GAM 206 History of Games
Summary
GAM 206: History of Games
Jonathan Hey
Fall 2013, Section 402.
Tuesdays and Thursdays - 3:10 pm to 4:40 pm
Rm. Lewis 1509
NOTE CORRECTION from Room 1507
Lewis Center
25 East Jackson Boulevard
Chicago, IL 60604
Office: TBD
Office Hours: TBD
Email (preferred): jehy@cdm.depaul.edu
Description
From The Royal Game of Ur (2500+ BCE) to World of Warcraft (2004) and beyond, games have been a constant in human history. The forms of games, their experiential qualities, and their cultural significance have varied enormously from era to era and place to place. This class will examine particular games and game genres in
their historical context using a case study format. We will focus on indoor games, those of chance and skill, as opposed to physical games and sports. The examples will be chosen (i) to have global scope and historic diversity, (ii) to relate to games that students will find familiar, and (iii) to raise particular issues in
historical interpretation, the use of primary sources and changing concepts of leisure activity.
Texts
Course Readings and Supplies
There is no textbook for the class. There will be a variety of readings made available on-line and/or distributed in class. Subject to change along the way.
Resources
Students in the class will have access to the game library housed in the CTI Computer Game Lab, CS&T 920. Some assignments will require that students use specific games available from this library. Students performing assignments have priority for the use of the games. See http://defrag.depaul.edu/ for information on lab times. You will be required to provide your student ID when checking out games.
Web Site
The Course On-line web site will be an important resource for the course. All assignments will be submitted here.
Grading
Your course grade will be calculated as follows:
Quizzes 20%
Gameplay leader 25%
Attendance/Participation 15%
Research project 40%
-------- Preliminary Bibliography 5%
-------- Annotated Bibliography 10%
-------- Game analysis paper 10%
-------- Final paper 15%
Prerequisites
None
Organization and Assessment
GAM 206 is divided into four units.
In each unit, we will study a particular culture and a game associated with it. Each unit will consist of four classes: a lecture covering the era with an emphasis on cultural issues, a lecture on the game genre and its history, an in-class game play session in which we play the chosen game, and a game discussion session in which we discuss the game and its milieu. There is no midterm or final exam, but there will be quizzes covering the assigned readings.
Attendance at this class is extremely important. This is particularly true of the game play sessions. Students who do not attend the game play session will receive no credit for that unit. Please make every effort to attend class on these dates. I will take attendance at all class meetings. More than two unexcused absences will result in a 50% reduction in the participation grade. More than four will result in a 0 in that area.
It is difficult to learn a new game without the guidance of someone who has played before. To make our gameplay sessions more efficient, the class will be divided into groups of four with a designated gameplay leader. There will be a designated day in which the gameplay leaders will learn their respective games. Attendance for this day's class is very important. Gameplay leaders are also encouraged to meet outside of class time and play the game among
themselves before the in-class gameplay session. In class after the gameplay session, we will discuss the game. Gameplay leaders will be expected to participate actively in these sessions.
You must be present at the leaders? session, at the in-class gameplay session, and at the following discussion in order to receive credit for the gameplay leader component of the course.
Each student will be required to complete a research project on a historic game other than one we consider together in class. The game must date from before 1900. I encourage you to look for a game that has particular relevance to your cultural heritage: games your grandparents (or great-great grandparents) might have played. There will be intermediate milestones for this project due throughout the quarter. Full details will be available on the assignment handout.
Policies and School Policies
Students are expected to attend all classes and participate in in-class exercises. Class will start promptly.
Students are individually responsible for material they may have missed due to absence or tardiness, including obtaining readings handed out in class. Students are responsible for reading assigned material before class.
All assignments will be submitted to the Course On-Line site. Do not submit assignments by email except when permitted. All assignments are due at the due date. Students should contact instructor about assignments to be submitted late. Assignments must represent a student's individual effort. While students are permitted to discuss assignments at the conceptual level, under no circumstances should students share specific answers (electronically or otherwise).
Papers must conform to the course guidelines on references and documentation. Use of sources without attribution constitutes plagiarism, a serious violation of academic integrity.
Consult the assignment handouts or the instructor if you have questions about how or what to document.
