Events

***NOTE*** The ROP discussion group will be watching and discussing the final episode of the series on October 28th, which will be the final meeting of the discussion group (at least until season 2!).

Join University of Waterloo professor and Tolkien expert Dr. Neil Randall for a weekly Rings of Power (RoP) critial discussion group in the Collaboration Space at the Games Institute (GI).

Please join us at the Games Institute or virtually via Teams for a panel discussion on games and education with Drs. Jason Hawreliak (Brock University, Waterloo English Language and Literature Alum), Kristina R.

Join us at the Games Institute to hear two talks about exciting research from new Waterloo professors and GI members!

You can watch the event in person at the Games Institute or online via Teams.

In an effort to save on waste, we encourage you to bring a mug with you if you would like to have tea or coffee.

On February 2nd- February 5th, 2023, join us for the GLOBAL GAME JAM! Build a game with your team, join a thriving community & have lots of fun over the weekend!

WINTER 2023 Global Jam

Start: Time TBD, Thursday, February 2nd

End: Time TBD, Sunday, February 5th 

Join Elaine Gómez as she will describe the importance of representation in games and digital media. She will speak to how gaming has the power to destroy the perpetuation of stereotypical perceptions and will explain how games can be designed to create social impact in meaningful ways.

Games research is slowly diversifying in matters of representation as well as accessibility related investigations. Similarly, a materialist and embodied understanding of play (also digitally) seeps in more on a theoretical basis. However, we need to critically examine what kind of bodies are invited to participate in play and how. Where games and play are mostly conceptualized as entertainment for the majority of bodies, disabled people are often relegated to playing for  externally motivated purposes that are often driven by deficit oriented medical models of disability. Using the theory on the surrogate body in play, they illustrate how it can be instrumental to critically engage with norms governing digital play and identifying design opportunities playing with said bodily norms to holistically cater to disabled audiences. They do so by focusing on the critical analytical category of disability not just through an access oriented lens per se, but rather to bring principles of disability justice to play.

Join us for a virtual panel with three researchers about their work and research in Accessibility in Digital Games and Virtual Reality. The panel will include Triskal deHaven, Dr. Katta Spiel, and Dr. Cayley McArthur. Triskal deHaven will lead the panel with frequently asked questions about Virtual Reality and Accessibility, research studies within higher level education, and some of the gaps in Accessibility that students could pursue. Students are encouraged to ask their own questions about these topics during the event.

A discussion of the promise and peril of POC video game character voice acting, focusing primarily on the connections of Black male anger and Black fatherhood in God of War through the voice work of TC Carson and Christopher Judge, contextualized against the audio Brownface of two voice POC women characters in Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves.

We are increasingly asked to envision and implement respectful and non-extractive research involving marginalized communities. But we are rarely challenged to bring those principles to bear in our own research groups, where asymmetries of institutional power between colleagues, students, and staff are normalized. This interdisciplinary panel will discuss how to foster and maintain just relationships among researchers, with a focus on the principles and practices animating non-extractive student-supervisor relationships.