Carroll University Fall 2011 Cultural Seminar The Culture and Theory of Videogames • Section G: MTRF 11-11:50 a.m.—Maxon 305
Contact Information Instructor: B.J. Best Orientation Mentor: Corey Vande Voort Office Location: MacAllister 208 / Phone: 920-840-2843 Pioneer Writing Lab 203 E-mail: [email protected] Phone: 262/951-3071 E-mail: [email protected] Office Hours: MTRF 12-12:50 p.m.
Course Description The Cultural Seminar is an academic course for all freshmen on the study of culture. All sections will ask students to explore their own culture and a culture different than their own and demonstrate understanding of a global issue from multiple perspectives. While all courses are on culture, each section uses a different topic through which students will study culture. Students will work on reading and oral communication skills, on information fluency skills, and they will also be assisted by Orientation Mentors to help with their transition to college. The course will have several common elements: a common reading, common learning outcomes, a common oral exam and culminating assignment, and orientation and convocation experiences. The Cultural Seminar serves as a foundation course for four other cross-cultural courses in the General Education Program.
Specifically, for our course: In their short history, videogames have often been written off as brain-rotting ephemera. However, as an industry with revenues of more than $20 billion annually in the U.S., videogames have become a permanent fixture of our cultural landscape, and the academy is increasingly attending to the messages coded within these games. In this course, we will analyze two primary aspects of the culture of videogames: 1.) the culture represented within those games, considering issues of entertainment, narrative, art, and ethics, as well as larger issues of society, family, class, religion, self, gender, and others; 2.) the contemporary and historic cultures that allow these games to be produced and played, and how the games influence the cultures and vice-versa. Students will play many videogames, classic and contemporary. Supplemented by substantial traditional readings, we will "read" these games by analyzing their forms and functions. The course will culminate in a case study of the 1999 Columbine High School shootings, in which the violent first-person shooter Doom was claimed by some critics as an important motivation for the killers.
Guiding Questions of the Course 1.) How do we analyze a videogame for its cultural content? 2.) How do cultures impact videogames and their players, and vice-versa?
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General Education Student Learning Outcomes Upon successful completion of the Cultural Seminar, students will be able to:
1. Demonstrate understanding of similarities and differences between the student's own culture and a different culture.
2. Demonstrate understanding of multiple perspectives of a global issue through the summer common reading.
3. Be able to express orally and in writing, with supporting materials, an understanding of student’s own culture and a different culture.
4. Demonstrate information fluency by gathering, analyzing, and synthesizing information using emerging technologies and traditional media (which supports Learning Outcome #7). Students will address the following: a. Demonstrate the ability to gather and integrate information from a variety of sources. b. Demonstrate the abilities to assess the credibility and to weigh the value of information from different sources. c. Communicate knowledge using emerging technologies.
5. Demonstrate familiarity with Carroll University policies, procedures and support services which help to facilitate academic success through participation in the following required course components (which supports Learning Outcomes #1 and #7): a. Orientation Component: ITS/Library Introduction Session b. Library Sessions: i. Two library sessions conducted by Librarians and Career Counselors ii. One on-line library session. c. Check-in Meeting, scheduled during regular faculty office hours. d. Short in-class presentation by Director of Student Success.
Course-specific Learning Outcomes Upon successful completion of our section of Cultural Seminar, students will be able to:
6. Analyze and discuss a videogame in terms of its theoretical, aesthetic, and narrative elements.
Expectations of Students I expect students to act in a professional and respectful manner in class at all times. The catalog calls upon students, in the Carroll University Compact, to strive to live according to certain values as a member of the Carroll community. This class has these expectations as well. In line with this compact are these specific expectations: a.) We will be discussing ideas that are controversial and may be challenging to what students value and think. It is important to focus on the discussion of the ideas and not the personal attacks on other people. b.) I expect students to have an opportunity to share their ideas but not to monopolize the conversation. c.) I expect you to pay full attention in each class—it creates the best environment for both you and your peers to learn.
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d.) I expect you to not use a cell phone (this includes texting), MP3 player, or any other device that might cause a distraction during class without explicit permission. Repeated violations of this expectation will result in a decreased semester grade.
