Department Of Game Design Uppsala University

Join us for our first roundtable in the Transformative Play Initiative Event Series!

When: Tuesday, November 9, 2021, 7:00 – 8:30 pm Central European Time.
Where: Online on Zoom (Register here)

Description: In our first roundtable, we combine our five first speakers together in a panel to get to know more about them and their take on transformative play. After hearing:

Whitney "Strix" Beltrán talk about archetype work in character creation for player catharsis;
Johanna Koljonen talk about Nordic larp as a tool for social change;
Diana J. Leonard talk about role-playing marginalized characters;
Jaakko Stenros talk about the evolution of play and dark play; and
Allen Turner talk about the importance of the Trickster archetype

… we are now bringing them together to explore transformative play in the past, present, and future.

This series is hosted by the Games & Society Lab at the Department of Game Design, Uppsala University campus Gotland. The series explores the use of analog role-playing games as vehicles for lasting personal and social change. Find our previous events recorded on YouTube.

We are delighted to announce an exciting new development at the Department of Game Design at Uppsala University Campus Gotland! The Transformative Play Initiative will create events, archives, research, and graduate programmes with an emphasis on analog role-playing games. We are specifically interested in games designed and implemented by people in helping professions who wish to use play as a vehicle for personal and social transformation.

Each month we will host 1-2 lectures, roundtables, or town hall meetings. These events take place on Tuesday evenings live on Zoom in webinar format. Lecturesare one hour long on a variety of cutting edge topics from researchers and practitioners, with thirty minutes for questions at the end.Roundtablesgather the lecturers together for a structured conversation. We also haveTown Hallmeetings as a more public discussion space, where community members can request slots for 5-10 minute lightning talks on related topics, followed by short breakout rooms for discussion.

Everything is archived on YouTube to encourage sharing and open access. Although the series focuses on analog role-playing games, the topics are broad enough to be useful to students focusing on digital games and other forms of play as well.

Here is a link to the Event Series playlist
Here is a link to our Facebook page where new talks are announced first
Learn more about Transformative Play at Uppsala and join the TPI mailing list

This fall, we have the following events planned:

"Everything is the Self: Designing Character Ensembles for Player Catharsis,"Whitney "Strix" Beltrán — July 13, 2021
"The Personal and the Political: Playing and Designing for Transformation in Nordic Larp,"Johanna Koljonen — September 7, 2021
"Playing for Pain: Benefits, Pitfalls, and Strategies for Role-playing Marginalized Characters,"Diana J. Leonard –September 21, 2021
"Why Do Humans Play? Exploring the Functions, Benefits, and Meanings of (Dark) Play," Jaakko Stenros— October 12, 2021
"Disrupting Monkey, Laughing Raven: The Magic of the Trickster's Dance,"Allen Turner— October 26, 2021, 7-8:30pm CET(next week!)
"Transformative Play Initiative Event Series Roundtable: Fall 2021,"Beltrán, Koljonen, Leonard, Stenros, and Turner— November 9, 2021, 7-8:30pm CET
"Transformative Play Initiative Event Series Town Hall: Fall 2021,"Guests TBD —December 7, 2021, 7-8:30pm CET

We are finalizing the Spring event schedule and are looking forward to see you all at future events!

Coming to your screen September 23–27, 2021,the 6th annual Game Devs of Color Expo is dedicated to amplifying the creative power held by people of color in games

Our own Kayode "K" Shonibare-Lewis is giving a talk on the 25th, titled "Racial Bias, Reverse Heredity and the Parents of Custom Avatars"

Tickets to participate in the whole conference, September 23-27, 2021, are available here.

Students from the Department of Game Design can apply for partial funding, which is paid retroactively. Contact gamedesign@speldesign.uu.se for the application.

Date: 16 November, 12:00–12:30
Location: Zoom

Professor Doris Rusch at the Department of Game Design, Uppsala University

Playfulness is the key transformation. Games are the key to the embodied experience of alternative ways of acting & being. How can we harness the alchemy of play for the transformation of Self and others? Prof. Rusch discusses lessons learnt from her Deep Game Design work & the creation of The Witch's Way a game that sources imagery ritual and symbolism for personal empowerment and inner integrity

Klick here to come directly to the zoom-meeting

UppTalk Weekly is a popular science seminar series via Zoom where you get to enjoy interesting conversations and interdisciplinary panel discussions with researchers from Uppsala University every Tuesday at lunch. The conversations revolve around socially relevant topics and where you as an audience have the opportunity to ask questions to our researchers. UppTalk Weekly is a part of the Faculty for Science and Technology's online continuing education initiative for alumni and society.