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NOTE: This class is compulsory for the Game Studies Master's program. Students from other programs may join when capacity remains.
This class provides students with theoretical and methodological introduction to game studies. It critically analyzes video games and explores their broader cultural, social, and political aspects. The topics of the course include game studies theory, components of video games, methods of video game analysis, game taxonomy, cultural, social and psychological aspects of gaming and paratexts surrounding games. It also pays special attention to the practical side of game studies as an emerging interdisciplinary field with its own history, popular topics, conferences and publication venue. Full course program along with the link to folder containing obligatory reading can be found here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IDmtn2ZcmKlk2llBbWuJgDPeBHYnzSZdYKYOyTqKDJ0/edit?tab=t.0 Poslední úprava: Moyzhes Leonid (30.09.2026)
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The course aims to develop students' ability to critically reflect video games as a sociocultural phenomenon and conduct video game analysis. It also seeks to provide a basic knowledge necessary to start participating in actual game studies research. Poslední úprava: Moyzhes Leonid (10.09.2026)
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To successfully complete the class, students have to submit 3 monthly assignments and the final assignment. The final assignment has a format of a conference-style oral presentation on one of the topics covered during the semester. In the course of the semester each student needs to pick a single game, and create a conference style presentation with slides focused on some aspect of it. The presentation will be graded depending on the relevance of the chosen topic and use of discussed literature. It could be presented at the last lecture, or individually to the lecturer during office hours. Possible topics include, but not limited to: – game and genre conventions – aspects of player culture – game’s paratexts – analysis of particularly interesting mechanics – representation of gender, race and/or class in the game – game and ecology – game’s interface – history of game’s reception Students are encouraged to come up with their own topic, and discuss their relevance with the lecturer in advance during the semester. Grading scale: A: 91–100, B: 81–90, C: 71–80, D: 61–70, E: 51–60, Fail: <50 Monthly class assignments: 45% (exact percentage points for individual assignments will be specified for each semester) Final assignment: 55% Poslední úprava: Moyzhes Leonid (10.09.2026)
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Bogost, Ian (2007). Persuasive games: the expressive power of videogames. Cambridge: the MIT press. Egenfeldt-Nielsen, S., Smith, J.H., Tosca, S.P. (2008). Understanding video games: the essential introduction. Routledge. Fernández-Vara, C (2014). Introduction to game analysis. Routledge. Fromme, J. & Unger, A. (2012). Computer games and new media cultures: a handbook of digital games studies. Springer. Jahn-Sudmann, A. & Stockmann, R. (eds.) (2008). Computer games as a sociocultural phenomenon. New York: palgrave MacMillan. Juul, Jesper (2005). Half-real: video games between real rules and fictional worlds. Cambridge, ma: MIT press. Kerr, A. (2017). Global games: production, circulation and policy in the networked era. Routledge. Lankoski, P. & Björk, S. (2015). Game research methods: an overview. Etc press. Schrank, B. (2014). Avant-garde videogames: playing with technoculture. The MIT press. Mäyrä, F. (2008). An introduction to game studies. Sage publications. Šisler, V., Radde-Antweiler, K. & Zeiler, X. (2018). Methods for studying video games and religion. New York: Routledge. Poslední úprava: Moyzhes Leonid (10.09.2026)
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1. Introduction: 2. What is a (Digital) Game? 3. History of studying games. 4. Video Game Components. 5. Video Game Analysis. 6. Genre studies and videogames. 7. Video Game (and) Culture. 8. Player and Audience Studies 9. Videogames and politics. 10. Cognitive Aspects of Games 11. Games and Paratexts 12. Course Wrap-Up Poslední úprava: Moyzhes Leonid (10.09.2026)
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