OASIS Talks

OASIS hosts various talks on academic and non-academic topics. These talks are always free and open to everyone.

We try to live stream as many talks as we can and you can find new live streams on the OASIS YouTube channel, event information on the OASIS
Facebook-page and recordings of most of our previous talks on the Centre of Excellence in Game Culture Studies YouTube channel.

Our current talk series is called OASIS Lunchtime Talks and you can find the schedule and information about the talks below.

In addition to this curated series, the page highlights other types of OASIS Talks, past and yet to come.

OASIS LUNCHTIME TALKS - AUTUMN 2023

OASIS Lunchtime Talks is a series of lectures on current research by fascinating scholars from near and far.
The talks are usually held on Thursdays during lunch hour (12.00 - 13.00 or 12 PM to 1PM).
The lecture series was created by Olli Sotamaa and the current series of OASIS Lunchtime Talks is curated by Heikki Tyni and produced by Mikko Seppänen and Elisa Wiik.

Thursday - October 12th
12.00 - 13.00

Ephemeral ecologies: player paratexts at the end of the world
Lawrence May (University of Auckland)

In this Anthropocentric era of biospheric decay and collapse, the planet’s ailments inexorably permeate videogames. Lawrence discusses an ecocritical project studying online player communities and paratexts shared within them. Analysing player paratexts associated with Battlefield 2042, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, and Cities: Skylines reveals users’ engagement with different modes of ecological thought during gameplay. This seminar will illustrate contemporary videogames as entwined with our catastrophic ecological conditions, and players as routinely engaged with questions of Anthropocentrism, capitalism, apocalypse and subjectivity.

Dr Lawrence May is a lecturer at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. His research explores meaning-making in player communities, the entanglement between videogames and the climate crisis, and the role of undead monstrosity within games. 

Watch the live stream on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsDKHZEvIqs

Thursday - September 21st
12.00 - 13.00

Promises, Politics, and Pipelines: Implicit and Explicit Lessons from Games Higher Education
Alison Harvey

University degrees have become an essential criterion for a range of roles in the games industry, but the value of higher education remains contested. These contestations and the emphasis in diversity in discussions of talent and the pipeline from education to work tell us little about how games higher education functions and how it contributes to challenging inequalities in participation. In this talk, I explore the paradoxes and possibilities for change outlined by students and teachers in games higher education.

Alison Harvey is Associate Professor in the Communications program at Glendon College, York University. Her research and teaching focuses on issues of inclusivity and accessibility in digital culture, with an emphasis on gender and labour in digital games.

Watch the live stream on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajIgfS4yWJc

Wednesday - August 23rd
13.00 - 14.00

Game Studies without Culture? A Historical Review of Video Game Research in Korea
Tae-Jin Yoon

My presentation aims to conduct a meta-analysis of academic papers and books published on video game studies in Korea over the past 20 years in order to review trends in the field, identify key themes and methodologies, and summarise the main findings and contributions of the research. Given the rapid development of media technology, the changing industrial structure, and the chaotic legal and institutional environment, interest in people who play games has been reduced to psychological factors, and research on game culture remains scarce. It was for this reason that I decided to do an anthropological study of Korean game players. In addition to this, I will also introduce some interesting research papers on Korean gaming culture.

Tae-Jin Yoon is Professor at the Graduate School of Communication and Arts, Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea. He is also the president of Game-n-Science Institute in Korea. His research focuses on a variety of topics, including television shows, video games and esports, webtoons, and the Korean Wave.

