Digital Games Research Association

Last updated
Digital Games Research Association
Formation2003
TypeNon profit
Headquarters Finland
President
Hanna Wirman
Website www.digra.org

Digital Games Research Association (DiGRA) is a nonprofit international learned society whose work focuses on game studies and associated activities. DiGRA was formally established in 2003 in Finland. [1] It is a leading academic organization in the field of digital games. [1]

Contents

Frans Mäyrä was the founding president from 2003 to 2006. [2] DiGRA aims to coordinate activities related to academic research of games in different disciplines and in different parts of the world. For this purpose, several local chapters and special interest groups (SIGs) have been set up within DiGRA. Together with local organisers, DiGRA has so far produced eight conferences. DiGRA has also supported smaller regional conferences and, starting in 2014, DiGRA's conference is run annually. The published papers from these conferences are collected and made available online in the DiGRA digital library. Starting in 2013, DiGRA began publishing, in collaboration with Carnegie Mellon University's ETC Press, an open access refereed journal called Transactions of the Digital Games Research Association (ToDiGRA).

Main activities

DiGRA conferences

One of DiGRA's primary activities is the organization of its yearly conference. The conference is not conceived as a significant revenue stream for the organization, but rather as a mechanism for encouraging and disseminating interest and scholarship in game studies. While the organization's board determines where the conference will be held each year, it is the result of a process that begins with an open "Call for Hosts". The final decision on who the conference host will be is based on a combination of factors. The primary ones include: how well-known, respected, and trusted the local organizers are; how much support the local team can count on; where the last conference was held (ideally it should move around different continents to allow a broader diversity of attendees); ease of access to the venue/location; and the expected expense of the conference to attendees. [3]

To date, DiGRA has hosted, in collaboration with local organizers, the following conferences:

The main DiGRA conference in 2016 was held jointly with Foundations of Digital Games (FDG), [4] an annual conference organised by the Society for the Advancement of the Science of Digital Games (SASDG). FDG emerged in 2009 from the previous Microsoft Academic Days on Game Development in Computer Science Education (GDCSE), which started in 2006.

Publications

Digital Library

DiGRA archives and disseminates the proceedings of the various DiGRA conferences via its digital library. The DiGRA Digital Library is the full-text collection of all articles published in its conference proceedings as well as white papers. DiGRA uses an Open Access (OA) publishing model and authors retain copyright of their publications. DiGRA is granted non-exclusive publishing rights.

Transactions of Digital Games Research Association

In 2013 DiGRA launched the journal Transactions of Digital Games Research Association (ToDiGRA). The journal is refereed, open access, and dedicated to furthering the aims of the organization by disseminating "the wide variety of research within the game studies community combining, for example, humane science with sociology, technology with design, and empirics with theory". [5] The journal does not accept unsolicited submissions, rather it publishes special issues that are usually dedicated, or drawn from DiGRA conferences. Selected papers form the conference are usually invited to the journal where they can be further elaborated on, and they undergo a round of peer review.

The Editor in Chief of the Journal is Professor José P. Zagal who is faculty at the University of Utah in USA. Dr. Zagal replaced the Journals first editor, Dr. Annika Waern from Uppsala University in Sweden.

Gamergate

In 2014, during the Gamergate controversy, DiGRA became the subject of a conspiracy theory promoted by YouTuber Carl Benjamin, who claimed that it was being co-opted by feminists. [6] Mia Consalvo, president of DiGRA at that time, said that the effort to discredit its members' research demonstrated "hostility to feminism" and a failure to understand academic research in humanities. [6]

Executive Board

DiGRA is managed by an elected executive board, since the first election for the 2003-2006 period (replacing the initial setup board). [7]

Board Presidents

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References

  1. 1 2 Crawford, Garry (2011-08-04). Video Gamers. Routledge. pp. 3–. ISBN   9781135178871 . Retrieved 17 November 2014.
  2. Günzel, Stephan (2011). Digarec Keynote-Lectures 2009/10. Universitätsverlag Potsdam. pp. 14–. ISBN   9783869561158 . Retrieved 17 November 2014.
  3. Zagal, J. (2016) "On Chairing a Games Research Conference", Transactions of the Digital Games Research Association, Vol.2 No. 2 pp.5-20, http://todigra.org/index.php/todigra/article/view/46/90
  4. FDG homepage, http://www.foundationsofdigitalgames.org/
  5. ToDiGRA: Focus and Scope, http://todigra.org/index.php/todigra/about/editorialPolicies#focusAndScope
  6. 1 2 Straumsheim, Carl (November 11, 2014). "#Gamergate supporters attack Digital Games Research Association". Inside Higher Ed . Retrieved 17 November 2014.
  7. "The Executive Board". DiGRA. Retrieved April 10, 2024.