Prof.dr. Joost Raessens holds the chair of Media Theory at Utrecht University. He has been Visiting Professor at the University of California, Los Angeles and Visiting Scholar at the University of California, Riverside. His research concerns the ‘ludification of culture,’ focusing in particular on the notion of play as a conceptual framework for the analysis of media use. Raessens was the conference chair of the first Digital Games Research Association (DiGRA) conference Level Up in Utrecht (2003) and is on the editorial board of Games and Culture (SAGE). He co-edited Level Up. Digital Games Research Conference (Utrecht University, 2003), the Handbook of Computer Game Studies (MIT Press, 2005-2011) and Digital Material. Tracing New Media in Everyday Life and Technology (AUP, 2009). Raessens is co-supervisor of the Playful Identities (NWO), the Design Rules for Learning Through Simulated Worlds and the Mobile Learning (both GATE) research programs. He is one of the founding members of GAP: the Center for the Study of Digital Games and Play.