Description

IN 1970, CLARK ABT DEFINES “serious games” as ones that have “an explicit and carefully thought-out educational purpose and are not intended to be played primarily for amusement.” More recently, scholars and developers have taken this “serious” approach to video games, experimenting with the potential of the video games as a persuasive medium. As Gonzalo Frasca, game scholar, game developer, and author of “Video Games of the Oppressed,” says, “There is a long tradition of dismissing games as trivial time-wasters. We now have a new generation of players who know better.”

OUR FOCUS GROUP, as part of a continuing series on video games generated by the Critical Gaming Project at UW, will join in this discussion to explore the development, critique, and play of “serious” video games, particularly those with political and/or propagandistic intentions. We will play a series of political and propaganda games alongside formal video game and cultural studies scholarship in order to investigate such questions as: Can video games be educational, political, or propaganda? What do video games articulate, argue, and reveal? If as Gaming author Alexander Galloway argues that “video games render social realities into playable form,” then how do we engage and analyze the rhetorical, informatic, and cultural arguments of video games? Or, in short, what is a serious video game?

TO APPROACH THESE QUESTIONS, we will play games such as America's Army, Darfur is Dying, Positive or Not, Cutthroat Capitalism, Airport Security, Disaffected, September 12, Super Columbine Massacre, and Planet Green in the context of readings from the likes of Ian Bogost, Alexander Galloway, Gonzalo Frasca, Jane McGonigal, Henry Jenkins, Constance Steinkuehler, James Paul Gee, and others.

THE COURSE will meet once a week for 2 hours to engage guided discussion, analytical and reflective writing, and game play. There will be no formal paper requirements, but students will be asked to participate in online discussion and keep a weekly play-log (plog).

Requirements & Grading

Although CHID 496 is for credit/no credit and no numeric grade will be reported, for the purposes for the class, you will still need to earn a minimum of a 2.0 to receive credit for the course. With that in mind, passing with credit will be a reflection of engagement, effort, critical thinking, writing, and participation.

Critical Blog/Plog Entries (50%)
The majority of the writing you will do for this class is in the form of weekly short, critical, analytical response entries on the class message board or blog: .
These single-spaced, 250-500 word writings serve as reactions to, close readings of, and analyses of the game, texts, play, and the connections you see, read, and talk about in class. These “play logs” are more than just summaries or personal reactions and will be graded on clarity, coherence, critique, and how well you concisely formulate arguments. Response entries are due weekly. See the critical plog prompt for more details.
Presentation & Plog Discussion Lead (20%)
Once during the quarter, you will be responsible for putting together a 3 to 5 minute oral presentation on the week's readings and game play. For the presentation, you must provide brief background information on the reading, generate analytical questions to get the class discussion going for the day, and demonstrate a critical understanding of the text. Everyone must sign-up for at least one presentation. Presenters are then required to post their presentation information and questions to the class blog and facilitate online discussion.
Participation and Preparedness (30%)
Preparedness and participation forms a large component of your final grade. It is essential that you prepare for class, attend class, and participate. Missing class may seriously compromise your ability to do well in this class. Again, negative participation will hurt your participation grade. Participation is determined by
  1. your respectful presence in class,
  2. your willingness to discuss, comment, and ask questions,
  3. your preparation for class, which includes bringing required materials to class and doing all of the assigned reading for class,
  4. your engagement in group work and play,
  5. your use of the class blog,
  6. and your interactions with us and other students.
Finally, failure to turn in homework, incomplete assignments, or late papers will negatively impact your participation grade.

Attendance

Attendance is strongly recommended. If you are absent, you miss the explanation of an assignment, the discussion of a reading, the chance to play and participate, and overall, the class as a community of learning. It is in your best interests to come to class. Also, you are expected to be in class on time. Class will start immediately at the appointed time. In the first minutes of class I may make important announcements, establish the agenda for the class meeting, begin immediately with an important lesson, or field questions. Therefore, it is particularly important for you to arrive on time. If you come in after we start class, even by only a few minutes, you are late and I will mark you as such.

Chronic or conspicuous attendance problems will negatively affect your credit for the class. If you know you are going to miss class, please let us know ahead of time (via email), if you can, and we will make any necessary arrangements. And when you do miss class, always find another student to get class notes and see me in order to make up missed work in a timely manner.

Finding Help

We are available during office hours and by appointment to help you. We encourage you to come see us early in the quarter even if it is just to talk about the class, about the assignments, or about school in general. We may ask you to meet with us when we think a conference would be useful. Our offices are located on the ground floor of Padelford Hall (northeast of the HUB). Ed's office is in B-33. Tim's office is in A-307.

We are also available electronically by email and the course blog. Email and the blog are the best means of contacting us. We will do our best to answer your emails and blog posts, usually within twenty-four hours. If there is an emergency and you need to reach us, please contact the CHID office in B-102 Padelford.

We will also supplement our office hours with virtual hours via instant messenger. Ed uses AOL Instant Messenger and Google Talk (AIM & Gtalk nickname: EDagogy); Tim just uses Google Talk (Gtalk nickname: tim.j.welsh). If we are logged in, during reasonable hours, you are more than welcome to discuss the class or ask questions. Please, when you initiate an IM conversation for the first time, please identify yourself to us — be polite and respectful — and please be patient because our responses may not be immediate.

Academic Dishonesty

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. Many students do not have a clear understanding of what constitutes plagiarism, so feel free to ask questions about these matters at any time. Plagiarism includes:

If you have any doubt about how to cite or acknowledge another’s writing, please talk to me. It is always better to be safe than sorry. 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. For further information, please refer to UW’s Student Conduct Code at . Play it smart, don’t plagiarize!

Accommodations

If you have a registered disability that will require accommodation, please see me immediately. I will gladly do my best to provide appropriate accommodation you require. If you have a disability and have not yet registered it with Disability Resources for Students in 448 Schmitz Hall, you should do so immediately. Please contact DRS at 206-543-8924 (Voice) or 206-543-8925 (V/TTY) or 206-616-8379 (FAX) or via their website at .

Course

CHID 496F:
Why So Serious? Video Games as
Persuasion, Politics, and Propaganda

Meeting:
Thurs.| 1:30-3:20 |SAV 136

Instructors:
Ed Chang & Timothy Welsh

Syllabuspdf

Links



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