Keynote Speaker

Saturday (5 December), 9:30–10:30
Nick Webber, Nations vs games: what is at stake?

Scholarly interest in the relationship between nation and games is growing, as conferences like this one demonstrate, and attention to a range of national and regional dimensions of this discussion can be found across the academic literature. Nonetheless, as Krawczyk and colleagues (2026) point out, we still don’t really know what a ‘national game’ is, and the subject merits more discussion. Problematically, our current approaches to nation and games are frequently articulated within a series of assumptions. Firstly, we assume we agree on – or at least know – what a nation is; and in particular, we tend to assume that nations are what they tell us they are. Secondly, we assume that relationships between nations and games are important because we tend to assume, much as the conference call suggests, that there are such things as distinct national cultures, and that games that engage with these cultures are not only identifiable but are also in some way meaningful.

In this talk, then, I will step back from these assumptions to explore some questions that underpin our studies of nations and games. What are the nations that these studies, these explorations, evoke? Why does it matter that we call a national game a national game? Who loses from that decision/claim, and who gains? Why do we care about the relationship between nations and games? And what is at stake when we do?

Nick Webber is Professor of Game Studies, and Director of the Centre for English and Media Research at Birmingham City University, UK. A historian by background, his research focuses on (video)games, cultural history and identity. He is co-convenor of the Historical Games Network, and researcher co-lead on the UKRI-funded project Past, Present and Futures of Historical Games, led by Esther Wright. His recent work explores the historical practices of player and fan communities, the impact of games and virtual worlds on our understanding of the past, and the relationship between national cultural policy and video games.