Course Syllabus

The Rhetoric of Gaming and Its Cultural Impact

 

Semester & Location:	Spring 2020 - Copenhagen
Type & Credits:	Elective Course - 3 credits
Major Disciplines:	Communications, Computer Science, Rhetoric
Faculty Members:	Iben Schandel - iben.schandel@gmail.com
Program Director:	Iben de Neergaard - idn@dis.dk
Time & Place:	Monday & Thursday, 11.40 - 13.00  Location: TBA

 

Description of Course

Chances are that you - or someone you know - just played a game online, on your computer or on your cell phone. The gaming industry is booming with both fun and serious games - from World of Warcraft, (Icelandic produced) EVE Online, (Swedish produced) Minecraft, SimCity and League of Legends played on gaming consoles or computers to Bejeweled and Candy Crush played on your mobile phone. We play games to relax, but games are also sites of community building, social activism, bullying and education. Studies furthermore suggest that games reflect, shape and/or challenge our culture and gender identities.

Scandinavia is a special place to study the culture, as well as threats and potentials of games. In four years the number of Danish gaming start-ups has doubled and the export increased with 64% during the same period. Danish game producers like NapNok deliberately design games that challenge the philosophy of games like Wii, emphasizing that games should not be designed to be “safe” but can also be used to challenge and negotiate social boundaries. Additionally, Danish game developer Serious Games Interactive is Europe’s leading developer of games-based learning.

Drawing on communication theories and cultural studies, we will analyze games in a variety of genres (arcade-style; first person shooter; multiplayer role playing; educational; open and virtual world experiences) and explore Scandinavian gaming trends that challenge cultural norms, experiment with how we play games, and/or use games for educational purposes.

The course is non-technical and no gaming experience is required, though you will of course also enjoy this class if you are a gamer. Together, we develop a vocabulary for discussing and analyzing games, and the potentials and challenges of gaming through hands-on experience from field trips and discussions with special guests in class.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this course you will be able to:

• Critically analyze games from a cultural, societal, and communication perspective
• Reflect on the relationship between the player and the game(s)
• Explore and understand the expressive potential of games
• Have a deeper understanding of game mechanics and core fundamentals of game design

Faculty

 Iben Schandel, M.Sc. from Aalborg University in Copenhagen, specialized in game design, human-computer interaction, and user experience. Prior work is various applications of digital games, e.g. interactive narratives, 2D & 3D adventure games, digital board games, and virtual reality applications.

Readings 

• Adams (2009): Fundamentals of Game Design - chapters Games and Video Games, Conventional Games versus Video Games, Key Components of Video Games & The Structure of Video Games 
• Brown & Cairns (2004): A Grounded Investigation of Game Immersion
• Campbell (2013): Gaming’s New Frontier: Cancer, Depression, Suicide
• Carnagey, Anderson & Bushman (2007): The effect of video game violence on physiological desensitization to real-life violence 
• Chen (2007): Flow in Games (and everything else) 
• Dill, Brown & Collins (2008): Effects of exposure to sex-stereotyped video game characters on tolerance of sexual harassment
• Egenfeldt-Nielsen, Smith & Tosca (2007): Understanding Video Games - chapters What is a game: Pragmatic Definitions & The issue of genre)
• Frasca (2003): Simulation versus Narrative: Introduction to Ludology
• Juul: The Game, the Player, the World: Looking for a Heart of Gameness - webpage
• Marklund (2012): Game Development, Education and Incubation – A brief overview of Scandinavian game development, markets, education, and support structures
• Markey & Markey (2010) - Vulnerability to Violent Video Games: A Review and Integration of Personality Research 
• McMahan (2003): Immersion, Engagement, and Presence – a Method for Analyzing 3-D Video Games 
• Riedl & Bulitko (2012): Interactive Narrative: An Intelligent Systems Approach
• Ryan (2008): Interactive Narrative, Plot Types, and Interpersonal Relations
• Salen & Zimmerman (2003): Rules of Play - chapters Meaningful Play, Systems & Interactivity
• Trepte & Reinecke (2010): Avatar Creation and Video Game Enjoyment (12 pages)
• Shaw (2011): “He could be a bunny rabbit for all I care”: Exploring identification in digital games
• Williams et al (2009): The virtual census: representations of gender, race and age in video games
• Yee (2006): Motivations for Play in Online Games 
• Zagal et al. (2006): Collaborative Games: Lessons learned from board games

