Chinese DiGRA (中华电子游戏研究协会) is a network of academic and non-academic game researchers committed to developing Chinese game research and connecting it with the wider community. The organisation has five aims:
- To establish games as a legitimate form of scholarly research in the Chinese context
- To develop a network of game scholars and researchers working in the Chinese-speaking world and/or on aspects of Chinese games and gaming cultures
- To forge links between academic and professional researchers on games
- To support teaching and PhD development in the region
- To disseminate and promote Chinese game scholarship around the world
These aims will mainly be achieved through an annual conference as well as smaller seminars, invited talks, and workshops throughout the year.
Chinese DiGRA is open to researchers, practitioners and students, and we actively encourage participation from people working across the Chinese-speaking world, broadly defined. This includes, but is not limited to, mainland China (PRC), Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan. We also welcome people working outside of these regions who have an interest in aspects of Chinese gaming cultures, the Chinese game industry, and Chinese game design. If you’re interested in ‘games’ and ‘China’ then Chinese DiGRA is for you!
Contact:
Website: www.chinesedigra.org
Weibo: www.weibo.com/u/5239443517
Facebook: www.facebook.com/chinesedigra
Become a member: Through DiGRA international procedure at www.digra.org/the-association/membership/
Join the mailing list: mail.digra.org/mailman/listinfo/chinesedigra
Past events:
The inaugural event of Chinese DiGRA took place at the University of Nottingham Ningbo China on the weekend of the 19th of April 2014. This event – the ‘(Chinese) Game Studies Conference’ – attracted scholars with an interest in developing game research on Chinese games and gaming cultures from all over the Chinese-speaking world as well as from Europe and North America. The conference began with a PhD consortium led by Espen Aarseth, involving candidates working in Europe, Hong Kong and mainland China. The two day conference took in papers running the gamut of Chinese game studies, including work on the history of digital games in China, Chinese gaming cultures, and discourses around Chinese games.
The conference’s two keynotes set the tone for the development of Chinese game studies. Espen Aarseth (ITU Copenhagen) reflected on the establishment and development of game studies as an academic field, and Gino Yu (Hong Kong Polytechnic University) gave a fascinating review of the development of digital games in China.
The event marked the launch of Chinese DiGRA, an effort on the one hand to develop DiGRA as a truly international organisation and on the other to give game scholars working in and on China a research network, to support teaching and PhD development in the region, and to disseminate and promote Chinese game scholarship around the world.