USC CTIN 564 Seminar in Digital Game Studies
International Game Developers Association
Seminar in Digital Game Studies USC School of Cinema-Television, CTCS 564
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| Course |
Contents |
Teachers
Instructors
Guest speakers
- to be added
Course Background Information
Location
University of Southern California
Classification
Primary classification:
Game Theory
Game Design
Secondary classification:
Game History
Student background needed
Graduate level course
Course prerequisites
CTIN 488 is recommended but not required
Time periods
Spring semster
- Thursdays, 9AM – 1PM
Course Structure
Course description
This class will explore the formal, aesthetic, and cultural aspects of digital games, the emerging critical discourse around the nature of meaningful gameplay, and the relationship of digital games to media such as television and film. Readings will include recently released texts and articles which establish a basis from which to examine games as an artistic medium. Classic and cutting edge games will be played both in and out of class of class to encourage wide-ranging literacy in various genres and historical periods of gameplay and to provide context for the critical discussion.
Course learning objectives
Students will:
- Read and discuss class materials on the nature, history and aesthetics of games.
- Play and analyze games -- both in and out of class -- in terms of the topics explored in the readings.
- Keep a game journal, chronicling game play experiences and critiques.
- Choose one specific game in which to become the “class expert” and present an overview, walkthrough and analysis of that game to the class.
- Produce a final paper that rigorously examines one or more games in regards to the topics explored in class.
Week by week topics
Week 1: Introduction
Discussion: Why study game theory and how? Overview of course format, readings and assignments and central topics.
In-class games: Werewolf, Colossal Cave Adventure, Tic-tac-toe
Week 2: Core Concepts
Discussion: Rules, systems and interactivity; meaningful play; design and authorship. How can we approach games and gameplay critically? The emergence of “ludology” as a field of inquiry. What starting points do existing fields of study offer to the game theorist? What new concepts need to be defined?
In-class games: Pong, Zork, Asteroids, Chess
Assignment: Bring a game to class next week that creates meaningful play, be prepared to discuss how meaning is constructed in the game you bring.
Reading:
Rules of Play:
§ Preface, Chapters 1, 3-6
Reader:
§ The Grasshopper: Games, Life and Utopia, “Construction of a Definition” (Suits)
Mentioned in class:
§ Art of Computer Game Design (Crawford)
Week 3: Defining Games
Discussion: What are games? How are they distinct from other media or experiences? How are they the same? Overview of definitions from traditional game studies and recent attempts towards deriving a lexicon of game concepts.
In-class games: Discuss games that have been brought to class.
Reading:
Rules of Play:
§ Chapters 7-9
Reader:
§ The Study of Games, “The History of Games” (E.B. Tylor)
§ The Study of Games, “Structural Elements of Games” (E.M. Avedon)
§ The Grasshopper: Games, Life and Utopia, “Taking the Long Way Home” (Suits)
Week 4: Approaches to Game Study
Discussion: An introduction to ludology, the study of games and game structure. Ludology vs. narratology. The challenges of reading ergodic art.
In-class games: The Sims, Grand Theft Auto III
Assignment: Short Paper #1
Reading:
Rules of Play (Salen, Zimmerman)
§ Chapter 10
Reader:
§ The Video Game Theory Reader, “Simulation vs. Narrative: Introduction to Ludology” (Frasca)
§ Cyberspace Textuality: Computer Technology and Literary Theory, “Aporia and Epiphany in Doom and the Speaking Clock” (Aarseth)
§ CosignConference.org, “Literary Theory and Computer Games” (Kücklich)
Week 5: Games as Play
Discussion: Games as sub-set of play; play as an element of games. Gameplay in terms of competition, challenge, ritual, pleasure and meaning.
In-class games: Breakout, Centipede, Loop, SSX3
Reading:
Rules of Play (Salen, Zimmerman)
§ Chapters 22-24
Reader:
§ Homo Ludens, “Nature and Significance of Play” (Huizinga)
§ Man, Play and Games, “The Definition of Play” (Callois)
§ The Ambiguity of Play, “Rhetorics of Self” (Sutton-Smith)
Week 6: Games as Rules
Discussion: Rules as the formal aspect of game systems. Types and qualities of rules. Conflict and challenge as emergent properties of rules in action. Games without rules. Breaking the rules.
In-class games: Chutes and Ladders, Tetris, Joust, Gauntlet, Illuminati, Ironclad
Due: Short Paper #1
Reading:
Rules of Play (Salen, Zimmerman)
§ Chapters 11-13, 20-21
Reader:
§ The Grasshopper: Games, Life and Utopia, “Ivan and Abdul,” “Mountain climbing” (Suits)
Week 7: Games and the Digital
Discussion: Unique aspects of digitally mediated games. How do digital interfaces -- screens, mice, controllers and keyboards -- change the nature of games, the complexity and accessibility of their rules, spaces, sensations, representation, and play?
In-class games: The Game of Life, Gearheads, SimCity 4, Black & White, Halo, Warcraft III
Reading:
Rules of Play (Salen, Zimmerman)
§ Chapters 14-15
Reader:
§ Trigger Happy, “Solid Geometry” (Poole)
§ “Making Sense of Software: Computer Games and Interactive Textuality” (Friedman)
§ The Video Game Theory Reader, “As We Become Machines” (Lahti)
Week 8: Games and Other Media
Discussion: How do we relate digital games to other media such as music, literature, film or television? Are games a “mass media”? How are players related to viewers/readers, if at all?
