In diesem Semester (WS 24/25) findet in Kooperation von DIGAREC, der Internationalen Computerspielesammlung und der Europäischen Medienwissenschaft die Ringvorlesung “Games! Spielräume zwischen Medialität und Digitalität” statt.

Zeit: Donnerstags 18-20 Uhr
Ort: Fachhochschule Potsdam, Raum D011

24.10.2024 Jan Distelmeyer (Potsdam): Spielen (lassen). Zur Medialität und Digitalität von Games

07.11.2024  Rolf F. Nohr (Braunschweig): Eine unvollständige (bundesrepublikanische) Genealogie des Spielens am Computer. Wie die glamouröse IBM 650, das Wirtschaftswunder und Berthold Gamer uns zum Zocken brachte

14.11.2024 Britta Neitzel (Freiburg): Glück im Computerspiel …

28.11.2024 Stephan Günzel (Berlin): In-Between: Fragen der Game Studies und Antworten der Medientheorie

05.12.2024 Anna Zaglyadnova (Potsdam): Wie springe ich? Zur Frage der Verschränkung von Körper, Technologie und Spiel

12.12.2024 Finja Walsdorff (Siegen/Düsseldorf): Mods, Gender & Empowerment: Modding als Diversitätsstrategie

19.12.2024 Markus Spöhrer (Tübingen): Spielräume ermöglichen/behindern: Zur Accessibility digitaler Spiele

09.01.2025 Sonia Fizek (Köln): Playing at a distance: Rethinking human agency in computer games

16.01.2025 Michael Liebe (Potsdam): There is no Magic Circle: Revisited

23.01.2025 Christopher Lukman (Berlin): Spielen lernen mit virtuellen Puppen. Eine Phänomenologie des digitalen Spieldings

30.01.2025 Claus Pias (Lüneburg): Allgemeine und Vergleichende Spielwissenschaft

06.02.2025 Birgit Schneider (Potsdam): Atmosphären und Klimate im Computerspiel. Eine medienästhetische Annäherung

In der aktuellen Ausgabe des Magazins “Portal” der Universität Potsdam ist auch das DIGAREC in der Reihe “Popkultur hoch drei” vertreten. Der Beitrag ist online auf der Website der Universität Potsdam verfügbar.

Prof. Dr. Jan Distelmeyer (links) und Prof. Dr. Sebastian Möring (rechts) in der Computerspielesammlung des DIGAREC. (Foto: Thomas Roese)

[ENG]

The latest issue of “Portal”, the magazine of the University of Potsdam, features DIGAREC and its researchers. You can read the article online on the website of the University of Potsdam.

[DEU]

Rudolf Inderst von nahaufnahmen.ch hat mit unserer wissenschaftlichen Hilfskraft Jojo Türülümow über die wissenschaftlichen Möglichkeiten von Twitch-Livestreams in der Digitalspielforschung geredet.

[ENG]

Rudolf Inderst, writer at nahaufnahmen.ch, spoke with our research assistant Jojo Türülümow about the academic potential of livestreaming on Twitch in the game studies field.

Im neuen Jahr streamen wir im Wintersemester 2023/24 auch bis in die vorlesungsfreie Zeit hinein!

Eine kleinere Neuigkeit gibt es: Anstatt jede Woche ein neues Spiel zu spielen, schauen wir uns zwei Spiele im Detail an.

Im Rahmen des ZeM-Jahresschwerpunkts “Verlustkontrolle” spielen wir das Rätselspiel “The Talos Principle”, das sich unter anderem mit Künstlicher Intelligenz und dem Konzept von Menschheit und Menschlichkeit befasst.

Darauf folgend spielen wir das Shooter-Spiel “Spec Ops: The Line”, welches als “Anti-Kriegs-Shooter” moralische Fragen verhandeln soll, und untersuchen, ob und wie gut diese Kombination aus Shooter und Moralität funktioniert.

Wir freuen uns über neue Zuschauer*innen!

Jeden Montag live um 16 Uhr auf twitch.tv/digarec.

Jeden Montag in der Vorlesungszeit des aktuellen Wintersemesters sind wir live auf Twitch! Von 16 bis 18 Uhr spielen wir Spiele und teilen unsere wissenschaftlichen Gedanken dazu.

