Call for Papers for the Journal gamevironments Special Issue 2026

ZeMKI members Prof Dr Kerstin-Radde Antweiler, Prof Dr Karsten D. Wolf and Prof Dr Christian Schwarzenegger are guest editors for the currently advertised special issue “Beyond Play: The Transformative Power of Digital Gaming in a Deeply Meditized Society” of the journal gamevironments.

Digital games and gaming are carriers, accelerators and subjects of change in media, culture and society. In this capacity they serve as an interlink between media industries, digital technologies, social practices, cultural norms and values, making them ideal cases to analyze contemporary transformation processes in the context of (deep) mediatization, digitalization, and datafication. A world with digital gaming in it is different from a world without digital gaming. But what does that mean and imply for the study of games and gaming and for the broader investigation of change in the broader contexts of media, communication and technology related transformation processes in culture and society? For this special issue we invite submissions that explore the transformative power of digital gaming in deeply mediatized societies: We seek to shed light on how digital gaming is related to mediatization, digitalization and datafication of society and how games and gaming are conversely shaped by the same processes. We invite conceptual, theoretical and methodological contributions as well as empirical studies from all disciplines. Topics to be addressed include but are not limited to

– The transformative power of digital gaming for the proliferation and diffusion of new digital technologies, devices and imaginaries

– The transformative power of digital gaming for the emergence of new media cultures and practices, especially in non-gaming related contexts and beyond play

– The transformative power of digital gaming for representation, inclusion and the negotiation as well as transformation of social norms and values

– The transformative power of digital gaming for education, political discourse and social exchange

– The transformative power of digital gaming for media and communication environments around beyond play (e.g., games journalism, game streaming, Let’s plays, reviews and walkthroughs; gamification and language use in non-gaming settings; serious games)

– The transformative power of digital gaming for individual and collaborative communicative practices and experiences (e.g., informal learning, co-creation, modding, etc.)

– The transformative power of digital gaming in the context of the media manifold (e.g., transmedia storytelling, franchises across multiple platforms and multiple media formats)

– Conceptual and methodological challenges and innovations for researching the transformative power of digital gaming in deeply mediatized societies

– The impact of digitalization and datafication on digital games and gaming

– Transformation processes in the gaming (related) industries as related to broader transformations in deeply mediatized societies

– Transformative processes in the academic, ethical, and regulatory evaluation of games and gaming

This special issue invites scholars and researchers from a variety of fields to contribute to the exploration of the transformative power of digital gaming in a deeply mediatized society and includes the various gamevironments.

For all contributions, please submit a title, a 300-500 word abstract and a 100-word biographical statement about each author no later than 31.05.2025 to gameskon@uni-bremen.de.

SUBMISSION DETAILS

Journal articles should be 5,000-10,000 words in length and will be subject to double-blind peer review. Furthermore, we encourage the submission of contributions beyond the classic article format. Reviews, interviews and other formats will be reviewed by the special issue editors. Submission guidelines and the journal style guide can be found here. There is no article processing charge.

Authors are encouraged to use images but will be required to request permission from copyright-holders when needed.

TIMELINE

Notification of acceptance of abstracts: 15th June 2025
Full text submission of all contributions: 15th December 2025

For more information click here.