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MISSION

The Video Game Studies Scholarly Interest Group (VGSSIG) serves as the official home of game studies and game design for the Society for Cinema and Media Studies (SCMS). Since its establishment in 2008, the VGSSIG has supported a diverse group of scholars and media professionals in critical study and creative engagement with games, gaming histories, and playing practices that approach games as media texts, as technological artifacts, as commercial products, and as sites of cultural negotiation. Consequently, the many theories and methodologies present among the work of VGSSIG members reflect the expansive and interdisciplinary nature of critical inquiry into theories, histories, and cultures of games and gaming technologies of all kinds (analog, digital, video, computer, board, etc.), forms of play, and their significance.

The efforts of the VGSSIG further a key objective of SCMS: to bring together the various areas of media scholarship that fall under the purview of the SCMS, and in so doing, to facilitate their development as well as interactions among them. We seek to accomplish this with a central focus on games by: 

• Providing a forum in which game studies scholars and designers can discuss their work, organize panels and workshops for each year’s conference, and work together to accomplish the goals and objectives of the group
• Fostering awareness of game studies and game design related issues, which overlap with other areas of media studies, and to encourage new research and scholarship in these areas
• Organizing and scheduling a yearly meeting at the SCMS conference to formulate more specific programs and plans that address the evolving needs of the group
• Working with the Executive Committee and each year’s Conference Program Committee as a source of game studies and game design related expertise
• Supporting the Journal of Cinema and Media Studies and other publications in increasing inclusion of game studies and game design scholarship
• Encouraging international membership and participation in SCMS for scholars in other countries and from other organizations engaging in game studies and game design research
• Exploring the definition of game studies itself as a field by expanding its relationship with other media and areas of media studies as well as domains of cultural and historical inquiry
• Acknowledging and recognizing the important work that is being done in our field, spreading awareness to other disciplines and areas, as well as working towards establishing relationships with media industry personnel, critics, reviewers, and policy groups.