Notes / 29 October 2018
Your game criticism essay is due this Friday, so today we will use class time to brainstorm and work through your ideas. Even if you've already got a draft of your essay complete, this is a good way to think through the key concepts and ideas in your essay.
Bearing in mind that your goal in this project is to create an interesting perspective on some broader question about or in relation to videogames, you should at least know what direction you're moving in.
This is an activity that you will complete at four stations around the room.
Start by choosing a random station. After each round, that group of you should disperse as evenly as possible to the other three stations. Repeat this process after each round, making sure that you visit each station once.
Write each game you're planning to discuss on the whiteboard. You may discuss your choices, but don't add anything else to the whiteboard. If you're looking at a series, you can list that series as one item, or you can list individual games, if that helps.
Move to a new station, and write the big ideas, cultural constructs, or other non-game things that you're focusing on for your analysis. You should discuss your ideas with the group you find yourself, but don't add anything else to this list.
Move to a new station, and discuss the ideas and games you find there. With your group, discuss the possible connections between the games and ideas you find at this new station. Draw lines making the best connections between the games and ideas that you find there. Just draw lines for this round.
For each game-idea connection, draw keyword bubbles off the end of the line that develop that connection in the best way you can think of. These could be further examples, related concepts, or relevant critical resources.
Your Homework: Prepare a draft of your critical essay, print out two copies, and bring them to class with you on Wednesday.