CALL FOR PAPERS

"Ludologica. Videogames d'Autore" is pleased to announce its call for
papers for a book on first-person shooter games that will be published
in Summer 2004.

Provisionally titled "Doom. The First Person Reader", this
interdisciplinary volume edited by Sue Morris and Matteo Bittanti will
explore a range of topics regarding the aesthetics, politics and logics
of the first person shooter, and, in particular of id Software's Doom
and Quake games, which have had a great impact on the form and culture
of computer gaming. The editors are looking for original contributions
from a variety of fields, including game studies, new media studies,
cultural studies, sociology, and anthropology. Papers are sought that
take new and innovative approaches to examine the FPS as spectacular
form of gaming, as a genre, as cultural artefact, as a social practice.
Doom. The First Person Reader will initially be published in Italian;
English language rights are currently in negotiation. For more
information on the "Ludologica" book series, please check:
www.ludologica.com.

For consideration, please submit a 1000 word abstract (including 6
keywords) no later than February 29, 2004 to Matteo Bittanti and to Sue
Morris at editors_at_ludologica.com. A one-page curriculum vitae or short
biography will also be appreciated.

The selected authors will be notified by mid-April 2004 and asked to
submit a complete draft of their papers no later than May 25, 2004. All
textual contributions must be written in English or Italian. Manuscripts
should be 3,000-5,000 words, double-spaced. The submission should be
fully referenced using MLA style and may contain endnotes. All
contributions to Ludologica will be promptly reviewed. Contributors will
be kept up to date on the status of their contributions via regular
email correspondence. Please submit your proposals and papers
electronically as a rich text format document.

Possible topics may include (but are not limited to):

Aesthetics/narrative in FPS games
The FPS genre – conventions and formulas, semantic/syntactic approaches,
evolution/transformations, etc.
Gaming culture – online and offline, participatory and creative
cultures, clan culture, professional gaming
Gameplay, the phenomenology of playing
Social interaction in the FPS genre
FPS development – mod scene, open-source development
Forms of identification and gaming subjectivities
Mythical, ideological and political aspects
Politics in games, games as a political tool, political economy of game
development and gaming culture
Cross-media interplay/Convergence between FPS and other
media/intertextuality in FPS games/games' influence on popular culture
gender/class/ethnicity in video games

Deadlines
03.29.04: Proposals submissions
04.20.04: Notification of acceptance
05.25.04: Complete papers submissions

If you have any questions, please email Matteo Bittanti and Sue Morris
at editors_at_ludologica.com

Matteo Bittanti (mbittanti_at_libero.it)
School of New Media & Communication
Libera Università di Lingue & Comunicazioni (IULM)
Via Carlo Bo, 8 20143
Milano, Italy

Sue Morris (sue.morris_at_uq.edu.au)
School of English, Media Studies and Art History
University of Queensland
St Lucia 4072
Queensland, Australia

Ludologica
Launched in 2003, "Ludologica. Videogames d'autore" is a new series of
books that honor the most significant video games ever produced. These
books discuss video games from a broad academic and critical
perspective, setting characteristics, themes and techniques in context
and exploring the game's significance. Distinguished game critics,
scholars, and avid gamers explore the production and reception of their
chosen video games in the context of an argument about the games social,
cultural, and aesthetic importance. Each book presents the author's
insights into a game and its creator selected from a list of the most
enduring and influential titles of the last 40 years. These innovative
readings are not conventional game reviews or game guides. Rather, they
situate the games in terms of the broader cultural debate that they
informed. Finely written, these books represent a new wave in gaming
criticism and are intended for scholars, researchers, and educators in
game studies, media studies, audiovisual communication, and cultural
studies. Ludologica will also appeal to readers in gender studies,
race/ethnic studies, sociology, sociology and other disciplines with an
emphasis on or interest in popular communication.

 "Ludologica. Videogames d'Autore" is part of a larger project on video
game and new media research funded by Libera Università di Lingue e
Comunicazione (www.iulm.it), Milan, Italy.

For more information on the Ludologica series, please check:
www.ludologica.com.

--matteo bittantiplaying / teaching / writingmbittanti_at_libero.itwww.mattscape.comwww.ludologica.comhttp://mbftoday.blogspot.com/"Any sufficiently advanced garbage is indistinguishable from magic."(Bruce Sterling's Corollary to Clarke's Law) =============================================== From the Literary Calls for Papers Mailing List CFP_at_english.upenn.edu Full Information at http://www.english.upenn.edu/CFP/ or write Erika Lin: elin_at_english.upenn.edu ===============================================Received on Wed Jan 28 2004 - 23:02:43 EST