COURSE SYLLABUS

Video Games and World Politics: From Entertainment to Social Critique

4-credit elective MA course, Winter Term, 2018–2019

Instructor: Mano Toth Email: [email protected] Office Hours: by appointment Time and venue: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 17:20–19:00

DESCRIPTION

This course explores how studying video games can help us understand world politics better, or at least from an interesting new angle. It critically examines the themes of video games which have global political relevance, how these representations influence the perceptions of gamers and larger society, and how gamers engage with the content of video games. The relevance of the course for students of international relations is based on the assumptions that games are inherently political, and that video games can be considered not only as a form of entertainment, but as a form of art, as a form of education and even as a form of social critique. The scholarly interest in video games is far from new and games studies is a relatively well-established field in academia. Even in the discipline of international relations, video games have received significant attention, particularly in the field of critical security studies. The course will build on these initiatives in IR and political science, but it will necessarily cross many disciplinary boundaries and reach out to , cultural studies and digital sociology, among others. The study of video games is often not taken seriously even though they have become an industry whose size rivals more conventional forms of media, such as films and TV. In 2017, the value of the global games market reached $109 billion and in developed countries almost every second person played these games. Because of their popularity and ubiquity, and given that war is the central theme of many video games, IR should pay attention to the visions of the world and global order that such games produce and to the performative consequences of these visions. This course will help you formulate your own ideas about this possible connection between video games and world politics. The course does not require prior background in gaming and students without gaming experience will not be disadvantaged. What matters for this course is not gaming experience and skill, but how well students can communicate their views and experiences on whether/how video games can help them understand world politics better and/or differently.

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PREREQUISITES

No prior background in video games is required for this course. In fact, research shows that people with extensive gaming experience often find it difficult to critically analyse video games. The assessments will not try to determine how well you can play, but how well you can reason critically about video games. What is necessary for this course is an open mind to new experiences and to the differing opinions of others, and a serious and critical attitude towards video games.

OBJECTIVES

The class poses the following core questions for group reflection: • How can the study of video games help us understand world politics better/differently? • How can video games be analysed academically? • How do video games represent issues of global political significance? • To what extent do video games reinforce or challenge existing power arrangements? • How can games make the players confront pressing political issues? • How do gamers engage with and reflect on the content of video games?

STRUCTURE

The course consists of three main parts. The first three weeks will be a general introduction to the realm of video games and to their history, to the basic concepts and methods of games studies, and to their relevance for international relations. In the second part, we will focus on the content of video games and will examine the visions of the world that different video games project. For seven weeks, we will look at how different video games represent themes which are central to international relations, such as war, climate change, global capitalism, migration, gender and race. Finally, in the last two weeks, the course will focus on the form of video games, on how they can make the player confront pressing political issues, the extent to which they reinforce or challenge existing power arrangements, and how they can be considered a form of social criticism.

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LEARNING OUTCOMES

After completing this course, you will be able to: • describe how different video games represent global political issues • critically evaluate the most important academic approaches to the study of video games • apply the theoretical background to analyse and compare different video games • reflect on the broader ethical questions that are posed by video games and gaming as a social phenomenon • formulate your own views about the connection between video games and world politics, and engage in debate with your peers

REQUIREMENTS AND ASSESSMENT

Weighting Submission Deadline

General Class Participation 5% Participation in Online Discussion Forum 10%

In-Class Presentation of Chosen Game 15% Mid-Term Essay on Chosen Game (2,000 words) 20% 15 February 2019 End of Term Research Essay (4,000 words) 50% 29 March 2019

General Class Participation The course is organised as a series of twenty-four classes. The classes will give you the opportunity to discuss complex issues with the instructor and with your fellow students, and will prepare you to conduct your own research. Your active participation is very much encouraged and expected. Class participation contributes 5% to the final mark.

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Participation in Online Discussion Forum After the second class of each week, a new thread will be started in the discussion forum. The original post of this thread will not set any particular direction for the discussion. You are expected to contribute to the forum in two ways: 1. Reaction to original post First, you write a short reaction to the original post which must be at least 100 words. Your reaction could be on anything as long as it is connected to that week’s readings, games or classes. Think about an idea that you found interesting, challenging, confusing or controversial that week. You should not simply describe what this issue is, but also reflect on why you think it is important to talk about it and how it is relevant for the topic of the course, video games and world politics, more generally. Your reaction should be substantially different from all the other previously submitted reactions and responses. (Pro tip: this also means that it makes sense to write your reaction as early as possible.) 2. Response to two other reactions or responses The second part of the task is to respond to at least two reactions or responses submitted by your classmates. Note that it is possible to respond to a reaction to the original post, or to another response. Each response should be at least 50 words and should add something meaningful to the discussion (that is, responses like “I totally agree” or “You are wrong” are not marked). Your responses should be substantially different from all the other previously submitted reactions and responses. Both parts of the task should be completed by 23:59 CET Monday following the posting of the forum thread. Your contribution to the forum will be graded, but no individualised feedback will be given for this task. Participation in the online discussion forum contributes 10% to the final mark. In-Class Presentation of Chosen Game You will choose and analyse a game whose content, form and/or social reception has some relevance for the overall topic of the course, the connections between the realm of video games and world politics. For guidance on choosing and analysing a game, please see the next section. You will present your chosen game during the class whose topic corresponds to the overarching themes of your chosen game. The game should be chosen and the presentation schedule should be finalised by class 4. Each presentation will be 15 minutes and will be followed by a short discussion. The presentation contributes 15% to the final mark. In the presentation, talk briefly about the game in general terms (genre, storyline, development, history, reception, significance), describe what your experience was while playing the game, and critically analyse the game using the scholarly methods and approaches learnt during the first three weeks of the course. In the presentation, you can include screenshots, demos, and even show content captured by third parties (such as a gameplay video on Youtube), but bear in mind that the emphasis of the presentation should be on your analysis of the game. The presentation can be fun, but it should also be scholarly.

