FROG 2021


Thank you for joining FROG 2021! You can rewatch all talks on our YouTube Playlist “FROG – Future and Reality of Gaming 2021 – all talks| @appliedgames). Enjoy and see you at FROG 2022! 🙂


FROG – Future and Reality of Gaming 2021

15th Vienna Games Conference
November, 26th & 27th 2021 

Location: online, via Zoom 

The international conference brings together scholars, players, students, game designers, game developers, educators and experts from various disciplines to discuss the Future and Reality of Gaming. This year the conference addresses “The Magic of Games” in its many forms and invites  game scholars and creators from around the globe to discuss the ways in which their work is infused by a kind of magic.  

Call for Contributions (submission closed) 

Hashtag for the conference: #FROG2021

Follow us!
Twitter: @FROG_Vienna_
Facebook: @frogvienna


FROG 2021 | Week

Monday, 22nd – 25th, November 2021

During the FROG Week from November 22rd to 25th, expert talks and workshops for the target groups students, parents and educators will take place. The FROG Week will be held in German language.

More details and registration


FROG 2021 |Programme


Friday, 26 November 2021

13:45Welcome FROG | Day 1
I: REPRESENTATION OF MAGIC IN GAMES
14:00Doris C. Rusch / Andrew M. Phelps Uppsala UniversityThe Magic of The Witch’s Way
14:25Sarah Lynne BowmanUppsala UniversityLiminal Intimacy: Role-playing Games as Catalysts for Interpersonal Growth and Relating
14:50Mario Donickueberstrom.netDoing Magic for a Living: About the "Mages Guild" in The Elder Scrolls as Professional Organization
/// BREAK ///
15:30Sonja GabrielKPH Wien/KremsThe magic of serious games for learning
15:55Hossein MohammadzadeIndependent ResearcherRevisiting Schools in Magic Gameworlds: Political Magic Representing Politicized Science
16:20Miłosz MarkockiIndependent ResearcherMagical and Magic Identities in Games
/// BREAK ///
17:00Angshuman DuttaJadavpur UniversityDesigning Space: Outer Wilds and its non-linear immersion
17:25Damiano GerliFreelance journalist and gaming historianXyzzy - the magic word that changed everything
/// BREAK ///
18:00Katarzyna MarakNicolaus Copernicus University in TorunMagic as Mechanics and Narrative in Independent Horror Games
18:25Pascal Marc WagnerGoethe-Institut München, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz“Any sufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology” – How Semantics Produces Science from Spellcasting
18:50Closing Day 1
19:00 - 21:00Socializing & Exchange: FROG ONLINE LOUNGES remain open


Saturday, 27 November 2021

10:00Welcome FROG | Day 2
II: THE MAGIC OF IMMERSION IN GAMES
10:10Christin ReisenhoferUniversity of Vienna"But without games it would have been somehow even grayer”. About computer games, adolescents, and the question of opportunities for magic in the corona crisis.
10:35Markus MeschikUniversität Graz"And for my next trick, I'll make your wallet disappear!" Adolescents' use and perception of "free-to-play" games in Austria
/// BREAK ///
11:15Mark R JohnsonUniversity of SydneyProcedural Content Generation and Game World Immersion
11:40Aviv HeilweilShenkar College of Engineering and DesignKillem all. A unique VR experience
12:05Ivo AntunicDanube University KremsPlayerism - A broken Magic Circle, when the whole world is a game.
/// BREAK ///
III: MAGIC OF CREATING THROUGH GAMES
13:30Alexis Ibarra IbarraErasmus Mundus Media Arts Cultures Programme (Donau Universität Krems, Aalborg University, University of Lodz, LASALLE College of the Arts Singapore)The Magic of Videogame Art Curation: Remediating Videogames to Physical Exhibitions
13:55Clio MontreyIndependent ResearcherBuilding Fantasy Worlds Through Music
14:20Alesha SeradaUniversity of VaasaEach Monster Has Its Own Voice: Creativity, Alienation and My Singing Monsters
/// BREAK ///
15:00Alexander K. SeewaldSeewald SolutionsTen Years of Magic Mirror: I and My Avatar
15:25Tamer AslanCity Games ViennaBlurring the Borders of Magic Circle: Urban Games as a Method for Fusing Game Worlds with the Real World
15:50Frank PourvoyeurDanube University KremsIntention based random number generator in games
/// BREAK ///
IV: MAGIC CIRCLES IN GAMES STUDIES
16:15Gabrielle Trépanier-JobinUniversité du Québec à MontréalThe Survival of Huizinga’s “Magic Circle”
16:40Benjamin HanussekKlagenfurt Critical Game Lab, Alpen-Adria UniversityDis/enchanted by Moral Complexity: The Magic of Moral Engagement in Videogames
17:05Jeremiah DiephuisPlayful Interactive Environments, University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria, Hagenberg CampusCo-located Game Design and the Cauldron of Emergence
/// BREAK ///
17:40Jonas LinderothUniversity of GothenburgDon’t break the circle - The ”evil" design of the ball game Four square
18:05Tobias UnterhuberUniversity of InnsbruckA magic dwells in each beginning? – Game Studies, its rhetoric rituals and mythos of being a young field
18:30Closing of the Conference

Socializing & Exchange: FROG ONLINE LOUNGES remain open.

FROG 2021 |Chairs

Center for Applied Game Studies, Danube University Krems:

  • Natalie Denk
  • Alexander Pfeiffer
  • Nikolaus König
  • Thomas Wernbacher
  • Simon Wimmer
  • Herbert Rosenstingl (Bundeskanzleramt)
  • Alesha Serada (University of Vaasa)