Game Studies
Studio Art 135
Winter 2009
Tu/Th 1-2.50pm, HIB 335
Final: Fri, Mar 20, 4:00-6:00pm
_x, _y, _z: Bldg. #610
Contact
Robert Nideffer
web: http://nideffer.net
email: nideffer@uci.edu (email contact preferred)
phone: (949) 824.4218
Course Overview
This course explores computer games and gaming from technological, artistic, and socio-cultural perspectives. It is divided into three main topics:
1) infrastructure - the development and evolution of hardware and software systems used as platforms for gaming;
2) intervention - the experimental cultural practices that take advantage of and/or interrogate those systems;
3) institutionalization - the organizational embrace of games and gaming by the broader culture.
In relation to these topical explorations we will discuss game mechanics and interaction paradigms, game development processes, historical approaches to the study of play and gaming,
analytical methods for analysis and critique of games, games and art, "serious" games, the rise of computer game studies, and games and consumerism.
Each week will involve intensive reading, discussion, and play.
Required Materials
All course materials are available online for reading/printing/playing (see weekly breakdown). You are expected to have copy of the week's reading assignment accessible during class for reference purposes.
Assignments
- Project. Each student will be expected to complete a substantial media project (e.g., an alternative input/output device, interactional paradigm, or interface design, a game or game prototype informed by theoretical work in game studies, a video about an aspect of game culture, a game design document, a photo or scultptural intervention, etc.)
- Projects must also be written up in a short (min ~1,200-1,500 word), reflective paper (discussing what you've done, why you did it, and where it succeeds and/or fails).
- Presentations. Four of our class meetings (in weeks 6 and 10) will be set aside for student presentations and discussion of their planned projects.
Each presentation will be ~5-8 minutes long and include prepared materials (conference-style, with slides and/or other media support).
- Paper/project abstracts are due in week six, and final paper/projects are due by the end of the day of the scheduled final exam (there will be a penalty for late work).
WEEK ONE
01.06.09
Introduction
Assignment: Gaming Autobiography
01.08.09
Infrastructure: Cold-War Computing and the Birth of the Net
Screening:
Assignment Due: Gaming Autobiography
WEEK TWO
01.13.09
Infrastructure: New Interactional Paradigms
Screening:
- "Video Games: Behind the Fun," from Modern Marvels. The History Channel, 2000.
- "Gamers: Episode 1." K. Anna Kang. Fountainhead Entertainment, 2001.
Miscellany:
01.15.09
Infrastructure: New Interactional Paradigms Cont.
Screening:
- "Tennis for Two (1958)," from YouTube, 2007.
- "Baer and Harrison Play Ping-Pong," from YouTube, 2007.
- "Spacewar! (MIT 1962)," from YouTube, 2007.
- "Adventure (1972)," from YouTube, 2007.
- "Adventure Spoof," from YouTube, 2008.
Play Session:
- Pong Online Version, DFG Online Games.
- Spacewar! Online Version, Barry Silverman, Brian Silverman, Vadim Gerasimov.
- Spacewar! (Win Version), Martin Graetz, Stephen Russell, and Wayne Wiitanen (1962). Best to play with a partner. This version was programmed primarily by Peter Hirschberg (http://www.digisys.net/users/cogs/spacewar.htm) in C++ - here's the source code.
- Adventure (Win Version), William Crowther and Donald Woods (1976) (see http://www.rickadams.org/adventure/ for various ports, cheats, and distributions).
Discussion:
- "The Dot Eaters: Videogame History 101," William Hunter, 2000.
- "Pong-Story," David Winter, 1996-2008.
- "Spacewar: Fanatic Life and Symbolic Death Among the Computer Bums," Stewart Brand, 1972.
- "The Origin of Spacewar," J. M. Graetz, 1981.
- "Pong," from Wikipedia.
- "Spacewar!," from Wikipedia.
- "Colossal Cave Adventure," from Wikipedia.
Assignment: 1 Page Project Proposal
IT MUST include:
- Title (reflects/captures the essence of the project, or is a clever play on it in some way)
- Hook ("elevator pitch" - a 1-2 sentence/short paragraph concept summary; ex: "WoW meets National Enquirer meets Das Kapital...")
IT MUST incorporate the following components:
- Mobility
- Location Awareness
- Social Networking/Engagement
- Images/Charts/Diagrams if relevant
- It could be a proposal for a computer/mobile phone game, provocative photos/sculptural objects that get stuck up around town and encourage some sort of play/interaction, video, etc - be creative
Miscellany:
- "The Veldt," by Ray Bradbury, from The Illustrated Man, 1951.
- "Ender's Game," by Orson Scott Card, 1985, from Wikipedia.
WEEK THREE
01.20.09
Infrastructure: Arcades and Consoles
Play Session:
- MAME (Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator) - Win Version | Mac Version. ROM files (will work x-platform, unzip and copy ROM files in 'roms' folder inside of MAME folder once expanded. NOTE: you do not need to expand the individual ROM files - ROMs can remain zip files once placed in the 'roms' folder) Original arcade console ROMs ported to run on Personal Computers.
