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Cursus: TF3V14011
TF3V14011
Playful Media Cultures
Cursus informatie
CursuscodeTF3V14011
Studiepunten (EC)7,5
Cursusdoelen
After taking this course, students will be able to: recognize and better understand the playfulness of today's media practices; conduct a comparative analysis of contemporary (and historical) media play phenomena; articulate valid research questions about playful media practices; write academically on this subject on an advanced level.
Inhoud
The idea of using game and play elements in the context of media (cultures) to motivate and increase user activity has rapidly gained popularity in recent years. Under the label of ‘gamification’, this idea has generated numerous applications in different fields, ranging from digital media, to theatre, film and television. With inspiration from game studies, the conceptual framework of ‘play’ is increasingly being used by media and culture researchers to understand the meaning and cultural impact of this development.
In this course we analyze today’s playful media practices and technologies and study the concepts from game and play studies that make this analysis possible. The underlying questions are: What is play? How are media constructed as fields of play? Why is the approach of play fruitful for the analysis of contemporary media cultures? What are the political concequences of this focus on play (play and resistance, counter-play)?
The course will study the concept of play from a media comparative and philosophical perspective.  This so-called ‘ludic turn’ in media studies combines two elements: the notion that media are playful opens up new objects of study, and allows for considering these media objects in a new way.
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