Events

The ethics of in-game behaviours in multiplayer games are under constant negotiation, and new issues continually arise that challenge our moral understandings of these spaces. At the same time, in response to toxic, disruptive and ‘morally disengaged’ gameplay, we see increasing calls for more ethical play and design. However, the elusive and ever-shifting discourses surrounding these spaces make it difficult to know what ‘ethical’ play and design actually looks like in practice.

In this completion seminar. Lucy Sparrow presents findings from her PhD research examining how players and game industry professionals understand and approach the ethics of in-game behaviours in multiplayer digital games. These findings demonstrate players’ wide-ranging and often emotionally volatile ethical views based around values associated with the digital and playful environment. Further, they shed light on the ‘wicked’ problem facing game industry professionals in designing multiplayer games that are simultaneously playful, functional, and ethical. In turn, this work explores the meaning of ethics-driven multiplayer design as an ongoing, agile and reflexive process that both responds to and challenges the ambiguous ludo-moral contexts at play.

**Please note new date Thursday 20 January**

The marrying of mindfulness and the creative process can inspire enhanced visualisation, flow, and awareness, and can be a fertile ground for a fulfilling artistic practice. Whilst the many benefits of mindfulness are well known, incorporating different meditation traditions can transform a meditation practice, as exemplified by the current Presence of Mind exhibition at Gallery Lane Cove which explores how meditation practices from religious and non-religious sources influence creative practice.

For contemplative science, too, meditation has a complex range of techniques, uses, and effects. Meditation not only supports personal and community wellbeing but can enhance creativity in non-artists.

We invite you to join our engaging panel of artists, meditation practitioners, and researchers to explore current research and intimate personal stories about how mindfulness can nurture creativity.

This event is brought to you by the Contemplative Studies Centre, University of Melbourne, and Gallery Lane Cove as part of Presence of Mind’s public program. Presence of Mind is an exhibition supported by the Australian Council for the Arts and Create NSW and is on view at Gallery Lane Cove from 11 December 2021 – 26 February 2022. This event will also be recorded for The Art Show on ABC Radio National.

Image credit: Kath Fries, Hold dear, 2011-2021, (detail view).