PAH 331 - Video Game Studies: Critical/Cultural Approaches

This course surveys the major critical/cultural approaches to the study of video games. Areas of emphasis include industrial analysis, formalism, critical race studies, ludology/narratology, critical discourse analysis, archivalism, fan studies, and gender/sexuality studies. Each approach will be analyzed in terms of its main principles, the sorts of arguments it facilitates, and the opportunities and problems it presents to the game scholar, maker, and player. In the process, we will conduct a series of micro-analyses of specific games, technologies, companies, and playful practices, all for the purpose of developing a deeper sense of games many meaning-making processes and their connection to the human condition.