Creating hybrid experiences at the fringes of video games and performance
Right to Roam
by Mona Bozdog and Robin Sloan
70% of women overall and 97% of women in the 18-24 bracket have experienced sexual harassment in public (UN Women UK, 2021). One in two women feel unsafe walking alone after dark in a quiet street near their home as well as in a busy public place, and four out of five women feel unsafe walking alone after dark in a park or other open space (ONS, 2022). It is these frightening statistics, alongside the seemingly daily senseless acts of violence against women walking, that led us to develop Right to Roam, a game about the many inequalities of movement in public spaces.
https://mona-bozdog.itch.io/right-to-roam
Formed in 2014, Abertay Game Lab is a practice-based research group comprised of staff from the School of Design and Informatics at Abertay University in Dundee, Scotland. Our aim is to develop experimental games, applied games, and games-related cultural and public engagement events.
Dr Mona Bozdog is a Lecturer in Immersive Experience Design. Her research is practice-based and focuses on the convergence of contemporary performance practices and videogames. She is interested in designing hybrid forms of storytelling, games which draw from lived experience and social herstory, performative games, mixed-reality and immersive experiences, and games for public spaces and heritage sites.
Prof Robin Sloan is a Professor of Game Design and Culture. He is an artist and game maker with interests in research using game engines, digital art packages, tabletop game design methods, and traditional media. His research tends to explore the aesthetics of games through the critical lenses of media archaeology, technological nostalgia, and the history of gaming cultures.