Video Games and Cultural Analysis
ENG 3612 - 0001 Special Topics
MoWeFr 12:30PM - 1:20PM
CL 220
Instructor: Ms Concetta Bommarito
Email: cbommari@knights.ucf.edu
Office: Text and Technologies Lounge Rehearsal Hall 114
Office Hours: MoWeFr 11:00AM-12:00PM
Voluntary Group Coffee Meet Up: Starbucks in the Breezeway
Times: MoWeFr 2:00PM – 3:00PM
Note: Email is checked during the office hours given above.
Any email sent outside these times is not guaranteed to be answered as quickly.
If you need any help in the class, please make sure that they are addressed in
class or during office hours.
Course Overall Goal:
(“Game
Criticism, Why We Need It, and Why Reviews Aren't It”) is an essay. It
is an essay in the form of a criticism; the critique is that of the failure of
our writers about games to take a critical and analytical view of the
works they write about, and of their failure to make a clear distinction
between "review" and "criticism," which are, in fact, very
different beasts. It is, if you will, a critique of game criticism.
- Greg Costikyan,
Game Designer and Critic
This class is designed to answer a gap in the field of game
critique and design: game criticism from the point of view of the gamer rather
than designer. I have selected readings and games that will give you the tools
to more critically analyze video games by introducing you to several critical
works across disciplines and teaching you how to use these works in your
analysis.
Course Objectives
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Goal/What you will learn
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Activity/How you will learn
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To introduce you to a range of literary and philosophical
methodologies for analysis of video games
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· Have
you read a wide variety of short works and excerpts alongside
playing short video games
· Shorter
texts will correspond to themes in the games
|
|
To enable you to enhance your critical thinking and
textual analysis skills
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Smaller reader response papers for each reading/gaming
pairing
|
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To facilitate the improvement of your writing skills,
particularly in the area of the argumentative essay
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A professional academic conference paper with an
argument or proposal for game incorporating themes from the readings
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To encourage the use of cultural and philosophical
writings as tools for game development and analysis
|
use the readings to analyze games and begin thinking about
ways to improve current trends in the industry
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To enhance your appreciation of aesthetic strategies and
techniques in the form of the video game
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class report on major canonical video game works
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Major Texts (to be expanded)
Note: Readings will be available in the course packet online
as pdfs.
Michel Foucault: “Panopticism” from the book Discipline
and Punish
Jean-Paul Sartre: Excerpts from Nausea
Susan Bordo: Excerpts from Beauty Rediscovers the Male
Body
Henry Jenkins: Excerpts from Convergence Culture
Takashi Murakami: Excerpts from Little Boy: The Arts of
Japan's Exploding Subculture
Grading Overview:
The class grade is divided into two main categories:
Classwork (40% of your final grade) and Final Project (60% of your final
grade).
Classwork:
Throughout the semester you will complete shorter
assignments both in class and online.
Class Participation and Attendance (10% of Total Grade)
You are responsible for keeping up with the games and
readings and contributing to class discussion. Points are earned for meaningful
participation in class; points are deducted for disruptive behavior.
-Included in this grade are quizzes that serve to make sure
that you are reading/playing on schedule and to take attendance
Attendance: You are expected to come to class on a regular
basis. After three days or one week’s worth of unexplained absences your grade
may be penalized.
Let’s Play Response Log (30% of Total Grade)
At the start of the semester you will create a class blog
using software of your choosing (Blogspot, Wordpress, Tumblr, etc).
Each week you will respond to the readings and assigned
games by posting to the blog.
There are three types of blog posts:
· Minimum
Post: This is the default post type. Link the readings to the games played as
outlined on the schedule.
· Bonus
Post: In addition to the Minimum Post, some weeks will have an optional set of
criteria listed under ‘Bonus Post’. Extra credit will be awarded if you meet
the criteria under ‘Bonus Post’ in addition to the Minimum Post that day.
· Response
Post: Some weeks we will be building on discussions in class and on the blogs.
