EGS 205 - Exploring Pixels: Video Game Play, Representation, & Culture

5 Credits

This introductory course links playing video games and video game studies with a critical analysis of race, class, and gender. Students will explore and analyze the ways in which video games and gaming culture are complicit in, and resist structural inequity, social construction, and politicized media representation. By examining the relationships between gameplay, narratives, and the broader social landscape, students will gain insight into the impact of video games on contemporary discussions of identity, representation, and power dynamics.

Fees

Quarters Typically Offered
Fall Day
Spring Day

Designed to Serve All students
Active Date 20240401T16:28:58

Grading Basis Decimal Grade
Class Limit 24
Contact Hours: Lecture 55
Total Contact Hours 55
Degree Distributions:
AA

Diversity & Globalism
Social Science Area I

Course Outline
Topics include the history of video games, the representation of race, class, and gender in video games, gamer culture, game development, and an introduction to gamings studies. Course may be taught thematically.

Student Learning Outcomes
Analyze the narrative strategies and genre approaches used in video game development and play.

Identify the creation, maintenance, and transformation of power structures and forms of oppression in game development and gaming culture.

Apply the frameworks learned in class to student's gameplay experiences.

Create a final presentation about a course topic.