Rather than overdetermine the kind of exploratory research you during afternoon exercises I want to provide some basic introductory questions each week to help guide your time. The afternoons should also be strongly informed by the themes we are dealing with in the morning session, i.e. identity, intellectual property, socialization, and the like.

Week 1 : No lab

Week 2: Technology & Culture

Consider the initial experience of starting the game. Was it difficult, easy, disorienting? How do you know, and figure out, how to play? Can you win the game? Is there a community within the game?

Do you have an avatar? If so, what do they look like? Can you customize them?

Read the Terms of Service (TOS) and End User License Agreement (EULA) for each of the games. What is the framework for using the game that it lays out? Are there rules noted there? How does it handle questions of intellectual property, i.e. do you or the company own your avatar?

Visit the official website for the game. What kinds of information does it contain? Does it give you clues/links about other players? The community?

Week 3: Styles of play and the status of "fun"

Can you see yourself tending toward one of the styles of play Bartle proposes? Does the game favor one style over another? Think about how the design of the game shapes the kinds of activities, practices, and play styles to emerge. What does the game ask you to do? What can you do? What does it not allow? Does everyone in your group play the same?

Consider some of the identity issues Turkle raises. Think about the process of creating an identity in the game and review your notes from last week about your avatar creation.. Do you select a prepackaged game character? Create your own? If you create your own, what kinds of things can you select/alter and what can you not? Can you pick your own name? Can you have more than one character?

Finally, consider for a moment the place of the body in gaming. You are both sitting at a computer but also have a representation of yourself within the game space. Do you experience any sense of embodiment in the game space? Do you feel "there" in some regard? What happens to your corporeal body as you play? Do you forget it? Lean into the computer? React to what happens onscreen? Here is where group members watching each other play can be very useful.

Week 4: Women & Gaming

Consider the representation in gender in the game. What do the avatars look like? How is masculinity and feminity represented within the game? Does gender affect gameplay formally (i.e. do the characters have different skills or limitations based on gender)? Do you notice gender playing an informal role in any way (both within the game and in terms of yourself as a group)? Do people seem to act or communicate in gendered ways within the gamespace even if there is no real need to based on the rules?

Spend some time at the website for the game, as well as related websites. How is the game represented in those venues in relation to gender? Are the communities around the game talking about issues that relate to this week's readings at all?

Would you call the game a "pink game" and why or not? Does that kind of designation work?

Week 5: Other(ed) Players

In much the same way you did with the section on gender I want you to consider the representation of race in the game. What are the possibilities for racial representation, if any? Make sure to not only think about "blackness" for example, but how is "whiteness" similarly constructed? Ethnicity? Are there any characteristics tied to race in the game? Does race have any formal role in how the gameplay proceeds? Informal? If there aren't explicitly racialized avatars, are there implicit cues? Does racial representation (if present) seem to affect the social/interaction aspects of the game at all? Finally, consider the ways categories intersect - how do gender and race work together in the game (i.e. Adams' discussion of a black woman). Think as well about Consalvo's consideration of how sexuality and sexual orientation operates in the game. Is heterosexuality encoded in either the content or play? Queerness? Make sure to consider not only the game itself, but the materials surrounding it (websites, marketing, etc.)

In terms of "cheating" - consider the role of helper sites, tips, faqs, etc. in gameplay. How is cheating defined in your game? Is it clear? Does the game or community have varying ways of talking about exploits, cheating, etc.? Is there anything in the official materials addressing what it is? Does that vary at all from regular practice?

In this section I'd like for you to think about alternative spaces games are played in. There are (at least) two types of game cafes to explore, more "polished" ones like Boomtown (which is sponsored by TDC) and "mom and pop" varieties. How does the physical setup vary and does it seem to affect interactions/play in any way? Do people seem to know each other and actively game together? Is it daunting to enter as a newcomer? How available is help? Do people customize their play area in any way? Is there much talking going on? What is the demographic like (gender, age, race, etc.)? What games are available? How would you describe the culture of the game cafe? In terms of a game stores, compare a place like EB Games to one of the smaller shops. How is the store laid out? Are titles arranged in particular ways? What is the demographic of the shoppers? Can you buy things other than games? Basically for this section of the exercises I'd like you to get a feel for the non-home environments game circulate in. How are they purchased and consumed? Does playing in a public space alter the activity at all?