Beyond the sandboxes and magic circles: Conversations on the pleasure and pain of what it means to engage in the study of games

In this talk, Prof. Dr. Florence Chee will provide an overview to essential debates in games/gaming as they intersect with ethics, law, and policy–along with what it means to research games through academia, industry and government in today’s global regulatory landscape. Through her studies on game culture, to ethics and data, to AI and governance, she tells a story of navigating an industry as it struggles to define itself locally and globally while those in it advance the narrative of pleasure and play across domains. Looking ahead, she asks the audience to consider the ways constituencies may reclaim what it means to truly play meaningfully and ways to resist “getting played.”

Florence M. Chee is Associate Professor of Digital Communication in the School of Communication, Affiliate Faculty in the Department of Computer Science, and Director of the Center for Digital Ethics and Policy (CDEP) at Loyola University Chicago. Internationally and nationally sought out as a speaker, writer, and advisor, her sociotechnical interventions inform and influence decisions made in design, development, and policy arenas. This year, she has been named to the Fulbright Specialist Roster for 2025-2028 and has recently focused on the US and Swiss game industries while serving on grant funded work in Switzerland. Florence Chee is founding director of the Social & Interactive Media Lab (SIMLab) based in Chicago, USA.

Loyola University Chicago Faculty website – https://www.luc.edu/soc/about/facultystaff/profiles/cheeflorence.shtml

Center for Digital Ethics & Policy – https://www.luc.edu/digitalethics

The Social & Interactive Media Lab (SIMLab) – https://simlabchicago.com/

Parking

Parking is available nearby at the University’s Booth Street West car park and the Circle Square multi-storey. Limited on-street pay-and-display bays operate on Grosvenor Street from 8 am–8 pm.