Examines the various ways in which videogames intersect with and borrow from other modes of play, performance and artistic/cultural/political expression. Begins with a survey of videogames history and the major concepts and debates surrounding the emerging field of game studies. Then considers the aesthetic intersections between videogames and cinema, both in popular forms of 'machinima' aid in more experimental practices. Finally, examines the various ways in which videogames operate throughout popular culture: in the emerging field of 'persuasive' or political games, as allegories of digital culture, and as agents in the development of individual and collective identity. (Summer only 2023-24).

2 units