Introduction to Games Studies: Mobile Gaming

Short Answer Summary (10 points/5 points per question):

The final assignment for this course is a take-home exam that will first task you with answering a series of short answer questions focused on examining the assigned videogames and readings that we have been reviewing/playing throughout the semester. There are five available short answer questions to choose from and you must provide a 250-350 word written or 2-3 minute recorded slide/video/audio response to TWO of them of your choosing. For these questions, you will be graded on a combination of your answer's writing quality (clarity, spelling, grammar, etc.) and the specificity with which you support your answer. Additionally, please ensure that you are addressing all aspects of your selected questions within your answers and that whenever possible/applicable that you are attempting to utilize the specific terms, theories, and concepts that we have discussed within the lectures and assigned readings from throughout this course.

1. Based on the readings and discussions from this semester, describe at least one notable change that the field of game studies had undergone across the course of its existence. Briefly explain at least one aspect of broader culture that may have influenced this change.

2. Briefly define ONE of the following terms: materiality, affect, or embodiment. In addition to this definition, please provide a short explanation for why your selected term is/has been important to the academic study of video games. Please use at least one specific example (a videogame, a piece of hardware, a streamer, etc.) to support your answer.

3. Briefly explain how the practices of modding and/or hacking have significantly influenced the trajectory of videogame culture and/or the videogame industry. Please use at least one specific example (a videogame, a mod or ROM hack, a game developer, etc.) to support your answer.

4. Briefly provide a definition and at least one example of playbour and/or a ludic economy. Additionally, please provide a short explanation for why these topics are increasingly important for the field of game studies to focus on.

5. Pick one of the games that were assigned as a "Game of the Week" in any module from this course. Briefly review how it was discussed in relation its respective module's theme and then explain a way of critically looking at it using the concepts, theories, and/or key terms from another module. (For example, looking at Spelunky Classic through informal game development, or Fortnite through the queer art of failure.)

Essay Summary (25 points): In the second portion of this assignment, you will be asked to write a 750-1250 word written essay or record a 7-10 minute slide/video presentation on one or two videogames (or a specific aspect of videogame culture) of your own choosing. When planning your assignment, think about all of the texts we have read throughout the course as potential examples to try and emulate. How did their authors choose to pair particular videogames and theoretical frameworks? What kinds of videogames or aspects of videogame culture did they focus on to make their arguments? With all of this in mind, what is a concept (mechanic, fandom, community, practitioner, platform, tool, plotline, character, etc.) that you find to be particularly exciting and how might you develop some sort of defendable thesis that is focused on it?

The goal of this assignment should be to provide a novel and insightful argument that could potentially be interesting or useful to another game studies scholar. What are some areas that you think are lacking within the field that deserve more attention? Or what are some topics that could benefit from being analyzed from a perspective that you believe they aren’t often examined from? If you are having trouble deciding on what you want to focus on, think back to your reading response assignments, would any of the ideas within them function as potential topics? If you are having trouble thinking of an essay topic, here is a shortlist of potential ideas to get you started (please do not feel pressure to adhere to these topics if you had another idea for your essay):

1. You could do another game analysis essay as we did previously in the course and try to present a ludic, narrative, aesthetic, or technical aspect of a particular game in an interesting and critical way.

2. You could use one of your essay ideas that you wrote as part of the utility section of any of your three reading responses.

3. You could critically look at how a particular game handles the representation of race, gender, or sexuality.

4. You could critically look at how a particular game includes/features monetization, microtransactions, or elements of playbour.

5. You could critically look at how a particular game produced affect or feelings of embodiment through its hardware, UI choices, immersive elements, and/or control schemes.