Call for Abstracts:

Maps, Mechanics and Mobilities: Landscape & the Geographic Imagination in Video Games
May 27-28, 2027
Newcastle University
Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/node/106247

Deadline for submission of abstract and bio statements: November 1, 2026

Since their inception, video games have been defined by, and grounded in, space and place: from the maze in The Temple of Rom (1982) to the Hyrulian depths in Tears of the Kingdom (2023), from the Holy Land of the Crusades in Assassin’s Creed (2007) to the noirish city of Detroit: Become Human (2018), and from the farms of Stardew Valley (2016) to the depths of Hell in Hades (2020), video games have been concerned with the relationship between the player-character, place, mobility, and game-play mechanics.

This conference asks how place and space have been represented in and mobilised in video games: we are interested in spaces of imagination, spaces of real life, of fantasy and of history, the poetics of place, and the cartographic imagination.

We invite papers from scholars in all disciplines, and games industry partners, to submit paper proposals on video games from any period and any genre. We welcome traditional conference papers and panels, as well as roundtables, workshops and critical-creative sessions. The conference will have sessions dedicated to co-writing and the development of networks, and funding applications.

Possible topics include:

• Acts of exploration, mapping and knowledge
• The politics of world building
• Gameplay mechanics and maps
• Dynamically changing environments
• The ecological imagination
• Climate emergency
• Specific geographic locations in games
• Using location affectively/effectively
• Representation, narrative, structure
• Maps and mapping
• Objects and landscapes
• Particular places: e.g. the dungeon, the castle, the forest, the ship

Send a 300-word abstract (Word file), 5-6 keywords, and a 100-word bio to: [email protected] by November 1st.