[liberationtech] CfP: "Surveillance, Games & Play" in Surveillance & Society (September 15)

[Yosem Companys]

*From: *David Murakami Wood <dmw at QUEENSU.CA>

 Call for Papers: Surveillance, Games and Play 
  
Theme Issue of *Surveillance & Society*

edited by: Jennifer R. Whitson and Bart Simon
submission deadline: *September 15th 2013* for publication March 2014. 
 
*Introduction *

The games we play on our computers, iPads, and video game consoles are 
watching us. They track our every online move and send data on who we are, 
how we play, and whom we play with back to game and virtual world 
publishers such as Sony and Microsoft. Two events in the summer of 2011 
exemplify the need to study surveillance in games:  a hacker attack against 
Sony's Playstation Network compromised over 77 million user accounts 
including credit card numbers, while iPhone users discovered hidden code in 
their devices that tracked their movements and secretly sent this data back 
to Apple. This form of consumer surveillance that targets players has 
eluded critical appraisal in both the games studies and surveillance 
literature. The games we play are not only watching us, but are leveraging 
surveillance to mold us into better students, workers, and consumers, as 
evidenced by the growth of gamification applications that combine playful 
design and feedback mechanisms from games with users' social profiles (e.g. 
Facebook, twitter, and LinkedIn) in non-game applications explicitly geared 
to drive behavioural change. Accordingly, traditional surveillance 
activities are transformed through their combination with playful frames of 
reference and game-like elements.

Yet, as argued by Anders Albrechtslund and Lynsey Dubbeld in Volume 3(2/3) 
of * Surveillance & Society*, surveillance is fun. It is an essential 
component of many games and virtual worlds. It enables family to find each 
other and play together online, such as when adult children who live 
thousands of miles away challenge their parents to a *Words with Friends *scrabble 
match over Facebook. Surveillance allows game companies to match strangers 
with similar skill sets and play-styles together in multiplayer games, thus 
increasing the flow of the game and players' mutual enjoyment. Surveillance 
facilitates coordinated teamwork and sophisticated game economies, 
exemplified by informational tools such as the damage mods and kill-point 
monitors created by players for massively-multiplayer online games. 
Surveillance also makes online games and virtual worlds safe for children 
and young adults, restricting both the use of inappropriate language and 
content, as well as prohibiting the entry of potentially dangerous adults. 
Moreover, surveillance is pleasurable. As game company Valve found when 
they forayed into biometrics (i.e. measuring galvanic skin response and 
arousal levels), players are more engaged when they can see how they affect 
their opponents' own physiological responses. We, as players, like to watch 
our opponents, anticipating what they will do next. We also use 
surveillance to improve our prowess and extend our moments of victory by 
using recording software and game replay functions

This theme issue is dedicated to balancing two very different sides of 
surveillance: surveillance as a technology of corporate governance and 
surveillance as a technology of pleasure and play.
 

*Possible research areas might include (but are not limited to):*

   - The role of surveillance in enabling play and games
   - The role of play and games in normalizing surveillance
   - Surveillance as gameplay or surveillance as a game mechanic
   - Playful surveillance applications
   - Playful representations of surveillance
   - Playful resistance to surveillance
   - Issues of identity, anonymity and pseudonymity in online games and 
   virtual worlds 
   - Online visibilities and the relationship between game publishers and 
   user populations
   - The implications of using data gathered in-game for non-game 
   applications
   - The use of surveillance and the representation of surveillance in 
   online games, virtual worlds, and/or gamified applications, including 
   topics such as: 
      - Games that educate users about privacy and surveillance
      - End-User Licensing Agreements, Terms of Service, and awareness of 
      surveillance
      - Applications of social networking services, locational data, and 
      GPS devices in games and play
      - Uses of data gathering services, screen-capture tools, and recorded 
      gameplay sessions
      - The surveillance of children and youth in virtual worlds and games
      - State and police use of in-game data for surveillance, tracking, 
      behavioral profiling etc.
      - Surveillance and the competitive, professional e-sports gaming 
      industry
      - Data mining, game metrics, and targeted advertising in the game 
      industry 
   
This is not intended to be an exclusive listing of possibilities for this 
edition. Other possibilities are welcomed and encouraged and can be 
discussed in advance with the guest-editors: Jennifer R.Whitson<j.whitson at concordia.ca> 
<j.whitson at concordia.ca>and Bart Simon <bart.simon at concordia.ca>.
 

*Submission Information: *

We welcome full academic papers, opinion pieces, review pieces, poetry, 
artistic, and audio-visual submissions. Submissions will undergo a 
peer-review and revision process prior to publication. Submissions should 
be original work, neither previously published nor under consideration for 
publication elsewhere. All references to previous work by contributors 
should be masked in the text (e.g., “Author, 2009”).

All papers must be submitted through the online submission system no later 
than *September 15th 2013*, for publication in *March 2014.*

Please submit the papers in a MSWord-compatible format. For further 
submission guidelines, please see:
http://library.queensu.ca/ojs/index.php/surveillance-and-society/about/submissions#authorGuidelines
 

For all inquiries regarding the issue, please contact Jennifer R. Whitson<j.whitson at concordia.ca>
   
 
David Murakami Wood | Editor-in-Chief
Surveillance & Society | www.surveillance-and-society.org
the international journal of surveillance studies

dmw at queensu.ca
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