2. TODAY
1. Icebreaker
2. Syllabus– any questions?
3. Reminders of things you need to do
4. Fantasy Football and a Game of Tweets
5. Major assignment 1: Skill Set Portfolio
6. Discussion and activity: Ludology and
Narratology
7. Homework

3. Every day for the first few weeks, we will do
an icebreaker to start class and help us to get
to know each other. Today’s question is an
easy one: who is your favorite video game
character and why?

5. Syllabus
You should have read over the syllabus and all of
the course activities for today. So this is just a
slide to hold the screen while I ask if you have
questions and we address them.
So… any questions? Don’t be shy!

6. Reminders. For this week, you need to:
1)Play Pacman, Donkey Kong, and one other
game
2)Write your Google+ post about playing
those games
3)Write your two Tumblr posts
4)Set your fantasy football draft order

7. Skill Set Portfolio
I want to now discuss your skill set portfolio
assignment. I’m going to alt-tab over to the website
and display the assignment while we talk about it.
Alt-tab time!

8. For today, I had you read an article by Gonzolo Frasca.
For those of you with a game studies background, the
material was probably review, but if you are new to it,
one of the key things you need to know about the
landscape of game theory (at least as relates to video
games) is the split between narratology and ludology.

9. Narratology
A narrative perspective of gaming expects a
narrative structure (linear, story-based) akin to a
novel. Think of a game like Final Fantasy 7, where
there are characters with developed stories, cut-
scenes, and while there is some flexibility in some
cases, there is an actual narrative arc. The game
begins and ends because of a story.

10. Ludology embraces games as rule-sets. A ludus has a
set of rules, and that defines how the game works. For
example, you cannot move a knight on a chess board
diagonally because the ludus has already dictated that
it moves in that “L” shape.

11. Activity
Pair up, or form groups of 3. In your groups, I want
you to construct four paragraph-or-less definitions.
In your words:
1) A game, from the perspective of a narratologist
2) A game, from the perspective of a ludologist
3) A game, if we make them compromise and work
together
4) A game, in your group’s words
Email me your responses: alexanp3

12. With our remaining time, are there any questions?
Remember your play activity, your tumblrs, and the
fantasy football stuff.

13. Homework
For next week, read:
“The Game, the player, the world” by Jesper Juul
and
“Good Games, Good Learning” by James Paul Gee
Start work on your skill portfolios.
See you Tuesday!