Video game class

[Cranyx]

Now I'm sure many people on this site are of the belief that video games can be considered art, but that's not what this thread is about. If, as I and presumably many of you hope, video games are accepted into the public eye as relevant then one can assume that they would get the movie treatment and schools would start teaching classes on them. It might take a few more decades, but I believe games will be given credit where credit is due.

The question is, what games would be discussed in said class, and what would be said about them? You can't just pick any game and start talking just as much as you can't just pick a movie of the (now non-existent) Blockbuster shelf, or a random book out of the library and discuss it in depth. So what games have enough artistic/narrative/historical merit that they would deserve to be discussed in an educational setting, and what about them would be discussed?

Now please, PLEASE don't just start listing off your favorite games, which is why I am making the requirement that you must give a valid reason for it to be taught aside from you "liked it."




If I personally had to choose a game, one would definitely be Bioshock. The symbolism and metaphors to political economic theories present in pre-war America make it one of the few games that I honestly feel could hold up to analyses in an English class (And yes I know it borrows heavily from Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged, some references being more blatant than others) and that's just the literary merit, the simple characterization, foreshadowing and ATMOSPHERE, good god the atmosphere could not have been better (Especially on Cohen's level) are all wonderful.


So what about you? Remember the fact that they're games allow us to look at aspects of it that aren't available in previous mediums, just because I chose a very classical example of analysys, doesn't mean you can't look at something in the sense of gameplay (but NOT just that it's good, I mean innovation) or the interactive nature of the story telling not available to books.

 

[genericusername64]

As an interactive medium if videogames were to be studied at all, it would be about the effects on the psyche. Games are all about instant gratification, Eustress when you win, Distress when you lose. It would be interesting to see how much a game could anger/please a person.

Also, grinding in a game is used as a stalling tactic, but it also makes you value the currency when you do get it. What if a couple first graders were to play an old crpg, would they become more responsible with money?

Immersion is also interesting, just how many hours can a person put into a game before they think they're in the game?

 

[Thaius]

I actually designed a Video Games as Literature course as my senior project to graduate from college, so I agree entirely, but I don't think it's as far off as you think. It's getting pretty close, actually. We just need to get the academic world over themselves; I swear, it takes longer for the academic community to accept something than for a snail to cross a sea of salt.

Many games would be discussed. The goal of a literature class is to study writings of many different kinds, all united by some theme (time period, country, genre, etc.). Games simply aren't old enough to be that specific yet, so a course would likely deal with multiple genres and how stories are told within each of them, meaning you'd want at least one game to represent each genre of gameplay. In other mediums you would want to deal with genres of story, not gameplay, but in this instance we'd want to be learning about how gameplay interacts with story, so gameplay genre is more important to this course than story genre.

Now the biggest issue I faced in my own design is the fact that not everyone has every console. As a result, either you only play old PC games (since not everyone will have a top-running PC, but even then some people may have a Mac or use the college computer labs), or offer multiple games that can be played by each student depending on the systems they own. In the latter scenario (the one I prefer), there must be many, many games; at the very least, one per system in each genre study.

However, in terms of a few particular games that I would put in for study.

I agree about Bioshock. Brilliantly designed game in general, but the main point of study in a class I would be teaching is the use of interactivity. The freedom you experience through most of the game builds toward completely shattering your perceptions when the plot twist rolls around, and the way you're deprived of control in that one moment simply hammers in the point of the scene and, indeed, the game itself.

Beyond Good and Evil is another one. Same as Bioshock in terms of being well-designed on a basic level, but also contains some of the interactivity in the story, just in a different way. Michel Ancel, the lead designer of the game, has said he wants emotion to be in his gameplay; not just in his story, characters, music, etc., but in his gameplay. That goal is accomplished in many particular parts of Beyond Good and Evil. However, the final boss fight is the main bit of brilliance; there is actually symbolism relating to the story within the gameplay of that battle. It's rather brilliant.

Demon's Souls. This is the first game I've played where difficulty is an enhancement rather than an annoyance. This is because it's tightly designed, and all the challenge is very deliberate and well-designed. It doesn't make things harder just by throwing more enemies at you; each encounter must be carefully approached and deliberately played. This type of balanced and fair difficulty ensures death is a learning experience rather than a frustration, and as a result the game is incredibly tense and sometimes even terrifying, simply because you're fully aware at all times that a single slipup could lead to your death, and the consequences are grave.

Uncharted, especially the second one. Most action games are awesome because of good, versatile level design, and that's awesome. But the Uncharted games specialize in going beyond that to provide specific thrilling moments that couldn't exist with just the game's mechanics and good level design. These result in the interactive equivalent to a really creative fight scene on film, and it is an incredible experience. Those little touches, all those details and deliberately designed special moments, are worth studying.

Among many others. Those are just a few that come to mind. Mass Effect, Okami, ICO, Mirror's Edge, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, and many others would be worthy.