Kick-off meeting at Utrecht’s 'Week of the Game’
The STRATEGIES project formally begins on Wednesday 17th April with our two-day kick-off event at Utrecht University. The event includes a public presentation of the project, the book launch of Ecogames: Playful Perspectives on the Climate Crisis, the academic volume that prompted the creation of our consortium, and a planning meeting for all project partners. For full details of the event, which is taking place during the Week of the Game, see below.
Tickets for the in-person public presentation and book launch (Wednesday) have all been allocated, however, you can join online via the Teams live event via the button below…
Kick-off Event, Day 1, 17/04/2024
09.00-18.00, D21, 0.05 (Sweelinckzaal; Online)
STRATEGIES (Sustainable Transition for Europe’s Game Industries) is a Horizon Europe-funded project (2024-2028) that aims to ‘green’ the gaming industries and support them in changing players’ hearts and minds as well as contributing to sustainable transformations across other creative industries. On Wednesday morning, we will launch our anthology on Ecogames, which lays the foundation for the STRATEGIES consortium and core ideas. In the afternoon, STRATEGIES itself will be launched.
This first day of our kick-off meeting will be in a hybrid format, online and offline.
09:00-09:30 Coffee and Registration
09.30-12.00 Book launch: Ecogames: Playful Perspectives on the Climate Crisis (AUP 2024)
With the climate crisis and its short-term repercussions becoming more and more ‘tangible,’ videogames are increasingly contributing to the production, circulation, and questioning of environmental assumptions and imaginations. Whether they provide new spaces to practice alternative ways of living or reproduce ecomodernist fantasies of ‘fighting’ the climate crisis, both digital and analogue games as well as the cultures surrounding them are increasingly tuned in to pressing environmental concerns.
After a general introduction, we will present the book’s four thematic sections
Today’s Challenges: Games for Change
Future Worlds: New Imaginaries
The Nonhuman Turn
Critical Metagaming Practices.
Through numerous examples from games and gaming culture, we will explore different aspects of ecocritical engagement in and through games and play. The book is available via open access at the AUP website.
12.00-13.00 Lunch
13:00-18:00 Public launch of STRATEGIES
In this public-facing launch event, we will present the aims, concepts and methods of the STRATEGIES project, and introduce our key researchers and industry partners, as well as our Horizon Europe partner projects Pacesetters (artistic and creative research) and CRAFT IT 4SD (fashion). Members of the STRATEGIES consortium will explain the work they have already been doing to support game industries, game development education programmes, and game player communities - and reveal how they will take this forward through the STRATEGIES research programme.
Speakers include
Sonia Fizek (TH Köln) and Joost Vervoort (Utrecht University), discussing the Greening Games and Anticiplay projects.
Lukáš Kolek (Charles Games) and Guy Gadney (Charisma.AI), introducing their original games Beecarbonize and the AI-driven The Kraken Wakes.
Odile Limpach (Spielfabrique) and Christel van Grinsven (Dutch Game Garden), who will be supporting STRATEGIES through their accelerator and incubator programmes.
Elina Tyynelä (Neogames) who will be working with environmental scientists from Manchester Metropolitan University to develop her carbon accounting tool for game developers.
Jiri Kupiainen and Maria Wagner will introduce their Sustainable Games Alliance initiative.
Details of the full program will be updated in the coming days.
Kick-Off Event, Day 2 - for project members only, 18/04/2024
09:00-09:30 Coffee and Registration
09.30-18.00, Drift 25 002
The second day is dedicated to the internal kick-off of the Horizon Europe funded project Sustainable Transition for Europe’s Game Industries (STRATEGIES). It will allow for consortium members to coordinate their plans to assist Europe’s game development industries in making vital changes to their business, production, design and communication practices as well as their role within a sustainable societal transformation. The project will be coordinated by Utrecht University (UU), with scientific leadership from Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU).
The focus of STRATEGIES will be two-fold. The first aspect involves reducing the ecological impact and harm of game development, distribution, and consumption, for example by reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The second aspect centers on supporting game developers in using ecogames to engage diverse audiences with the climate crisis and sustainable futures. The project will draw on expertise from researchers across six universities and strong partnerships with NGOs and game companies.
For more information, see https://www.strategieshorizon.eu or contact project coordinator Joost Raessens: j.raessens@uu.nl.
