Unit convenor and teaching staff |
Unit convenor and teaching staff
Unit Convenor
Rowan Tulloch
Contact via rowan.tulloch@mq.edu.au
Y3A 191C
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Credit points |
Credit points
3
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Prerequisites |
Prerequisites
39cp including MAS240
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Corequisites |
Corequisites
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Co-badged status |
Co-badged status
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Unit description |
Unit description
This unit will introduce students to the key concepts and methodologies in the study of video gaming. Building upon new media theory and game studies' approaches students will critically engage with the cultural, political, artistic, and technological dimensions of this increasingly important media form. This unit explores the crucial theoretical issues in gaming, from rules and narrative, to gender and power. Students will learn to analyse video games through a range of conceptual approaches that recognise the specificities of this form whilst acknowledging games as part of the broader mediascape.
The unit is designed to offer those interested in designing, analysing, writing about, or even just playing video games, a deeper understanding of the role and context of video game play in contemporary culture. It will provide students with the conceptual frameworks needed to theorise the past, present, and future of this complex and crucial medium. |
Information about important academic dates including deadlines for withdrawing from units are available at https://www.mq.edu.au/study/calendar-of-dates
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
Name | Weighting | Due |
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Tutorial Participation | 10% | Ongoing |
Online Participation | 15% | Ongoing Weeks 2-11 |
Game Analysis | 20% | Friday 5pm Week 5 |
Online Quiz | 20% | Week 12 |
Conceptual Engagement | 35% | Friday 5pm Week 13 |
Due: Ongoing
Weighting: 10%
The purpose of tutorials is for students to discuss the weekly topics and readings to enrich their understanding. All students are required to participate in tutorial discussion. This means arriving at tutorials having completed set readings and being prepared to discuss issues arising.
The format of tutorials is based around student-led discussions. Your responses to your peers will form the basis of your participation mark.
You will be assessed on four criteria:
• Engagement with the readings
• Engagement with lecture material
• Ability to relate key theoretical ideas to previous readings and/or independent research
• Willingness to contribute to class discussion by asking relevant questions, answering other students questions, treating other students with respect and behaving appropriately (e.g. not talking whilst tutor or other students talking)
Attendance is not the same as participation. Students receive no marks for simply attending tutorials.
Due: Ongoing Weeks 2-11
Weighting: 15%
Students will need to submit three questions per week to the online repository available through iLearn. These question are to be based on the week's readings and the lecture: one for each reading, and one for the lecture. They are to be multiple choice. The questions must be precisely written and engage with an important aspect from the reading/lecture. Four alternative answers must be given, with only one of them being correct. The correct answer must be made clear.
Questions need to be submitted by 5pm of the day before that week's tutorial. As tutorials for this unit start in week two, week two's questions will be due (along with week three's) before week three's tutorials.
The questions will be assessed on the following criteria:
These questions will form the basis of the Online Quiz in Week 12, and may also be used for class gamification activities.
Due: Friday 5pm Week 5
Weighting: 20%
Length: 800 words
Submitted Online Only through iLearn
Students should choose a concept, or set of related concepts, from one of the readings for Week 2, 3 or 4 and apply it to a video game of their choosing. You should present a detailed analysis of the concept in context of your chosen game, and put forward an argument as to how and why this concept is important for understanding this game.
For example if a student chose LeBlanc’s concept of dramatic tension in relation to Tetris, then this paper might offer a close examination of the mechanics and dynamics of Tetris, and how dramatic tension is created in the game through mechanics like game speed. It might also cover how uncertainty and inevitability are used to increase tension, and examples of positive or negative feedback in this game. It should put forward a developed argument that understanding dramatic tension is key to understanding the pleasures or experience of Tetris.
You will be assessed on four criteria:
This paper does not need any academic research or referencing beyond the chosen article. You are however welcome to bring in other material if you think it is relevant, but this is not required. All concepts from the chosen reading however, need to be explained in full, and correctly referenced. It must be clear what concept you are using. You can only focus on the concepts from one reading.
