US 12A — Computer Games — Paper #1
Computer Games and Culture

Overview

Your first paper will be a carefully researched investigation into the connections between some aspect of the history of computer games and contemporary culture. Computer games are not stand-alone artifacts, but were and are created by people in response to the technologies, culture, concerns, and perceived possibilities of their times. Your paper should state and defend a strong thesis about the connections between the "technical and historical conditions of possibility" and the game (or a small group of closely related games, or a game mod) on which you focus.

It is important that you focus your research and your paper on a particular relatively narrow aspect of the history of computer games. Within the context of the game you select, you may want to research and analyze

• other aspects of popular culture;
• political, military, economic, or historical events;
• advances in science or technology;
• the biographies of the creators or the intended audience.

The final paper will be 1,000 to 1,200 words. Follow the APA documentation style described in chapter 15 of the Little Penguin Handbook. Use Times New Roman 12 point font, or the nearest equivalent on your computer, and double spacing. Without images, your paper will be about four pages. If you insert images, which we encourage, the page count may go up. Put your name and the paper's title at the top of the first page, and add a footer to the paper which includes your name.

Your paper should have the following structure.

1. The first paragraph or two introduces your paper, the game(s) you are writing about, and the related cultural, technical, or historical events. State your thesis. For example, your thesis might be "Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man were responses to the increasing popularity, in Japan, of pizza, and a fear that foreign culture might overwhelm indigenous traditions." Someone reading this paragraph alone should have a clear sense of what your entire paper is about. Follow the excellent advice in A Student Guide to Writing at UCI, pages 43—47.
2. The next few paragraphs supply background on the historical events. Your writing should be specific, and should reference both primary and secondary sources, if possible.
3. The following paragraphs describe the game or games. Don't assume that the reader is familiar with the game. Your exposition should highlight those aspects of the game(s) which are needed to support your thesis. You may want to describe briefly the people who created the game.
4. You have now set the stage to expand upon your thesis. Describe it in more detail, and show how it is grounded in both the historical events and the nature of the game(s). Very likely you will want to consider and reject alternative theses or explanations, but don't create straw men.
5. In a concluding paragraph or two, summarize your paper. Restate your thesis in (at least slightly) different terms, and pull together your thoughts on how your analysis of the game and its historical setting casts light on both. Follow the excellent advice in A Student Guide to Writing at UCI, pages 47—49.

The Paper's Progress

College-level writing is the product of much thought, study, revision, and hard work. For this paper you will bring to discussion several preliminary versions of your paper; however, it is likely that to produce a truly fine piece of writing and research you will need to do much more writing and rewriting that is not brought to class.

The versions of this paper are:

1. FIP Diagnostic, a short essay on Origin of Species.
2. A Four-Sentence Pattern summary of Rules of Play. See A Student Guide to Writing at UC Irvine, pp. 97—100. Your bibliographic entry at the top should follow the APA format (not the MLA style), as described in The Little Penguin Handbook, chapter 15.
3. Research Notebook Entries, consisting of:
   1. A proposed topic, research question, and working thesis. Each of these is a sentence or perhaps a sentence fragment. See The Little Penguin Handbook, section 9c on pages 32 and 33 for an example.
   2. At least three sources (bibliography entries) other than the assigned readings. You should have found one of these sources in hard copy form at the UCI library.
   3. A summary and critique of two of your three sources. This should be about 400 to 500 words in length.
4. Draft, two copies brought to discussion on Wednesday, Oct. 24. One copy will be edited in discussion by a classmate, and the other will be edited by your TA. The word "draft" does not imply sloppy or hastily written. Your draft should be good enough for an A- in high school. In particular, it should be the full length, should include all images you want in your final paper, should have a full references section, and should have no mechanical errors. Special rule for draft, not to be followed in final version: Underline the topic sentence in each paragraph.
5. Final, turned in electronically, and brought to discussion on Wednesday, Nov. 7.

How To Turn In Your Work

FIP Diagnostic

Turned in electronically on Wednesday, Oct. 3.

The Four-Sentence Pattern summary

Bring one printed copy (double spaced, with an extra blank line between each sentence) to discussion on Oct. 10. A peer editor will review and sign it. Keep this copy.

The research entries

Bring one printed copy to discussion on Oct. 17. A peer editor will review and sign it. Keep this copy.

The draft

Bring two printed copies to discussion on Oct. 24. A peer editor will edit and sign one copy, and your TA will edit the other copy and return it to you in discussion on Oct. 31.

The final version

Staple together your final version (on top), the draft edited by the TA (below it), the peer-edited draft (below that), and your signed research entries (at the bottom). Do not put this bundle in any sort of cover or binder. Make sure your name is on every page.

You will also turn in two electronic copies of your final version.

1. On the web, go to eee.uci.edu
2. Log in with your UCInetID.
3. Click on MyEEE.
4. Under UNI STU 12A COMPUTER GAMES 1 Lec A (87655), click on Dropbox.
5. Upload your paper into the US 12A Paper #1 drop box.
6. Log out.
   
7. Now, go to TurnItIn.com
8. Click on "New Users" at the top right of the page.
9. Select "student" as your user type. Follow instructions to set up a user profile. The class ID is 2072858 and the password is cgact. Use your UCInetID with @uci.edu for your email address.
10. Upload your paper for the class US12 Games.
11. Log out.

The due date and time for the electronic version is Wednesday, Nov. 7, 8:55 a.m., this is the same for all sections.

Grading

The paper will be graded with this rubric.