On Interdisciplinary Embraces in Game Studies

Abstract

That game studies is an interdisciplinary venture is often stated and yet contested. Indeed, the Nordic DiGRA 2023 Conference was held under the theme: Interdisciplinary Embraces. In this editorial to the conference special issues we delve into the history of game studies as interdisciplinary. Through interviews with some key researchers from the Nordic Region (Annika Waern, Espen Aarseth, Frans Mäyrä, Jesper Juul), we explore some meanings and implications of the interdisciplinarity nature of game studies. We suggest that the success of game studies as a “project” lies in its ability to bring together disparate traditions in interdisciplinary efforts while simultaneously building up a core. Game studies today both is and is not interdisciplinary through a disciplinary gravitational core and an interdisciplinary cloud surrounding it.