School Policies
Online Instructor Evaluation
Course and instructor evaluations are critical for maintaining and improving course quality. To make evaluations as meaningful as possible, we need 100% student participation. Therefore, 'participation in the School‟s web-based academic administration initiative during the eighth and ninth week of this course is a requirement of this course. Failure to participate in this process will result in a grade of incomplete for the course. This incomplete will be automatically removed within seven weeks after the end of the course and replaced by the grade you would have received if you had fulfilled this requirement.
Email
Email is the primary means of communication between faculty and students enrolled in this course outside of class time. Students should be sure their email listed under "demographic information" at
http://campusconnect.depaul.edu/ is correct.
Plagiarism:
The university and school policy on plagiarism can be summarized as follows: Students in this course, as well as all other courses in which independent research or writing play a vital part in the course requirements, should be aware of the strong sanctions that can be imposed against someone guilty of plagiarism. If proven, a charge of plagiarism could result in an automatic F in the course and possible expulsion. The strongest of sanctions will be
imposed on anyone who submits as his/her own work a report, examination paper, computer file, lab report, or other assignment which has been prepared by someone else. If you have any questions or doubts about what plagiarism entails or how to properly acknowledge source materials be sure to consult the instructor.
Incomplete:
An incomplete grade is given only for an exceptional reason such as a death in the family, a serious illness, etc. Any such reason must be documented. Any incomplete request must be made at least two weeks before the final, and approved by the Dean of the School of Computer Science, Telecommunications and Information Systems. Any consequences resulting from a poor grade for the course will not be considered as valid reasons for such a request.
Introduction
9/12: Introduction to the Class. Syllabus and requirements. Why study games? Why study the history of games? Aims of the class. Resources.
9/17: History and Games. Historical methods. Games as primary sources. Components of a game.
Reading: Salen, K. and Zimmerman, E. Chapter 3 Meaningful Play, and Chapter 7 Defining Games, in Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals. MIT Press, 2004. Available on-line under Books 24x7: IT Pro at the DePaul Library website.
Parlett, D. Chapter 1 Welcome Aboard, in The Oxford History of Board Games.
Unit 1: Death and Religion in Ancient Egypt
9/19: History: Ancient Egypt. Religion and dynastic-ism in the New Kingdom. Records, inscriptions, art, artifacts and other archeological evidence.
Unit 1: Death and Religion in Ancient Egypt
9/24: History: Ancient Egypt. Religion and dynastic-ism in the New Kingdom. Records, inscriptions, art, artifacts and other archeological evidence.
Reading: Spodek, H. River Valley Civilizations Chapter 3 in The World's History.
9/26: Game: Race Games. Senet. Descendants of Senet including Backgammon. Design principles of race games.
Reading: Parlett, D. Chapter 4 The Tables Turned,(to page 70).
10/1: Play: Senet.
10/3: Sources: Senet and Egyptian Religion. Reconstructing Senet.
Reading: Piccione, Peter A. In Search of the Meaning of Senet. Available at http://gamesmuseum.uwaterloo.ca/Archives/Piccione/
Queen Nefertari Playing Senet. Tomb painting of Queen Nefertari ca. 1255 BC.
Available at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Maler_der_Grabkammer_der_Nefertari_003.jpg.
Unit 2: Royalty and Society in Medieval Europe
10/8: History: Society and Culture in the Late Middle Ages. Social structure and hierarchy. Medieval Spain and the Muslim world.
Reading: Chapter 8 Chess and the Cult of Love, in Birth of the Chess Queen. HarperCollins. 2005. Greaves, R. et al.
Chapter 14 Life and Culture in Medieval Europe, in Civilizations of the World. HarperCollins, 1993.
10/10: Game: Strategy Games. History of Chess. Asian variants of chess. Go. Emergent properties in strategy games.
Reading: Parlett, Ch. 16 Conquering Kings.
10/15: Play: Medieval Chess.
Reading: Eales, R. Chapter 2 The Symbolic Game of the Middle Ages, in Chess: The History of a Game. Facts on File. 1985.
10/17: Sources: The Transformation of Chess.