Due: Week 12
Weighting: 20%
Students will undertake a timed online multiple choice quiz. The quiz will consist of 20 questions chosen by the unit convenor from those contributed by students for the Online Particpation task. To prepare for the quiz students should be familiar with all the unit readings and lecture material.
The quiz will be accessible Monday (9am) to Friday (5pm) of Week 12. Students must undertake the quiz individually. The quiz is 'open book', students are allowed to consult notes, readings, and other material during the quiz.
Due: Friday 5pm Week 13
Weighting: 35%
Submitted through iLearn only
Students must critically engage with one (or more) of the following topics:
• Rules and Affordances
• Emergence
• The Magic Circle
• Spatiality
• Cyborg Subjectivity
• Power
• Narrative
• Games and Art
• Gaming Communities
They have two options as to how they engage with this topic:
Option 1: Essay
Students must write a 2000 word essay analysing their chosen topic in context of contemporary video gaming. Students must construct an argument relating to the technological, political, and cultural contexts of their chosen academic topic. They must build this argument through a critical examination of one or more video games. For example they might argue that the cyborg subjectivity is the best way to understand the techno-cultural experience of video game play in the First Person Shooter genre, or that through the growth of the indie game scene we are starting to see the true possibilities of video games as an art form.
This is a formal academic essay and requires significant independent research. The essay should have at least 5 academic references in total, including at least one of the unit readings and at least one article from the student's own research.
Option 2: Game Design
Students must write a game design document (max 2000 words, or 8 pages including images / diagrams, whichever comes first). This game design document should detail a game of the students own creation that builds off, engages with, or critiques the academic theory from their chosen topic. For example they could choose to design a game that blurs the boundaries of the ‘magic circle’ and ultimately shows any concept of the separation of the play world and the ‘real’ world to be a false binary. Or they could design a game that embodies de Certeau’s concepts of strategies and tactics, and shows how the operation of power in video games reflects broader cultural structures.
The game design document must briefly outline the mechanics, dynamics and narrative (if any) elements of the game. The gameplay experience should be briefly but clearly articulated. The design document should not focus on the technical aspects of the game (i.e. any coding concerns, technical specifications, etc.). Most importantly the design document must articulate how the game relates to the chosen topic/theory. The game design should demonstrate a sophisticated understanding of the theory, and offer an engagement with, and argument built upon, the theory. The assignment will not be judged on the strength of the game design itself, but on the strength of the engagement with theory, and articulation of the relationship between the theory and the design, i.e. it does not matter if the game sounds fun to play, it just matters whether your design document shows you understand the theory and demonstrates how and why the theory is relevant to the game you have created.
Whilst this is a game design document, it is an academically informed game design document and therefore requires significant independent research. It should situate the game design within the technological, political, and cultural contexts of the chosen academic topic. It should have at least 5 academic references in total, including at least one of the unit readings and at least one article from the student's own research.
Assessment Criteria for Both Options
This task will be assessed on four criteria:
Late Penalties: All assessments must be completed. If a student fails to complete an assessment they will severely compromise their ability to complete this unit. Late completions/submissions will be penalised at a rate of 10% per day. If completing/submitting an assignment late for serious reasons, medical certificates or Special Consideration documentation must be supplied.
Students must apply for Special Consideration through ask.mq.edu.au
Lectures: MECO329 does not have live lectures. The lectures for MECO329 are video-recordings available online through iLearn. Students are expected to engage with lectures and to actively relate lecture content to tutorial discussions, online participation, and assessments.
Tutorials: Participation in tutorial activities and in-class exercises form an integral part of MECO329. Students are expected to arrive punctually and actively participate in class work. A mark is allocated for in-class participation in this unit and a roll will be taken at the beginning of each class. If students arrive over 15 minutes late for a tutorial without sufficient reason, they will be deemed absent for that class.
Students should note that they are expected to attend all tutorials over the semester. Missing more than two tutorials will automatically result in a 50% penalty within the in-class Participation component. If missing a tutorial for serious reasons, medical certificates or Special Consideration documentation must be supplied to avoid this penalty.
