DOUBLE GAME PHILOSOPHY CONFERENCE

The Centre for Media Philosophy at the Institute of Philosophy, St. Petersburg State University, in collaboration with the Game Philosophy Network, have come together to organize a double conference on philosophical issues raised by computer games.

The 13th International Philosophy of Computer Games Conference, "The Aesthetics of Computer Games" (Oct 21-24), will explore various philosophical issues in thinking about the aesthetics of games and gameplay, whilst "Computer Games as Interfaces to Media Reality" (Oct 21-25) will address issues that spring from considering computer games to be “experience machines” for the modification of sensibility, thought, and imagination. Our aim is to provide a meeting place for scholars of media philosophy and game philosophy in order to inspire future investigations into the commonalities and differences between these approaches.

Please see the sections for each conference on this site for contact information, call for papers, submission procedures, and final programs. Both of the conferences are based on double-blind peer review. The opening day for the double conference (Oct 20) is dedicated to workshops and panels for both of the constituent conferences.

There is no conference fee for either conference, but participants from some countries must pay a visa fee.

Location

Both of the conferences are held at the Institute of Philosophy, St. Petersburg State University.

Address: Mendeleevskaya line, 5.

About 15 minutes by foot from the Saint Petersburg Metro station "Vasileostrovskaya" (line 3) or "Sportivnaya-2" (line 5).

Interactive Metro Map

VISA information

Please note that you may need to obtain a visa to enter Russia.

If you need a visa you should apply for it at the Russian consulate in your country or at the visa service (the most popular is VisaGlobal). All visa services have an additional fee.

St. Petersburg State University provides attendees with an invitation letter, which helps to obtain the humanitarian visa. Normally the costs of the humanitarian visa is less than the tourist or business one (for instance, for German and Polish citizens the humanitarian visa is free if they apply for it in the consulate).

The cost of visas varies from country to country. Here is a list of some countries.

All the information concerning the visa costs and the processing time (normally it takes from 4 to 20 days, depending on the country) is available here: https://www.vfsglobal.com. If you have any questions concerning visas, do not hesitate to contact Alina Latypova (latypova.al@gmail.com).

Attendees from the following countries do not need to obtain a Russian visa:

Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Ukraine.
Citizens of the countries of the CIS (the Commonwealth of Independent States) are permitted to stay in the Russian Federation for up to 90 days without a visa.

Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Israel, Nicaragua, Peru, Venezuela.
Citizens of these countries are allowed to stay in the Russian Federation without a visa for up to 90 days in each 180-day period, provided they will not be involved in any commercial or work-related activities during their stay.

Cuba, Montenegro, Serbia (with biometric passport), Thailand, Hong Kong SAR (up to 14 days), Macao SAR.
Citizens of the countries in this group can stay in the Russian Federation for up to 30 days without a visa. They are not entitled to work while in Russia.

Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia.
Citizens of these Balkan countries can also stay in Russia without a visa for up to 30 days, but must also show tourist documents (tourist confirmation and tourist voucher) or an official invitation to immigration officials.

Please note that for Russian tourist VISA you do not neet to do HIV-test. More information is here: http://hivtravel.org/Default.aspx?PageId=143&CountryCode=RU

Accommodation

In St. Petersburg you may find a variety of hotels, hostels, appartment, etc. We suggest to use the following services: booking.com, aibnb, etc.

The nearest hotel to the department is "Solo Sokos Hotel Palace Bridge", the price for night in October is about €96 or $107 (double room).

The mini-hotel "Talismas", V.О., 15th line, 76 (15-20 minutes by foot from the department), kindly gives a discount for the participants of the conference. The regular price for night in October is about €55 or $62 (single room) and €68 or $77 (double room). For the further information about the discount please contact Alina Latypova latypova.al@gmail.com. The official website of the hotel: http://ht-spb.com/.

Inclusivity statement

The organizers of the Double Game Philosophy Conference are committed to supporting diversity and inclusivity. We advocate for an environment that includes the presence and contributions of all people regardless of their gender, sex, sexual orientation, age, culture, abilities, ethnic origin, marital status, nationality, race, religion, language, disciplinary background, or socioeconomic status.

It is the responsibility of all attendees to ensure a safe environment for all participants. We ask our attendees to be considerate, respectful to other participants, and mindful of their speech and behaviour. This includes, but is not limited to:

  • Asking respectful questions and not dominate a presenter’s question time;
  • Being generous and patient in comments and questions;
  • Avoid language that is racist, homophobic, sexist, classist, cissexist, ableist etc.;
  • Actively include all attendees in social gatherings, particularly for whom English is not a first-language and junior students;
  • Respect the wishes of people who do not want to be photographed or appear in photos;
  • Explicit mentions and displays of individuals on open social media without their consent.

Enforcement

Participants asked to stop any harassing or harmful behaviour are expected to comply immediately. If they ignore these guidelines, continue their disrespectful behavior, or repeatedly disrupt the conference, they will be required to leave the space.

If you see people behaving inappropriately, if someone is making you uncomfortable, if someone else is being made unsafe, or if you have any other concerns, please bring it to the attention of our representatives Feng Zhu (feng.zhu@kcl.ac.uk) and/or Alina Latypova (latypova.al@gmail.com, +79117093206), and allow us to respond to the situation. You can do this in person, but also feel free to contact us via e-mail or telephone.

Organizers

gpn mediaphilosophy liki