Reference no: EM132435855

Play: An Introduction

Questions

1. In the 1960s, French sociologist Roger Caillois provided a list of six defining characteristics of play. Do these six characteristics still apply to contemporary digital gameplay? Why/why not?

2. What are some of the challenges you might encounter when studying video games? What key concepts are important to understand?

3. Do you play video/computer/mobile games? Are they an important part of your life? Why/why not?

Games and Rules

Questions
In order to get started thinking through this area, when reading, please consider:

1. Juul who outlines six essential characteristics of games - what are they, and do you agree with his definition?

2. What is the difference between a toy and a game? At what point does play become a game?

3. How are analogue and digital games different?

4. Bogost argues that "rules do not merely create the experience of play-they also construct the meaning of the game" (2008, p.121). What does he mean by this?

 Immersion, Interactivity, and Narrative

Questions
In order to get started thinking through this area, this week please consider:

1. What is immersion? What makes a game immersive?

2. When we use the argument that games (or other media) are 'escapist,' what does that mean? Does it mean different things for different media? Is this a problem? Why/Why not?

3. What distinguishes the different approaches of the ludologists and the narratologists?