The enormous popularity of arcade, computer, console, online and mobile phone games is having a dynamic effect on screen-based culture. The Plaything Symposium was a major international conference over three days, presented in partnership with Sydney University’s Sydney College of the Arts and the School of English, Art History, Film and Media and the Arts Informatics Program. The program included a series of presentations by key academics, game developers and artists and focuses on current and future trends in the field of digital games, exploring gameplay, avatars, gender, war
games, immersion, diversity and independent game development.