Arcademia: A Global Game Ecosystem for Learning, Research and Community

Arcademia is an international academic initiative, co-developed by researchers and students at the University of Lincoln and North-West University, that reconceptualises the game jam as the foundation of a sustained learning ecosystem rather than a one-off event. The authors describe a conceptual model with a game jam as an activation mechanism feeding three pillars: teaching and learning, research infrastructure, and community engagement with artefact persistence. The paper is conceptual, grounded in a preliminary implementation case, Arcademia 2026, which involved four universities in two countries: the University of Lincoln, North-West University, the University of Hull, and the University of the Witwatersrand. The event was a 48-hour international game jam in which over one hundred students participated, producing 29 submitted games hosted on a shared itch.io platform. Selected games were prepared for deployment on physical arcade cabinets at participating institutions. Feedback came from a small, self-selected anonymous survey (n = 7), which the authors treat only as early, indicative signals. Among those respondents, mean overall experience was 8.3 out of 10 (range 6-10), and five of seven reported a measurable increase in confidence as a developer or designer. The authors state that systematic, validated evaluation of the model's impact remains future work, with longitudinal studies identified as a priority.