NCSU Department of Communication

COM427::Game Studies
Instructor: Dr. Adriana de Souza e Silva

 

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There will be weekly readings. This is a reading-intensive course in which you will be asked to deal with material that is often quite challenging in its language and theoretical positions. You should expect to read about 60-80 pages a week, and write a brief summary/comment on each text you read. You are excused from writing your comment if you are presenting to the class. You are responsible for not only reading all the material assigned to you, but engaging with it before class in a way that prepares you to participate in class discussion. In order to do this, you will need to take careful reading notes and review your notes before each class. The readings shall be used not only for class discussion, but also to support your arguments on the class discussions, presentations, and final paper.

All texts are available online as PDF documents, through this Web site and the NCSU library online reserves. A few new ones may will be also available on the Web.

Note: All students must regurlary check e-mails, as well as the class Website, for messages and readings from this course.

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Required Readings:

Barab, S. A., Arici, A., Jackson, C. (2005). Eat your vegetables and do your homework: A design-based investigation of enjoyment and meaning in learning. Educational Technology, 65 (1), 15-21. Retrieved May 16, 2007, from http://inkido.indiana.edu/barab/publications2.html

Bartle, R. (2006). Hearts, Clubs, Diamonds, Spades: Players who suit MUDs. In In K. Salen, & E. Zimmerman (Eds.), The game design reader: A rules of play anthology (pp. 754-787). Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press. (also available online at Bartle's website)

Chang, M., & Goodman, E., (2006). Asphalt Games: Enacting place through locative media. Leonardo Electronic Almanac, 14 (3). Retrieved November 28, 2006, from http://leoalmanac.org/journal/vol_14/lea_v14_n03-04/changoodman.asp

De Souza e Silva, A. (submitted). Hybrid reality gaming: Redefining mobility and game spaces in urban environments. Simulations & Gaming.

De Souza e Silva, A., & Delacruz, G. (2006). Hybrid reality games reframed: Potential uses in educational contexts. Games and Culture, 1 (3), 231-251. Retrieved November 26, 2006, from http://gac.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/1/3/231

Dibbell, J. (1999). The scarlet balloon (or tinygeography, a long view and an overview). In My tiny life: crime and passion in a virtual world (pp. 39- 69). New York: Owl Books.

Eskelinen, M. (2001). The gaming situation. Game Studies, 1 (1). Retrieved November 27, 2006, from http://www.gamestudies.org/0101/eskelinen

Facer, K., Joiner, R., Stanton, D., Reid, J., Hullz, R., & Kirk D. (2004). Savannah: Mobile gaming and learning? Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 20, 399-409. Retrieved May 16, 2007, from http://www.futurelab.org.uk/research/draft/05draft01.htm

Fuller, M., & Jenkins, H. (1995). Nintendo® and new world travel writing: A dialogue. In: S. Jones, (Ed.), Cybersociety: computer-mediated communication and community (pp. 57-72). Thousand Oaks, CA : Sage Publications, Inc. (Also available online at: http://www.stanford.edu/class/history34q/readings/Cyberspace/FullerJenkins_Nintendo.html)

Hey, D. (2002). The Majestic game, interactive media environments, and a new turing test: Blurring the boundaries between virtual and real. In Proceedings of the Media Ecology Association, Third Annual Convention, Marymount Manhattan College, June 21-23, 2002. Retrieved November 28, 2006, from http://www.media-ecology.org/publications/proceedings/v3/Hey03.pdf

Hughes, L. (2006). Beyond the rules of the game: Why are rooie rules nice? In In K. Salen, & E. Zimmerman (Eds.), The game design reader: A rules of play anthology (504-516). Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

Jenkins, H. (2006). "Complete freedom of movement": Video games as gendered play spaces [part 1] [part 2]. In In K. Salen, & E. Zimmerman (Eds.), The game design reader: A rules of play anthology (pp. 330-361). Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press. (also available online at Jenkins' website) *Electronic version do not include images.

Licoppe, C., & Inada, Y. (2006). Emergent uses of a multiplayer location-aware mobile game: The interactional consequences of mediated encounters. Mobilities, 1 (1), 39-61.

Mortensen, T. E., (2006). WoW is the new MUD: Social gaming from text to video. Games and Culture, 1 (4), 397-413. Retrieved November 27, 2006, from http://gac.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/1/4/397

Murray, J. (2004). From game-story to cyberdrama. In N. Wardrip-Fruin, & P. Harrigan (Eds.), First Person: New Media as story, performance, and game (pp. 1-11). Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press. (also available online at the Electronic Book Review webiste). *Electronic version does not include images.

Salen, K., & Zimmerman, E. (2003). Defining games. In Rules of Play: game design fundamentals (pp. 70-83). Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

Salen, K., & Zimmerman, E. (2003). Defining digital games. In Rules of Play: game design fundamentals (pp. 84-91). Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

Salen, K., & Zimmerman, E. (2003). Defining play. In Rules of Play: game design fundamentals (pp. 377-419). Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

Salen, K., & Zimmerman, E. (2003). Games as narrative play. In Rules of Play: game design fundamentals (pp. 377-419). Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

Salen, K., & Zimmerman, E. (2003). Games as social play. In Rules of Play: game design fundamentals (pp. 460-489). Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

Sotomaa, O. (2002). All the world's a Botfighters stage: Notes on location-based multiuser gaming. Proceedings of Computer Games and Digital Cultures Conference (pp. 35-44). Tampere: Tampere University Press.

Squire, K., & Jenkins, H. (2003). Harnessing the power of games in education. Insight, 3 (1), 5-33. Retrieved November 28, 2006, from http://website.education.wisc.edu/kdsquire/manuscripts/insight.pdf

Taylor, T. L. (2006). Gaming lifeworlds: Social play in persistent environments [part 1] [part 2]. In Play between worlds (pp. 21-66). Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

Taylor, T. L. (2006). Does WoW change everything?: How a PvP server, multinational player base, and surveillance mod scene caused me pause. Games and Culture, 1 (4), 318-337. Retrieved November 27, 2006, from http://gac.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/1/4/318

Taylor, T. L., & Kolko, B. E. (2003). Boundary spaces: Majestic and the uncertain status of knowledge, community and self in a digital age. Information, Communication & Society, 6 (4), 497-522. (also available from T. L. Taylor's website: http://www.itu.dk/~tltaylor/papers/TaylorKolko-Majestic.pdf)

Vogiazou, Y., Raijmakers, B., Geelhoed, E., Reid, J., & Eisenstadt, M. (2006). Design for emergence: experiments with a mixed reality urban playground game. Personal and Ubiquitous Computing, 11 (1), 45-58). Retrieved November 28, 2006, from http://portal.acm.org/ft_gateway.cfm?id=1176940&type=pdf&
coll=GUIDE&dl=&CFID=15151515&CFTOKEN=6184618

 

Videos (lectures):

Salen, K. (2005). Narrative and dynamic systems: finding story in the mechanics of play. In Games and Storytelling lecture series. University of Helsinki. Retrieved November 23, 2006, from http://www.gamesandstorytelling.net/Salen-lecture-2005.html

Söderlund, T. (2005). Stories from the Frontier of Mobile Gaming. In Games and Storytelling lecture series. University of Helsinki. Retrieved November 23, 2006, from http://www.gamesandstorytelling.net/Soderlund-lecture-2005.html

 

Movies:
eXistenz (1999), directed by David Cronenberg
The Game (1997), directed by David Fincher