On the 18th of November, our PhD candidates Maarten Denoo and Eva Grosemans were invited by Arts & Publics, a Brussels-based, non-profit organization centering on cultural mediation, to present their PhD topics to future cultural mediation professionals specializing in digital culture. Indeed, Arts & Publics offers a training course called NUMBERS and introducing young people to this quite new profession. In this framework, trainees learn how to use, develop and discuss video games, but also how to share digital culture with various audiences. For these future workers in the field of digital culture, Maarten's and Eva's research topics, namely the so-called dark patterns in the design of games and adolescents' reactions to gambling advertisement, are both examples of crucial issues to be addressed with their future audiences.
After a short presentation of Gam(e)(a)ble and their own contribution to it, Maarten and Eva answered numerous questions from the trainees about lootboxes, gambling, free-to-play-games and research on video games. This event also offered the opportunity of building a network of professionals around Gam(e)(a)ble, and will hopefully lead to further collaborations with Arts & Publics.