Weekly
planner
This
is work in progress, constantly updated with slides, information about
guest speakers, presenters or new articles for readings. Each week contains
information about content and what you have to do in advance in order
to prepare. As a rule, the weekly planning for each teaching session
will be fixed two weeks in advance, last minute changes will be communicated
via email. There are in all 12 class sessions.
8/2:
Introduction
(lecture slides)
Workshop:
Play Tetris & Centipede.
15/2:
Game Aesthetics: Reception, critics and players
(lecture slides)
Seminar:
(presenter: Morten Greve)
- Hanes, Philip J. 2000. "The
Advantages and Limitations of a Focus on Audience in Media Studies"
- Juul, Jesper. 1999. "The
player and the game" (chapter 5 of his MA thesis A clash
between game and narrative).
- Rouse, Richard. 2001. "What players want" (chap. 1)
in Game Design. Theory and Practice. Plano, USA: Wordware Publishing.
(from now on, "Rouse", as it is the main book for the course)
Guest
speaker: Aki Jaarvinen (website)
- Jaarvinen, Aki. 2001. "A Doom with a View". CGDT conference,
Copenhagen.
(You can download the MOO log from the talk here.)
Workshop:
Games analysis and critique
- Read two of the following chapters of Rouse in advance: 4, 8, 12,
16, 20. You are advised to use those with games you know about or can
play during the week.
22/2:
Game Aesthetics: Interaction & Instrumentalization
(lecture slides)
Seminar:
(presenter: Marian Marchen)
- Murray, Janet H. 1997. "Agency" in Hamlet on the Holodeck.
The Future of Narrative in Cyberspace. Cambridge: The MIT Press. P.
126-153. (kompendium)
- Rouse chap. 7. "The Elements of Gameplay" (coursebook).
- Ryan, Marie-Laure. "Beyond Myth and Metaphor: The Case of Narrative
in Digital Media". 2001. In Gamestudies,
vol. 1.
Guest
speaker: Lisbeth Klastrup (website)
Workshop:
Creating gameplay possibilities
- Rouse chap. 13. "Getting the Gameplay Working".
1/3:
Game Aesthetics: Genres
(lecture slides)
Seminar:
(presenter: Susana Tosca)
- Bates, Bob. 2001. "Genre-Specific Game Design Issues" in
Game Design: The Art and Business of Creating Games. California: Prima
Publishing. p. 48-74. (kompendium)
- Chick, Garry. 1989. "On the Categorization of Games". In
Play & Culture, 1989, 2, 283-292. (kompendium)
- Wilhelmsson, Ulf. 2001. "What´s in those video games?"
in Computer Games & Digital Textualities. Copenhagen: IT University
of Copenhagen. P .44-54. (kompendium)
Guest
speaker: Jesper Juul (slides on genres)
Workshop:
Brainstorming + focus (you should have made your workgroups now)
- Rouse chaps. 3 and 5. "Brainstorming a Game Idea", "Focus".
8/3:
The Multiplayer experience
(lecture slides)
Seminar:
(presenter Tommy Dehli Nordkvist)
- Baron, Jonathan. 1999. "Glory
and Shame: Powerful Psychology in Multiplayer Online Games",
in Gamasutra.
- Bartle, Richard. "Hearts,
clubs, diamonds, spades: Players who suit MUDs".
- Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly. 1990. "Enjoyment and the Quality of
Life" and "The Conditions of Flow" in Flow. The Psychology
of Optimal Experience. New York: Harper. p. 43-77. (kompendium)
Guest
speaker: Ragnhild Tronstad (website)
(You
can download the MOO log from the talk here.)
Workshop:
Storytelling
- Rouse chap. 11. "Storytelling".
15/3:
Game Culture
(lecture slides)
Seminar:
(presenter Sune Kobberø)
- Aycock, Alan. 1988. "Gens Una Sumus. Play as Metaculture".
In Play & Culture, 1988, 1, 124-137. (kompendium)
- Morris, Sue. 2001. "Online
Gaming Culture".
- Goffman, Ervin. 1972. "Fun in games". In Encounters. London:
The Penguin Press. p.15-72 (kompendium)
Guest
speaker: Mikkel Sørensen (website)
(slides)
Workshop:
Artificial Intelligences
- Rouse chap. 9. "Artificial Intelligence".
