Dutch DiGRA Symposium 2025: Futures for Game Research

Call for Abstracts Call for abstracts out now! The Digital Games Research Association is “An international association for academics and professionals who research digital games and associated phenomena.” Its aim is to stimulate high-quality research on games, and to “promote collaboration and dissemination of work by its members.” Aside from the main conference, countries may

Marijn Benschop, dr. Laura op de Beke
21-05-2025 // Events, Insights, News // Multi theme

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

Meet the Makers: Roos Groothuizen

The Transmission in Motion research group is organizing another Meet the Maker event, this time focusing on media artist Roos Groothuizen who works primarily with playful media.

Editorial Team
17-10-2024 // Events, News // Extended Realities (AR/VR/XR), Games Beyond Entertainment

Ecogame Playtesting Series 2024/25

In September 2024, the Network for Environmental Humanities (NEH) and the Utrecht Game Lab are launching a new series of events playtesting and discussing ‘ecogames’: or games that engage with the environment and with the climate crisis.

Editorial Team
23-08-2024 // Events // Games and Sustainability

“Hacking Board Games” Workshop at RMeS 2024 Summer School

Concluding the RMeS Summer School 2024: Environmental Media, Laura op de Beke and Stefan Werning of the Utrecht Game Lab organised a workshop for RMA students to facilitate ecological thinking by redesigning (or: ‘hacking’) board games. 

dr. Stefan Werning, dr. Laura op de Beke
14-07-2024 // Events // Criticism and Analysis

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.

drs. Timo Fluitsma
19-04-2024 // Insights // Games and Sustainability, Games Beyond Entertainment, Social Games and Play
Seeds of Resistance

STRATEGIES: Sustainable Transition for Europe’s Game Industries

Learn everything you need to know about STRATEGIES , the recently started research project, spearheaded by Utrecht University.

Editorial Team
14-04-2024 // Insights // Games and Sustainability

“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.

Editorial Team
05-04-2024 // Insights, Publications // Criticism and Analysis, Games and Sustainability

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.

Editorial Team
29-01-2024 // Books, Insights // Criticism and Analysis, Games and Sustainability