Thursday - March 30th
In-game interaction, identities and communities – or what does it mean to play together?
Matilda Ståhl
In a Nordic perspective, where most (young) people have internet access, the digital dualism between being online or offline is no longer relevant – it is a continuum rather than a strict binary. Despite this, online platforms such as games are currently not utopian environments where people can be anyone or anything they want: identity (co)construction online is framed by both the platform's technical affordances as well as the online and offline communities one is part of. In this talk, Dr Matilda Ståhl will discuss how game and gaming communities are shaping and shaped by in-game interaction and identities. She will exemplify this discussion through empirical material from different research projects, the majority of them ethnographic focusing on young players.
Biography
Matilda Ståhl is a Doctor of Philosophy with education as her major subject. She defended her thesis in December 2021 and is currently working as a post-doctoral researcher and university lecturer at Åbo Akademi University, Finland. Her research is player focused, in particular on identity (co)construction online/offline, and how these identities are connected to and shaped by games and gaming communities and the norms within them.
Thursday - March 9th
How to study Japanese video games: A reflection on my stay abroad in Japan
Joleen Blom
The study of Japanese video games is a growing discourse in the field of Game Studies. However, it is still a challenge for many to research games from this culture, not in the least because of the language barrier and the lack of knowledge of the field of Japan Studies. In this talk, Dr. Joleen Blom addresses the question of how we can study Japanese video games, through the lens of her stay in Japan from August 2022 – January 2023. Dr. Blom will provide a set of complications she often encounters and provides possibilities of how to engage with them, showing how the ups and downs of studying Japanese games can look like.
Biography
Dr. Joleen Blom is a postdoctoral researcher at the Centre of Excellence in Game Culture Studies and at the Game Research Lab at Tampere University. She holds a BA degree in Japan Studies, an MA degree in Media and Performance Studies, and a PhD in Game Studies from the Center for Computer Games at the IT University of Copenhagen, where she was a member of the ERC Advanced grant project Making Sense of Games (MSG).
Her research interests include transmedia storytelling, Japanese games and culture, characters, and para-social relationships and intimacy through technology and media. She has published on these topics in journals such as Narrative, ToDiGRA, and Replaying Japan, and edited collections like Japanese Role-Playing Games Genre, Representation, and Liminality in the JRPG.
Thursday - February 2nd
From Research to Development - A Transit King Story
Janne Paavilainen
This lunch time talk discusses personal transition from games research into game development. Janne Paavilainen worked as a games researcher for 15 years until grabbing an opportunity to work as a UI/UX designer at BON Games. Working on the Transit King Tycoon mobile game, Janne moved into Design Lead and eventually Product Owner role. In this talk Janne discusses the similarities and differences in research and development, and also lessons learned from the dark side. The talk covers many practical topics from day-to-day (remote) operations to strategic planning, data driven design, user experience research etc.
Janne Paavilainen (Msc Econ) is a Finnish games researcher and game developer. During his 15 year academic career in Agora Gamelab (JYU) and Games Research Lab (TUNI) Janne studied free-to-play mobile, casual, and social games. His research interests are in game design, playability, and player experience. Janne has studied hybrid and location-based games, focusing on Pokémon GO. For the last 3½ years Janne worked at BON Games on the mobile title Transit King Tycoon in various roles. Currently Janne is freelancing as a consultant and lecturer for both academia and games industry. His PhD thesis on Facebook games should be finished sooner rather than later.
