The document outlines instructions for a 1500-word research essay focusing on the relationships between play and games, using readings from Module 1 and additional research. It emphasizes the importance of a coherent argument, critical engagement with both core and supplementary academic materials, and adherence to APA 6th edition referencing style. The document also highlights the significance of video games in contemporary society, their cultural implications, and the necessity for deep analysis and understanding of gaming as a critical field of study.

1. Assessment 1- Short essay
Instructions:
Essay Topic
:
Using reading from module 1 (and extra research if needed)
Main Question: demonstrate your understanding of the
relationships between play and games.
You are advised to base your discussion around one game. Here
are some examples to get you thinking:
The End of Us
The Republia Times
The Raccoon Who Lost Their Shape
Entire Screen of One Game
Cookie Clicker
My Garbage Cat Wakes Me Up at 3am Every Day
Zork
Small Worlds
The essay should be
1500 words
in length, including in-text references; however, your reference
list is not included in this count. You have 10% flexibility with

2. the word limit, but being substantially under or over-length will
result in a poorer mark.
Please keep in mind, you will need to develop your own
analysis in this essay. Even if you agree completely with one
article or book you are using, you will need to present a larger
and more balanced examination than any single source can
provide. You will be expected to have read and to utilise both
core and deeper readings from the relevant topic. As this is a
research essay, to do well you may also need to find appropriate
additional material to further your analysis.
Your essay should include a fully formed introduction and
conclusion, should be written in paragraph form, should present
a clear argument and should meaningfully engage with the
readings provided in the unit as well as including credible
material from additional sources if required. Your essay should
follow the APA 6th ed. referencing style.
Criteria for Assessment
You will be assessed on:
· Accurate definition of terms
· Clear and coherent writing and expression (spelling, grammar
and formatting)
· Use of reading and accurate referencing following correct
APA 6th ed. style
· Development of a coherent argument
Module-1:
In the first part of the unit we begin by unpacking our

3. understanding of play and games. This is followed by a critical
discussion of immersion and interactivity as core themes
defining online and digital forms of play. This will function to
springboard our discussion of deeper concepts in the second
module, giving us a functional grounding in the early theories
of play and gaming.
Topic 1.1: Play: An Introduction
Topic 1.2: Games and Rules
Topic 1.3: Immersion, Interactivity, and Narrative
Topic 1.1: Play: An Introduction
Play
In this unit we explore the evolution of web-based play and
examine the crucial role of Internet connectivity in the
contemporary video game industry. As we begin, however, a
few of you might still be wondering: why study video games at
all? Why do games matter? And why should we take them
seriously in an academic context?
The short answer is that video games represent the single
largest industry spawned by digital media. Globally, the video
game industry is worth over one hundred billion dollars and
increases in value each year.
Recent studies indicate that this trend will continue
.
As a result, the video game industry represents an important
source of employment for a wide range of people. Students
taking this unit may decide to pursue one of these jobs in

4. future:
- game designer, producer, or AI programmer;
- background, character, storyboard, or texture artist;
- audio technician, voice actor, sound designer, or composer;
- script and dialogue writer;
- promotions, marketing, social media, community and brand
manager;
- game tester, journalist or reviewer;
- game studies researcher, educator, and lecturer.
As you will see, video games also represent a meaningful area
of research that can help us learn more about culture,
psychology, economics, and contemporary society. Like film,
television, and all other media, games are embedded with
cultural themes, beliefs, and ideas that can be examined
critically. Games are not separate from culture and society, but
the evolving products of its demands, fears, communities, and
networked technologies. As such, this unit explores how games
both reflect and impact the world that produced them.
Core Readings
Each week core readings are essential to understanding and
developing the weekly topic. You must do these readings before
entering into class discussion. This first week we have two
readings; one published before digital games were invented, and
one published after.
Caillois, Roger. (1961). "The Definition of Play." In

