Media and Culture Studies
Game studies has been part of the field of Media and Culture Studies at Utrecht University since around 2000 in both research and education. From this disciplinary perspective, games, gameplay, and game culture are studied as cultural phenomena with ever-changing form and meaning which give shape not just to game culture but our media culture at large.
In the media: René Glas in NPO Radio 1’s De Nacht van…
Game researcher René Glas was interviewed by presenter Benji Heerschop on Dutch national radio channel NPO Radio 1 to talk about games within our contemporary society.
Playing the Hidden Curriculum
Playing the Hidden Curriculum: Exposing, materializing and questioning the unwritten rules of higher education is a research project that aims to adress the unwritten social and cultural rules in education, so that the UU will foster its education in a more social and inclusive way.
Meet the Makers: Daniela Tenenbaum and “In Touch”
Our colleagues from the Transmission in Motion hybrid research community are organizing another Meet the Makers session, this time focusing on the IMPACT exhibition In Touch. It’s an exhibition which should be interesting for those exploring the potential of playful media.
Two Assistant Professors in Screen Media
The department of Media and Culture Studies has published two job openings for Assistant Professors which might be interesting for those engaged in research fields related to games and play: Screen Media.
Franchise Hacking – Magic: the Gathering
'Franchise hacking’ within Magic: The Gathering (MtG) means to creatively alter game elements to embed urgent real-world ecological narratives into the game’s design.
“Beavers don’t walk on roads”: Beaver-play for more-than-human cartographies
In this paper, Laura op de Beke, Linas Kristupas Gabrielaitis, Oğuz ‘Oz’ Buruk,Velvet Spors, and Ferran Altarriba Bertran introduce the notion of beaver-play to understand play that challenges spatial conventions, transgresses boundaries, and redraws territories.
Book Launch: Four Ways of Hearing Video Game Music – Dr. Michiel Kamp
Please join us to celebrate the publication of Michiel Kamp’s Four ways of Hearing Video Game Music, published with Oxford University Press, 2024.
Book Launch: Videogame Formalism: On Form, Aesthetic Experience, and Methodology
Please join us to celebrate the publication of Alex Mitchell and Jasper van Vught’s book: Videogame Formalism: On Form, Aesthetic Experience, and Methodology, published open access with Amsterdam University Press, 2023. To mark this occasion, Alex and Jasper will give an (online) talk on:Friday, 22 March 2024, 7Am (2PM Singapore time).You can register for the
Dark seasonality in videogames
"Dark seasonality in videogames" is a chapter in the larger book Changing Seasonality: How Communities are Revising their Seasons, which explores the role of calendars, seasons, and the cultural reaffirmations (or choice not to) thereof.
Ecogames: Playful Perspectives on the Climate Crisis
Ecogames: Playful Perspectives on the Climate Crisis brings together authors who explore the aspects of ecocritical engagement in and through games.