Field Studies

Field studies in this course aim at giving students an understanding of the culture of playing games and, if possible, the games industry in Denmark.

The two field studies are within the Copenhagen area.

Guest Lecturers

Guest lecturers will comprise of designers and CEOs of selected game companies. More information will be available in the calendar.

Approach to Teaching

Games are about interactivity - hence we cannot learn about them solely by reading about them.

The course will be a mixture of discussing academic material as well as digital material in the form of videos and games, both in- and outside of class. In the course we will center on the academic theories coupling them together with real life examples, both those that students bring with them from their own lives and those presented in class.

The course is a discussion course - meaning that there is not always a 'right answer' to the questions posed, but will rather be discussed in accordance with the different covered theories. This also means that students may sometimes be asked to discuss more problematic issues in relations to games, such as gender representation and the belief on whether games make players violent or not.

I do not believe in stupid questions, and students are encouraged to ask as much as they need, whether it is about the day's texts or anything else they feel pertains to the course. If any issues arise during the course students are always welcome to contact me.

I strongly believe that teaching is reciprocal; therefore students are encouraged to share any knowledge they have outside the classroom. Further, as this is a discussion course students can expect that their personal views in relation to games are always respected.

Students are also encouraged to write me or set up a meeting for questions, feedback, etc. if the need arises. Feedback will be provided after all graded assignments in the form of notes attached to the assignment rubric.

Expectations of the Students

Students are expected to be on time for class and attend all scheduled classes. If one misses multiple classes, the Director of Teaching and Learning, as well as the Director of Student Affairs, will be notified, and they will follow up with you to assure that all is well. Absences and being late may jeopardize your grade. Allowances will be made in case of illness, but in the case of multiple illnesses you will need to provide a doctor’s note.

Laptops may be used for note-taking. Please wait until after the class to check email, Facebook, and send messages. If surfing the internet or text messages become a problem, then laptops and cell phones will be banned from the classroom. Use of cell phones during class and field studies will have a negative effect on one's grade.

Participation engagement is evaluated on

• Attendance in all classes and field studies
• Involvement in class- and group discussions as well as exercises
• Level of preparation and ability to answer questions asked in class
• Active participation in field studies

Students may also provide written material if they are not inclined to talk during class. Written material can be in the form of e.g. an online blog or by use of the discussion forum on Canvas.

Students are expected to complete small quizzes before most classes (when available) regarding that day's readings and/or other material. Quizzes are generally short and may have between 6-15 questions. Note that while students are graded on how many correct answers they have on each quiz, all quizzes may be taken for an unlimited number of times and the highest received grade for each is kept. Quizzes are available for one week before that day's class and are then closed.

Students are expected to always respect the viewpoints of other students though they may differ from their own.

Practicum/Lab/Research

Students are expected to use some time on playing games outside of the classroom relating to both written assignments and class discussions. Games will never have a duration of more than half an hour and will be announced no later than two weeks in advance.

The movie GTFO: The Movie is part of the homework for class. Students will be reminded no later than two weeks in advance. The movie can be borrowed and viewed at the DIS library. The movie is 90 minutes long. Be advised that the movie cannot be brought home, though students may be able to to find it themselves online.

Evaluation

In class, students will be discussing theories on games both in groups and in plenum as well as watch video clips and play shorter games. Students are expected to have read/watched/played the required material for each day.

