Call for Papers:

Joint Conference on Serious Games (JCSG) 2026: Games as Epistemic Tools
December 3-4, 2026
University of Malta
Valletta, Malta
https://jointconference-on-seriousgames.org/2026/call-for-papers
See also JCSG portal: https://jointconference-on-seriousgames.org/

Deadline for submissions: May 13, 2026

The Joint Conference on Serious Games (JCSG) is dedicated to Serious Games and their multifaceted characteristics. The conference is concerned with all aspects related to the theory and practice of Serious Games, including (but not limited to) design, development and evaluation; assessment and efficacy; immersion and engagement; technology and platform considerations; and last but not least the wide range of application domains within which Serious Games can be applied.

Serious Games are now being adopted for many purposes (e.g., learning and training, health and wellbeing, industrial applications, marketing, and cultural engagement) and their game mechanics are drawn from many established genres (e.g., simulation games, narrative games and others). Approaches to design and evaluation are being formalized for the benefit of the discipline, allowing new serious games to be designed with a better chance of achieving the associated objectives and also allowing a deeper understanding of when and why the best results are achieved.

JCSG aims to bring together scientists and practitioners in Serious Games with scientists and practitioners in contributing disciplines, i.e., any discipline in which serious games are of interest, such as educators and trainers; doctors, therapists and counselors; industry and management; art and culture; and the cultural heritage sector.

THEME 2026: GAMES AS EPISTEMIC TOOLS:

This year, the conference will highlight works on games as epistemic tools (both for the designers, as a practice for learning and exploring certain processes, and for the players). This special track will feature contributions that question the assumption that theory in general (and theories about games in particular) must primarily be articulated through academic prose. There is a growing body of work that demonstrates how theoretical arguments about games can be developed, tested, and disseminated through playable artifacts, and this track will showcase that ‘serious’ use of games.

The JCSG portal provides an overview about the previous conferences including all proceedings.

TOPICS:

The theme for the 2026 edition of JCSG is games as epistemic tools. Contributions are particularly encouraged on how narrative elements can be used in Serious Games, e.g., to facilitate learning, immersion and engagement. Papers on other topics are also very welcome, including (but not limited to) the following.

Theory and technology: Scientific methods and concepts for design and development of serious games

• Platform considerations (mobile platforms, game consoles, virtual, augmented and mixed reality, cross platform aspects, game engines, network and communication)
• Cost-effective production of serious games (authoring tools, collaborative authoring, procedural content generation, middleware)
• Personalized, adaptive serious games (user characteristics, player and gamer types, context models, personalization, player modelling, adaptive serious games)
• Collaborative learning and training environments (multiplayer serious games, game mastering, games and social networks, collaboration, competition)
• Interfaces and sensor technology in serious games (controllers and interfaces, bio sensors, motion controllers, novel interfaces across all platforms, location-based and ubiquitous technology)
• Evaluation studies (evaluation methodologies and evaluation design, models and metrics, evaluation tools, effectiveness, efficiency)
• Serious Games Studies measuring the quality of particular Serious Games and/or Serious Games application areas
• Surveys (serious games studies and outcomes, serious games effects, use of technologies)

Business: Market studies, potentials and barriers

• Business models and market studies for serious games or serious games technologies
• Grand challenges and obstacles for game developers and publishers, e.g., expectations and acceptance or ethic-legal issues and privacy

Best practice and application domains

• Field reports, demonstrations and evaluation studies of Serious Games
• Research prototypes and commercial games ‘more than fun’
• Games for health (personalized exergames, prevention, rehabilitation, cognition, movement)
• Games for behavior change (nutrition, lifestyle, environment-friendly mobility behavior)
• Social awareness games (security, gender-based violence, religion, climate, energy)
• Games for learning and education (from kindergarten to higher education, vocational and workplace training)
• Simulation and training (medical training, surgical simulation, disaster management, manufacturing, industrial applications)
• Games for cultural engagement (e.g., history, art and music)

SUBMISSION TYPES & GUIDELINES:

• Full papers (12-15 pages) should describe novel not previously published scientific work relating to one or more of the topics listed above.
• Short papers (up to 6 pages) should describe best-practice results or new ideas and concepts, experiments.
• Demo papers (up to 6 pages) should describe experiments, demos of Serious Games, products/titles and prototypes.
• Poster papers (up to 6 pages) should describe new ideas, approaches and work in progress.

Accepted long papers and short papers are presented in the regular sessions with oral presentations. Poster and demo papers are presented in an open, interactive forum during poster sessions. Posters provide an opportunity to describe and discuss new ideas or work in progress. Demos provide an opportunity to show your work to (and receive feedback from) conference participants.

Formatting: Please prepare your paper submission in the Springer LNCS format (one-column page format). Page lengths do not include bibliography, but they do include title and abstract.

Review & Publication: All submitted papers will undergo a thorough peer-review process by the JCSG Program Committee. All accepted papers will be included into the official LNCS proceedings published by Springer.

Registration: At least one author of an accepted submission has to register and present at JCSG 2026.

IMPORTANT DATES (All times are 23:59 AoE, UTC-12):

• Paper Submission: 13 May 2026
• Notification of Acceptance: 30 June 2026
• Camera-Ready Version: 20 July 2026
• Conference: 3–4 December 2026

SUBMISSION SYSTEM (EASYCHAIR):

https://easychair.org/my/conference?conf=jcsg2026

The organizers look forward to your contributions and to welcoming you to JCSG 2026.