In preparation for Discussion Friday #7 (which happens on Oct. 15), you should read chapters 1 and 2 from James Paul Gee's What Video Games Have to Teach Us about Learning and Literacy. Then, post a comment of approximately 500 words using the form below. Remember that what is called for here is critique, not summary. Do not simply collect your reactions; organize your response into a complete statement with a beginning, middle, and end. The following prompts may help you focus your thoughts, but feel free to take your discussion in any applicable direction you wish. Make certain to cite specific portions of the text to support your ideas.

• How does this reading inform the experiences you have had with games during this semester or in your life outside of class?
• How does Gee's discussion of literacy impact this class (which is a writing class)?
• How does Gee's discussion of a "core identity" interact with learning, gaming, and aspects of identity formation in networked digital spaces (4)?
• Gee establishes video games as potentially potent learning methods; however, this potency implies that video games thereby also have the ability to cause destructive effects. How does Gee handle this contention, and what do you make of his defense?
• Bissell seems to claim that video games may be viewed as artistic works, as he encourages asking questions of games such as "What aesthetic tradition does this game fall into? How does it make me feel while I'm playing it? What emotions does it engage with, and are they appropriate to the game's theme and mechanics?" (xii). To what degree does Gee align with Bissell's perspective, and where do they differ? How does Gee see games as art, and how does he see them as something else?

I look forward to reading your work and discussing it in class.