| A | B | C | D | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | GachaCon 2026: Genshin Impact | ||||
2 | Abstracts: www.cmpo.net/gachacon All time in GMT+8 Hong Kong Time | ||||
3 | 11 February 2026 | ||||
4 | 18:00 | – | Late | Networking Drinks / Dinner for all (self-funded) | Please check Discord for updates. From 5:30: Madhouse Taproom (bar) Recommendations: Prince Edward / Mong Kok area: One Dim Sum (local food); BOUND (bar); HANDS (bar); Madhouse Taproom (bar) Kowloon Tong area: various restaurants in Festival Walk Tai Wai area: Hao Tang Hao Mian (noodles); 圍一叉燒 (roast meat & rice) West Kowloon area: Ozone (sky bar) Hong Kong Island area: Tai Kwun (various bars) |
5 | 12 February 2026 | ||||
6 | 08:00 | – | 09:00 | Registration & Refreshments | Senate Room, 19/F, Lau Ming Wai Academic Building City University of Hong Kong, 83 Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon Tong 九龍塘達之路83號香港城市大學 |
7 | 09:00 | – | 09:10 | Welcome | Leon XIAO & Espen AARSETH |
8 | 09:10 | – | 10:40 | Session 1 – Diving into Genshin Impact Chair: Leon XIAO 4 papers × 20 minutes (15+5) + 10 minute buffer (90 total) | Heather BLAKEY, The flâneur of Teyvat |
9 | Benjamin HORN, Have You Eaten Yet? Genshin Impact and Chinese Food | ||||
10 | Paul A. THOMAS, Ghosts of False Pasts, Ghosts of Lost Futures: A Hauntological Analysis of Genshin Impact's Sumeru Storyarc (Remote) | ||||
11 | Yifan WANG, Mapping the Atlantis in Inazuma: an Hellenistic Diffusion in Pop Gacha RPGs | ||||
12 | 10:40 | – | 11:00 | Break & Refreshments | ALL welcome! |
13 | 11:00 | – | 12:30 | Session 2 – Community Chair: Yixiang QUE 4 papers × 20 minutes (15+5) + 10 minute buffer (90 total) | Yeonwoo LEE, From Hashtags to Airships: Tracing the Dynamics of Gamer-Consumer Activism |
14 | Charisse SO, World Join Request (10): A Case- based autoethnographic understanding of co-operative play | ||||
15 | Hyerin SHIN, Dataminers, Beta Testers, and Fan Translators: Leaks as Cultural Capital in Gacha Game Communities | ||||
16 | Fanxi FENG, Gacha Game Collaborations and the Production of Affective Legitimacy | ||||
17 | 12:30 | – | 13:30 | Lunch (provided for registered attendees) | ALL welcome! |
18 | 13:30 | – | 14:30 | Student / Early Career Session Chair: Anh-Thu Cathy NGUYEN 5 papers × 10 minutes (5+5) + 10 minute buffer (60 minutes total) | Jiayi YUAN, Negotiating Visibility: Erciyuan Culture in Contemporary China |
19 | Emilienne PARCHLINIAK, From Dragon-Slayer to Dragon-Tamer: How Genshin Impact Reshapes Western Conceptions of Dragons | ||||
20 | Yuting ZHENG, Constructing Parasocial Intimacy in Otome Games: A Data-Driven and Autoethnographic Study Based on Love and Deepspace | ||||
21 | Thiago SANTOS & Daniel LEITE COSTA, The Neuroscience of Desire: Dopamine, Intermittent Reinforcement, and Player Retention in Genshin Impact (Remote) | ||||
22 | Callum DEERY & Francesca FOFFANO, Disability tax in gacha games: the social cost of hidden expenses | ||||
23 | 14:30 | – | 14:40 | Break | |
24 | 14:40 | – | 16:10 | Session 3 – Gender & Culture Chair: Johnathan HARRINGTON 4 papers × 20 minutes (15+5) + 10 minute buffer (90 total) | Joleen BLOM, The gacha monetization trends of women's leisure |
25 | Siyu SONG, Ritualizing the Parasocial: Dream-Girl Practices and Transmedia Intimacy in Genshin Impact | ||||
26 | Luyao LIU, From "Gacha Commodities" to "Desiring Subjects": A Transnational Feminist Analysis of Female Fanfiction Practices in Genshin Impact | ||||
27 | Hanjun SHI, Evaluating the Reception of Classical Greek Mythology in Genshin Impact: A Case Study of Enkanomiya Region (Remote) | ||||
28 | 16:10 | – | 16:30 | Break & Refreshments | ALL welcome! |
29 | 16:30 | – | 18:00 | Session 4 – China Chair: Sunny Jie YANG 4 papers × 20 minutes (15+5) + 10 minute buffer (90 total) | Yixiang QUE, Teresa DE LA HERA, & Jeroen JANSZ, Playing to Belong: The Role of Cultural Experience in Shaping Cultural Identity among Chinese Mobile Game Players |
30 | Hong ZENG & Xiaoxuan HUANG, Spectacularizing China: Cultural Heritage and Visual World-Building in Genshin Impact | ||||