- Roboforge and tutorial
to get started (start by doing "Beginner's Guide" and "AI
Made Easy") These are the questions
you have to answer.
22/3:
Game communities
(lecture slides)
Seminar:
(presenter Charlotte Bloch)
- Ahuna, Cindy. 2001. "Online
Game Communities Are Social in Nature".
- Kolko, Beth E. "Building
a World with Words: the Narrative Reality of Virtual Communities".
- Sellers, Michael. 1997. "Looking
Ahead: 10 Challenges for Designing Online Games and Communities"
Guest
speaker: Sue Morris (Game
Culture website)
(You
can download the MOO log from the talk here.)
Workshop:
Field research in massively multiplayer online rpgs
EASTER
HOLIDAY BREAK
ATTENTION!
Not a Friday, but Wednesday!
(room 3.13 at 9am)
3/4:
Virtuelle verdener som spil (lecture by Troels
Degn Johansson)
Seminar:
(presenter: one of the Virtual Worlds course students)
- Aarseth, Espen. 1998. Allegories
of Space. The Question of Spaciality in Computer Games. In Cybertext
Year Book 2001.
- Chen, Steven / Brown, Duncan. "The
Architecture of Level Design". In Gamasutra.
- Koster, Raph. "The
Laws of Online World Design".
- Costikyan, Greg (1998): "Why
Online Games Suck (And How to Design Ones That Don't)"
Guest
speaker: VW students on Everquest
Workshop:
Level Design
12/4:
Advergaming
(lecture slides)
Seminar:
(presenter Karl Andreas Kjær Johnsen)
- Pintak, Lawrence. 2001. "It´s
not only a game". In Turboads.
- Rollings, Andrew/Morris, Dave. 2000. "Postmortem" in Game
Architecture and Design. Arizona: Coriolis. p. 589-608.
- Partanen, Jussi-Pekka. 2001. Mobile
Gaming: A Framework for Evaluating the Industry. 2000-2005. Gaptime
report. (this is a 110 pages document,you don't need to read it all,
read specially sections 1, 2 and 4.1.)
Guest
speaker: Dr. Anja Rau (website)
(You
can download the MOO log from the talk here.)
Workshop:
Game Development Documentation
- Rouse chaps. 15, 17. "Game Development Documentation", "The
Design Document".
ATTENTION!
This is a Monday to make up for the lost Friday on 26/4!!!
(room 0.26 at 9am)
15/4:
Game Ideology
(lecture slides)
Seminar:
(no presenter: the whole class)
- Frasca, Gonzalo. 2001. "Ephemeral Games. Is It Barbaric to Design
Videogames after Auschwitz?" in Eskelinen/Koskimaa (eds). Cybertext
Yearbook. Jyväskylä: University of Jyväskylä. (kompendium)
- Consider gender issues by exploring the Womengamers
website.
- Wright, Kathryn. 2000. "Does
Media Cause Violent Behaviour? A Look at the Research". In
Womengamers.
Guest
speaker: Gonzalo Frasca (website)
Workshop:
Present a brief description of your project to your classmates and get
feedback.
19/4:
Edugaming
Lecture by Lars
Konzack (website)
Seminar:
(no presenter: the whole class)
- Jessen, Carsten. 2001. "Leg, legekultur og metakultur" in
Børn, Leg of Computerspil. Odense: Odense Universitetsforlag.
p. 147-166. (kompendium)
- Kafai, Yasmin B. 1998. "Video Game Design by Girls and Boys:
Variability and Consistency of Gender Differences" in Cassell/Jenkins
(eds.). From Barbie to Mortal Kombat. Gender and Computer Games. Cambridge:
The MIT Press. P. 90-114. (kompendium)
- Examine the Computer
Games and Education project website and note the points you find
more interesting.
Workshop:
Work on your projects: open time for discussion.
3/5:
Project presentation to the class
Each group presents their project to the class,
who act as "examination board" with questions and feedback
so that each group can get valuable advice for their June oral exam
on their project.
Closing:
Unreal Tournament
3/5:
DEADLINE FOR YOUR PROJECTS
Just make sure you bring your projects to Studieadministration
before 12am.