Schaut also gerne am Montag auf twitch.tv/digarec vorbei! Wir freuen uns über alle neuen Follower*innen und Zuschauer*innen!

[ENG]

During this winter semester’s lecture period we’re going to be live on Twitch every monday 4-6 pm CET! We’ll be playing games and sharing our academic thoughts.

So feel free to join us on monday at twitch.tv/digarec! We’re excited for each and every new follower and viewer on Twitch!

[ENG]

Wednesday June 28 2023 – Friday June 30 2023, German Literature Archive Marbach

International interdisciplinary conference of the Marbach Weimar Wolfenbüttel Research Association (MWW) at the German Literature Archive Marbach (DLA)

In cooperation with:
European Federation of Game Archives, Museums and Preservation Projects (EFGAMP e.V.), DIGAREC – Digital Games Research Center of the University of Potsdam, the Computer Games Museum Berlin, and the Foundation for Digital Games Culture

The keynote speakers are:
Espen Aarseth, Réne Bauer, Astrid Ensslin and Beat Suter.
Lena Falkenhagen will moderate the Game Culture Quartet (organized by the Foundation for Digital Games Culture) at the DLA Marbach.

The conference will take place in person. Guests are welcome in Marbach a.N. as well as online!

Schedule and Zoom link here.

[DEU]

Mi. 28.6.2023 – Fr. 30.6.2023, Deutsches Literaturarchiv Marbach

Internationale interdisziplinäre Konferenz des Forschungsverbunds Marbach Weimar Wolfenbüttel (MWW) im Deutschen Literaturarchiv Marbach (DLA)

In Kooperation mit:
European Federation of Game Archives, Museums and Preservation Projects (EFGAMP e.V.), DIGAREC – Digital Games Research Center der University of Potsdam, dem Computerspielemuseum Berlin, und der Stiftung Digitale Spielekultur

Keynote speakers sind:
Espen Aarseth, Réne Bauer, Astrid Ensslin und Beat Suter.
Lena Falkenhagen wird das Game Culture Quartet (organisiert von der Stiftung Digitale Spielekultur) im DLA Marbach moderieren.

Die Konferenz wird vor Ort stattfinden. Gäste sind in Marbach a.N. und online willkommen!

Zeitplan und Zoom-Link hier.

In cooperation with:
European Federation of Game Archives, Museums and Preservation Projects (EFGAMP e.V.), DIGAREC – Digital Games Research Center of the University of Potsdam, the Computer Games Museum Berlin, and the Foundation for Digital Games Culture

DLA Marbach and Computer Games
In addition to collecting literature in its commonly understood forms, the German Literature Archive Marbach (DLA) also archives and collects computer games as a medial form of literature. The aim of the DLA in doing so is to engage with literature in all its mediality. The substantive reasons for this decision are numerous, but, fundamentally, computer games have long been part of our cultural memory, which must be archived appropriately and examined in relation to established cultural forms. The fact that computer games are discussed in the feature pages of the major daily newspapers, that the German Federal Government awards the German Computer Game Prize, and that computer games are officially recognized as a cultural asset by the Cultural Council is due, among other things, to the work of museums such as the New York Museum of Modern Arts, the Computer Game Museum Berlin, and the Karlsruhe Centre for Art and Media (ZKM).

As an archive for literature, the DLA has been dealing with hybrid forms of literature for some years now, for literature is not only created and produced between two book covers, but also on the computer, as “born-digital” literature. Within the framework of the “Netzliteratur” project (2013–2017), the DLA has done pioneering work on the systematic analysis and documentation of the creation, playback, performance and mirroring environment of games in line with defined standards. This work is being continued in various projects at the DLA, but a larger international, interdisciplinary conference is needed to further discuss and advance these endeavours with regard to questions of collection and archiving as well as research. To this end, we invite literary scholars, archivists, librarians, as well as researchers in Games Studies, Media and Communication Studies, and game designers to Marbach.