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Mid-Term Essay on Chosen Game (2,000 words) The mid-term assignment is a 2,000-word essay on your chosen game. You will write an analysis of the game that you have chosen in which you will critically examine the content, the form and the reception of the game, paying particular attention to issues of global political significance. Note that, depending on the themes of their chosen game, some students will present before writing up the essay, while others will give presentations after the mid-term assignment. Both of these scenarios have their advantages and disadvantages, and you should consider which one of these two paths would work for you while choosing the game to analyse. The mid-term essay will be submitted by 15 February 2019 and contributes 20% to the final mark. End of Term Research Essay (4,000 words) The main objective of the course is to prepare you to conduct your own research and to write up a research essay on a topic related to games or gaming which has some connection to international relations. You are free to choose your topic of interest and the approach that you use to study it. For the end of term essay, you are not required to play a game. You can choose to do more empirical research on a game or on a collection of games, but you are also free to choose a more theoretical topic for which playing is not necessary. The research question and the approach taken should be discussed with, and approved by, the instructor by class 8. The essay will be submitted by 29 March 2019 and contributes 50% to the final mark. Note that you cannot write about the same game for your mid-term and end of term essays!

NOTES ON THE GAME-RELATED ASSESSMENTS

I understand that gaming might be a completely new, and possibly daunting, experience for some students. Playing a game is essential for the in-class presentation and the mid-term essay, but I assure you that your lack of gaming experience and/or lack of expensive computer hardware will not adversely affect your ability to successfully complete these assignments. As mentioned previously, what will be assessed is your ability to analyse the game critically and not your ability to play it well. In the following, I will give some guidance on choosing your game wisely and on approaching it with a critical eye. Choosing a Game The most important factor in choosing a game is of course your interest in a particular global political issue that is represented by that game. However, you should also make sure that you have access to the game and have the necessary hardware to play it. When it comes to access, many of the games that we will discuss are free and even the paid ones usually allow you to play demos. The university library might also host some of the most important games. Alternatively, ask around in the university if some of your fellow students have the game; you will be surprised how many closet gamers you will find.

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Another possible issue is computer hardware. Some of the big titles have demanding system requirements and/or are only available for some of the popular platforms (for instance, only for PS4 or Windows). Take some time to examine how this affects your possibilities before choosing a game. If access or computer hardware is a problem for you, consider that some of the most interesting games that we will have a look at are free, platform-independent, no-installation games that are playable in any internet browser. You can even play them on a computer in the library (if you dare). Alternatively, thousands of retro games are available to play in a browser. Have a look at the Other Resources section at the end of this syllabus for more details. In the course schedule, a tentative list of games to be discussed is indicated for most classes. When choosing your game, you are welcome to consult this list, but it is important to note that you are not limited to these games. You are free to choose any as long as you can demonstrate its relevance for the course. Analysing the Game Keep in mind that playing a game takes time, most often a lot of time. It is recommended that you start playing as early as possible so that you have enough time to actually get to know the game. Another important thing to note is that you do not need to play the game to the end. Some of the games have hundreds of hours of play time. You need to play enough to be able to provide a meaningful analysis of the game. If you do not play a game to the end, I only ask you to be open about this in your essay and to demonstrate that you have played enough to write up the analysis. If you do not finish a game but feel that you need to know more about the ending(s), there is a vast amount of gameplay videos and walkthroughs that can help you. While playing, you are advised to take notes or even write a journal. It could be useful to pause the game frequently, write down your observations, feelings and ideas, and move forward after adequate self- reflection. It can be tempting to go with the flow of the game, but you need to constantly remind yourself that you are (primarily) playing the game for scholarly purposes.

POLICIES

Assignment Submission All assignments need to be submitted via Moodle electronically as a Word or OpenOffice document. E-mail or paper submissions are not accepted. All essays need to be submitted by 23:59 CET on the day indicated as the deadline. Late Submission In the case of late submission, 2 percentage points will be deducted from the overall grade for the assignment for every 12 hours of delay. This means that if an assignment is 18 hours late, for example, the highest percentage that it can receive is 96%.