Reading: Yalom, Chapter 11 New Chess and Isabella of Castile,
and Chapter 12 The Rise of Queen's Chess.
Unit 3: People of Chance: America in the 19th Century
10/22: History: Risk and tradition in 19th Century America.
Reading: Boyer, P. S. et al. Immigration, Expansion, and Sectional Conflict 1840-1848 Chapter 13 in The Enduring Vision: A History of the American People.
10/24: Game: Gambling Games. The history of gambling. Divination, probability and risk. Typologies of gambling games. The boundary issues between gambling and play. The rise of professional gambling.
Reading: Reith, G. Chapter 2 The Pursuit of Chance in The Age of Chance: Gambling in western culture. Routledge, 1999.
10/29: Play: Faro
10/31: Sources: Confessions and Exhortations
Reading: Green, J. H. An Exposure of the Arts and Miseries of Gambling. Redding, 1845. pages 11-20.
Available at http://books.google.com/books?id=_F0PAAAAIAAJ. Accessed 27 March 2007.
Stith, William The Sinfulness and pernicious Nature of Gaming, 1752.
Unit 4: Children‟s Games as Global Mass Culture
11/5: History: The Globalization of Japanese Culture.
Reading: Spodek, H. Japan: A Fragile Superpower Chapter 19 in The World's History.
11/7: Game: Video Games. The first 25 years of video game history.
Video games in Japan. The rise of Nintendo.
Reading: Kent, S. L. Chapter 28 The Mainstream and All its Perils and
Chapter 29 And the Cycle Continues in The Ultimate History of Video Games. Three Rivers Press, 2001.
11/12: Play: Pokemon Trading Card Game.(Subject to change)
11/14: Sources: Games and Meta-Games.
Tobin, J. Chapter 13 The Rise and Fall of the Pokemon Empire in Pikachu?s Global Adventure: The Rise and Fall of Pokemon. Duke University Press, 2004.
Reading: Allison, A. Chapter 7 Pokemon: Getting Monsters and Communicating Capitalism in Millennial Monsters.
Conclusion
11/19: Conclusion. The changing role of games and leisure.
11/21: Final paper due.
This syllabus is subject to change as necessary during the quarter. If a change occurs, it will be thoroughly addressed during class, posted under Announcements in D2L and sent via email.
Evaluations are a way for students to provide valuable feedback regarding their instructor and the course. Detailed feedback will enable the instructor to continuously tailor teaching methods and course
content to meet the learning goals of the course and the academic needs of the students. They are a requirement of the course and are key to continue to provide you with the highest quality of teaching. The
evaluations are anonymous; the instructor and administration do not track who entered what responses. A program is used to check if the student completed the evaluations, but the evaluation is completely
separate from the student’s identity. Since 100% participation is our goal, students are sent periodic reminders over three weeks. Students do not receive reminders once they complete the evaluation.
Students complete the evaluation online in CampusConnect.
This course will be subject to the university's academic integrity policy. More information can be found at http://academicintegrity.depaul.edu/ If you
have any questions be sure to consult with your professor.
All students are expected to abide by the University's Academic Integrity Policy which prohibits cheating and other misconduct in student coursework. Publicly sharing or posting online any prior or current materials from this course (including exam questions or answers), is considered to be providing unauthorized assistance prohibited by the policy. Both students who share/post and students who access or use such materials are considered to be cheating under the Policy and will be subject to sanctions for violations of Academic Integrity.
All students are required to manage their class schedules each term in accordance with the deadlines for enrolling and withdrawing as indicated in the University Academic Calendar. Information on enrollment, withdrawal, grading and incompletes can be found at http://www.cdm.depaul.edu/Current%20Students/Pages/PoliciesandProcedures.aspx.
Students who feel they may need an accommodation based on the impact of a disability should contact the instructor privately to discuss their specific needs. All discussions will remain confidential.
To ensure that you receive the most appropriate accommodation based on your needs, contact the instructor as early as possible in the quarter (preferably within the first week of class), and make sure that
you have contacted the Center for Students with Disabilities (CSD) at:
Lewis Center 1420, 25 East Jackson Blvd.
Phone number: (312)362-8002
Fax: (312)362-6544
TTY: (773)325.7296