Two Decades of Game Jams

Authorship
Gorm Lai, Annakaisa Kultima, Foaad Khosmood, Johanna Pirker, Allan Fowler, Ilaria Vecchi, William Latham, and Frederic Fol Leymarie
Publication
International Conference on Game Jams, Hackathons, and Game Creation Events
Conference
Abstract

In less than a year’s time, March 2022 will mark the twentieth anniversary of the first documented game jam, the Indie Game Jam, which took place in Oakland, California in 2002. Initially, game jams were widely seen as frivolous activities. Since then, they have taken the world by storm. Game jams have not only become part of the day-to-day process of many game developers, but jams are also used for activist purposes, for learning and teaching, as part of the experience economy, for making commercial prototypes that gamers can vote on, and more.