Medi at terra 06 CFP Gaming Realities

[Fournos]

*MEDI at TERRA 06
INTERNATIONAL ART AND TECHNOLOGY FESTIVAL
27 September – 1 October 2006
www.mediaterra.org
*
*GAMING REALITIES*

Game is part of our lives; it is actually our first contact, after our 
birth, with the world outside. It is the first step of “education” for a 
new member of a group. The game is not a human feature only. A cat 
before eating its prey, a half dead animal, plays with it or offers it 
to her children to play in order to train them in hunting.

The key points of discussion for computer games, which multiply more and 
more in our days, are not new; they are only augmented and presented in 
a new digital form which acts as a response to the digital society 
producing them.
As, ultimately, the main hero of these games stays always the player, 
who is, at the same time, the persecutor and the victim, the hero and 
the spectator, the master of the game but also its prisoner.

No other medium could better describe the phase that this new century is 
going through, other than video and computer games.

Read below and think of the incidents of the last five years:
Innumerous short links define the rules of the games that change as a 
rolling mass. Unexpected events change the flow of defined incidents. 
Anyone can become a hero; he/she does not need to be intelligent, he/she 
just needs to know the operation or, simply, just to hold the joystick. 
The rest is only a matter of time.

Game then becomes a serious issue. Who faces better the current 
conditions, a trained kid that knows how to fly with a Boeing 707, to 
dive with a bathyscaph or to change the outcome of the battle of 
Marathon, or the terrified parent who, although does not let the child 
play his/her favorite games, asks for his/her help to set up his mobile?

Today's games encompass all newly acquired knowledge and technical 
aptitude: from the developed interactive interfaces and 3D animations of 
mobile gaming to the use of smart agents and artificial intelligence in 
games. Anyway, modern mathematics was developed by studying games [Game 
Theory]. By examining games, we face the reality, we imagine the future, 
we resist.

Medi at terra 06 is seriously concerned with games and pays attention to 
those who play with reality and those who examine games seriously. We 
wish to make this new art known to the level that it should, and to 
promote the creators and protagonists in the area. We present and 
evaluate the new artistic trends and aesthetics.

Perhaps one of the most difficult times in our lives is when a game 
stops being the most serious occupation and the education of the 
language takes its place; possibly the most difficult task as from the 
minute we learn well its codes, we realise that some people "play" with us.

Resist to reality when they play with you
Resist to the game that resembles reality

Create your own game and send it to us to present it.
Get in touch with other people with the same concerns.
Present your point of view.
Explore your creativity and your imagination.
Play with reality with no borders.
Send your ideas to the festival.

For the Fournos team
Manthos Santorineos
Artistic Director of Medi at terra Festival


*

CALL FOR PAPERS AND PRESENTATIONS*

“Gaming Realities: the Challenge of Digital Culture”
Conference

The Conference “Gaming Realities: the Challenge of Digital Culture” 
focuses on four Subject Areas covering a wide range of crucial issues 
and questions concerning Games and their position in Digital Culture, 
studied from the Observers’ as well as from the Players’ point of view: 
in Subject Area Α the Socio-Political, Psychological, Cognitive and 
Philosophical aspects of Game are analysed; in Subject Area B the 
influences of Game in Art and the Game as 21st century’s New Art are 
studied; in Subject Area C Technologies and Techniques that develop or 
are developed by the Game are presented; and finally Subject Area D 
concerns the emergence and growth of the New Economy of Games defining 
its impact in Art and Society of the 21st century;

The subject areas that constitute the four basic axes of the Conference 
are described by indicative topics around which the speakers are invited 
to communicate.

