[game_edu] Don't Miss Meaningful Play 2008

[Brian Winn]

Meaningful Play 2008 is an interdisciplinary academic conference that  
explores the potential of games to entertain, inform, educate, and  
persuade in meaningful ways.

The conference takes place October 9 - October 11, 2008  in East  
Lansing, Michigan USA and is hosted by Michigan State University.

The conference is for game designers, researchers, and students.  
Current registered attendees are from over 10 countries and 20 US  
states.

The two primary themes of the conference are "exploring meaningful  
applications of games" and "issues in designing meaningful play". The  
first theme includes an examination of games (of all types) from  
primarily an academic research perspective. The second theme focuses  
on much more practical knowledge from the front-line of actual design,  
development, and use of games for meaningful purposes.

The conference includes:

*** Six thought-provoking keynotes from leaders in academia and  
industry, including:

- "The Game Designer as Change Agent" by Richard Hilleman, Chief  
Creative Office, Electronic Arts
- "The Unknown Possibilities of Existence" by Ian Bogost, Associate  
Professor at the Georgia Tech and Founding Partner at Persuasive Games  
LLC
- "All Play is Meaningful" by Leigh Anne Cappello, Vice President and  
Play Futurist with the Future Now division of Hasbro
- "Serious Gaming: Assumptions and Realities" by Ute Ritterfeld,  
Professor for Media Psychology at VU University Amsterdam and co- 
founded the Center for Advanced Media Research Amsterdam (CAMeRA at VU)
- "The Play of Persuasion: Why "Serious" Isn't the Opposite of Fun" by  
Nick Fortugno, co-founder and President of Rebel Monkey
- "The Great White Whale of Meaningful Play" by Tracy Fullerton,  
Associate Professor in the Interactive Media Division of the USC  
School of Cinematic Arts and Director of the Electronic Arts Game  
Innovation Lab

*** Ten breakout speaker sessions featuring prominent members of  
industry and academia, including:

- "From Experiment Gameplay to the Wonderful World of Goo" by Drew  
Davidson, Director of the Entertainment Technology Center at Carnegie  
Mellon University
- "Turning Gamers to Soldiers: War Games in the Modern Military " by  
David Versaw, CFO and Director of Business Development at WILL  
Interactive, Inc.
- "Player-Centered Design for Instructional Games" by Robert Appelman  
from Indiana University and Sonny Kirkley with Information in Place,  
Inc.
- "The Emerging Flash Game Industry and the Opportunities for  
Meaningful Play" by Jared Riley, president of Hero Interactive
- "Making an Impact: Serious Issues in Non-Serious Games" by Monica  
Evans, Assistant Professor of Computer Game Design at the University  
of Texas at Dallas
- "The Science of Fun" by Nate Bolt, El Presidente of Bolt | Peters,  
Inc.
- "Designing K-6 educational games from Playstation to PSP" by Dave  
Adams and Peter Rogan, PLATO Learning, Inc.
- "Creating Crossover Learning Products" by Scott Traylor, Chief KID,  
CEO, and founder of 360KID
- "The Mandate and Measure of Meaningful Play" by Tim Nixon, CEO of  
Straylight Studios
- "Bringing Tangential Learning to Games" by James Portnow, CCO and  
founder of Divide by Zero Games

*** Over 45 peer-reviewed paper presentations presenting the latest  
game research coming out of academia, on a various topics such as:

- Games for Learning
- Games and Physical Health
- Designing Games for Health
- Games to Change Brains
- Emergent Gameplay
- Player Involvement
- Player Motivation
- Social Play
- Analyzing and Understanding Games
- Games and Culture
- Alternative platforms for learning games
- Game design and development
- Exploring non-digital games
- MMORPGs and Virtual Worlds

*** Seven exciting panel and roundtable discussions, including:

- Playing with Public Policy: Games to involve and inform the public
- User-Created Content And Program-Modification In Video Games And  
Virtual Worlds
- When Will Games Grow Up?: Handling Adult Topics In Video Games
- Talent, Incentives, and Infrastructure: Growing the Game Industry in  
Michigan
- Suitable for all ages: Game design for the 60+ demographic
- Game Face(book): The Intersection of Games and Social Network Sites
- Approaches to Language Learning as Meaningful Play

*** A poster session featuring 14 late-breaking advances and work-in- 
progress reports from ongoing research or design work

*** An exciting exhibition of 13 innovative games

Don't miss you opportunity to attend Meaningful Play 2008.

For more details and to register, visit:
http://meaningfulplay.msu.edu




_________________________________________________________
Brian Winn
Director, Games for Entertainment and Learning (GEL) Lab
Associate Professor and Director of Undergraduate Studies,
Department of Telecommunication, Information Studies, and Media

253 Communication Bldg.
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824
517.353.5497 (office)
517.353.5498 (fax)
winnb at msu.edu (email)
http://gel.msu.edu/winn/

Meaningful Play 2008:
Designing and Studying Games that Matter
October 9-11, 2008
http://meaningfulplay.msu.edu

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