The “literaricity” of computer games and the collection mandate of a literature archive
The planned conference will encompass various aspects of researching literature and computer games, as well as collecting, archiving, and exhibiting them. Although the intersections, as well as the differences, between literature and computer games have frequently been addressed in the last two to three decades, a systemization of these approaches and a research-led development of a catalogue of criteria for a kind of “literacity” of computer games have only rarely been attempted. Thus, one of the questions to be asked in the context of this conference is which relevance criteria are to be given special consideration in a computer game collection in a literature archive. For just as not every book is relevant to the collection mandate of the DLA, not every computer game will be included in
the collection. For this special collection in the DLA, an interdisciplinary research discussion is still needed to define collection criteria. First significant selection criteria – which are, however, yet to be discussed further – are, for example, the special handling of text and language in a game, in a broader sense than simply through literary objects (such as diaries, manuscripts, libraries, etc.) in the game. Furthermore, we do not wish to ask (as has become the practice in Game Studies) whether computer games are narrative, but rather in what way they are so. In addition to adaptations of literary works, games with reception traces that can be linked to authors and literary works certainly belong in a literature archive.

Subsequently, the criteria according to which computer games are classified must be clarified, as must the metadata used to list them in the library catalogue. A further challenge is the selection of the accompanying material that is to be archived alongside the game to which it is connected. Possibly there is a game developer’s private library, equivalent to an author’s private library, that needs to be consulted by researchers. And what forms of reception of computer games should the archive and library at the DLA take into account? Numerous activities of gaming culture seem relevant here, for example the staging of a computer game in a Let’s Play; the players and their interaction with and reception of computer games must, with greater urgency, become the subject of research and archives. But even the digital archive has its limits – the goal is never the ‘total archive’ – yet it remains to be determined how social media, for example, is to be collected and archived.

The analysis instruments
But what definition of text can we use, as a literature archive, with which to approach computer games? The media shift in literature not only calls the concept of text and literature into question, it also repeatedly demands that analytical methods and instruments be expanded and revised. How can computer games be adequately described in such contexts? It is often not enough simply to ‘apply’ established literary terms to computer games – when the aim is to describe computer games in their status as literary forms. These considerations are preceded by the question of what the specific literary narrative of computer games looks like.

The technologies of archiving and accessibility
In addition to these questions of content, the technical preservation of games and archiving strategies also currently pose challenges. For example, how do we deal with obsolete hardware and software? How can the interaction with recipients, players, be guaranteed at a technical and a curatorial level? How can and should computer games be stored for research in the long term? And finally, institutions are faced with various legal problems: For example, which licences for software and operating systems are to be obtained?

Key topics
We invite researchers at all career stages to submit contributions. Based on the key topics outlined above, contributions in the following areas are of particular interest:

1. Before computer games: Playful and medial forms of literaricity / grey areas of narration
2. Media shift: Book and game
3. Storytelling – Text – Code. Narrative techniques in computer games
4. Describing, researching, and exhibiting computer games as an aesthetic experience
5. Collecting and archiving software objects

We are pleased to welcome our keynote speakers Espen Aarseth, Réne Bauer, Astrid Ensslin and Beat Suter. In addition, Lena Falkenhagen will moderate the Game Culture Quartet (organized by the Foundation for Digital Games Culture) at the DLA Marbach.

• Short abstracts (300 words in German or English) for 30-minute papers should be submitted together with a brief CV and a selected publications list by 31 January 2023.
• Please submit your abstract and CV by uploading them to this portal.
• The conference will be conducted in English.
• Accommodation and travel costs will be reimbursed.

Concept
Dîlan Canan Çakir – Research Associate MWW – German Literature Archive Marbach
Anna Kinder – Head of Research – German Literature Archive Marbach

Organization und Coordination
Birgit Wollgarten – Research Secretariat – German Literature Archive Marbach – Tel.: +49 (0)7144 – 848 – 175 – Fax: +49 (0)7144 – 848 – 179 – Email: forschung@dla-marbach.de
Marie Limbourg – Coordinator MWW Research Association – German Literature Archive Marbach – Tel.: +49 (0)7144 – 848 – 227 – Email: marie.limbourg@dla-marbach.de

Contact
Email: forschung@dla-marbach.de

Download Call for Papers