Syllabus
Course Description:
Computer games are transforming the entertainment industry, generating $12.5 billion in revenue in 2006 and attracting countless adults as well as children to virtual play. For more than twenty years, online communities have been producing new forms of psychological, social, and cultural experience. The early text-based spaces of MOOs and chat rooms have evolved into virtual societies such as Second Life , which provide a platform for everything from educational experiments to virtual sex to commerce with imaginary currency and real money freely exchanged. Early text-based adventure games such as Zork have become the multimedia environments of online games like World of Warcraft , which combine the written word with graphics, music, skills, professions, and action.
Are online games generating new interactive modes of narrative? How do multimedia environments transform the age-old patterns of quest romances that structure much game play? Is the line between virtual and real experience erased by the fusion of online communities, role playing, and escapist fictions? Can computer games be pedagogical tools, as some academics maintain, or are they only addictive, sedentary, and antisocial activities? These questions will animate our consideration of digital narrative forms.
Co-taught by the head of ITS and a professor of English, the course will meet in a high tech multimedia seminar room, allowing us to explore the fundamentals of game design. Students will be required to subscribe to an online game for the semester and will compare the interactive story arcs with related narrative forms from literature and film. Readings will range from Spenser’s Faerie Queene to Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash and include critical theory such as Bolter and Grusin’s Remediation: Understanding New Media, Jesper Juul , Half-Real: Video Games between Real Rules and Fictional Worlds , Marie- Laure Ryan, Narrative as Virtual Reality: Immersion and Interactivity in Literature and Electronic Media, and McKenzie Wark’s Gamer Theory .
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Week 10 |
Week 11 |
Week 12 |
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Week 13 |
Week 14 |
Week 15 |
Week 1
- Thursday (August 30) – Introduction of Media Classroom
- Course procedures and requirements
- Instructions for downloading and subscribing to Lord of the Rings Online (LOTRO)
Week 2
- Tuesday (September 4)
- Jesper Juul, “Introduction,” Half-Real: Video Games Between Real Rules and Fictional Worlds , pp. 1-22. (Central Library Reserve)
- McKenzie Wark, Gamer Theory 2.0 . Read, “AGONY on The Cave”
- Thursday (September 6)
- Film: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (Extended DVD Edition)
Week 3
- Tuesday (September 11)
- History of Games PODCAST
- Thursday (September 13)
- J. R. R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring (read chapters I-VIII of Book One of the novel)
- Topic for first paper:
- In Gamer Theory 2.0 McKenzie Wark remarks: “You observe that world after world, cave after cave, what prevails is the same agon, the same digital logic of one versus the other, ending in victory or defeat. Agony rules! Everything has value only when ranked against something else; everyone has value only when ranked against someone else. . . . The real world appears as a video arcadia divided into many and varied games. Work is a rat race. Politics is a horse race. The economy is a casino. . . . Games are no longer a pastime, outside or alongside of life. They are now the very form of life, and death, and time itself” (006). Write a 5-page essay arguing for or against Wark’s thesis. Draw evidence for your position both from games you have played and from experiences you have had in life (for example, sports, schools, jobs, etc.). In the course of your essay, elucidate Wark’s thesis by quoting and analyzing at least two other passages from his work, which relate to one aspect or another of the passage I have quoted from lexia 006. Be sure that your essay has a strong argument for or against Wark’s position and that you have supported your argument by compelling evidence.
- In class: Discussion of how to approach the topic for the first paper.
- Friday (Septemper 14): Blog entry due (4:00 pm)
- Blog Topic: How does gaming fit into other aspects of your life either here at Vanderbilt or at home before you came to college?
Week 4
- Tuesday (September 18)
- Rough draft of first paper due.
