Goblin from Arthur Rackham illustrations for Rosetti's Goblin Market

Gaming Cultures:: Spring 2006: LIT 4930

Student Projects (May Change):

Game Studies Conference: Elmer, Evan, Justin
Graduate Forum: Walton; Amanda & Jackie; Sarah; Jess; Elmer; Franklin
Wraith@game studies: Stephanie, Rachel, Corwyn, Hollie, Athena, Elmer(?)
Chris-mage game(?): Luke

• Katie's Wrestling Games Presentation
• Sarah's Sims Blog: http://www.livejournal.com/users/taylorbeach/; and presentation slides in HTML and PPT
• Jill's PPT in HTML and PPT
• Stephanie: Civ promotions on campus
• Sherelle: Spades or Jeopardy, Oxford Book of Card/Board games
• Taylor: Ico/Shadow of the Collosus
• Walton: DMC trilogy, Half-Real
  game studies abstracts
• Dmitri: Chess and Borth of the Chess Queen
• Amanda and Jackie: DDR and Serious Games: Games That Educate, Train, and Inform
  David Michael, Sandra Chen
  ISBN: 1-59200-622-1 2006
  Publish date: October 10, 2005
  352 pages
  writing an abstract on the concept of terror and terrorism in games
• Cynethia: Battle of the Sexes
• AJ: StarOcean
• Jill: Warcraft 3 Defense of the Ancients Map Mod
• Jennifer: Chez Geek; Oxford History of Card Games
• Holly: Pinball
• Fernaz: Sims
• Elmer: Indigo Prophecy or Ikaruga: Manovich or ScreenPlay
• Dan: Smash Brothers Melee; game physics and manipulation
• Ricky: Final Fantasy VI: lookup sources
• Justin L: writing abstract on halo and marathon, presenting at a conference. [Abstract]
• Evan: Sexuality in Games; possibel sources masturbation game, sex MMO, second Life, Sex Drive Forum in wired.com
• Jess: Miniatures-Warhammer 40K; Floor Games by HG Wells on War Miniatures
• Luke: SOCOM
• Frank: Pacman, Chronotrigger
• Cheryl: Dream Phone and Gender Inclusive Game Design or From Barbie to Mortal Kombat
• Chandler: WoW
• Corwyn: NWN
• Courtney: an MMO and Life on the Screen by Sherry Turkle
• Jonathan
• Emily and Athena: Counseling and Educational Games
  

  Educational and counseling games come in many different forms. There are educational games proper (games designed for education and used to teach specific concepts or skills) like:
  Mathblaster
  Count Quickly: http://www.funisland.com/gamedetail.php?id=72
  Some of LeapFrog's games
  Some of the BBC games are really cute:
  http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/mathsfile/shockwave/games/postie.html
  

  As well as games that are games and then have the collateral ability to teach or instruct on certain concepts and facts:
  Civilization III
  Dynasty Warriors, Romance of the Three Kingdoms
  Chess
  Card games (some, like Poker where you can learn to compute odds)
  Many games and strategic reasoning (tycoon games, fighting games, RPG's and how to answer questions to be good or bad)
  Food Force: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/ngkids/games/food_force/

  The best games blend these:
  Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego
  Oregon Trail
  Many others, and this also depends on how the games are played

  Counseling games are often games played to create a safe magic circle of play. They can also be games that act like journals where people can get their thoughts and feelings out and explore. These include:
  Eliza (aka couch) it's free online and one of the first--it's all text and just rewords statements into questions like a Rogerian therapist
  LeapFrog's Dear Diary Pen
  Tarot Cards could be viewed as an expressive sort of game
  

  Other games specifically seek to get people to discuss concerns:
  The UnGame:
  http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00000IS1M/102-7328463-6640903

  or to modulate their brain waves:
  Wild Divine:
  http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00099YLPM/qid=1138128869/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-732$

  Or games that look at positive reinforcement as a means to increase self esteem:
  http://www.selfesteemgames.mcgill.ca/

Other Games

Life (board game)
The Game of Life is a great choice for a board game. What angle would you want to take with it? You could follow the board game only and read The Oxford History of Board Games, or you could follow some element of the Game of Life, like it's assumptions about happiness, wealth, cultural values. Mary Flanagan made a revised version of Life for women that charts the choices most women have to make between career and family. I haven't played Life in years, but I'm pretty sure it emphasizes "winning big" in the reality-tv or lottery sense where money is the final standard of happiness, but there are 2 endings, so that could be really interesting in terms of social depictions of wealth. I also think Life allowed for same-sex couples (when going around the board, I think the squares say--take a wife, take a husband) - is that right? It'd be interesting to see how Life constructs the family, gender, and wealth. And, I think it makes everyone a commodity with spouses and children either granting or taking money.

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