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Gaming in Everyday Life: A Global Perspective

Module description

The last two decades have seen the emergence of video games as one of the world's "go to" leisure time activities. An activity that is inherently digital, acts of digital play have emerged globally as a widely prevalent and heterogenous practice that is rich in nuance and detail. Accompanied by an industry that has steadily grown through financial recessions, reports indicate that two out of three people in the world have engaged with the medium at some point in their lives. This module will allow you to engage with video games as a medium and then look at various ways in which constituents and elements from video games have reshaped aspects of our lives. The module will introduce you to ideas like gamification, building of layered narratives, decision and choice-based progression, and other ways in which games have shaped the way we understand the lives we lead. From fitness trackers to service-based algorithms, dimensions of the gaming experience are no longer limited to just acts of leisure. By adopting a global perspective, this module will allow you to grapple with the many intersections of gaming across contexts. 

Module aims - intentions of the module

This module aims to:

1. Develop your understanding of video games as socio-cultural artifacts and examine video games as sites of play and engagement.
2. Enable you to think of practices surrounding game making and gameplay as entry points to other societal and cultural concerns.
3. Help you to critically engage with notions of work, play, leisure, gender, identity, performance, and the self when thinking about video games.
4. Look at game-based extensions in everyday life - gamification, and game-based enhancements from critical standpoints.      

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Demonstrate the ability to understand video games and acts of play, as media practices, acts of leisure, and acts/sites of co-creation.
• 2. Show a critical and in-depth understanding of the labour processes involved in the production, promotion and distribution of games
• 3. Understand the underlying mechanics of games and digital play environments and how they are applied to varying contexts like gamification.

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 4. Show the ability to apply understanding of video games from the module to examine real-world cases and scenarios.
• 5. Demonstrate the ability to identify, examine, and analyse the various narrative and playable elements of video games and reflect on the role these elements play as part of the overall experience they provide

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 6. Show a critical understanding of digital leisure practices to examine acts of play and content creation.
• 7. Demonstrate an ability to critically examine, and write/present original arguments about prevalent digital leisure practices.

Syllabus plan

This module is an introduction to understanding games as socio-cultural artefacts in the 21st century and the module is broadly divided into six parts: games and society; games, work, and labour; games and identity; games and communities; games and business; and games and the everyday. Themes in the module may include but are not limited to – gamification, player v/s gamer debate, identify and performance, acts of streaming and esports, and mediality/transmedia.   

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment. 

Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you will be required to submit a further assessment as necessary. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 40%. 

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

Basic reading:

Apperley, T. (2009). Gaming Rhythms: Play and Counterplay from the Situated to the Global (Vol. 6). Retrieved from: Lulu.com.

Deshbandhu, A. (2020). Gaming culture(s) in India: Digital play in everyday life. Routledge.

Bartle, R. (1996). Hearts, clubs, diamonds, spades: Players who suit MUDs. Journal of MUD Research, 1(1), 19.

Maigaard, P. (1951, August 30th–September 3rd). About Ludology. Presented at the 14th International Congress of Sociology Rome.

Taylor, T. L. (2009). Play between Worlds: Exploring Online Game Culture. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Shaw,A. (2015). Gaming at the Edge: Sexuality and Gender at the Margins of Gamer Culture. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

Key words search

Games; video games; everyday; virtual worlds; global perspective