TAG Members Alex Custodio and Andrei Zanescu enthuse the conference-going masses through the magic of Genshin Impact during CGSA 2024.
After a successful impromptu partnership in 2024, the Canadian Game Studies Association Conference is returning to TAG and Milieux from June 7th to 10th, 2025. This year’s conference theme is Breaks:
“To be connected to anyone or any thing opens the possibility of a break. To break is to split one thing into many, and to break causes separations, interruptions, and disruptions. Such moments of rupture can be chosen by us or brought upon us. A break can be an opportunity to stop and reflect, just as it can throw one’s life out of balance and demand immediate action. Can one break an oppressive institution or system before it breaks them? One can “take a break” if they need to rest. What are some things that we need a break from? What factors determine whether we are able to take a break or not? The role of care cannot be discounted here: some breaks are accidental and some things are more fragile than others—things which perhaps cannot afford to be broken. To break from that which harms us can bring us a welcome reprieve, but doing so begs the question of what else we might connect with instead.
What does “breaking free/apart/up” in games look like, and what are the opportunities afforded by breaks as endings (and new beginnings) in games and game culture?
What do game histories tell us about the possibilities and limits of breaks in games?
What kinds of breaks, in the sense of respite and reprieve, might be generative in games? To what extent is “taking a break” with a game/game studies a question of privilege?
What lessons can be learnt from breaking games or game studies? From looking at existing breaks in games? What kinds of breaks can we imagine for better possible futures in games?
What are the limits of breaks in games, and what happens after a break? How do we talk about repair, reconnection, and reformation in this context?”
For capacity reasons, attendance for this event is limited to conference participants and current TAG members. The conference schedule and details about TAG member registration are forthcoming.