Syllabus
The first lecture
Theory
- theoretical approaches towards psychology of games and play
- definitions and conceptions (historical and present)
- function of play and games
Seminar and discussion
- is game purposeless or functional
- play vs. work
- virtual vs. real world
- digital games vs. traditional games
The second lecture
Theory
- play styles
- player types and motivation
- classification of games and play
- rhetorics of play
Seminar and discussion
- why do we play games
- "gamification" and professionalization
- player subculture
The third lecture:
- game structure (rules)
- game dynamics (strategies)
- game esthetics (experience and emotions)
- flow experience and immersion
Seminar and discussion
- how do we experience games
- how do we strategize
- impacts of games and play in the context of everyday life
Annotation
The course goal is to give students insight into a crucial role of games and play in psychology and culture. Most notably, emphasis is taken on videogames as a most recent game form creating the complex computer mediated environments (virtual worlds). The course consists of three meetings which provide both theoretical framework and practical illustrations (parts of documentary movies, products of player subcultures etc.) concerning given topics.
The illustrations will then become a subject of discussion. Successful course completion requires writing of seminar paper. The paper’s topic should be based on observation or experiencing the play in a chosen context
(e.g. video game, play in therapy, sport, theater, child’s play). Following theoretical parts of lectures, the content of the work has to analytically deconstruct playing process (genre of game or play, potential play styles/player types, structure, dynamics, motivation, flow experience etc.).