Understand the basic concepts and critical dimensions of game studies, their historical development, as well as current debates and perspectives in the field. Become familiar with central authors, foundational texts, and defining theories. Learn to contextualise video games in various critical frameworks  and participate in the analysis of sample material during the lecture.At the end of the semester, you will be well equipped to analyse video games from a cultural perspective in an academic framework and to draw essential connections between theories, games, and society.

Lecture sessions with discussions of selected video game examples.

This blended learning lecture will give students an overview of core topics in game studies. It will provide historical and social context, as well as signature examples for each of the topics treated.

Students will not be expected to buy any material as everything they need will be made available on Moodle.

Written, on-campus open book exam with combinations of multiple choice (MC) and open answers (OA):There are twelve question combinations, one for each of the thematic sessions, and each of them is worth a maximum of 10 points in total:Multiple choice questions have three possible answers and exactly one is correct: 4 points if the correct answer is ticked off; 0 points if answered incorrectly or emptyOpen answer questions require a short paragraph of max. 100 words each: they score 0 to 6 points each, depending on the quality of your answerYou must choose exactly 10 of the 12 combinationsPoints-to-Grade Key: 100 – 91 points = 1A, or First Grade 90 – 81 points = 2B, or Upper Second Grade 80 – 61 points = 3C, or Lower Second Grade 60 – 51 points = 4D, or Pass Grade 50 points and below = 5F, or Fail GradeCheating is a serious offence and will result in an automatic 5F on the exam!Students who fail to sign up for the exam in the system (ZEUS) beforehand cannot participate in a sitting!

Only material discussed in class will be part of the exam.

Multiple Choice questions ask students to reproduce basic information from the sessions.Open Answer questions require the ability to contextualise and critically reflect upon theories and games.The use of AI support or AI-generated text is prohibited in this course!In order to check whether this ban is respected, there is the possibility of a compulsory, individual, and oral follow-up defence of submitted or presented work. Should the use of AI be detected in any assignment, or a follow-up defence not be sufficient, the task concerned will automatically receive a fail-grade and your violation will be reported to university leadership, just as is the case with any other form of academic dishonesty or cheating.