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Post details: CFP: International Conference on Horror Video Games

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12/11/08

06:24:02 CFP: International Conference on Horror Video Games  

Categories: News, Game Studies, 778 words

This call for papers has been around the web quite a lot since we sent it out, but yours truly finally updates his blog to include it. As I am part of the organizing committee, let me also address a few questions we received so far. Think of it as an unofficial FAQ:
1) Yes, we will accept and expect proposals from people in the industry, not just academics.
2) There is no discipline restrictions, we seek an interdisciplinary conference focused on a given object (horror video games). Psychology, anthropology, sociology, biology, film studies, art history, literature, media studies, game design, architecture, computer science, physics or mathematics even, and any other discipline I did not think of, are all welcome to apply.
3) The conference being bilingual means we accept proposals and communications that are either in English or French. It does not mean that people have to write/speak/translate in both languages.

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Thinking After Dark: Welcome to the World of Horror Video Games
Montreal, April 23-25, 2009

The research group Ludiciné from the University of Montreal, in collaboration with the Research Group on the Creation and Formation of Cinematographic and Theatrical Institutions (GRAFICS) from the University of Montreal and the NT2 Laboratory on Hypermedia Art and Literature from the University of Quebec in Montreal, solicits your
proposals for the bilingual (French/English) international conference titled «Thinking after Dark: Welcome to the World of Horror Video Games». This conference will be held in Montreal (Quebec, Canada) from April 23 to 25, 2009.

Call for papers

As fear is the oldest and strongest emotion of mankind (Lovecraft), human beings have always taken a malicious pleasure in frightening themselves. If literature and cinema were and still represent good means for the expression of horror, nowadays, the experience of fear is as intense in video games.

While academia has been studying horrific literature and films for a few decades, such an interest for the videoludic side of horror has not, until now, showed up. Yet, since the cinematic staging of fear in Alone in the Dark in 1992, the Survival Horror has become a prolific genre offering a wide selection of significant games such as the Resident
Evil, Silent Hill and Fatal Frame series. Because it is at the crossroads of diverse cultural heritages and the latest technological developments, and because it exhibits the ins and outs of the matrix that governs all but a few games (spatial navigation and survival), horror video games require a deeper study.

This international conference wishes to study horror video games (not necessarily labeled survival horror) from an eclectic range of critical and theoretical perspectives. It aims to fill a gap in game studies between general theory and analysis of particular genres and games.

Possible Topics
Here are some examples of relevant themes we wish to explore in this conference:

Historical approach
- Origins and history of horror video games
- Impact of the technological evolution on horror video games

Theoretical approach
- Simulation of horror, fear, terror
- Narratives and themes of horror video games

Transmedial approach
- Transmedial study of horror video games (Games/Films/Literature)
- Remediation in films, literature and video games

Socio-cultural approach
- Transnational analysis of horror video games (United States/Japan)
- Social and cultural meanings of horror video games
- Horror video games and censorship

Analytical approach
- Aesthetics of horror video games (lighting, sound, editing, 1st/3rd person perspective)
- Study of specific games or series (Alone in the Dark, Resident Evil, Fatal Frame, etc.)

The organizing committee remains open to proposals that respect the general spirit of this call for papers.

Please submit your proposals no later than January 15, 2009 at the following e-mail address: [thinking.after.dark@ca.inter.net]. Acceptance and rejection notifications will be sent by the beginning of February.

Your proposal must include:

1. The title of your paper and an abstract (no more that 500 words).
2. Your academic status, your institutional affiliation, your department and your contact information (mailing address, telephone number, fax number and e-mail address)
3. A short biography underlining your work related to the themes of the conference (no more than 250 words).

A selection of papers will be published in a special issue of Loading…, the journal of the Canadian Game Studies Association.

For further information, please visit our website: [http://conference2009.ludicine.ca].

Organizing committee:
Bernard Perron, Conference Head, Associate Professor, Department of Art History and Film Studies, University of Montreal
Martin Picard, coordinator, research group Ludicine, University of Montreal
Richard Bégin, Invited Professor in Film Studies, Literatures Departement, Laval University.
Carl Therrien, research group Ludicine, University of Montreal
Dominic Arsenault, research group Ludicine, University of Montreal
Guillaume Roux-Girard, research group Ludicine, University of Montreal

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