Honors College 499DB - Hons Thesis-VidGames/Sim 2nd

Do video games function as unimportant simulations of the real? If digital games are indeed simulations, what can the time we spend playing in digital environments tell us about how other types of simulations (television, the news, the Internet) function? Are games as simulations designed specifically to deceive, distract, and/or entertain, or do video games and their predominance suggest that we have successfully destroyed and disordered our shared realities, as theorist Jean Baudrillard once melancholically predicted would happen? In this course we will study digital games and various theories of simulation as our foundational texts. We will analyze games as simulations in order to explore other pressing themes and concepts that are relevant to digital cultural studies more broadly, including: narrative, ideology, representation, computation, and play. We will play and analyze video games throughout the year but previous experience playing or studying games is not required. Games are likely to include: emergent virtual reality games, Burger Time, Kid Icarus, Detroit: Become Human, The Walking Dead, The Sims, and Far Cry 5. Students will be encouraged to research and write about games and aspects of digital or narrative culture of their choice.

This course is open to Senior Commonwealth College students only.