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From Syllabus to Studio: Industry Voices for the Next Generation of Game Professionals We are pleased to share this call for chapter proposals for From Syllabus to Studio: Industry Voices for the Next Generation of Game Professionals, to be published open access by Play Story Press. Proposals are due May 4. Authors will be notified by May 11. Full chapters will be due June 15. Full details are below. Please feel free to contact us with questions or to submit your proposal at rferdig@gmail.com. Best, Rick Ferdig, Enrico Gandolfi & Emily Baumgartner How This Book Came to Be In 2021,...

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Play Story Fest @ Remake Learning Days A pilot of a ½ day salon of facilitated conversations around play, culture and community. This pilot of Play Story Fest is planned to take place the Afternoon of May,11 at the MuseumLab at the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh during the 2026 Remake Learning Days (date to be determined). We are hoping for around 20-25 participants to help pilot this concept. The Fest will be ½ day starting around 12:30pm and going until 5:30pm. From around 1-5, there would be three conversation sessions, each around 45 minutes. There will be a short overview,...

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iThrive Games and Play Story Press are excited to release the Journal of Games, Self, & Society, Volume 4 | Games for Good 2025 Conference Proceedings, edited by Susan E. Rivers and Paul D. Cotnoir. A peer-reviewed journal created and edited by iThrive Games and published by Play Story Press. JGSS encourages interdisciplinary research, conversation, and community around games-related scholarship. The journal highlights work focused on how games, game design, and gameplay contribute to a deeper understanding of learning, health, and humanity. This volume is comprised of the Games for Good 2025 Conference Proceedings. Journal of Games, Self, & Society,...

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Teaching the Game, Second Edition (A Call for Book Chapter Proposals) We are pleased to share this call for book chapter proposals for the second edition of Teaching the Game, to be published open access by Play Story Press. Abstracts are due May 1, 2026. Authors will be notified by May 15, 2026. Accepted chapters will be due by June 15, 2026. Full details are below, but please feel free to contact us with questions or to submit your proposal at rferdig@gmail.com. Purpose Gaming is taught across multiple content areas (i.e., media studies, education, computer science, design, humanities, business, and...

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Wikipedia Knows Nothing, by Chris Bateman. What does the Wikipedia know, and how can it know it? More to the point, how can anyone using an anonymously edited source, the contents of which change on a daily basis, know that what they are reading constitutes knowledge? In this provocative challenge to contemporary concepts of objectivity, four figures of knowledge – the Wikipedia, scientific experiments, anonymous peer review, and school education – are investigated in order to question the way we understand the world around us. Wikipedia Knows Nothing

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Ludic Narrans (Playing Around). Stories of/by/for the Fields of Play Ludic Narrans (Playing It Straight). Stories of/by/for the Fields of Play by Drew Davidson, Emily Matheny, et al. Since 2024, Drew Davidson has been conducting an exploratory qualitative study, Stories of/by/for the Fields of Play,, with Emily Matheny and many others. Through questionnaires, 175 in-depth interviews, and community participation, he has been engaging with stories around the fields of play; like games, mixed reality, theatre, sports, music, child psychology, etc. The concept of play is rather broad and diverse; from social studies, to health and enjoyment, to education and learning, to...

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See the Good! How to guide children and adolescents to find their character strengths, by Lotta Uusitalo, Kaisa Vuorinen. See the Good! is a practical and research-based guide for educators, parents, and professionals on how to support children’s well-being and learning through character strengths. Grounded in positive psychology, the book shows how recognizing, naming, and using strengths can build resilience, motivation, and happiness. It offers concrete tools, exercises, and pedagogical practices for integrating strengths-based, positive education into everyday interactions in classrooms and communities—helping children and young people to flourish and reach their full potential. See the Good! is the inaugural...

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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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