Since 2018, academics and scholars have gathered in Ropecon’s Academic Seminar to discuss their research and present their papers to their peers in gaming studies. 

The seminar is a “working paper” event, and we encourage submissions from both papers and studies that are early in their conception as well as those that are in their final phases – both can benefit from the peer discussion. 

Ropecon’s Academic Seminar is organized in cooperation with The Finnish Society for Game Research (Suomen pelitutkimuksen seura) 

Join us!

All academics and those interested in non-digital game research are welcome to the Academic Seminar at Ropecon. If you are interested in interdisciplinary research related to non-digital games or if you are a researcher in the field, you are welcome to join us! The Academic Seminar will be held at Messukeskus just before the start of Ropecon on Friday, July 25th, starting at 9:00 AM. You can purchase a ticket for the Academic Seminar along with a Ropecon ticket or separately from the tickets page.

Programme

The Academic Seminar program begins at Messukeskus on Friday, July 24th at 9:00 AM with morning coffee. After the keynote, there will be a full day of seminar papers covering various aspects of non-digital gaming and different fields of academic research. The seminar will end at the latest by 4:00 PM, just before the start of Ropecon. Since this is a Working Paper style seminar, we will publish the detailed content only for participants.

Tickets

The tickets for the Academic Seminar will be available on Ropecon’s ticket pages once the ticket sales start. You will be able to buy a package of Academic Seminar plus one day at Ropecon or Academic Seminar plus weekend at Ropecon.

Important dates:
Abstract deadline: May 15, 2026
Notification of acceptance: June 3, 2026
Paper deadline: July 10, 2026
Academic Seminar: July 24, 2026