An interdisciplinary survey of games through the lenses of literature, culture, and media. Topics and inquiries include games and media theory; history of games; issues of identity, race, gender, class, and ability in games; and worldbuilding concepts. Students have the opportunity to design games in capstone course projects.
Athena Title
Games and Culture
Prerequisite
ENGL 1102 or ENGL 1102E or ENGL 1102S or ENGL 1103 or ENGL 1050H or ENGL 1060H
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Student Learning Outcomes
Students will analyze games via appropriate genre-specific conventions, e.g., analog games, digital games, narrative, and non-narrative games.
Students will gain a broad understanding of the history of games.
Students will learn the relationship between games and play and the cultural/social/historical contexts in which they are performed.
Students will develop a vocabulary for discussing and describing analog and digital games relative to their style, structure, themes, audience, and cultural implications.
Students will develop their abilities to think, read, and write critically and persuasively.
Students will learn how to make arguments with games and how games ask questions about the world.
Students will learn the diverse ecologies of game spaces and relate that variety to issues of identity.
Topical Outline
The choice and sequence of topics will vary from instructor to instructor and semester to semester. Because the course will change from semester to semester, students are encouraged to refer to the English department website for information concerning the course content for a specific semester.
Sample Topical Outline
- History of Games and Play
- Rhetorical structures in Games and Play
- Hero’s Journey and Individuation
- Games and Identity
- Electronic Writing
- Games and Media Theory
- Narrative Design
Potential Bibliography
Earliest English Poems: Riddles
James Paul Gee, “Learning and Identity: What does it mean to be a half-elf?” (from What videogames have to teach us about learning and literacy)
Janet Murray, Hamlet on the Holodeck, “Agency”
Jorge Luis Borges, “Garden of Forking Paths”
Salen/Zimmerman, Rules of Play
Ian Bogost, Persuasive Games (2007)
Nick Montfort, Twisty Little Passages
Lisa Nakamura, “Don’t hate the player, hate the game”
Marie Laure-Ryan, Narrative as Virtual Reality: immersion and interactivity in literature and electronic media (2001)
Espen Aarseth, Cybertext: Perspectives on Ergodic Literature (1997)
N Katherine Hayles, How we became posthuman (1999), My mother was a computer (2005), Writing Machines (2002)
Marshall McLuhan, Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man (1964)
Jane McGonigal, Reality is Broken (2011)
Astrid Ensslin, Literary Gaming (2014)
Alenda Chang, Playing Nature (2019)
Oulipo and potential literature, Raymond Queneau (for example)
Jay David Bolter, Writing Space: the computer, hypertext, and the history of writing (1991)
Brian Sutton-Smith, The Ambiguity of Play (1997)
Jesper Juul, Art of Failure
Henry Jenkins, Fans Bloggers and Gamers: exploring participatory culture (2006)
Fiction by Earnest Cline, Gabrielle Zevin, Naomi Alderman, William Gibson, Philip Dick, Richard Powers, Neil Stephenson, Orson Scott Card, Jorge Luis Borges, Kazuo Ishiguro, Ernest Cline, Suzanne Collins, Ann/Jeff Vandermeer, Marc Laidlaw
Potential Ludography
Fallen London (Fail Better, www.fallenlondon.com/)
The Magus (Bianca Canoza, momatoes.com/)
Emily Short, Galatea
Eric Barone, Stardew Valley
Michael Mateas and Andrew Stern, Façade
Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, dir. David Slade
Lucas Pope, Return of the Obra Dinn, Papers Please
Porpentine, With Those We Love Alive
Toby Fox, Undertale, Deltarune
Steve Gaynor, Gone Home
Sam Barlow, Her Story
Night School, Oxenfree
Simogo, Year Walk
Miller brothers, Myst
Michael Joyce, afternoon, a story
Fail Better, Fallen London
Zoe Quinn, Depression Quest
Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, Dungeons and Dragons
Infocom, Zork: The Great Underground Empire (1977)
