GDM100 Introduction to Games
Of all the new media forms that have emerged since digital technologies have become ubiquitous in our social and cultural environment, videogames could be described as the form that is most fundamentally "native" to the computer. As a form of entertainment, they have introduced new relationships between audiences/players and the media with which they interact, and present unique challenges to producers, critics and the public at large. There are two broad goals for this course. The first is to provide an overview of digital games as a cultural form. This involves a historical account of their emergence in the mid-twentieth century, an enquiry into theories of play and their relationship to culture, the origins and evolution of game genres, and the changing nature of game-development and the game industry to the present day. The second is to learn contextual and formal methods for the analysis of digital games and gameplay. The coursework involves a number of activities: reading key texts and textbooks relevant to the topic, participating in small-group discussion exercises, occasional quizzes based on reading material, group and individual game history and analysis presentations, and finally a mock-pitch for an original game design. No programming or game design experience is required for this course. 3 credits