In the media: “The game industry emits as much as the whole of The Netherlands”

In the newest issue of KIJK magazine, UU media researcher Joost Raessens is interviewed on his work in the area of games and sustainability.

In the interview (in Dutch), Raessens – project coordinator of the Horizon Europe project STRATEGIES – touches upon the positive and negative impact of games and the gaming industry on the climate crisis. He discusses the main goal of STRATEGIES, that is to help game designers and companies develop so-called ‘ecogames’: Games that are made, distributed and played in such a way that they have the least possible ecological footprint; and games that contribute to the inculcation of sustainability-oriented attitudes and behavior in players.

The issue of KIJK (nr. 4 2025) will be on sale online or through local kiosk in The Netherlands on March 13.

Researcher

Prof. dr. Joost Raessens

 Prof. dr. Joost Raessens holds the chair of Media Theory at Utrecht University. His research focuses on the understanding of how green media contribute to ecological thought.

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In the news: About the pleasures of blood and violence in games.

Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant has published a longread article investigating the pleasures of blood and violence in games with two Utrecht researchers reflecting on how violence has become part of the gameplay experience, and how it may affect players.

Editorial Team
03-12-2024 // In the media // Criticism and Analysis, Player Research and Psychology

Game Research @Dutch DiGRA 2024 Symposium

On November 21, game scholars from all over The Netherlands and well beyond gathered at Erasmus University for the Dutch DiGRA 2024 Symposium. Many researchers from Utrecht presented their projects.

Editorial Team
22-11-2024 // Events // Games and Sustainability, Games Beyond Entertainment, Play Research

Perceptions on an Identity of UU Game Research – Part 3

Through discussing themes of Dutchness, Applied versus Theoretical, and Digital versus Analogue, we get an image of whether or not there is such a thing as a Dutch game research identity, as well as an insight into how the field might continue to grow, change, and adapt in the future. These themes together each form components of understanding the ways in which game research is engaged with academically in the Netherlands. In the interviews these thematic commonalities emerged, and highlighting both the similarities and differences offers an insight into the ways in which the research identity has been self-constructed at the UU. (Article 3 of 3)

Amy Lycklama
19-11-2024 // Insights, Interview, Longread // Multi theme

Journal Special Issue: Games, Books and Gamebooks

A special issue of the Journal of Gaming & Virtual Worlds has come out titled Games, Books and Gamebooks. The special issue explores the intersections of games and books as sites for interesting cross-disciplinary work.

Editorial Team
23-12-2024 // Publications // Criticism and Analysis

Shape2Gether: Experiencing the Malta summer school

Hello again! We are five student from Utrecht University who for the past few months have been participating in the Erasmus+ Project Shape2Gether, an initiative to teach students how to communicate complex information relating to climate change using new media technologies. This piece is a retrospective of the second ‘summer school’ on the islands of Malta.

29-11-2024 // Events // Games and Sustainability, Games Beyond Entertainment

A new game that opens up your mind

Have you ever received a message from someone who’s number is not in your phone? We’ve all been in that situation before, trying to guess who the mystery sender is. This all-too-common situation is one of three starting points of Open Mind, a creative ‘whodonnit’-type educational game. Players have to talk to various characters –

Editorial Team
31-01-2025 // Insights, Longread, News // Games Beyond Entertainment