Game Studies

Media Studies 360
Intended for 40 undergraduate students
Spring 2025 at the University of Victoria
lək̓ʷəŋən and WSÁNEĆ territories
M and Th, 1 - 2:20pm | 1.5 units | prereq: AWR
Taught by Jentery Sayers (he / him) | jentery@uvic.ca
Office hours: M and Th, 12-1pm, in CLE D331

Worksheet 3

Worksheet 3 covers course material since January 9th (“Work and Play”). Your response is due via Brightspace by Monday, March 17th, at 1pm.

The worksheet is open-book, meaning you are allowed to use the course website, the class notebook, your own notes, recordings of class sessions, the library, and the internet to address the prompts.

Please cite your source material.

Download the Worksheet

Please download the worksheet (DOCX format) to complete it in a word processor such as Microsoft Word, Google Docs, OpenOffice, LibreOffice, or Pages for Mac.

Format

This open-book worksheet contains three prompts, and I will mark it holistically rather than giving each response a separate mark.

Please use no more than 400 words to respond to each prompt.

Some prompts ask or allow you to create media. Please attach your audio, image, or video files to your response in Brightspace. Do not use YouTube, SoundCloud, Vimeo, Google Drive, or any other non-Brightspace platform to submit files.

If you play a game with someone else or observe them playing (outside of Twitch, YouTube, or a similar public streaming or publishing platform), then please first acquire their written or recorded permission and include it as part of your submission.

The Three Prompts

Prompt 1. Select a game you’ll likely study for the final essay in this course. Then use two or three sentences to respond to each of the following seven questions (for a total of no more than 21 sentences). Your sentences should be precise and convincing. Ideally, they’re distillations of larger, more complex ideas. You should use course terminology where applicable, especially in cases where a term will reduce your word count and help with precision.

1. Describe the game as an activity system (aka a “genre set”): its conventions, what players expect of it, what it prompts players to do, and what kinds of uptake are either common or unique in it.
2. How does the game rely on affect to connect with players? Describe the fidelity of that connection.
3. To what degree does the game’s world cohere? Describe its aesthetic and messaging.
4. How does the game teach you to play it? Describe its approach to tutorialization and how it acknowledges progress.
5. How does the game end, or how do you know when it’s over? Describe its relation to uncertainty and satisfaction, including (where applicable) the time required to complete it.
6. What’s one way to “cheat” at the game? Identify a community who would “police” such cheating.
7. Communicate the social, cultural, or political significance of the game to a Game Studies skeptic.

You’re welcome to include documentation (audio, video, or images) to support your responses.

Prompt 2. Return to the same game and select three secondary sources about it or related to it. Then, for each source, please:

1. Summarize its argument or theme.
2. Describe its motivations or what it cares most about.
3. Identify three of its keywords (i.e., terms it uses often).
4. Communicate its relevance to your own research (e.g., why you might refer to it in your essay).
5. Integrate course terminology where applicable.
6. Include a citation for it in MLA, Chicago, APA, or the like.

Secondary sources include academic publications (see JCMS, CSMC, New Media & Society, American Journal of Play, Analog Game Studies, Game Studies, First Person Scholar, Eludamos, Well Played, and Loading…), games media and criticism (see Patch, Heterotopias, Uppercut, Unwinnable, Lock On, APWOT, and Remap), and video essays and recorded talks (see GDC, Jacob Geller, Anita Sarkeesian, Polygon, Game Maker’s Toolkit, and Writing on Games).

Prompt 3. Return to that game one more time to share (in writing) a potential theme for your final essay. The theme should:

1. Be a compelling idea or interesting topic you could follow through your essay, from start to finish. You might call it a “thread.” It helps your essay cohere and keep your audience engaged.
2. Define the goals, direction, and scope of your essay. Make the theme as specific as possible to avoid “scope creep.”
3. Identify your intended audience, who should be specific (e.g., not “gamers” or “scholars” but “fans of visual novels,” “developers of puzzle games,” or “scholars of simulation games”).
4. Engage current or pressing issues in Game Studies, including issues from at least two entries in the class notebook. Say why these issues matter, for whom they matter most, and how you’re approaching them.
5. Include a significant claim with which someone could disagree. That is, the claim should be arguable (not just an opinion). You might even share a “counterclaim” or why someone would disagree with you: “While X say that Game is Y, I demonstrate why it’s Z.”
6. Integrate evidence or documentation of you playing a game (aka, a primary source). For this reason, your theme can be communicated from a first-person POV if you wish. Your essay can also use first-person language.
7. Integrate at least three secondary sources (see Prompt 2). This way, your theme converses with themes in other people’s work.

Include any documentation (audio, video, or images) you wish to support your theme.

Assessment

I will use the following rubric, based on UVic’s official grading system, to assess your responses.

• 89.5-100 (exceeds all expectations of the worksheet): the responses are compelling; they address all the prompts and apply course terminology; they enhance the course material, including lectures, class discussions, the class notebook, and our engagements with games listed in the syllabus; the use of examples is clear, focused, convincing, and inventive (original insight)
• 79.5-89 points (exceeds some or most expectations of the worksheet): the responses are compelling; they address all the prompts and apply course terminology; they correspond with the course material, including lectures, class discussions, the class notebook, and our engagements with games listed in the syllabus; the use of examples is clear, focused, and convincing
• 69.5-79 points (meets or mostly meets the expectations of the worksheet): the responses address all the prompts and apply course terminology; they correspond with the course material, including lectures, class discussions, the class notebook, and our engagements with games listed in the syllabus; the use of examples is often convincing but may warrant some clarification
• 59.5-69 points (meets some expectations of the worksheet): the responses address some of the prompts and apply some course terminology; they correspond with some of the course material, including lectures, class discussions, the class notebook, and our engagements with games listed in the syllabus; the use of examples warrants some clarification
• 49.5-59 points (does not meet the expectations of the worksheet): the responses do not correspond much, if at all, with the course material or the prompts
• 0-49 points: no responses or incomplete responses

1 point will be deducted for every 25 words over the prescribed word count.

10 points will be deducted from the overall mark if no references are included at the end of the worksheet (see “Citing Your Sources”).

5 points will be deducted from the overall mark if the references at the end of the worksheet are not formatted according to an established citation style (see “Citing Your Sources”).

Your mark for Worksheet 3 will constitute 20% of your final mark in this course.

You do not need to meet the word count in each response to earn a high mark.

I recommend using prose (paragraphs) rather than point form in your response to Prompt 3. Prose is more synthetic and will allow you to make connections.

Citing Your Sources

Please do not forget to cite any material from which you draw ideas or examples. This includes games, videos, podcasts, and streams as well as academic publications such as monographs and journal articles. You are welcome to use your preferred citation style (MLA, Chicago, or APA, e.g.).

What to Submit

Please submit a DOCX, ODT, PAGES, or PDF file containing your answers and references along with any media files you were prompted to attach or embed.

When to Submit It

A response to Worksheet 3 is due by 1pm on Monday, March 17th, but there is a grace period. I will deduct five points for every business day I receive Worksheet 3 after 1pm on Friday, March 21st. I will close the submission portal for Worksheet 3 at 1pm on Monday, March 31st, and cannot accept any submissions after the portal is closed. I do not accept any submissions by email.