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Paper accepted @ SIMULTECH 2026

Title: Can Swarms Be Trusted? Showcasing Swarm Intelligence and Privacy Preservation Through AR 

Conference: SIMULTECH 2026, Porto, Portugal, 18.-20.07.2026

Authors:  Melanie Schranz, M. Gojkovic, Horia Vulcu, Kseniia Harshina, 

Abstract: Swarm intelligence provides a robust approach for decentralized coordination in nowadays systems, yet its algorithmic principles, like local decision-making, role differentiation, and emergent global behavior are often difficult to convey to individuals without prior experience in swarm-based control. This creates practical barriers when deploying swarm-enabled solutions in domains such as shared electric vehicle charging, energy management, or mobility systems, where engineers, operators, and stakeholders must reliably understand how decentralized processes produce system-level outcomes. To address this challenge, we developed an Augmented Reality (AR) game that operationalizes a swarm model inspired by the Artificial Bee Colony algorithm and exposes key algorithmic elements, including information propagation, neighborhood interactions, and collective resource allocation—Swarm AR. The system also illustrates how decentralization can reduce data concentration, which may support privacy advantages under certain assumptions about information flow and system design, without requiring explicit protection mechanisms. A shared electric vehicle charging scenario serves as a use case to demonstrate load balancing and the necessity of distributed coordination. We evaluate the tool through a mixed-method user study using pre/post quantitative measures and qualitative analysis. Results indicate modest improvements in participants’ understanding of swarm coordination logic, decentralized decision processes, and emergent behavior relevant for infrastructure control. These findings suggest that AR-based interactive visualization can serve as an effective technical aid for communicating, validating, and reasoning about the operational characteristics of self-organizing systems, supporting informed engineering design and deployment of decentralized, privacy-aware coordination strategies.

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Presentation @ University of Ljubljana

On 27 May 2026, Dr Felix Schniz held a guest presentation on the Transhuman Qualities of Bloodborne at the University of Ljubljana before joining the conference Creative Computing Cultures and Media Transfers in Europe as an invited guest. Following the spirit of cross-European perspectives on computing, the day concluded with a joint meeting on prospective project proposals.

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Event Report “Spielend lernen”

Following an invitation of the Viennese Game Lab, Felix Schniz and Sabrina Maria Größing have represented the Klagenfurt Critical Game Lab at the event “Spielend lernen!” that took place on 19 May 2026 at the Bildungsdirektion Wien. Klagenfurt was the first non-Viennese game lab to join the event underlining the importance of the University of Klagenfurt for Austrian Game Studies outside of Vienna, and able to represent its unique approaches to the challenges of introducing technological literacy and the importance of play to an intrigued audience of experts and pedagogues.

Building on a prior visit of Viennese Game Lab scholars to Klagenfurt, the event was concluded with a tour through the local game lab facilities on 20 May and an extended chat about shared challenges and future opportunities for cooperation.

Visit by Canadian ambassador to Austria

On 20 April, Alison Grant, the Canadian ambassador to Austria, visited the University of Klagenfurt. As a part of an exclusive delegation, Dr. Felix Schniz accompanied the ambassador on a tour through campus grounds and the Lakeside Science & Technology Park, showcasing the appeal of the interdisciplinary Master’s Programme Game Studies and Engineering, the role of AAU as a hub of the technical sciences, the shared focal points of video game focused research in Canada and Austria, and local tech-focused organisations and support networks such as the FTF.

Guest Lecture and Workshop by Immera

On 16 April, Dr Felix Schniz (ITEC) organised a guest talk and workshop by Flavia Mazzanti and Manuel Bornell from Immerea (www.immerea.com). Supported by the FTF and co-organised by DI Dr. Martina Tritthart (Visuelle Kultur), the dual event introduced students of both programmes and visitors alike to contemporary digital art in the era of VR technologies, computer graphics, and generative AI under an interdisciplinary, technology-oriented angle. While the guest talk focused on the recent art installations of Immerea, the workshop allowed participants to explore opportunities in the creation of arts via blender and other common tools firsthand. Both events were well visited, highlighting the drawing power of cutting-edge technology research from a humanities, tech-interested perspective.

