Date: 19 - 20 August 2025

Location: Beijing Normal-Hong Kong Baptist University, Zhuhai, China

Website: https://inc2025.com/

Please submit extended abstracts to incbnbu@gmail.com

Organized by Department of Communication, Faculty of Humanity and Social Sciences, BNBU; Co-Sponsored by IAMCR

Beijing Normal-Hong Kong Baptist University (BNBU), in collaboration with the International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR), invites the submission of extended abstracts for the Interactive Narratives Conference 2025. This conference will be held in Zhuhai, China, from 19 to 20 August 2025.

The central theme is Narrative Convergence: Technology and Culture. We aim to explore the intersections of media technologies, cultural representations, and artificial intelligence, and examine their impact on digital storytelling.

In the past decade, China’s video game industry has become a transformative force within the global digital landscape. From the rise of esports to pioneering innovations in game design and publishing, China’s contributions are reshaping how interactive media intersects with technology, cultural heritage, and narrative experimentation. Building on critical discussions of gaming’s socio-cultural impact, this conference invites scholars, practitioners, and creatives to interrogate China’s evolving role in digital culture through the lens of interactive storytelling.

We also warmly welcome submissions that explore these themes in diverse global contexts. We encourage sharing insights from various regions, fostering a rich, comparative dialogue on how technology and culture intersect in interactive narratives worldwide.

Zhuhai, a city at the crossroads of China’s tech ambitions and cultural soft power in the Greater Bay Area, has a history of cultural exchanges that dates back thousands of years, serving as an ideal intersection for this conference. Emerging technologies and cultures from different regions collide here, and innovations abound. Hosted in Zhuhai and organized by BNBU, this conference aims to foster critical conversations about games as sites of global negotiation: where local traditions, media technologies, and hybrid identities converge.

We seek contributions that explore how interactive narratives negotiate tensions between tradition and modernity, human and artificial intelligence, and localized creativity and globalized markets. How do interactive narratives reimagine the classics through cutting-edge technology and cultural authenticity, redefine China’s position in transnational media ecosystems? What might Chinese game design, with its unique fusion of historical narratives and AI-driven innovation, reveal about the future of storytelling, identity, and player engagement?

Special Panel: Black Myth: Wukong

There will be a special panel focusing on Black Myth: Wukong, analyzing its narrative strategies, cultural representations, technological innovations, and its significance in the context of both global and local gaming cultures. Papers exploring various dimensions of this groundbreaking title, including its use of traditional myths, historical reinterpretations, technical storytelling methods, and its impact on Chinese game development and international reception, are highly encouraged.

Keynote Speakers

Dr. Peter Nelson: From Audience to Player: Transforming Media Walls into Game Spaces

Dr. Peter Nelson is an Assistant Professor at Hong Kong Baptist University where he is working on research projects that span player-generated content, landscape encoding using Generative Adversarial Networks and the ontology of the digital image. He has exhibited his artworks widely, including projects with HanArt TZ Gallery (Hong Kong), The National Palace Museum (Taiwan), The Sichuan Fine Art Academy Museum (Chongqing), the K11 Art Foundation (Hong Kong) and HowArt Museum (Shanghai) and is a regular contributor to the Philosophy of Computer Games Conference and DiGRA.

More speakers to be confirmed soon.

Topics

Submissions may explore, but are not limited to, the following areas:

1.AI and Procedural Storytelling

· AI-driven narrative design and player agency

· Ethical implications of AI in culturally specific contexts

· Localized vs. globalized AI frameworks in Chinese narratives

2.Cultural Heritage and Historical Adaptation

· Reinterpretations of classical literature, mythology, or history

· Tensions between cultural preservation and innovation in interactive media

· Case studies on mythopoeia, visual aesthetics, and gameplay mechanics

3.Media, Identity, and Globalization

· Interactive narratives for soft power and cultural diplomacy

· Representation of Chinese identity in global gaming markets

· Comparative analyses of video games from different regions

4.Creative Practices and Industry Dynamics

· Grassroots innovation (fan creations, like mods, fan fiction, cosplay) and indie game development

· Policy impacts on narrative design

· Esports, streaming, and participatory storytelling

5.Humanity and Societal Impact

· Narratives of escapism, addiction, and mental health

· Games as fields for negotiating modernity and tradition

· Community-driven storytelling and fan cultures

6.Special Panel: Black Myth: Wukong

· Cultural authenticity and mythopoeia

· Local industry impact and global reception

· Player communities and participatory culture

Submission Guidelines

For this conference, we welcome extended abstracts to be the contribution. The suggested length is 600 to 1000 words, including a title page and main text. Only key references should be included.

Extended abstracts must clearly articulate the contribution of the work to the field of interactive narrative, highlighting interactive narrative as cultural, technical, and social phenomena. Submissions may describe completed work, work in progress, or research proposals.

Please submit extended abstracts to incbnbu@gmail.com

All submissions will be peer-reviewed. The title page should include the full list of authors including names, contact information and affiliations of each. Please ensure any identifying information is removed from the main text of extended abstracts.

Authors cannot submit more than two extended abstracts. No author’s name should appear on more than two abstracts.

Languages

This conference accepts submissions in English only.

Deadlines and Key Dates

· Submission deadline: 20 July 2025 (23:59 UTC+8)

· Announcement of results: 1 August 2025

· Conference dates: 19 - 20 August 2025

Conference Hosts

In a groundbreaking full-scale collaboration in higher education between the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong, Beijing Normal-Hong Kong Baptist University (BNBU) was established in 2005. Situated in Zhuhai City within the thriving Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, BNBU stands as the first modern university in the Chinese mainland to champion a liberal arts education. BNBU is committed to enriching the higher education landscape and fostering students who possess professional acumen, whole-person development, a deep understanding of China and a global outlook.

This conference is co-sponsored by the International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR). The IAMCR promotes media and communication research throughout the world, addressing socio-political, technological, policy and cultural processes. The strong academic and professional experience of its members and their diverse geographical and cultural origins are the main strengths of the association.