Assessment 1- Short essay : You are advised to base your discussion around one game. Here are some examples to get you thinking: The essay should be in length, including

Assessment 1- Short essay : You are advised to base your discussion around one game. Here are some examples to get you thinking: The essay should be in length, including in-text references; however, your reference list is not included in this count. You have 10% flexibility with the word limit, but being substantially under or over-length will result in a poorer mark. keep in mind, you will need to develop your own analysis in this essay. Even if you agree completely with one article or book you are using, you will need to present a larger and more balanced examination than any single source can provide. You will be expected to have read and to utilise both core and deeper readings from the relevant topic. As this is a research essay, to do well you may also need to find appropriate additional material to further your analysis. Your essay should include a fully formed introduction and conclusion, should be written in paragraph form, should present a clear argument and should meaningfully engage with the readings provided in the unit as well as including credible material from additional sources if required.  Your essay should follow the APA 6th ed. referencing style. You will be assessed on: · Accurate definition of terms · Clear and coherent writing and expression (spelling, grammar and formatting) · Use of reading and accurate referencing following correct APA 6th ed. style · Development of a coherent argument In the first part of the unit we begin by unpacking our understanding of play and games. This is followed by a critical discussion of immersion and interactivity as core themes defining online and digital forms of play. This will function to springboard our discussion of deeper concepts in the second module, giving us a functional grounding in the early theories of play and gaming. In this unit we explore the evolution of web-based play and examine the crucial role of Internet connectivity in the contemporary video game industry. As we begin, however, a few of you might still be wondering: why study video games at all? Why do games matter? And why should we take them seriously in an academic context? The short answer is that video games represent the single largest industry spawned by digital media. Globally, the video game industry is worth over one hundred billion dollars and increases in value each year. . As a result, the video game industry represents an important source of employment for a wide range of people. Students taking this unit may decide to pursue one of these jobs in future: – game designer, producer, or AI programmer; – background, character, storyboard, or texture artist; – audio technician, voice actor, sound designer, or composer; – script and dialogue writer; – promotions, marketing, social media, community and brand manager; – game tester, journalist or reviewer; – game studies researcher, educator, and lecturer. As you will see, video games also represent a meaningful area of research that can us learn more about culture, psychology, economics, and contemporary society. Like film, television, and all other media, games are embedded with cultural themes, beliefs, and ideas that can be examined critically. Games are not separate from culture and society, but the evolving products of its demands, fears, communities, and networked technologies. As such, this unit explores how games both reflect and impact the world that produced them. Each week core readings are essential to understanding and developing the weekly topic. You must do these readings before entering into class discussion. This first week we have two readings; one published before digital games were invented, and one published after. Caillois, Roger. (1961). “The Definition of Play.” In (pp.3-10). Urbana: University of Illinois Press [Find it ] Nielsen, Simon Egenfeldt, Jonas Heide Smith & Susana Pajares Tosca. (2008). ” is a Game?” In (pp. 22-44). Taylor and Francis. [Available via the ] 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. are some of the challenges you might encounter when studying video games? 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? In addition to the core readings, try playing one or more of these free online games: · · · Early game theorists tended to view play and games as the same thing in much of their work. But as games have diversified it has become important to distinguish between them, even if just for definitional purposes. This week we take a deeper look at what makes a game a game (as distinct from play) and consider the role of rules. Our first reading comes from gaming theorist Jesper Juul who outlines six essential characteristics of games. These characteristics allow a great deal of flexbility in understanding how widely different media ( vs. , for example) can all be considered as games. The second and third readings explore the difference between digital and analogue games, and begin to unpack how cultural ideas are expressed through games. 1) Juul, J. (2010). The game, the player, the world: Looking for a heart of gameness. (2). 248 – 270 (Find it ) 2) Liebe, M. (2008). There is no magic circle: On the difference between computer games and traditional games. , 324 – 340 (Located ) Bogost, I. (2008). The rhetoric of video games. In Salen K. (ed.), . Cambridge: The MIT Press. 117 – 140. DOI: 10.1162/dmal.9780262693646.117 (You can find it ) In order to get started thinking through this area, when reading, consider: 1. Juul who outlines six essential characteristics of games – what are they, and do you agree with his definition? 2. 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). does he mean by this? One of the core characteristics framing an understanding of digital games and play is the concept of immersion. While other media (such as film and television) are watched, assessed and viewed, games are interactive. Through the activity of the audience in playing, the outcome of gaming is an ‘immersive’ experience in which the space of a game can become a rich and vivid interactive world. This can create challenges in understanding and discussing video games. Immersion is sometimes oversimplified as creating mindless players who lose their sense of reality. Negative ideas about immersion in gaming include the notion that games are escapist, and can cause people become addicted to playing; or that players lose perspective and the ability to understand social rules and control themselves, potentially becoming violent or reclusive. Because video games involve an immersive experience with an interactive text, critical theorists have clashed over how to analyse them. Two different approaches have dominanted games research: ludology and narratology. This week we examine the concept of immersion alongside interactivity and narrative. 1) Ermi, L. and Mayra, F. (2005). Fundamental components of the gameplay experience: Analysing immersion. Proceedings of DiGRA 2005 Conference: . (Available or ) 2) Jenkins, H. (2004). Game design as narrative architecture, (3), 118 – 130. (Find it ) 4) Calleja, G. (2010). Digital games and escapism, (4), 335 – 353. You can find it . Note: you must be logged into Oasis to access this article in the library database. In order to get started thinking through this area, this week consider: 1. is immersion? 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.      distinguishes the different approaches of the ludologists and the narratologists?