When: Thursday 30 April, 11:00–13:00 (including a 15-minute break)
Where: Advanced Research Centre (ARC), Room 237C, or online via Teams
Format: Hybrid (email David.MatencioDuran@glasgow.ac.uk to receive the Teams link)

From recreations of Florence Cathedral in the Assassin’s Creed series to reinterpretations of Journey to the West in Black Myth: Wukong, and the playful adaptation of mythological creatures in the Pokémon series, video games have engaged with real-world cultures since their emergence. As one of the most influential cultural media today, video games offer new and interactive ways of experiencing cultural traditions, transforming them into complex and dynamic objects of study.

In this seminar, Dr David Matencio Durán (Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellow, School of Modern Languages and Cultures) and Dr Yujia Flavia Jin (School of Modern Languages and Cultures) will explore why it is important to study cultural influences in video games, which aspects of culture are mobilised as sources of inspiration, and how these elements are represented across different gaming contexts.

The event offers an accessible introduction for those new to game studies, while also providing space for more advanced discussion. It aims to foster conversation within the university around video games as cultural objects and to encourage future research and collaboration in this area. The session will adopt a hybrid format that blends seminar and roundtable discussion, inviting active dialogue between speakers and participants.