The West Virginia University Center for Literary Computing will host an international symposium on Computer Gaming Across Cultures on May 14 in 130 Colson Hall from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The one-day symposium features presentations by scholars from Bangor University (Wales), Jawaharlal Nehru University (India), and WVU who will be providing perspectives on computer games, video games and any other digital games.

Sandy Baldwin, director of the center, said the goal is to examine games from the humanities perspective.

“There’s at least two big ways we can be studying [games]. One would be looking at them as significant, artistic works in the same way we look at literature. The other way is whether we can use them to teach or to learn, to help instruct students,” Baldwin said.

Panel topics at the symposium include “Films, Fans, Ethics”; “Crossdisciplinarity”; “Gaming as Culture/Culture as Gaming”; and “Conversations between Playing and Writing.”

“This is a way to see how games can be in a dialogue with serious issues. These are papers given by people who play games and they’re trying to say ‘what do games say to us? What do they say about our world and our culture? What do they say about what we as individuals like?’” Baldwin said.

The symposium also features a range of talks from African games to museums in World of Warcraft, to music and video games. It is part of a collaborative effort between the three universities to develop Ph.D. classes in the humanities.

The event is free and open to the public.

For more information, contact Sandy Baldwin, at 304-293-9703 or Charles.baldwin@mail.wvu.edu.

-WVU-

ma/05/09/14

CONTACT: Devon Copeland, Director of Marketing and Communication, Eberly College of Arts and Sciences
304-293-6867, Devon.Copeland@mail.wvu.edu

Follow @WVUToday on Twitter.