Five graduate students in the UT Dallas Arts and Technology (ATEC) program will present their work at this week’s Global Conference on Videogame Cultures (VGC) at Oxford University in England.
The conference, to be held at Mansfield College July 8-10, aims to explore the issues and implications created by the mass use of computers and videogames for entertainment.
Participants will focus on the impact of innovative games for human communication and culture.
The students and the papers they will present are:
- Jumanne Donahue, “The Cultural Connection: Capturing and Applying Cultural Values in Games with a Purpose.”
- Julienne Greer, “Digital Companions: Analyzing the Emotive Connection Between Players and Non-Player Character Companions in Video Game Space.”
- Lily Ounekeo, “Driving Forces of Narrative in Video Games.”
- Sherri Segovia, “Brave New Media Games: Digital Play with Real World Outcomes.”
- Jacob Naasz, “The Rapid State of Mind: Rapid Prototyping and What It Has to Teach Us.”
Dr. Monica Evans will present a paper reviewing UT Dallas’ Values Game Initiative.
Arts and Technology faculty members will also participate in the conference.
Dr. Monica Evans will present “Exploring Issues in Bioethics Through Digital Game Development,” a paper that deals primarily with UT Dallas’ Values Game Initiative. She will also lead a workshop session on “Gaming Literacy.”
ATEC lecturer Tim Christopher will present a paper titled, “Is it a Game Yet? Using Game Theory Concepts to Create Educational Games.” He will also lead a workshop session on “Analog and Digital Prototyping.”
“VGC is one of the premiere game studies conferences in Europe, and submissions this year were quite competitive,” Evans said.