US 12B — Computer Games as Art, Culture, and Technology

Winter, 2008

Who, When, Where

Instructors: Dan Frost frost@uci.edu office hours Wednesdays 10:00-12:00 (Donald Bren Hall 5058)
Peter Krapp krapp@uci.edu office hours Tuesdays, 9:30 - 10:30 (Calit2 2006)
Bill Tomlinson wmt@uci.edu office hours Tuesdays, 1:00-2:00 (Donald Bren Hall 5068)
TAs: Garnet Hertz ghertz@uci.edu office hours Wednesdays, 8:00-9:00 (Calit2 4300.82)
Eric Baumer ebaumer@uci.edu office hours Tuesdays, 1:00-2:00 (Calit2 2006)
Lectures: T Th 11:00-12:20    SH 128  
Labs & Discussions: M, W 9:00-9:50 ICS 364 & DBH 1429  
M, W 10:00-10:50 ICS 364 & DBH 1429  
M, W 11:00-11:50 ICS 364 & DBH 1429  
M, W 12:00-12:50 ICS 364 & DBH 1429  

What and Why

US 12B is part of UCI's First-Year Integrated Program. Throughout the year we will be investigating computer games as artistic, cultural, and technological phenomena. An important theme of this course is collaboration. All but the simplest computer games are created by more than one person, and when we study a computer game we participate in a dialogue or negotiated process of sorts that includes the creators of the game, other players, society at large, and ourselves. We want to promote a collaborative spirit throughout the course, while being aware of the need for each student to master the material individually and to receive a grade based on his or her own performance. At the conclusion of US 12ABC, you will be able to:

  1. identify the genre of a computer game and place the game in an historical context;
  2. understand how computer game technology and techniques are used for purposes other than entertainment;
  3. design new computer games based on a variety of themes, patterns, and genres;
  4. implement simple code, art, and sound/music within a computer game.

Because US 12ABC satisfies part of your lower-division writing requirement, in each quarter you will be writing research-based, college-level papers. You will learn to:

  1. summarize and respond critically to an argument made by another writer;
  2. formulate an argument of your own and explore it fully;
  3. construct an annotated bibliography that identifies and summarizes at least six sources possibly useful to a research question you pose about a topic;
  4. compose a coherent essay that demonstrates critical thinking, analyzes sources, and considers multiple perspectives;
  5. convey your thesis and integrate your research and your arguments in fluent, well-organized sentences and paragraphs;
  6. draw substantive, evaluative conclusions in response to a thesis you put forth.

An essential component of being a good writer is understanding the multi-stage process of composing written work. In US 12ABC you will learn to:

  1. propose, plan, and undertake a research project that involves a number of writing activities;
  2. develop strategies for generating, revising, editing, and proofreading an essay;
  3. be an effective peer review editor, and to receive and integrate peer review comments into your writing;
  4. format an essay in a discipline-appropriate style;
  5. compose a grammatically correct, proofread and edited final draft.

Schedule of Meetings and Assignments

Subject to change:
 
Wk Date Topic Who Readings Notes and Assignments
1 1/7 Lab 1: Second Life Hertz   Lab 1
1/8 Introduction to 3D Worlds Tomlinson    
1/9 Discussion Hertz   Discussion notes at http://www.conceptlab.com/uci/us12b/
1/10 Art Practice Krapp Ernest W. Adams, Will Computer Games Ever Be A Legitimate Art Form? (Game Developer's Conference 2001)
& Henry Jenkins, An Art Form for the Digital Age, Technology Review (Sept.-Oct. 2000)		  
2 1/14 Lab 2: Second Life Baumer   Lab 2
1/15 Software Engineering Frost Alexander Seropian, Postmortem: Wideload Games' Stubbs the Zombie The author says he was asked, "How goes the experiment?" What was the experiment, and do you think it was successful? Post your answer to the US 12B NoteBoard before 11:00 am.
1/16 Discussion Hertz   Discussion notes at http://www.conceptlab.com/uci/us12b/
First paper assigned.
1/17 3D Animation and Modeling Tomlinson Wagner James Au, And He Rezzed A Crooked House Would this moving room / tesseract feature be useful or fun in a game (in SL)? Post your thoughts to the US 12B NoteBoard before 11:00 am.
3 1/21 Martin Luther King, Jr., Day
1/22 Art Practice Nideffer    
1/23 Discussion Hertz   Discussion notes at http://www.conceptlab.com/uci/us12b/
1/24 Human Computer Interaction Frost    
4 1/28 Lab 3: Second Life Baumer   Lab 3
1/29 Art Practice Hertz    
1/30 Discussion Hertz   Discussion notes at http://www.conceptlab.com/uci/us12b/
Final copy of Source Analysis Assignment, Paper #3 is due.
1/31 Art Practice
The Game Biz		 Brody Condon
Krapp		 Some slides available at US12 dropbox Review Brody Condon's work at http://tmpspace.com/ and come to class with at least one well-thought-out question.
5 2/4 Lab 4: Second Life Baumer   Lab 4
2/5 Quality Assurance
Art Practice		 Frost
Brody Condon		    
2/6 Discussion Hertz   Discussion notes at http://www.conceptlab.com/uci/us12b/
2/7 Midterm     Take a look at last year's midterm.
6 2/11 Lab 5: Work on Second Life Game Baumer   SL Game Project
2/12 Affective Computing Baumer Rosalind Picard, Affective Computing Give a specific example from a game where a character's physical expression of emotion is mediated by some cognitive aspect of that emotion. Post your example to the US 12B NoteBoard before 11:00 am.
2/13 Discussion Hertz   Discussion notes at http://www.conceptlab.com/uci/us12b/
2/14 Music and Sound Dobrian    
7 2/18 Presidents Day
2/19 Internet, WWW Frost Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash
Lecture slides 		Three questions: Who is the Hero of this book? Who is the Protagonist? How do avatars in the Metaverse differ from avatars in Second Life? Post your answers to the US 12B NoteBoard before 11:00 am.
2/20 Discussion Baumer   Discussion notes at http://www.conceptlab.com/uci/us12b/
Draft copy of the Capstone Paper, Paper #4 is due.
2/21 Net & Web Krapp Morningstar and Farmer, The Lessons of Lucasfilm's Habitat
Dibbell, A Marketable Wonder: Spelunking the American Imagination 		Both papers describe the creation of complex virtual worlds. What is the most important way in which the worlds in the two papers are similar (other than "complex" or "virtual")? What is the most important way in which the worlds are different? Post your response to the US 12B NoteBoard before 11:00 am.
8 2/25 Lab 6: Game Development Baumer   SL Game Project
2/26 3D Animation II Tomlinson    
2/27 Discussion Hertz   Discussion notes at http://www.conceptlab.com/uci/us12b/
Final copy of the Capstone Paper, Paper #4 is due.
2/28 Quality Assurance Frost    
9 3/3 Lab 7: Game Development Baumer   SL Game Project
3/4 Game Politics Krapp Parker, Free Play: The Politics of the Videogame
Doctorow, Why Online Games are Dictatorships
Two clips from class:
Net Neutrality
and
This Spartan Life 		 
3/5 Discussion Hertz   Discussion notes at http://www.conceptlab.com/uci/us12b/
3/6 3D Animation III Tomlinson    
10 3/10 Lab 8: Game Development Baumer   SL Game Project
3/11 Game Project Demoss      
3/12 Discussion Hertz   Discussion notes at http://www.conceptlab.com/uci/us12b/
3/13 Game Project Demos      
F 3/18 FINAL EXAM, 10:30-12:30, SH 128 Last year's final exam


