Transcript title
Digital Games Culture
Credits
4
Grading mode
Standard letter grades
Total contact hours
40
Lecture hours
40
Recommended preparation
WR 121Z.
Course Description
This course will approach digital games through an academic socio-cultural lens, identifying key elements of evolving game studies theory, which considers digital game design, digital games play and digital games as a cultural practice that, in addition to play/entertainment, offers a new and developing medium for story-telling and learning.
Course learning outcomes
1. Students will be able to identify primary digital game types and their basic characteristics;
2. Students will become familiar with significant moments/events/developments in digital games history;
3. Students will become familiar with significant entities—individuals, associations, organizations, publications—in the digital games culture ecosystem: Designer, Player, Critic, Theorist;
4. Students will establish a vocabulary for and think critically about game design and game criticism;
5. Students will become familiar with current theoretical approaches of study taken relative to digital games, most specifically the ludology versus narratology debate;
6. Students will become familiar with the debate about whether games qualify as art and think critically and draw conclusions about this debate based on a recent gameplay experience;
7. Students will identify and assess the credibility of controversial issues society often associates with digital games culture.
General education/Related instruction lists
