[game_edu] Readings, Libraries & Copyright

[Ian Schreiber]

Haha... "standard"... good one. :-)

There have been numerous "must-play" lists. Whenever I try to make one of my own, I can never seem to narrow it down below 30 or so.

I think a lot depends on your goals. If it is just a matter of "game literacy" -- that is, playing at least one canonical game in each major genre, playing all the games that are well-known, and so on, then you will come up with a very different list than if you are looking for games that offered technical innovation for its time, which in turn is different from a list of games that were pioneering new forms of design or unique visual art styles or even games that were failures in notable ways.

Rather than trying to cram all of these into a single class, it might be better to spread it across the entire curriculum. Provide exposure to a few games at a time as they tie in to the content of any given course, and make sure the sum total of classes gives students exposure to all the games you'd consider "must-play". Sure, you can have a "Game Appreciation" course that covers a lot of games, but I'm not sure you could fit everything into 10 or 12 weeks... nor would you want to (else you run the danger of students thinking that all the games in that class aren't relevant to their other coursework, since it's all too self-contained).

- Ian




________________________________
From: "pawlicki at cs.rochester.edu" <pawlicki at cs.rochester.edu>
To: IGDA Game Education Listserv <game_edu at igda.org>
Sent: Tuesday, September 22, 2009 1:17:48 PM
Subject: Re: [game_edu] Readings, Libraries & Copyright


Malcolm,

I would be interested in your list.

Assuming that a semester is about 12 weeks or so, do we have
a "standard repertoire" of the top 10 games that all
students should have played and critically examined?

Ted


Thaddeus F. Pawlicki, Ph.D.
Undergraduate Program Director
Computer Science Dept.      (585) 275-4198
University of Rochester      FAX (585) 273-4556
Rochester, NY  14627-0226  pawlicki at cs.rochester.edu
http://www.cs.rochester.edu/u/pawlicki/


''One of the most difficult tasks men can perform, however much others may
despise it, is the invention of good games and it cannot be done by men out
of touch with their instinctive selves.'' - Carl Jung 1977


> Malcolm Ryan wrote:

>> As a lecturer in game design, I want to set a 'reading list' of games

>> for my students to play. In other disciplines the University has

>> standard copyright arrangements which allow them to make sets of

>> readings available to students at little or no cost, but there doesn't

>> seem to be any appropriate arrangement for software.

>>

>> Have you encountered this problem? How have you addressed it?

>>

>> I know that a lot of good cutting-edge independent work is available

>> cheaply or for free online, but I don't want to be forced to exclude

>> AAA titles from examination. Ideally I would like to set up a library

>> of games but I am worried about the copyright and licensing issues.

>> Does anyone know more about this?

>>

>> Malcolm

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