Semester(s) Offered: Fall / Spring
Credits: 4
Course Call Number: GAMES-UT 101, GAMES-GT 101
Prerequisite(s): None
Taught By: Jimi Stine / Karina Popp / Maxi Boch / Naomi Clark / Mitu Khandaker / Jesse Fuchs / Matt Parker / Charles Pratt / Eric Zimmerman / Clara Fernández-Vara / Frank Lantz
Games 101 is the foundational course for the NYU Game Center and a prerequisite for all other Game Center classes. The focus of Games 101 is advanced game literacy – the development of a shared understanding of the history of games, culturally and aesthetically. This class is a broad, introductory survey which covers the full spectrum of digital and non-digital games. The class will incorporate lectures, discussions, and writing assignments, but the primary activity of the class is critical play – playing games and writing about them in order to better understand and appreciate them.
Upon completion of this course, the student will be able to:
1) Develop a thorough understanding of some of the most important, influential historical and modern games.
2) Place games within a comprehensive overall framework of historical, technological, and aesthetic concepts.
3) Understand games as designed experiences, as technological systems, and as social and cultural artifacts.
4) Build a critical vocabulary that allows them to participate in productive, high-level spoken and written conversations about games.
5) Analyze games and clearly articulate their formal, cultural, and expressive qualities.
6) Gain a basic understanding of games as aesthetic objects that lays a foundation for further studies in game design, production, and scholarship.