MS 125 PO

This course provides students with the intellectual framework and critical vocabulary to examine video games as media texts via aesthetics: the value of gameplay experiences and how we fit them into our lives. How do we play, and why? The course will also address questions of politics: how can games shape, and how are they shaped by, the current of public life? Who gets to play, particularly along lines of race, gender, sexuality, and class? Live and recorded gameplay demonstrations will provide students with the material for criticism and inquiry, alongside contemporary critical games writing that will serve as models for their own writing projects. Participants do not need previous experience with games or computers, but only a willingness to engage with games and gameplay within a critical context. Prerequisites: One of MS 049 PO, MS 050 PO, MS 051 PO or MS 092 PO.