Course Meeting Times
Lectures: 1 session / week, 3 hours / session
Course Overview
This course examines the social, cultural, economic, and political aspects of digital games. Topics include the socio-technical aspects of digital gaming, embodiment and space, communities, spectatorship and performance, gender, race, sexuality, e-sports and sports games, and the politics and economics of production processes, including co-creation and intellectual property. After successful completion of the course the student should be able to:
- Demonstrate, through discussion and written work, an understanding of major areas within sociological computer game research.
- Situate that analysis within a broader social theory framework.
- Independently identify critical questions / problems / domains in the social and cultural analysis of computer games and select an appropriate method for examination.
- Undertake a scholarly literature review relevant to the area.
- Provide original analysis and argumentation via discussion and written work.
Prerequisites
This course has no prerequisites.
Learning Activities
The course will be made up of a mix of lectures, discussion (including peer-led sessions), group work, and classroom exercises. In addition to course participation, there will be several written assignments.
Grading
Your final grade will consist of the following components. Your hand-ins must reflect your sole work and authorship (rather than a group effort).
ACTIVITIES | PERCENTAGES |
---|---|
Participation (including weekly keywords, in-class group work, and final presentation) | 20% |
Mid-term Paper (2500 words, web-based with AV components) | 30% |
Final Paper (4500 words, web-based with AV components) | 50% |
Graduate students will be expected to perform at a level commensurate with advanced study and will complete additional work if taking the course for graduate credit.
Calendar
SES # | TOPICS | KEY DATES |
---|---|---|
1 | Introduction | |
2 | Socio-technical Systems | |
3 | Embodiment & Materiality | |
4 | Gender (Basics) | |
5 | Gender & Gaming | |
6 | Race, Sexuality, and Queering Game Design | Mid-term Paper due |
7 | Community | |
8 | Co-creativity & Labor | |
9 | E-sports & Competitive Gaming | |
10 | Performance & Spectatorship | |
11 | Sports Videogames | |
12 | Final Presentations | |
13 | Final Presentations (cont.) | |
14 | Last Session | Final Paper due |