Bring in a small printed photo of yourself with your name written on it.

Think about how a technology (this can include a computer game!) you use in your everyday life might fit with Latour's own analysis of his car seatbelts or the door groom (i.e. consider the notions of substitution and delegation).

Can you think of any examples that might fit Winner's description of the strong formulation of an artefact having politics?

For February 14

Consider the role of the physical and environmental in your own play. Where do you play? What is the setup like? How does that space, sound, configuration, social relations that intersect it (which room of the house are you in for example and how does that affect things), weave into your experience and gaming practices?

To help us talk about this issue in class, I would like everyone to bring in a 11x14 printed color picture of their gaming space (or, if you play in multiple places, several pictures!).

I also encourage you to visit a game café (either alone or in groups of 2 or 3). Take some time and hangout and play there. How does it compare to your normal setup? What is the scene at the café like? How does what you observe compare to the reading.

Bring in a A4 size photo of the avatar you currently spend the most time as. If you have more than one regular character you can bring that in as well.

Think about how you experience presence while playing games. Do you locate yourself as "there" in the gameworld or not really? Are there situations where you feel actually embodied within the game space? Do you think your avatars are meaningful components of the game play or trivial (simply "eye candy"?) Is the look of your avatar related at all to how you (may) construct identity within the world? Are others avatars at all important (socially, gamewise, etc.) to the game play? And what happens with your corporeal body during play? Do you forget about it until you get hungry or are you always a bit aware of sitting at a desk, on a sofa, etc.?

Consider Turkle's arguments about identity. Do you think they work for more contemporary graphical gameworld (versus the MUDs she researched)?

Bring to class two magazines - one specifically on games and another you read that is non-gaming related.

Visit a game store and a more general electronics shop (like ElGiganten). Spend some time in the shop looking at product placement, advertisements, etc. (In the non-games shop hang out in the gaming and electronics aisles.) Take note of the shoppers and the staff - how many men and women come through or work there? Of what ages? Do they come alone or with friends? If you want, you might even (if the staff have some time) chat with them about the demographic of their customers, what they play, how the shop thinks about the potential female market, etc.

Spend some time looking at player produced content around your game. This could be machinima, fan websites, guides and maps, cartoons, fan fiction, etc. Also take a look at places like Allakhazam, Thottbot, GameFAQs, and other helper sites to see how the community is contributing to the game.

Visit the Chilling Effects for info on some of the legal issues surrounding copyrights, fan fic, etc.