 

   

 

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Paper accepted @ Text2Story 2026

Title: Dynamic Participatory Game Design with Local AI: From Interviews to Trauma-Aware Interactive Narratives

Authors: Kseniia Harshina, Tom Tucek, Mathias Lux

Location: TextStory 2026 – Delft, The Netherlands, March 2026

Abstract: We present a work-in-progress, trauma-aware participatory storytelling pipeline that uses a locally hosted large language model (LLM) as a neutral chatbot interviewer. The system supports self-paced narration without cloud processing, prioritizing privacy, data sovereignty, and participant control. Interview transcripts are transformed into a structured scene representation (extracted fields and dialogue prompts), which is then replayed through a lightweight prototype interface as an initial step toward interactive memory-based experiences. We report a small formative expert evaluation (n=2) focusing on perceived comfort, emotional safety, and usability. Participants described the interviewer as low-pressure and reflective, while highlighting limitations such as weak acknowledgement of long answers and occasional “forced turns.” We discuss design implications for narrative extraction, turn-taking, and staged evaluation in sensitive contexts, and outline next steps for community-informed studies with participants who have lived experience of displacement.

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Paper accepted @ The 3rd Geogames Symposium (3GGS) Best, Kseniia

Ttitle: Tell Your Story Through Games (TYS):  Preliminary Guidelines for Mixed-Migrant Participatory Game Jams

Conference: The 3rd Geogames Symposium (3GGS) – Iowa, USA

Authors: Kseniia Harshina

Abstract: Migration-themed games are often framed as “empathy machines,” inviting outsiders to temporarily inhabit another’s hardship. This framing can slide into identity tourism and reinforce the trope of the “helpless refugee”. This short paper presents Tell Your Story Through Games (TYS) as a participatory game jam method that centers agency, and self-expression in mixed-migrant communities. We contribute preliminary methodological guidelines for running participatory story game jams with mixed-migrant communities. Participants with lived experience of migration and/or displacement create place-based story games, choosing how personal or fictional they want the story to be. One pilot iteration has been completed; future iterations will refine the method and evaluate its support for narrative agency and community-building.

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Paper accepted @ DiGRA 2026

Title: Pleasure Not For Everyone: Epistemic Injustice Towards Ukrainian Game Studies

Conference: 17th Annual DiGRA Conference

Authors: Kseniia Harshina, Mark Maletska

Abstract: Calls for playfulness in research often emphasize joy and learning, yet play and games can also exclude and harm minoritized participants—including within academia. In game studies, debates on diversity and postcoloniality have grown, but they still tend to center Western/Western European perspectives, which can obscure other forms of marginalization inside “Europe,” including Eastern Europe. This extended abstract summarizes an in-progress collaborative autoethnography by Ukrainian game studies scholars. Using Fricker’s concept of epistemic injustice, we argue that Ukrainian scholars face a dual barrier to participation in game studies: (1) structural inaccessibility within Ukraine (e.g., disrupted institutions, limited resources and mobility) and (2) epistemic misrecognition within Western institutions (e.g., being treated as subjects of humanitarian concern rather than credible theory producers). Together, these barriers shape who can enter the field and which knowledge is considered legitimate.

 

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Video Games as Storytelling Worlds

On 8 January 2026, Dr Felix Schniz held a guest presentation at the University of Graz. Invited by the Department of English, his talk focused on the narrative capabilities of video games:

 

Video Games as Storytelling Worlds

The capacities for narrative superstructures in video games are often depicted as being at odds with their elementary interactivity. From the game studies defining faux-skirmish between ludology and narratology, the question of spatial narrative capacities, and steadily refining perspectives on the literary purpose of video games, the central question remained ever the same: What is the connection between agency and the literary?

 

This lecture session explores the question in depth. It builds on an approximate definition of the multidisciplinary and complex medium to map its historical literary emancipation. Following this overview, concrete examples are used to evaluate the usage of literary key terminology for the analysis of video games. A distinct focus is set on the unique potential for interactive storytelling in video games.

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2025 Klagenfurt GSE Winter Game Jam

December 19-21, 2025
Organized by: Tom Tucek, Patrick Mieslinger

With help from: Bodo Thausing, Kristell Potocnik, Agon Guri

With 63 participants and 15 submitted games, this year’s winter game jam has concluded just before the winter holidays.

Students, teachers, alumni, and even individuals not directly affiliated with the university came together to create new video games from scratch, all within a 48-hour time frame. The topic this time was “Resistance”.

A big thank you to everyone who participated or helped; you made this event a big success once again!

Please feel free to check out all the games here:

https://itch.io/jam/klujam-ws25