Blog Post

request for references: global videogame culture and videogame and gender

Hi all,

In my intro I mentioned briefly that I am looking for more references for two classes that I am proposing to teach next year. Now this is the post.

So, I am proposing to teach two classes on videogames, one for the summer semester and the other one for the fall. The one for the summer will be an intro class on global videogame culture and the one for the fall will be on videogame and gender. So far I have collected some resources such as Nina Huntemann and Ben Aslinger's edited collection, Gaming Globally and Larissa Hjorth's work for the global videogame culture class and Justine Cassell and Henry Jenkins' From Barbie to Mortal Kombat and Yasmin Kafai, et. al.'s Beyond Barbie and Mortal Kombat, as well as some articles from Ada journal's issue on feminist game studies. 

I am reaching out to the HASTAC scholar community to see if you know other useful resources to be added to my proposed syllabi. I should also mention that I am trying to balance between popular and academic resources since this will be intro classes. So feel free to point me to any popular accounts related to these two classes.

Lastly, if any of you had experience in teaching similar type of classes, I would love to hear about how you taught your class and perhaps peep into your syllabi.

Thanks in advance!

 

izul     

57

12 comments

heathers

If you plan to talk about video game preservation and the history of video games, there are a number of projects that might be interesting to discuss, including the Preserving Virtual Worlds project (now in its second phase).

Here are several links and resources that might be helpful:

Preserving Virtual Worlds: http://pvw.illinois.edu/pvw/

Preserving Virtual Worlds 2: http://pvw.illinois.edu/pvw2/

University of Texas at Austin Video Game Archive: http://www.cah.utexas.edu/projects/videogamearchive/index.php

Stanford University-- history of microcomputing and gaming: http://blogs.loc.gov/digitalpreservation/2013/02/video-game-preservation...

Discussion of emulation as a preservation and access strategy: http://ijdc.net/index.php/ijdc/article/view/147

 

Best of luck with your classes-- I hope you'll consider sharing your syllabi when you finish!

53

zhoel13

Thank you so much for responding to my request, Heather!

This is suh a great resource. I've heard of the Preserving Virtual Worlds project from a conference that I went to, and will surely use it for my classes. The other resources look great as well.

I will definitely share my syllabi if I really end up teaching these classes (or at least one of them!)

Best,

izul

68

safiyanoble

David Leonard: http://libarts.wsu.edu/ccgrs/faculty/leonard.asp

  • Leonard, D.J.,* King, C.R (2009). "War Games as a New Frontier: Race, Space, & Empire in Virtual War," in Nina Huntemann and Matt Payne, eds., Joystick Soldiers: The Politics of Play in Military Video Games, pp. 91–105. Routledge.
  • Leonard, D.J. (2009). "Young, Black (& Brown) and Don't Give a Fuck: Virtual Gangstas as Children's Culture in the Era of State Violence." Cultural Studies <=> Critical Methodologies, Vol. 9, No. 2, pp. 248–272.
  • Leonard, D.J. (2008). "Can the Subaltern Play and Speak or Just be Played With?" Invited chapter in Rick Ferdig, ed. Handbook of Research on Effective Electronic Gaming in Education, pp. 938–955. Information Science Reference.
  • eonard, D.J. (2008). "To the White Extreme in the Mainstream: Manhood and White Youth Culture in a Virtual Sports World," in Michael Giardina and Michele Donnelly, eds. Youth Cultures & Sport: Identity, Power, and Politics, pp. 91–112. Routledge.
  • Leonard, D.J. (2007). "Performing Blackness: Sports, Video Games, Minstrelsy, and Becoming the Other in an Era of White Supremacy," invited chapter in Mary Flanagan and Austin Booth, eds., Re: Skin, pp. 321–339, MIT Press.
  • Leonard, D.J. (2006). "Not a Hater, Just Keepin It Real: The Importance of Race and Gender Based Game Studies," Games and Culture, Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 83–88.
  • Leonard, D.J. (2006). "Untapped Field: Exploring the World of Virtual Gaming," in Art Raney and James Bryant, eds., Handbook of Sports and Media, pp. 393–408, Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
  • Leonard, D.J. (2006). "Virtual Gangstas, Coming to Suburban House Near You: Demonization, Commodification and Policing Blackness," in Nathan Garrelts, ed., Meaning And Culture of Grand Theft Auto: Critical Essays, pp. 49–69, Jefferson, NC: McFarland Press.
  • Leonard, D. (2004). "Unsettling the military entertainment complex: Video games and a pedagogy of peace," in Studies in Media & Information Literacy Education, Vol. 4, No. 4.
  • Leonard, D. (2003). "‘Live in Your World, Play in Ours': Race, Video Games, and Consuming the Other," in Studies in Media & Information Literacy Education,Vol. 3, No. 4.
55

