遊戲研究

The course offers an introduction to the emerging field of game studies through a selective reading of theoretical thinking and case studies of digital games. The textual survey and its ensuing discussion are hoped to foster a critical assessment, or a cultural critique, of the gaming experience, the gaming subject, and the world within games and without. n.b. the course lecture will be delivered in mandarin

(refer to the textbook list above for book title abbreviation) 1. no class 2. holiday 3. intro 4. “The History of the Video Game” (HCG); “Future of Games” (HCG) 5. “Nature and Significance of Play” (HL); “The Elements of Mythopoiesis” (HL) 6. “Western Civilization Sub Specie Ludi” (HL); “The Play-Element in Contemporary Civilization” (HL) 7. holiday 8. “An Expanded Theory of Games” (MPG); “Simulation and Vertigo”?(MPG) 9. Mid-term 10. “Competition and Chance”?(MPG); “Revivals in the Modern World”?(MPG) 11. “Simulation versus Narrative” (VGT1); “Games Telling Stories?” (HCG); “In the Frame of the Magic Cycle” (VGT2) 12. “Embodiment and Interface” (VGT2); “As We Become Machines” (VGT1) 13. “The Game of Life” (HCG); “Computer Games as Evocative Objects” (HCG) 14. “Commodities” (NATC pp. 776-783); “Biopower Play: World of Warcraft” (handouts) 15. “Lag, Language, and Lingo” (VGT2); “‘Turn the Game Console off Right Now!’” (JS) 16. “Violent Video Games” (HCG); “Does Video Game Addiction Exist?” (HCG) 17. oral reports on final project 18. Final

weekly in-class oral report, and weekly written outline or critique 30% mid-term exam or project 30% final project 40%

1. Handbook of Computer Game Studies (HCG) 2. Homo Ludens (HL) 3. Joystick Soldiers (JS) 4. Man, Play, and Games (MPG) 5. Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism (NATC) 6. The Video Game Theory Reader vol. 1 (VGT1) 7. The Video Game Theory Reader vol. 2 (VGT2) (all books will be put in library’s reserved shelf)