Monday Jan. 9 | Intro to the class Overview of the syllabus |
Wednesday Jan. 11 | Due Today: Read through the website and the detailed descriptions of the assignments Class Discussion: Introductions and discussion of favorite games. |
Friday Jan. 13 | Class Discussion: Continued introductions and discussion of favorite games if needed. Class Lecture: Overview of the readings. Classwork: Class survey |
Monday Jan. 16 | MLK Holiday |
Wednesday Jan. 18 | Due Today; Read Franz Kafka’s “Before the Law” Play the game adaptation of “Before the Law” Be sure to get both endings. Due Starting Today: Sign up for your game of study. |
Friday Jan.20 | Due Today: Read “A Selection from Existentialism and Human Emotions” by Jean Paul Sartre Read “A Selection from Jean Paul Sartre’s “Nausea” Class Discussion: Existentialism, Kafka and gaming. |
Monday Jan. 23 | Due Today: Read “Panopticism” from Michel Foucault’s “Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison” Class Discussion: Using Foucault and Sartre to discuss games and the place of the player in the game environment. |
Wednesday Jan.25 | Class Lecture: Overview of how to write an academic paper. Overview of academic conferences and presentations. |
Friday Jan.27 | Due Today: Use Sartre and Foucault to discuss your game of study. Bring in a rough outline/brainstorming of links between the two philosophers and your chosen game. Sign up for your game of study by today if you have not yet done so. |
Monday Jan. 30 | Class Lecture: Recording Footage Bring any questions you might have about the Let’s Play assignment to class today. |
Wednesday Feb. 1 | Due Today: Play through these three ‘One Play’ games: You Only Live Once: http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/505914 This game uses the ‘one play’ style, but for comedic effect. One Chance: http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/555181 Can you save the world? You only get one chance. A drama using the ‘one play’ style. (Why is) Johnny in an Art Game?: http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/555639 A response to ‘One Chance’ and games like it. Bring to class an analysis of the gameplay of all three games and how they speak to gaming as a whole. |
Friday Feb.3 | Due Today: Play through The Stanley Parable Think about the ways in which Foucault, Sartre and even Kafka play into this mod. What does the mod say about the nature of games and the relationship between the gamer, the developer(s) and the game itself? |
Monday Feb. 6 | For Today: Bring to class a progress report on your Let’s Play. In Class Activity: Peer reviews If you have not started playing or are not that far in, think about the questions you have coming into the game. Ask yourself: what research do I anticipate doing and why? |
Wednesday Feb.8 | For Today: Read chapter 1 of John Berger’s Ways of Seeing found here: Play Covetous, located here: Play Grey located here: Respond Via Email by Today: How do Berger’s, and by extension Benjamin’s, ideas apply to new media, specifically video games? Think back to differences between the short story and the flash game “Before the Law”. How would the games Covetous and Grey be different in different mediums? In different locations, i.e. if you played them in a museum? |
Friday Feb.10 | For Today: Explore the world of Yume Nikki. The game is huge, but there are at least two things you should do. -Get the Bike -Trigger the Uboa event -Explore/watch Yume Nikki footage on YouTube Yume Nikki can be found at the English-language wiki here: http://yumenikki.wikia.com/wiki/Yume_Nikki First, get the bike so you can move faster. A video on how is located here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juT3k8nVYEY Next, I want all of us to experience the Uboa event. A guide to getting to the event can be located here: Unfortunately, the guide also spoils the event. If you have not watched any Yume Nikki footage prior to this, stop watching after the player arrives at the house. The event triggers at random when you turn off the lights. The variable that controls whether or not it will happen gets set when you enter. Thus you have to run in and out of the house and shut the light off as demonstrated in the video. It should not take you more than 5 minutes, 10 minutes tops. If you are curious about the game, you can find the biggest English-speaking fanbase at http://uboachan.net/. |
