International Conference

Sustainable Futures at Play:

Aesthetics, Ethics, and Ecologies of Sustainable Development in Games

21–23 October 2026, Tübingen

Preliminary Program

Organizers: Jana Hecktor, Martin Hennig, Theresa Krampe

Sustainable development, understood as a holistic concept that integrates ecological, economic, and social dimensions, is one of the defining challenges of the 21st century. While it certainly engages the natural and technical sciences, it is also a core concern for the humanities, arts, and media, which are instrumental in shaping, circulating, and contesting narratives and imaginaries of sustainable development in the present and for the future. Videogames occupy a unique position within this landscape of media-textual narratives and sensory-affective experiences. Not only do they negotiate prevalent concerns around climate change and sustainable development within their storyworlds, but they also allow players to interact with complex simulated systems, inviting playful explorations of interconnected ecological, economic, and social networks that are difficult to access through “traditional” media. At the same time, as material and/or digital artifacts, games are themselves implicated in practices of resource extraction, energy consumption, and (technological) waste that warrant critical scrutiny, while also affording unique opportunities to develop best-practice solutions for a more responsible media industry.

Recognizing the need for transdisciplinary approaches to fully grasp the complex entanglements at the intersections of games, gaming, and sustainable development, our conference brings together internationally leading scholars in game studies and media studies with experts in game design, sustainability, and related fields. It features contributions on a wide variety of topics concerning the aesthetics, ethics, and practices of sustainable development in and around digital as well as non-digital games, alongside alternative formats such as a roundtable and a policy jam.

Wednesday, 21 October 2026 Venue: Großer Senat / Kleiner Senat, Geschwister-Scholl-Platz, 72074 Tübingen
13:00	Arrival, Registration, and Coffee
13:30–14:30	Welcome Address Thomas Potthast, University of Tübingen
	Introductory Remarks
14:30–14:45	Coffee Break
14:45–16:00	Panel 1: Playing and Making Games The Energetics of Play Alenda Y. Chang, University of California, Santa Barbara Planetary Play: Game Making with Care for the Planet Ruth Dorothea Eggel, Cologne Game Lab & Sonja Fizek, Cologne Game Lab
16:00–16:30	Coffee Break
16:30–18:15	Panel 2: Industry Building Sustainability Alliances During Difficult Times: Interdisciplinary Lessons from International Sustainability Networks in the Game Industry Thorsten Busch, ZHAW Zurich & Florence Chee, Loyola University Chicago Game Jams for Sustainability: Industry Mentorship and Collaborative Brainstorming in Co-Creative Game Design Activities Luke West, University of Tübingen Industry Talk 3: TBA
19:00	Dinner (self-pay) Venue: TBA

Thursday, 22 October 2026 Venue: Großer Senat / Kleiner Senat, Geschwister-Scholl-Platz, 72074 Tübingen
09:30–10:45	Panel 3: AI Generative AI in Game Design – An Ethical Reflection Jana Hecktor, University of Tübingen Games & AI Talk 2: TBA
10:45–11:15	Coffee Break
11:15–12:30	Panel 4: Analysis I Reading Sustainability: Semiotic Analyses of Eco-Aesthetics in Contemporary Game Culture Martin Hennig, University of Tübingen The Implicated Ludic Subject: Deconstructing Narrative and Procedural Rhetorics of Sustainability Jan-Noël Thon, Osnabrück University
12:30–13:30	Lunch
13:30–14:45	Panel 5: Analysis II “Disease vectors. Internet of flesh. Biomimicry”: Characters as More-Than-Human Assemblages in Indie Games Theresa Krampe, University of Tübingen Always beginning anew – Hannah Arendt's theory of action and political-ecological crises in digital games Lars Dolkemeyer, Berlin
14:45–15:00	Coffee Break
15:00–16:15	Panel 6: Board Games / Histories (hybrid) Ludic sustainability in the 1980s/1990s: Environmental Board Games as Historical Roots of Today's Eco Games Peter Podrez, Cologne University Composing the Future: Eco-Games Beyond 18XX Steven Gotzler, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
16:15–16:30	Coffee Break

16:30–18:30	Roundtable: Accessibility Sustaining Situated Knowledge: How Disabled Gamer Communities Shape Accessibility Markus Spöhrer, University of Tübingen En-/Disabling Analog and Digital Play for Sustainability Claudius Clüver, University of Siegen
18:30	Finger Food and Games

Friday, 23 October 2026
09:00–11:30	Policy Jam “Imagine that we, somehow, made it happen!”: An Exploration of Pathways towards Systemic Sustainability in and through Games Patrick Prax, Uppsala University
11:30–11:45	Coffee Break
11:45–12:30	Future Collaborations (Funding Applications & Publications)

Pre-Conference Programm

Tuesday, 20 October: Pre-Conference Day Creathon Event

Venue: Doblerstraße 25, 72074 Tübingen

Organizer: Justine Valiergue (didactic support: Luke West)