ENG 271 - Games, Play, and Stories

Humans have been playing games since before they were telling stories-arguably, since before they were human-but these sister arts have often been separated in the minds of scholars. Amidst a boom in new media technologies and a board game renaissance, the relationship between games, play, and stories has become ever tighter, and the new narrative and affective experiences they create are becoming increasingly larger forces in U.S. popular culture. In this introductory course, students will engage with some of the founding debates and methodologies of the field of game studies, including formal design analysis, the narratology/ludology “debate,” and theories of critical play. Students will be expected to engage with and formally analyze digital and analog game systems in a variety of genres, including text adventures, walking simulators, classic board games, storytelling card games, tabletop roleplaying games, and physical activities from the New Games movement as we investigate the point and potentials of play in a storytelling context.

Unit(s): 1
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group I
Instructional Method: Conference-screening
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)
Notes: Genre: Film & Media
Not offered: 2024-25
Group Distribution Learning Outcome(s):

Understand how arguments can be made, visions presented, or feelings or ideas conveyed through language or other modes of expression (symbols, movement, images, sounds, etc.).
Analyze and interpret texts, whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts.
Evaluate arguments made in or about texts (whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts).