Games, Politics & Psychology: Community Building in Games & Virtual Worlds
The 2025 edition of the Young Academics Workshop (Link) extends its focus beyond traditional gaming communities, delving into communities of care, activism, queer groups, and political/ideological communities. Titled Games, Politics & Psychology: Community Building in Games & Virtual Worlds it explores both the positive and negative aspects of these communities in the realm of games and new media, and their social consequences, such as in politics and activism.
The Young Academic Workshop was first initiated in 2017 and has been an integral part of the Clash of Realities conference so far. It is aimed at young researchers at all levels – from Bachelor to Postdoc – and offers its participants a space to present, discuss, and elaborate their projects. Previously significant subjects that have been addressed at the workshop include: Female Figures: Present and Future of Storytelling, Play and Characters (Link), Atmospheric Propositions: Creating And Thinking the Aesthetics of Playable Atmospheres (Link) or Games, Play, Mental Health (Link).
Organizing Chairs: Katja Aller (Cologne Game Lab / University of Cologne), René Lang (University of Cologne), Su-Jin Song (Cologne Game Lab / TH Köln)
Advisory Board: Federico Alvarez Igarzábal (CGL), Vanessa Ossa (CGL), Felix Zimmermann (bpb Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung)
Organized by the Cologne Game Lab of the TH Köln – University of Applied Sciences (Germany) and the a.r.t.e.s. Graduate School for the Humanities of the University of Cologne (Germany)