AJ16176 Video Games: Culture, Texts, Issues

Faculty of Arts
Spring 2019
Extent and Intensity
0/2/0. 2 credit(s) (plus 2 credits for an exam). Recommended Type of Completion: zk (examination). Other types of completion: z (credit).
Teacher(s)
prof. Pawel Frelik (lecturer), doc. PhDr. Tomáš Pospíšil, Ph.D. (deputy)
Mgr. Stefan Veleski, B.A., Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
doc. PhDr. Jana Chamonikolasová, Ph.D.
Department of English and American Studies – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Tomáš Hanzálek
Supplier department: Department of English and American Studies – Faculty of Arts
Prerequisites (in Czech)
AJ01002 Practical English II
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 14 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/14, only registered: 0/14, only registered with preference (fields directly associated with the programme): 0/14
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
there are 12 fields of study the course is directly associated with, display
Course objectives
The course will provide a comprehensive introduction to video games, commercially and artistically one of the most vibrant among contemporary cultural forms. While the medium itself is truly global and transnational, the American contexts of its emergence and development are crucial for understanding its discourses and most readily exemplify a broad range of the medium’s cultural entanglements. In the course, the students will examine the history of video games as a medial form, study (play) selected games representative of various genres and forms, and engage a range of issues, including the medium’s position in contemporary American culture, games’ procedural rhetoric, representations of gender and race, the game industry’s complicity in cognitive capitalism, and audience-side practices.
Syllabus
  • Each course segment will rely on a range of readings and in-class discussions. Each unit will also be paired with a game (in most cases, independent and/or relatively short) reflecting a range of issues under discussion. These include, among others, Dear Esther (2012), Doom (1993), Gone Home (2013), Kentucky Route Zero (2013-19), Mass Effect (2007), Papers, Please (2013), and The Stanley Parable (2013). Students will be encouraged to pre-play the games before the beginning of the course or, less optimally, watch a “let’s play” video of the title’s gameplay.
Assessment methods
To complete the course, the students will need to prepare the final paper/project, which will be due within a month after the end of the course.
Language of instruction
English
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
Study Materials
The course is taught: in blocks.
Note related to how often the course is taught: February 11 - 15, 2019, G316.
  • Enrolment Statistics (recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/spring2019/AJ16176