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The goal of this course is to give students in-depth knowledge of game studies as a dynamic interdisciplinary field of academic study and research that focuses on digital games and play in a wide variety of social and cultural contexts. The students will learn how to use the concepts of game, play, and playfulness as a tool for the analysis of contemporary digital media practices, communication technologies, and digital culture as such. In terms of methods, this course combines textual analysis (of new media objects including games), cultural studies (focusing on play and playfulness), analytical game design (using experimental design practices to explore game/play-related research questions) and discourse analysis. Moreover, the course will prepare students to reflect on game and play-related practices in relation to their social, cultural, and political context.
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The course provides an overview of how game and play studies can be used in and are linked with digital media practices, such as the design of games and play, the ecology of the (Dutch) gaming industry, and the practice of research we conduct at Utrecht University. Examples of topics explored within this course are: ludification and gamification of practices, organizations, products, and services; serious gaming in social, educational, and political settings; and playful identity construction. All these aspects will be approached both through critical engagement with the on-topic literature and through practical assignments that require students to work creatively with these scholarly perspectives.
Career orientation:
Design-based research that connects theory with practice; guest lecturers; in-course critical engagements with current issues and debates in the working field.
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