Monday Feb. 13 | Gender Week For Today: Watch the first part of “Tough Guise” located here: http://www.veoh.com/watch/v16112782JcF62GeH?h1=Tough+Guise You are welcome to watch the whole thing, but be advised that it is an hour and a half long. Watch the following episodes from Extra Credits: “Propaganda Games” http://penny-arcade.com/patv/episode/propaganda-games “Call of Juarez: The Cartel” http://penny-arcade.com/patv/episode/call-of-juarez-the-cartel Watch “True Female Characters” by Extra Credits located here: http://penny-arcade.com/patv/episode/true-female-characters Be advised that Extra Credits episodes run about 10 minutes long each. |
Wednesday Feb.15 | For Today: Read Beauty (Re)Discovers the Male Body by Susan Bordo located here: http://wendtenglish201f10.wikispaces.com/file/view/Wendt.Beauty+(Re)discovers+the+Male+Body1.pdf “No Redeeming Value” http://penny-arcade.com/patv/episode/no-redeeming-value Think about the biases that Bordo discusses in her work: gender roles, presentation of gender in the media, race, etc. Also, question if EC’s take on God of War III in “No Redeeming Value” is a valid one. Is it fair to be that harsh on a game for bad storytelling? Watch “Learning from Other M”, also by Extra Credits, located here: http://penny-arcade.com/patv/episode/learning-from-other-m Watch “Who Is Laura Croft?” located here: http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/bt/benzaie/dg/20790-who-is-lara-croft The videos here demonstrate two key problems: badly written female characters and an erasure of gaming history by the new wave of games theorists. What is the fascination with Lara Croft? Why has Samus and for that matter so many other strong female characters not become as popular or given the same respect? |
Friday Feb.17 | For Today: Watch “Sexual Diversity” by Extra Credits located here: http://penny-arcade.com/patv/episode/sexual-diversity Play “A Closed World” located here: http://gambit.mit.edu/loadgame/aclosedworld.php It should take you about an hour. Thanks to Kathryn Dunlap for the suggestion. The relevant videos have dried up a bit, haven’t they? Yes, despite sites like http://gaygamer.net doing their best, LGBT issues in games are rarely addressed in a forum that reaches past their own borders. Let’s start here: how many gay video game characters can you list? Now, how many of those characters do you know are gay simply because romancing them is an option (i.e. Leliana from Dragon Age: Origins). How about transsexual characters? Transsexual characters that do not exist solely for comedic effect? How about in media other than video games? |
Monday Feb. 20 | For Today: Find and read James Paul Gee’s “Video Games and Embodiment” in the journal Games and Culture (volume 3, number 3-4, July 2008). Once you have read Gee’s article, look through Games and Culture and pick one more article that seems interesting to you. Read it thoroughly and be prepared to discuss/describe it to your classmates. Note: part of this assignment is testing your ability to use the UCF online library at http://library.ucf.edu. If you live off campus make sure that you know how to log in to the library to gain access to the database of journals. |
Wednesday Feb.22 | For Today: Find and read a chapter from the Video Game Theory Reader in the UCF online library. Pick a chapter that seems interesting to you. Read it thoroughly and be prepared to discuss/describe it to your classmates. Note: part of this assignment is testing your ability to use the UCF online library at http://library.ucf.edu. If you live off campus make sure that you know how to log in to the library to gain access to the database of online texts. |
Friday Feb.24 | For Today: Analyzing Design Documents Play La MollenIndustria’s Oiligarchy located here: http://www.molleindustria.org/en/oiligarchy Read the ‘PostMortem’ on Oiligarchy located here: http://www.molleindustria.org/oiligarchy-postmortem Note: there are several endings, but for class you only need to get one. The ‘better’ endings are very difficult to get. If you are curious about them there is a description of them in the postmortem. How effective is Oiligarchy in making you ‘play the bad guy’ in order to articulate the game’s message? How does the difficulty in obtaining the multiple endings help/hurt the game? Note: if you liked Oiligarchy, I highly recommend ‘The McDonald’s Game’ – an earlier game by the same team – located here: http://www.mcvideogame.com/index-eng.html |
