Syllabus

Course Meeting Times

Lectures: 1 session / week, 3 hours / session

Course Overview

This course examines the social, cultural, economic, and political aspects of digital games. Topics include the socio-technical aspects of digital gaming, embodiment and space, communities, spectatorship and performance, gender, race, sexuality, e-sports and sports games, and the politics and economics of production processes, including co-creation and intellectual property. After successful completion of the course the student should be able to:

• Demonstrate, through discussion and written work, an understanding of major areas within sociological computer game research.
• Situate that analysis within a broader social theory framework.
• Independently identify critical questions / problems / domains in the social and cultural analysis of computer games and select an appropriate method for examination.
• Undertake a scholarly literature review relevant to the area.
• Provide original analysis and argumentation via discussion and written work.

Prerequisites

This course has no prerequisites.

Learning Activities

The course will be made up of a mix of lectures, discussion (including peer-led sessions), group work, and classroom exercises. In addition to course participation, there will be several written assignments.

Grading

Your final grade will consist of the following components. Your hand-ins must reflect your sole work and authorship (rather than a group effort).

Graduate students will be expected to perform at a level commensurate with advanced study and will complete additional work if taking the course for graduate credit.

Calendar