Game Studies

Information
Course Coordinator:
ECTS: 7,5

Description
This course is being taught in block 1 and 4. The aim of Game Studies: Serious/Game/Play (block 1) is threefold:

A. To investigate if, and if so, to what extent and in what way, digital gaming technologies are transforming the construction of personal and cultural identity.

B. To investigate to what extent and in what way game design can be called upon to improve the learning results of entertainment and serious games.

C. To investigate to what extent and in what way the notion of play can be used as a conceptual framework for the analysis of media use.

In Game Studies: Rules of Play (block 4) students focus on online games such as the massively multi-player online role-playing game (or mmorpg). The underlying theme of the course is 'rules of play'. We investigate the formal and informal rules of online gaming and the way they are negotiated and manipulated by players through a variety of practices including cheating, modification and role-playing. The aim is to critically analyse player participation and agency within these complex virtual play environments.

Goal
The aim of the course is to enhance students' theoretical understanding of issues of playful identity, serious gaming, the notion of play and rules of play. Students should be able to read literature in the field thoroughly and critically, frame theoretical discussions in the field and develop new ways of conceptualizing the aforementioned issues. The major assessment task of the course is a paper which should be of a high academic standard.