31 | Tianyi ZHANGSHAO, Ben EGLISTON, & Marcus CARTER, Game Monetisation in China: A Gameworker’s Perspective (Awarded best paper prize!) | ||||
32 | Lukas N. EGGERT, The Dialectical Governance of Digital Gaming in China: Fusing Digital Developmentalism with Ideological Discipline | ||||
33 | 18:00 | – | 18:10 | Group Phototaking | ALL welcome! |
34 | 18:10 | – | 19:30 | Drinks Reception | ALL welcome! |
35 | 19:30 | – | Late | Dinner for Speakers (Invite ONLY) | Invite ONLY |
36 | 13 February 2026 | ||||
37 | 08:00 | – | 09:00 | Registration & Refreshments | Senate Room, 19/F, Lau Ming Wai Academic Building City University of Hong Kong 83 Tat Chee Avenue Kowloon Tong |
38 | 09:00 | – | 10:50 | Session 5 – Travelling Beyond Genshin Chair: Joleen BLOM 5 papers × 20 minutes (15+5) + 10 minute buffer (110 total) | Anh-Thu Cathy NGUYEN, Touring Teyvat: Genshin Impact’s Themed Open World as Ludic Tourism |
39 | Courtney LAZORE, Leaving Teyvat: Gendered Expectations and Exit Discourses (Remote) | ||||
40 | Sumeng ZHAO, Character Design in the Natlan and Sumeru Regions of Genshin Impact: A Visual Semiotic Analysis from a Critical Transculturalism Perspective (Remote) | ||||
41 | Chelsea RUSSELL, Genealogical Gacha: Pedigree, Heritage, and Monetised Lineage in Uma Musume: Pretty Derby (Remote) | ||||
42 | Alyce WU, Trisha NGUYEN, Katherine PARENT, & Emily RAMOS, Building and Burning Fandom Libraries: Maintenance in Transnational Media Ecologies through English-speaking Ensemble Stars!! Fans (Remote) | ||||
43 | 10:50 | – | 11:10 | Break & Refreshments | ALL welcome! |
44 | 11:10 | – | 12:40 | Session 6 – Game Design Chair: Ryan STANTON 4 papers × 20 minutes (15+5) + 10 minute buffer (90 total) | Orlando WOODS & Liyana DONEVA, When Fandom Meets Faith: Gacha Gaming and Religious Governance in Southeast Asia |
45 | Yiru ZHAO, Rules Are Meant to Be Broken: Glitch as Procedural Resistance in Genshin Impact’s Housing System | ||||
46 | Yumeng DOU, Gameplay Beyond the Game: the Temporal Structures in Gacha Game Participation | ||||
47 | Helen Yau Hing LAM, Dick Kin Tung THUNG, Sum Yee LAU, & Zixuan WANG, The Paradox of Profit: Structural Constraints on Game Design and the Need for Systemic Replayability in the Gacha Genre | ||||
48 | 12:40 | – | 13:40 | Lunch (provided for registered attendees) | ALL welcome! |
49 | 13:40 | – | 15:10 | Session 7 – Monetisation & Psychology Chair: Tianyi ZHANGSHAO 4 papers × 20 minutes (15+5) + 10 minute buffer (90 total) | Claudia FU, Leon XIAO, & Luke CLARK, Luck and Labour: A Thematic Analysis of Players' Grinding Behaviours in Genshin Impact |
50 | Alina QURESHI, Rituals of the Wish: Performing Luck and Identity in Genshin Impact’s Gacha Culture (Remote) | ||||
51 | Bitong LIN, Investing Play: How Genshin Impact Players Legitimize Gacha Monetization | ||||
52 | Anjuman ALI & Marcus P. J. TAN, A Framework for “Gacha Psychoeducation” – Building Young People’s Awareness of Gambling-Related Risks in Games Children and Young People | ||||
53 | 15:10 | – | 15:30 | Break | |
54 | 15:30 | – | 17:00 | Session 8 – Regulation Chair: Laura HENDERSON 4 papers × 20 minutes (15+5) + 10 minute buffer (90 total) | Taylor HARDWICK, Marcus CARTER, Tianyi ZHANGSHAO, Ben EGLISTON, & Leon XIAO, “Literally just child gambling”: Children and paid chance features in games in the Australian context |
55 | Gabriela BIRNFELD KURTZ, Camila FREITAS, & Leandro LIMA, No Wishes for Kids in Brazil: The repercussions of Law 15:111 in Genshin Impact | ||||
56 | Xiaoyu XIONG, Yuchen HUANG, & Sunny Jie YANG, Compliance of Gacha Probability Disclosure Regulations: a Comparative Study across East Asia | ||||
57 | Kaijing XU, Owning the Unownable: Legal and Social Perceptions of Virtual Property in Genshin Impact | ||||
58 | 17:00 | – | 17:15 | Prizegiving | Best paper and best dressed awards |
59 | 17:15 | – | 17:30 | Close & Edited Book | Leon XIAO |
60 | 17:30 | – | Late | Dinner at various locations for all (self-funded) | ALL welcome! Different people lead various groups |