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Word Limit Assignment submissions that are over 10% below the word limit will be penalised. 2 percentage points will be deducted from the overall grade for the assignment for every 5% of word limit violation that is over the 10% buffer. This means that if a 3200-word essay is submitted for a 4000-word assignment, for example, the highest percentage that it can receive is 96%. Writing an essay that is over the word limit is not advisable, but it will be tolerated. Grading Grading follows the CEU standard policy on a 100-point scale:

Grade Percentage A 94.00–100 A– 87.00–93.99 B+ 80.00–86.99 B 73.00–79.99 B– 66.00–72.99 C 59.00–65.99 F 0–58.99

I am happy to discuss any questions or issues that you might have about a grade that you have received. These requests need to be formulated in writing and submitted by e-mail. Verbal requests will not be accepted. Please note that after I reread an essay in response to such a request, the grade can go down as well as up.

Plagiarism Academic honesty is taken very seriously. Any evidence of plagiarism or other forms of academic dishonesty will result in the student failing the class, at the minimum, and other disciplinary measures might be taken on higher levels. Please consult the CEU Policy on Plagiarism about what constitutes plagiarism at https://documents.ceu.edu/documents/p-1405-1 and read about academic dishonesty in general at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_dishonesty. IT Problems While I am sympathetic towards any IT issues that you may have which are related to this class, I cannot help you with IT problems and I cannot accept computer-related problems as an excuse for late submissions, missed assignments, etc. Please consult the University IT Helpdesk for assistance if necessary. https://www.ceu.edu/campus/IT/helpdesk.

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SCHEDULE

Week Class Date Topic PART I: INTRODUCTION TO VIDEO GAMES 1 1 8 January Basic Concepts and History of Video Games 1 2 10 January Video Games as Visions of the World 2 1 15 January Video Games as a Form of Art 2 2 17 January Video Games as Social Critique 3 1 22 January Serious Games, Political Games 3 2 24 January Theories and Methods of Studying Video Games PART II: VIDEO GAMES AS VISIONS OF THE WORLD 4 1 29 January War and Global Order 1: Historical Themes 4 2 31 January War and Global Order 2: Contemporary World Politics 5 1 5 February Ethics of War, Torture, Terrorism and Drone Warfare 5 2 7 February Cybersecurity 6 1 12 February Climate Change 6 2 14 February Global Capitalism 7 1 19 February Post-Colonialism 7 2 21 February Migration and Minorities 8 1 26 February Gender Inequality 1: Content 8 2 28 February Gender Inequality 2: Audience 9 1 5 March Gender Inequality 3: The Gamergate Controversy 9 2 7 March Race and Racism 1: Content 10 1 12 March Race and Racism 2: Audience 10 2 14 March Making Political Decisions PART III: REVOLUTIONISING THE FORM OF VIDEO GAMES 11 1 19 March Gamification and Politics 11 2 21 March , Games and Ethics 12 1 26 March Playing with Perspectives 12 2 28 March Focusing on Gamers

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PART I: INTRODUCTION TO VIDEO GAMES

Class 1 (8 January): Basic Concepts and History of Video Games Core Readings: Bown (2018) Brooker (2013) Egenfeldt-Nielsen, Smith, and Tosca (2016), Chapters 3 and 4 Huizinga (2006) Supplementary Readings: Caillois (2001) Huizinga (1971)

Class 2 (10 January): Video Games as Visions of the World Core Readings: Bell (2009) Bos (2015) Der Derian (2000) Power (2007)

Class 3 (15 January): Video Games as a Form of Art Core Readings: Bogost (2011a), Chapter 1 Kirkpatrick (2013), Chapter 6 Smuts (2005) Supplementary Readings: Deen (2011) Juul (2001)

Class 4 (17 January): Video Games as Social Critique Core Readings: Bogost (2010), Chapter 1 Galloway (2004) Kirkpatrick (2013), Chapter 1 Other Tasks for This Class: Choose a game that you will analyse for your presentation and mid-term essay Agree on the presentation schedule

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Class 5 (22 January): Serious Games, Political Games Core Readings: Bogost (2011a), Chapter 8 Michael and Chen (2005), Chapters 4 and 9 Rodriguez (2006) Supplementary Readings: Ritterfeld, Cody, and Vorderer (2009), Chapter 2 Wouters et al. (2013)

Class 6 (24 January): Theories and Methods of Studying Video Games Core Readings: Bogost (2006a) Consalvo and Dutton (2006a) Perron and Wolf (2003), Chapter 10 Williams (2005) Supplementary Readings: Fernández-Vara (2014) Thabet (2015) Lankoski and Björk (2015)

PART II: VIDEO GAMES AS VISIONS OF THE WORLD

Class 7 (29 January): War and Global Order 1: Historical Themes Games: Age of Empires series Battlefield series Call of Duty series Civilization series Making History Medal of Honor series Rise of Nations Core Readings: Hess (2007) Kingsepp (2007) Salter (2011) Schulzke (2014)

