Video games are today depicted as an evident leisure activity. Yet, the legitimization of this hobby has undertaken a chaotic track. Playing video games has, in fact, transformed from a marginal and isolated activity to a global and mainstream pastime. A few countries have sparked national surveys about video gaming and its role in their societies. For instance, the Entertainment Software Association (and ESAC for Canada) annually provides reports about North American players. Knowledge about Europe is further brought by the Interactive Software Federation of Europe. On the other side of the world–in Australia and New Zealand—the Interactive Games and Entertainment Association orders national surveys every two years.
What about other regions of the world? What about China, India, South America, Africa, and the Middle East? What does playing video games in Russia and the Caucasian regions look like? And what about the evolutions of video gaming in each country overtime? What happened since the first surveys?
While the scholarship on video gaming concentrates on specific issues (violence, addiction, well-being, gamification, etc.) or particular titles (World of Warcraft, GTA, etc.), this panel aims to gather sociologists in order to identify the similarities and differences in this leisure around the globe.
Geographically-centered associations of video game researchers are mushrooming to form bands of experts. Their regional conferences miss the opportunity to unite on a worldwide scale. By getting sociologists from every corner of the world together, the ISA Forum 2016 proffers a meeting ground where to discuss and debate global video gaming. Hence, this panel in Sociology of Leisure accommodates a table around which all experts can break bread and share their researches.
Papers will be presented at the 3rd International Sociological Association Forum of Sociology, Vienna (Austria), July 10-17, 2016. Please submit abstracts of 300 words, in English or in French, at http://www.isa-sociology.org/forum-2016/ before September 30, 2015.
Contact: Pascaline Lorentz, PhD in Sociology, Masaryk University, the Czech Republic: pascaline.lorentz@gmail.com