The coolest class you can't take.

Discussion in 'Off-Topic Discussion' started by Emperor Xan, Jun 14, 2010.

  1. Emperor Xan

    Emperor Xan Troubadour

    So, depending on how things go, my time at GC III may be truncated because I'm going to be teaching a class at UC Irvine as an undergrad student.

    Here's the Class description:

    Beyond Play: Games as cultural, performative, and narrative media

    Games are often viewed as a form of amusement, but if one looks beyond the play activity, something else seems to be communicated. The seminar will examine games as texts to uncover any latent cultural values, skills rewarded, and narratives that play conveys to the participants. Students will play games reflecting the week’s theme and then discuss what information the game transmits. Students will then discuss ways of reading games contextually to determine what messages (if any) are contained within the games played for the week.

    While fun is co-mingled with discussion, the focus is on serious issues concerning the public and ways in which people engage and view the medium. By reading games contextually, students can examine the concerns that arise over genres of play. Critical looks at such types of games will allow the students to discuss the skills, cultural values, and narratives embedded in games. To this end, the study begins with very basic games and the fundamental concepts they contain and progresses through games of growing complexity from traditional tabletop models to computer and video game.

    As the course progresses, students will identify key elements in games that surface time and again with new technological innovations. Some thought questions for the students will include whether games have any influence on technological development, how do games co-opt material from other fields, and the generative force imbued in the categorical collapse the play space enacts.
     

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