A. The borders between Games and Reality
(When Games influence Reality)

a. The World of Game
 > Real Games – Virtual Life
 > Net-Games and Virtual Communities: a utopian space
 > Social and Anti-Social games
 > MUDs and Net-Individualism
 > Game and Communication Utopia
 > Collective and Individual representation of the World through the Game

b. The Identity of the Player – The Identity of the Digital World Citizen
 > The Embodiment and Dis-Embodiment of the Player and the Game
 > Virtual Bodies, Games and Gender
 > What avatars do we choose and what avatars do we create (or they 
create for us)
 > Games and Identity
 > The Essence of Play and the Psychology of the Player

c. Serious Games
 > Game Politics and politic propaganda in Games
 > Simulation and Game environments for learning and training
 > Scientific and Military Games
 > Freedom, Choice and Censorship in Games
 > Games and Cognitive Sciences

B. Game in Art and Art of Game
(Game as 21st century’s New Art)

a. Game as a new field for artistic expression
 > Game based artworks
 > Art criticizing Games
 > The Integration of Game in Art
 > The Aesthetics of the New Media and “art games”
 > "Commercial" Game as Art


b. Interactive Narratives and Multi-scenarios: the New Storytelling
 > Audiovisual and Narrative aspects of Games
 > Linear and non-linear narratives in art games, and in commercial Games
 > Multi-scenario strategies
 > From image to text and from text to image
 > Responsive Play Environments

c. Game Aesthetics: the emergence of a New Art
 > Game as a New Form of Art and the new Aesthetics of Digital Games
 > Artistic expression through Game
 > Aesthetics of New Interactive Media
 > Aesthetics of Multi-centric Narratives


C. Game Technologies
(Game Evolution through Technology and Technology Evolution through Game)

a. History and Evolution of Game Technologies
 > Game and “traditional” audiovisual media
 > From 2D to 3D Game
 > Mobile gaming: mobile phones and the evolution of Games
 > Artificial Intelligence Techniques and Intelligent Games
 > Integration of New Technologies in Game
 > New Technologies development for Game

b. "Building" a Game: Design and Game Development
 > From conception to production
 > Creating a Game scenario: narrative techniques for multimedia/hypermedia
 > Aesthetics and Techniques for the creation of Virtual Worlds
 > 3D Game in the Web
 > Architecture and Game Design
 > “Serious” games techniques
 > Sound and Graphics in Game
 > Designing the Interface: the contact with the Player
 > Games dramaturgy
 > Designing virtual actors

c. Game-Engines VS PC
 > Evolution of Game-Engines
 > Game-Engines and PC evolution
 > The Future of Game-Engines

d. Innovative and Experimental Game Techniques, Technologies and Interfaces
 > Innovative interactive techniques for Games
 > Innovative and Experimental Game Interfaces
 > Special programs, software and programming for Games
 > New audiovisual techniques and original applications in Games
 > Original Game Design
 > Original use of the New Media in Games


D. The Real Virtual Economy of Games

a. The emergence of a New Economy
 > Net-Economy and Games
 > The relation of the Games with the Cinema Industry
 > Virtual and Real Game Products

b. The Geography of the Game Economy
 > Games and New Markets
 > Games in the East and the West
 > The New Internet Geography and the Game Markets

c. The Future of the Game Economy
 > Virtual Commerce and its Future
 > The Future of the Game as a Product
 > Legislation, Rights and Copyrights in Web-Games



Important Dates
Participation deadline (abstract submission): 10 March 2006
Notification of acceptance by the Scientific Committee: 8 May 2006
Deadline for full paper submission (3500-5000 words): 12 June 2006

PLEASE VISIT www.mediaterra.org FOR THE ONLINE SUBMISSION OF YOUR ABSTRACT

For any questions or more information please contact Nefeli Dimitriadi 
via email nefeli at fournos-culture.gr or call us at +30 210 6420451



*CALL FOR GAMES*

Medi at terra 06 aims with this call for game projects to offer the 
opportunity to artists, independent creators, programmers and theorists 
from the field to show their work and at the same time to create a forum 
of communication, discussion and collaboration.

The projects to be submitted may be
- stand alone offline applications
- on line applications, applets (eg Flash, Shockwave, Java)
- mods & patches/ Modifications and enhancements of well known games 
(Quake, Unreal, Half-Life, Torque)
- machinima / films made with the use of computer games
- mobile phone games

The games submitted shall be uploaded and hosted in a web address or 
sent in a CD/ DVD from which they can run on a PC or Mac.
Also accepted can be the playable demos of games.