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Class 8 (31 January): War and Global Order 2: Contemporary World Politics Games: America’s Army Call of Duty series Global Conflicts: Palestine Core Readings: Allen (2011) Mead (2013), Chapter 4 Schulzke (2013c) Other Tasks for Class 8: Finalise the research question and approach for the end of term essay, and get it approved

Class 9 (5 February): Ethics of War, Torture, Terrorism and Drone Warfare Games: America’s Army Call of Duty series (particularly Modern Warfare 2) Counter-Strike series Medal of Honor series (particularly Warfighter) This War of Mine Core Readings: Robinson (2015) Schulzke (2013d) Stahl (2006) Thier (2008) Supplementary Readings: Schulzke (2013a) Robinson (2012)

Class 10 (7 February): Cybersecurity Games: Watch Dogs Core Readings: Herr and Allen (2015) Nagarajan et al. (2012) Whitson and Simon (2014)

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Class 11 (12 February): Climate Change Games: Doom (2016) Fate of the World: Tipping Point Core Readings: Abraham and Jayemanne (2017) Arnott (2010) Douglas (2017) Lee et al. (2013) Wu and Lee (2015)

Class 12 (14 February): Global Capitalism Games: Animal Crossing Cookie Clicker Dwarf Fortress FarmVille Grand Theft Auto series Sweatshop Core Readings: Bogost (2008) Dyer-Witheford and Peuter (2009), Introduction and Chapter 6 Penny (2010)

Class 13 (19 February): Post-Colonialism Games: Age of Empires series Civilization series East India Company Empire: Total War Far Cry 2 Rise of Nations Core Readings: Mukherjee (2017), Chapters 1 and 3 Lammes (2010)

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Class 14 (21 February): Migration and Minorities Games: Papers, Please Core Readings: Heron and Belford (2014) Formosa, Ryan, and Staines (2016) Lellock (2015)

Class 15 (26 February): Gender Inequality 1: Content Games: Tomb Raider series Core Readings: Cassell (2003) Consalvo (2003) MacCallum-Stewart (2014) Williams et al. (2009) Supplementary Readings: Consalvo and Todd (2009) Jenkins (2005)

Class 16 (28 February): Gender Inequality 2: Audience Games: Tomb Raider series Core Readings: Aphra (2003) Flanagan (2002) Taylor (2003) Supplementary Readings: Flanagan (2004)

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Class 17 (5 March): Gender Inequality 3: The Gamergate Controversy Games: Tomb Raider series Core Readings: Chess and Shaw (2015) Mortensen (2016) Trépanier-Jobin (2017) Supplementary Readings: Sarkeesian (2013)

Class 18 (7 March): Race and Racism 1: Content Games: 50 Cent: Bulletproof BioShock Infinite Grand Theft Auto series The Last of Us Walking Dead Core Readings: Hutchinson (2017) Leonard (2006) Srauy (forthcoming) Russworm (2017) Supplementary Readings: Higgin (2009) Poor (2012)

Class 19 (12 March): Race and Racism 2: Audience Games: 50 Cent: Bulletproof BioShock Infinite Grand Theft Auto series The Last of Us Walking Dead World of Warcraft

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Core Readings: DeVane and Squire (2008) Everett and Watkins (2008) Leonard (2003)

Class 20 (14 March): Making Political Decisions Games: Dragon Age: Origins PeaceMaker Pillars of Eternity The Witcher Core Readings: Bogost (2006b) Gonzalez, Saner, and Eisenberg (2013) Mayer (2009)

PART III: REVOLUTIONISING THE FORM OF VIDEO GAMES

Class 21 (19 March): Gamification and Politics Games: games produced by Persuasive Games (http://persuasivegames.com/games/) Core Readings: Bogost and Frasca (2007) Bogost (2011b) Lerner (2014), Chapter 2 Waddington (2013) Supplementary Readings: Asquer (2013)

Class 22 (21 March): Artificial Intelligence, Games and Ethics Games: Detroit: Become Human Core Readings: Dickson (2018) Levine et al. (2013) Marr (2018)

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Matthews (2014) Swan, Baier, and Atkinson (2018) Thielscher (2011) Supplementary Readings: Genesereth (2018)

Class 23 (26 March): Playing with Perspectives Games: Everything Prison Architect Superhot The Walking Dead: Season One Core Readings: Bogost (2011a), Chapter 2 Boltz et al. (2015) Flanagan (2009), Chapter 7 Keary (2015) Smethurst and Craps (2015)

Class 24 (28 March): Focusing on Gamers Core Readings: Downing (2011) Hallett and Barber (2014) Schulzke (2013b) Supplementary Readings: Keeley-Browne (2010) Ward (1999)

