Comments on: Teaching A Videogame http://se4n.org/2009/02/20/teaching-a-videogame/ The website and blog of Sean C. Duncan. Tue, 18 May 2010 18:25:01 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 By: sean http://se4n.org/2009/02/20/teaching-a-videogame/comment-page-1/#comment-90487 sean Sat, 21 Feb 2009 13:52:18 +0000 http://se4n.org/?p=478#comment-90487 Thanks for the comment! I somehow missed that you were scheduling 7 hours of class time per week -- that's an impressive commitment by both you and the students (and Middlebury!), but makes a lot of sense given the goals for the course. I suspect teaching a course with a game at the center would require a similar social component, though probably instantiated differently... Games are increasingly meant to be talked about while playing, controllers passed around the room, etc. But making something like that work in a course might be challenging. That's one of the things that makes massively-multiplayer games so interesting, as students not only help each other to interpret the game, but to achieve goals that can only be met with the interaction of multiple players within the game space. So, perhaps it comes down to picking a game which has meaningful multiplayer interaction? Maybe that's a strike against GTAIV (its multiplayer doesn't have any narrative weight to it). Someday, I'd love to make something like this happen... Someday! Thanks for the comment! I somehow missed that you were scheduling 7 hours of class time per week — that’s an impressive commitment by both you and the students (and Middlebury!), but makes a lot of sense given the goals for the course.

I suspect teaching a course with a game at the center would require a similar social component, though probably instantiated differently… Games are increasingly meant to be talked about while playing, controllers passed around the room, etc. But making something like that work in a course might be challenging.

That’s one of the things that makes massively-multiplayer games so interesting, as students not only help each other to interpret the game, but to achieve goals that can only be met with the interaction of multiple players within the game space. So, perhaps it comes down to picking a game which has meaningful multiplayer interaction? Maybe that’s a strike against GTAIV (its multiplayer doesn’t have any narrative weight to it).

Someday, I’d love to make something like this happen… Someday!

]]> By: Jason Mittell http://se4n.org/2009/02/20/teaching-a-videogame/comment-page-1/#comment-90486 Jason Mittell Sat, 21 Feb 2009 13:22:46 +0000 http://se4n.org/?p=478#comment-90486 Sean - thanks for the comments on my class. I agree that this class does highlight the limits of the standard teaching model for tackling large time-based texts. The humanities are structured to afford large amounts of individual reading, but not viewing/playing. In my Wire course, I want students to watch much if not all of the show together, as the group experience is part of the way we can best talk about the show and our reactions to it. I had to fight to be allowed to schedule 7 hours of class each week, as it didn't fit the standard scheduling blocks available to faculty. Games are even more complicated, as individual experiences vary, and the infrastructure needed to run simultaneous play is tough to arrange. I certainly agree that GTA IV is worth studying in its entirety - but the logistics are daunting. Good luck making it happen! -Jason Sean – thanks for the comments on my class. I agree that this class does highlight the limits of the standard teaching model for tackling large time-based texts. The humanities are structured to afford large amounts of individual reading, but not viewing/playing. In my Wire course, I want students to watch much if not all of the show together, as the group experience is part of the way we can best talk about the show and our reactions to it. I had to fight to be allowed to schedule 7 hours of class each week, as it didn’t fit the standard scheduling blocks available to faculty.

Games are even more complicated, as individual experiences vary, and the infrastructure needed to run simultaneous play is tough to arrange. I certainly agree that GTA IV is worth studying in its entirety – but the logistics are daunting. Good luck making it happen!
-Jason

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