Activity: Discuss course philosophy;
introduce ourselves to one
another;
syllabus review;
text review;
activity discussion;
sample writing
introduction to blogs;
Homework due: None.
Activity: Lecture: How do semiotics work?
(for more info, see Semiotics for Beginners.)
Semiotics exercise.
First discussion panel (Brendan!).
Semiotic Domains discussion
Choose games.
Assign discussion panels.
Homework due:
Read "Abstraction in the Video Game" by Mark Wolf
Read "Chapter 2: Semiotic Domains" by James Gee (What Video Games Have to Teach Us...)
Sign up for a blog at imamp.colum.edu
Email Brendan
Blog a response to these two readings
Activity: Discuss readings.
How do
bodies work in games? How do we understand what bodies are, should be? Using semiotics to read bodies.
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
Reading response: respond to these readings
Game Journal: first game journal entry.
GameCultureWatch: blog an entry about your assigned 'beat.'
Activity: Discussion 1: Dibbel
Discuss Gee.
Love in games.
Game analysis project assigned.
Homework due:
Read "A Rape in Cyberspace" by Julian Dibbel (or in OASIS Handouts)
Read Gee, Chapter 3: Learning and Identity
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 2: Tews
Breakout groups: Psychology and Archetypes and Game Culture
Discussion: What do readings accomplish?
Homework due:
Read "Introduction to CC Jung" by George Boeree (OASIS handouts)
"Archetypes on Acid" by Rebecca R. Tews (OASIS handouts)
Personal blog: respond to this reading; 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 3: McMahan
Space in the Video Game discussion
Homework due:
"Space in the Video Game" by Mark Wolf (OASIS handouts)
"Immersion, Engagement, and Presence" by Alison McMahan (OASIS handouts)
Personal blog: respond to these readings; fourth game journal entry and GameCultureWatch posts due also.
Game analysis outline due
Activity: Discuss this central split in game theory. How does it
affect the strategy of "reading" games?
Discussion 4: Perron
Werewolf!
Homework due:.
"From Gamers to Players" by Bernard Perron (OASIS handouts)
"Simulation vs. Narrative" by Gonzalo Frasca (OASIS handouts)
Personal blog: respond to these readings; fifth game journal entry
GameCultureWatch: blog your first entry about your new 'beat'
Game analysis rough draft due
Activity:
Discuss various ways of understanding how games work in our
brains. What's the relationship between medium and message?
Short McLuhan intro.
Discussion 5: Johnson
Spring Break: the game
Homework 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'
Game analysis final draft due
Spring break (21 Mar)
Activity: How does being online change our notions of our own
identity?
Talk: panopticon
Discussion 6: Turkle
Multiple Selves activity
Homework due:
Sherry Turkle selections (OASIS Handouts)
Personal blog: respond to this reading; seventh 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 7: Lanti
Body gaming
New beats assigned
Homework due:
"As we become machines" by Martti Lahti ( OASIS handouts)
Personal blog: respond to this reading; eighth game journal entry
Game Culture Watch: blog about your 'beat'
Game analysis revisions due
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: Gee
Show, discuss final project grading rubric
Homework due:
"The Social Mind" by James Gee (OASIS handouts
Personal blog: respond to this reading; ninth 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)
Final Project outline or pre-proposal due.
Personal blog: respond to this reading; tenth game journal entry
GameCultureWatch: blog about your beat
Activity: A discussion of game design, ethics, and current events.
Discussion 10: Johnson
Extra credit presentations
Conversation about projects/progress
Course evaluations! Whoo!
Homework due:
Remainder of Everything Bad is Good for You
Final Project rough draft due.
Personal blog: respond to this reading; eleventh game journal entry
GameCultureWatch: blog about your beat
Activity: Share final projects; final discussion; course reflection
and chit-chat.
Homework:
Final Projects due.
Final GameCultureWatch post.
