game studies. There have been some efforts to define it, of which perhaps the most widely known is Sicart’s (2008) definition of game mechanics as “methods invoked by agents interacting with the game world.” The term has also been explored for its tangled relationship to game rules as well as narrative, while for certain game genres (e.g. MOBAs, FPSs, Soulslike) it can refer to the player’s ability to complete game tasks that involve a non-trivial amount of manual dexterity. Despite its ubiquitous usage, the question of what exactly is a game mechanic persists, yet no one is under any doubt of their importance to games: Adams and Dormans (2009) write in the opening chapter of their book that “game mechanics are the rules, processes, and data at the heart of a game” (emphasis added, p. 1).

The “Beyond Game Mechanics” Seminar seeks to bring together game researchers and practitioners to the School of Creative Media at the City University of Hong Kong for a playful and enlightening discussion of game mechanics.

We would like to invite prospective participants to send in abstract proposals for either:

(1) a 20 minute presentation on a topic related to game mechanics, with a 10 minute discussion to follow, or;

(2) an interactive 20 minute demonstration that both presents and gives the audience a chance to play with a particular game mechanic.

Topics for presentations might include but are not limited to:

• Defining game mechanics
• Designing game mechanics
• Case studies of specific game mechanics
• Players and game mechanics
• Game mechanics and AI
• Game mechanics and narrative
• Game mechanics and genre
• Game mechanics for serious games
• Game mechanic aesthetics
• Comparative game mechanics
• (Un)Ethical game mechanics
• Mechanics vs actions
• Mechanics vs rules
• Mechanics vs non-mechanics

The demonstrations can be a full game (e.g. Passage by Jason Rohrer; Loneliness by Jordan Magnuson), a slice of a longer game that offers insights on a particular mechanic within that game (e.g. the bullet hell sequences in Nier Automata), or a demo for a game currently under development.

Demonstrations of physical games are also acceptable. The games or game slices should be relatively short (5-10 minutes). Presenters should bring their own equipment (i.e. laptops, gaming peripherals, physical game pieces) to carry out the demonstration.

SUBMISSION INFO

For presentation proposals, prospective participants should submit an abstract of minimum 500 and up to a maximum of 1000 words (excluding references). Please use 12 pt. double-spaced Times New Roman font.

For demonstration proposals, prospective participants should submit an abstract of minimum 500 and up to a maximum of 1000 words (excluding references) AND a link to a video of the game/game slice to be demonstrated. Please use 12 pt. double-spaced Times New Roman font.

Date of Event: October 8-9, 2025
Submission Deadline: July 15, 2025
Location: School of Creative Media, The City University of Hong Kong

Accepted submissions will be notified by August 1, 2025.

Please submit your proposals or send any questions about the seminar to gamemechanics25@gmail.com.

ORGANIZERS

Espen Aarseth, City University of Hong Kong,
Jussi Holopainen, City University of Hong Kong
Benjamin Horn, The University of Hong Kong, bhorn1381@gmail.com

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Aarseth, E., & Grabarczyk, P. (2018). An ontological meta-model for game research. In: Proceedings of the 2018 DiGRA International Conference: The Game is the Message, Turin, Italy.

Adams, E., & Dormans, J. (2012). Game Mechanics: Advanced Game Design (2nd ed.). New Design: USA.

Ben-Sadoun, G., & Alvarez, J. (2022). Gameplay Bricks Model, a Theoretical Framework to Match Game Mechanics and Cognitive Functions. Games and Culture, 18(1), 79-101.

Cartlidge, J. (2022). Becoming Afflicted, Becoming Virtuous: Darkest Dungeon and the Human Response to Stress. Games and Culture, 18 (2), 170-188.

Donaldson, S. (2015). Mechanics and Metagame: Exploring Binary Expertise in League of Legends. Games and Culture, 12 (5), 426-444.

Dubbelman T. (2016). Narrative game mechanics. In Nack F., Gordon A. S. (Eds.), Interactive Storytelling. ICIDS 2016. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 10045 (pp. 39–50).

Dubbelman T. (2017). Repetition, reward and mastery: The value of game design patterns for the analysis of narrative game mechanics. In Nunes N., Oakley I., Nisi V. (Eds.), Interactive Storytelling. ICIDS 2017. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 10690 (pp. 286–289).

Järvinen A. (2008). Games without frontiers: Theories and methods for game studies and design. Tampere, Finland: University of Tampere.

Lo, P., Thue, D., Carstensdottir, E. (2021). What Is a Game Mechanic?. In: Baalsrud Hauge, J., C. S. Cardoso, J., Roque, L., Gonzalez-Calero, P.A. (eds) Entertainment Computing – ICEC 2021. ICEC 2021. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 13056 (pp. 336-347).

Magnuson, J. (2010). Loneliness . PC.

Mayo, R. (2023). Ludic Mechanics, Psychic Mechanisms and Explorations of Inner Space in Mindwheel and Psychonauts . Games and Culture, 19 (5), 634-649.

PlatinumGames. (2017). Nier Automata. PS4.  

Rohrer, J. (2007). Passage . PC.

Sicart M. (2008). Defining game mechanics. Game Studies, 8. https://gamestudies.org/0802/articles/sicart 

Vargas-Iglesias, J. J., & Navarrete-Cardero, L. (2019). Beyond Rules and Mechanics: A Different Approach for Ludology. Games and Culture, 15 (6), 587-608.