Call for Papers:

3rd Eudaimonia in Digital Games Workshop
At the 2026 Foundations of Digital Games (FDG) Conference
Copenhagen, Denmark

Workshop: August 10, 2026
https://sites.google.com/view/eudaimonia-in-games/home

FDG 2026: August 10-13, 2026
https://fdg2026.org/

Deadline for submissions: April 12, 2026 (extended)

SUMMARY

It’s clear that digital games like Gears of War, Assassin’s Creed or Call of Duty provide a different kind of emotional experience to games, such as Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture, Papers, Please and Journey. However, we stumble when we attempt to articulate exactly what that difference is.

What is the difference between the first group (Gears of War, Assassin’s Creed, Call of Duty) and the second group (Rapture, ‘Papers, Please’, Journey)?Why is it important to know?

The concept of eudaimonia in the study of video games has been the subject of increasing interest in recent years, especially as juxtaposed to the idea of hedonia which is often assumed as lying at the heart of most video game play experiences. However, there is a lack of consensus on what eudaimonia exactly is, how it manifests in the player experience, and what effect it could have on the emotional experience of game play.

Building on a successful 1st year at FDG’23, and a second year at FDG’25 this workshop seeks to bring together researchers from across a broad range of games research fields, such as those represented at FDG. We will discuss this emerging and important concept and potentially create a cross-disciplinary research agenda for delving deeper into how this foundational concept of wellbeing can be applied within the field of digital games.

This workshop is in-person only, with no provision for hybrid.

SUBMISSIONS

All accepted submissions will have the option to be published as extended abstracts in conference proceedings as part of the ACM Digital Library.

Submissions should be:

• 2-4 pages long excluding references
• Use the 2-column ACM SIGCONF version of the Master Template (https://www.acm.org/publications/proceedings-template)
• Submitted via the EasyChair submission system to this workshop track using the following link: https://easychair.org/my2/conference?conf=fdg26

Related topics include but are not limited to the following:

• games for change/games with a purpose
• empathy games/deep games
• designing for the mixed affect / reflective emotional experience
• emotional attachment to game characters
• user experience studies of games players
• AI for empathic and/or emotionally engaging NPCs
• exploring different types of challenge and agency in the context of emotionally resonant games
• player motivational models

KEY DATES

• Submission deadline Sunday 12th April
• Notifications of acceptance: 24th April
• Camera ready deadline: 15th May
• Workshop date: 10th August in Copenhagen (see https://fdg2026.org/)

QUESTIONS

Email eudaimoniaingames@gmail.com

Look forward to seeing you in Copenhagen!