ENGL 300III - Video Game Culture

Institution:

Westminster College (Salt Lake City)

Subject:

English

Description:

This course aims to study the ethics of video game culture by playing video games. Our class time will be split between playing across different video game genres (such as role-playing video games, action-adventure, life simulation games, strategy video games, sports games, music games, etc.) and participating in current academic debates around gaming and game studies. Our class discussions will engage with the ludic and narrative elements of game theory while at the same time considering gaming as a practice that engages with traditional constructs of race, class and gender. This engagement at times challenges the traditional view that gamers are white and male. As seen with #gamergate, the misogynistic nature of online gaming, which does not exist in a vacuum, demonstrates a strong resistance to accepting female players. Our theoretical approach will be based on the works of Clara Fernndez-Vara, Jane McGonigal, Anita Sarkeesian, Graeme Kirkpatrick and Miguel Sicart. This course does not require prior experience with gaming but I welcome students who can bring their experience (along with their games) to our class discussions. The requirements of this course are weekly reaction papers in the form of vlogs.

Credits:

4.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.westminstercollege.edu

Phone Number:

(801) 484-7651

Regional Accreditation:

Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities

Calendar System:

Four-one-four plan

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