NCSU Department of Communication

COM598A::Gaming & Social Networks
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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Recommended Textbooks:

Salen, K., & Zimmerman, E. (2003). Rules of Play: game design fundamentals. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

Salen, K., & Zimmerman, E. (2006). The game design reader: A rules of play anthology. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

In addition, the course will include selected readings from the following books:

Wardrip-Fruin, N., & Harrigan, P. (2006). Second Person: Role-playing and story in games and playable media. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

Wardrip-Fruin, N., & Harrigan, P. (2004). First Person: New Media as story, performance, and game. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

 

Required Readings:

Barab, S. (in press). Relating narrative, inquiry, and inscriptions: Supporting consequential play. Journal of Science Education and Technology. Retrieved November 28, 2006, from http://inkido.indiana.edu/research/onlinemanu/papers/ssi.pdf

Barbeau, S. J., Labrador, M. A., Winters, P. L., Perez, R., & Georggi, N. L. (2006). A general architecture in support of interactive, multimedia, location-based mobile applications. IEEE Communications Magazine, 44 (11), 156-163, Retrieved November 28, 2006, from http://www.lib.ncsu.edu:2178/iel5/35/4014462/04014488.pdf?
tp=&arnumber=4014488&isnumber=4014462

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)

Benford, S., Flintham, M., Drodz, A., Tandavaitj, N., Adams, M., & Farr, J. R. (2006). The design and experience of the Location-Based Performance Uncle Roy All Around You. Leonardo Electronic Almanac, 14, (3). Retrieved November 28, 2006, from http://leoalmanac.org/journal/Vol_14/lea_v14_n03-04/roy.asp

Castranova, E. (2006). Virtual Worlds: A First-Hand Account of Market and Society on the Cyberian Frontier. In In K. Salen, & E. Zimmerman (Eds.), The game design reader: A rules of play anthology (pp. 814-863). Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press. (Also available online at: http://www.bepress.com/giwp/default/vol2/iss1/art1/current_article.html)

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. (in press). Hybrid relity gaming: using mobile technologies to bring multiuser environments into public spaces. In Digital Culture: Understanding New Media. London: McGraw Hill.

De Souza e Silva, A. (2006). Alien Revolt: A case study of a location-based mobile game in Brazil. Paper presented at the National Communication Association Conference (NCA), November 1.

De Souza e Silva, A. (2006). From cyber to hybrid: Mobile Technologies as Interfaces of Hybrid Spaces. Space and Culture, 9 (3), 261-278.

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

De Souza e Silva, A. (2004). Defining the virtual: simulation, possibility, potentiality, non-place. In From multiuser environments as (virtual) spaces to (hybrid) spaces as multiuser environments: Nomadic technology devices and hybrid communication places (pp. 48-80). Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Dibbell, J. (1999). The scarlet baloon (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.

Ducheneaut, N., Yee, N., Nickell, E., & Moore, R. J. (2006). Building an MMO with mass appeal: A look at gameplay in World of Warcraft. Games and Culture, 1 (4), 281-317. Retrieved November 27, 2006, from http://gac.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/1/4/281

Ermi, L., & Mayra, F. (2005). Player-Centred game design: Experiences in using scenario study to inform mobile game design. Game Studies, 5 (1). Retrieved November 28, 2006, from http://gamestudies.org/0501/ermi_mayra/

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

Fine, G. A. (2006). Frames and games. In K. Salen, & E. Zimmerman (Eds.), The game design reader: A rules of play anthology (pp. 578-601). Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press. (also at Fine, G. A. (1983). Frames and games. In Shared Fantasy: Role-playing games as social worlds. (pp. 181-204). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Flintham, M., Anastasi, R., Benford, S., Hemmings, T., Crabtree, A., Greenhalgh, C., et. al. (2003). Where on-line meets on-the-streets: Experiences with mobile mixed reality games. CHI, 5 (1), 569-576).

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)

Galloway, A., & Ward, M. (2006). Locative media as socialising and spatializing practice: Learing from archeology. Leonardo Electronic Almanac, 14 (3). Retrieved November 28, 2006, from http://leoalmanac.org/journal/Vol_14/lea_v14_n03-04/gallowayward.asp

Galloway, A. (2004). Playful mobilities: Ubiquitous computing in the city. Paper for Alternative Mobility Futures Conference, Centre for Mobilities Research, Lancaster University, 9-11 January, 2004, Lancaster, UK. Retrieved November 28, 2006, from http://www.purselipsquarejaw.org/papers/Galloway_Playful_Mobilities.pdf

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.

Järvinen, A.; Heliö, S.; & Mäyrä, F. (2002). Case studies: Botfighters. In Communication and community in digital entertainment services – prestudy research report. University of Tampere (pp. 44-47). Finland: Hypermedia Library. Retrieved November 24, 2005, from http://tampub.uta.fi/tup/951-44-5432-4.pdf

Jenkins, H. (2006). Game design as narrative architecture. In K. Salen, & E. Zimmerman (Eds.), The game design reader: A rules of play anthology (pp. 670-698). Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press. (also available online at the Electronic Book Review website) *Electronic version does not include images.