Monday Feb. 27 | For Today: Read Mr. Jenkins Goes to Washington located here: Watch Videos on YouTube of the Hearings themselves. It’s obvious that congress had a low opinion of gamer culture, but what do we think? Look at the Jennifer Helper controversy starting with the summary at Blistered Thumbs located here: http://www.blisteredthumbs.net/2012/02/editorial-entitlement-to-ignorance-in-defense-of-jennifer-hepler Then Jim Sterling’s response located here: http://www.destructoid.com/bioware-writer-s-vagina-versus-the-internet-222206.phtml To be fair... well as fair as one can be in this situation… also look at this community-made summary on people’s objections to Helper: http://postimage.org/image/y7u6srwbb/ Obviously it is difficult to pin down exactly why this situation has blown up as much as it has, but what qualities of the gaming community have cause this and other instances like this? |
Wednesday Feb.29 | For Today: Special Guest Lecture by Nicholas Ware on the unique complications studying fan cultures. |
Friday Mar. 2 | For Today: Come in having read the chapter of Jenkin’s “Convergence Culture” that you signed up for. We will illustrate and discuss the chapters using the class whiteboards. Come in with a simple illustration that you can contribute to your whiteboard and a brief summary of the chapter’s argument and usefulness. Each group will also post its member’s summaries/analysis to the Subreddit for future reference. |
March 5-10 = Spring Break
Monday Mar. 12 | Due Today: Read “Earth at my Window” from Takashi Murikami’s “Little Boy” located here: https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B9VahGwIokRiSFZ5UjBjWUxRZHFkYkRDNWtNcVYzQQ The file size is big to accommodate the high resolution images. Be sure to download the file to view it as it will display weird in a browser if it displays at all. Also, it may seem long (at 51 pages) but much of it is images and half of it is the original Japanese text. IMPORTANT: Turn in your abstract for your papers in response to the email ‘Call for Papers’. You will not have a scheduled presentation time without completing this assignment. |
Wednesday Mar.14 | Superflat Special Guest Lecture by Kathryn Dunlap Due Today: Read “The Animalization of Otaku Culture” located here: http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/mechademia/v002/2.lamarre.html Note: you have to be on campus to read items in the Project Muse database so download the file while on campus and email yourself a copy. Read up on and Play “Katawa Shoujo” located here: http://katawa-shoujo.com/about.php The game is very long and so you do not have to play through the entire thing for today. Play enough that you are introduced to all of the characters and have a feel for the gameplay and narrative style. Note: If you only play Western games this is probably very different then what you are used to. Be advised: this is a ‘dating sim’ with some adult themes. |
Friday Mar. 16 | Due Today: Play through “Time Fcuk” located here; http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/511754 If you are feeling frustrated a video walkthrough is located here: http://www.keybol.org/2009/09/time-fcuk-walkthrough.html Keep in mind: the walkthrough does not let you experience the act of getting stuck which in vital to the atmosphere of this game. You will not experience the various dialogues (monologues?) in the communications display while watching the walkthrough. Read the article on Time Fcuk over at TVTropes.com located here: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TimeFcuk Also, pick one of the tropes listed for Time Fcuk and read its article. How many other items in the media have that trope? How do they use it? How does it compare to that trope’s use in Time Fcuk. So, given all that we have read this semester is Time Fcuk Superflat or does it have a deeper meaning? How much meaning does something have to have for it to be ‘deep’? Keep in mind the TVTropes defense of tropes: Tropes are Tools http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TropesAreTools |
Monday Mar. 19 | Due Today: Watch “Double Fine Adventure! // Ron Gilbert's Words of Wisdom to Tim Schafer [FULL 35 MINUTES]” located here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=re_LWmRJK-g There are several things discussed in this video and now that we have been looking at games on a more academic level we should be better equipped to combat these difficult issues. So, pick a topic that Shafer and Gilbert discussed and answer to their assertions. Do you agree with them and why? You have a semester of readings at your disposal to make your case. Send me a response to the video by class time today. Note: Tuesday, Mar 20 is the Withdrawal Deadline |
