Semester(s) Offered: Fall / Spring / Summer / Winter
Credits: 4
Course Call Number: GAMES-UT 110
Prerequisite(s): None
Taught By: Karina Popp / Mitu Khandaker / Charles Pratt / Clara Fernández-Vara / Frank Lantz
This class is an overview of the intellectual history of games and approaches the subject from several theoretical and critical perspectives. Over the course of the semester students will engage with some of the major questions asked about games and play during the 20th and early 21st centuries, and will read and discuss the work of numerous scholars that have attempted to answer these questions. Beyond reading the great works of game scholarship, students will grapple with these questions themselves in the form of papers and presentations to the class. However, no special theoretical background or prior training is needed to take the course. All that is required is to have a broad practical experience with and basic knowledge of games.
Upon completion of this course, the student should be able to:
1) Understand and discuss games from a theoretical perspective.
2) Enumerate and analyze the components of a game.
3) Apply new theories and evaluate them critically.
4) Assess and discuss game concepts and the use of games in various contexts.
5) Analyze games, and understand and apply a range of analytical methods.