1. Leveraging community bases:

As the pandemic forced lab closures, remote work, and stricter security measures, many teams turned toward community based player panels for consistent and secure feedback. What are the best practices for building such a community? What are the dos and don'ts of conducting research this way? The pros, the cons? Bring us your stumbles and your successes.

As well, we are keen on hearing from different perspectives on monitoring or managing toxicity.

2. Advances in research:

Learning from each other is an important facet of this community. Whether it's a new model for existing methods or team dynamics, share with the community what changes have produced your latest and best work.

3. #gamesUR Community:

What new knowledge or perspectives can be revealed in a less formal setting? We encourage anyone or any group of individuals to submit an idea for a fireside chat, a fishbowl, or a roundtable discussion. The more you can involve the audience, the better.

How to Submit

Before you get started, here is some information to keep in mind.

The current call for submissions is for in-person or hybrid presentations at the Summit May 25-26, 2023. You are more than welcome to make multiple submissions.

We believe the games user research community is strengthened by diversity. We want to encourage underserved and underrepresented people to attend the #gamesUR Summit. As we understand and acknowledge that systemic injustices may place unfair economic barriers to participation, we are offering a travel assistance program to encourage undeserved and underrepresented groups, including and not limited to Black, Indigenous, People of Color, Asian-American, Asian, Pacific Islander, and/or disabled speakers to submit talks, as well as anyone else from underrepresented groups.

All submissions will be reviewed by members of the community without submitter's names. Review criteria include: overall quality, novelty & originality, relevance to our audience, adherence to the theme, structure & organization, and clarity of takeaways. The best-reviewed submissions will be accepted and allotted a presentation time during the Summit. Please note that acceptance may be tentative pending any required additions, alterations, or clarifications requested by the Content Committee.

Types of Submissions

• Presentations: Describe completed or ongoing Games User Research work, with clearly defined topics and takeaways for the audience.
• Panels: Discuss a topic of mutual interest from several researchers for which multiple expert perspectives are useful and insightful. Panel proposals are encouraged to consider audience participation, as well as having a panel moderator.
• Roundtables: Openly discuss topics in a more freestyle format than a panel, where everyone in the audience is encouraged to contribute to the topic of the roundtable. Roundtable proposals are encouraged to touch upon topics of broad interest, in either traditional or fishbowl format.
• Back to Basics: Sessions on introductory topics relevant to anyone starting out in the Games User Research community, or more experienced researchers looking to expand their knowledge base in a particular knowledge area. Examples include breakdowns of commonly used methods or the uniqueness of UR in the gaming industry.
• Workshops: Interested in running a workshop on how to perform a particular method? Consider running an interactive workshop where you can help others become familiar with how to enhance their research with new methods or approaches.
• Posters: Present research conducted, including ongoing research or early findings. Posters will have at least 1 presentation time slot.
• Other: Appropriate for content not covered in the formats above. Please be as specific as possible in your proposal to get a clear idea of what you are imagining for your session.

#gamesUR Summit has been running since 2008 and regularly has over 300 attendees from all around the world. Speakers have run the gamut from juniors looking to share an innovative new idea through to thought leaders in the industry providing their invaluable perspective. Speaking at the Summit is a great way to propagate information and share practices to help our discipline grow, but also to make future connections and grow your personal brand as a GUR practitioner in the games industry. It also doesn’t hurt that speakers get a free ticket to attend the Summit!

If you have any questions about submissions, reach out to gamesursummit@gmail.com.