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READINGS

Core and Supplementary Readings Abraham, Benjamin, and Darshana Jayemanne. 2017. “Where Are All the Climate Change Games? Locating Digital Games’ Response to Climate Change.” Transformations 30: 74–94. Allen, Robertson. 2011. “The Unreal Enemy of America’s Army.” Games and Culture 6 (1): 38–60. Aphra, Kerr. 2003. “Women Just Want to Have Fun: A Study of Adult Female Players of Digital Games.” In Proceedings of the DiGRA International Conference: Level Up. Utrecht, the Netherlands. http://www.digra.org/digital-library/publications/women-just-want-to-have-fun-a-study-of- adult-female-players-of-digital-games/. Arnott, Jack. 2010. “Fate of the World Review.” The Guardian, October 31, 2010. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2010/oct/31/fate-of-the-world-review. Asquer, Alberto. 2013. “Not Just Videogames: Gamification and Its Potential Application to Public Services.” In Digital Public Administration and E-Government in Developing Nations: Policy and Practice: Policy and Practice, edited by Edward Francis Halpin, David Griffin, Carolynn Rankin, Lakshman Dissanayake, and Nazmunnessa Mahtab, 146–65. Hershey, PA: IGI Global. Bell, Duncan. 2009. “Writing the World: Disciplinary History and Beyond.” International Affairs 85 (1): 3– 22. Bogost, Ian. 2006a. “Comparative Video Game Criticism.” Games and Culture 1 (1): 41–46. ———. 2006b. “Playing Politics: Videogames for Politics, Activism, and Advocacy.” First Monday 7. http://uncommonculture.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/1617/1532. ———. 2008. “The Rhetoric of Video Games.” In The Ecology of Games: Connecting Youth, Games, and Learning, edited by Katie Salen, 117–40. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. ———. 2010. Persuasive Games: The Expressive Power of Videogames. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. ———. 2011a. How to Do Things with Videogames. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press. ———. 2011b. “Persuasive Games: Exploitationware.” 2011. http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/134735/persuasive_games_exploitationware.php. Bogost, Ian, and Gonzalo Frasca. 2007. “Videogames Go to Washington: The Story Behind Howard Dean’s Videogame Propaganda.” In Second Person: Role-Playing and Story in Games and Playable Media, edited by Pat Harrigan and Noah Wardrip-Fruin, 233–46. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Boltz, Liz Owens, Danah Henriksen, and Punya Mishra. 2015. “Rethinking Technology & Creativity in the 21st Century: Empathy through Gaming, Perspective Taking in a Complex World.” TechTrends 59 (6): 3–8.

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Bos, Daniel. 2015. “Military Videogames, Geopolitics and Methods.” In Popular Culture and World Politics: Theories, Methods, Pedagogies, edited by Federica Caso and Caitlin Hamilton, 101–109. Bristol: E- International Relations Publishing. Bown, Alfie. 2018. “Video Games Are Political. Here’s How They Can Be Progressive.” The Guardian, August 13, 2018. https://www.theguardian.com/games/2018/aug/13/video-games-are-political- heres-how-they-can-be-progressive. Brooker, Charlie. 2013. How Videogames Changed the World. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oisFqhwnTgY. Caillois, Roger. 2001. Man, Play and Games. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. Cassell, Justine. 2003a. “Genderizing HCI.” In The Human-Computer Interaction Handbook: Fundamentals, Evolving Technologies and Emerging Applications, edited by Andrew Sears and Julie A. Jacko, 401–12. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Chess, Shira, and Adrienne Shaw. 2015. “A Conspiracy of Fishes, or, How We Learned to Stop Worrying About #GamerGate and Embrace Hegemonic Masculinity.” Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media 59 (1): 208–20. Consalvo, Mia. 2003. “Hot Dates and Fairy Tale Romances: Studying Sexuality in Video Games.” In The Video Game Theory Reader, edited by Mark J. P. Wolf and Bernard Perron, 171–94. New York: Routledge. Consalvo, Mia, and Nathan Dutton. 2006. “Game Analysis: Developing a Methodological Toolkit for the Qualitative Study of Games.” Game Studies 6 (1). Consalvo, Mia, and Harper Todd. 2009. “The Sexi(e)st of All: Avatars, Gender, and Online Games.” In Virtual Social Networks: Mediated, Massive and Multiplayer Sites, edited by Niki Panteli, 98–113. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Deen, Phillip D. 2011. “Interactivity, Inhabitation and Pragmatist Aesthetics.” Game Studies 11 (2). Der Derian, James. 2000. “Virtuous War/Virtual Theory.” International Affairs 76 (4): 771–88. DeVane, Ben, and Kurt D. Squire. 2008. “The Meaning of Race and Violence in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.” Games and Culture 3 (3–4): 264–85. Dickson, Ben. 2018. “Why Teaching AI to Play Games Is Important.” PCMAG. 2018. https://www.pcmag.com/commentary/362654/why-teaching-ai-to-play-games-is-important. Douglas, Dante. 2017. “DOOM Is About Climate Change.” 2017. https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2017/09/doom-is-about-climate-change.html. Downing, Steven. 2011. “Retro Gaming Subculture and the Social Construction of a Piracy Ethic.” International Journal of Cyber Criminology 5 (1): 750–72. Dyer-Witheford, Nick, and Greig De Peuter. 2009. Games of Empire: Global Capitalism and Video Games. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.

