drew davidson

We are delighted to announce the submission portal for Meaningful Play is now OPEN and ready to receive submissions for the 2026 conference in Pittsburgh! Meaningful Play 2026 Information & Submissions Meaningful Play 2026 is a conference about theory, research, and game design innovations, principles, and practices. Meaningful Play brings scholars, industry professionals, and games practitioners together to understand and improve upon games to entertain, inform, educate, and persuade in meaningful ways. Key Dates and Deadlines Conference: October 13-15 Pittsburgh Play Day: October 16 Full Paper Submissions: March 31 Games, Lighting Talks, Posters: May 15 Hosted Sessions: June 15 If...

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The Psychgeist of Pop Culture: Final Fantasy XV, edited by T. Wade Langer, Jr. Final Fantasy XV (2016) tells the story of Noctis, the crown prince of Lucis, and his ascension to the throne. A traditional coming-of-age story following the solitary hero’s journey, this fresh take on the Final Fantasy franchise offered players a reflective opportunity to ask themselves a simple question: how does someone grow from youthful naïveté to greatness? To mark the 10th anniversary of Final Fantasy XV, I am editing a scholarly essay collection titled The Psychgeist of Final Fantasy XV. This volume explores the psychological, philosophical, and cultural...

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Nonverbal Communication in Virtual Worlds: Understanding and Designing Expressive Characters, edited by Theresa Jean Tanenbaum, Magy Seif El-Nasr, and Michael Nixon Over the last 30 years there has been an expansion of network mediated social activities, and an accompanying explosion of research interest into the poetics of networked communication. Of particular interest is the rise of what have come to be known as “virtual worlds”: persistent graphical environments populated (and often partially authored) by large communities of individual users. Interactors in these worlds are embodied as avatars: digital puppets or representations through which the user exerts his or her will...

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The Psychgeist of Pop Culture: Pokémon, edited by Jared N. Kilmer. The Pokémon franchise is one of the most influential and enduring media properties in the world, spanning video games, animation, film, trading cards, and global fan communities. Since the release of the original games in 1996, players have celebrated a world where humans and Pokémon coexist, forming bonds through exploration, competition, and care. After 30 years of continued development as a franchise, the ostensibly simple stories contained within Pokémon media have developed layers of complexity. They blend approachable gameplay with themes of self-discovery, coming-of-age journeys, responsibility, scientific investigation, environmental...

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Play Story Press is excited to release The Psychgeist of Pop Culture: Dungeons & Dragons, edited by Jared N. Kilmer and Nina Higson-Sweeney. Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) is a tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG) created by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson and published by Wizards of the Coast. This dynamic game encourages players to explore fantastic settings, flex their creative muscles, and foster connections with others, regardless of whether they are sitting across a table or across the globe. In this volume of The Psychgeist of Pop Culture, we explore psychological concepts relating to the lore, gameplay, and culture of Dungeons & Dragons, with...

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Symposium on Games and Play Story Press are excited to release the Symposium on Games 2025 Conference Proceedings, edited by Jennifer J. Joy. These are the Proceedings of the 2025 Symposium on Games, which was held on November 14, 2025, at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. It was the sixth biennial games research symposium held at Ball State University. The Symposium on Games explores all facets of games, including cultural impact of games, educational use of games, and practical aspects of game design and development. The event attracts game scholars as well as undergraduate and graduate students from around...

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Play Story Press is excited to release The Psychgeist of Pop Culture: Sleep No More, edited by Rachel Kowert and Betsy Sullivan. Punchdrunk’s Sleep No More is an immersive reimagining of Macbeth through Hitchcock’s lens set inside the 1930s-era McKittrick Hotel. Guests are invited to discover their own paths as they wear masks and roam freely through intricately designed rooms across multiple floors, piecing together the story through wordless choreography, cinematic set and sound design, and voyeuristic encounters. This volume explores various psychological underpinnings of the aesthetics, fandoms, and experience of Sleep No More. The Psychgeist of Pop Culture: Sleep...

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Games and Horror, a Psychgeist Series, edited by Chrstine Tomlinson. The allure of horror in media is sometimes difficult to fully understand. It can be uncomfortable, engaging us in discourse, content, and aesthetics that are disturbing, frightening, and sometimes disgusting. This is seemingly at odds with the major typical reasons to engage with media: relaxation and leisure. Despite these elements of horror, however, it can be found across media types and has been reflecting cultural fears and finding audiences since gothic horror literature emerged in the late 1700s, providing those consuming this media with allegories, metaphorical representations of cultural fears,...

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