Discussion:
Assignment Due: 1 Page Project Proposal
01.22.09
Intervention: Game Art
Screening:
WEEK FOUR
01.27.09
Intervention: Game Art Cont.
Screening:
Discussion:
01.29.09
Intervention: Game Art Cont.
Screening:
Play Session:
Discussion:
Miscellany:
WEEK FIVE
02.03.09
Intervention: Game Art Cont.
Screening:
Play Session:
Discussion:
02.05.09
Intervention: Game Art Cont.
Screening:
Discussion:
WEEK SIX
02.10.09
Class Presentations - Project Proposals
02.12.09
Class Presentations - Project Proposals
WEEK SEVEN
02.17.09
Case Study
Screening:
- Behind the Scenes DVD, Blizzard Entertainment, 2007.
Discussion:
- "WoW Forums," from Blizzard Entertainment, 2005-Present.
- "Thottbot," 2005-Present.
- "Allakhazam," 2005-Present.
- "Wowhead," by Skosiris, Mystadio, Malgayne, and Miyari, 2006-Present.
- "World of Warcraft Armory," from Blizzard Entertainment, 2007-Present.
- "WowJutsu," from DirectMMO.com, 2007-Present.
- "Char Search," from WarcraftRealms.com, 2007-Present.
Miscellany:
02.19.09
Case Study
Directed Play Session:
Discussion:
- "WTF?!," from aoedipus.net, by Robert Nideffer and Alex Szeto, 2008.
- "AddOns," from aoedipus.net, by Robert Nideffer and Alex Szeto, 2008.
Miscellany:
WEEK EIGHT
02.24.09
Institutionalization: Exhibitionism
Discussion:
- "Cracking the Maze: Game Plug-ins and Patches as Hacker Art," curated by Ann-Marie Schleiner, Online, 1998.
- "curators note," by Anne-Marie Schleiner, from Cracking the Maze: Game Plug-ins and Patches as Hacker Art, 1999.
- "Game Patch - the Son of Scratch?," by Erkki Huhtamo, from Cracking the Maze: Game Plug-ins and Patches as Hacker Art, 1999.
- "Deep Patch," by Laura Trippi, from Cracking the Maze: Game Plug-ins and Patches as Hacker Art, 1999.
- "Shift-Ctrl: Computers, Games, and Art," curated by Robert Nideffer and Antoinette LaFarge, Beall Center for Art & Technology, UC Irvine, October-November 2000.
- "Game On," (Wikipedia entry) curated by Conrad Bodman, Barbican, London, 2002 (Traveling).
- "Alt-Ctrl: Computers, Games, and Art," curated by Robert Nideffer and Antoinette LaFarge, Beall Center for Art & Technology, UC Irvine, October-November 2004.
02.26.09
Institutionalization: Exhibitionism Cont.
Screening:
Discussion:
- "Winside Out: An Introduction to the Convergence of Computers, Games, and Art," by Antoinette LaFarge, catalog essay from Shift-Ctrl: Computers, Games, and Art, 2000.
- "Shift-Ctrl: Mediating the Process of Academic Exhibitionism," by Robert Nideffer, catalog essay from Shift-Ctrl: Computers, Games, and Art, 2000.
WEEK NINE
03.03.09
Institutionalization: Gaming the Academy
Screening:
Discussion:
- Game Studies, 2001-2008.
- Games and Culture, 2006-2008.
- Gameology: Commentary and Resources for the Game Studies Community, Various Authors, Weblog.
- Terra Nova, Edward Castronova, Juloian Dibbel, Dan Hunter, Greg Lastowka, Weblog.
- Grand Text Auto, Mary Flanagan, Michael Mateas, Scott Retberg, Andrew Stern, Noah Wardrip-Fruin, Weblog.
- Joystick101, Kurt Squire, et al, Weblog.
03.05.09
Institutionalization: Gaming the Academy Cont.
Discussion:
- "Game Studies Now, History of Science Then," by Henry Lowood, from Games and Culture, Sage Publications, Vol 1, No 1, January 2006.
- "A Moment in the Life of a Generation," by Frans Mayra, from Games and Culture, Sage Publications, Vol 1, No 1, January 2006.
- "A Ludicrous Discipline?," by Tom Boellstorff, from Games and Culture, Sage Publications, Vol 1, No 1, January 2006.
- "Why Game Studies Now?," by Dmitri Williams, from Games and Culture, Sage Publications, Vol 1, No 1, January 2006.
- Entertainment Technology Center, CMU, 1998.
- Institute for Creative Technologies, USC, 1999.
- Game Culture and Technology Lab, UCI, 1999 (SotA) & 2002 (Calit2).
- Experimental Game Lab, Georgia Tech, 2004.
- Experimental Game Lab, UCSD, 2004.
- Electronic Arts Game Innovation Lab, USC, 2007.
WEEK TEN (AND BEYOND)
03.10.09
Class Presentations - Final Project Reports
03.12.09
Class Presentations - Final Project Reports
03.20.09
Final Projects Due - Last day to submit projects either electronically or in my mailbox in the Studio Art Main Office.