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Third Keynote Announcement

Is the grass greener out of bounds?”: Exploring the Relationship of People, Nature and Video Games

Abstract: The Amazon forest is shrinking, the polar ice caps are melting and microplastics are now inside us all: We are living through times of ecological upheaval and change, death and decay. While we are trying to figure out how to survive as species, drowning in depression, anxiety and genuine distress seem inevitable. As the natural world seems to slip away from many from us, digital portrayals of nature become more and more prominent—this includes games. By drawing from my research, this talk will explore 1) how people might use games to make sense of their relationship with nature—for better or worse, and 2) how we might approach games as spaces to dream up equitable, caring and joyful futures for all—including non-human life.

Bio: Dr. Velvet Spors (they/them) is a creative technologist and post-doctoral researcher working at the Gamification Group (Research Center of Gameful Realities), based at Tampere University in sunny Finland. Their research centres around Feminist notions of care as a core value to investigate how technology shapes ourselves, and our relations to others, and the wider world beyond. Currently, they are researching the potentials of video games as a mediator for how people feel for, relate to and think about nature.