Remakes of old games and gaming consoles have become popular in Australia, leading local designers to embrace nostalgia in their advertising. But this proliferation of the past has uncovered further truths about Australians and gaming – their need for collective, meaningful experiences.
Dr Mark Johnson is a senior lecturer in Digital Cultures in the Discipline of Media and Communications at the University of Sydney. He is the Co-Director of the University of Sydney Game and Play Lab and a global leading authority on the website Twitch.tv, game live streaming, and live streaming more generally. He has published extensively on these topics, as well as on esports and competitive gaming and the gamblification of digital games. Alongside his academic research, Dr Johnson is also an independent game developer, a regular games blogger and podcaster, and a commentator on gaming news in radio, print, and television. He is best known outside the academy as the developer of the roguelike game Ultima Ratio Regum, and he regularly tweets about game research and game design from mrj_games.
Sharang Biswas is a New York City-based game designer, writer, and artist. He is also an adjunct professor at New York University and Fordham University with a concentration in role-playing, interactive storytelling and immersive theatre.
Professor Andy Miah, PhD (@andymiah), is Chair of Science Communication and Future Media at the University of Salford. Author of 10 books and over 150 academic articles, Professor Miah has been at the forefront of debates about how humanity is moving beyond conventional evolutionary processes and towards evolution by technology. His recent works have focused on artificial intelligence, esports, digital health, and the metaverse. Prof Miah has also been interviewed and written for media around the world, including The Washington Post, The Guardian, The Independent, and The Times. He has given over 300 major invited conference presentations over the last decade, at which he is often invited to speak about the future.
Evan E. Lambert is a journalist, travel writer, essayist, and short fiction writer with bylines at Thought Catalog, Business Insider, Mic, People, Queerty, BuzzFeed, Going, The Discoverer, and many more. You can check out his other work at https://evanlambert.journoportfolio.com/.
