CHID498F - Poetics of Play in Digital Roleplaying Games
IntroductionIn his recent book Gaming: Essays on Algorithmic Culture, Alexander Galloway includes an epigraph from Hans Magnus Enzensberger on new media that frames the dominant view about digital games today: “The new media are oriented towards action, not contemplation; towards the present, not tradition.” While this view has explanatory power in a very general sense when applied to digital games, it can play all too easily into the reductive moralisms which have inhibited inquiry and haunted the cultural assumptions about the medium since its creation: the playing of video games is either an unproductive escapist pastime of little or no intellectual consequence, or worse yet, an active corruption of culture in general and youth in particular. Galloway and others have done compelling scholarship on games that reveal this as a misguided interpretation, but they have done so primarily by crafting innovative theories and concepts about gaming in general without really bearing down on any of the games themselves. In light of these two issues—the commonsense tendency to view games as primarily unreflective action, and the generalized theory-oriented beginnings of game studies—there seems to be a need for an engaged consideration of the interpretive and imaginative dimension of digital games, and particularly the genre most resistant to prevailing theoretical models: the roleplaying game (RPG). To this end, this seminar will be anchored by a collective gaming experience of 4 monuments in the history of the fantasy RPG: Quest for Glory, Ultima VII, Final Fantasy VII, and Morrowind, and framed by critical readings from game studies and new media studies, including essays by Espen Aarseth, Ian Bogost, Alexander Galloway, James Paul Gee and Jesper Juul, among others. These readings and game experiences will hopefully give us some concrete purchase on the efficacy of current theory, but also – and more importantly – a way to talk about and imagine this genre that engages some larger questions: What is the nature and what are the qualities of the imaginative work created and supported by the experience of digital roleplaying games? What philosophical insights can this increasingly popular art form offer contemporary notions of digital mediation? What is unique about the way in which the RPG configures and affects the imaginative experience? GoalsA:\> Deepen your understanding of “gaming” and sharpen your attention to the subtleties and uniqueness of the imaginative experience in digital roleplaying games – to make you more insightful and discerning thinkers about digital roleplaying games as a significant expressive form in the current media ecology. B:\> Explore and critique the emerging academic field of game studies –its strengths and especially its weaknesses, in a concrete way, with an eye toward the experiential, thereby making sense of particular games and their implications for thought; to grow theoretical awareness that is rooted in examples rather than the discourse of theory. C:\> Generate critical thinking about topics of interest in these games and the opportunity to work through your ideas in new forms of scholarship – to create a space for writing and reflection about these games that addresses their significance for critical thought. D:\> Provide an opportunity for participants to discuss and reflect on the pedagogical issues of studying digital games with an eye to problems of disciplinarity and method, and toward the recalcitrance of gameplay to generalized, theory-centric inquiry. MaterialsIn order to participate in this seminar you will need the following:
WorkA:\> Critical Précis – You will be asked to write a special kind of critical “précis” on an academic source (article, book chapter, anthologized essay) of your choice. These will be circulated among the seminar participants and discussed in class throughout the quarter. B:\> Digital Roleplaying Game Canon – Each of us will propose a sort of “mini-canon” of games (about 5-7) together with a written rationale for our choices to be circulated and discussed at the end of the quarter. C:\> Individual Project – Finally, all participants will design a small project as an opportunity for individual scholarship – this can be a traditional seminar paper in which you critically engage some idea that has emerged in discussion (or something we just didn’t seem to get to), or something more informational and practical, such as digital archiving of particular facets of the game experience, etc. GradingThe final grade will consist of the following components: B:\> Critical Précis [30%]– These will be evaluated holistically based on their clarity as well as their control of the ideas they address, and the sharing component on the effectiveness of your efforts to place the ideas in the context of the seminar content and our ongoing discussion. C:\>Digital Roleplaying Game Canon [30%]– These canons will be evaluated on the coherence of the rationale provided and the rigor of your thinking about the “why” of your selections in the context of the seminar content. D:\> Individual Project [30%]– This is an opportunity to explore a topic in detail that the seminar format cannot do justice, and a chance to flex your thinking and creativity on the materials you’ve engaged throughout the quarter in a new way. It is important to me that these projects take the form most useful to your own practical goals (more on this in class). Academic Honesty
Plagiarism, or academic dishonesty, is presenting someone else's ideas or writing as your own. In your writing for this class, you are encouraged to refer to other people's thoughts and writing -- as long as you cite them. As a matter of policy, any student found to have plagiarized any piece of writing in this class will be immediately reported to the College of Arts and Sciences for review.
Plagiarism includes: BibliographyAarseth, Espen. Cybertexts: Perspectives on Ergodic Literature. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins Press, 1997. Bogost, Ian. Unit Operations: An Approach to Videogame Criticism. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2006. Bogost, Ian. Persuasive Games. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2007. Caillois, Roger. Man, Play, and Games. Trans. Meyer Barash. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 2001. Castronova, Edward. Synthetic Worlds: The Business and Culture of Online Games. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2005. Fine, Gary Alan. Shared Fantasy: Role-Playing Games as Social Worlds. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1983. Galloway, Alexander. Gaming: Essays On Algorithmic Culture. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 2006. Gee, James Paul. What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy. New York: Pallgrave MacMillan, 2003. Huizinga, Johan. Homo Ludens. New York: Harper & Row, 1970 (1938). Juul, Jesper. Half-Real: Video Games Between Real Rules and Fictional Worlds. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2005. Meadows, Mark Stephen. Pause & Effect: The Art of Interactive Narrative. Indianapolis, IN: New Riders, 2003. Poole, Steven. Trigger Happy: Videogames and the Entertainment Revolution. New York, NY: Arcade, 2000. Sutton-Smith, Brian. The Ambiguity of Play. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1997. Wark, McKenzie. Gamer Theory. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2007. Wolf, Mark J.P. The Medium of the Video Game. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 2002. anth: The Video Game Theory Reader. Ed. Mark J.P. Wolf & Bernard Perron. New York, NY: Routledge, 2003. anth: Virtual Morality. Ed. Mark J.P. Wolf. New York, NY: Peter Lang, 2003. anth: First Person: New Media as Story, Performance, and Game. Eds. Noah Wardrip-Fruin & Pat Harrigan. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2004. anth: Second Person: Roleplaying and Story in Games and Playable Media. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2007. anth: Computer Games: Text, Narrative, Play. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2006. |
Sections:1> Introduction |