Games Conferences
Games for Change
http://www.gamesforchange.org
Games that can bring social change and justice to the world. There is also a design workshop 101 for making social issue games.
North American Gaming and Simulation Association Conference
http://www.nasaga.org/
NASAGA is a network of professionals dedicated to the design, implementation, and evaluation of games and simulations to improve learning results. They have a conference every year.
European Conference on Games Based Learning (ECGBL)
http://academic-conferences.org/ecgbl/ecgbl-home.htm
Another rare conference devoted to games-based learning, although they seem to target the fields of science, math and economics.
DiGRA Conference
http://www.digra.org/conference
DiGRA is an organisation that embraces all aspects of game studies, and the conference aims to provide a diverse platform for discussion, and a lively forum for debate.
Meaningful Play Conference
http://meaningfulplay.msu.edu
A biannual conference for scholars and industry professionals about theory, research, and game design innovations, principles and practices.
Serious Play Conference
http://seriousplayconf.com/
A conference sponsored by private companies and featuring industry speakers. Topics seem to mostly focus on commercial uses of “serious play,” but the conference’s chief organizer, Clark Aldrich, is known for his publications on serious games and simulations for e-learning.
NYU Practice Conference
http://gamecenter.nyu.edu/practice
Hosted by the NYU Game Center, this conference is intended to bring together game designers to discuss and hone their craft. Educators interested in game-based learning are welcome and have an opportunity to glean ideas from professional game designers.
Other Academic Conferences
Popular Culture Association (PCA)
http://pcaaca.org/national-conference
Popular culture conferences traditionally have pedagogy, Games Studies, or Media Studies tracks.
International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts
http://www.iafa.org
The purpose of IAFA is to promote and recognize achievement in the study of the fantastic, mainly through the organization and management of an annual academic conference, the International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts (ICFA).
Games and Other Related Conventions
These conventions are for playing games! (And studying them.)
Boardgame Geek Conference List
https://boardgamegeek.com/wiki/page/Game_Conventions
Boardgame Geek is the largest repository of reviews for boardgames, and they also have a nice list of conferences.
DreamNation
http://www.dexposure.com
GenCon
http://www.gencon.com
DragonCon
http://dragoncon.org
Dragon*Con is the largest multi-media, popular culture convention focusing on science fiction and fantasy, gaming, comics, literature, art, music, and film in the US.
PAX
http://www.paxsite.com/
PAX is one of the largest player-oriented conferences focused on digital games.
PAX Unplugged
http://unplugged.paxsite.com
PAX Unplugged is an exciting analog-focused extension of the already existing portfolio of PAX events.
NerdNYC
http://nerdnyc.com
Biannual game-playing “recesses” in NYC
Worldcon
http://www.worldcon.org
The World International Science Fiction Convention