News

As part of her ongoing role as Academic Coordinator for the Sustainable Games Alliance, MGC Co-Director Chloé Wake has been building a global network of researchers and institutions committed to advancing sustainability in the games industry. The latest session in the Academic Global Action for a Sustainable Games Industry series is now available to watch — and features colleagues from the University of York.

Report on a recent workshop for third year students based on the Real Engine project developed by MGC member Matteo Polato and Jacopo Bortolussi. The project uses videogame design as a practice-based methodology for analysing and presenting archives in the humanities. This workshop was designed specifically for humanities students that do not have a background in game design, to empower them to approach their research, and how to communicate it to diverse audiences, in new and exciting ways.

Centre member Gabriele Aroni has a new article out in The Conversation: “When players become artists: the rise of in‑game photography”

The symposium ‘Anubis in Contemporary Popular Culture’ aims to examine the reception of ancient Egyptian gods through the case study of the canine deity Anubis. By adopting a focussed examination of an individual god, the symposium aims to explore the different ways that gods are adopted and adapted in diverse media and by different communities.

We're delighted to share that MGC co-directors Paul Wake and Chloé Germaine have joined the board of the Green Games Guide (GGG), the leading open resource for sustainable design in the tabletop games industry.

The GGG has just released version 1.1 of the guide, which expands its materials guidance to cover textiles, metals, and glass — examining labour costs, water use, recyclability, and the environmental impacts of production. Where materials can't be eliminated, the guide highlights lower-impact alternatives such as hemp, recycled cotton, and recycled metals. The update also features new case studies showcasing genuinely innovative sustainable design, from biodegradable packaging to games made with infinitely recyclable wood composite.

We're excited to highlight two complementary Research Associate positions at MMU's School of Digital Arts (SODA) that will interest the games and creative technology community.

The Emote VR Voicer project — funded by the AHRC — is developing a VR application that translates the emotional content of live vocal utterances into morphing 3D animated shapes. Using speech recognition, natural language processing, and sentiment analysis, it sits at a genuinely unusual intersection of AI, interactive design, and wellbeing research. Both roles are part of a small interdisciplinary team of artists, a psychologist, and AI researchers. Prior arts-sector experience isn't required for either post — curiosity and openness to collaboration are.

New article published by MGC member Gabriele Aroni in the volume, Girls’ Positionalities at the Intersection of Identity and Violence, edited by Clara Chapdelaine-Fellciati (Springer, 2026): “Empowered by Play: How Female Players and Developers Shape Female Character Representation in Chinese Video Games” 

This network was born out of the successful Meetup Series of the Sustainable Games Alliance (SGA) called: Academic Global Action for a Sustainable Games Industry: Universities and Institutes Share Best Practices. 

It consists of around 200 academic contacts globally, who are exchanging their current research, upcoming funding calls and best practices during the network meetups and beyond advancing global collaboration for a Sustainable Games Industry. 

The network is headed by SGAs Academic Network Coordinators Chloé Germaine and Patrick Prax, who you can reach out to, if you have any questions.

See the full discussion on the findings of two research projects on the impact of AI on sustainability goals, aiming to equip developers with the knowledge that can help align the use of these technologies with sustainability. This video is a collaboration between STRATEGIES and the Sustainable Games Alliance. Find more industry videos over on their YouTube channel.

What happens when we treat games not as finished products, but as systems to be questioned, dismantled, and remade? A new STRATEGIES report authored by Dr Chloé Germaine and Dr Paul Wake explores game hacking as a powerful pedagogical method for developing critical literacy, sustainability awareness, and design competence.

Artificial intelligence is often discussed in relation to digital games, but its influence on analogue and hybrid play is growing just as quickly. A new report authored by Manchester Game Centre researchers for STRATEGIES offers the most detailed study so far of how AI is being used in board game design, development, and distribution—and what this means for sustainability.

Artificial intelligence is transforming game development — but its environmental and social impacts are still poorly understood. A new report authored by Manchester Game Centre researcher Dr Chloé Germaine, in collaboration with international partners in the STRATEGIES Horizon project, now offers one of the clearest and most comprehensive examinations of the relationship between AI and sustainability in the games industry to date.

Researchers from the University of Plymouth and the Manchester Game Centre, have secured funding for a 2026 workshop that will enable researchers and professionals to discuss the potential of games to help people with autism and other conditions.

