Applied Humanities: Game Studies Emphasis

Bachelor of Arts

This course introduces you to the techniques and varying contexts of critically appreciating video games. In addition to studying the ways that digital games, and their creators, play upon consumer's senses, you will develop a working vocabulary of evaluative terms (e.g., taste, judgment, pleasure, style, beauty) that can be usefully and sometimes uniquely applied to objects derived from the video game medium.

You will examine the rise and spread of video game cultures from around the world, focusing on the contexts of their origins, proliferation, and (where applicable) demise. Topics to be covered include arcades, bootlegging and piracy, casual gaming, chiptunes, cosplay, demo cultures, LAN parties, machinima, online fandom, the otaku phenomenon, and videorec cultures. These topics will be considered in light of broader cultural trends, contemporaneous social and political concerns, and relevant technological advancements.

You will be introduced to the structures, practices, and study of the video game industry. Over the course of the semester you will: 1) survey the origins of the video game industry, paying particular attention to its connection to the broadcasting and film industries; 2) examine the video game industry in terms of its major spheres (development, publishing, distribution/sales, paratexts, consumption, and regulation); and 3) explore tools and techniques for theorizing video game business and conducting market analyses for academic and commercial purposes.

This course surveys the major critical/cultural approaches to the study of video games. Areas of emphasis include industrial analysis, formalism, critical race studies, ludology/narratology, critical discourse analysis, archivalism, fan studies, and gender/sexuality studies. Each approach will be analyzed in terms of its main principles, the sorts of arguments it facilitates, and the opportunities and problems it presents to the game scholar, maker, and player.