Today’s Plan:
- Thursday Office Hours: 9:30 -12:00 in Ross 1140B
- Reviewing Worknet #1
- Selecting Next Reading
Reviewing Worknet #1
First, I’ve commented on all of the worknets that I have in Canvas. You should find two comments from me (in blue): one on your summary paragraph and one a response to your final reflection.
I have also given you an Action item to complete. I’ll give you 10 minutes now to work on that item.
Second, I have some stuff I want to cover as a class. To Canvas!
Selecting Our Next Reading
For Friday, I want you to start reading a new research article. Let me discuss this by teams.
Team Ethical Gaming
I’d like you to read a more quantitative study on ethical decisions (something similar in design to the Lynch et al study on representation). So I propose that we start with Ryan et al’s 2023 article “The Effect of Morality Meters on Ethical Decision-Making in Video Games”. I haven’t read this one yet–but a quick skim suggests that it should resonate with Sicart.
For Friday, first spend 10 minutes playing this game.
Then read the introduction and methods section of the article. Finally, spend 10 minutes attempting to summarize:
- How they collected participants
- What they asked participants to do
- How they turned this into meaningful data (what did they code/collect?)
Something I’ll be thinking about: how does Sicart’s critique of instrumental gaming, belief in consequences, concern about overt morality games, investment in pause/player reflection, and focus on wicked problems resonate with their Great Fire Game and their research design? What would Sicart say about this article?
Team Representation
This group is a bit more tricky to plan for–simply because I am unsure how many of you want to continue working on sex/gender and how many of you would prefer to work on race or queer studies.
If you want to continue working on gender, then I recommend reading either
- Engelbrecht. (2020). “The New Lara Phenomenon: A Postfeminist Analysis of Rise of the Tomb Raider”.
- Pötzsch and Waszkiewicz. 2019. “Life Is Bleak (in Particular for Women Who Exert Power and Try to Change the World): The Poetics and Politics of Life Is Strange”
If you want to work on race, then I recommend
- Lundedal Hammar. 2020. “Playing Virtual Jim Crow in Mafia III – Prosthetic Memory via Historical Digital Games and the Limits of Mass Culture”
- Tuttle and Wright. 2023. “The Virtual Geography of Racial Segregation: Exploring Racialization, Stereotypes, and Tropes in World of Warcraft”
If you want to work on sexuality or queer studies, then I recommend
- Dennin and Burton. 2023. “Experiential Play as an Analytical Framework: Empathetic and Grating Queerness in The Last of Us Part II”
- Anything from this special issue
