DiGRA India 2022 Conference – Digital Games Research Association, India

Following the recent spurt of activity around Indian Science Fiction or Speculative Fiction, a genre that was largely relegated to the fringes of intellectual discussion has now emerged in its own right in both philosophical and pedagogical terms. With what used to be confined to Indian languages now entering the domain of English, many interesting perspectives are being explored, especially in postcolonial and decolonial paradigms. Bodhisattva Chattopadhyay describes kalpavigyan, an Indian neologism for science fiction that seems to have a Sanskrit etymology but is indeed a very new cultural construct. Although, as Adrienne Shaw comments, there is no special word for gamers and gaming in Indian languages, videogames have also started enjoying unprecedented popularity in India in recent times. In many cases, there is also an overlap between the genres as scholars such as Pawel Frelik, David Mead and Neil Tringham have demonstrated. Very little, however, has been done in exploring the connections between science fiction and videogames in India and this year’s DiGRA India Conference wishes to address this gap in research. We welcome abstracts on any aspect connecting science fiction and videogames (preferably but not necessarily related to Indian science fiction and videogames). Topics may include but not be restricted to the following: Science fiction and videogames in Indian culture;
Reading gender, sexuality, caste, and religion in science fiction and video games in India;Strategy games and science fiction; Representations of empire in science fiction;Science fiction, videogames and the Anthropocene; Horror, science fiction, and videogames;Alternate history and videogames;Imagined futures in videogames

Videogames, Science Fiction and India