DIGITAL GAME CULTURES

CURRIC 432

Explore the expressive, social, and cultural impact of games as a medium through focused creation of a single capstone project. Develop an analog or digital game depending on interest and skill set. Designed to build skills in designing interactive games using an iterative approach that incorporates user testing and feedback. Focuses on design practices common to all games which can be applied by a game designer working in any medium, including sports, board games, computer games, and videogames. Opportunities to explore a wide variety of independent games as well as the platforms used to create them.

CURRIC 576

An exploration of theories, issues, and histories within a specialized area of game design such as developing games for a particular genre, for social impact, or using novel technologies.

COMARTS/CURRIC 914

Video games can be powerful experiences that take us to new worlds, teach us about complex systems, and provoke a range of emotions. Games transform us while we play, and some of these changes can be hard to predict and understand. Games can disrupt our sense of self, reshape our pleasures and feelings, lead us to question deeply held values, and allow us to experience new forms of embodiment through an avatar. A growing body of research in game studies engages with this potential for expansive change by focusing on player experience from a variety of methodological perspectives, including phenomenological, feminist and queer theory, critical disability studies, learning sciences, ecocriticism, and media archeology.

CURRIC 277

Explores current research on videogames and learning. Critically reflect on the intellectual and educational merits and drawbacks of videogames and how videogame culture shapes how individuals think and learn.

THEATRE 256

Using a video games-as-performance framework, explore the history, business, and technology of video games. Study the cultural, artistic, and technological evolution of major video game consoles, handheld systems, and personal/gaming computers, as well as a look at the business, technology, and people behind the games. Contemplate video games as theatrical performance while journeying into a different segment of gaming each week and examining their cultural impact on each era.