FROG – Future and Reality of Gaming

FROG – Future and Reality of Gaming 2024
Gaming the Apocalypse”

18th Vienna Games Conference
Friday, 11 – Sunday, 13 October 2024

While thousands of enthusiastic players are gathering annually at the Game City in the Vienna City Hall, the international conference “FROG – Future and Reality of Gaming” invites to an academic discourse on the subject of games and play. This year the conference is dedicated to connections between play & games, crisis and hope, and invites game scholars, creators, educators, students, activists and enthusiasts from around the globe to come together and reflect on the apocalypse through a lens of games & play.

!!! Registration is open! Get your FROG tickets here before 7 October 2024.


Conference Mode:
The conference will take place on-site in the Vienna City Hall. Online participants can follow the conference via live stream. Live-Talks will be only possible on-site. Speakers who cannot join us in Vienna, submit a video talk. The videos will be included in the FROG YouTube playlist. A 3-minute teaser of the video talk will be played in front of the audience at the conference.

Conference Location:
Vienna City Hall
Friedrich-Schmidt-Platz 1
1010 Wien
Austria

Location on Google Maps
Practical Information

Hashtag for the conference: #FROG2024

Follow us!
Twitter: @FROG_Vienna_
Facebook: @frogvienna

We also keep you updated via @appliedgames on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn and Bluesky


FROG 2024 | Keynotes

Dawn Stobbart
Lancaster University
From Ruin to Resilience: Thriving in Virtual Devastation
Josh Sawyer
Obsidian Entertainment
We Are Always Living in the Final Days

Programme

All talks are scheduled in the CET / UTC+1 time zone (Vienna).


Friday, 11 October 2024

12:00 - 13:00Registration
13:00 - 13:15Welcome & Introduction
13:15 - 14:30SAVING THE WORLD THROUGH GAMES I: EDUCATION AND BEYOND

Sonja Gabriel | KPH Vienna/Krems, Austria
Gaming Against Deception: Leveraging Interactive Media to Build Digital Resilience in the Age of Misinformation

Linda Rustemeier | Goethe University, Institute for Didactics (of Mathematics and) Computer Science, Germany
Can Diversity and Inclusion in Game Design for (Social Awareness) Games save the (Game Education) World?

Elke Hemminger | Protestant University of Applied Sciences Bochum, Germany
Crisis Simulations and Sociological Insights: Using Digital Games for Future Scenarios in Higher Education
14:30 - 15:00Break
15:00 - 16:35“I HAVE A BAD FEELING ABOUT THIS”: EXPERIENCING THE APOCALYPSE

Felix Schniz | University of Klagenfurt, Austria
Scales of Apocalypse: Space and Affect in Dystopian Video Games between Sacred and Profane

Mary Eleanora Fimbel | Evelyn Scott School, Game Designer, Australia
The Power of Unhappy Endings

Ellie Chraibi | University of Klagenfurt, Austria
Inside: A Reflection of the Avatar in a Dystopian World

Andreas Wieser | University of Innsbruck, Austria
Playing Civilists at War. But What about the Players?
16:35 - 17:00Break
17:00 - 18:15SAVING THE WORLD THROUGH GAMES II: THINGS TO CONSIDER FOR MAKERS OF GAMES

Matthes Lindner | Spielfabrique 360° UG, Germany
Champions for hope: the power of future-literate game developers

Krzysztof Chmielewski | Kazimierz Wielki University, Poland
Convincing the convinced – games with a message of ecology and identity. Space Gliders case study

Ruth Dorothea Eggel | Cologne Game Lab, TH Köln / University of Applied Science, Germany
Towards Greener Video Game Making Processes and Practices – People and the Planet
18:15 - 18:30Break
18:30 - 19:45FROG DEEP DIVE PANEL
Gaming & Youth Work for a better Future - Perspectives on Engagement, Identity, and Social Impact

