Assignments

Critical Response Papers -- Everyone must complete at least 8 of the 14 possible short critical and analytical response papers; response papers for Week 1 and Week 5 and Week 10 are strongly recommended of all students. Each week, response papers are due on Saturday by noon. Papers are submitted electronically via Moodle: https://moodle.drew.edu/2/course/view.php?id=621.

Plog, or, Play Log -- You will be required to keep a weekly "plog" or "play log" about the games that you play and the texts that you read. Plog entries will be short reactions, responses, meditations, and provocations that engage the game and your play on a critical, analytical, or theoretical level. Plogs will be posted each week to the class blog.

In-Class Quizzes -- There will be five (or as needed) in-class quizzes at various times during the quarter. These quizzes serve as a review of the preceding week's main ideas, terms, games, and readings. These quizzes will include identifications, short answers, and a very brief essay.

Virtual Worlds & Video Games Critical Review -- a 500-700 word analytical review of a text you would think could be or should be included in our class. Critical Reviews are due by the last day of instruction and will be posted to the class blog.

Information Sheets

The following are handouts, informational sheets, and readings that will be assigned or used over the course of the quarter. Each student will recieve a copy of each as a handout in class during the appropriate week. If you miss a sheet, feel free to print out a new copy.

ENGL 204 Student Info Sheet & Release Form

Ed's Top Ten List of "Ways to Survive University"

Ed's Top Ten Rules of Writing

Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing

MLA Citation and Bibliographic Format

What is Close Reading?

Readings

There are ten novels required by the class in addition to a handful of short readings. The novels are available via the Drew Bookstore (or through any reputable bookseller). All of the short readings for class are available via the (class Moodle). Consult the course syllabus for the week's required reading. The following is a full bibliographical list of the class readings:

Barlow, John Perry. "A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace." Electronic Frontier Foundation. 8 Feb. 1996. 26 Mar. 2010. https://projects.eff.org/~barlow/Declaration-Final.html.

Barnes, Steven and Larry Niven. Dream Park. New York: Tor, 1981.

Bogost, Ian. "Introduction." How to Do Things with Videogames. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 2011. 1-8.

Burgett, Bruce and Glenn Hendler, Eds. Keywords for American Cultural Studies. New York: New York University Press, 2007.

Card, Orson Scott. Ender's Game. New York: Tor, 1991.

Chen, Jenova. "Flow in Games." Communications of the ACM. 50.4 (April 2007): 31-34.

Cline, Ernest. Ready Player One. New York: Crown Publishers, 2011.

Dibbell, Julian. "A Rape in Cyberspace." My Tiny Life: Crime and Passion in a Virtual World. New York: Henry Holt, 1998. 11-30. (Also available via Dibbell's website http://www.juliandibbell.com/texts/bungle.html.)

Frasca, Gonzalo. "Ideological Video Games." IGDA. November 2003. http://www.igda.org/columns/ivorytower/ivory_Nov03.php.

Gibson, William. Neuromancer. New York: Ace Books, 1988.

Higgin, Tanner. "How I Use Leeroy Jenkins to Teach Race in Videogames." Gaming the System. 17 Sep. 2009. http://www.tannerhiggin.com/how-i-use-leeroy-jenkins-to-teach-race-in-videogames/.

McGonigal, Jane. "Growing Up Gamer." AvantGame. Sep. 2008. 22 Mar. 2012. http://www.avantgame.com/growing_up_gamer_mcgonigal_sept2008.pdf.

---. "Introduction." Reality is Broken: How Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World. New York: The Penguin Press, 2011. 1-15.

Media

Jackson, Shelley. "My Body." Electronic Literature Collection: Volume One. October 2006. http://collection.eliterature.org/1/works/jackson__my_body_a_wunderkammer.html.

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