Call for Papers:

A Letter to Video Games: The Mechanisms of Emotions
An international, interdisciplinary online conference
August 28-29, 2026 (via Zoom)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eeAvnB1FuET4nZsdgjTDKRFYVBOOBnC0/view

Deadline for submission of abstracts: July 5, 2026

This conference explores how video games evoke, construct, and regulate emotional experiences. As an interactive medium combining narrative, audiovisual design, and player agency, video games offer unique ways of engaging emotions—from joy and empathy to fear, nostalgia, and moral tension.

We approach this theme from two interrelated perspectives:

• Player reception and subjective emotional experience
• Game design mechanisms that produce and shape emotional responses

We welcome contributions from a wide range of disciplines and approaches, including theoretical, analytical, and practice-based work.

INDICATIVE TOPICS INCLUDE:

• Emotional engagement, empathy, and embodiment
• Player agency and the illusion of choice
• Trauma, memory, and emotional resonance
• Parasocial relationships and character attachment
• Sound, silence, and non-verbal storytelling
• Nostalgia and affect
• Postcolonial and ideological perspectives
• Ethics, morality, and emotional decision-making
• Accessibility, inclusivity, and belonging
• Mental health and therapeutic games

SUBMISSION DETAILS:

Please send an abstract (max. 350 words) and a short bio for a 20-minute presentation by 5 July 2026 to:
kliagkona@hotmail.com and skandali.chrysoula@gmail.com

NOTIFICATION OF ACCEPTANCE: 17 July 2026

REGISTRATION:

• Presenters: €25 (students: €20)
• Attendance: free

MORE INFORMATION:

Full Call for Papers (pdf):
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eeAvnB1FuET4nZsdgjTDKRFYVBOOBnC0/view