Digital Games in Context

Course goals

 

Content

Over the past few decades, digital games have become an integral part of our media landscape. As such, they are an essential component of new media and digital culture, both from an academic perspective and within the professional field.
 
In this course, digital games are theorized and analysed from the following contexts:
- An academic context. What kind of field is “game studies” and how did it come about? An overview of formative debates within game studies reveals why studying digital games poses challenges in terms of both theory formation and methodology. The question is what exactly digital games are and how we can best study them. 
- A media-historical context. The history of digital games is discussed and situated within general developments in the field of (new) media in recent decades. Attention is also paid to a political-economic perspective: how does the game industry function and how is this relected in game design (e.g., revenue models)?f- A media comparative context. What are the similarities and differences between games and other media, for instance in terms of their narrative and/or cinematographic ambitions? How does the interactive nature of games require adjustments in a media studies approach that is traditionally build around non-interactive artefacts? The notion of genre is also discussed in this context.
- A cultural studies context. Here, we examine digital games as cultural phenomena from perspectives such as political ideology, gender and ethnicity, and participatory culture. How much scope do games offer for alternative interpretations or ways of playing?

This course is part of the minor Games and Play in a Changing Society.

For LAS and TCS students who are taking this course as part of the core curriculum of their major, preparatory work is mandatory. Information: https://tcs.sites.uu.nl/

Additional information

Priority rules
This course has priority rules and a waiting list. Your enrolment is guaranteed if you

- are a student in the BA Liberal Arts and Sciences or Taal- en Cultuurstudies and this course is part of your specialisation (kernpakket)
- are enrolled in the Games and Play Studies in a changing society minor
- are an exchange student and meet the course’s entry requirements
In all other situations, you will be placed on a waiting list if you enrol in this course. For any remaining slots in the course, lots are drawn among the students on the waiting list.

Equivalency
This course is equivalent to the courses ME3V215017 Computergames in Context. If you have already completed this course, you may not take Digital Games in Context due to too much overlap in content.