Our second assignment is going to move fast. In this assignment we will explore the related ideas of Discourse Communities, Scenes, and Genres in order to better understand how they function in our personal and academic lives as well as how they function in the greater gaming community.
First, I want to make sure that it is clear that this assignment may be done either collaboratively or individually. The maximum size for groups in this project will be 3 students. I strongly recommend that each of you consider completing the assignment collaboratively as the ability to work well with others when producing texts is becoming more and more of an assumed skill in professional workplaces. If you choose to work collaboratively, each group member will need to complete the Collaborative Work agreement form that can be found here:
The second assignment will actually take the form of multiple smaller assignments that should work together to effectively map and participate in the work of a discourse community.
Mission 1: Scene Analysis or Discourse Community Argument
Length: 1 player = 2-3 pages, 2 players = 3-4 pages, 3 players = 4-5 pages
Tentative Due Date: Tuesday, Oct. 1
During the first week or so of this unit, we will be exploring the similar concepts of discourse communities and scenes through readings from out text and from outside readings. We will also be applying these terms to games through an exploration of websites related to World of Warcraft (no I don't play this game nor condone it, but it does have a very strong community around it).
As a group (or individual), you will first need to choose a game with a vibrant community. Some possibilities off the top of my head include: League of Legends (download, free), Dota 2 (download, free), Farmville (online, free), Mafia Wars (online, free), Kerbal Space Program (download, paid), any MMO (download, many initially free), CIV (depending on version, it can be free and online--see freeciv), Dwarf Fortress (if you want a hellish experience, download, free). If you are not very experienced with games, I highly recommend making sure that your group has a member who is more experienced. You may also choose to work with a community that is not connected to a game. However, if you choose this option, you must write me a detailed email early in the process that describes the community you wish to investigate, and how your selected community will be able to fulfill the rest of the assignment (i.e. look ahead to Missions 2 and 3 and tell me what you're thinking).
After selecting the game, you should obtain a copy and play it until you feel that you have a grasp on its mechanics. You might also consider playing the game as a group if only one member has a copy. Alternatively, you could also watch play-throughs on YouTube if all other options are impossible.
After playing the game, start seeking out the community around it. Create a resource where you can list all the different places (websites) where the community meets. You will want to consider the widest possible definition of the community for this assignment.
Finally, you should start composing your actual assignment. Note that this is a pretty brief assignment and that there will be time to revise it further before it is graded. You may fulfill the assignment in one of two ways:
Using Swayles' 6 characteristics of a Discourse Community, write an short paper that argues why your chosen community is a discourse community. You will want to use evidence from your research to support your argument.
Using the information from Ch. 1 in our textbook, develop an in-depth analysis of your scene of writing. You will want to be as thorough as possible and use evidence from your research to support the claims of your paper. For this assignment be sure to consider our lessons on analysis from the first unit. (You should definitely look at pgs. 44-45)
Regardless of the route you choose, you must consider this assignment to be an essay first and foremost. In other words, do not ignore the structure of your argument/analysis. Any assignment which simply lists questions or strings together answers to questions will not receive a passing grade.
Mission 2: Genre Analysis/Critique
Length: 1 player = 3-4 pages, 2 players = 4-5 pages, 3 players = 5-6 pages
Tentative Due Date: Thurs, Oct. 10
After investigating discourse communities, we will turn our attention specifically to the written products of these communities (you will have already encountered these in your previous research). At this point, you should select one genre used by your community to study in more depth. Your goals in this mission are two-fold: 1) you will want to analyze the genre (as described on pgs. 93-94), and carefully describe what the genre is and how it works, and 2) you will want to critique that genre (make an argument about how it is not functioning well) (pg. 229) . The real goal of this essay is to make a clear argument about what doesn't work well in the genre. The analysis should support the critique.
In other words, it would be an excellent idea to pay close attention to the genres while you are doing your initial research. Try to think critically about them (maybe look ahead at the section on critiquing genres), and select one that you think you can find some flaws in.
(WARNING: A common mistake, despite my best efforts to stop it, is to confuse genres of writing like character pages on wikis with "genres" of video games like First Person Shooter and Role Playing games. Do not write about a genre of a video games here. Do not write your second essay about First Person Shooters.)
Mission 3: Changing Genres
Length: 1 player = 1+ pages (this portion of the assignment should be completed individually, though you may of course discuss it with/help your group members)
Due Date: Friday, Oct. 18
The final step in your assignment is to actually take part in the community. Based on your playing of the chosen game and your exploration of your chosen genre, I want you to compose a piece for your chosen community and post it publicly so that members of that community can use it. Your work should also take into considerations the critiques you made of the existing genre in your previous mission. With that in mind, you should also compose a brief annotation or commentary that demonstrates how your new work improves on the genre you critiqued.
Final Portfolio for Project 2 (Completed and Submitted Individually)
Your final portfolio should collect all your work in a single place. You should create a title page and table of contents. You will also need to write one final piece: namely your reflection for this project. This reflection should act as an introduction to your portfolio and it should discuss the work and seek to show that you have accomplished several of our course learning objectives during this project (refer to syllabus).