Hot on the heels of the ESI NextGen Oxford conference in March, and the opening of Oxbridge’s first esports suite at Jesus College, the Cheng Kar Shun Digital Hub events programme today announces a season of events themed around gaming.
The Hub’s Gaming Season features three events that celebrate the world of video gaming through the lenses of history, music, and inclusivity, and which bring together students, researchers, and industry professionals, to explore the innovations in gaming that are fuelling this growing field of academic research.
The season kicks off with the Inclusive Gaming Conference (May 1st). This one-day conference will discuss research initiatives, works in progress, and future directions for the academic study of inclusive gaming, through a series of roundtable discussions, talks, and interactive gaming experiences. It has been developed in partnership with the Oxford Games & Technology Group.
Over 60% of UK adults play video games, but there is still a lack of diversity in the ways we research, talk about, create, and play games. The conference aims to amplify voices not commonly heard in gaming spaces. The event organisers hope to facilitate discussions about accessibility, neurodiversity, decolonialisation, gender, socioeconomic barriers, and other factors which influence inclusivity in gaming. The conference particularly encourages the participation of people, and projects, that are not routinely represented in the gaming world. All projects which discuss, develop, or implement approaches to inclusive gaming, whether through critical engagement or play, are welcome.
On May 30th, the Digital Hub hosts PLAY: Music for Game Controllers with the House of Bedlam. PLAY is a creative collaboration exploring the possibilities of video game controllers in music composition and performance. It is supported by The Cultural Programme, PRiSM, the Centre for Practice & Research in Science & Music at the Royal Northern College of Music, and funded by the Research England fund Expanding Excellence in England (E3).
The PLAY project began with a question: what happens when we transform these controllers into musical instruments? What kinds of new music will emerge? How can music provide a space to examine themes shared by video games and musical performance, including control, identity, dexterity and – of course – play? To answer these questions, five new works for ensemble The House of Bedlam have been commissioned from a variety of UK-based composers. These exciting and diverse works break new ground, requiring entirely new approaches to composition and performance. The one-hour performance includes these five new works and existing music to be interpreted by traditional instruments and video game controller instruments. Composers and performers will share more about their creative processes, and there will also be a chance for audience members to try out the video game controller instruments themselves.
The Gaming Season’s finale is Hands-On History: Gaming Peripherals Past and Present on June 11th. The event explores the immersive world of gaming peripherals over the past fifty years. The evening will begin with a show-and-tell panel discussion by gaming heritage professionals, including Mark Cutmore (Science Museum, London), Prof. James Newman (Co-founder of the National Video Game Archive and Bath Spa University), and Harriet O’Rourke (Cambridge Centre for Computing History). As well as providing a historical adventure through the history of gaming, there will also be an opportunity to play with gaming peripherals from the 1980s to today. Expect to experience block stacking with R.O.B the Robot, musical jams with Donkey Konga, a real Mario Kart circuit with remote control karts, and much more!
Dr Janina Schupp, SOUTHWORKS Career Development Fellow of the Digital Hub, and curator of both the Gaming Season, and the wider Hub events programme, says, “There is a growing demand for academic conversations around the role of gaming in education and research, and the historical context of gaming in relation to arts and culture today. We are excited to announce this innovative programme of gaming events to enable those conversations to happen, and hope there is something for everyone working, studying, and playing in this dynamic and growing field of academic interest.”
For further information and to book tickets for the Gaming Season events, click here.