The Acagamic

As I have been browsing the usual places on the web to retrieve information about game education and research, I came across a few places that sound interesting enough to publish future academic research findings there. This list is not complete, but rather my first attempt on finding good places for publications on game research. Some of the things, I found so far are:

 Journals

• JOGD - Journal of Game Development. This publisher owned journal seems to publish peer-reviewed papers on all areas influencing game development.
• Game Studies. An online journal claiming to be the international journal of computer game research. Peer reviews and good articles.
• ACM - Computers in Entertainment. Claims to be an online magazine with peer reviews from industry and academia leaders.
• Games and Culture. A journal of interactive media. A quarterly international journal.
• Simulation & Gaming. An Interdisciplinary Journal of Theory, Practice and Research. Probably more focused towards technical aspects and serious games.
• Convergence. The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies. More focused on general new media as it seems, but still interesting for game research.
• International Digital Media and Arts Journal. A journal that is also available online.
• IJIGS. International Journal of Intelligent Games & Simulation. A web-based journal from the University of Wolverhampton. Despite the incredibly ugly web site, it might actually have some interesting articles.

Are there more good game related journals you know? Please let me know about them!

Upcoming Conferences in 2007

• DiGRA 2007 - Situated Play. September 24th - 28th, 2007. Will take place in Japan.
• ACE 2007 - International Conference on Advances in Computer Entertainment Technology. June 13th - 15th, 2007. In Austria.
• Futureplay 2007. A little bit closer to the industry, but still looking like a decent academic conference.
• 2nd Annual Microsoft Academic Days Conference on Game Development. February 22nd - 25th, 2007. On a cruise ship, USA.
• Game in' Action. June 13th – 15th, 2007. In Sweden.
• CHI 2007. Computer/Human Interaction Conference. April 28th - May 3rd, 2007. In the United States.
• 12th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction. July 22nd - 27th, 2007. In China.
• Sandbox Symposium. 2nd Annual ACM SIGGRAPH Video Game Symposium. August 4th - 5th, 2007. In the United States.

Now that we know all about the things to come, let’s have a look at some basics that are already there.

Useful Papers (to get started)

• Formal Abstract Design Tools by Doug Church
• MDA: A Formal Approach to Game Design and Game Research by R. Hunicke, M. LeBlanc, R. Zubek
• Game Taxonomies: A High Level Framework for Game Analysis and Design by Craig A. Lindley
• Fundamental Components of the Gameplay Experience: Analysing Immersion by Frans Mäyrä, Laura Ermi
• Behavioral Game Design by John Hopson
• Hearts, Clubs, Diamonds, Spades: Players Who Suit Muds by Richard A. Bartle
• Playing Research: Methodological approaches to game analysis by Espen Aarseth

So much for a head start for the coming year. Let me know, if you think, I forgot something important. I know that the selected papers section definitely differs according to what kind of research you are planning to dive into. Luckily, games are a diverse enough subject to debate this. It is more a general starting point of important papers that I think every game researcher should have read in general. So long…