W 6:30 - 9:30 BH 355

9 units

Instructor: Gregory Cato

Office:

Home Phone: 802-7756

Aristotle (1997). Poetics – Dover Thrift Edition. Dover Pub. Inc.

Biocca, Frank, Mark R. Levy (1994). Communication in the Age of Virtual Reality. Lawrence Erlbaum Assoc. (Out of Print)

Campbell, Colin (1987). The Romantic Ethic and the Spirit of Modern Consumerism. B. Blackwell. (Out of Print)

Cassell, Justine (Ed.), Henry Jenkins (Ed.) (1998). From Barbie to Mortal Kombat : Gender and Computer Games. MIT Press.

Cherney, Lynn (Ed.), Elizabeth Reba Weise (Ed.) (1996). Wired Women : Gender and New Realities in Cyberspace. Seal Press.

Corrigan, Timothy. (1998). A Short Guide to Writing about Film. Longman.

Croteau, D. (1997). Media/Society: industries, images, and audiences. Pine Forge Press.

Deibert, Ronald J. (1997). Parchment, Printing, and Hypermedia: Communication in World Order Transformation. Columbia University Press.

Herz, J.C. (1997). Joystick Nation: How videogames ate our quarters, won our hearts, and rewired our minds. Little, Brown.

Laurel, Brenda (1993). Computers as Theatre. Addison-Wesley Pub. Co.

Morse, Margaret (1998). Virtualities: Television, Media Art, and Cyberculture. Indiana University Press.

Biocca, F. (1992). Communication within virtual reality: Creating a space for research. Journal of Communication, 42(4). 5-97.

Brown, N. L., Brown, S. L., Brown, R. M., Hall, L. R., Holtzer, R. (1997). Gender and video game performance. Sex Roles, 36, Nos. 11/12, 793-813.

Bush, G. W. (1991). Like "a Drop of Water in the Stream of Life": Moving Images of Mass Man from Griffith to Vidor. Journal of American Studies, 25, No. 2, 213-234.

Dietz, T. L. (1998). An examination of violence and gender role portrayals in video games: Implications for gender socialization and aggressive behavior. Sex Roles, 38, Nos. 5/6, 425-442.

Funk, J. B., Buchman, D. D. (1996). Children’s perceptions of gender differences in social approval for playing electronic games. Sex Roles, 35, Nos. 3/4, 219-231.

Funk, J. B., Buchman, D. D. (1996). Playing violent video and computer games and adolescent self-concept. Journal of Communication, 46(2), 19-32.

Funk, J.B., Buchman, D. D., Flores, G., Germann, J. N. (1999). Rating Electronic Games: Violence is in the Eye of the Beholder. Sex Roles, 30, No. 3, March, 283-312.

Gailey, C. W. (1993). Mediated messages: Gender, class, and cosmos in home video games. Journal of Popular Culture, 27, 81-97.

Gaines, J. (?). Fabricating the female body.

Griffiths, M. (1997). Computer game playing in early adolescence. Youth & Society. 29, No. 2, Dec., 223-237.

Jacobson, D. (1996). Contexts and cues in cyberspace. Journal of Anthropological Research. 52, 461-479.

Katz, P. A., Ksansnak K. R. (1994). Developmental aspects of gender role flexibility and traditionality in middle childhood and adolescence. Developmental Psychology, 30, No. 2, 272-282.

Messaris, P. (1998). Visual Aspects of Media Literacy. Journal of Communication. Winter.

Meyrowitz, J. (1997). Multiple media literacies. Journal of Communication. Winter.

Miles, D. (1996). The CD-ROM novel Myst and McLuhan’s fourth law of media: Myst and its "Retrievals." Journal of Communication, 46(2), 4-32.

Panelas, T. (1983). Adolescents and video games. Youth & Society. 15, No. 1, Sept., 51-65.

Parks, M. R. (1996). Making friends in cyberspace. Journal of Communication, 46(1), 80-97.

Parks, M. R., Roberts, L. D. (1998). ‘Making MOOsic’. Jornal of Social and Personal Relationships. 15(4), 517-537.

Pettegrew, J. (1992). A Post-Modernist Moment: 1980’s Commercial Culture and the Founding of MTv. Journal of American Culture. 15(4), Winter, 57-66.

Ryan, E. B., Anas, A. P., Hummert, M. L., Laver-Ingram, A. (1998). Young and older adult’s views of telephone talk. Journal of Applied Communication Research. 26, 83-98.

Schwartz, H. (1998). Inter.Act.Exeunt: Are computer games interactive? The Communication Review. 2(4), 523-531.

Scodari, C. (1993). Operation Desert Storm as "Wargames": Sport, War, and Media Intertextuality. Journal of American Culture, 16(1), Spring, 1-6.

Vered, K. O. (1998). Blue group boys play Incredible Machine, girls play hopscotch: Social discourse and gendered play at the computer. Digital Diversion: Youth culture in the age of multimedia.

Weisband, S. Kiesler, S. (1996). Self disclosure on computer forms. Internet.

Ardai, C. (1997). A woman’s place: From Donkey Kong to Tomb Raider, how women’s roles have (and haven’t) changed. Computer Gaming World, Nov, 381.

Ardai, C. (1997). Hollywood hooey: Why games should not try to be movies. Computer Gaming World, Oct, 304.

Ardai, C. (1997). The death of science fiction: When bad things happen to good sci-fi games. Computer Gaming World, Aug, 219-222.

Brown, B. (1998). That’s me in the middle. New Scientist, Sept. 26^th, 30-31.

