Why tackle cannabis and Candy Crush in the same conference? What are the common points between these two objects? Have the speakers been toking? Well no! Cannabis and Free-to-Play/Pay-to-Win games such as Candy Crush share several elements through their recreational goals, use, management and regulation. Indeed, both are considered to carry potential harms for individual and collective well-being. They are also both the product of a process of commodification, whether private or state-bounded. The business models that underpin the marketing of these two products are very different, and the regulatory models that set them up are just as well. Furthermore, the social outlook on each of these health “at-risk” objects has varied greatly over epochs, at times disapproving and thus creating stigma, and at other times, normalizing.
This general public conference will deal with the issue of hybrid games such as Candy Crush and cannabis from the perspective of the points of convergence and divergence that unite (or not) these two objects, while addressing the specificities of each.
Looking forward to seeing you there!
* Please note that this conference will be in French