Students are generally evaluated on their interaction with the provided material, both in groups and in plenum. This includes being able to answer and/or ask questions pertaining to the required material as well as building onto theories and applying them. Students are further rewarded for using the material in groups while discussing different topics. More quiet students may use a blog or equivalent to discuss their viewpoints.

Grading

Assignment	Percent
Participation	10%
Quizzes on required texts and other material	5%
Analysis paper on a serious/persuasive game	25%
Physical game creation completed in groups with accompanying presentation and display at the DIS End-of-Semester Showcase	20%
Final paper explaining a revised game in a report or a self-created game in the form of a report with accompanying story board or a game design document.	40%

GRADED ASSIGNMENTS

Serious Game Analysis Paper:

Analyze a short serious/persuasive game in a 600-900 word paper using 3-4 references from the course. The paper must contain:

• An introduction describing the genre, who made the game, and for what system
• An analysis of the game where you describe the mechanics of the game, the intend and message of the game, and how the game conveys this message
• A discussion on the theoretical basis for how, why, and if the game succeeds in conveying its message

Game Design:

In groups of 2-4 students, you must create a game based on the readings from the course (where 2 cannot be from Adams, Juul, or Salen & Zimmerman)

• On the first day at 12:00 students will receive a theme for the game, which we will work on throughout that day’s class
  • There are no rules for the type of analog game created; it may be a physical game such as soccer, a card game, board game, or something else entirely.
  • Materials for creating game objects will be available in class (such as dice, paper, glue, markers, and scissors). Students are allowed to bring their own materials if they wish to include something more specific.
• On the second day at 11:40, a prototype with the rules written and printed must be available for another group to playtest and give a peer-review of. You have until the rest of the class to use the feedback and improve on your game. Game materials and rules must be handed in for evaluation no later than 11:59PM that day. Students are free to spend time between the two lectures on the game, but may not change or improve the game after that day.
• On the last day of class, each group must hold a 5 minute presentation explaining the game and the theories used to make the game. A poster must be handed in advertising your game at the beginning of class, as well as uploaded as a pdf-file on the forum
• To pass the assignment, the game must be presented at the DIS Final Showcase - date will be available in the Calendar.
• The game counts for 60% of the Game Design grade and the presentation counts for 40% of the Game Design grade. The entire assignment is graded as a group assignment
  • Individual grades will be redacted in case of unexcused absence at the DIS Final Showcase

Final Project:

Students may choose 1 of 3 possible projects to hand in:

• A Game Design Document of a game you design yourself, describing the design and theoretical basis for the design choices (1.200-1.800 word paper with 4-5 references)
• A paper (1.500-1.800 word paper with 4-5- references) describing the revision of an already published game in order to either
  • Make it more meaningful and immersive, or
  • Make it convey one or more message(s)
• A storyboard (max 12 frames) describing a game you have designed yourself with a 1.200-1.500 word paper explaining the design and theoretical basis for the design choices

In General:

• A rubric for each assignment will be uploaded on the forum and handed out per request.
• There is no required reference format, but as a minimum you are required to use the APA referencing format - example: https://www.usq.edu.au/library/referencing/apa-referencing-guide
  • All written assignments must contain references and your name. Lack of correct referencing will result in a grade deduction of up tp 10%.
• Illustrations do not count towards the word limit
• All papers are handed in through the forum and must be uploaded as a PDF-file. Other formats are not accepted. Papers can only be submitted by email upon request if there are problems with the forum.
• Late assignments are generally not accepted and will result in a failing grade. However, in the case of major circumstances an extension can be made. Please see me if this should be the case.
• You are always welcome to ask questions about the assignments, readings, etc. Please send them to me by email or ask me before/after class – it is also possible to schedule a meeting if requested.

 

Academic Regulations  

Please make sure to read the Academic Regulations on the DIS website. There you will find regulations on:

• Course Enrollment and Grading
• Attendance
• Coursework, Exams, and Final Grade Reports

 

DIS - Study Abroad in Scandinavia - www.DISabroad.org