Tristan Pope, "Not Just Another Love Story"

STS 144

Game Studies: Issues in Design, Technology and Player Creativity

Spring 2009

Instructor: Henry Lowood Office: M10-11; W 2.30-4, Green Library 321C

Tuesday, 2.15-5pm

ROOM: Encina West 101

NOTE: ** ROOM CHANGE: Encina West 101 **

This course is a seminar and will be limited to twenty enrolled students. Please come to first class meeting for enrollment instructions.

What can we learn about innovation from digital games? We will answer this question by looking critically and historically at digital game technologies, communities, and cultures.  Topics will include game design, open source ideas and "modding", technology studies, player/consumer-driven innovation, cultural studies, fan culture, transgressive play and notions of collaborative co-creation drawn from virtual worlds and online games. In short, we will look critically and historically at the notions of consumer and creator in digital games, the emerging cultural medium of the late 20th and early 21st centuries.

Follow links in red navigation bar at top of page to Schedule and Assignments.

Follow the link below in RED field for this week's assignment. Please be prepared and complete assignments before class meetings.

There are four assigned texts in the Bookstore. See Schedule for title information.

Syllabus

March 31 Game Studies
April 7 The business of game design: Developers, publishers, and consumers  
April 14 Cultural studies and fandom: Appropriation /Resistance
April 21 Technology studies: How do users co-create?
April 28 Case study 1. Mods
May 5 Case study 2. Competitive play and Replay Culture
May 12 Case study 3. Machinima -- turn in paper topic for approval  
May 19 Quickfire paper ideas -- critiques and advice  
May 26 Paper presentations -- turn in outline of paper  
June 2 Paper presentations -- turn in rough draft of paper --> TO DO FOR NEXT CLASS MEETING

Papers due June 9!!! (senior grades due June 11@noon) Please submit via coursework.