DiGRA 2005 Conference Announced

[June 16, 2004] Digital Games Research Association (DiGRA) and Simon Fraser
University, Canada, hereby announce that the agreement for the organisation
of the 2005 Digital Games Research Conference ("DiGRA 2005") has been
signed. The conference will take place from June 17 to June 20, 2005 in
Vancouver, British Columbia.

The event will bring together the digital games research communities from
around the world as well as keynote speakers from Europe, America and Asia
and looks set to be the largest academic digital games research conference
ever held in North America.

The 2005 conference is the second in the series of world conferences,
designed to facilitate dissemination of information from the increasing
multidisciplinary research, both theoretical and practical, on digital
games, game playing and players, game design, user communities, cultures and
contexts.

"Scientific and scholarly advances in games research are currently rapid,
and conferences like DiGRA 2005 are important for the discussion, critique,
and community formation", says Frans Mayra, President of DiGRA. "To fur=
ther
these aims, particular attention will be paid to the review process and
publication of the conference papers, to further contribute to the growing
standards of this new field."

Of the 2005 conference, titled 'Changing Views: Worlds in Play', the
Conference Chair, Professor Suzanne de Castell, says, "The goal of this
conference is to facilitate a richer and more comprehensive grasp of the
present and future capabilities and applications of digital games by
inviting and supporting work which demonstrates the values, means and ends
of 'changing views' in and on digital games and games research. This work
necessarily embraces interdisciplinarity and internationalism, and is, in
sum, work which bridges between and across worlds in play. To that end, a
wide range of approaches and formats are encouraged, including paper
presentations, symposia, poster presentations, author sessions, workshops,
senior scholar roundtables, and, especially, innovative formats which bring
together games researchers and developers and emerging user communities."

"Vancouver is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. A high tech
city, it is home to companies such as Electronic Arts and Creo, cutting edge
learning institutions such as SFU Surrey, and innovative technical research
institutions. Simon Fraser University offers all the crucial elements
necessary to host an event of this calibre; the location, the facilities,
the support, the desire, and the determination to host a significant,
successful and memorable DiGRA conference.

More information and a call for papers will appear soon at www.digra.org,
www.gamesconference.org, and in the mailing lists ([email protected],
[email protected]).


Suzanne de Castell Frans Mayra
Professor President
Simon Fraser University Digital Games Research Association
<[email protected]> <[email protected]>




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Simon Fraser University opened in September 1965. In less than 40 years SFU
has gained an international reputation for its strengths in the liberal arts
and sciences, as well as for its innovative interdisciplinary and
professional programs. It has been rated as Canada's best comprehensive
university five times (1993, '96, '97, '98, and '00) in the annual rankings
of Maclean's magazine and has consistently placed at, or near, the top of
the publication's national evaluations.

Digital Games Research Association (DiGRA) is a non-profit international
academic association, established in 2003. The main aims of DiGRA are to
encourage high-level digital games relevant research, and to promote
international collaboration and dissemination of work by its members through
research, development, commercial, practitioner and policy communities,
networks and organisations.
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