Critical Videogame Studies
Course Code
MADD 12320 91
Cross Listed Course Code(s)
SIGN 26038, CMST 27916, ENGL 12320, GNSE 22320
Course Description
Since the 1960s, games have blossomed into the world’s most profitable artistic and cultural form. This course attends to a broad range of video game genres, including roguelikes (Hades), horror games (Until Dawn), visual novels (Butterfly Soup), cozy games (At Winter’s End), time loop games (12 Minutes), serious games (Never Alone), idle games (Cookie Clicker), and several others. The course is organized according by genres, which have been selected to invite thought about formal, historical, cultural, and sociopolitical dimensions of games. Readings by theorists including Ian Bogost, Mary Flanagan, and Mark J.P. Wolf will help us think about the field of videogame studies. In addition to weekly reading and a series of short exercises (designed to practice different modes of writing and creative development), students will also complete a final project.
Course Criteria
Media Arts and Design - can fullfill Theory or Elective requirement, also fulfills Elective requirements/major requirements for English, Cinema and Media Studies, Gender Studies.
Instructor(s)
Lawrence Riss, Ashlyn Sparrow
UChicago Registration 1