UQ to host Brisbane’s first computer game studies conference

Concept and controversy will be the two main themes discussed at The University of Queensland during Brisbane’s first academic conference dedicated to computer game studies.

UQ and QUT will present From Space War to the Ivory Tower: Concept and Controversy in Computer Game Studies on Monday, May 26 between 4 and 7pm in the Conference Room at UQ’s Social Sciences and Humanities Library.

Computer game researcher Sue Morris from UQ’s School of English, Media Studies and Art History will speak about the public fears surrounding new media technologies in the controversial climate of the post-Columbine School shootings.

“The conference will bring together internationally recognised computer game researchers for a ground-breaking event to explore current issues in game research,” Ms Morris said.

“Game studies is an emerging academic field that has been growing rapidly over the past few years with Brisbane becoming a hotbed of game development and research.

“Brisbane is also a major centre of computer game development with nearly half of Australia’s game development companies located in south-east Queensland.”

Other speakers will cover topics including how theories and methods of analysis can be applied to games, how gamer created communities and corporate ownership of game media can co-exist and how productive relationships can be established between game researchers and the game development industry.

Ms Morris will discuss her experiences of researching online first-person-shooter games.

“Online computer gaming has received more than its share of attention since the Columbine School shootings in Colorado in 1999 for which the games Doom and Quake were widely blamed,” she said.

“The post-Columbine media panic regarding first-person-shooter games such as Quake and Half-Life Counter-Strike has created an interesting and challenging environment for researchers.”

Ms Morris said over the past decade computer games had become a rapidly growing phenomenon in both financial and cultural terms.

“Currently worth more than $46 billion a year the worldwide game industry grew by 10 percent in 2002 alone. Computer games are now becoming major rivals to other forms of entertainment,” she said.

Media: For more information, contact Sue Morris (telephone 0418 763 833, email: sue.morris@.uq.edu.au) or Chris Saxby at UQ Communications (telephone 07 3365 2479, email: c.saxby@uq.edu.au).