"Game Labs at Universities" Calls for Better Games Research and Interdisciplinarity

The "Game Labs at Universities" network has responded to a position paper from the game association, which sets out proposals to make Germany "the best games location" for science, research and teaching. The members of the network are concerned that games should receive more attention in education policy, that funding structures need to be reformed and that games should not only be seen as an economic factor.

The network "Game Labs an Hochschulen" (Game Labs at Universities), which brings together actors at German universities who operate or plan infrastructure facilities for games research and teaching, has commented on the position paper of the game - the German Games Industry Association (published in August 2023). In this position paper, the association analyses and criticises the current situation of computer games research and teaching in Germany and derives demands from this.

"We fundamentally agree with the view of the game association that games need more attention, especially in the field of education policy. In order to consolidate pioneering research and teaching in this area in the long term, a reform of the funding structures is necessary," the statement reads, but it also stresses that the position paper defines digital games too narrowly as drivers of innovation and powerful cutting-edge technology. "As a cultural good, games go far beyond the technical aspect," the network says. Therefore, comprehensive funding of research and education must cover the technical, economic and cultural aspects of games.

In principle, the network explicitly agrees with the association's call for more and better equipped professorships in games-related research and teaching. "In our opinion, however, these professorships must be broadly diversified in order to be able to connect with the existing depth of current research and the highly specialised methodological knowledge of established departments. We only partially support the establishment of an independent scientific discipline of 'games' or the creation of a separate DFG department [DFG: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft / German Research Foundation] for games, as demanded by game: We see these as individual components of a broader structural improvement that could put Germany at the forefront of the global development of 'game studies'."

The network draws the following conclusion: "In closing, we as the "Game Labs at Universities" network would like to emphasise that our own work pursues the same goal as that formulated by the game association in its position paper: to make Germany one of the best locations for science, research and teaching in the field of games. Our network aims to create structures for this and to consolidate them in the long term. To this end, we would like to enter into the necessary dialogue with representatives of the game association and other interest groups."

The full version of the statement is available online (in German) at https://netzwerk-gamelabs.de.

Never miss anything from the German, Swiss and Austrian games industry again: subscribe for free to our Daily newsletter and get all news straight to your inbox.