Alexander Fontó | Beratungsstelle Extremismus, Austria

Paula Gludovatz | University for Continuing Education Krems, Austria

Susanne Studeny | SaiNetz, Austria

Moderation:
TBA | WienXtra, Austria
END OF FRIDAY'S PROGRAM


Saturday, 12 October 2024

09:15 - 09:45Registration
09:45 - 10:00Welcome Notes
10:00 - 11:35SAVING THE WORLD THROUGH GAMES III: 4 DIFFERENT APPROACHES

Klemens Franz | atelier198, Austria
Thematic Transparency: How Metaphoric Structures in Analogue Games can help us understand

Matthias Mittelberger | Weitblick GmbH, Austria
How to win the World Climate Game

Kateřina Goryczka | UMPRUM / CASUA / Klokner Institute CTU, Czech Republic
IASTIJL

Tijana Rupcic | Central European University, Austria
The Great Unraveling: Exploring the idea of environmental collapse and technology in dystopian video games
11:35 - 12:00Break
12:00 - 13:00FROG KEYNOTE

Joshua Eric Sawyer | Obsidian Entertainment, USA
We Are Always Living in the Final Days
13:00 - 14:00Lunch Break
14:00 - 14:30FROG VIDEO-TALK TEASER

Pratama Wirya Atmaja | University of Pembangunan Nasional Veteran Jawa Timur, Indonesia
How Apocalyptic Despair Turns into a Collective Hope in The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind

Giuseppe Femia | University of Waterloo, Canada
Disability, Magic, and Technology in TTRPGs

Kseniia Harshina | University of Klagenfurt, Austria
Unraveling the Romanticization of Colonial, Imperial and Authoritarian Narratives in Modern Video Games

Alvin Laurentius | Germany
The Restaurant at the End of the World: Food in Postapocalyptic Games

Kevin Mercer | Southern Illinois University, USA
The Cute Shall Inherit the Earth: Animal Protagonists in Post-Human Game Worlds

Leonid Moyzhes | Charles University, Czech Republic
Proliferation of Cults in post-apocalyptic Videogames: Case Study of Metro: Exodus.

Jonas Müller-Laackman | State and University Library Hamburg Carl von Ossietzky, Germany
How much Apocalypse in the Apocalypse? On the revelational Aspect of apocalyptic Concepts in (post-)apocalyptic Games.

Victoria Mummelthei | Freie Universität Berlin, Germany
The Apocalypse Within: Portraying Psychological Resilience Through Games Like Hellblade

Maksim Podvalnyi | Institute of Business and Design (Moscow), Russian Federation
Post-apocalyptic Societies of Scarcity: the Case of “Legacy: Life Among the Ruins”

Kevin Rebecchi | Université de Liège, UR Traverses, Liège Game Lab, Belgium
Uncovering and End of the World: Neurodiversity in Apocalyptic Video Games
14:30 - 15:20LEARNING TO LOVE THE BOMB: SPECTERS OF THE COLD WAR

Malcolm Craig | Liverpool John Moores University, United Kingdom
Histories of Wars That Never Were: Tabletop role-playing games and the Cold War nuclear threat

Pascal Marc Wagner | GamesMarkt, Germany
Linguistics of the Post-Apocalypse – Atomic Semiotics and its Application in Fallout 3, New Vegas, 4 and 76
15:20 - 15:40Break
15:40 - 17:15WE HAVE SUCH SIGHTS TO SHOW YOU: APOCALYPTIC LANDSCAPES & ATTRACTIONS

David J. Cross | University Stuttgart, Germany
Walking Towards Extinction: Psychogeography and Détournement in the Fallout Series

Xaver Boxhammer | Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Germany
Umurangi Generation, Photographic Framing, and the Rhetoric of Apocalyptic Anticipation in the Contemporary Ecogame

Štěpán Šanda | Charles University, Czech Republic
Such a disaster: Apocalypse in Eastern European Landscapes

Daniel Singh | University of Innsbruck, Austria
Of romanticised ruins and provisional shelters: Architecture in games after the fall of civilisation
17:15 - 17:45Break
17:45 - 19:00FROG PANEL DISCUSSION
OLD WORLD BLUES. ›Fallout‹ und das Spiel mit der Postapokalypse