Assignments and Grading

The grade for the quarter will be determined based on your total points. Points are allotted as follows:

Papers
  Paper #3 Research Analysis 5
  Paper #4 Capstone 20 		25
Exams
  Midterm 10
  Final 15 		25
Game
 25
Participation
  Labs 10
  Discussions 10
  Noteboard Postings 5  		25
TOTAL  100

The grade will be based on the total points, using a standard "straight" scale: 90's are As, 80's are Bs, 70s are Cs, 60s are Ds, and below 60 is Failing. We reserve the right to change the precise cut-off points.

Except for the Participation components, scores are based on the quality of the work turned in, not on the time spent or the effort expended. Also, note that there is no "extra credit" in US 12B.

Textbooks and Resources

For the writing portion of the class, you should have two books which are also assigned in Writing 39B:

UCI offers several kinds of assistance to writers. The website of the UCI Campus Writing Coordinator at http://www.writing.uci.edu/ has a great deal of information. We particularly recommend the Writing and Library Research Peer Tutors and the Learning and Academic Resource Center (LARC).

We are not assigning a specific textbook on Java programming, but you may find it helpful to have one. All books seem to cover much more of the language than you'll need for this class, so we recommend looking over a few in the bookstore and choosing the one that seems the clearest to you. There are also some valuable on-line resources for Java (however, most of these do assume you have a programming background):

Policies

Academic Honesty

Do not claim as your own the words or ideas of others. When you collaborate with or are helped by a classmate, give credit. When in doubt, talk with a TA or professor before turning in your work. A single act of cheating or academic dishonesty can seriously mar your career at UCI. Familiarize yourself with the UCI Policy on Academic Honesty, particularly Section C, "What is Academic Dishonesty?" and Section D "Procedures for Dealing with Incidents of Academic Dishonesty."

Add / Drop Policy

Students may add or drop US 12B up to the end of the second week of classes (Jan. 18), with the instructor's signature on an "Add" card. Students may add only if they are caught up on all readings and assignments. Students may drop after the second week only in exceptional circumstances.

Communication

Check your UCInetID email frequently; we will occasionally need to get in touch with you by email. Please feel free to send email to the course staff: use your UCInetID account, put US 12 in the subject line, and include your name in the message body. This web page syllabus will be updated over the course of the quarter, so please look at it regularly.

Health

Even though you are young and reasonably healthy, as a user of computers you are at risk for several computer-related health problems, particularly RSI (repetitive-strain injury). Please read and follow the good advice at the Bren School's Computer Health and Safety web page.

Special Accommodations

Any student who feels he or she may need an accommodation based on the impact of a disability should contact Prof. Frost privately to discuss his or her specific needs. Also contact the Disability Services Center at (949) 824-7494 as soon as possible to better ensure that such accommodations are implemented in a timely fashion.

Late Work

The ten week quarter will pass very quickly, and it is essential that all work be turned in on time so you can move on to the next assignment. If possible, contact your TA as soon as you realize an assignment will be late. In general, the policy is a 10% penalty for work up to 24 hours late, 20% penalty for work 25 to 48 hours late, and later work is not accepted without approval from a professor.

Lunch

Not during class, please.

Computers and Cell Phones in Class

In lectures and discussions, you may use a notebook computer to take notes, but you must first disable your wireless connection to the Internet. Playing of games is, alas, strictly forbidden. Turn off cell phones during class.

Disputes on scores and grades

If you think your work has not been correctly or fairly scored, talk with your TA. If you are still not satisfied, talk with Prof. Frost. All score disputes must be brought up within one week after the work is returned. If you have a concern pertaining to your final exam score or your grade, contact Prof. Frost before the end of the first week of the Winter quarter.