Games & Psychology: Community Building in Games & Virtual Worlds

Date: March 19, 2025
Time: 09:45 AM – 07:30 PM 
Location: Cologne Game Lab, Schanzenstr. 28, 51063 Köln

Team: Katja Aller, Su-Jin Song – Cologne Game Lab at the Cologne Game Lab, University of Applied Sciences (TH Köln), René Lang – a.r.t.e.s. Graduate School for the Humanities at the University of Cologne 

The Game Jam will take place on March 19, 2025 following the Young Academics Workshop (YAW, March 18) at the Cologne Game Lab (CGL) of TH Köln. Both events deal with the topic “Games & Psychology: Community Building in Games & Virtual Worlds” and focus on the interactions between digital games and game development, virtual communities and psychological and sociological perspectives.

The main goals of the Game Jam are to promote creativity and diversity and to sharpen the media skills of the participants. We promote the practice-oriented development of innovative game concepts that deal with social dynamics and psychological principles in game communities. The event addresses creatives, developers (especially from the fields of game design, game art, and programming), and academics from various disciplines, who will collaborate in teams to create game ideas, concepts, and playable prototypes centered around the event’s main theme. Throughout the Game Jam, participants will have access to mentors from fields of game development and research, who will be available on-site to offer guidance and advice.

As a public event, the Game Jam also offers a space for collaboration between science, the creative industries and civil society, in which innovative projects and approaches can emerge to enrich game development and social discourse (e.g. on topics such as toxic behavior, extremism, cyberbullying and harassment in digital spaces) in equal measure. 

You need to register to take part in the Game Jam. The number of spots is limited and we follow the principle of first come, first served. 

Information on registration can be found here: 

The Game Jam complements the Young Academics Workshop by combining scientific and artistic perspectives in practical processes and offering participants additional networking opportunities. The Game Jam is thematically based on the Young Academics Workshop 2025, which is being held in cooperation between the Cologne Game Lab at the University of Applied Sciences (TH Köln) and the a.r.t.e.s. Graduate School for the Humanities at the University of Cologne and with support of the Federal Agency for Civic Education (Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung/bpb). 

We recommend that all participants also take part in the public part of the Young Academics Workshop on March 18 in order to gain a comprehensive insight and input into the topic. 

Please visit here for information on the Young Academics Workshop.

Schedule

TIME	PROGRAM	SPEAKER
09:45-10:15 AM	Arrival & Registration
10:15-10:30 AM	Start: Welcome & Introduction	YAW Team
10:30-11:00 AM	Keynote I	Yngve Eßing
11:00-11:30 AM	Keynote II	Mathew Varkki
11:30-12:30 PM	Team Building, Brainstorming
12:30-01:15 PM	Lunch Break
01:15-03:00 PM	Group Work
03:00-04:00 PM	Intermediate Presentation
04:00-06:00 PM	Group Work
06:00-07:30 PM	Final Presentation & Feedback

Keynotes

10.30 – 11.00 | Keynote I
Yngve Eßing, Gentle Troll Entertainment, Producer (Serious Game Lead) & Programmer

11.00 – 11.30 | Keynote II
Mathew Varkki, Fishlabs, Senior Technical Artist