The first assignment is a reflection on how we play videogames, and how digital media change the way we learn to play games. It is also an exercise to make you all aware of the conventions that can become an obstacle for new players to learn, and which may be invisible to seasoned players.
Choose one assignment and do the activity taking notes. Your report should be between 1000-1200 words, double spaced in 12 point standard fonts (Times, Arial, etc.), and submitted in one of the following standard formats: .doc, .pdf or .rtf.
A) If you consider yourself a gamer
- Find someone (in the class or outside) who does not play games or does not consider himself / herself a gamer. Teach them how to play your favorite "hardcore" game, preferably first-person shooters, real-time strategy games, role-playing games. If you're not sure if the game you would like to teach them counts, please ask the instructor. Take 4 to 5 hours working with the person you're teaching. They don't have to master the game, the focus is studying the process of first learning the game.
The report of your experience should address these issues:
- The videogame playing experience of your subject (be brief)
- The game you were teaching (if it was a specific mode of the game, please include that)
- What were the most difficult parts of the game to learn? Why?
- What was the easiest thing to pick up? Why?
- What did your subject do that was surprising to you?
B) If you don't play videogames regularly or at all.
- Find someone (in the class or outside) who does consider themselves a gamer. Ask them to teach you how to play their favorite "hardcore" game, preferably first-person shooters, real-time strategy games, role-playing games. If you're not sure if the game they are going to teach you counts, please ask the instructor. Take at least 4 to 5 hours working with the person teaching you. You don't have to master the game, just see how much you can learn in that time.
The report of your experience should address these issues:
- Your videogame playing experience (be brief)
- The game you learned to play (if it was a specific mode of the game, please include that)
- What were the most difficult parts of the game to learn? Why?
- What was the easiest thing to pick up? Why?
- What did the person teaching you take for granted that you didn't know how to do?
C) What will be evaluated in this assignment is your capacity for self-reflection and analysis and to communicate clearly, broken down as follows:
- Relevance (20%) - How you set up the experiment: describe your methods concisely but thoroughly (why you chose your game, what is the profile of your player / your teacher, how long you played, how you organized the sessions).
- Organization (20%) - How you explain it: the report must be well structured, so that the experiment and the argument are clearly exposed.
- Discussion (40%) - Reaching insight about the activity - the report is not a mere description of what you do, it is also an activity for reflection. Discuss what you learned based on the evidence you obtain in the experiment.
- Clarity (20%) - How you write it - your writing must be concise and intelligible, with proper grammar and spelling.