Mental Health | Atmospheres | Video Games

Abstract

Digital Games, which takes place annually at the Technical University Cologne, is its fundamental principle: the dialectic of diversity and universality, coexistence, and cooperation. The research conference consists, to a part, of several specialized summits. The default subject areas are Game Studies, Game Design, and Media Education. Annually changing topical summits have investigated, e.g., game technologies, game entrepreneurship, or the relationship of games to music, film, and history. The diversity of themes ensures that specialists from very different disciplines and fields attend the Clash of Realities, academics as well as professionals, who otherwise hold their own conferences and rarely exchange ideas with each other.On the main day of the conference, this diversity merges into one room and one joint discussion. The encounter produces a productive clash of the many disciplines and cultures around digital games. Academics meet artists. Indie developers argue with industry representatives. Humanities scholars, social scientists, and computer scientists exchange experiences. Established experts and professionals discuss with students and games enthusiasts. Together, we assess and debate the artistic design, technological development, economic conditions, social perception, and cultural reception of digital games. This bridge-building fosters research and education as well as creative and professional practice. Year after year, the conference generates strong impulses and surprising synergies.The third indispensable element is the Young Academics Workshop (YAW). It brings together young researchers from all over the world and a wide range of educational levels-post-docs and doctoral candidates, master's students, and exceptionally talented bachelor's students. The workshops, focusing on changing topics, are always held as a prelude to the conference so that the young academics Academics Workshop from day one, we are grateful. It is not for the first time that Gundolf made room in his busy schedule to support our work. Also, we want to thank him and Lisa Gotto, the editors of the book series this volume is a part of, for welcoming the Young Academics again in their renowned series "Studies of Digital Media Culture."Finally, we want to give our thanks to the many institutions supporting our research, allowing us this time-consuming endeavor, among them the a.r.t.e.s. Graduate School of the Humanities Cologne, the IT University of Copenhagen, the Cologne Game Lab and ifs internationale filmschule köln. We are very grateful to all professors and staff of the institutes for their support of the Young Academics Workshop over the past years. We would also like to thank Benjamin Beil and the University of Cologne for co-organizing the Clash of Realities 2021 conference. Michael Debus and Miruna Vozaru are also indebted to the European Research Council for the grant that supported the project Making Sense of Games, and also allowed them to bring their contribution to this anthology. Last but not least, we are gra...