All due dates and required readings are tentative
Week 1 - Expectations & Introductions
1.3
Expectations and introductions
Read: grading contract, syllabus, Pen.io guidelines, Twitter guidelines
1.5
Due: Twitter and Pen.io account creation and first tweet/page
Read: Aarseth - “Computer Game Studies, Year One,” Kazemi - “How Not To Write A College Essay About Videogames," Bissell and Ferrari - “On Videogame Criticism”
Introduction to Approaches to Videogame Studies (AVS)
Week 2 - Games & Play
1.10
Due: Pen.io page(s)
Read: Caillois - “The Definition of Play,” “The Classification of Games,” and “The Social Function of Games,” Koster - “What Games Are”
1.12
Pen.io page(s) discussion and visitation
Read: Koster - “What Games Teach Us,” Gee - “Semiotic Domains”
Week 3 - Games & Play
1.17
Due: Pen.io page(s) (AVS)
Read: Koster - “What Games Aren’t,” Huizinga - “The Play-Element in Contemporary Civilization”
1.19
Read: Jones “Introduction to The Meaning of Videogames” & Juul - “Introduction to Half Real”
Week 4 - Games & Play
1.24
Due: Pen.io page(s)
Read: Jones - “Collecting Katamari” & Wark - “On Katamari Damacy”
1.26
Read: Bogost - “An Alternative to Fun,” Frasca - “Videogames of the Oppressed”
Group facilitation: Candace L., Brandi M., Kurtis B.
Week 5 - Ludology & Procedurality
1.31
Due: Pen.io page(s)
Read: Frasca - “Simulation versus Narrative: Introduction to Ludology,” Aarseth - “Genre Trouble”
2.2
Read: Bogost - “The Rhetoric of Videogames,” Galloway - “Gamic Action, Four Moments,”
Week 6 - Culture & Industry
2.7
Due: Pen.io page(s)
Read: Aoyama & Izushi - “Hardware gimmick or cultural innovation? Technological, cultural, and social foundations of the Japanese videogame industry” & Consalvo - “Console video games and global corporations : Creating a hybrid culture”
2.9
Read: Kerr - “The spatialisation of the digital games industry: Lessons from Ireland”
Group facilitation: Mike K., Wes D., Jessi N., Zeke Z.
Week 7 - Gender & Race
2.14
Due: Pen.io page(s)
Read: Cassell - “Genderizing HCI” & Schleiner - “Does Lara Croft Wear Fake Polygons? Gender and Gender-Role Subversion in Computer Adventure Games”
2.16
Read: DiSalvo - “Learning in Context: Digital Games and Young Black Men” & DeVane & Squire - “The Meaning of Race and Violence in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas”
Group facilitation: Kyle B., Michael B., Hannah K.E., Ken K., Jonathan S.
Week 8 - Violence
2.21
Due: Pen.io page(s) (Play Aloud)
2.23
Read: Anderson, et al - “Violent Video Game Effects on Aggression, Empathy, and Prosocial Behavior in Eastern and Western Countries: A Meta-Analytic Review,” Day & Hall - “Déjà vu: From Comic Books to Video Games: Legislative Reliance on ‘Soft Science’ to Protect against Uncertain Societal Harm Linked to Violence v. The First Amendment”
Group facilitation: Andrew R., Andrew S., Heather B., Zack A.
Week 9 - SPRING BREAK
Week 10 - Videogame Studies Project (VSP)3.6
Due: Pen.io page(s)
Read: Mayra - “Preparing for a Game Studies Project"
Introduction to Videogame Studies Project
3.8
Research session
Week 11 - VSP - Pecha Kucha!
3.13
Due: Pen.io page(s)
Due: VSP PK proposals - CANCELED
3.15
Due: VSP PK proposals - Ken, Kyle, Candace, Brandi, Kurt , Heather, Andrew, Jessi
Week 12 - VSP - Pecha Kucha!
3.20
Due: Pen.io page(s)
Due: VSP PK proposals - Michael B., Zeke, Jonathan, Michael K., Wes, Zak, Hannah
3.22
Research session
Week 13 - VSP - Peer review!
3.27
Due: Pen.io page(s)
Due: VSP drafts - Ken, Kyle, Candace, Brandi, Kurt , Heather, Andrew, Jessi
Peer review
3.29
Due: VSP drafts - Michael B., Zeke, Jonathan, Michael K., Wes, Zak, Hannah
Peer review
Week 14 - VSP - Peer review!
4.3
Due: Pen.io page(s)
Due: VSP drafts - Ken, Kyle, Candace, Brandi, Kurt , Heather, Andrew, Jessi
4.5
Due: VSP drafts - Michael B., Zeke, Jonathan, Michael K., Wes, Zak, Hannah
Week 15 - Reflections & Revisions
4.10
Due: All revisions to Pen.io page(s)
4.12
Due: Self-evaluative essay (email to instructor)