Bruckman, A., et al. (1994). Approaches to managing deviant behavior in virtual communities. Proceedings of CHI. April 24-27^th.

Bruckman, A. (1996). Finding one’s own in cyberspace. Internet.

Cirulis, M. (1997) What’s the deal with … killing reality?. Computer Gaming World, Sept, 298.

Cirulis, M. (1997). What’s the deal with … psycho geeks?. Computer Gaming World, May, 250.

Demaris, D., J. Lebkowsky, P. X. Nathan (1995). Allucquere Rosanne Stone interview for Mondo 2000. Mondo 2000.

Duncan, T. (1999). More than plastic. Artbyte, Feb-March.

Furger, R. (1998). Does shoot-‘em-up software lead to aggressive behavior?. CNN Interactive. Nov. 2^nd.

Grierson, B. (1999). Headrush. Adbusters. Spring, 25.

Hamilton, R. (1997). Virtual idols and digital girls. Bad Subjects. No. 35, Nov.

Hoffman, C., Hurst, E. (1997). Action figures have sex on our computers. Bad Subjects. No. 35, Nov.

Jenkins, D. (1998). Interview with Toby Gard from Confounding Factor. Gamasutra. Oct. 23^rd.

Jenkins, H. (1997). Videogames are good for you!. Next Generation, May, 8-13,161-162.

Locutus (1996). Identity, paranoia, technology. Internet.

Moriarty, B. (1998). What have we learned about online gaming?. Next Generation, March, 10-14.

Next Generation Staff (1998). 20,000 Leagues: The Adventure Continues: Next Generation Alphas. Next Generation, Feb, 96-97.

Rosenthal, S. (1993). Interview with Brenda Laurel. Mondo 2000.

Smith, J. (1997). The most popular woman in the world!. Next Generation, Dec, 8-13.

Sperry, B., D. Perry, P. Molyneux, J. Smith, D. Jones, D. Barben (1998). A Meeting of the Minds. Next Generation, Feb, 55-61.

Wilson, J. (1997). Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Byte. Computer Gaming World, Nov, 27.

Wallace and Gromit: The Wrong Trowsers (Short)

academic.english.76-238

http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/course/76-238

Next Generation Online

http://www.next-generation.com

Gamasutra

http://www.gamasutra.com

GameGirlz

http://www.gamegirlz.com

Loonygames

http://www.loonygames.com

GameSpot

http://www.gamespot.com

The Adrenaline Vault

http://www.avault.com

Happy Puppy

http://www.happypuppy.com

25% Class participation

• 15% attendance, 10% discussion
• If you miss more than 2 classes without approval, you will receive a 0.

25% Reading responses

• 10 total, 3% each

30% Film/game critiques

• 3 total, 10% each

20% Final project

J.C. Herz (A)

Jeanne Funk (A)

Brenda Laurel (A/I)

Purple Moon

Frederick Raynal (I)

Adeline; Twinsen’s Odyssey, Relentless, Alone in the Dark series

Jordan Mechner (I)

Richard Garriott (I)

Origin Systems; Ultima series

Peter Molyneux (I)

Bullfrog, LionHead; Populous, Dungeon Keeper, Theme Park, Theme Hospital

Brian Moriarty (I)

Interplay, MPlayer

Neil West (P)

Next Generation

Johnny Wilson (P)

Computer Gaming World

Readings: Joystick Nation – Up to chapter 9

Handout – The Vision of Virtual Reality

Handout – A Short Guide to Writing about Film

Viewing: The Battleship Potempkin

Readings: Joystick Nation – Finish

Computers as Theatre – Forward, Chapter 1

Handout – Dramatic Structure

Handout – Notes on Plot, Character, Conflict, Acting

Handout – Are Games Interactive?

Lecture: Don Marinelli, Prof. of Drama, Co-Director of ETC.

Readings: Computers as Theatre – Chapters 2,3

Handout – The CD-ROM novel Myst and McLuhan’s fourth law of media

Assignment: Paper on a commercial. Due Feb. 5^th 5pm under my office door, BH 145E.

Viewing: Gauntlet, Super Bomberman, Chronotrigger

Readings: Computers as Theatre – Chapters 4, 7

Poetics

Handout – Communication within virtual reality

Handout – Mondo 2000 interview with Brenda Laurel

Readings: Handout – young and older adult's views of telephone talk (gone over in class)

Handout – contexts and cues in cyberspace

Readings: Wired Women –

Asssignment: Game Paper I: Due 1^st weekend in March .

Viewing: Starcraft

Readings: From Barbie to Mortal Kombat -

Chapters 1-3

Viewing: Barbie Fashion Designer

Readings: From Barbie to Mortal Kombat – Chapters 11,14

Viewing: The Last Express

Readings: From Barbie to Mortal Kombat - Chapters 12,13

Assignment: Game Paper II: Due Friday, April 9th

Readings: Virtualities - Part One (chapters 1,2) (important)

Viewing: Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Readings: Virtualities - Chapter 1 (re-read)

Viewing: Half-Life, Ultima 4

Readings: Virtualities – Part Two (chapters 3,4,5)

Handout – The romantic ethic and the spirit of modern consumerism

Assignment: Final Project: Due Friday, May 7th

Viewing: Alpha Centauri

Readings: Parchment, Printing, and Hypermedia –

Readings: Handout – A Post-Modernist Moment

Handout – Operation Desert Storm as "Wargames"

Handout – Rating Electronic Games

Handout – Headrush

Assignment: Come up with one question you’d like the group to answer next week