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Egenfeldt-Nielsen, Simon, Jonas Heide Smith, and Susana Pajares Tosca. 2016. Understanding Video Games: The Essential Introduction. New York: Routledge. Everett, Anna, and Craig Watkins. 2008. “The Power of Play: The Portrayal and Performance of Race in Video Games.” In The Ecology of Games: Connecting Youth, Games, and Learning, edited by Katie Salen, 141–66. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Fernández-Vara, Clara. 2014. Introduction to Game Analysis. New York: Routledge. Flanagan, Mary. 2002. “Hyperbodies, Hyperknowledge: Women in Games, Women in Cyberpunk, and Strategies of Resistance.” In Reload: Rethinking Women + Cyberculture, edited by Austin Booth and Mary Flanagan, 425–55. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. ———. 2004. “Next Level: Women’s Digital Activism through Gaming.” In Digital Media Revisited: Theoretical and Conceptual Innovations in Digital Domains, edited by Gunnar Liestøl, Andrew Morrison, and Terje Rasmussen, 359–88. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. ———. 2009. Critical Play: Radical . Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Formosa, Paul, Malcolm Ryan, and Dan Staines. 2016. “Papers, Please and the Systemic Approach to Engaging Ethical Expertise in Videogames.” Ethics and Information Technology 18 (3): 211–25. Galloway, Alexander R. 2004. “Social Realism in Gaming.” Game Studies 4 (1). Genesereth, Michael. 2018. “Overview of General Game Playing.” http://ggp.stanford.edu/notes/overview.html. Gonzalez, Cleotilde, Lelyn D. Saner, and Laurie Z. Eisenberg. 2013. “Learning to Stand in the Other’s Shoes: A Computer Video Game Experience of the Israeli–Palestinian Conflict.” Social Science Computer Review 31 (2): 236–43. Hallett, Ronald E., and Kristen Barber. 2014. “Ethnographic Research in a Cyber Era.” Journal of Contemporary Ethnography 43 (3): 306–30. Heron, Michael James, and Pauline Helen Belford. 2014. “Do You Feel Like a Hero Yet? Externalised Morality in Video Games.” Journal of Games Criticism 1 (2). Herr, Christopher, and Dennis Allen. 2015. “Video Games as a Training Tool to Prepare the Next Generation of Cyber Warriors.” In Proceedings of the ACM SIGMIS Conference on Computers and People Research, 23–29. New York, NY: ACM. Hess, Aaron. 2007. “‘You Don’t Play, You Volunteer’: Narrative Public Memory Construction in Medal of Honor: Rising Sun.” Critical Studies in Media Communication 24 (4): 339–56. Higgin, Tanner. 2009. “Blackless Fantasy: The Disappearance of Race in Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games.” Games and Culture 4 (1): 3–26.

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Huizinga, Johan. 1971. Homo Ludens: A Study of the Play-Element in Culture. Boston: Beacon Press. ———. 2006. “Nature and Significance of Play as a Cultural Phenomenon.” In The Game Design Reader: A Rules of Play Anthology, edited by Katie Salen Tekinbas and . Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Hutchinson, Rachael. 2017. “Representing Race and Disability: Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas as a Whole Text.” In Gaming Representation: Race, Gender, and Sexuality in Video Games, edited by Jennifer Malkowski and TreaAndrea M. Russworm, 164–78. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press. Jenkins, Henry. 2005. “‘Complete Freedom of Movement’: Video Games as Gendered Play Spaces.” In The Game Design Reader: A Rules of Play Anthology, edited by Katie Salen Tekinbas and Eric Zimmerman, 330–66. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Juul, Jesper. 2001. “Games Telling Stories? A Brief Note on Games and Narratives.” Games Studies 1 (1). Keary, Ian. 2015. “Prison Architect Review: Once You’re in, You Can’t Get Out.” The Guardian, October 9, 2015. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/oct/09/prison-architect-review-once- youre-in-you-cant-get-out. Keeley-Browne, Elizabeth. 2010. “Cyber-Ethnography: The Emerging Research Approach for 21st Century Research Investigation.” In Handbook of Research on Transformative Online Education and Liberation: Models for Social Equality, edited by Kurubacak Gulsun and T. Volkan Yuzer, 330–38. Hershey, PA: IGI Global. Kingsepp, Eva. 2007. “Fighting With Hyperreality: History and Death in World War II Digital Games.” Games and Culture 2 (4): 366–75. Kirkpatrick, Graeme. 2013. Computer Games and the Social Imaginary. Cambridge: Polity. Lammes, Sybille. 2010. “Postcolonial Playgrounds: Games and Postcolonial Culture.” Eludamos - Journal for Computer Game Culture 4 (1): 1–6. Lankoski, Petri, and Staffan Björk, eds. 2015. Game Research Methods: An Overview. Pittsburgh, PA: ETC Press. Lee, Joey J., Pinar Ceyhan, William Jordan-Cooley, and Woonhee Sung. 2013. “GREENIFY: A Real- World Action Game for Climate Change Education.” Simulation & Gaming 44 (2–3): 349–65. Lellock, J. Slade. 2015. “Media Review: Papers, Please (2013) Work Simulation Role-Playing Video Game.” Humanity & Society 39 (1): 121–23. Leonard, David. 2003. “Live in Your World, Play in Ours: Race, Video Games, and Consuming the Other.” Studies in Media & Information Literacy Education 3 (4): 1–9. Leonard, David J. 2006. “Not a Hater, Just Keepin’ It Real: The Importance of Race- and Gender-Based Game Studies.” Games and Culture 1 (1): 83–88. Lerner, Josh A. 2014. Making Democracy Fun: How Game Design Can Empower Citizens and Transform Politics. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

