Artgame Studies

SAIC
Spring 2014
Thursday 9-12
MI 1307
Instructor: Jake Elliott - jake@dai5ychain.net

In this course, we'll look at new media artworks that present themselves as videogames, and look at videogames as new media artworks. We'll be looking at many histories of videogames, not trying to define a single historical narrative of videogames or artgames. We'll also examine several different theoretical and critical frameworks which people in the field of game studies and criticism use to analyze videogames. Again, we're not looking for a single critical or theoretical panacea to unlock the "true universal understanding" of videogames. But we will be thorough and fair in our exploration of these ideas. What are their goals, what are their contexts? What do they do and why?

Assignments

  1. "Let's Play" video/lecture/performance. Do a (live or video) playthrough of a game of your choice, with commentary. Speak to the nature of the game in multiple ways. What is the design of the game like? What is its narrative content/framing (if it even has one). What is its context, socially and culturally? Who plays or played it, and why? How are these aspects related, ex. how did factors like social/cultural context and the creator's "ideal player" shape the design of the game? Also, feel free to get weird. Duration should be 10-15 minutes. I'll assign due dates and send them out via email. (30% grade)
  2. Mid-term conversations. There are two components to this assignment. First, lead a 10-minute discussion in class about a topic you're exploring for your final project. It's up to you how to balance your use of this time between showing your early research to the class and asking for comment vs. asking specific questions. This should be exploratory. The second part of the assignment is a 1-2 page follow-up summary you'll email to me detailing the direction your final project will take, and how you've arrived there after the conversation. For example, the topic you bring in might be as broad as "games about urban planning." During the mid-term conversation, someone brings up the difficulty of modeling real-world cities in SimCity, which leads you to engage a research paper on how the design rules in the game enforce certain prejudices about urban planning. (30% grade)
  3. Final paper/presentation. This is a 2500-3000 word (10-12 page) paper or presentation/video with an equivalent amount of writing behind it, which must accompany the presentation/video as a script. The subject and scope of this project should arise directly from the mid-term conversations as noted above. If you're having trouble working out a subject, I'm happy to meet with you and help you follow your interests to an appropriate project. (40% grade)

Classes

  1. 2014-01-23: Let's Play.
  2. 2014-01-30: Distributions: From Shareware to Indie to Torrent.
    Readings for class today:
    - READ: Modems, wArEz, and ANSI art: Remembering BBS life at 2400bps by Lee Hutchison (2014)
    - PLAY: Digital: A Love Story by Christine Love (2010).
  3. 2014-02-06: Essentialisms. Readings for class today:
    - READ: "Rules on Three Levels" from Rules of Play, Katie Salen & Eric Zimmerman (2003) (emailed)
    - READ: Simulation vs. Narrative: Introduction to Ludology, Gonzalo Frasca (2003)
    - READ: Persuasive Games: The Proceduralist Style, Ian Bogost (2009)
    - PLAY: The Marriage, Rod Humble (2007) (This is windows-only. If you can't play it, read this article to get a sense of it.)
    - PLAY: Passage, Jason Rohrer (2007)
    - PLAY: Dys4ia, Anna Anthropy (2012)
  4. 2014-02-13: Platform studies. Readings for class today:
    - READ: "Adventure," excerpt from "Racing The Beam" by Ian Bogost & Nick Montfort (2009).
    - PLAY: "Adventure" (1979) Atari VCS ROM.
  5. 2014-02-20: Game worlds and Art worlds.
    Readings for class today:
    - READ: Running and Gunning in the Gallery, jonCates (2010)
    - PLAY: Art Game, Pippin Barr (2013)
    - PLAY: The Artist Is Present, Pippin Barr (2011)
  6. 2014-02-27: Mods.
    Three essays by Robert Yang:
    - READ: A People's History of the FPS, Part 1
    - READ: A People's History of the FPS, Part 2
    - READ: A People's History of the FPS, Part 3
  7. 2014-03-06: Mid-term conversations.
  8. 2014-03-13: Mid-term conversations.
  9. 2014-03-20: Spring break (no class).
  10. 2014-03-27: Bad games.
    - READ: Scratchware Manifesto, Greg Costikyan (published anonymously, 2000).
  11. 2014-04-03: First-person.
  12. 2014-04-10: Machinima.
  13. 2014-04-17: Interactive fiction.
  14. 2014-04-24: Chicago.
  15. 2014-05-01: Critique week (no class).
  16. 2014-05-08: Final presentations.