Wednesday Mar.21 | ICFA: March 21-25: We will not have formal class today or Friday. You all can meet up and discuss your projects or you can go off and do solo work if you’d like, but find something to do while I am gone. Write up a summary of your activities. If you met up with fellow students to talk, send me a list of topics. If you worked on your Let’s Play and/or paper, send me what you got accomplished. If you did research, send me the articles/ titles of books you found and walk me though how you found them. In other words, show me what you did and how you did it. Note: for those who might want to come over to the Orlando Marriot where ICFA is taking place and meet some of the scholars, email me and we will organize a meet-up. |
Friday Mar. 23 |
Monday Mar. 26 | In Class Peer-Review Meet up in groups and work on your final portfolios. |
Wednesday Mar.28 | In Class Peer-Review Meet up in groups and work on your final portfolios. |
Friday Mar. 30 | Presentations Begin Come prepared with the conference worksheet located here: Dark Themes in Games “People Make the World: The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask” Hank Kleinberg “Death and its Portrayal in Metal Gear Solid 3” Cody Hughes “’Your Bullets Kill People: How Billy Lee Black Breaks the Role of Healer in Xenogears” David Gillis |
Monday Apr. 2 | Collaborative Communities and Competitive Gaming “Marvel Community Ethnography” Bobby Orlando “The Traps of Strategy in Starcraft 2” Eric Elzy “Communication in Heroes of Newerth” Chris Penn “Pokemon Fetishism and Obsessions” JR Specht |
Wednesday Apr.4 | Superflat and Cultural Analysis “Two-Dimensional: Superflat Theory and Cave Story” Derek Martin “Superflat and Pokemon” Daphne Galperin “Shallow Plot and Depth of Strategy in Pokemon Black and White” Eliot Peters “’No More Heroes’: a Reaction to American Excess” Elliot Northlake |
Friday Apr.6 | Gender and Gaming “Bayonetta, Dante, and Gender” Max Burritt “Final Fantasy XIII-2 and Gender Differences” Roger Pedersen “Catherine and the Player/Character” JD Crouch |
Monday Apr. 9 | Bioware and Storytelling “Dragon Age: Origins: race, gender, class and morality” Sarah Edwards “Panopticism and Existentialism in Dragon Age II” Christopher Pierce “Mass Effect’s Expanded Universe and the Mass Effect: Deception Controversy” Caroline Claudino “Mass Effect 3’s Ending: an Initial Analysis” Jason Shih |
Wednesday Apr.11 | National PCA: Boston April 11-14: We will not have formal class Wednesday or Friday. You all can meet up and discuss your projects or you can go off and do solo work if you’d like, but find something to do while I am gone. Write up a summary of your activities. If you met up with fellow students to talk, send me a list of topics. If you worked on your Let’s Play and/or paper, send me what you got accomplished. If you did research, send me the articles/ titles of books you found and walk me though how you found them. In other words, show me what you did and how you did it. |
Friday Apr.13 |
Monday Apr. 16 | The Problems of Storytelling in Games: Problematic Case Studies in Narrative “The Untold Story in Gears of War: The Use (or Misuse) of Transmedia Storytelling” Christopher Oritz “From the Plains of Sacae to the Kingdom of Caelin: Storytelling and Superflat Theory in Fire Emblem” Matthew Baker “Big Boobs, Bigger Biceps, and Bloody Battles: The over-emphasis of aesthetics over storytelling and characterization in God of War III Joshua Rivera “I was always with you”: Deadly Premonition, Twin Peaks, and Player/Avatar Divide” Schuyler Kerby |
Wednesday Apr.18 | The Question of Free Will: Gaming and Choice “The Mechanical Eyes of Aperture; Panopticism and the Player in the “Portal” Series” Grant C. Bohl “Xenogears and Panopticism” Mars Serra “On the Concept of Fate: The Clash Between Free Will and One's ‘Destiny’” Tyler "Bogs" Chatelain “The catalyst is watching your pain: Mass Effect, Existentialism and panopticism” Aaron Zuckerman |
Friday Apr.20 | Past and Future: Games, Innovation and Technology “Diablo III’s New Real-Money Auction” Edward Petrowitz “Cybernetic Frankenstein: Deus Ex: Human Revolution and the future of humankind” Arthur Gallina “The Nostalgia Factor” Jamie Zehren “Cameras and Big Towers: An Examination of Panopticism in Half Life 2” Andrew Tuggle |
Monday Apr. 23 | Final Portfolio is Due in class today. Schedule a day/time to pick up your graded portfolio and have final conferences. |
