Hi all,

Thanks for coming out to THATCamp IMMERSe this past weekend. Although our attendance ended up being a bit lower than expected, those of you who were there helped to make the Games Institute’s first THATCamp a great success! One final thing I’d like to ask you to do is fill out this brief evaluation survey put together by THATCamp HQ: www.surveymonkey.com/s/thatcampeval. Only two answers are required, and you can include as much or little detail as possible. Your responses will be anonymized and made publicly available on thatcamp.org for past, present and future THATCamp organizers so that we can continue to make THATCamp more fun, productive and collegial for all!

Thanks again and enjoy the rest of your summer!

Lauren

Today’s unconference schedule is up over on the Schedule page. We had a lower turnout for scheduling this morning, so stay tuned for possible changes and/or additions as people join us throughout the day!

Step 1: Connect to the following Wireless Network Connection (SSID): Campus_Guest

Network Security Key: CIGIP0wer

Step 2: Open your Internet browser and expect the Web authentication page. Use the following credentials:

User Name: cigiguest

Password: thinktank

The schedule for THATCamp IMMERSe 2013 has been posted as of July 1st. We’ll be filling in the TBAs and updating it with more information before we kick things off on the 12th, so keep an eye on the schedule (or our Twitter feed!) for updates!

Registration has been extended till July 1st. (Tell your friends!) We’ll be posting a tentative (un)schedule in the next couple of weeks, so check back soon for some exciting announcements!

Registration for THATCamp IMMERSe is officially open! It will remain open until JUNE 15th or until all available spots are full. Visit our registration page to get yourself signed up today! Once you’re registered, you should also check out our call for workshop leaders and call for games.

On Sunday, July 14th, we’ll be mixing things up with a public gaming event hosted by The Games Institute at THEMUSEUM in downtown Kitchener. “Campers Only” activities will be running alongside a public showcase of AAA and indie games, as well as those made by academics and amateurs. And we need YOU to help make it better! If there is anything you’d like to contribute to this one-day public showcase, either games you’ve made or games you love to play, we’re open to including just about anything. If we get enough interest from our attendees, we’ll set up a whole separate section for THATCampers’ games.

If you’re interested in contributing to the games showcase, please contact us at thatcampimmerse [at] gmail [dot] com with the subject line “Museum Gaming Event” and the following information:

• Your name and affiliation
• Title of game
• Brief description of game
• A/V and any other requirements (including tables) needed for showcase

Deadline: July 1st

This particular event is still in the early planning stages, but if you have any questions, concerns, comments or ideas on how to make this thing a smashing success, don’t hesitate to contact us.

THATCamp IMMERSe will hold a multi-track series of games workshops on Friday, July 12th at the Centre for International Governance Innovation in UpTown Waterloo. These workshops will be scheduled well in advance of THATCamp IMMERSe, but this does not prohibit you from volunteering to teach something during a Saturday session, or even put in a plea for someone else to teach something you’ve always wanted to learn but is not offered on our slate of officially designated workshops. For further information about THATCamp workshops, you can check out our Workshops page.

If you would like to propose a workshop, please email thatcampimmerse [at] gmail [dot] com with the subject line “Workshop Proposal” and the following information:

• Workshop Title
• Workshop Description
• Presenter(s) Name and Affiliation
• Presenter(s) Bio(s) (less than 300 words)
• A/V requirements

Deadline: June 15th

Greetings, campers! As of this afternoon, we’ve reserved our main venue spaces and just need to finalize a few more key details before opening up registration on April 1st! I know we’ve been quiet for a while, so I’d like to give you all an update on what we have planned so far…

We’ve booked a different venue for each day of THATCamp IMMERSe. This arrangement gives campers a chance to see more of what both “UpTown” Waterloo and downtown Kitchener have to offer, and to partake in fun gaming and social events sponsored by The Games Institute, THEMUSEUM, and Kitchener City Hall. Most of our THATCamp activities will be held in downtown Kitchener, within an easy walking distance of both recommended hotels and the main transit hubs. Events on Friday July 12th will be held in UpTown Waterloo, approximately 10 minutes up the road by car or bus.

So here’s what’s on the agenda:

• July 12th: Workshops will be held at the Centre for International Governance Innovation, located at 57 Erb Street West in UpTown Waterloo.
  
• July 13th: Unconference sessions will be held at Kitchener City Hall, located at 200 King Street West in downtown Kitchener.
• July 14th: A public showcase and gaming event, as well as a private THATCamp Design Lab, will be held at THEMUSEUM, located at 10 King Street West in downtown Kitchener. Admission to this event will be covered by The Games Institute, but THEMUSEUM will also be offering discounted tickets to their other summer exhibits.

Details about social events and a few other surprises will be updated as soon as we know more.

Registration for THATCamp IMMERSe 2013 will begin on APRIL 1st. It will remain open until JUNE 15th or until all available spots are full.

Before you register for THATCamp IMMERse 2013, please note:

• The dates and location of the event: July 12-14, 2013 in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario.
• We can accommodate no more than 100 people. We encourage you to register as soon as possible, but please do not register unless you know for sure that you are able to participate.
• To attend, you need to complete and submit a brief registration application. Once you’re accepted, you will receive a message confirming your registration.  If you decide that you can no longer attend, please let us know so we may give the seat to another participant.
• To keep up with THATCamp IMMERSe news, you might want to follow @thatcampimmerse and the #thatcamp hashtag on Twitter.

THATCamp IMMERSe is an unconference hosted by the University of Waterloo Games Institute, in partnership with the IMMERSe Research Network for Videogame Immersion, and inspired by THATCamp Games. THATCamp IMMERSe was founded as a way to bring together theorists and practitioners of game studies and the digital humanities, game developers and designers, games enthusiasts and advocates, and humanities instructors and scholars interested in games, pedagogy, and player experience. THATCamp IMMERSe serves as a space for those from all sides of the field to engage in challenging and meaningful conversation in hopes of learning from one another.

We invite games scholars, students, developers, designers, and enthusiasts interested in the confluence of games and the digital humanities to join us for a weekend this July to discuss, debate, create, and play.

THATCamp IMMERSe 2013 will be held in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario from July 12th-14th. It will feature workshops, unconference sessions, dork shorts, a design jam, gaming events and more!

Great! But what does “IMMERSe” mean?

From IMMERSe-Network.com:

The Interactive and Multi-Modal Experience Research Syndicate (IMMERSe) is a new project funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), Canada’s primary federal agency for social science and humanities research. IMMERSe brings together researchers from different games-related fields to uncover new insights into player experience and new strategies for improving it.

IMMERSe will expand on and apply new and existing knowledge of the gameplay experience to advance the fields of game studies and game development. The research network will connect and create relationships between stakeholders, expand opportunities for innovative scholarship at the universities associated with IMMERSe, and train highly qualified people to work in this growing field.

There’s a new THATCamp being planned! The University of Waterloo Games Institute will be hosting THATCamp IMMERSe from July 12th-14th, 2013 in Kitchener, Ontario. Further details will be published here shortly. You can also follow us on Twitter for the latest updates!

Meanwhile, read more about the THATCamp movement and browse other THATCamps at thatcamp.org.