Two recent studies of Professor Frans Mäyrä, both published in the open access journal GAME, deal with a key research theme of CoE-GameCult – the cultural agency in games. The first article is titled “The Player as a Hybrid – Agency in Digital Game Cultures” and it outlines how the power relations informing the agency of players have evolved into increasingly complex and hybrid directions. The second article is titled “Game Culture Studies and the Politics of Scholarship: The Opposites and the Dialectic”. This study deals with the socio-cultural character and agency of game studies more generally, in an intellectual and disciplinary historical context, providing also a historical framing for the agenda behind the Centre of Excellence. Both articles have in common that they deal and emphasise the role of cultural and historical understanding, focusing on dialogue and interplay between elements that are often perceived as discrete or even oppositional.
Category Archive: Blog
In this impact story post, we describe our research and other activities aiming to raise public awareness and institutional recognition of creative computing practices related to digital game cultures and the demoscene in particular.
In this blog post, we describe our research and other activities aiming to create and explore play in public spaces for increased wellbeing, social interaction, and economic growth.
In this post, we describe our research and other activities aiming to create better, research-based understanding and promotion of constructive approaches to gaming and (e)sports, and to their relationship to physical, mental, and social well-being.
CoE-GameCult team leader, associate professor Olli Sotamaa shares some ideas about academic leadership, different roles of professor, research group management, solidarity, and peer support.
In this post, we describe our research and other activities aiming to create opportunities for inclusive game creation, and the results and impact we have achieved so far in this area.
In this post, Jan Švelch recaps his 27 months as postdoctoral researcher at the Centre of Excellence in Game Culture Studies.
In their farewell post, our Alumni Sabine Harrer, explores the notion of excellence in game culture studies and shares their thoughts on what they think can still be done to dismantle some of the pressing structural problems present in game cultures and game research.
In this post, CoE researchers Maria Ruotsalainen and Tanja Välisalo tell the story of the Overwatch research project, and what they have learned from it so far.
Mikko Meriläinen discusses the challenges of parenting and digital games during the COVID-19 pandemic.