safiyanoble

David Leonard: http://libarts.wsu.edu/ccgrs/faculty/leonard.asp

  • Leonard, D.J.,* King, C.R (2009). "War Games as a New Frontier: Race, Space, & Empire in Virtual War," in Nina Huntemann and Matt Payne, eds., Joystick Soldiers: The Politics of Play in Military Video Games, pp. 91–105. Routledge.
  • Leonard, D.J. (2009). "Young, Black (& Brown) and Don't Give a Fuck: Virtual Gangstas as Children's Culture in the Era of State Violence." Cultural Studies <=> Critical Methodologies, Vol. 9, No. 2, pp. 248–272.
  • Leonard, D.J. (2008). "Can the Subaltern Play and Speak or Just be Played With?" Invited chapter in Rick Ferdig, ed. Handbook of Research on Effective Electronic Gaming in Education, pp. 938–955. Information Science Reference.
  • eonard, D.J. (2008). "To the White Extreme in the Mainstream: Manhood and White Youth Culture in a Virtual Sports World," in Michael Giardina and Michele Donnelly, eds. Youth Cultures & Sport: Identity, Power, and Politics, pp. 91–112. Routledge.
  • Leonard, D.J. (2007). "Performing Blackness: Sports, Video Games, Minstrelsy, and Becoming the Other in an Era of White Supremacy," invited chapter in Mary Flanagan and Austin Booth, eds., Re: Skin, pp. 321–339, MIT Press.
  • Leonard, D.J. (2006). "Not a Hater, Just Keepin It Real: The Importance of Race and Gender Based Game Studies," Games and Culture, Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 83–88.
  • Leonard, D.J. (2006). "Untapped Field: Exploring the World of Virtual Gaming," in Art Raney and James Bryant, eds., Handbook of Sports and Media, pp. 393–408, Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
  • Leonard, D.J. (2006). "Virtual Gangstas, Coming to Suburban House Near You: Demonization, Commodification and Policing Blackness," in Nathan Garrelts, ed., Meaning And Culture of Grand Theft Auto: Critical Essays, pp. 49–69, Jefferson, NC: McFarland Press.
  • Leonard, D. (2004). "Unsettling the military entertainment complex: Video games and a pedagogy of peace," in Studies in Media & Information Literacy Education, Vol. 4, No. 4.
  • Leonard, D. (2003). "‘Live in Your World, Play in Ours': Race, Video Games, and Consuming the Other," in Studies in Media & Information Literacy Education,Vol. 3, No. 4.
37

zhoel13

Thank so much for responding to my request, Safiya!

I didn't know that you are also in HASTAC. It's really great!

I will definitely use some of Leonard's works since they are related to racial, ethnic, and postcolonial questions, something that I myself is interested in.

By the way, did you get my email about your article for InVisible Culture? We just launched our latest issue last week. I will actually post the announcement some time today to share it with the HASTAC community, but this is the link to your article.

Best,

 

izul

46

adamsl

Here are some references that might be useful for your intro course on global videogame culture:

 