20 Course Syllabus – Video Games and World Politics: From Entertainment to Social Critique

Levine, John, Clare Bates Congdon, Marc Ebner, Graham Kendall, Simon M. Lucas, Risto Miikkulainen, Tom Schaul, and Tommy Thompson. 2013. “General Video Game Playing.” In Artificial and Computational Intelligence in Games, edited by Simon M. Lucas, Michael Mateas, Mike Preuss, Pieter Spronck, and Julian Togelius, 77–84. Wadern, Germany: Dagstuhl Publishing. MacCallum-Stewart, Esther. 2014. “‘Take That, Bitches!’ Refiguring Lara Croft in Feminist Game Narratives.” Game Studies 14 (2). Marr, Bernard. 2018. “Artificial Intelligence: The Clever Ways Video Games Are Used To Train AIs.” Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2018/06/13/artificial-intelligence-the- clever-ways-video-games-are-used-to-train-ais/. Matthews, Dylan. 2014. “This Guy Thinks Killing Video Game Characters Is Immoral.” Vox. https://www.vox.com/2014/4/23/5643418/this-guy-thinks-killing-video-game-characters-is- immoral. Mayer, Igor S. 2009. “The Gaming of Policy and the Politics of Gaming: A Review.” Simulation & Gaming 40 (6): 825–62. Mead, Corey. 2013. War Play: Video Games and the Future of Armed Conflict. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Michael, David, and Sande Chen. 2005. Serious Games: Games That Educate, Train, and Inform. Boston: Thomson Course Technology. Mortensen, Torill Elvira. forthcoming. “Anger, Fear, and Games: The Long Event of #GamerGate.” Games and Culture. Mukherjee, Souvik. 2017. Videogames and Postcolonialism: Empire Plays Back. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Nagarajan, A., J. M. Allbeck, A. Sood, and T. L. Janssen. 2012. “Exploring Game Design for Cybersecurity Training.” In Proceedings of the 2012 IEEE International Conference on Cyber Technology in Automation, Control, and Intelligent Systems (CYBER), 256–62. Bangkok, Thailand. https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/6392562. Penny, Laurie. 2010. “FarmVille: They Reap What You Sow.” The Guardian, November 19, 2010. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/nov/19/farmville-they-reap-what-you-sow. Perron, Bernard, and Mark J. P. Wolf, eds. 2003. The Video Game Theory Reader. New York: Routledge. Poor, Nathaniel. 2012. “Digital Elves as a Racial Other in Video Games: Acknowledgment and Avoidance.” Games and Culture 7 (5): 375–96. Power, Marcus. 2007. “Digitized Virtuosity: Video War Games and Post-9/11 Cyber-Deterrence.” Security Dialogue 38 (2): 271–88. Ritterfeld, Ute, Michael Cody, and Peter Vorderer, eds. 2009. Serious Games: Mechanisms and Effects. New York: Routledge.

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Robinson, Nick. 2012. “Videogames, Persuasion and the War on Terror: Escaping or Embedding the Military–Entertainment Complex?” Political Studies 60 (3): 504–22. ———. 2015. “Have You Won the War on Terror? Military Videogames and the State of American Exceptionalism.” Millennium – Journal of International Studies 43 (2): 450–70. Rodriguez, Hector. 2006. “The Playful and the Serious: An Approximation to Huizinga’s Homo Ludens.” Game Studies 6 (1). Russworm, TreaAndrea M. 2017. “Dystopian Blackness and the Limits of Racial Empathy in The Walking Dead and The Last of Us.” In Gaming Representation: Race, Gender, and Sexuality in Video Games, edited by Jennifer Malkowski and TreaAndrea M. Russworm, 109–28. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press. Salter, Mark B. 2011. “The Geographical Imaginations of Video Games: Diplomacy, Civilization, America’s Army and Grand Theft Auto IV.” Geopolitics 16 (2): 359–88. Sarkeesian, Anita. 2013. “Tropes vs Women in Video Games Season 1.” 2013. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7Edgk9RxP7Fm7vjQ1d-cDA. Schulzke, Marcus. 2013a. “Being a Terrorist: Video Game Simulations of the Other Side of the War on Terror.” Media, War & Conflict 6 (3): 207–20. ———. 2013b. “Models of Agency in Game Studies.” Technoculture 2. https://tcjournal.org/vol2/schulzke. ———. 2013c. “Rethinking Military Gaming: America’s Army and Its Critics.” Games and Culture 8 (2): 59–76. ———. 2013d. “The Virtual War on Terror: Counterterrorism Narratives in Video Games.” New Political Science 35 (4): 586–603. ———. 2014. “Video Games and the Simulation of International Conflict.” E-International Relations (). 2014. https://www.e-ir.info/2014/08/01/video-games-and-the-simulation-of- international-conflict/. Smethurst, Toby, and Stef Craps. 2015. “Playing with Trauma: Interreactivity, Empathy, and Complicity in The Walking Dead Video Game.” Games and Culture 10 (3): 269–90. Smuts, Aaron. 2005. “Are Video Games Art?” Contemporary Aesthetics 3 (1). Srauy, Sam. forthcoming. “Professional Norms and Race in the North American Video Game Industry.” Games and Culture. Stahl, Roger. 2006. “Have You Played the War on Terror?” Critical Studies in Media Communication 23 (2): 112–30. Swan, Jerry, Hendrik Baier, and Timothy Atkinson. 2018. “Teaching Computers to Play Doom Is a Blind Alley for Ai: Here’s an Alternative.” Independent, April 18, 2018. https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/teaching-computers-doom-ai-zork- colossal-cave-programmers-a8296701.html.