Required Texts: • Monaghan and Just. Social & Cultural Anthropology: A Very Short Introduction. • Nielsen, Smith, and Tosca. Understanding Video Games.
Required Supplies: • Pen, paper, notebook, folder, etc. • Personal computer running Windows (XP, Vista, or 7) with Internet access
Course Activities: • Readings and gameplay • Class blog • Midterm oral exam • Final oral exam • Midterm videogame exam • Culminating assignment • Conferences • Library tutorials • Class participation and attendance
Please note that for many of these activities, specifics will be distributed in class.
Readings and gameplay: We will be reading almost all of Understanding for our class. Not only will you be expected to have read all the material that was assigned for a particular day, you are also expected to come to class with intelligent questions, ideas, and opinions on that material. This means I expect you to take notes, mark your reading, and engage in any other activities that will help you achieve this goal. We will also frequently be playing games to discuss based on the frameworks provided by our two texts. To encourage you to think critically about these games, you are asked to maintain and respond to a class blog throughout the semester, as described below.
Class blog: It’s all too easy to play a videogame without thinking much about its constructs, meanings, or cultural positions. In order to begin analyzing these games, you will be asked to post and respond to a blog for many of the games we play, as well as for other cultural questions and assignments.
Midterm oral exam: To evaluate your success in analyzing cultural issues, each Cultural Seminar section will conduct one-on-one oral exams. The exam will cover cultural ideas drawn from Social & Cultural Anthropology.
Final oral exam: As a cumulative assessment of the course, you will be asked to participate in an oral exam that will ask you to evaluate and comment upon the cultural and videogame elements at work in Super Columbine Massacre RPG!.
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Midterm videogame exam: At the end of our unit on videogames and videogame theory, you will complete an in-class exam to evaluate your mastery of the fundamental terms, concepts, and theories we discuss.
Culminating assignment: At the end of the course, you will be asked to write an essay analyzing how your thinking about culture has changed since the beginning of the course.
Conferences: You will meet with me one-on-one once during the semester. The meeting will be a developmental conference—to simply chat about how your college experience is going. This conference will be informal and open-ended. Of course, you are welcome to meet with me at any time during my office hours (or another time by appointment). You will also meet with the OM once during the semester.
Library tutorials: All sections in Cultural Seminar participate in library tutorials to help students understand how to access the library’s resources. On tutorial days, we will meet in the library classroom rather than in our usual classroom. Attendance at the tutorials is mandatory.
Class participation and attendance: Quite simply, plan on attending class and participating in it. Your thoughtful discussion of the reading and gaming we will do is imperative to understanding and analyzing the games and their impacts.
As in any college course, your attendance is crucial—we will constantly be talking about new ideas and applying them to new games. More than four absences will adversely impact your grade for course; anyone absent for more than eight classes will fail the course (or be asked to withdraw, if possible), regardless of circumstances. If you are not present within the first ten minutes of class, you will be considered absent. Excessive tardiness may also adversely affect your final grade.
If you are absent, remember that it is your responsibility to catch up. This includes reviewing the material that was discussed, completing work that was done in class, obtaining any handouts, and receiving any assignments. If you will be absent, please let me know via e-mail.
(As an aside, should you be absent in this or any other class, upon your return never ask the professor: “Did I miss anything?” Given that there was class that day, you certainly missed something.)
Copyright issues, emulators, etc.: To the best of my knowledge, we will be playing each assigned game in this course legally, honoring the copyrights and trademarks of the games’ creators. There are numerous ways to play these games illegally on the Internet, primarily through the use of emulators and (illegally) downloaded ROMs of games. I encourage you to play all videogames legally, not from pirated copies. If you are ever on a website and unsure about the legality of the games it offers, check its FAQ section for a statement about how it applies and follows copyright law. (VirtualNES.com has an excellent FAQ that addresses this precise issue.) If you are still unsure, or if a site has no such statement, the best course of action would be to find another site.
Grading: The below table indicates the relative weighting of each graded course activity.
