On Interdisciplinary Embraces in Game Studies

This editorial, by Lina Eklund, Björn Sjöblom and Jon Back, was published in the Transactions of the Digital Games Research Association (July 29, 2024, Vol. 6 No 3, pp. vii-xxv). It introduces a double special issue based on the 2023 Nordic DiGRA conference, held in Uppsala under the theme "Interdisciplinary Embraces." The authors interviewed four Nordic game studies scholars: Annika Waern, Espen Aarseth, Frans Mäyrä and Jesper Juul. They trace game studies from its emergence as a distinct field in the early 2000s, describe how it drew on many disciplines, and discuss tensions between interdisciplinary openness and disciplinary identity.

The authors argue that game studies both is and is not interdisciplinary, describing a disciplinary gravitational core surrounded by an interdisciplinary cloud. The 2023 conference had 37 presentations, and the special issue contains thirteen original studies, an editorial and a post-script. Authors describe a conference that was inclusive of many traditions, with respect and kindness as stated values.

The editorial notes that the field's success lies in bringing together disparate traditions while building a core. It also states that technically oriented research is largely missing from the issue, and that interdisciplinarity competes with pressures from established disciplines.