ITU Copenhagen Computer Game Culture
International Game Developers Association
Computer Game Culture
| Games Education |
|---|
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| Course |
Contents |
Teachers
Instructors
- T.L. Taylor
Course Background Information
Location
IT University of Copenhagen
Classification
Primary classification: Game Studies
Time periods
Tuesdays, Spring 2005 -- 13:30-16:00
Course Structure
Lectures, discussion, groupwork, classroom exercises. Midterm group presentation and final group paper with oral examination. The group presentation will be produced in collaboration with team members in and out of class sessions. Midterm assignment will be graded pass/fail. Final examination will be oral format and based on short (3-5 page) synopsis. Grading will be according to the 13-scale.
Course description
This course will examine computer games from a cultural and sociological perspective. Rather than focusing on tasks like level construction, it will explore the ways culture, socialization, and values are a part of gaming. Using a variety of theoretical & methodological approaches (drawn from the humanities and social sciences) a range of topics will be discussed in an attempt to understand not only the internal workings and social dynamics of computer games, but their place in the broader culture. Topics include: community management and maintenance in games; social processes and interaction; games as communication spaces and virtual worlds; intellectual property and commodification in games, players as producers of game content, political/ideological analysis of games; gender and race in gaming; and design & values.
Week by week topics
Feb 1 - Intro & Methodology
Feb 8- Technology & Culture
- Winner, "Do Artifacts Have Politics?"
- Nissenbaum, "How Computer Systems Embody Values"
- Lessig, selections from Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace
Feb 15 - Styles of Play and the Status of "Fun"
- Bartle, "Hearts, Clubs, Diamonds, Spades: Players Who Suit MUDs"
- Taylor, "Power Gamers Just Want to Have Fun?"
- Mortensen, "Flow, Seduction and Mutual Pleasures"
- Turkle, "Aspects of the Self"
Feb 22 - Women & Gaming
- Bryce and Rutter, "The Gendering of Computer Gaming"
- Kerr, "Women Just Want to Have Fun"
- Schott, "\'For Men\': Examining Female Reactions to Nintendo\'s Marketing for GameBoy
- Advance SP"
- Kennedy, "Lara Croft: Feminist Icon or Cyberbimbo"
March 1 - Other(ed) Players
- Kuecklich, "Other Playings: Cheating in Computer Games
- Consalvo, "Hot Dates and Fairy-Tale Romances"
- Adams, "Not Just Rappers and Athletes: Minorities in Videogames"
- Bogost, "Asynchronous Multiplay"
March 8 - Video: Gamers
March 15 - Mid-Semester Presentations
March 22 - Spring break
March 29 - Social and Communicative Aspects
- Jakobsson & Taylor, "Sopranos Meets EQ"
- Stald, "Meeting in the Combat Zone"
- Ducheneaut & Moore "The Social Side of Gaming"
- Sun, Lin, and Ho, "Game Tips as Gifts"
April 5 - Guest lecture: Julian Oliver
April 12 - Productive Players
- Taylor, "Whose Game is this Anyway?"
- Morris, "Co-Creative Media: Online Multiplayer Computer Game Culture" \[O\]
- Postigo, "From Pong to Planet Quake"
- Jenkins, "Interactive Audiences?"
April 19 - Management and Governance
- Koster, "Declaring the Rights of Players"
- Kim, "Killers Have More Fun"
- Talin, "Managing Deviant Behavior in Online Worlds"
- Castronova, "The Right to Play
- Morningstar & Farmer, selection from "The Lessons of Lucasfilm\'s Habitat"
April 26 - Shared Game Space, Online and Off
- Swalwell, "The History and Development of LAN Groups"
- Flynn, Geography of the Digital Hearth"
- Powell, "Space, Place, Reality and Virtuality in Urban Internet Cafes"
- Herz, "The Bandwidth Capital of the World"
April 29 @ 15:00 - Synopsis due in exam office
June 6-8 - Exams
Analysis of learning methods
What worked
Please discuss what techniques worked well
What didn't work
Please discuss what techniques didn’t work as well as you had hoped
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