For these you will post to each other's blogs on either your opinions or a
response to someone else’s opinions on the topic.
Length: There is no min/max page count for these
assignments, but they must address the major plot points/ gameplay moments of
the game relevant to the related readings. You must not just summarize these
moments; analyze the game in terms of its various elements: gameplay,
narrative, player agency, aesthetics, kinesthetic, etc.
Quality: For examples, check out the Let’s Play Archive at http://lparchive.org, in particular the Let’s
Play of Breath of Fire IV by username Daeren (http://lparchive.org/Breath-of-Fire-IV/).
Chapter’s L: Maybe So (http://lparchive.org/Breath-of-Fire-IV/Update%2051/)
and LI: Truth and Dreams (http://lparchive.org/Breath-of-Fire-IV/Update%2052/)
in particular are of the quality I am looking for (obviously without the casual
cursing). My apologies for spoiling the ending to Breath of Fire IV.
Final Project
By the end of the semester you will create a
conference-level paper that can be submitted to academic conferences. This
final project will be submitted in three parts.
Abstract (10% of Total Grade)
Before you are allowed to present at an academic conference
you submit a summary abstract to a Call For Papers (CFP). You will receive a
mock CFP midway through the semester and write an abstract to that CFP
including a bibliography of 5-10 works you will use in the final conference
paper.
You will not be able to give a presentation without
completing the abstract.
Mock Conference Presentation (10% of Total Grade)
The last few weeks of class will be dedicated to a mock
conference in which students will present a 10 minute rough draft of their
final conference paper. Each day after the 3 or 4 students give their
presentations, students in the audience will be given the chance to ask
questions that the presenters must answer intelligently.
Mock Conference Participation (10% of Total Grade)
When a student is not presenting, you will be taking notes
and asking intelligent questions at the end of the presentation. Each day, you
will turn in a printed
worksheet with your day’s notes for participation credit.
Final Paper (30% of Total Grade)
The final paper will be a 20 minute (8-10 page)
conference-level paper analyzing a game or games of your choice and
incorporating 5-10 outside sources.
Turn In Options
Option 1: Traditional Paper
Many people bring and read a paper to conferences. You may
type out an 8-10 page paper double spaced Times New Roman Font.
Option 2: Presentation
Since this paper is meant to be read at a conference, you
may turn in a presentation in lieu of a typed paper. The presentation should be
18-20 minutes of discussion. You may include footage of the game you wish to
discuss but the footage should be a) relevant and b) no longer than 4 minutes
unless you talk over the footage.
You may use Power Point with embedded audio, video editing
software, Prezi, an audio file or any other method of recording your
presentation. Make sure that I can read the presentation on my laptop before
turning it in.
Topic Options:
Option 1: Analysis
Link the readings to the game and use the readings to give a
detailed analysis of the game’s plot, gameplay, themes, and/or quality. This
option will be graded on both content and delivery, i.e. the thesis of the
paper and how well written the paper is or how professional the presentation
is.
Option 2: Re-Imagining
Link the readings to the game and use the readings to
critique the game and create a revised version of the game, i.e. a “spiritual
successor” that takes the original game’s concepts and improves and/or further
explores them and/or approaches them from a new angle.
Examples of already existing spiritual successors include:
-Paper Mario, which is the spiritual successor to Super
Mario RPG (same gameplay, different aesthetic)
-Starcraft, which
is the spiritual successor to Warcraft (same gameplay, different setting)
-Bioshock, which is the spiritual successor to System Shock
1 and 2 (altered gameplay, different science fiction model, different morality
themes)
-Sid Meier’s Alpha Centari, which is the spiritual successor
to Sid Meier’s Civilization II (similar gameplay, new setting, far more
narrative-driven, plot-driven victory conditions)
-Rock Band, which is the spiritual successor to Guitar Hero
(adds multiple instruments to the original guitar-only game)
-A non-game example: Futurama, which is a spiritual
successor to The Simpsons (same art style, different themes)
Picking a Game
The game you pick for your final project should be one you
are passionate about discussing, especially since you will be working with it
for most of the semester. It should also be a game that you have time to beat.