- - -

  • Bernstein, Charles. “Play it Again, Pac-Man.” Postmodern Culture 2, no. 1, 1991.
  • Bogost, Ian. How To Do Things With Videogames. Minnesota UP, 2011.
  • ________. “Videogames are a Mess.” Keynote address, Digital Games Research Association (DiGRA) Conference, 2009. Published at author’s personal website (http://www.bogost.com/writing/videogames_are_a_mess.shtml)
  • Bogost, Ian and Nick Montfort. “Platform Studies: Frequently Questioned Answers.” Conference paper. Digital Arts and Cultures Conference (2009). Published at author’s personal website. (http://www.bogost.com/downloads/bogost_montfort_dac_2009.pdf).
  • Consalvo, Mia. Cheating: Gaining Advantage in Videogames. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2009.
  • Costikyan, Greg. Uncertainty in Games. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2013.
  • Crogan, Patrick. Gameplay Mode: War, Simulation, and Technoculture. Minneapolis: Minnesota UP, 2011.
  • Dyer-Witheford, Nick and Greig de Peuter. Games of Empire: Global Capitalism and Video Games. Minneapolis: Minnesota UP, 2009.
  • Flanagan, Mary. Critical Play: Radical Game Design. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2009.
  • Galloway, Alexander. Gaming: Essays on Algorithmic Culture. Minneapolis: Minnesota UP, 2006.
  • Garfield, Richard. “The Design Evolution of Magic: The Gathering.” In Fullerton, Tracy, and Christopher Swain. Game Design Workshop. CRC Press, 2008 (pp. 191-205).
  • ________. “Metagames.” Gygax, Gary et al., eds. Horsemen of the Apocolypse: Essays on Roleplaying. Jolly Roger Games, 2000.
  • Geertz, Clifford. “Deep Play: Notes on the Balinese Cockfight.” The Interpretation of Cultures. Basic Books, 1973.
  • Hickey, Dave. “The Heresy of Zone Defense.” Air Guitar: Essays on Art and Democracy. Art Issues Press, 1997.
  • Jenkins, Henry. “Inventing the Digital Medium: An Interview with Janet Murray (Part One).” Posted on author’s blog 20 Feb 2012 (http://henryjenkins.org/2012/02/an_interview_with_janet_murray.html)
  • ________. “Games, the New Lively Art.” Hosted on MIT server (http://web.mit.edu/cms/People/henry3/GamesNewLively.html)
  • Juul, Jesper. The Art of Failure: An Essay on the Pain of Playing Video Games. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2013.
  • Lenoir, Tim and Henry Lowood. “Theaters of War: The Military Entertainment Complex.” In Schramm et al. eds. Collection, Laboratory, Theater: Scenes of Knowledge in the 17th Century. Walter de Gruyter Publishing, 2005.
  • Mäyrä, Frans. “Gaming Culture at the Boundaries of Play.” Game Studies 10, no. 1, 2010. (http://gamestudies.org/1001/articles/mayra)
  • McGonigal, Jane. “‘This is Not a Game’: Immersive Aesthetics and Collective Play.” In Melbourne DAC. Melbourne, 2003.
  • McLaughlin, Thomas. Give and Go: Basketball as a Cultural Practice. Albany: SUNY Press, 2008.
  • Neilsen, Henrik Smed. “The Computer Game as a Somatic Experience.” Eludamos: Journal for Computer Game Culture 4, no. 1, 2010 (pp. 25-40).
  • Nutt, Diane and Diane Railton. “The Sims: Real Life as Genre.” Information, Communication, and Society 6, no. 4, 2003.
  • Pearce, Celia. Communities of Play: Emergent Cultures in Multiplayer Games and Virtual Worlds. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2009.
  • ________. “Identity-as-Place: Trans-Ludic Identities in Mediated Play Communities — The Case of the Uru Diaspora.” Conference Paper. Internet 9.0: Association of Internet Researchers (2008). Published on author’s website (http://lcc.gatech.edu/~cpearce3/PearcePubs/PearceAIOR08.pdf).
  • Steinkuehler, Constance. “The Mangle of Play.” Games and Culture 1, no. 3, 2006.
  • Taylor, T. L. Raising the Stakes: E-Sports and the Professionalization of Gaming. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2012.
  • ________. Play Between Worlds: Exploring Online Game Culture. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2009.
  • Wardrip-Fruin, Noah and Pat Harrigan, eds. First Person: New Media as Story, Performance and Game. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1997. (SELECTIONS)
  • ________. Second Person: Role-Playing and Story in Games and Playable Media. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2007. (SELECTIONS)
  • Wark, McKenzie. Gamer Theory. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 2007.

 

 
61

zhoel13

Hi Adam,

Thanks for sending me all these cool references!

I'm familiar with some of these works but many of them are new to me. It is also interesting that you include Geertz's work on Balinese cockfight. I think it makes a lot of sense to include it in my class.

Best,

 

izul

43

adamsl

Here's hoping some of the references will be useful to you. The Geertz essay is great, and I'd also highly recommend Hickey's essay, "The Heresy of Zone Defense." Good luck with the class!

Cheers,

Adam.

61

Christine Daviault

A brand new book called The Game Culture Reader might be helpful.

 

Thompson, J. C., & Ouelette, M. A. (2013). The Game Culture Reader. Cambridge Scolars Publishing.

 

http://www.c-s-p.org/Flyers/The-Game-Culture-Reader1-4438-4094-7.htm

 

Cheers,

 

Christine

58

zhoel13

Thanks, Christine!

This is a great collection. And I see you have your work included in it. Nice!

51

Christine Daviault

Hi Izul,

Yes it is a great collection trying to look at areas of game culture that are often overlooked. You're right I do have a chapter in there. Sorry for the shameless self-promotion :)

Continuing on that note, I have also co-written a chapter in the Routledge Companion to Media and Gender with Gareth Schott about video games and gender, which is an area that you mentioned. That collection is to be published in December. Here are the details:

http://www.amazon.com/Routledge-Companion-Media-Gender/dp/0415527694/ref...

Cheers,

Christine

52

apellicone

This is a great resource, thanks to everyone's who's posted so far.

To add a little bit, these are both non-academic resources, but I really like the perspectives offered at http://www.nightmaremode.net, which provides essays from developers and critics that are typically not found in mainstream publications, as well as a handful of the personal essays at "Gaming Made Me", which is a RockPaperShotgun feature that details the role that gaming has played in forming individual identities of the authors... specifically Patricia Hernandez's post about Fallout 2, http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/11/23/gaming-made-me-fallout-2/.

59