Digital Games Research Association
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Digital Games Research Association (DiGRA) is a nonprofit international
learned society A learned society ( ; also scholarly, intellectual, or academic society) is an organization that exists to promote an academic discipline, profession, or a group of related disciplines such as the arts and sciences. Membership may be open to al ...
whose work focuses on
game studies A game is a structured type of play usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator sports or video games) or art ...
and associated activities. DiGRA was formally established in 2003 in
Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...
. It is a leading academic organization in the field of digital games. Frans Mäyrä was the founding president from 2003 to 2006. 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 Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The institution was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools. In 1912, it became the Carnegie Institu ...
'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. To date, DiGRA has hosted, in collaboration with local organizers, the following conferences: * DiGRA 2003 – "Level Up", November 4–6, 2003, Utrecht, The Netherlands. * DiGRA 2005 – "Changing Views – Worlds in Play", June 16–20, 2005, Vancouver, Canada. * DiGRA 2007 – "Situated Play", September 24–28, 2007, Tokyo, Japan. * DiGRA 2009 – "Breaking New Ground: Innovation in Games, Play, Practice and Theory", September 1–4, 2009, West London, UK. * DiGRA Nordic 2010 – "Experiencing Games: Games, Play, and Players", August 16–17, Stockholm, Sweden. * DiGRA 2011 – "Think, Design, Play", September 14–17, 2011,
Hilversum Hilversum () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Holland, Netherlands. Located in the heart of the Gooi, it is ...
, The Netherlands. * DiGRA Nordic 2012 – "Local and Global: Games in Culture and Society", June 6–8, 2012, Tampere, Finland. * DiGRA 2013 – "DeFragging Game Studies", August 26–29, 2013, Atlanta, Georgia, USA. * DiGRA Chinese 2014, April 19–20, Ningbo, China. * DiGRA Nordic 2014, May 29–30, Visby (Gotland), Sweden. * DiGRA Australia 2014 – "What is Game Studies in Australia?", June 17, Melbourne, Australia. * DiGRA 2014 – " the of game ", August 3–6, 2014, Snowbird, Utah. * DiGRA 2015 – "Diversity of play: Games – Cultures – Identities", May 14–17, 2015, Lüneburg, Germany. * DiGRA Australia 2015 – "Inclusivity in Australian Games and Games Studies", June 29–30, Sydney, Australia. * DiGRA Chinese 2015 – "Program for Digital Games in China: Past, Present and Future", July 11–12, Beijing, China. * DiGRA Chinese 2016 – “Decoding the Academic-Industrial-Gameplay Complex: Digital Game Practice, Research and Study in China, Taiwan and Chinese-Speaking Regions”, July 1–2, Taichung City, Taiwan. * DiGRA and FDG 2016 – "First Joint International Conference", August 1–6, 2016, Dundee, UK * DiGRA 2017 – July 3–6, 2017, Melbourne, Australia * DiGRA 2018 – "The Game is the Message", July 25–28, 2018, Turin, Italy * DiGRA 2019 – "Game, Play and the Emerging Ludo Mix", August 6–10, 2019, Kyoto, Japan * DiGRA 2020 – "Play Everywhere", June 2–6, 2020, Tampere, Finland (cancelled due to pandemic) * DiGRA 2021 – cancelled event, planned planned for April 13–18, 2021, Guadalajara, Mexico (moved first to October 25–29, 2021 and then to 2022, and due to pandemic; ultimately, Mexico editio was transferred to Poland) * DiGRA 2022 – July 7-11, Kraków, Poland (previously planned to happen on April 25–29, 2022, Guadalajara, Mexico) * DiGRA Nordic 2023 – "Interdisciplinary Embraces", April 27–28, 2023, Uppsala, Sweden * DiGRA 2024 – “Playgrounds”, July 1–5, 2024, Guadalajara, Mexico * DiGRA 2025 – “Games at the Crossroads”, June 30 – July 4, 2025, Valletta, Malta (scheduled) The main DiGRA conference in 2016 was held jointly with Foundations of Digital Games (FDG), 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". 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 Gamergate or GamerGate (GG) was a loosely organized misogynistic online harassment campaign motivated by a right-wing backlash against feminism, diversity, and progressivism in video game culture. It was conducted using the hashtag "#Game ...
, DiGRA became the subject of a
conspiracy theory A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that asserts the existence of a conspiracy (generally by powerful sinister groups, often political in motivation), when other explanations are more probable.Additional sources: * ...
promoted by
Carl Benjamin Carl Charles Benjamin (born September 1979), also known by his online pseudonym Sargon of Akkad, is a British right-wing YouTuber and political commentator. A former member of the Eurosceptic UK Independence Party (UKIP), he was one of its uns ...
, a
YouTuber A YouTuber is a content creator and social media influencer who uploads or creates videos on the online video-sharing website YouTube, typically posting to their personal YouTube channel. The term was first used in the English language in 2006 ...
who claimed that it was being co-opted by feminists.
Mia Consalvo Mia Consalvo (born 29 May 1969) is an American professor of Communication Studies presently at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada and holds the post of Canada Research Chair in Game Studies and Design, Communication Studies. Consalvo has auth ...
, 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.


Executive Board

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


Board Presidents

* Since 2023: Hanna Wirman (Denmark) * 2016 to 2022: William Huber (UK) * 2012 to 2016:
Mia Consalvo Mia Consalvo (born 29 May 1969) is an American professor of Communication Studies presently at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada and holds the post of Canada Research Chair in Game Studies and Design, Communication Studies. Consalvo has auth ...
(Canada) * 2009 to 2012: Helen Kennedy (UK) * 2006 to 2009: Tanya Krzywinska (UK) * 2003 to 2006: Frans Mäyrä (Finland)


References


External links

* {{Authority control Video game culture Organizations established in 2003 International learned societies Video game organizations International organisations based in Finland