College Seminar (101-7-20)
Topic
The Japanese Role-Playing Game
Instructors
Thomas Martin Gaubatz
847/491-2766
1880 Campus Drive, Kresge Hall, Office 4-345
Office Hours: varies by quarter, please contact instructor
Meeting Info
University Library 4670: Tues, Thurs 3:30PM - 4:50PM
Overview of class
AY 23-24 How do video games tell stories, and what kind of stories do they tell? What are the formal elements and techniques that games use to tell stories, and how do individual games deploy them to give shape to the player's experience? How do these questions of game form relate to larger humanistic topics—what larger insight can we gain from the study of games, and what perspectives might enhance our understanding? In this course, we explore these questions through a study of the Japanese Role-Playing Game—the JRPG. Though our focus is on this genre, the skills and modes of thinking that we develop—formal description and analysis, theoretical framing, critical evaluation—form the basis of humanistic study and scholarly knowledge production broadly at the university level. The course instructs students in how scholars approach everyday objects and conceptual categories—the JRPG—and produce knowledge about them.
Learning Objectives
By the end of this course, students are expected to be able to do the following:
Summarize and discuss major theoretical questions and scholarly debates surrounding video games and the methods for studying them
Describe formal qualities of cultural genres (the JRPG) and the particular forms they take in individual works.
Analyze works in a given genre in relation to relevant conceptual and theoretical frameworks
Situate digital games (or tropes, techniques, genres, and styles of the same) in relation to relevant social, cultural, and historical contexts
Understand, apply, and critically evaluate scholarly writing, including scholarship on games as well as theoretical writing on other topics.
Use writing to develop and communicate humanistic knowledge
Teaching Method
Seminar
Evaluation Method
Attendance, participation, game journal, reading questions, writing assignments, final paper
Class Materials (Required)
All materials available on CANVAS
Class Attributes
WCAS College Seminar