Events and Communities is the 22nd annual spring seminar organised by the Tampere University Game Research Lab. The seminar emphasises work-in-progress submissions, and we strongly encourage submitting late-breaking results, working papers, as well as submissions from graduate and PhD students. The purpose of the seminar is to have peer-to-peer discussions and thereby provide support in refining and improving research work in this area.
The papers to be presented will be chosen based on extended abstract review. Full papers are distributed prior to the event to all participants, in order to facilitate discussion. There will be two invited expert commentators to provide feedback on the papers.
See the CFP here.
The seminar is potentially looking into partnering with a publisher so that the best papers would be invited to be further developed into publication. In the past, we have collaborated with e.g. Analog Game Studies, Games and Culture, Games: Research and Practice, International Journal of Role-Playing, Journal of Gaming & Virtual Worlds, Simulation & Gaming, and ToDiGRA journals.
The seminar will be held at Tampere University, Finland, on 5-6 May, 2026. Attending the seminar is free of charge.
Organising team:
Conference chairs: Mark Maletska, Essi Taino
Volunteer chair: Aasa Timonen
Communication chair: Elina Koskinen
Community manager: Joel Karjalainen
Finance chair: Taina Myöhänen
Program chairs: Ville Kankainen, Jaakko Stenros
Events and Communities 