In-class games: Amplitude, CSI, American McGee’s Alice, Star Wars Galaxies, Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness
Due: Game Journals
Reading:
Reader:
§ Understanding Media, “Games” (McLuhan)
§ The Language of New Media, “The Screen and the User” (Manovich)
§ The Video Game Theory Reader, “From Gamers to Players and Gameplayers: The Example of Interactive Movies” (Perron)
Week 9: Narrative Play
Discussion: Games, characters, narratives and the problems and potentials of authorship vs. agency. What is the relationship of games and narrative? How is meaning constructed from gameplay? How does narrative affect that construction? Can game narratives be “read” in the sense of traditionally authored texts?
In-class games: Atari Adventure, Super Mario Bros., Jak and Daxter, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, Deus Ex
Assignment: Short Paper #2
Reading:
Rules of Play (Salen, Zimmerman)
§ Chapters 25-27
Reader:
§ Gamestudies.org, “The Gaming Situation” (Eskelinen)
§ Gamestudies.org, “Games Telling Stories?” (Juul)
§ First Person: New Media as Story, Performance and Game, “Game Design as Narrative Architecture” (Jenkins)
Week 10: Guest Speaker (TBD)
Week 11: Social Play
Discussion: Historical patterns of multiplayer interaction. What role does the social play in games? Examination of the phenomenon of massively multiplayer worlds and the people that live, love and lie in them.
In-class games: Magic: The Gathering, Settlers of Catan, Mario Party 4, EverQuest
Due: Short Paper #2
Reading:
Rules of Play (Salen, Zimmerman)
§ Chapter 28
Reader:
§ “Hearts, Clubs, Diamonds, Spades: Players Who Suit MUDS” (Bartle)
§ “Befriending Ogres and Wood-Elves: Understanding Relationship Formation in MMORPGs” (Yee)
§ Salon.com “Who Killed Miss Norway?” (Spaight)
Week 12: Games in Culture
Discussion: How do games reflect culture? How do they reflect it? “Gamer culture” in comparison to the perception of film, television, comic books and music lovers. Blurring of boundaries – games that invade players lives.
In-class games: Family albums from The Sims, Machinima, mods, SiSSYFiGHT 2000, Survivor tribal council
Due: Final Paper topics (1 paragraph summary), class discussion of topics
Reading:
Rules of Play (Salen, Zimmerman)
§ Chapter 29-33
Week 13: Questions of Violence
Discussion: How are violence in games and violence out of games related, if at all? What impact will perceptions of game violence have on the design of games and the laws protecting them?
In-class games: Mortal Kombat, Grand Theft Auto III, Waco Resurrection, Doom for Columbine
Reading:
Reader:
§ “Congressional Testimony on Media Violence” (Jenkins)
§ Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, excerpts from “Video Games and Aggressive Thoughts, Feelings, and Behavior in the Laboratory and in Life” (Anderson, Dill)
§ “Rethinking Virtual Violence: A Critique of Methodologies used in Violent Video Game Research” (Yee)
Week 14: Questions of Gender
Discussion: What are “girl games?” Why have most attempts to make them failed? Today’s most popular games are inarguably coded male, but what about girls and women who play them? What kind of spaces, experiences and relationships do these games offer?
In-class games: Barbie Fashion Designer, Ms. Pac-Man, Um Jammer Lammy, Quake grrl clans
Reading:
Reader:
§ From Barbie to Mortal Kombat, “Chess for Girls: Feminism and Computer Games” (Cassell, Jenkins)
§ “From Barbie to Mortal Kombat: Further Reflections” (Jenkins)
§ “Killing Like a Girl: Gendered Gaming and Girl Gamers Visibility” (Bryce, Rutter)
Week 15: The Future of Game Studies
Discussion: What is the future of game studies in academia, in industry and in the culture at large? How can or should the critical examination of games inform and influence design and consumption? What are the next steps for this emerging discipline?
In-class games: Review and any remaining game presentations
Wrap-up and course evaluation
Due: Final Paper, Game Journals
Readings:
Rules of Play (Salen, Zimmerman)
§ Forward
Reader:
§ “Rethinking Agency and Immersion: Videogames as a means of consciousness-raising” (Frasca)
Final Exam (Tuesday 5/11/2004, 11AM – 1PM)
Due: Presentation of final papers and class review
Final papers for review:
§ Apicella, Mark
§ Buerkle, Bob
§ Chen, Jenova
§ Dillon, Julie
§ Dinehart, Erin
§ Hanson, Chris
§ Kim, Jean
§ Newman, Brad
§ Ruiz, Susana
§ Sacher, Andrew
§ Santiago, Kellee
§ Singh, Naveen
§ Steffan, Michael
§ Waynee, Matt
Course Materials & Facilities Used
Here you can link to and/or describe books and other materials you used for this course. Feel free to create new pages for each item here if a page for it does not yet exist.
Books
Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals
Other materials Hamlet on the Holodeck, by Janet Murray
Homo Ludens, by Johann Huizinga
Man, Play and Games, by Roger Callois
Supercade: A Visual History of the Videogame Age 1971-1984, by Van Burnham
The Ambiguity of Play, by Brian Sutton-Smith
The Grasshopper: Games Life and Utopia by Bernard Suits
The Study of Games, E.M Avedon and Brian Sutton-Smith
The Oxford History of Board Games, by David Partlett
The Video Game Reader, edited by Mark J.P. Wolf and Bernard Perron
The Well-Played Game, by Bernie DeKoven
www.gamasutra.com
www.ludology.org
www.gamestudies.org
Syllabus
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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