FF:FAV143 Computer Game as Commodity

FAV143 Computer Game as Key Commodity of Contemporary Audiovisual Culture

Faculty of Arts
Spring 2009

Extent and Intensity

2/0. 4 credit(s). Type of Completion: k (colloquium).

Teacher(s)

Mgr. Patrik Vacek (lecturer)

Guaranteed by

prof. PhDr. Jiří Voráč, Ph.D.
Department of Film Studies and Audiovisual Culture – Faculty of Arts

Timetable

Mon 10:00–11:35 C34

Course Enrolment Limitations

The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
The capacity limit for the course is 30 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/30, only registered: 0/30, only registered with preference (fields directly associated with the programme): 0/30

fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with

there are 14 fields of study the course is directly associated with, display

Course objectives

Computer games are one of the most significant branches of contemporary audiovisual culture and as such they not only fundamentally influence our everyday lives and the notion of both working time and leisure time activities but they also co-create our relation to other forms of media. In an interdisciplinary grounded course we will focus on essential theoretical, historical, sociocultural and economic aspects of digital game culture. In the very first area of our attention there will be a critical overwiew and analysis of global digital game experience and its reception with a respect to the past efforts in the Czech Republic. This course is opened to all interested participants from a broad array of humanities and other disciplines (e. g. film and media studies, psychology, sociology, aesthetics, theory of interactive media, fine arts and design, artificial intelligence etc.)
COURSE OBJECTIVES: At the end of this course students should be able:
To understand and explain the main principles and theoretical and/or historical aspects of computer games and digital game culture as a whole To make reasoned decisions about the place digital game culture occupies in everyday life and education To assess a number of aesthetic, social, cultural, economical and technological merits digital game culture possesses

Syllabus

1. Early Years: mainframes and game pioneers. Computer game as a side effect of scientific research of 60s and 70s.
2. Digital game culture in 80s and 90s. 8bit computer dominance, game consoles and mobile/pocket devices, coin-up machines – Atari, ZX Spectrum, Didaktik, Amiga, Nintendo, Sega, Sony Playstation, Xbox 360, rise of PCs.
3. Computer game visual representation history I. – monochromatic and limited rendition of colour; fully developed models of colour.
4. Computer game visual representation history II. – Abstraction and quest for photorealism. Aesthetic merits of computer game generated image and special effects.
5. Economy, mediality and self-reflexivity of game industry: principal game designers, studios and players. Digital game culture as a form of mass consumption, competition and entertainment (LAN/on-line tournaments, game cons and exhibitions, pro-gaming, digital games as a form of sport). Game industry emancipation. Advertisements and marketing categories of game industry, game product signifying and re-branding.
6. Game and cinema analogies and differences: Game architecture and its implications for game design, the function of frame, matters of image types and resolution).
7. Game as series, cult games: the reception issues – game geeks, game reviewers and their language, fan sub-comunities, game obsession and pathology.
8. Game genres: RPG, strategy, 3D FPS, 2D action game, simulation, platform games, text and graphic adventures, genre hybridization.
9. From Adlib to Audigy: computer game sound history. Game dubbing and other form of speeche.
10. Computer game music theory and history.
11. Modes of text representations: titles, sub-titles, inter-titles, text based games. Game as a novel. Intros, intermezzo, gratulation, plot and story, digital game narration, the problem of terminology and translation.
12. Violence and ideology reception. Educational use of computer games.

Literature

The medium of the video game. Edited by Mark J. P. Wolf. 1st ed. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2002, xvi, 203. ISBN 029279150X. info
The video game theory reader. Edited by Mark J. P. Wolf - Bernard Perron. New York ;: Routledge, 2003, xxii, 343. ISBN 0415965799. info
ATKINS, Barry. More than a game : the computer game as fictional form. New York: Manchester University Press, 2003, 170 s. ISBN 0719063655. info
CARR, Diane. Computer games : text, narrative and play. 1st pub. Cambridge: Polity, 2006, vi, 210. ISBN 074563401X. info

Assessment methods

The final assessment will be based on a 5-page-long essay (9000 characters including spaces but without footnotes and bibliography/web resources supplement) that must be delivered via e-mail till the end of the regular examination period. The paper should deal with a narrowly specified topic of digital game culture while each student is entitled to choose from a list of themes or he/she can propose his or her own point of research. However, in such a case a preliminary approval by lecturer is mandatory. Please pay the attention to the fact there is a substantial reading duty assigned to this course.

FF:FAV143 Computer Game as Commodity - Course Information

FAV143 Computer Game as Key Commodity of Contemporary Audiovisual Culture

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