joshzim

joshzim@arizona.edu

Zimmerman, Joshua J

Assistant Professor of Practice

Josh Zimmerman is a scholar of the computer game industry, as well as an instructional design and community engagement consultant for TTG, LLC in Minneapolis, MN. He earned a PhD in Rhetoric, Composition & the Teaching of English from the University of Arizona in 2016 and has continued to teach and research while building a thriving consulting business. His research interests include developer-fan discourses in the computer game industry, online community building, and the complex relationship between play and work in digital media industries. Since 2009, he has taught a wide range of courses for the University of Arizona Writing Program, the School of Information, the Honor's College, and the Department of Public & Applied Humanities.

Currently Teaching

PAH 201 – Applied Humanities Practice: Techniques and Technologies for Public Enrichment

This course introduces the common techniques and technologies involved in applied humanities work, providing students with the concepts and skills they need to plan, conduct, analyze, and evaluate conceptually rigorous, publicly-facing, and community-enriching projects. Over the course of the semester we will: 1) survey practical approaches and research methods commonly used in the applied humanities; 2) examine exemplary projects that have employed these ways of doing, and in the process gain insight into how to adapt them for other projects; and 3) explore a variety of tools and technologies that support data collection, sharing, analysis, and implementation, culminating the design of your own applied humanities project.

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PAH 231 – Global Game Cultures and Histories

This course examines the rise and spread of video game cultures from around the world, focusing on the contexts of their origins, proliferation, and (where applicable) their demise. Topics to be covered include arcades, bootlegging and piracy, casual gaming, chiptunes, cosplay, demo cultures, LAN parties, machinima, online fandom, LGTBQ+ gaming culture, BIPOC gaming culture, and videorec cultures. These topics will be considered in light of broader cultural trends, contemporaneous social and political concerns, and relevant technological advancements.

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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.

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PAH 330 – The Video Game Industry: An Introduction to the Business of Making Money with Play

This course introduces students to the structures, practices, and study of the video game industry. Over the course of the semester we will: 1) survey the origins of the video game industry, paying particular attention to its connection to the broadcasting and film industries; 2) examine the video game industry in terms of its major spheres (development, publishing, distribution/sales, paratexts, consumption, and regulation); and 3) explore tools and techniques for theorizing video game business and conducting market analyses for academic and commercial purposes.

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PAH 332 – Tabletop Games: Play, Culture, and Design of Board and Role-Playing Games

This course explores how tabletop and board games both reflect and influence the cultures they arise from. We begin the course by examining some of the earliest tabletop games and how they relate to the cultures from which they emerged. From this foundation, we then explore how modern tabletop games employ aesthetics, rules and mechanics to represent and shape relationships between players, as well as allowing players to take on different identities and master new skills. Throughout the course, we pay close attention to how game design choices communicate cultural values, histories, and beliefs and how we might redesign games to create new possibilities for players.

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