Course detail
Game Studies
FaVU-1HS-ZAcad. year: 2023/2024
The course is organized into four-hour classes, which will take place during the semester 7 times, every 14 days. Every four-hour class will include a lecture, followed with a discussion focused on the subject matter.
For each lesson (except for the first one), students will have a task of reading one text (available in electronic form from the study materials), which we later be discussed. For some lessons, some students will also prepare short text (1 to 2 norm pages), which will also serve as a contribution to the discussion.
Language of instruction
Number of ECTS credits
Mode of study
Guarantor
Department
Entry knowledge
Rules for evaluation and completion of the course
Compulsory attendance (how many lessons can be missed will be specified in the beginning of the semester).
Aims
In this course students will learn:
- to characterize the historical development of thinking about computer games and describe the stages of the emergence of this medium
- to define and analyze the basic specific elements of computer game media
- to use key concepts created and applied within the field of game studies (eg immersion, flow, procedural rhetoric, etc.)
- to analyze computer game media from several general scientific perspectives (gaming psychology, philosophy, aesthetics, narratology, ideology research).
Study aids
Prerequisites and corequisites
Basic literature
Art. Bristol: Intellect.
Bogost, I. 2006. Comparative Video Game Criticism. In Games And Culture 2006 1:41.
Bogost, I. 2006. Unit Operations. Cambridge: MIT Press.
Bogost, I. 2006. Unit Operations. Cambridge: MIT Press.
Bogost, I. 2008. Persuasive Games. Cambridge: MIT Press.
Caillois, R. 1998. Hry a lidé. Praha: Nakladatelství studia Ypsilon.
Comprehensive Review of the Current Literature in Vorderer, P. – Jennings, B. (eds.) 2006) Playing Video Games: Motives,
Csíkszentmihályi, M. 1991. Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. Harper.
Článek o Everquest: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/1899420.stm
Ebert, R. Game vs. Art. http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070721/COMMENTARY/70721001
Eskelinen, M. 2001. The Gaming Situation, in Game Studies 01/2001. www.gamestudies.org/0101/eskelinen.
Fernandéz-Vara, C. 2008. Shaping Players Experience in Adventure Games. (nepublikováno)
Frasca, G. 2003. Ludologists love stories, too: notes from a debate that never took place.
Friedman, T. 1999. Semiotics of Sim City. http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue4_4/friedman/index.html
Galloway, A. R. 2006. Gaming: Essays On Algorithmic Culture. Minneapolis: University Of Minnesota Press.
Gee, J. P. 2005. Why video games are good for your soul: pleasure and learning. Altona: Common Ground Publishing.
Hawisher, G. - Selfe, C. (eds.) Gaming Lives In the Twenty-First Century: Literate Connections,
http://web.mit.edu/cms/People/henry3/games&narrative.html.
http://www.gamestudies.org/0202/kennedy/ (k dispozici je i český překlad)
Huizinga, J. 2000. Homo ludens: o původu kultury ve hře. Praha: Dauphin.
Hunicke, M. et al. MDA: A Formal Approach to Game Design and Game Research.
Chaplin, H. – Ruby, A. 2006. Smartbomb: The Quest for Art, Entertainment, and Big Bucks in the Videogame Revolution.
Jenkins, H. 2004. Game Design as Narrative Architecture in Wardrip-Fruin, N. – Pat Harrigan (eds.) First Person: New
Juul, J. 2005. Half-Real: Video Games Between Real Rules and Fictional Worlds. Cambridge: The MIT Press.
Juul, J. 2007. A Certain Level of Abstraction. In Situated Play: DiGRA 2007 Conference Proceedings, Baba, A., ed. DiGRA Japan
Kennedy, H. 2002. Lara Croft: Feminist Icon or Cyberbimbo. On the Limits of Textual Analysis, in Game Studies 02/2002.
Klevjer, R. 2008. Avatar. (disertace). http://folk.uib.no/smkrk/docs/RuneKlevjer_What%20is%20the
Lakoff, G. - Johnson, M. 2002. Metafory, kterými žijeme. Brno: Host.
Lamoureux, M. 8-Bit Primitive: A Hommage to Atari 2600 in Compton, S. (ed.) 2004. Gamers. New York: Soft Skull Press.
Lee, K. M. – Peng, W. 2006. What Do We Know About Social and Psychological Effects of Computer Games? A
Levy, S. 1984. Hackers. New York: Double Day.
Lowood, H. 2005. High Performance Play: The Making Of Machinima in Clarke, A. – Mitchell, G. (eds.). Videogames and
Lowood, H. 2006. A Brief Biography Of Computer Games. In in Vorderer, P. – Bryant, J. (eds.) Playing Video Games:
Media as Story, Performance, Game. Cambridge: MIT Press.
Motives, Responses, and Consequences. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Murray, J. 1999. Hamlet on the Holodeck: The Future of Narrative in Cyberspace. Cambridge: MIT Press.
New York: Algonquin Books.
Newman, J. 2004. Video Games. London: Routledge.
Nieborg, D. 2009. Political Economy of Video Games. (disertace)
Poole, S. 2004. Trigger Happy. London: Fourth Estate.
Responses and Consequences. N
Responses, and Consequences. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum. dmitriwilliams.com/WilliamsSocHist.doc
Rossignol, J. 2008. This Gaming Life. Digital Culture Books.
Tolkien, J.R.R. On fairy stories.
