Humanities Arts Cultural Stu 0220 - Robots & In/Humanity in Games: Exploring the Agency, Embodiment, and Marginality of Robotic Figures in Digital Games

Robots have long been a critical inflection point of play throughout the history of game development. Through a combination of critical play, discussion, analysis, and creative exercises, students will explore the interactive positioning of robotic figures in games and gain insights into how robots have served as symbols of both technological advancements and cultural anxieties. This course also investigates what robots signify in relation to labor, autonomy, dis/ability, identity, and empathy - and, more broadly, what criteria is used to grant (and deny) humanity and personhood to someone or something Keywords:Games, interactivity, robots, agency, media

In/Justice Students should expect to spend 6-8 hours weekly on work and preparation outside of class time Books: Books: Rossum's Universal Robots by Karel Capek Turing's Cathedral by George Dyson A Cyborg Manifesto by Donna Haraway Unit Operations: An Approach to Videogame Criticism by Ian Bogost Library Materials: Games: Detroit: Become Human (Quantic Dream, 2018), I, Robot (Llamasoft Ltd., 2025), Dustborn (Red Thread Games, 2024), The Red Strings Club (Deconstructeam, 2018), Halo: Combat Evolved (Bungie, 2001), Custom Robo (Noise, 2004) Films: The Iron Giant (1999), Blade Runner (1982)