- Writing workshop using digital classroom collaborative writing software
- Wednesday (September 19): conferences - Benson 332
- Thursday (September 20)
- J. R. R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring (Read to 2/3 point of the novel)
- W. H. Auden, “The Quest Hero” (Central Library Reserve)
- Jane Chance, “Heroic Narrative and the Power of Structure” (Central Library Reserve)
- Friday (September 21): conferences - Benson 332
- Blog Topic: Write about some aspect of Tolkien or his fiction
Week 5
- Monday (September 24)
- Final draft of first paper due, 4:00 p.m.
- King of Kong: Fistful of Quarters at the Belcourt (meet at lobby 6:00 pm)
- Tuesday (September 25)
- J. R. R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring (finish novel)
- Barry Atkins, “Games” (Central Library Reserve)
- Thursday (September 27)
- Jay David Bolter and Richard Grusin, excerpt from Remediation: Understanding New Media , pp. 1-50. (Central Library Reserve)
- Friday (September 28)
- Blog topic: Write on any aspect of King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters. You may also write on a topic of your own devising, as long as it has something to do with this class.
Week 6
- Tuesday (October 2)
- Jorge Luis Borges, ” The Library of Babel “
- Level your main character to 15 and complete the Prologue to the Epic quest.
- Thursday (October 4)
- Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash (read Chs. 1-20)
- Youtube : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCNVrOdEpv8
- Friday (October 5)
- Blog topics:
- Discuss the technology we have used in the class to date. Have they enhanced your learning in any particular way? Have they changed how you think about books, movies, or digital communication?
- You may also write on a topic of your own devising, as long as it has something to do with this class.
- Blog topics:
Week 7
- Tuesday (October 9)
- Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash (read Chs. 21-50)
- Thursday (October 11)
- Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash (finish novel)
- Library Tour: 1 - 2:15 in the 6th Floor Classroom at the Central Library (612A)
- Friday (October 12)
- Blog topics:
- Discuss any movie made from a video game (e.g., Resident Evil, Lara Craft, Final Fantasy, Mortal Combat, Mario Brothers, etc.)
- Discuss the history of rock n’ roll in relation to video games.
- Blog topics:
Week 8
- Tuesday (October 16)
- Rough draft of second paper due.
- Topic for second paper:
- Compare a scene from the metaverse in Snow Crash with an encounter in LOTRO. As we discussed in class, your essay should have a thesis and an argument; it should analyze in depth only a single scene or encounter from each work; and it should consider one or more of the following aspects of the two works–character, sense of space, movement within the imagined world, reader/viewer involvement in the action, integration of the scene within the larger narrative, etc.
- Writing workshop: Beginnings.
- Tron (view movie for today)
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tron_%28arcade_game%29
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tron_%28film%29
- In class: New York Times article, “Elves Are Out, Aliens In” (10/16/07)
- In class: gltron
- Thursday (October 18)
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- Jesper Juul, “Ways of Creating Worlds,” “Optional Worlds and Incoherent Worlds,” “Time in Games,” and “Games and Narrative,” in Half-Real: Video Games Between Real Rules and Fictional Worlds , pp. 133-62. (Central Library Reserve)
- POSTPONED (no need to read for Thursday, October 18): T. L. Taylor, “The Future of Persistent Worlds and Critical Game Studies,” in Play between Worlds: Exploring Online Game Culture , pp. 151-62 (Central Library Reserve)
- Friday (October 19)
- Final draft of second paper due, 4:00 p.m.
- No Blog entry required this week.
Week 9
- Tuesday (October 23)
- Fall Break (no class)
- Thursday (October 25)
- T. L. Taylor, “Whose Game Is This Anyway” in Play between Worlds: Exploring Online Game Culture , pp. 124-50
- Seth Schiesel, “For Online Star Wars Game, It’s Revenge of the Fans,” New York Times (December 10, 2005) ( OAK )
- Star Wars Galaxies demonstration
- No Blog entry required this week.
