 | Use this page to view syllabus information, learning objectives, required materials, and technical requirements for the module.
As a result of College adapting your modules to combine face-to-face on campus and online teaching and learning support, the breakdown of notional learning hours set out under the heading “Technical Requirements” below may not necessarily reflect how each module will be delivered this year. Further details relating to this will be made available by your department and will be updated as part of the student timetable. |
| MA 2050 - Videogames: Culture, Politics, History |
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Associated Term:
2021/22 Academic Session
Learning Objectives:
Videogames: Culture, Politics, History is an elective Year 2 module aimed to give students a detailed historical and theoretical understanding of the important place that videogaming holds in social, political and cultural history. The module considers how gaming emerged from post-War and Cold War cultures and traces its development alongside a history of contemporary capitalism up to the present. It considers games and their relation to nationalism, gender and sexuality, class and intersectionality, among other things. The module asks students to analyse the complex relationships between political context and games, from early War games to post-9/11 games to Gamergate and the gamer communities that coalesced in the Trump election of 2016. To do so they will need to develop both deep historical knowledge of the industry and solid theoretical tools through which to understand it. Students consider fan cultures, online activism and community building around the gaming industry, from MMORPG games to YouTube and Twitch communities, as well as issues of copyright, ownership and development. Additionally, students learn to consider games themselves as complex texts to be understood in their context, working on both their close reading and their historical understanding.
Learning Outcomes:
1. Demonstrate knowledge of the history of videogames as an entertainment industry and think critically about the role gaming has played in political and cultural history.
2. Apply theoretical ideas and concepts from media studies and philosophy to the primary texts of videogames, showing high level close reading skills.
3. Demonstrate awareness of the intersections between the gaming industry and social, cultural and political concerns, showing awareness of how the industry could be considered in terms of feminism, critical theory, race theory and other theoretical perspectives.
4. Show the ability to produce high quality academic arguments in essay format, relating their own arguments to the most recent and historical secondary material to show familiarity with contemporary critical discourse in videogame studies.
5. Demonstrate presentation skills and an ability to express complex ideas orally.
6. Show an ability to relate theoretical and philosophical perspectives to practical output in their relevant degree pathways.
Required Materials: Click here for the reading list system Technical Requirements: The total number of notional learning hours associated with course are 150. These will normally be broken down as follows: 11 hour(s) of Lectures across 11 week(s) 11 hour(s) of Seminars across 11 week(s) 1 hour (s) of Tutorials across 1 week(s) 127 hour(s) of Guided Independent Study Formative Assessment: Blog Posting - Verbal and continuous feedback Summative Assessment: Essay (3500 words) - 75% Blog Presentation (15 minutes) - 25% |
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