Missing Chapter Notes

Common chapter traits 
  • Citations to external sources
  • Centered on a theme (which is the title)
    • Generally something that can apply to other media
    • Games frame/articulate themes
  • Uses video games as examples
    • Some of these games are obscure
    • Some of the themes only appear in these particular examples
  • Some thematic introduction
  • Some conclusion

Traits of memorable/effective chapters
  • Easily-applicable principle (visible in "Transit")
  • Inventive concept (visible in "Transit")
  • Use of better-known games (visible in "Transit")
  • Clear in-game examples of topic (visible in "Empathy")
  • Coherence between title and content (visible in "Empathy")
  • Counterexamples (visible in "Kitsch")
  • Connection to other media (visible in "Texture")

Chapter audience and tone
  • Media criticism? 
  • Novelistic? 
    • Maybe not… But popular? 
  • A list of things video games can do 
    • Which is an implicit argument for their legitimacy 
  • Some expectations of background knowledge 
    • Easter eggs? 
    • Discussion of art movements 
  • Is this preaching to the choir?

Possible topics
  • Humor/Comedy
  • Craft
  • History
  • Gender/Feminism/Empowerment/Equality
  • Patriarchy 
  • Management
  • Mortality/Consequence/Danger/Undeath
  • Education
  • Risk/Choice?
  • Projection (personal, in the sense of an avatar)
  • Competition
  • Probing (figuring out rules/physics of a system)
  • Armageddon/Eschatology 
  • Morality
  • Maturation
  • Race (and analogy)
  • Meditation/Theology/Partisanship

Course Information

Instructor Information