Week 10
- Tuesday (October 30)
- Topic for third paper:
- In Play between Worlds, T. L. Taylor writes: “Most radically put, the very product of the game is not constructed simply by the designers or publisher, nor contained within the boxed product, but produced only in conjunction with the players” (126). If this description of MMOs is accurate, then who can be said to “own” the narrative? Consider legal, economic, literary, emotional, and social dimensions of “ownership.” You should draw on two or three different passages in Taylor’s chapter in making your argument.
- Rough draft of third paper due.
- Writing workshop on argument and evidence, using digital classroom collaborative writing software
- Topic for third paper:
- Thursday (November 1)
- Book 3, Cantos 1-2 of Spenser’s Faerie Queene
- Friday (November 2)
- Blog topic: Why is there no sex in online narrative games (Second Life is not a narrative game)?
Week 11
- Monday (November 5)
- Final draft of third paper due
- Tuesday (November 6)
- Excerpts from Book 3, Cantos 3-6 of Spenser’s Faerie Queene
- Thursday (November 8 )
- Excerpts from Book 3, Cantos 7-12 of Spenser’s Faerie Queene
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neverwinter_Nights_2
- Demonstration: the seminar room in Never Winter Nights 2
- Friday (November 9)
- Blog topic: Discuss which allegorical images, landscapes, or characters you find interesting in Book III.
Week 12
- Tuesday (November 13)
- Salen and Zimmerman, Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals (OAK E-Reserve — You access these from within OAK)
- Defining Games, pp. 71 – 83
- The Magic Circle, pp. 93 – 99
- Play Never Winter Nights 2
- Salen and Zimmerman, Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals (OAK E-Reserve — You access these from within OAK)
- Thursday (November 15) - Professor Hall at AT&T
- Narrative Workshop Assignments
- NPC Selection and Dialog Teams
- Peruse Obsidian Manuals ( OAK )
Thanksgiving Break, November 16-25
Week 13
- Tuesday (November 27)
- Mythrendale Quick Reference Manual ( OAK )
- Halo III (http://www.wired.com/gaming/virtualworlds/magazine/15-09/ff_halo/)
- Game design workshop
- Thursday (November 29)
- Salen and Zimmerman, Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals (Central Library Reserve)
- Games as Narrative Play, pp. 377 - 416
- Salen and Zimmerman, Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals (Central Library Reserve)
- Friday (November 30) - Conferences on game design, Hill Center 238
Week 14
- Tuesday (December 4)
- Williams, Hendricks, & Winkler, ed. Gaming as Culture (Central Library Reserve)
- The Role-Playing Game and the Game of Role-Playing: The Ludic Self and Everyday Life pp. 19 - 37
- Williams, Hendricks, & Winkler, ed. Gaming as Culture (Central Library Reserve)
- Thursday (December 6)
- Final Game design workshop
Week 15
- Tuesday (December 11)
- Conclusion
- Three 5-page papers will count for 50% of the grade.
- Weekly blog entries, 30% of the grade
- Passionate
- Author Engagement in the topic
- Thoughtful
- Creative
- Coherent
- Not grading on length or mechanics unless major patterns of bad grammar appear.
- Completion of daily reading assignments, class participation, and final gaming project will count for 20% of the grade.
Learning to speak articulately about cultural issues is a valuable skill, which literature seminars are designed to foster. Pushing oneself to voice an informed opinion in public often forces a person to think more deeply and to respond to others, whereas listening passively can foster the tendency to accept others’ ideas rather than work out one’s own position. Speaking about specific features of the text also demonstrates that one has read the assigned material carefully.
Class participation grades will be calculated as follows:
Attendance at the great majority of classes constitutes the minimum passing standard and establishes one’s participation grade as a D.
Speaking up only a few times during the course of the semester constitutes satisfactory performance and earn a grade of C.
Entering the discussion every class or two constitutes average performance and earns a grade of B.
Frequent participation, which is intelligent, respectful of others, and clearly oriented toward contributing to the class experience rather than scoring points or showing off, constitutes excellent performance and earns a grade of A.
- Since this class is a seminar, attendance is important. Students should have no more than 3 unexcused absences during the semester.
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