[casual_games] DUE TODAY: Ethics and Games Book Chapter Proposals

[Karen S]

Due today!

Chapter proposals for "Ethics and Game Design: Teaching Values through Play."

And, please join the Ethics and Game Design Facebook Group at:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=39391086363&ref=ts

Thanks!
Karen
_____


I am editing a new book with David Gibson called "Ethics and Game
Design: Teaching Values through Play," to be published by Information
Science Reference (formerly Idea Group Reference) (an imprint of IGI
Global), scheduled for release in 2010.

I invite you all to contribute to the book, which will provide a
diverse and comprehensive compendium of case studies, theoretical
frameworks, and empirical research in the emerging field of ethics
development through games and play. Your proposal would be due on or
before January 15, 2009 (a brief two to three-page synopsis will
suffice), with accepted proposals notified by February 1, 2009. The
full chapter is due by April 1, 2009.

We are looking for academics and practitioners from a wide variety of
disciplines and perspectives to contribute.

Full call: http://www.columbia.edu/~kls2108/callforchapters.htm

Thanks!
Karen Schrier

CALL FOR CHAPTER PROPOSALS
Proposal Submission Deadline: January 15, 2009
Ethics and Game Design: Teaching Values through Play
A book edited by Karen Schrier, Teachers College, Columbia University,
USA, and Dr. David Gibson, University of Vermont, USA
http://www.columbia.edu/~kls2108/callforchapters.htm

Introduction
Ethics is the practice of enacting moral judgment to achieve a better
life—the process of making choices according to one's own conception
of how to be a good person. Games and simulations can be rich
playgrounds for the practice of these ethical choices, as they offer
the ability to iterate and reflect on multiple possibilities and
consequences. As such, educators and researchers are beginning to
consider the use of games in supporting ethical reasoning and
character development. Moreover, games have been and continue to be
the subject of conversations, controversies, and deliberations about
ethics. Game developers, publishers, and the public often differ in
opinion about the choices made in the creation and promotion of a
game, bringing up larger questions about the role of entertainment,
art, and business in our society. The potential for games to foster
ethical thinking and discourse—and not whether games are inherently
good or bad—will be the thrust of this timely book.

Objective of the Book
Ethics and Games Design will provide a diverse and comprehensive
compendium of case studies, theoretical frameworks, and empirical
research in the emerging field of ethics, values, games, and play.
This book will take a cross-disciplinary approach, inviting research,
critiques, and perspectives from computer science, education,
philosophy, law, media studies, management, psychology, and art
history. The publication has three main goals. First, it will seek to
define this emerging and essential new field. Second, this book will
serve as a collective source for students, educators, practitioners,
and researchers who are interested in understanding the current state
of the discipline. It will locate the field diachronically and
thematically, while highlighting the work of both well-established and
emerging researchers and practitioners. Finally, this publication will
inspire and motivate further interdisciplinary dialogue and research
on the topic of ethics and games. It will frame the major research
questions, issues, methodologies and problems, which we can then use
to both expand and refine the field. Such a rigorous foundation for
the study of ethics will help to appropriately inform future games,
policies, standards, curricula, products, and the like.

Target Audience
The target audience is very diverse, ranging from practitioners of
game development to journalists, to philosophers and educators.
Researchers and students studying game design, media and games will
find this an essential text for understanding how to better design,
teach, and study the current generation of learners. Educators will
use this to further their understanding of the potentials and limits
of games, and how to creatively incorporate emerging technology into
their curricula, standards, and policies. Game developers and
publishers can use this text to further their designs, to help refine
their choices and practices, and to better think through the
implications of their decisions. Journalists, cultural critics, and
reviewers can use this publication to consider alternate ways to view
games and the nature of their controversies. Finally, this text will
attract members of diverse academic, development, and consumer
communities to interact, share and discuss findings, frameworks and
theories.

Recommended topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

•       Definition of the field of ethics and games
•       Historical and contemporary context of ethics and games
•       Limits and constraints in assessing ethics
•       Criteria for studying ethics and games
•       Case studies (from researchers, educators and practitioners)
•       Ethics and new media literacy
•       Teaching ethics skills
•       Educational opportunities and limits for teaching values through play
•       Schools and the ethics of gaming
•       Ethics and standards in game development
•       Ethics in the promotion of games
•       Communities of play and ethics
•       Cheating and games
•       Issues of race, sex, violence, and gender in games
•       Ethics and the games business
•       Future implications and the ethical citizen

Submission Procedure
Researchers and practitioners are invited to submit on or before
January 15, 2009, a 2-3 page chapter proposal clearly explaining the
mission and concerns of his or her proposed chapter. Authors of
accepted proposals will be notified by February 1, 2009 about the
status of their proposals and sent chapter guidelines. Full chapters
are expected to be submitted by April 1, 2009. All submitted chapters
will be reviewed on a double-blind review basis. This book is
scheduled to be published by IGI Global (formerly Idea Group Inc.),
publisher of the "Information Science Reference" (formerly Idea Group
Reference) and "Medical Information Science Reference" imprints. For
additional information regarding the publisher, please visit
www.igi-global.com.

Inquiries and submissions can be forwarded electronically (Word document) to:
Karen Schrier
Teachers College, Columbia University, USA
E-mail: kschrier at alum.mit.edu or kls2108 at columbia.edu