Research into the specific positive effects of TTRPGs remains in its infancy. Despite some initial promising findings, we still lack clear explanations for the psychological mechanisms which may explain the ways in which TTRPGs improve well-being. At the Manchester Game Centre, we aim to turn these hypotheses into a strong evidence base to identify the psychological mechanisms behind the observed benefits. To do this, we compare TTRPGs with digital platforms and look at the factors which promote and inhibit well-being

Our PhD researcher Richard Rowlinson, whose doctorate examines the relationship between socio-economic and gender status on games and consumer behaviour, is looking for participants to take part in his research survey.

PhD Funding Opportunities in Game Studies

Manchester Metropolitan University’s Faculty of Arts and Humanities is home to the Doctoral Landscape Awards. This is a funding scheme that provides up to 3x studentships and fees each year.

Proposed projects must be arts and humanities-led, with the majority of methodologies, research questions and outputs (including the PhD) within the AHRC’s remit. 

We invite applications from a range of doctoral pathways, including written theses and professional-practice doctorates. 

The Make/Play symposium will occur in person at Abertay University in Dundee hosted by Abertay Game Lab and the Manchester Game Centre. Hybrid attendance will be supported. Our Call for Papers closes on 31st October. Find out more…..

We invite contributions to the inaugural Rituals of Play ‘Zine, to be published by the Manchester Game Centre and DVRK in December 2025.

• Occulture as Method – using ritual, symbolic systems, and liminal experiences in game design and play.

• Ethics and Responsibility – navigating appropriation, cultural respect, and emotional safety in occult and spiritual practices.

• Gothic and Horror Aesthetics – how the uncanny, the abject, and the horrific shape player experience.

• DIY, Indie, and Subcultural Practices – perspectives from outside the mainstream, sustaining alternative creative economies.

• Speculative and Transformative Futures – ritual and play as tools to imagine different worlds.

Saturday 11th October saw us host our second annual research day dedicated to Games Workshop’s games and worlds at the International Anthony Burgess Foundation in Manchester.

We’re pleased to share this call for contributions on behalf of the research group based at the University of York, Play for the Planet.

Last November, Adinda van’t Klooster attended the Beyond Festival at MediaCity in Salford. Over three days, delegates explored how culture, innovation, and policy can shape the future of urban life.

The programme combined keynote talks, panels and workshops with two major showcases: the Immersive Futures Lab, where visitors experienced prototypes in XR, AR/VR, spatial audio and AI, and the first-ever Creative R&D Expo, spotlighting innovation across the creative industries. MediaCity itself became both venue and case study, with sessions reflecting on how Salford has grown into a global creative hub and what lessons other cities might draw.

On 12–13 June 2025, the Manchester Game Centre hosted Rituals of Play, a two-day symposium curated by the Dark Arts Research Kollective (DVRK) in partnership with the new Dark Play research cluster. The event brought together academics, indie creators, artists, and performers to explore how games and occulture intertwine through ritualized play, gothic and horror aesthetics, subcultural practices, and speculative design. You can now see the presentations over on our YouTube channel and contribute to a forthcoming ‘zine that will explore these ideas further…

We are pleased to announce the publication of a new research article by Manchester Game Centre directors Dr Chloé Germaine and Professor Paul Wake, ‘Curious Games: Game Making, Hacking and Jamming as Critical Practice.’

The past year has been one of growth, creativity, and collaboration for the Manchester Game Centre (MGC). Our 2024–25 Annual Report demonstrates the ways our researchers have been shaping the future of games research at Manchester Met and beyond.

We’re happy to report that The Journal of Pragmatics has published Frazer Heritage’s research on how transgender characters index their identities in videogames. Frazer’s paper uses data from the LGBT Video Game Archive to examine when in videogames characters tell the player (and other characters) that they are trans (and how this is done).

May and June have witnessed a flurry of historical game studies activities across the UK. Here’s a round-up of the events that our Centre lead for Games, History, and Heritage, Jenny Cromwell, has had the joy of participating in this Spring.

My workshop was billed as a world record attempt for the shortest game jam (there is a record for this, but Guiness told me that it was not administered by them).  Essentially, I sat down four groups of four and five participants around piles of game pieces and printed out grids.  After only five minutes of game chat I asked them to simply start playing.  Miraculously, it worked!  People were soon rolling dice, drawing boards, moving pieces around and talking intently.  As a facilitator there was not much for me to do as I saw three of the groups games resolve out of the chaos, the laughter and banter got louder. …