Game Studies

🏫 Media Studies 360 at UVic
🎓 Intended for 40 undergraduate students
📆 Spring 2026 at the University of Victoria
🪑 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, 11:45am-12:45pm, in CLE D331

Final Project: Exhibit Option (DRAFT)

The Exhibit Option for the Final Project in MDIA360 covers all course material since January 8th (“Situating Play”). Your response is due via Brightspace by Thursday, April 16th, at 1pm. The Essay is your other option for the Final Project. It has the same due date.

This assignment is open-book, meaning you are allowed to use the course website, the class notebook, your own notes, recordings of class sessions, the library, books, journal articles, games, and the internet to address the prompt.

I recommend reviewing your WS1, WS2, and research prospectus before you begin this assignment. How might you integrate some of that material with your final project? Build on existing research. Avoid reinventing the wheel. Also . . .

Please cite your source material.

Scenario

Imagine a media gallery in Victoria invited you and nine other critics to contribute to an upcoming exhibit titled, Stories about Playing Games. They ask you to select a game you care about, describe it, explain its significance, and narrate your experiences playing it. Rather than asking visitors to play the game on site, they want to mount your gameplay footage of it. Visitors to the space will be able to view the footage on a loop, read your account of it, and purchase a print catalogue of the exhibition. After the event, you and the gallery will work with UVic Media Studies (MDIA) to archive your footage in MDIA’s Gameplay Footage Collection for use by future researchers, including students.

Format

Your participation in Stories about Playing Games means you’ll need to:

Identify a game you care about. It can be digital or analog: a card, board, tabletop, roleplaying, alternate reality, virtual reality, computer, video, or mobile game.
Record some gameplay footage. The gallery wants 5-8 video files, each at least a minute long but no longer than five minutes. Each file will run on a loop on a dedicated flat tv panel mounted to a gallery wall with headphones attached (so, 5-8 screens and pairs of headphones). The files will then be archived online in MDIA’s Gameplay Footage Collection. You do not need to include yourself in the gameplay footage, which may contain voice-over, a face camera, actual play, and/or screen recordings. The footage should be recorded purposefully; that is, there should be a reason why you recorded a particular moment in the game, and that reason should be evident to your audience as they watch and listen.
Complete a spreadsheet by providing metadata for each of your 5-8 video files. You should dedicate one row to each video file and enter data in every column. The gallery’s provided you with dropdown menus for your convenience, and the spreadsheet itself is based on a metadata scheme created specifically for UVic’s Gameplay Footage Collection. As you enter the metadata, the gallery and MDIA encourage you to consider matters of (planned) obsolescence: whether the game will be available to play in 5-10 years and why future researchers (including students) may search for your footage and rely on it for their work.
Acquire written or recorded permission from anyone who appears in your footage or contributed to it.
Download and complete the gallery’s template (DOCX) for entries in its experimental exhibition catalogue.

Assessment

Your mark for the Final Project constitutes 30% of your final mark in this course.

Note that, as part of your response to the above scenario, you’re expected to cite, integrate, and apply course material from each of MDIA360’s three modules (including secondary sources referenced in the class notebook).

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

89.5-100 (exceeds all expectations): the exhibit is compelling; it addresses the prompt and applies course terminology; it enhances 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): the exhibit is compelling; it addresses the prompt and applies course terminology; it corresponds 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): the exhibit addresses the prompt and applies course terminology; it corresponds 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): the exhibit addresses some of the prompt and applies some course terminology; it corresponds 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): the exhibit does not correspond much, if at all, with the course material or the prompt
0-49 points: no exhibit or an incomplete exhibit

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

12 points will be deducted from the overall mark if you do not include references.

10 points will be deducted from the overall mark if you do not include metadata.

15 points will be deducted from the overall mark if you do not include 5-8 video files containing your own gameplay footage.

I will assess your exhibit as if it represents the culmination of what you learned in this course. I recommend starting it as soon as possible.

Citing Your Sources

Use the gallery’s template to cite any material from which you draw ideas or examples. You should use an established citation style (such as Chicago, MLA, or APA) for your citations and references section.

When in doubt, cite it.

What to Submit

Please submit:

A DOCX, ODT, PAGES, or PDF file containing your response to the gallery’s template.
5-8 MOV or MP4 files containing your gameplay footage.
A XLSX or CSV file containing your spreadsheet and metadata.

When to Submit It

Your response to this assignment is due by 1pm on Thursday, April 16th. I will deduct ten points for every business day that I receive it after 1pm on Friday, April 17th. I will close the submission portal on Wednesday, April 22nd at 1pm and cannot accept any submissions after it’s closed. I do not accept submissions by email.