Proceedings of The 8th Australasian Conference on Interactive Entertainment: Playing the System

Abstract

The Australasian Conference on Interactive Entertainment, in its eighth year, is a cross-disciplinary conference that brings together researchers from artificial intelligence, audio, cognitive science, cultural studies, drama, HCI, interactive media, media studies, psychology, computer graphics, as well as researchers from other disciplines working on new interactive entertainment specific technologies or providing critical analysis of games and interactive environments. IE2012's overarching theme is Playing the System. This notion invites a counter-cultural perspective, offering the possibility of change by doing things differently, using systems in unforeseen ways, fighting with the computer or simply tinkering around with existing protocols. At this conference we recognize that play is valuable in itself, allowing users who playfully interact with their computers to create new realities, to become players and artists. They are not asking for permission, reading the manual or following orders. They are playing the system. This year, IE2012 presents a collection of cutting-edge research papers, demos and exhibits in multi-disciplinary areas of play, which includes artificial intelligence, game design and serious game case studies. All accepted papers have undergone a rigorous double-blind peer review process with at least 3 reviewers each from the IE2012 Program Committee. Authors were then invited to submit either full papers or extended abstracts for further review, according to the conference criteria.