Project Brief

Course: BA/FdA Games Art and Design
Year: Two
Unit: BA6: Contexts: Collaboration, audience and employability
Project Title Advanced Game Studies and Research
Project 3 of 3 within this unit
Start Date: 14/03/11
Study Hours: 70
Submission Date: 16/05/11
Tutor(s): TBC

Description
This unit provides a deeper investigation of the critical approaches to digital game studies. It explores theoretical ideas and concepts that impact both on the academic study of games and their practical creation.

You will consider the persuasive capabilities for games beyond acting purely as entertainment; looking at education, commercial, and political games you will evaluate the ability of digital games to change the world. The unit will question the ethics of game design; if games are indeed a persuasive medium what ethical implications are there for the game designer? The unit also considers many of the debates around digital games in contemporary society and look at possible versions of the future. Finally, you will gain enhanced knowledge regarding the skills needed for an extended research project.

Working individually you will produce a online research blog that explores and applies appropriate theories and concepts through critical analysis.

This project addresses the key areas of study as follows:

Studio Practice: Not applicable for this project.

Business and Professional Skills: You will learn theoretical elements essential to the practical design process of a commercially or critically successful digital game. You will gain further understanding of the development of game modes and industries, presenting findings in a professional and appropriate manner.

Contextual Studies: You will undertake extensive primary and secondary research. Using analogue (books, journals, etc.) and digital (websites, e-journals, academic blogs) sources to evidence your understanding of theories and practices you will apply these through critical analysis and integrate them into your practice. The tone of the research must be academic and investigative, and should be communicated with clarity and creativity.

Personal Development and Planning: Not applicable for this project.

The table below lists the work you will need to submit and which areas of study each item relates to:

Work required for this project:
Area of study

Which Unit Assessment Requirement this work contributes to:

Research Blog, containing a variety of audio-visual media [Blogger / Wordpress converted to PDF]

Contextual Studies / Business and Professional Skills
All work MUST be correctly formatted and submitted to the Digital 3D server. Folder structures and naming conventions must be adhered to precisely.

Contextual Studies / Business and Professional Skills

Not assessed in this project:
Studio practice / PDP
n/a

The table below shows which of the Unit Learning Outcomes are addressed by this project and what you will need to do to show that you have met them:

Learning Outcome How you will be assessed:

LO10: Use a range of strategies to articulate and extend the limits of your subject and contextual knowledge. We will look for evidence of understanding and evaluation of critical approaches and theoretical ideas regarding contemporary digital games.

LO11: Communicate your work and ideas effectively and clearly to a range of audiences using image, text and the spoken word. We expect clear, concise, and appropriately communicated research and analysis, professionally presented in the correct format.

Reference material

Bogost, I. (2007) Persuasive Games: The Expressive Power of Video Games. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Bogost, I. (2006) Unit Operations: An Approach to Video Game Criticism. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Raessens, J. and Goldstein, J. ed. (2005) Handbook of Computer Game Studies. Cambridge, MA:

MIT Press.
Salen, K. and Zimmerman, E. ed. (2006) The Game Design Reader: A Rules of Play Anthology.

Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Sicart, M. (2009) The Ethics of Computer Games. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Games and Culture. [Internet] Available from: [Accessed 18 February 2010].

Game Studies. [Internet] Available from: [Accessed 18 February 2010].