Normally open only to Media Studies majors who have already completed 12 units of upper division work in the major. Advanced study in Media Studies with topics to be announced each semester.

Mainstream media consumption practices are part of an increasingly ‘ludic’ culture focused on play, digital gaming, and interactive media. As video games become the dominant media industry, and gamification and ludification increasingly influence our consumption of digital and social media, how can we best contextualize the significance of play, digital practice, and design? Through the politics of video games and play, this course examines the critical importance of design and digital culture in relation to ludic media, playful media practices, and digital worlds and communities. This course asks students to learn about theories of meaning, representation, and ludic culture as they pertain to questions of identity, ideology, power, and labor. Students will engage in a wide range of reading and playful activities, developing an understanding of digital games in the context of historical and contemporary events. Students will also experiment with collaboratively designed ludic media texts, developing a proposal for a game that conveys complex meaning through ludo-narrative structures and play.

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