Jenkins, H. (2006). "Complete freedom of movement": Video games as gendered play spaces. 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.

Kafai, Yasmin B. (2006). Playing and making games for learning: Instructionist and Constructionist Perspectives for Game Studies. Games and Culture, 1 (1), 36-40. Retrieved November 27, 2006, from http://gac.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/1/1/36

Klopfer, E., & Squire, K. (in press). Environmental detectives: The development of an augmented Reality platform for environmental simulations [part 1] [part 2]. Educational Technology Research and Development,

Krzywinska, T. (2006). Blood scythes, festivals, quests, and backstories: World creation and rhetorics of myth in World of Warcraft. Games and Culture, 1 (4), 383-396. Retrieved November 28, 2006, from http://gac.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/1/4/383

Lehtonen, T. K., & Mäenpää, P. (1997). Shopping in the East Centre Mall [part 1] [part 2]. In P. Falk & C. Campbell (Eds.), The Shopping Experience (pp. 136–165). London: SAGE.

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.

Licoppe, C., & Guillot, R. (2006). ICTs and the engineering of encounters: A case study of the development of a mobile game based on the geolocation of terminals. [part 1] [part 2]. In M. Sheller and J. Urry (Eds.), Mobile Technologies of the City (pp. 152-176). London: Routledge.

Morningstar, C., & Farmer, R. (2006). The lessons of Lucasfilm's Habitat. In In K. Salen, & E. Zimmerman (Eds.), The game design reader: A rules of play anthology (pp. 728-753). Thousand Oaks, CA : Sage Publications, Inc. (Also available online at: http://www.fudco.com/chip/lessons.html)

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.

Pearce, C. (2004). Towards a game theory of game. In: N. Wardrip-Fruin, & P. Harrigan (Eds.), First Person: New Media as story, performance, and game (pp. 143-153). Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

Pearce, C. & Artemesia. (2006). Communities of play: The social construction of identidy in persistent online game worlds. In N. Wardrip-Fruin, & P. Harrigan (Eds.), Second Person: Role-playing and story in games and playable media (pp. 311-317). Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

Robinett, W. (2006). Adventure as a video game: Adventure for the Atari 2600. In In K. Salen, & E. Zimmerman (Eds.), The game design reader: A rules of play anthology (pp. 690-713). 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. 460-479). Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

Sant, A. (2006). Trace: Mapping the emerging urban landscape. Leonardo Electronic Almanac, 14 (3). Retrieved November 28, 2006, from http://leoalmanac.org/journal/Vol_14/lea_v14_n03-04/asant.asp

Schwabe, G., Göth, C., (2005). Mobile learning with a mobile game: Design and motivational effects, Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 21 (3), 204-216. Retrieved November 28, 2006, from http://www.lib.ncsu.edu:2053/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1365-2729.2005.00128.x

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.

Spohrer, J. C. (1999). Information in places. IBM Systems Journal, 38 (4), 602-628. Retrieved November 28, 2006, from http://www.research.ibm.com/journal/sj/384/spohrer.pdf

Squire, K. (2005). Changing the game: What happens when videogames enter the classroom? Innovate, 1 (6). Retrieved November 28, 2006, from http://www.innovateonline.info/index.php?view=article&id=82 (you need to create an account to view the article)

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, L. (2003). When seams fall apart: Video game space and the player. Game Studies, 3 (2). Retrieved November 22, 2006, from http://www.gamestudies.org/0302/taylor/

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)

Thomas, S. (2006). Pervasive learning games: Explorations of hybrid educational gamescapes. Simulation & Gaming, 37 (1), 41-55.

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

Wood, D., & Graham, S. (2005) Permeable boundaries in the software-sorted society: Surveillance and the differentiation of mobility. In M. Sheller and J. Urry (Eds.), Mobile Technologies of the City (pp. 177-191). London: Routledge.

 

Videos (lectures):

Frasca, G. (2005). Mini-games, maxi-storytelling: looking at minigames as a narrative genre. In Games and Storytelling lecture series. University of Helsinki. Retrieved November 23, 2006, from http://www.gamesandstorytelling.net/Frasca-lecture-2005.html

Karjalainen, S. (2006). Expanding PC online virtual world into mobile devices. In Games and Storytelling lecture series. University of Helsinki. Retrieved November 23, 2006, from http://www.gamesandstorytelling.net/Karjalainen-lecture-2006.html

Laes, J. (2005). Developing Mobile Games - Big Thrills, Small Screens and Mass Audiences. In Games and Storytelling lecture series. University of Helsinki. Retrieved November 23, 2006, from http://www.gamesandstorytelling.net/Laes-lecture-2005.html

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
Nemesis Game (2003), directed by Jesse Warn