New at HNU: Prof. Dr. Dr. Rudolf Inderst

After my master's degree in 2005, I completed my doctorate on “Vergemeinschaftungen in Online-Rollenspielen” in Munich (2009) and on “Darstellung von Wissenschaft, Forschung und Technologie im digitalen Spiel” in Passau (2018); I worked as a lecturer at various universities and held a visiting professorship at the HS Trier with a focus on Digital Game Studies. I also worked for a decade as Social Media Manager DACH and International Community Strategist at Koch Media (now: Plaion) in Planegg. My last position was a professorship for Game Design with a focus on Digital Game Studies at IU International University.

I am head of the online journal TITEL kulturmagazin, founder and host of the Game Studies podcast on the international New Books Network and author and speaker for the local radio program Replay Value. I am also a member of the advisory board for digital games culture at the German Association of Specialized Journalists. I am currently working on a dissertation on digital game politics at the University of Vechta.

Basically, I am very interested in the crossover between the history of political ideas / political theory and digital games. Since my master's degree in political science in Munich, I have been particularly interested in the history and discourses of utopia and dystopia. But also the increasingly popular form of the video essay on platforms such as YouTube or Nebula as a meeting point of fan culture, journalism and game studies strongly stimulate my thinking and my teaching.

I am convinced that the interdisciplinary research and teaching field of game studies benefits from being more firmly anchored in an institution; in my view, the professorship as such can be seen as such an establishment. This means that every professorship creates visibility for the field.

... *shrug ... besides, I have two left hands - what else could I have done?

That games, their design and development and their production, distribution and reception do not take place in a vacuum, apolitical space.

In humble preparation, which mainly involved commuting and working remotely. However, I am already a little more familiar with the HNU premises from the times of my teaching assignments in the 2010s.

I was very pleasantly surprised when I read the call for applications at the time; after all, game studies is still considered a rare plant in the university landscape. And of course, as a basketball fan from Bamberg, I'm also looking forward to Ratiopharm Ulm's home games.

Science communication, i.e. letting other teachers and researchers from the gaming culture have their say via podcast - listen in: Game Studies (available on all common podcast platforms). PS: Follow @gamestudies on Tiktok and Bluesky.