Criteria for the selection of the games will be
- their innovation in terms of development and application
- the originality of their content
- the new approaches introduced
- their aesthetic/ artistic features
- their theoretical approach

A special interest will be shown to games with sociopolitical content as 
well as to games that constitute tools for education and other 
scientific fields.
All games submitted must have an English version available.

The games selected will be hosted in the exhibition of Medi at terra 
festival 06.



Important Dates
Deadline: 28 April 2006
Notification of the results: 9 June 2006

PLEASE VISIT www.mediaterra.org FOR THE ONLINE SUBMISSION OF YOUR PROJECT

For any questions or more information please contact Daphne Dragona via 
email daphne at fournos-culture.gr or call us at +30 210 6420451 .


*Medi at terra Organizing Committee*

Dodo Santorineos, Director of Fournos Center and Medi at terra Festival
Manthos Santorineos, Artistic Director of Fournos Center and Medi at terra 
Festival, Assistant Professor in the Athens School of Fine Arts
Daphne Dragona, Coordinator for Fournos Center and Medi at terra Festival
Nefeli Dimitriadi, Researcher and New Media Artist
Maria Roussou, Researcher, makebelieve experience design and consulting
Nikos Bubaris, Lecturer, Dpt. οf Cultural Technology and Communication, 
University of the Aegean
Dimitris Charitos, Lecturer, Dpt of Communication and Media Studies 
National and Kapodistrian university of Athens
Dimitris Delikolas, New Media Artist, Filmmaker
Panagiotis Delinikolas, New Media Musician, MMORPG-OD
Fotis Hadginikos, Ph.D Computer Science, Programmer
Yiannis Konstantinou, New Media Artist
Maria Pesli, New Media Artist
Alexandros Spiropoulos, Researcher, New Media artist, Member of the 
Personal Cinema collective
Panagiotis Stathopoulos, Ph.D Computer Engineer
Konstantinos Tiligadis, New Media Artist
Stavroula Zoi, Ph.D Informatics, Research & Teaching Associate at the 
Athens School of Fine Arts
*
Medi at terra Programme Committee (confirmed)*

Prof Espen Aarseth, Associate Professor and Principal Researcher at the 
Center for Computer Games Research at the IT-University of Copenhagen, 
Co-founder and Editor-in-Chief of Gamestudies.org
Dr Dimitris Charitos, Lecturer, Dpt of Communication and Media Studies 
National and Kapodistrian university of Athens
Prof Adrian David Cheok, Director of the Mixed Reality Lab, Nanyang 
Technological University in Singapore, Associate Professor in the 
Schools of Computer Engineering and Art, Design, and Media
Gonzalo Frasca, Academic and Professional Game Designer, Editor of 
www.ludology.org, and co-editor of www.gamestudies.org and 
www.watercoolergames.org, PhD programme in the Computer Game Research at 
the IT University of Copenhagen
Dr Kenji Ito, Research Associate, Research Center for Advanced Science 
and Technology, University of Tokyo, Japan
Prof John Kontos, Professor of Artificial Intelligence at the Department 
of Methodology, History and Theory of Science, University of Athens
Kristian Lukic, Writer, artist, cultural and game researcher, Founder of 
Eastwood - Real Time Strategy Group
Dr Frans Mäyrä, DIGRA president, Research Director, Hypermedia 
Laboratory, University of Tampere
Julian Oliver, Free-software developer, composer and media-theorist. 
Founder of www.selectparks.net
Prof Narcis Pares, Assistant professor of the Technology Department of 
the Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Researcher in the group for 
Experimentation on Interactive Communication of the Audio-visual 
Institute at the UPF
Maria Roussou, Researcher, Co-Founder of makebelieve experience design and
consulting.
Manthos Santorineos, Artistic Director of Fournos Center and Medi at terra 
Festival, Assistant Professor in the Athens School of Fine Arts
Dr Christa Sommerer, New media artist, Professor for Interface Culture, 
Institute for Media, University of Art and Design Linz, International 
Co-editor of the Leonardo Journal
David Surman, Senior Lecturer in Computer Games Design at Newport School 
of Art, Media and Design, Co-editor of Animation: An Interdisciplinary 
Jourmal, Editorial Board Member of Games and Culture
Eric Zimmerman, Game Designer, CEO and Co-Founder of gameLab


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