“Playing with Nostalgia” Guide for Researchers of Game Studies, Nostalgia Studies, Sociology, and Psychology

This internship supports the creation of a comprehensive 80-100 page guide titled “Playing with Nostalgia” by a PhD student intern working in the field of game studies and sociology. The guide has one question: how can we use videogames to inspire people to feel nostalgic for, and thus work to preserve, the future? Research suggests that nostalgia is not regressive, but generative — it can give people a renewed appreciation of what they still have in the present, a critical attitude to history, and a speculation for what the future looks like. Videogames are apt tools since they attract over three generations of players and make serious topics accessible. In tandem with two leading game labs: the Technoculture, Art and Games (TAG) lab at Concordia University, Montreal, and the Centre of Excellence in Game Culture Studies (CoE) in Finland, “Playing with Nostalgia” is intended as a guide for researchers who are working on utilizing videogames to inspire nostalgic reflections about the past and future. The audience for this guide are psychologists, games scholars, nostalgia scholars, and sociologists. Its production is timely given that videogames are made to be nostalgic objects in popular media whilst the generative nostalgia literature is emerging.

Faculty Supervisor:

Mia Consalvo

Student:

Partner:

University of Tampere

Discipline:

Sociology

Sector:

New and Digital Media; Entertainment and Media; Technology

University:

Concordia University

Program: