News and Events from the Department
Event: The Personal and the Political: Playing and Designing for Transformation in Nordic Larp
2021-09-01
Join us for our next lecture in the Transformative Play Initiative Event Series: "The Personal and the Political: Playing and Designing for Transformation in Nordic Larp” by Johanna Koljonen!
- When: September 7, 2021, 7-8:30pm Central European Summer Time (CEST)
- Where: Online on Zoom
Nordic larp is a collaborative artform structured around exploration of situations and structures and around narratives of personal change. Players even of larps created only for entertainment, with no transformative agenda, report personally meaningful or even life-changing experiences. Other larps expressly attempt to educate, inform, affect or transform – and succeed to varying degrees. In this talk, Johanna Koljonen gives an introduction to the form and sketches out some ways of thinking about transformation in Nordic larp. She argues that while the artform is inherently and perhaps inevitably transformative, it has many limitations as a tool for social change; and explores some of the ethical tensions inherent both in participants playing towards and larpmakers designing for transformation as a goal.
Presenter bio: Johanna Koljonen (co-founder, Participation Design Agency) is an experience designer, theorist and strategic consultant, and an expert in designing for safe and enthusiastic participation. She lectures internationally on participatory storytelling and on the future of the audiovisual industries, as well as advising cultural institutions as well as public and private sector clients on participation and immersive experiences. An occasional writer of drama, comics, and digital games, she serves on the board of the Swedish Film Institute. In 2011, she received the Swedish Grand Journalism Award in the Innovator category. Her latest book is the edited anthology Larp Design: Creating Role-Play Experiences (2019).
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.
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Graphic design by Liliia Chorna
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Alumni Days December 9-10
Meet former game design students and hear how their careers have developed after they left us. They have a lot of good advice for you and are always interested in hearing about your own projects and goals and expectations.
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Congratulations, Professor Doris Rusch!
The installation of new professors at Uppsala University is taking place in Uppsala this week. And among them is our very own first professor in Game Design, Professor Doris Rusch--Congratulations!
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Game Devs of Color Expo: Kayode Shonibare-Lewis speaks on September 25, 2021
One of the speakers at the Game Devs of Color Expo, teaches at the Department of Game Design, Kayode Shonibare-Lewis.
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Upptalk with Professor Doris Rusch
Listen to Uppsala University's first professor in Game Design, Professor Doris Rusch, in Upptalk Weekly, 16 november, kl 12-12.30: "Game Design, Witches and Transformation".
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Games that create meaning - interview with researcher and Senior Lecturer, Doris Rusch
Doris Rusch, researcher and senior university lecturer at the Department of Game Design on Campus Gotland, describes how we can create games that evoke thoughts and deep, meaningful experiences.
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Co-creative game design at TEDx Uppsala University
Patrick Prax from the Department of Game Design was one of the seven speakers selected for the latest TEDx Uppsala University. His talk 'The Players make the Game – Co-creative Game Design' discusses how games are co-created by players and the possibilities and potential risks involved.
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Game Educators Summit 2017
HEVGA teams up with Uppsala University and Gotland Game Conference to expand international goals.
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Summer school 2016 to focus on improving health through game design
A two week course will be arranged this summer in Visby within the framework of EIT Health, an EU health research consortium where Uppsala University plays a leading role. The course allows students from a variety of fields to develop game concepts with the specific aim of encouraging a healthy lifestyle.
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Transformative Play Initiative Roundtable -- Spring 2022
Join us for our next roundtable in the Transformative Play Initiative Event Series, this time with Lauri Lukka, John Stavropoulos, Elektra Diakolambrianou, Yeonsoo Julian Kim, and Katrin Geneuss!
When: Tuesday, May 10, 2022, 7:00 – 8:30 pm CEST (Central European Summer Time).
Where: Online on Zoom -
Event: Town Hall / Spring 2022
Announcing our second Town Hall Meeting in the Transformative Play Initiative Event Series! Town Halls feature lightning talks from experts in the field to spark conversation, as well as group discussions among community members interested in the use of analog role-playing games as vehicles for lasting personal and social change. We welcome you to share experiences, brainstorm ideas, and network at this game design think tank.
When: Tuesday, April 19, 2022, 7 – 9:00 PM CESTWhere: Online on Zoom
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Call for Papers: Transformative Play Initiative Seminar 2022
Announcing the Transformative Play Initiative Seminar at Uppsala University Campus Gotland in Sweden, October 20-21, 2022! Organized by the Games & Society Lab at the Department of Game Design with financial support from the Sustainable Heritage Research Forum (SuHRF), this hybrid online and in-person event will feature short academic presentations by researchers and practitioners in the fields of Role-playing Game Studies and adjacent activities. The theme for this seminar is Role-playing, Culture, and Heritage.
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“To Play or Not to Play: Edu-Larp in Curricular Settings" by Katrin Geneuss
Join us for our next lecture in the Transformative Play Initiative Event Series: “To Play or Not to Play: Edu-Larp in Curricular Settings" by Katrin Geneuss!
When: March 29, 2022, 7 – 8:30 PM Central European Time (CET)
Where: Online on Zoom -
Event: "Journey into Fear: Horror as a Vehicle for Healing and Transformative Play" by Yeonsoo Julian Kim
Join us for our next lecture in the Transformative Play Initiative Event Series: "Journey into Fear: Horror as a Vehicle for Healing and Transformative Play” by Yeonsoo Julian Kim!
When: March 15, 2022, 7 – 8:30 PM Central European Time (CET)
Where: Online on Zoom -
Event: "Beyond the Couch: Psychotherapy and Live Action Role-playing” by Elektra Diakolambrianou
Join us for our next lecture in the Transformative Play Initiative Event Series: "Beyond the Couch: Psychotherapy and Live Action Role-playing” by Elektra Diakolambrianou!
When: Feb 22, 2022, 7 – 8:30 PM Central European Time (CET)
Where: Online on Zoom -
Coming in 2022-2023: Freestanding Graduate Courses and Certificate in Transformative Game Design
The Transformative Play Initiative at Uppsala University’s Department of Game Design is offering four (4) freestanding graduate-level courses in Autumn 2022-Spring 2023!
These courses focus on the applied use of analog role-playing games as vehicles for personal and social change, whether facilitated in-person or in online environments. The courses are online, half-time, and freestanding. Anyone with a Bachelor’s degree can apply for the courses and take them from anywhere in the world.
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Event: "Innovating for Growth: Designing a Culture of Safety in Games" by John Stavropoulos
Join us for our next lecture in the Transformative Play Initiative Event Series: "Innovating for Growth: Designing a Culture of Safety in Games” by John Stavropoulos!When: Feb 8, 2022, 7 – 8:30 PM Central European Time (CET)
Where: Online on Zoom -
Event: "Designing Intensity: A Case Study of an Extraordinary 24h Scenario Session” by Lauri Lukka
Join us for the first lecture in our Spring 2021 season of the Transformative Play Initiative Event Series: "Designing Intensity: A Case Study of an Extraordinary 24h Scenario Session” by Lauri Lukka!
When: January 18, 7 – 8:30 PM, Central European Time (CET)
Where: Online on Zoom -
Alumni Days December 9-10
Meet former game design students and hear how their careers have developed after they left us. They have a lot of good advice for you and are always interested in hearing about your own projects and goals and expectations.