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Activity Learning Outcome(s) Grade Weight Midterm oral exam 1, 2, 3 15% Midterm videogame exam 6 10% Final oral exam 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 20% Cumulative assessment 1, 2, 3 15% Game blog 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 20% Participation and attendance 1, 2, 3, 5 20%
Grading standards for the course activities will be distributed in class.
Letter grades will be assigned according to these percentages:
Grade Range A 93-100% AB 88-92.9% B 83-87.9% BC 78-82.9% C 70-77.9% D 60-69.9% F < 60%
Your semester grade will be the weighted average of the grades you earn on the course activities, as described above.
You also must satisfactorily complete all coursework to pass the course, regardless of your earned mathematical grade. This means you must complete and submit all assignments. If there is any assignment on which you earn an F, you will be asked to revise that assignment until it is satisfactory, although your original grade of F for the assignment will remain.
Plagiarism and academic integrity: Plagiarism is the act of claiming another’s ideas and/or words as your own, and is a serious academic offense. Any time you use ideas or words from another source, you must cite and document that source. This not only includes direct quotes or specific facts, but paraphrases and summaries of material as well. We will use the MLA style of documentation in this course. Remember that any citation has two parts: a parenthetical in-text citation as well as an entry on a Works Cited page. If you are ever in doubt whether or not you are using information from another source, the safest course of action is to cite it.
When using citations, I recommend inserting them in the text as you write your first draft. Plans to “go back and insert the citation later” are dangerous, as you risk missing a citation and opening yourself to charges of plagiarism.
All charges of plagiarism will be handled according to the University’s protocols of academic integrity. Descriptions of violations of the academic integrity policy as well as the procedure for holding hearings and imposing penalties for these violations can be found in the Student Handbook, Section III, “Academic Policies and Procedures.” I encourage you to be familiar with them.
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Other violations of academic integrity include copying others' work, cheating on an exam, and maliciously destroying another’s work. These are also described in Section III of the Student Handbook.
All verified violations of academic integrity will result in a grade of zero for the assignment and almost always will result in failure of the course. Remember that academic dishonesty is a crime of action, not intention. If you are found to have violated academic integrity, you will be penalized.
Academic support: The Learning Commons, located in the bottom floor of the Library, offers tutoring, writing assistance, and study skills assistance as well as group study rooms and places to study. For more information, visit http://divisions.carrollu.edu/library/LearningCommons.asp.
Writing Center: The Carroll University Writing Center, located in the Learning Commons, is open Monday through Thursday from 10-6, Fridays from 10 – 1, and on Sunday evenings from 4-8. Writing Assistants are available to help with all stages of the writing process, from pre-writing to development to citation.
Assistants can be seen on a first come, first served basis, though the Center recommends making an appointment by accessing LC Online through the Learning Commons link on the student portal.
Disability accommodations: Students with documented disabilities who may need accommodations, or any student considering obtaining documentation, should make an appointment with Ms. Martha Bledsoe, Director of Services for Students with Disabilities, no later than the first week of class. She can be reached by calling 262/524-7335 or contacting her via e-mail at [email protected].
Calendar: A tentative course calendar begins on the next page.
Modifications: I reserve the right to modify any part of this syllabus, other course materials, or the course calendar as I deem appropriate or as the University requires.
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All games should be played via links under the Documents section of My Courses unless otherwise noted.
