GV Research Days ONLINE
The Gamevironments Research Day is a workshop exclusively for early-stage researchers, graduate students and doctoral students. It welcomes research on media-centered approaches, perspectives of game developers and publishers, and viewpoints of gamers. The workshop provides a unique opportunity for participants to engage in discussions and debates about theoretical approaches for studying the intersection of religion, culture, and video gaming. The workshop is held online and provides a collaborative environment for scholars at all stages to learn together and expand and deepen the field of study.
This year's GV Research Day BEYOND PLAY will take place on November 6th
This year’s theme is “Beyond Play.” Digital games aren't just entertainment — they shape and are shaped by the world around them. They influence how new technologies spread, how cultures evolve, and how people communicate, learn, and interact. At the same time, broader social and technological changes transform how games are made, played, and talked about. So, the question is what does gaming actually do to society, and what does society do to gaming? We invite students and researchers from any discipline to submit work exploring topics such as:
- How gaming drives the adoption of new technologies
- How gaming cultures spill over into everyday, non-gaming life
- Gaming's role in representation, inclusion, and shifting social norms
- Gaming in education, religion, politics, and public debate
- Spaces around games — streaming, social video networks, journalism, gamification, and serious games
- Communities within and surrounding games
- Player practices such as modding, co-creation, and informal learning
- Gaming across platforms: transmedia franchises and storytelling
- Shifts in the gaming industry and their broader societal implications
- How communicative AI transforms the role and practices of games, gaming, players and developers
- Figurative, ethnographical and situational analysis of gaming
Experts
Owen Gottlieb, Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences
Gregory Grieve, University of North Carolina Greensboro
Lissa Holloway-Attaway, University of Skövde
Kerstin Radde-Antweiler, University of Bremen
Martin Roth, Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto
Christian Schwarzenegger, University of Bremen
Piotr Siuda, Kazimierz Wielki University in Bydgoszcz
Patryk Wasiak, Polish Academy of Science in Warsaw
Karsten Wolf, University of Bremen
Previous Research Days
Prior to 2025, the Gamevironments Research Day was the IASGAR Research Day.
3rd IASGAR Research Day (University of Bremen, Germany), 28 September 2024
2nd IASGAR Research Day (University of North Carolina at Greensboro, NC, USA), 27 July 2023
1st IASGAR Research Day (University of Bremen, Germany), 8 July 2022
Proceedings
Since 2024, selected presenters from each research day are asked to write a report on their work and submit it to the journal for publication in a forthcoming regular issue.
"Fear the Old Blood." Bloodborne, Christian Concepts of Communion, and Theological Reflection
Blessed Are The Geek. Christian Gaming Content Creators and Digital Discipleship
Sophia Rosenberg
Fanatical Alien Monsters. Halo and Religion in Fan-Forum Discourse
Emma Milerud Sundström
