Sustainable Futures at Play: Aesthetics, Ethics, and Ecologies of Sustainable Development in Games

01.03.2026 bis 31.12.2026

The following guiding questions structure our exploration of the narrative/aesthetic, ethical,
material, and ecological dimensions of sustainable development in and around games:
1) How do games represent sustainable development and its intersecting ecological,
social, and economic dimensions?
2) How do the material conditions of game design and play intersect with these
representations of sustainable development?
3) How can we productively link the narratological study of games with other disciplines
such as ethics, the social sciences, and design as well as with “practice” to further our
understanding of complex, multimodal, and culturally situated texts?
To systematically discuss these research questions, our conference engages with SD in
games along three main perspectives, or focus areas. While these perspectives also inform
the arrangement of panels, they are by no means treated as separate. Quite the contrary, we
are particularly interested in their interplay and overlaps.