In any project, you must first seek out a topic that interests you. The real goal of this assignment is to have you add an original contribution to an ongoing discussion. The secondary other goal is to have you produce an argumentative paper, which really means that you will be taking a strong position rather than only describing what others have already said.
I really want to let you explore and discover a topic that really interests you, but I’ve found that giving completely free range to students tends to cause anxiety more than anything else.
Video Games and Society: This research area might try to look at social implications of games. It might also seek to find ways for games to positively impact society. One particularly interesting way to view this topic area is to seek a local situation in which gaming could seek to fix a problem for example, you might look at how games are being used byhttp://www.childsplaycharity.org/,http://www.specialeffect.org.uk/, or http://www.extra-life.org/.
Video Games and Learning: We touched on this concept at the beginning of the semester with our readings on Gee (and my own pedagogical goals), but there is evidence that games could act as an effective learning tool. It might be interesting to propose a type of game to be designed or to evaluate an existing game based on research on learning. Possible starting points might include:
Video Games and Art: The common question here is simply: Are Video Games Art? Honestly, I’ve begun to find this question boring (“art” is too nebulous). However, there still is some room to discuss the types of meanings that can be made through games. This study might focus on design elements of games.
Games and Economics/Industry: One of the most illuminating books I’ve read about games is Games of Empire: Global Capitalism and Video Games (Electronic Mediations). Exploring something related to the economics of games (development, distribution, in-game, etc) and/or how they affect economies could be quite interesting.
History of Games: Another possibility would be to construct an argument about how games have changed or even how we could preserve them.
We will discuss these more in depth as the unit continues, but it is important to also think about what type of argument you want to. Possibilities include:
Evaluation Argument: arguing the quality of something based on a set of criteria.
Definition Argument: arguing exactly what something is based on a set of criteria.
Proposal Argument: arguing for a particular change due to a specific problem.
The Brainy Gamer – Ongoing intellectual conversation on video games. Consider listening to their podcast.
Games and Culture – One of the first scholarly journals on game research. (Available through Wayne libraries)
Game Studies – Open Access Academic Journal on Games.
Eludamos - Journal for Computer Game Culture – Scholarly e-journal on games
Loading... : Loading... attempts to provide a mixed-methods approach to the study of digital games, and therefore invites not only traditional academic papers, but may reprint 'classic' works in the field
The Border House – Blog that focuses on games and LGBTQ issues.
Kill Screen – Both a blog and periodical magazine devoted to deeper issues in gaming.
Game Politics – Timely blog on current political issues and how they relate to video games.
Gamasutra – A website focused on the game development industry, but has a lot of insight to offer to the casual observer.
First Person Scholar - Weekly critical essays, commentaries, and book reviews on games.
Rock, Paper, Shotgun – Game Reviews and General Discussion
For this part of the assignment, I will be asking you to complete a number of steps:
Develop a map of the research area. Do this on paper first, but then transfer it to https://bubbl.us/ (Discuss your map with a friend and try to expand it.)
Choose a topic from your map. (It is best to choose one that is pretty specific.)
Develop at least 3 research questions based on that topic.
Choose 1 of the questions.
Revise and narrow the question. (Discuss your question with a friend.)
To get credit for the first part of this assignment, you will need to post the following items to your website as a new page under the assignment 3 tab.
An image of your map from bubbl.us (you can export it using the button near the top of that webpage).
Your list of initial questions, with the first draft of the selected question highlighted.
A revised, focused version of the original question.
Answers to the following questions (you can just format it as [Question]: [Answer]).
Why does this topic/research question interest you?
What do you already know about your question?
What do you hope to find through research?
Who will the audience for your final essay be? Why will your research question be of interest to them?