Tutorials begin in Week 2
Required and recommended texts and/or materials: The MECO329 Reader is required for this unit and contains weekly required readings. It will be available through the Co-Op bookshop
Technologies used: The iLearn site for MECO329 is accessible at: http://ilearn.mq.edu.au/. A computer and Internet access are required to complete assessments in MECO329. Basic computer skills (e.g., internet browsing) and skills in word processing are also a requirement.
Assessment Submission: All assignments for MECO329 will be completed/submitted online, via iLearn. Further details on submission will be explained in tutorials.
Return of marked work: Marked work will be returned to students through the online system.
Consultation: By appointment only
Week by week schedule and full details of unit readings available through iLearn.
Macquarie University policies and procedures are accessible from Policy Central. Students should be aware of the following policies in particular with regard to Learning and Teaching:
Academic Honesty Policy http://mq.edu.au/policy/docs/academic_honesty/policy.html
Assessment Policy http://mq.edu.au/policy/docs/assessment/policy.html
Grading Policy http://mq.edu.au/policy/docs/grading/policy.html
Grade Appeal Policy http://mq.edu.au/policy/docs/gradeappeal/policy.html
Grievance Management Policy http://mq.edu.au/policy/docs/grievance_management/policy.html
Disruption to Studies Policy http://www.mq.edu.au/policy/docs/disruption_studies/policy.html The Disruption to Studies Policy is effective from March 3 2014 and replaces the Special Consideration Policy.
In addition, a number of other policies can be found in the Learning and Teaching Category of Policy Central.
Macquarie University students have a responsibility to be familiar with the Student Code of Conduct: https://students.mq.edu.au/support/student_conduct/
MMCCS Session Re-mark Application http://www.mq.edu.au/pubstatic/public/download/?id=167914
Information is correct at the time of publication
Macquarie University provides a range of support services for students. For details, visit http://students.mq.edu.au/support/
Learning Skills (mq.edu.au/learningskills) provides academic writing resources and study strategies to improve your marks and take control of your study.
Students with a disability are encouraged to contact the Disability Service who can provide appropriate help with any issues that arise during their studies.
For all student enquiries, visit Student Connect at ask.mq.edu.au
For help with University computer systems and technology, visit http://informatics.mq.edu.au/help/.
When using the University's IT, you must adhere to the Acceptable Use Policy. The policy applies to all who connect to the MQ network including students.
Our graduates will take with them the intellectual development, depth and breadth of knowledge, scholarly understanding, and specific subject content in their chosen fields to make them competent and confident in their subject or profession. They will be able to demonstrate, where relevant, professional technical competence and meet professional standards. They will be able to articulate the structure of knowledge of their discipline, be able to adapt discipline-specific knowledge to novel situations, and be able to contribute from their discipline to inter-disciplinary solutions to problems.
This graduate capability is supported by:
We want our graduates to be capable of reasoning, questioning and analysing, and to integrate and synthesise learning and knowledge from a range of sources and environments; to be able to critique constraints, assumptions and limitations; to be able to think independently and systemically in relation to scholarly activity, in the workplace, and in the world. We want them to have a level of scientific and information technology literacy.
This graduate capability is supported by:
Our graduates should be capable of researching; of analysing, and interpreting and assessing data and information in various forms; of drawing connections across fields of knowledge; and they should be able to relate their knowledge to complex situations at work or in the world, in order to diagnose and solve problems. We want them to have the confidence to take the initiative in doing so, within an awareness of their own limitations.
This graduate capability is supported by:
Our graduates will also be capable of creative thinking and of creating knowledge. They will be imaginative and open to experience and capable of innovation at work and in the community. We want them to be engaged in applying their critical, creative thinking.
This graduate capability is supported by:
We want to develop in our students the ability to communicate and convey their views in forms effective with different audiences. We want our graduates to take with them the capability to read, listen, question, gather and evaluate information resources in a variety of formats, assess, write clearly, speak effectively, and to use visual communication and communication technologies as appropriate.
This graduate capability is supported by:
Date | Description |
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28/02/2014 | The Description was updated. |