California Games and Interactive Media Conference

Over the past two decades, Game Studies has emerged as an essential field of inquiry, intersecting with areas ranging from media arts and technology to humanistic and social science research as well as critical making and speculative design. The California Games and Interactive Media Conference bridges pioneering game labs and media programs from across the University California system (UCSB, UC Davis, UCLA and UCR) with scholars and game designers from the University of Chicago, along with the seminal digital artist Lucia Grossberger Morales. Together, the speakers bring to the fore their specialized research emphasis including developments in interactive media, experimental design, and speculative play to reshape our programmatic, curricular and critical understanding of games and interactive media.

Despite a rapid expansion in Game Studies across higher education, there lacks a focal point from which to foster cross-regional encounters as these pertain to culture, ecology and civic life. UC Riverside furthermore lacks a dedicated research hub or formal program centered on games and interactive media. Therefore, The California Games and Interactive Media Conference presents a direct opportunity to close this gap, positioning UCR as a conduit for regional and national academic collaboration.

What happens when we treat video games not merely as limited consumer software, but as elastic ecological frameworks, subversive rule-systems, speculative model worlds, even instruments of civic action? This conference convenes prominent theorists, practitioners, and lab directors from leading institutions.

Sponsored by the UCR Center for Ideas & Society