MEDIA 212

Video Games: Theory and Culture

Please note: this is archived course information from 2021 for MEDIA 212.

Description

This course explores the video game as an interactive experience, multimedia artform and social phenomenon. A major component of the contemporary media landscape, video games prompt us to think about play and simulation, interfaces and algorithms, immersion and distraction, and freedom and control. 

How do games reshape our experience of story, space and time? How do they allow us to inhabit other identities and imagine other worlds? How do they channel and constrain our actions? How do they function as tools for persuasion, resistance and communal interaction? In this course, students will reflect on their own gameplay in relation to theoretical concepts and cultural debates. The course is designed not only for those familiar with video games, but also for anyone wanting to explore this vital area of digital culture.

Availability 2021

Not offered in 2021; planned for 2022

Lecturer(s)

Coordinator(s) Associate Professor Allan Cameron

Points

MEDIA 212: 15 points

Prerequisites

15 points from COMMS 100, 104, FTVMS 100, 101, 110, MEDIA 101 and 45 points in BA courses

Restrictions

FTVMS 212, FTVMS 328, MEDIA 328