Dynamiken virtueller Kommunikationsräume | Astrid Ensslin

Als ergänzende Veranstaltung zur Videospielanalyse-Übung aus letztem WS, werden wir uns nun aus den verschiedenen theoretischen Perspektiven mit Videospielen auseinandersetzen. Beginnend mit klassischen Kulturtheorien zum Spiel im Allgemeinen (Huizinga, Caillois), über narratologische (Murray, Aarseth) und ludologische (Juul, Frasca) Theorien, soll insbesondere ein Ausblick in aktuellere Theorien gegeben werden. Hier bieten sich mimetische, performative, ökonomische, psychoanalytische, semiotische und feministische Theorien an.

Es geht im Seminar vor allem darum, in Ausschnitten einen grundlegenden Überblick über die Theorievielfalt in den Game Studies zu bieten, die in einer Hausarbeit vertieft werden können.

While the borders of a cultural area are rarely precisely measurable, territory is a concept that does not always define a definitive space in a nationalistic way. It is often used to create acceptance and justification for imperial wars or to establish so-called national successes. How is the concept used in transregional media? Where are the mediated borders and what is the medium?

Starting from ancient concepts, we want to explore the philosophical and cultural-historical aspects and transfer them to the present. In this case, we will examine aspects of the representation of space and its use for territorial narratives and myths in media forms from film to video games and social media in relation to othering, nomadic thinking and concepts of (anti-)war and territory.

As part of the course, a visit to the "Playing War" conference in Regensburg from 27 to 29 November is planned. 

In diesem interdisziplinären Blockseminar beschäftigen wir uns damit,
wie in generativen Videospielen wie No Man’s Sky (Hello Games 2016)
virtuelle Welten kreiert, erschlossen und navigiert werden. Dabei wollen
wir untersuchen, nach welchen Kriterien Entscheidungen getroffen werden
und wie aus Ihrer Sicht Idealwelten aussehen müssten. Wir werden hierzu
verschiedene empirische Methoden (z.B. Eye-Tracking) ausprobieren. So
können wir beispielsweise feststellen, auf welche Elemente der
Spielwelten Spieler:innen ihre Aufmerksamkeit lenken und inwiefern diese
“Fixations and gaze points” zu ökokritischen Überlegungen führen
können. Die Grundlage der daraus erwachsenden Diskussionen bieten
Theorien des Postkolonialismus, der Possible Worlds Theory, der
Utopieforschung, der digitalen Archäologie und des Green Gaming. Als
Seminararbeit werden Teilnehmende Entwürfe neuer, nachhaltigerer
und/oder ökologisch adaptiver (Spiel-)Welten anfertigen und durch
interdisziplinäre Theorien untermauern.

Das Kolloquim findet hybrid statt: In Raum BA 822 in der bajuwarenstraße 4 (DAS|LAB) und online.

The colloquim will take place in hybrid fashion: in room BA 822 at Bajuwarenstraße 4 (DAS|LAB) and online.


This graduate colloquium supports graduate students working on projects
in the field of Digital Narratives and Cultures through a diversity of
formats and methods.


Interested students are welcome to contact astrid.ensslin@ur.de for initial inquiries.

This Hauptseminar introduces you to the language(s) of gaming, also
known as ludolinguistics. The course will cover aspects of videogame
lexis, interaction and textuality and examine how ludic discourses
across stakeholder communities (players, developers, journalistis,
politicians, educators) both shape and are shaped by medium- and
industry-specific processes. To begin with, we will focus on how
videogames communicate through medium-specific multimodality and the
procedural mode in particular. We will examine the role of paratext in
the production of emergent narrative and the intersections between
interface design, algorithms and data. To gain a sense of how games can
shape general language use, we will study lexical change and creativity,
localisation, ludolectology, as well as communicative patterns between
players and fans online and offline. Through individual case studies, we
will investigate pragmatic uses of impoliteness and swearing as well as
(un)collaborative and toxic language to form an understanding how power
and ownership in player communities are indexed and negotiated. At the
end of this course, students will have built a solid understanding of
how video games function as means and objects of communication; how they
give rise to new vocabularies, textual genres and discourse practices;
and how they serve as rich vehicles of ideological signification and
social engagement.