Úryvky z knihy Grand Theft Childhood: http://www.grandtheftchildhood.com/GTC/Excerpts/Excerpts.html
Williams, D. 2006. A Brief Social History Of Gameplay. In in Vorderer, P. – Bryant, J. (eds.) Playing Video Games: Motives,
%20Avatar_finalprint.pdf
Recommended reading
Classification of course in study plans
- Programme VUB Bachelor's
branch VU-IDT , 1 year of study, winter semester, elective
branch VU-IDT , 2 year of study, winter semester, elective
branch VU-IDT , 3 year of study, winter semester, elective
branch VU-IDT , 4 year of study, winter semester, elective
branch VU-VT , 1 year of study, winter semester, elective
branch VU-VT , 2 year of study, winter semester, elective
branch VU-VT , 3 year of study, winter semester, elective
branch VU-VT , 4 year of study, winter semester, elective
branch VU-VT , 1 year of study, winter semester, elective
branch VU-VT , 2 year of study, winter semester, elective
branch VU-VT , 3 year of study, winter semester, elective
branch VU-VT , 4 year of study, winter semester, elective
branch VU-VT , 1 year of study, winter semester, elective
branch VU-VT , 2 year of study, winter semester, elective
branch VU-VT , 3 year of study, winter semester, elective
branch VU-VT , 4 year of study, winter semester, elective
branch VU-VT , 1 year of study, winter semester, elective
branch VU-VT , 2 year of study, winter semester, elective
branch VU-VT , 3 year of study, winter semester, elective
branch VU-VT , 4 year of study, winter semester, elective
branch VU-IDT , 1 year of study, winter semester, elective
branch VU-IDT , 2 year of study, winter semester, elective
branch VU-IDT , 3 year of study, winter semester, elective
branch VU-IDT , 4 year of study, winter semester, elective
branch VU-IDT , 1 year of study, winter semester, elective
branch VU-IDT , 2 year of study, winter semester, elective
branch VU-IDT , 3 year of study, winter semester, elective
branch VU-IDT , 4 year of study, winter semester, elective
branch VU-IDT , 1 year of study, winter semester, elective
branch VU-IDT , 2 year of study, winter semester, elective
branch VU-IDT , 3 year of study, winter semester, elective
branch VU-IDT , 4 year of study, winter semester, elective
branch VU-IDT , 1 year of study, winter semester, elective
branch VU-IDT , 2 year of study, winter semester, elective
branch VU-IDT , 3 year of study, winter semester, elective
branch VU-IDT , 4 year of study, winter semester, elective
branch VU-VT , 1 year of study, winter semester, elective
branch VU-VT , 2 year of study, winter semester, elective
branch VU-VT , 3 year of study, winter semester, elective
branch VU-VT , 4 year of study, winter semester, elective
branch VU-D , 1 year of study, winter semester, elective
branch VU-D , 2 year of study, winter semester, elective
branch VU-D , 3 year of study, winter semester, elective
branch VU-D , 4 year of study, winter semester, elective
branch VU-VT , 1 year of study, winter semester, elective
branch VU-VT , 2 year of study, winter semester, elective
branch VU-VT , 3 year of study, winter semester, elective
branch VU-VT , 4 year of study, winter semester, elective
branch VU-IDT , 1 year of study, winter semester, elective
branch VU-IDT , 2 year of study, winter semester, elective
branch VU-IDT , 3 year of study, winter semester, elective
branch VU-IDT , 4 year of study, winter semester, elective
branch VU-D , 1 year of study, winter semester, elective
branch VU-D , 2 year of study, winter semester, elective
branch VU-D , 3 year of study, winter semester, elective
branch VU-D , 4 year of study, winter semester, elective
branch VU-IDT , 1 year of study, winter semester, elective
branch VU-IDT , 2 year of study, winter semester, elective
branch VU-IDT , 3 year of study, winter semester, elective
branch VU-IDT , 4 year of study, winter semester, elective
branch VU-D , 1 year of study, winter semester, elective
branch VU-D , 2 year of study, winter semester, elective
branch VU-D , 3 year of study, winter semester, elective
branch VU-D , 4 year of study, winter semester, elective - Programme BIT Bachelor's 1 year of study, winter semester, elective
- Programme BIT Bachelor's 1 year of study, winter semester, elective
- Programme IT-BC-3 Bachelor's
branch BIT , 1 year of study, winter semester, elective
- Programme DES_B Bachelor's 2 year of study, winter semester, compulsory-optional
4 year of study, winter semester, compulsory-optional
Type of course unit
Lecture
Teacher / Lecturer
Syllabus
- development of media from the 1950s to the present
- the relationship between computer and classic games
- game genres development
- intertextual and intermedia links and influences
- cultural status and legitimation of games
What is a computer game; game studies emergence:
- definition of games
- game philosophy (Huizinga, Caillois, Sutton-Smith, Sicart, etc.)
- game studies emergence and areas of its interest
- ludology vs. naratology
Game aesthetics - game elements and their effects on players 1:
- game mechanics
- flow
- immersion
- game space
- visuality of games
- game kinaesthetics
Game aesthetics - game elements and their effects on players 2:
- narration
- procedural rhetoric
- self-reflexivity of games
- avatar
- game themes
Technique, production, distribution:
- game economics, gaming industry
- AAA games vs. independent games
- history of game technology
- institutional history
Research (culture and psychology) of players:
- psychology, sociology, (auto) player ethnography
- player typology
- question of dependence
- positive cognitive and therapeutic effects of games
- MMO games as a specific phenomenon
- gaming paratext and player fan practices (letsplaye, cheat, etc.)
Games and society:
- representation of minorities and gender in games
- violence and war games
- games and history representations
- political, educational and generally serious games