Björn Blankenheim | freelance author and lecturer, Germany

Tanja Hojahn | Universität Regensburg, Germany

Pascal Marc Wagner | GamesMarkt, Germany

Thomas Wernbacher
| University for Continuing Education Krems, Austria

Moderation:
Arno Görgen | Academy of the Arts, BFH Bern, Switzerland
Rudolf Inderst | IU Internationale Hochschule, Germany
END OF SATURDAYS'S PROGRAM
20:00 - open endInformal FROG conference dinner (see e-mail and on-site conference program for location)


Sunday, 13 October 2024

09:45 - 10:15Registration
10:15 - 10:30Welcome Notes
10:30 - 11:45FIGHTING FOR YOURSELF: NEOLIBERAL FANTASIES

Julia Tyll-Schranz, Mateusz Gorecki & Martin Greunz
| Verein für Geschichte der ArbeiterInnenbewegung / Rarebyte OG / Arbeiterkammer Wien, Austria
Manchester 4.0

Fiona S. Schönberg | Regensburg University, Germany
Man, Man Never Changes - The Limitations of Post-Apocalyptic Fiction in the Fallout Franchise and Beyond

Eugen Pfister | Hochschule der Künste Bern - HKB, Austria / Switzerland
Zombies Ate Democracy - How the Idea of Democracy and Individualism is negotiated in Zombie Games
11:45 - 12:00Break
12:00 - 13:00FROG KEYNOTE

Dawn Stobbart | Lancaster University, United Kingdom
From Ruin to Resiliance: Thriving in Virtual Devastation
13:00 - 14:00Lunch Break
14:00 - 14:15MINI-WORKSHOP

Christoph Kaindel | Wiener Bildungsserver, Austria
Zombie is just a state of mind
14:15 - 15:50PROMISES OF THE APOCALYPSE

Simon Huber | University of Applied Arts, Austria
Apocalyptic Thinking in Pursuit of Ludology

Alexander Hurezeanu | Toronto Metropolitan University, Canada
Transcultural Imaginaries through Classic Fallout Mods from the former Eastern Bloc

Mario Donick | Germany
Phantasies of Longtermism in Starfield and other space-themed digital Games

Danny Hinrichs | Leuphana University of Lüneburg, Germany
Between Pre- and Post-Apocalypse: Disco Elysium and the Critique of Apocalyptic Escapism
15:50 - 16:10Break
16:10 - 17:00IT WAS EARTH ALL ALONG: APOCALYPTIC METAPHORS

Flavia Mazzanti & Manuel Bonell | Immerea, Austria
Surreal Worlds and Digital Distopias: Art and Games in Times of Chaos

Chris Carbonaro | LMU Munich, Germany
Those Who Live in Death – A Hauntological Approach to Elden Ring’s Eternal Post-Apocalyptic World
17:00 - 17:15Closing Words
END OF FROG 2024

FROG | Chairs and Programme Committee

Center for Applied Game Studies (University for Continuing Education Krems):

  • Natalie Denk
  • Nikolaus Koenig
  • Alexander Pfeiffer
  • Thomas Wernbacher
  • Simon Wimmer

Karina Kaiser-Fallent, BuPP, Federal Chancellery of Austria

FROG Organizers, Funding and Partners

The Center for Applied Games Studies at the University of Continuing Education Krems is responsible for the organisation and implementation of FROG 2024.
https://www.donau-uni.ac.at/ags

FROG 2024 is funded by the Federal Chancellery of Austria.
https://www.bundeskanzleramt.gv.at/

GAME CITY 2024
Österreichs größte Computer- und Konsolenspiel-Messe
11. – 13. Oktober 2024, Wiener Rathaus
https://www.game-city.at/

Verein WIENXTRA in Kooperation mit der Stadt Wien – Bildung und Jugend
Friedrich-Schmidt-Platz 5, 1082 Wien
https://www.wienxtra.at/
https://www.wien.gv.at/

BuPP – Bundesstelle für die Positivprädikatisierung von digitalen Spielen
https://bupp.at/