Democracy, Governance, and the Digital Network

Students presented their final projects this last week. The assignment was to produce a narrative that took advantage of digital technologies. The rest of the guidelines were pretty broad, and thus the projects I received were fairly wide ranging, from digital games, to blog fiction, to a few that defy categorization. Below is a sampling [...]

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Nothing you need to do to prep for class on Tuesday, just show up (on time) and bring material you need to work on your final project as there will be time in class.

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On Thursday we will be discussing Super Columbine Massacre RPG!. Download and play the game (you will need a PC to do this, or a virtual machine on a Mac). Play the game for at least an hour (but leave yourself a little longer as it could take you 20-30 minutes to get it installed). [...]

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For Tuesday take a look at argn.com and the forums for unfiction these are two of the “hubs” for ARG related content. Also over the weekend some time send me what you have so far on your final project so that I can give you and your group some feedback. P.S. On Thursday we will [...]

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Thursday we will begin looking at Alternative Reality Gaming. For class read “The Puppet Master Problem” by Jane McGonigal. (This article is a critical piece, so save some extra time to read it.) Jane is one of the designers behind the now famous I Love Bees. Finally check out her latest project/ARG (now complete): The [...]

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Tuesday we will continue our discussion of digital games and look at two articles which address the question of how simulation differs from other forms of representation and what it means to “play a character.” Read “Playing the Bad Guy” (eReserve) and “Representation, Enaction, and the Ethics of Simulation” (First Person). Come prepared to discuss [...]

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Thursday we will continue with our discussion of Grand Theft Auto. Find an example (either online, or from one of your own personal experience) of players doing something interesting/creative/different with one of the GTA games. Come prepared to talk about this example.

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Tuesday we will begin by discussing the Moulthrop piece from First Person (“From Work to Play”). If you have not already read it for last Thursday’s class do so, and come prepared to explain why, according to Moulthrop, there is such a generational conflict/angst about video games. We will also begin our discussion of Grand [...]

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Thursday we will continue our discussion of the relationship between storytelling and digital games by adding two additional perspectives to this question. Read “Narrative, Interactivity, Play and Games” by Eric Zimmerman and “From Work to Play” by Stuart Moulthrop. Both are available in First Person. Also you should begin to think about your final project, [...]

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After spring break we will turn to discussing games and narrative. For Tues. March 24th read “Game Design as Narrative Architecture” by Henry Jenkins & “Towards Computer Game Studies” by Markku Eselinen. Both are in First Person. (See you after the break.)

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