Call for papers:

 

Special Issue of Interacting with Computers on

“HCI Issues in Computer Games”

Guest Editors
Panayiotis Zaphiris & CS Ang, Centre for
HCI Design
City University
London

Note: Reviews of the submitted papers are now in progress. The process is running a bit slow, we anticipate that the outcomes of the review process and decisions of accept/reject will be passed to the authors around mid June.

Computer Games are at the forefront of technological innovation and their popularity in research is also increasing. Their wide presence and use makes Computer Games a major factor affecting the way people socialize, learn and possibly work. Computer Games are also beginning to attract the attention of educators and education technologists.

With this special issue of Interacting with Computers we wish to explore the relationship between Computer Games and Human-Computer Interaction (HCI).  Are current HCI techniques and methodologies appropriate for designing Computer Games? Do we need new Computer Game focused HCI methods, theories and paradigms? What are the new challenges when it comes to evaluating Computer Games?

This special issue of Interacting with Computers is inviting contributions from both the academic community and industry. It will focus on issues surrounding the analysis, design, development and evaluation of Computer Games and the issues surrounding them. Potential topics include (but are not limited to) the following:

* Design approaches and techniques suitable for Computer Games
* Usability studies regarding Computer Games
* Theoretical and/or pedagogical foundations for analysing Computer Games
* Within-game and/or out-game activities and their HCI analysis
* Computer Games and Online Communities
* Social and Cultural Issues and Computer Games
* Accessibility of Computer Games
* Transfer of gaming metaphors to business applications

"Interacting with Computers" is an interdisciplinary journal of Human-Computer Interaction, published by Elsevier. More information about this journal can be found at:

http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/525445/description

IwC special issues contain only 5 - 6 papers, each of no more than 10,000 words (so acceptance will be fairly selective).

Submission:
Papers should be submitted through the manuscript management system at http://ees.elsevier.com/iwc/ by the 10th of April 2006. The style standard is that of the American Psychological Association (APA), more details about which can be obtained from: http://www.wisc.edu/writing/Handbook/DocAPAFormatting.html
Papers should be submitted to the online system with a clear covering note identifying that it is for the 'HCI Issues in Computer Games' special issue.

Important dates:
Full paper submission: 10th April 2006 (Monday)
Response to authors:  
8th May 2006 (Monday) Mid June
Final version of papers:  
5th June 2006 (Monday) Mid July
Planned publication:   September 2006

Dr. Panayiotis Zaphiris (zaphiri@soi.city.ac.uk) and CS Ang
Centre for HCI Design, City University London
Guest Editors
Special issue of Interacting with Computers on HCI  Issues in Computer Games