Computerspil II Introduction

about today Players: me, you. Course description Course format Course contents Games Reception Design Multiplayer break part I part II

players Academic background Research Game Design Courses taught What am I playing? Name Academic background Writing thesis? Computerspil I? Virtuelle verdener og rum? Why are you here? What are you playing? GM multiplayer

course description I Understand games reception, game communities and the effects/uses of games Understand the process of creating and developing a game Describe the principles and practice of game design, focusing on multiplayer games of various sorts Discuss aspects related to the game development process Create a computer game prototype by applying experience with games, theoretical understanding and technical skill Learn to document ideas and take them to practice goals

course description II The course studies computer games from the player’s point of view, taking theories of digital reception, interaction and instrumentalization as a starting point. Our focus will be multiplayer games, since they involve more complex interaction and bring up interesting digital communities issues. In order to work with applied theory, the practical side of the course deals with designing a computer game from scratch, which is a different process to that of designing any other digital product although it shares some characteristics with them. Here we will focus on: how to work with raw ideas, the game proposal (documents, planning, scheduling), genre-specific issues, immersion, interactivity (actions and gameplay), the interface (setting, time, space, characters, etc), tools, the AI, levels, testing, etc. contents

course description III what is the bonus? Game industry: designer, programmer, artist Game journalism: tester, critic, reviewer Incorporate game aspects into your digital work (websites, education, advertising...) Theoretical: reception, interaction, communities, ideology... Necessary reflection upon IT phenomena

course description IV The concept of play Games history and genres Games and narratives Gameplay, flow, emergence Time Space Structure Exercises: building games (Pac Man, Unreal) prerequisites - Computerspil I – Jesper Juul

course format I blocks lecture seminar Guest ( RL/VR) workshop 9 to 15 = 6 hours lunch break 12 to 13 9 to 10 with break 10 to 11 with break 11 to to 15

course format II evaluation is flexible - Project: prototype + design documents - Empirical research study + analysis - Research paper on theoretical issues negotiate outcomes / set own goals oral examination groups

course content computer games Reception theory Focus: multiplayerPractical: design

course content II Introduction Game Aesthetics: Reception, critics and players Game Aesthetics: Interaction & Instrumentalization Game Aesthetics: Genres The Multiplayer experience Game Culture Game communities Advergaming Virtuelle verdener som spil Game Ideology Edugaming

Please give us a BREAK

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games Not a puzzle (static) Not a toy (no goals) Not a story (linear) Not “passive” (traditional media) Decision making (+interactivity) Goals Opposition (struggle) Managing Resources Game Tokens (your way to be present in the game) Information no yes (Crawford / Costikyan) Artifacts/ objects/ art forms?

games II Diplomacy Color (atmosphere) Simulation Randomness, variety Identification Roleplaying Socializing Narrative tension... (Crawford / Costikyan) other things...

games III In their seminal The Study of Games, Avedon and Sutton-Smith examine what they call ”the usage of games”: games ”have functional value” and can be put to different uses of which the ”recreative purpose” is only one. At the first glance ”games for fun”, ”le jeu pour le jeu” appears to be the ”authentic” function of games, and most current writing looks at games from this perspective. Avedon and Sutton Smith devote chapters to military uses, business uses, educational uses, medicinal uses and so forth, claiming that all these ”functional uses” spring from the first one (games for recreative purposes) and are in that respect secondary. expanding context...or was it always there?

reception I Reception theory emphasizes the reader's consumption of the literary text over and above the question of the sum total of rhetorical devices which contribute to its structure as a piece of literature. -Historical (Canon, interpretive communities, particular histories of response, histories of reading, cultural context...) -Philosophical (Theory of literary communication, interpretation, aesthetic effect, phenomenology, blanks, implied reader, pragmatics...) -Sociological (Media Studies) sides

reception II Reception theory is an important part of digital aesthetics since it studies the processes through which digital art is experienced. It is also a part that is lacking from most of the literature, that has so far concentrated on formalist approaches as if the last 40 years of humanities research had never happened...

design The “thinking” part Apply ideas Consider contexts Look for effects Learn process Analyze results

multiplayer Computer games as “anomalous” games “without” social aspect in their origin. Social dimension brings in new perspectives, contexts, consequences... Why do we play? What is fun?

purpose of a course like this The modern technological world is the culmination of Western metaphysics. (Heidegger) Western Social Imaginary is linked to concepts such as analytic logic, reason, and infinite progress and perfectibility. (Hoeg) Technology – Economy – Society We have to do and think Cultural objects and art as products for mass consumption. (Jameson)

for next week Read articles to prepare seminar Choose & read 2 Rouse chapters to prepare workshop Visit Aki Jaarvinen’s website and read his sample article to prepare for guest chat. Write down questions you would like to ask him. info in weekly planner