780.223 (24S) Representation and Configuration in Games
Overview
- Lecturer
- Course title german Representation and Configuration in Games
- Type Seminar (continuous assessment course )
- Course model Attendance-based course
- Hours per Week 2.0
- ECTS credits 4.0
- Registrations 23 (20 max.)
- Organisational unit
- Language of instruction Englisch
- Course begins on 01.03.2024
- eLearning Go to Moodle course
Time and place
Course Information
Intended learning outcomes
Learn to critically approach contemporary game experience from a philosophical point of view. Understand the concept of Philosophical Practice. Delve into the philosophical consequences of how video games transpose physical world into a digital environment (representation) and how narration and meaning is established in gaming experience (configuration). Approach one of the last phases of video game development, its multilingual localization, through a critical discourse on language. Learn about the possibility to establish video games as Multimedia Interactive Artworks and approach their key features from a philosophical perspective, with the help of first-hand experience in gaming.
Final scope is to provide philosophical and phenomenological framework for a critical approach to video games and gaming as philosophical practice.
Teaching methodology
This seminar will be taught in frontal lectures and laboratories, which will be complemented by a personal research and gaming experience.
Course content
The first session will briefly summarize course contents, present the methodology, and answer students' questions in dialogue with all attendants. Course's mode of exam will also be presented.
The first block will present the philosophical background of the course's perspective. It will introduce the students to philosophical analysis, establish a lexicon, and provide base phenomenological and theoretical concepts. Aesthetics, Ethics, Theoretical Philosophy, Semiology, and Phenomenology will be the focus of this block. A working definition of Multimedia Interactive Artwork will be presented. It will then briefly present an example of interdisciplinary approach.
The second block will present the basis of Philosophical Practice and how it can be tied to the experience of gaming and narration. It will then build the ground from which the idea of video games as a method of philosophical practice (both gaming and game-design) can be a valid philosophical proposal. Students will be invited to choose a title to play during the next weeks according to the proposed methodology.
Third block will examine the topic of representation in video games from a philosophical perspective according to three topics: World, Self, and Society. Lectures will expand concepts presented in Block 1 in the three topics, thus presenting a possible approach to a critical gaming experience thanks to di Letizia's phenomenology of gameplay experience. Dedicated focus will be given to how the concept of spirituality can be represented in video games.
This block will approach the subject of narration and meaning in video games. The frontal lectures will delve into the concepts of Direct Narration and Indirect Narration and their peculiarities. Next, the concept of meaning will be analyzed through the lens of gameplay and game-design of a selected range of video game titles. A dedicated focus will be given to the issues related to localization and how Philosophy of Language can help an analysis of localization issues in video games. Finally, some first-hand experiences of game design will be presented to further guide the proposed critical approach.
Lastly, students will present their gaming experience to the class through the answers they gave in the questionary. A final round-up dialogical session will be held on the themes that will emerge from this personal experience. Each student will then propose their argument for the individual assessment.
Literature
Suggested literature include, but is not limited to:
- Huizinga, J. (1955). Homo ludens . Boston: Beacon Press.
- Johnson, S. (1997). Interface culture . San Francisco: Harper.
- Mukherjee, S. (2015). Video Games and Storytelling , New York: Palgrave MacMillan.
- Keogh, B. (2018). A Play of Bodies. How we perceive video games , Cambridge: MIT Press.
- Bosman, F. (2019). Gaming and the Divine , London: Routledge.
Additional references will be made available during the course.
Examination information
Examination methodology
The course features a twofold assessment. The first assessment (worth 20% of the mark) will consist in a questionary (open questions) on the gaming experience from Block 02. The main assessment will see students produce a philosophical essay on the course topics (worth 70% of the mark) . The final 10% of the grade is shaped by student participation.
Examination topic(s)
Questionary and collective restitution session (20%):
Students will play a title of their choosing and fill an online questionary (open questions), which will then form the basis of the collective restitution session.
Individual assessment (70%):
The individual assessment is a philosophical essay (3000 words). Students will put forth an argument about representation or configuration in video games, select a specific game or part of said game to play (could be the same from the questionary) and, by using the philosophical concepts learned in the course and their own individual branch of knowledge, analyze their gameplay to prove or disprove their argument.
Participation (10%)
Assessment criteria / Standards of assessment for examinations
Criteria relevant for the grading of the questionary and restitution session:
- Understanding of questions proposed
- Suitability of answers given according to the topics of the seminar
- Soundness of the argument presented in the answers
- Adequate grasp of the philosophical concepts and theories presented in the seminar
Criteria relevant for the grading of the individual assessment:
- An adequate grasp of the philosophical concepts and theories presented in the seminar
- The demonstration of reflection and critical thinking in respect to both video games and individual branch of knowledge
- Soundness of the argument presented
- The usage of examples from existing games (screenshots, filmed scenes…)
- The ability to construct an argument in a coherent, structured, and logical fashion
- Reliance on additional academic resources besides those presented in the course
- Upholding proper standards regarding the formal features and citations of the AAU Department of English
- A proper bibliographical listing of sources considered
Criteria relevant for the grading of student participation:
- Attendance
- Contributions to discussions
- Openness to interdisciplinary perspectives
Grading scheme
Grade / Grade grading schemePosition in the curriculum
- Master's degree programme Game Studies and Engineering
(SKZ: 992, Version: 23W.1)
-
Subject: Game Studies
(Compulsory subject)
-
3.3 Representation and Configuration in Games (
0.0h SE / 4.0 ECTS)
- 780.223 Representation and Configuration in Games (2.0h SE / 4.0 ECTS) Absolvierung im 2. Semester empfohlen
-
3.3 Representation and Configuration in Games (
0.0h SE / 4.0 ECTS)
-
Subject: Game Studies
(Compulsory subject)
- Master's degree programme Game Studies and Engineering
(SKZ: 992, Version: 17W.2)
-
Subject: Game Studies
(Compulsory subject)
-
Representation and Configuration in Games (
0.0h SE / 8.0 ECTS)
- 780.223 Representation and Configuration in Games (2.0h SE / 8.0 ECTS) Absolvierung im 2. Semester empfohlen
-
Representation and Configuration in Games (
0.0h SE / 8.0 ECTS)
-
Subject: Game Studies
(Compulsory subject)