Activity: Discuss course philosophy;
introduce ourselves to one
another;
syllabus review;
text review;
activity discussion;
sample writing
introduction to blogs;
Homework due: None.
Activity: Discuss reading; how do semiotics work?
Semiotics exercise.
First discussion
panel (Brendan!).
Semiotic Domains discussion
Choose games.
Assign discussion panels.
Homework due:
Semiotics for Beginners (Sections
1, 2, 4, 7)
From OASIS Handouts: "Abstraction in the Video Game" by Mark Wolf and "Semiotic Domains" by James Gee
Sign up for a blog at blogger.com
Email Brendan
Blog a response to these three readings
Activity: Discuss readings.
How do
bodies work in games? How do we understand what bodies are, should be? Using semiotics to read bodies.
Discussion 1: Consalvo
Fair Play breakout groups -- activity
Homework due:
Read "Fair Play: Violence, Gender, and Race in Video Games" by Christina Glaubke et al.
Read
"It’s a Queer World After All: Studying The Sims and Sexuality" by Mia Consalvo
Personal blog: response these readings; first game journal entry
GameCultureWatch: blog an entry about your assigned 'beat.'
Activity: Discuss readings. Explore issues of violence in media.
Game analysis project assigned.
Discussion 2: Crogan
Homework due:
Read
"Gametime" by Patrick Crogan (VG Theory Reader )
Read "A Rape in Cyberspace" by Julian Dibbel (or in OASIS Handouts)
Personal blog: respond to these readings; second game journal entry
GameCultureWatch: blog another entry about your assigned 'beat.'
Activity: Discuss readings and ideas of "theory."
Discussion 3: Rehak
Write about 'readings' and interpretation
Breakout groups: Archetypes on Acid
Homework due:
Read
"Archetypes on Acid" by Rebecca R. Tews (OASIS handouts)
Read "Playing at Being" by Bob Rehak (VG Theory Reader )
Personal blog: respond to these readings; third game journal entry
GameCultureWatch: blog another entry about your assigned 'beat'
Activity: Talk about theorizing games as structure and the
relationship to theorizing games as texts.
Discussion 4: McMahan
Space in the Video Game discussion
Homework due: Game analysis outline due.
"Space in the Video Game" by Mark Wolf (OASIS handouts)
"Immersion, Engagement, and Presence" by Alison McMahan (VG Theory Reader)
Personal blog: respond to these readings; fourth game journal entry
GameCultureWatch: blog another entry about your assigned 'beat'
Activity: Discuss this central split in game theory. How does it
affect the strategy of "reading" games?
Discussion 5: Perron
Werewolf!
Homework due: Game analysis rough draft due.
"From Gamers to Players" by Bernard Perron (VG Theory Reader)
"Simulation vs. Narrative" by Gonzalo Frasca (VG Theory Reader)
Personal blog: respond to these readings; fifth game journal entry
GameCultureWatch: blog your first entry about your new 'beat'
Activity:
Discuss various ways of understanding how games work in our
brains. What's the relationship between medium and message? Short
McLuhan intro.
Short in-class writing
Homework due:
Game analysis final draft due.
Everything Bad is Good For You (pages 1-62) by Stephen Johnson
Personal blog: respond to this reading; sixth game journal entry
GameCultureWatch: blog about your 'beat'
Activity: Discuss embodiment in games. How does it work? What's the
relationship of player to game?
Discussion 6: Lanti
Discussion of Grodal
Homework due:
"Stories for Eye, Ear, and Muscles" by Torben Grodal (VG Theory Reader)
"As we become machines" by Martti Lahti (VG Theory Reader)
Personal blog: respond to this reading; seventh game journal entry
Game Culture Watch: blog about your 'beat'
Activity: How does being online change our notions of our own
identity?
Talk: panopticon
Discussion 7: Turkle
Multiple Selves activity
New beats assigned
Final project assigned, discussed
Homework due:
Sherry Turkle selections (OASIS Handouts)
Personal blog: respond to this reading; eighth game journal entry
GameCultureWatch: blog about your beat
No class. (Replacement: Intersections event on 2 May)
Homework due:
Personal blog: ninth game journal entry;
Game Culture Watch: blog about your beat
Activity:
How do our interactions with one another change our
understanding of culture and the world? How do these worlds encroach
on us?
Discussion 8: Filiciak
Show, discuss final project grading rubric
Homework due:
Game analysis revisions due
"The Social Mind" by James Gee (WVGHTTU)
"Hyperidentities: Pomo identity in … MMOs" by Miroslaw Filiciak (VGTR)
Personal blog: respond to this reading; tenth game journal entry
GameCultureWatch: blog about your beat
Activity:
General discussion of how games fit in our culture, what people think about them and what they are.
Discussion 9: Gee
Activity: Identifying cultural models
Homework due:
"Cultural Models" by James Gee (OASIS Handouts)
Game proposal outline or pre-proposal due.
Personal blog: respond to this reading; eleventh game journal entry
GameCultureWatch: blog about your beat
Activity: A discussion of game design, ethics, and current events.
Discussion 10: Holland, Jenkins, and Squire
Conversation about projects/progress
Course evaluations! Whoo!
REQUIRED EVENT: Attend the Intersections "Culture of Gaming" discussion,
6:00pm, Chicago Cultural Center, 78 East Washington,
1st Floor West Meeting Room (map)
(If you cannot attend, contact me to arrange a makeup assignment)
Homework due:
"Theory by Design" by Holland, Jenkins, and Squire
(VG Theory Reader)
Game proposal rough draft due.
Personal blog: respond to this reading; twelfth game journal entry
GameCultureWatch: blog about your beat
Activity: Share game proposals; final discussion; course reflection
and chit-chat.
Homework:
Final Game Proposal Projects due.
Extra credit reading due: Read Part 2 of Johnson's Everything Bad is Good for You and post a response to the reading on your blog as usual.
