Videogame Culture and Theory at Seton Hill

One of the great parts about this job is stumbling upon nuggets of discussion not often talked about on other gaming sites. One such cornucopia of information is the various colleges that teach classes on videogames and the blogs posted by students and professors in reference to those classes.

I've pointed out a few in the past, but my latest find comes from Seton Hill (not to be confused with Seton Hall) and the class of Dennis Jerz, who is teaching an online videogame culture class at the university. The class, which began early this month, tracks student participation, gives assignments and encourages discussion among the students via their own university blogs.

The class page led to several student blogs (the class roster shows eight students and Jerz), which then offer individual insight on the topics mentioned in assignments. A few interesting nuggets, this from Susan Charmichael:

The article by David Ewalt made me think back to my first introduction to computers.  We had ours set up in the basement, "the game room."  I cannot recall which came first the Nintendo or the computer, but we played games on both.  I was also part of the Oregon Trail generation ("You died from dysteria!").  So I had educational games at school and fun games at home; I do not think that has changed.  Only more details were added.  It was interesting thatEwalt mentioned Revolution contained occult symbols and logos.   It almost seems like parents run the classroom instead of letting teachers the freedom to teach.  Anyways, I agree withEwalt that the generation that grew up on games entered adulthood and are interested in bringing gaming into academia.  That does not mean that early gamers were not appreciated, but we have learned that early gaming was reserved for mostly educated males.

From Matt Takacs:

I can not count the times I've spent during lunch, in the hallways, or online in a forum debating with someone which platform is better. To everyone involved, it was a worthy discussion. The main points I used to, and still do, think are the major selling points of PCs are: controls and mods. I don't care how good you are with a controller, someone out there is exceedingly better than you with a mouse and keyboard. Mods are what drive the community to make new exciting things. Things like Counter-Strike, Day of Defeat, Team Fortress and Team Fortress 2. Even Left 4 Dead has it's root as a Counter-Strike mod. Consoles will always simplify what last gen PC's have already done. Meanwhile, people who game on PC's will continue to develop and create.

And from Jessie Krehlik on violence in games:

I remember the first time I heard Grossman's opinions in my Intro. to Psych class back in high school My teacher was adamant that video games are training kids to kill. I disagreed with Grossman then, and I still do.

... Playing violent video games does not make you a violent person. If you're playing games for entertainment, you'll be entertained. If you're playing them to be trained in the military, then that's what's going to happen.

If you like reading up on videogame theory and getting into discussion on games and culture, Seton Hill's site should keep you busy (and thinking) for hours.