Students on this course will develop their own projects throughout the
semester, which will form the basis of their presentations and
end-of-term essays. Projects on languages other than English are
generally welcome, subject to instructor approval.

Ausgehend vom Begriff der "Kritik", beschäftigen wir uns im Blockseminar
mit Theorien des Critical Media-Designs und dessen praktischer
Umsetzung. Wir werden auf diesem Weg auch Web- &
Socialmedia-Konzepte entwerfen, diskutieren und planen. Dabei geht es
vor allem darum alltägliche Mediengewohnheiten und -praktiken zu
erkennen und spielerisch zu unterwandern: Z.B. Blickregime im Film und
Comic, Othering und Ableismus, Rassismus in Web und Social Media und
binäres Geschlechterdenken im Design von Icons. Ein Reader für die Texte
wird ab 15.04.24 auf Grips zur Vorbereitung zugänglich sein.

This
Hauptseminar introduces you to video games as cultural spaces and as
platforms for developing intercultural understanding and competence. We
will examine how games communicate cultural meanings through
medium-specific multimodality and intercultural pedagogy; we will engage
with theories of critical play and postcolonial game analysis, with the
goal to develop the critical tools to analyze and evaluate videogames
with respect to processes and means of appropriation, essentializing,
stereotyping, and othering. At the same time, we will examine the
economic dictates and constraints underlying commercial game design,
that inform medium-specific aesthetics. We will engage with regional and
ethnic game studies by studying a range of digital narratives from and
about diverse regional and ethnic communities, including Bavaria and
Indigenous cultures. We will examine how games communicate historical,
social and cultural values and concerns, and how they might contribute
to the decolonizing of game design and game studies. Through a variety
of critical and creative assignments and activities, we will work
towards developing a critical, interculturally literate attitude towards
gameplay and game design. For their final assignment, students can
choose between scholarly essay and creative design document.

Written and designed by a studio around Estonian novelist Robert Kurvitz, Disco Elysium (ZA/UM 2019) has received ubiquitous praise amongst critics and scholars alike and been named one of the ten most important games of the 2010s (Gault 2019). Its canonical status derives from its innovative approach to ludic storytelling, audiovisual art and complex character design, but also from its distinctly localized development context, which makes it a prime example of local games history and of World Games as an emergent subdiscipline of both Critical Game Studies and Digital Area Studies. 

In this block seminar, each student will adopt one particular philosophical, ludonarratological, hermeneutic, linguistic, discourse analytical, literary, Media, Cultural and/or Area Studies approach to analyzing the game and develop their own projects via critical co-play, presentation, student-led workshopping and an end-of-term essay. A key reference will be Tom Apperley and Anna Ozimek’s (2021) open access special issue of Baltic Screen Media Review on Disco Elysium. 

Students admitted to the course are expected to have completed a full playthrough of the game (i.e. 20-30 hours' time investment) by our first class on 19th January.

References:

• Apperley, Tom and Anna Ozimek (eds) (2021) Disco Elysium. Baltic Screen Media Review, 9. https://sciendo.com/issue/bsmr/9/1
• Gault, Matthew (2019) “The Ten Best Video games of the 2010s”. Time, Dec 19. https://time.com/5752663/best-video-games-2010s-decade/.
• ZA/UM (2019) Disco Elysium. https://store.steampowered.com/app/632470/Disco_Elysium__The_Final_Cut/ (regular price: EUR 40 - you're advised to bookmark the game and wait for a considerable discount at the next Steam sale)

In diesem Seminar mit eher einführendem Charakter werden wir uns aktuellen und „klassischen“ Videospieltheorien nähern, sie diskutieren und in der Praxis erproben. Einleitend mit der Verflechtung von Ludologie und Narratologie beschäftigen wir uns mit Performance- und Genre-Theorien, Raum/Zeit-Konzepten und dem Begriff des „Point of Action“. Ziel ist die Theorie direkt in die Analyse exemplarischer Spiele zu übertragen und in Form von Videoessays, Web-Blogs, Audiobeiträgen, Entscheidungsbäumen, audiovisuellen Partituren oder multimedialen Protokollen anschaulich zu machen. Voraussetzung ist die Bereitschaft, auch englischsprachige Texte zu lesen.