 

 

Past OASIS Lunchtime talks

OASIS LUNCHTIME TALKS - SPRING 2023

Ukrainian Game Jam Scene: Creativity in Extreme Conditions
Oleksii Izvalov (Robert Elvorti Economy and Technical Institute)
Replayed: Software Preservation and Game Histories (Book Talk)
Dr. Henry Lowood (Stanford University)
The LVLup! Museum: From experimental initiative to national institution
Camille Laurelli (Educational Center at National Library of Estonia)
(Re)Playing Cultural Memory: The Why and How of Studying Nostalgia in Video Games
Diego A Mejía-Alandia (Tampere University, the Centre of Excellence in Game Culture Studies)
In-game interaction, identities and communities – or what does it mean to play together?
Matilda Ståhl (Åbo Akademi University)
How to study Japanese video games: A reflection on my stay abroad in Japan
Joleen Blom (Tampere University, the Centre of Excellence in Game Culture Studies)
From Research to Development - A Transit King Story
Janne Paavilainen (BON Games)

OASIS LUNCHTIME TALKS - AUTUMN 2022

Care Tactics - Practicing Safe Storage at Gaming Events
Nick Taylor (York University)
International Solidarity Between Game Workers in the Global North and Global South – Reflections on The Challenges Posed by Labor Aristocracy
Emil Lundedal Hammar (Tampere University, the Centre of Excellence in Game Culture Studies)

OASIS LUNCHTIME TALKS - SPRING 2022

The Value of NFTs in Games
Alesha Serada (University of Vaasa)
Playing with toy soldiers? A look at miniaturing
Mikko Meriläinen (Tampere University, the Centre of Excellence in Game Culture Studies)

OASIS LUNCHTIME TALKS - SPRING 2020

Handmade Pixels: Indie Video Games and the Quest for Authenticity
Jesper Juul (Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, School of Desig)

OASIS LUNCHTIME TALKS - FALL 2019

Ask Why: Creating a Better Player Experience through Environmental Storytelling and Consistency in Escape Room Design
Scott Nicholson (Wilfrid Laurier University)
Age Appropriate Game Design
Darshana Jayemanne (Abertay University)
Zen Mode: on Buddhism, McMindfulness, and orientalism in games
Victor Navarro-Remesal (Comillas Pontifical University)
Fun Things are Fun: Exploring the Games & Life of Karl Rohnke
Pete Vigeant (ESC Games)
Thoughts on Existential, Transformative Game Design
Dr. Doris Rusch (Uppsala University)
Assemblage agency and the games that play us
Maria Ruotsalainen (University of Jyväskylä)
Ethics in theory, justice in practice: Insights into practical challenges between game research contexts
Dr. Florence Chee (Loyola University Chicago)
Digital Dreamers? Researching the Lives of Videogame Workers
Anna Ozimek (Tallinn University)
Finnish and Polish educational board games in the mid-19th century
Maria Garda (PhD) (University of Turku)

OASIS LUNCHTIME TALKS - SPRING 2019

The Gamer Logic of “Selfies are Avatars”: Toxic Masculinity and James Franco’s Strategic Vulnerability
Tom Apperley
Intimate Games: Queering the Conventional Mouse Controller for Cooperative Play
Sabine Harrer
Resisting Patches & Updates: Struggles against Protocological Power in Video Games
Jan Švelch
Understanding the Australian Videogame Field through Formal, Informal, and Embedded Gamemakers
Brendan Keogh (Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane) 
Sense of Place in Videogames: Case Red Dead Redemption
Jussi Holopainen (Games Computing, University of Lincoln)
Regulatory change and cultural peculiarity - horse people and the new gambling monopoly in Finland
Pauliina Raento

OTHER OASIS TALKS - 2018

MSP Challenge 2050: first results of fourth-generation simulation gaming for maritime spatial planning
Harald Warmelink (NHTV Breda University of Applied Sciences, Netherlands)
On the Possibility of a Paratelic Initiation of Organizational Wrongdoing
Mikko Vesa (Hanken School of Economics, Helsinki)
Toxic Meritocracy of Video Games: Why Gaming Culture Is the Worst
Christopher Paul (Seattle University)
Salvation, or Snake Oil, Big Data Practices in the Game Industry
Jennifer R. Whitson (University of Waterloo)
Amateur adaptations of “professional” games: Manic Miner and Flappy in 1980s Czechoslovakia
Jaroslav Švelch (University of Bergen / Charles University Prague)