Refer to howlongtobeat.com for
a database of how long it takes to beat various games.
Suggested Games
These games can easily be analyzed using the assigned
readings. Note: Not all of these games are necessarily ‘good’ but often bad
games are just as important to analyze as good ones.
· Amnesia:
The Dark
Decent
· Bastion
· Bioshock
(any in the
series)
· Braid
· Civilization
(any in the
series)
· Deus
Ex (any in the
series)
· Duke
Nukem (either 3D or
Forever)
· Eternal
Darkness: Sanity’s
Requiem
· Fallout
(any in the
series)
· Final
Fantasy (any in the
series)
· Mass
Effect and/or Dragon Age (any in the
series)
· Metroid
(any in the
series)
· Minecraft
· Okami
· Persona
(any in the
series)
· Planescape:
Torment
· Pokémon
(any in the
series)
· Portal
and/or Half Life (any in the series)
· Psychonauts
and/or any of the works of Tim
Schaffer
· Shadow
of the Colossus and/or
Ico
· Sid
Meier’s Alpha
Centari
· Silent
Hill (any in the
series)
· The
Mother Trilogy and/or any of the Project Rainfall
games
· World
of Warcraft, Old Republic or any other MMORPG
Note: The primary goal of the presentations is for you to
promote your favorite games by using the readings as a tool for analyzing and
promoting the game’s themes. You are not limited to just the games on this
list.
Sample of Required Games
These games will be played for class and therefore cannot be
picked for your final project. I will add more to this list as topics come up
in class.
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Name
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Platform
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Access
|
Video
|
|
Before the Law
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PC - Flash Game
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Must have installed Adobe Flash
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Should not take you more than 5 minutes to do this one
(Make sure to get both endings)
|
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Geek Mind
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PC - Flash Game
|
Must have installed Adobe Flash
|
Should not take you more than 5 minutes to do this one.
|
|
Gray
|
PC - Flash Game
|
Must have installed Adobe Flash
|
Should not take you more than 5 minutes to do this one.
Make sure to play till the ending.
|
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September 12th
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PC - Flash Game
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Must have installed Adobe Flash
|
Should not take you more than 5 minutes to do this one.
|
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The Stanley Parable
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PC - Source Mod or Stand Alone Game (PC Only)
|
On Mac, download a Source Engine Game (Team Fortress 2 is
free), then install mod
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Time: 31:20
|
|
Time Fcuk
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PC - Flash Game
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Must have installed Adobe Flash
|
TBA
Check the class blog for video upload.
|
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Katawa Shoujo
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PC - Freeware
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Stand-Alone Game
|
Note: this is the longest of the games to play, clocking
in at 6.5 hours for one story and 30+ for completionist. We will be playing
it in the second half of the semester so please plan accordingly.
|
Additional Works
More games/readings may be added according to class
discussion and general tastes of the class (for example, if we have a large
contingency of platformers, I might add more platforming games).
Class Rules:
Class Discussion
Students are to remain respectful during class discussions
at all times. Insults, hate speech, and other such inappropriate comments as
defined in the Student Handbook will not be tolerated and, if persisted in
after admonition by the teacher, will be grounds for removal from the class.
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is using someone else’s words or ideas
intentionally or unintentionally without giving the source the proper credit.
Plagiarism is unacceptable academic behavior at UCF. If you are caught
plagiarizing, depending on the severity, you will fail the assignment. You also
risk failing the course with a grade of “Z”, indicating academic dishonesty.
Disability Statement
UCF is committed to providing reasonable accommodations for
all persons with disabilities. This syllabus is available in alternate formats
upon request. Students with disabilities who need accommodations in this course
must contact the professor at the beginning of the semester to discuss needed
accommodations. No accommodations will be provided until the student has met
with the professor to request accommodations. Students who need accommodations
must be registered with Student Disability Services, Student Resource Center
Room 132, phone (407) 823-2371.
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