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Taylor, T.L. 2003. “Multiple Pleasures: Women and Online Gaming.” Convergence 9 (1): 21–46. Thabet, Tamer. 2015. Video Game Narrative and Criticism: Playing the Story. Basingstoke: Palgrave. Thielscher, Michael. 2011. “General Game Playing in AI Research and Education.” In Proceedings of the Annual Conference on Artificial Intelligence, edited by Joscha Bach and Stefan Edelkamp, 26–37. Berlin, Germany: Springer. Thier, David. 2008. “World of Warcraft Shines Light on Terror Tactics.” Wired, March 20, 2008. https://www.wired.com/2008/03/wow-terror/. Trépanier-Jobin, Gabrielle. 2017. “Video Game Parodies: Appropriating Video Games to Criticize Gender Norms.” In Gaming Representation: Race, Gender, and Sexuality in Video Games, edited by Jennifer Malkowski and TreaAndrea M. Russworm, 90–108. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press. Waddington, David. 2013. “A Parallel World for the World Bank: A Case Study of Urgent: Evoke, An Educational Alternate Reality Game.” International Journal of Technologies in Higher Education 10 (3): 42–56. Ward, Katie J. 1999. “Cyber-Ethnography and the Emergence of the Virtually New Community.” Journal of Information Technology 14 (1): 95–105. Whitson, Jennifer R., and Bart Simon. 2014. “Game Studies Meets Surveillance Studies at the Edge of Digital Culture: An Introduction to a Special Issue on Surveillance, Games and Play.” Surveillance & Society 12 (3): 309–19. Williams, Dmitri. 2005. “Bridging the Methodological Divide in Game Research.” Simulation & Gaming 36 (4): 447–63. Williams, Dmitri, Nicole Martins, Mia Consalvo, and James D. Ivory. 2009. “The Virtual Census: Representations of Gender, Race and Age in Video Games:” New Media & Society 11 (5): 815–34. Wouters, Pieter, Christof van Nimwegen, Herre van Oostendorp, and Erik D. van der Spek. 2013. “A Meta-Analysis of the Cognitive and Motivational Effects of Serious Games.” Journal of Educational Psychology 105 (2): 249–65. Wu, Jason S., and Joey J. Lee. 2015. “Climate Change Games as Tools for Education and Engagement.” Nature Climate Change 5: 413–18.

23 Course Syllabus – Video Games and World Politics: From Entertainment to Social Critique

Other Readings Donovan, Tristan. 2010. Replay: The History of Video Games. Lewes, UK: Yellow Ant. Kent, Steven L. 2001. The Ultimate History of Video Games: From Pong to Pokemon. New York: Three Rivers Press. Koster, Raph. 2013. Theory of Fun for Game Design. Sebastopol, CA: O’Reilly Media. Laurel, Brenda. 2001. Utopian Entrepreneur. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. McGonigal, Jane. 2011. Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World. London: Penguin Press. Nardi, Bonnie. 2010. My Life as a Night Elf Priest: An Anthropological Account of World of Warcraft. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press. Perron, Bernard, and Mark J. P. Wolf, eds. 2009. The Video Game Theory Reader 2. New York: Routledge. Poels, Karolien, and Steven Malliet. 2011. Vice City Virtue: Moral Issues in Digital Game Play. Leuven, BE: Acco. Taylor, T. L. 2012. Raising the Stakes: E-Sports and the Professionalization of Computer Gaming. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Tekinbas, Katie Salen, and Eric Zimmerman, eds. 2005. The Game Design Reader: A Rules of Play Anthology. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Williams, J. Patrick. 2007. The Players’ Realm: Studies on the Culture of Video Games and Gaming. Edited by Jonas Heide Smith. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company. Other Resources Retro game archives https://archive.org/details/internetarcade https://archive.org/details/softwarelibrary_msdos_games https://classicreload.com/ http://www.bestoldgames.net/eng/

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