5. Man, Play and Games
(pp.3-10). Urbana: University of Illinois Press [Find it
here
]
Nielsen, Simon Egenfeldt, Jonas Heide Smith & Susana Pajares
Tosca. (2008). "What is a Game?" In
Understanding Video Games: The Essential Introduction
(pp. 22-44). Taylor and Francis. [Available via the
library
]
Questions
1. In the 1960s, French sociologist Roger Caillois provided a
list of six defining characteristics of play. Do these six
characteristics still apply to contemporary digital gameplay?
Why/why not?
2. What are some of the challenges you might encounter when
studying video games? What key concepts are important to
understand?
3. Do you play video/computer/mobile games? Are they an
important part of your life? Why/why not?
Suggested Playing
In addition to the core readings, try playing one or more of
these free online games:
·
The End of Us
·
The Republia Times

6. ·
The Raccoon Who Lost their Shape
Topic 1.2: Games and Rules
Topic Outline
Early game theorists tended to view play and games as the same
thing in much of their work. But as games have diversified it
has become important to distinguish between them, even if just
for definitional purposes. This week we take a deeper look at
what makes a game a game (as distinct from play) and consider
the role of rules. Our first reading comes from gaming theorist
Jesper Juul who outlines six essential characteristics of games.
These characteristics allow a great deal of flexbility in
understanding how widely different media (
The Sims
vs.
World of Warcraft
, for example) can all be considered as games. The second and
third readings explore the difference between digital and
analogue games, and begin to unpack how cultural ideas are
expressed through games.
Core Readings
1) Juul, J. (2010). The game, the player, the world: Looking for
a heart of gameness.
PLURAIS-Revista Multidisciplinar da UNEB, 1
(2). 248 - 270 (Find it
here
)
2) Liebe, M. (2008). There is no magic circle: On the difference
between computer games and traditional games.

7. The Philosophy of Computer Games Conference Proceedings
, 324 - 340 (Located
here
)
Bogost, I. (2008). The rhetoric of video games. In Salen K.
(ed.),
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Series on
Digital Media and Learning
. Cambridge: The MIT Press. 117 - 140. DOI:
10.1162/dmal.9780262693646.117 (You can find it
here
)
Questions
In order to get started thinking through this area, when reading,
please consider:
1. Juul who outlines six essential characteristics of games -
what are they, and do you agree with his definition?
2. What is the difference between a toy and a game? At what
point does play become a game?
3. How are analogue and digital games different?
4. Bogost argues that "rules do not merely create the experience
of play—they also construct the meaning of the game" (2008,
p.121). What does he mean by this?
Topic 1.3: Immersion, Interactivity, and Narrative
Topic Outline
One of the core characteristics framing an understanding of

8. digital games and play is the concept of immersion. While other
media (such as film and television) are watched, assessed and
viewed, games are interactive. Through the activity of the
audience in playing, the outcome of gaming is an 'immersive'
experience in which the space of a game can become a rich and
vivid interactive world. This can create challenges in
understanding and discussing video games. Immersion is
sometimes oversimplified as creating mindless players who lose
their sense of reality. Negative ideas about immersion in
gaming include the notion that games are escapist, and can
cause people become addicted to playing; or that players lose
perspective and the ability to understand social rules and
control themselves, potentially becoming violent or reclusive.
Because video games involve an immersive experience with an
interactive text, critical theorists have clashed over how to
analyse them. Two different approaches have dominanted games
research: ludology and narratology. This week we examine the
concept of immersion alongside interactivity and narrative.
Required Reading
1) Ermi, L. and Mayra, F. (2005). Fundamental components of
the gameplay experience: Analysing immersion. Proceedings of
DiGRA 2005 Conference:
Changing Views - Worlds in Play
. (Available
here
or
here
)
2) Jenkins, H. (2004). Game design as narrative architecture,
Computer 44
(3), 118 - 130. (Find it
here
)

9. 4) Calleja, G. (2010). Digital games and escapism,
Games and Culture 5
(4), 335 - 353.
You can find it
here
. Note: you must be logged into Oasis to access this article in
the library database.
Questions
In order to get started thinking through this area, this week
please consider:
1. What is immersion? What makes a game immersive?
2. When we use the argument that games (or other media) are
'escapist,' what does that mean? Does it mean different things
for different media? Is this a problem? Why/Why not?
3. What distinguishes the different approaches of the
ludologists and the narratologists?