Every semester Dr. Rick Frei’s Research Methods class conducts a large-scale citywide survey on a topic relevant to Philadelphia and then organizes a conference to present the results and invite other speakers to educate the community on our topic. In the past, we have done surveys on the soda tax, snitching, sexting, and cyberbullying.
This semester the students are looking at the relationship between gaming and academic performance and will present the results of their research at the The Gaming & Society Conference on Wednesday November 20th at CCP.
Here’s the Lineup of Speakers for the Day:
Tony Rowe, Drexel University, Entrepreneurial Game Studio
9:10-10:10 Video Game Controversies: A Look Back at History
It seems like the video game industry is surrounded by controversy now. But, have things always been this way? We’ll look back at some of the industry’s biggest early controversies and compare them to those of other games and media.
Dr. Frank J. Lee, Director, Drexel University’s Entrepreneurial Game Studio
10:20-11:20 City at Play: The Skyscraper Games Trilogy
After engaging the city in a games of Pong & Tetris played on the Cira Center, a 29-story skyscraper, I presented new games designed by Philadelphia students as a STEAM outreach to get girls and other underrepresented students interested in programming. In my talk, I will discuss how large scale, city wide initiatives and other projects form the basis of my vision for a new type of game and interaction that mixes real world with digital to create city-scale mixed-reality games. I will also briefly talk about the Entrepreneurial Game Studio (EGS), a unique university-based startup incubator at Drexel helping and mentoring student to start their own independent game studios.
Dr. Rick Frei’s Descriptive Research Class Project, Psychology Department, Community College of Philadelphia
11:30-12:30 Video Games & Academic Performance
Research on the relationship between gaming and academic performance is mixed, with some studies finding a strong negative correlation between gaming and grade, while others have found little to no relationships. Others theorize that gaming may actually be associated with improved academic performance by enhancing attention span. The students of PSY 110 will present a summary of the major research and the results from a large scale survey on gaming and academic performance.
Jumaani Haskins, Cultural Anthropologist, Arcadia
12:40-1:40 Cultural Combos: An Ethnographic Narrative of the Competitive Fighting Game Community
An ethnographic research project based on semi-structured interviews within the competitive fighting game community. This research found that the fighting game community to be more racially diverse than other gaming competitive gaming communities and contains a rich history of cultural practices involving ritual performance, social norms, and standard procedures regardless of international region.
Dr Calion Lockridge, Community College of Philadelphia
1:50-2:50 Video Games, the Brain, and Cognition
This presentation will examine the last several years of neuroscience research on the impact of video game play on the brain, with respect to several aspects of cognition; such as attention and memory, among others.
Shawn Pierre, Philly Game Mechanics
3:00-4:00 Moderated Panel Discussion: Games Beyond Games
Even though games have existed for many years, the level of influence has never been higher than they are now. Games permeate through science, theater, philosophy, politics, and more. Join a panel of local game developers as they discuss how games interact with the local community and beyond, and where they see games leading us in the future.
To request additional information, schedule interviews, or learn about the conference, please contact: Dr. Rick Frei [email protected], or Kara LaFleur, [email protected]
