Name: (Academic) Game [Design|Research] Labs: What Are They and How Do You (Not) Start One?
Start: 2015-07-08T10:30:00-0500
End: 2015-07-08T11:30:00-0500

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(Academic) Game [Design|Research] Labs: What Are They and How Do You (Not) Start One?

(Academic) Game [Design|Research] Labs: What Are They and How Do You (Not) Start One?
Casey O'Donnell, Kurt Squire, Liz Lawley, Mark Chen, Mia Consalvo, Roger Altizer, Sean Duncan, Tracy Fullerton

Academic game labs take on a variety of forms at the universities that house them. Their funding structures, resources, and positions can come in varied nuanced configurations. This panel brings together a bevy of directors from academic game labs to share stories about starting, managing, shaping and even leaving labs. They have all attempted to define (and differentiate) the goals or missions of their labs, their relationship to the larger academy, and where they stand with regards to game studies/research as a field/discipline. Panelists will discuss their struggles and triumphs, how they and their labs have changed over the years, and anything else that can be packed into an hour long discussion. The panelists will synthesize their experiences, field questions, and offer insights to those working with labs, hoping to start one, or seeking to better understand the various possible functions of a game lab.

Speakers

Roger Altizer

Associate Director, Entertainment Arts and Engineering

Knock! Knock!Who's there?Hike.Hike who?I didn't know you liked Japanese poetry!

Mark Chen

Accidental Hero and Layabout, University of Washington Bothell

Mark Chen (NASAGA board member, PhD Education, University of Washington; BA Fine Art, Reed College) is an independent games scholar and part-time professor of interaction design, qualitative research, and games studies at the University of Washington Bothell. He runs http://esotericgaming.com... Read More →

Mia Consalvo

Concordia University

Mia Consalvo is Professor and Canada Research Chair in Game Studies and Design at Concordia University in Montreal. She is the co-author of Real Games: What's Legitimate and What's Not in Contemporary Videogames (2019) and Players and their Pets: Gaming Communities from Beta to Sunset... Read More →

Tracy Fullerton

Professor and Director, USC Game Innovation Lab

Tracy Fullerton is an award-winning experimental game designer, professor, and director of the cross-disciplinary USC Games program, a collaboration between the USC School of Cinematic Arts and the Viterbi School of Engineering. She holds the Electronic Arts Endowed Chair in Interactive... Read More →