Weeks 1 – 6: Culture, Anthropology, and Their Relationships to Videogames
T 9/4 Introduction Read: Anthropology Ch. 1
R 9/6 Syllabus Ethnography Read: Anthropology Ch. 2
F 9/7 Culture
M 9/10 Due: Initial cultural assessment Culture Visitor: Jeff McNamara, Director of Student Success Play: Pac-Man (VirtualNES) Ms. Pac-Man (VirtualNES)
T 9/11 Intro to culture and videogames Play: Tetris (VirtualGBX)
R 9/13 Culture and videogames, con’t. Visitors: Walter Young Center Read: Anthropology Ch. 3
F 9/14 Society Play: The Oregon Trail
M 9/17 Society, con’t. Read: Anthropology Ch. 4 Begin conferences
T 9/18 Sex and blood Play: K.O.L.M. Gamer Mom Passage (download)
R 9/20 Sex and blood, con’t. Read: Anthropology Ch. 5
F 9/21 Library Basics (meet in library)
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M 9/24 Caste, class, tribe, and nation Author Peter Just, Ballroom, 4 p.m. Play: Super Mario Bros. (VirtualNES) Civilations Wars
T 9/25 Caste, class, tribe, and nation, con’t. Read: Anthropology Ch. 6
R 9/27 People and their things Play: Corporation Inc. Have You Considered the Benefits of Life Insurance (download)
F 9/28 People and their things, con’t. Read: Anthropology Ch. 7
M 10/1 People and their gods Play: Reprisal Doodle God
T 10/2 People and their gods, con’t Read: Anthropology Ch. 8
R 10/4 People and their selves Play: Dys4ia Personal Trip to the Moon
F 10/5 People and their selves, con’t
M 10/8 Review and oral exam prep
T 10/9 Midterm oral exams—no class
R 10/11 Midterm oral exams—no class Read: Understanding Introduction and Ch. 1 Play: Adventure Wolfenstein 3D
F 10/12 Intro to videogame studies Read: Understanding Ch. 3
Weeks 7-10: Introduction to Videogame Theory
M 10/15 Fall Break—no class
T 10/16 Fall Break—no class
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R 10/18 What is a game? Play: Pong Gnop Small Worlds Passage (download)
F 10/19 What is a game?, con’t. Visitors: Office of International Education Read: Understanding Ch. 5
M 10/22 Videogame aesthetics Play: Street Fighter II CE Trackmania Nations Forever (download) Music Catch 2
T 10/23 Videogame aesthetics, con’t. Read: Understanding Ch. 8
R 10/25 Narrative in videogames Play: BurgerTime (VirtualNES) Little Wheel King’s Quest I (download)
F 10/26 Narrative in videogames, con’t. Play: Doom The Legend of Zelda (VirtualNES)
M 10/29 Genre: Action Play: Zork Samorost
T 10/30 Genre: Adventure Play: Bloons Tower Defense 2 Minecraft Line Rider
R 11/1 Genres: Strategy & process-oriented
F 11/2 No class
M 11/5 Career Center (meet in library)
T 11/6 Midterm videogame exam Read: Understanding Ch. 6
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R 11/8 Videogame culture To be completed: No-tech day Read: Understanding Ch. 7 Play: Lesbian Spider-Queens of Mars
F 11/9 Player culture Read: Understanding Ch. 10
Weeks 11-13: Case Study in Culture and Videogames: Super Columbine Massacre RPG!
M 11/12 Videogames and risks Columbine intro Play: SCMRPG
T 11/13 SCMRPG Play: SCMRPG Read: Wikipedia entries Listen: Nirvana, KFMDM, Radiohead, Marilyn Manson (YouTube)
R 11/15 SCMRPG, con’t Read: Artist’s statement Play: Doom V-Tech Rampage
F 11/16 SCMRPG, con’t Play: I’m OK: A Murder Simulator Murder Simulator Read: “A Modest Video Game Proposal”
M 11/19 SCMRPG and “murder simulators”
T 11/20 SCMRPG conclusion Oral exam review and prep
R 11/22 Thanksgiving Break—no class
F 11/23 Thanksgiving Break—no class
M 11/26 Oral exam prep
T 11/27 Final oral exams—no class
R 11/29 Final oral exams—no class
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F 11/30 Final oral exams—no class Read: Understanding Ch. 9 Play: Adverputt Oiligarchy Lemonade Stand (download)
Weeks 14 & 15: More Than a Game?
M 12/3 Serious games: Advertainment, edutainment, and political games Play: Loved Every Day the Same Dream January Passage in 10 Seconds
T 12/4 Serious games: Art games Due: Complete blog
R 12/6 Culminating assignment
F 12/7 Culminating assignment
M 12/10 Culminating assignment
T 12/11 Culminating assignment
The culminating assignment will be due during our final exam time: Wednesday, December 19, at 10 a.m.
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