PLAYING WITH THE FUTURE: DEVELOPMENT AND DIRECTIONS IN COMPUTER GAMING

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER TO HOST COMPUTER GAMES CONFERENCE

Why was the PlayStation so successful? What is the future of computer game censorship? Are all gamers really spotty, bedroom-dwelling teenage boys?

In order to answer these and other questions, the University of Manchester will host the international conference "PLAYING WITH THE FUTURE: Development and Directions in Computer Gaming" from Friday 5th April until Sunday 7th April 2002.

Dragging delegates away from late-night fragging and hanging around gaming newsgroups, the conference will bring academics and gaming professionals together to develop a better understanding of computer games, the computer gaming industry and gamers.

Delegates will be presenting research on a wide range of gaming related areas: from the educational potential of computer gaming to the computer games and violence debate; from investigations of games markets to developing cheat-proofing protocols; from teenagers in Taiwan to senior citizen gamers in the USA.

The event has already attracted submissions from around the world including Brunei, Denmark, France, Germany, Iran, Italy, Switzerland, Taiwan, UK, United Arab Emirates and USA. It has drawn the interest not just of academics but also industry and governmental organisations such as ELSPA (European Leisure Software Publishers Association), BECTa (British Education Communication and Technology Agency), and IGDA (International Game Developers Association). Gamers are represented at the event by key figures from the Cyberathletes' Professional League and the organiser of some of the UK's biggest gaming events.

On the conference, organiser Dr. Jason Rutter from the ERSC Centre for Research on Innovation and Competition (CRIC) said: "We feel that the event is well timed, happening at this rapidly moving point in the computer and video gaming industry as new gaming consoles, gaming enabled mobile phones and gaming on digital TV start to hit the consumer market and when, in the UK at least video gaming is worth more than cinema, video and record sales."

The three day conference is being funded by CRIC at The University of Manchester & UMIST and supported by the Department of Psychology at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLAN). The Filmworks Manchester, who have recently hosted a series of gaming events on their big-screen facilities, are hosting the conference reception in the heart of Manchester's new Printworks leisure development.

Dr Jo Bryce of ULCAN said: "One of the things we are particularly concerned with is demonstrating the potential for collaboration between academia and the industry. As such, we feel that this potential is well reflected by the breadth of papers and keynote speakers at the conference."

The conference will bring together for the first time researchers from sociology, psychology, economics, computation, management, cultural studies and other disciplines, along with members from various sectors of the gaming industry such as developers, publishers and retail representatives.

Keynote speakers who are attending from Europe and USA are:

Mike Rawlinson: General Manager, ELSPA
Jason Della Rocca: Program Director, IGDA
Edward Watson: Csports.net
Ralf Reichert: Managing Director, CPL Europe
Craig Fletcher: Managing Director, Multiplay UK

Details of the conference can be found here.

For press registration for the event and arranging interviews with speakers or organisers please contact Sharon Hammond at the address below.

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