Harvey Mudd College

IE179: Gender and Computer Games
Spring 2005

Lecture:

T&Th 2:45-4, LAC

Lab:

T 4-5:30, Parsons 1285

Professors:

Marianne deLaet, Dept. of Humanites and Social Sciences
Z Sweedyk, Dept. of Computer Science

Course contact:

Mailing list
Course wiki

What This Course Is About

The course provides elementary instruction and practice in computer game design, paired with training and exercise in the methods of cultural analysis of gender. In the first part of the course, you will play games, and observe others playing games, then analyze if and how gameplay varies by gender. In the second part of the course, you will plan and execute an experiment on gendered nature player experience. To do this you must develop a simple computer game designed to tease out such gender differences. You will build the game using a framework we provide. In the remainder of the course you will use your new insights on gender and gameplay to conceive, design, and build a computer game that is explicitly targeted toward women. This game will be built off of a game engine we provide.

Grades

Class participation 10%
Paper     25%
Project 1: Game Observation Exercise     10%
Project 2: Flash game 30%
Final project 25%

Textbooks

Mismeasure of Women by Carol Tavris, Touchstone, 1993.
From Barbie to Mortal Kombat by Justine Cassell and Henry Jenkins (eds.), MIT Press, 2000.
Rules of Play by Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman, MIT Press, 2003.

Links

Student game experiments
Games as Cultural Critique Papers
Project Checklist
Ice World
In the News
Project Teams
NeHe site (game development)

Tentative Schedule

Date Topic Assignment Assignment Due
Tues
1/18/05		 Introduction (ppt), (pdf)
  • Intro Survey
  • Tavris Ch 1
  • Barbie Ch 3
  • Chicks and Joysticks
    		•  
    Tues
    1/18/05
    (lab)
  • Lab introduction
  • Observation
    		•    
    Thur
    1/20/05    		 Gender differences (ppt), (pdf)
  • ROP Sec. 7 & 22
  • Project 1
  • Tavris Ch 1
  • Barbie Ch 3
  • Chicks and Joysticks
    • Tues
    1/25/05
  • Core concepts
  • Game testing (ppt), (pdf)
  • Tavris Ch 2 & pp 93-96
  • Barbie Ch 13
  • ROP Sec. 7 & 22
  • Project 1 Proposal
    • Tues
    1/25/05
    (lab)    		 First Oberservation Experiment run through Experiment Logistics  
    Thur
    1/27/05    		 Develop observation experiment (ppt), (pdf) Refine observation experiment
  • Tavris Ch 2 & pp 93-96
  • Barbie Ch 13
    • Tues
    2/1/05    		 Finalize Observation Experiment Observation Experiment Report Refine observation experiment
    Tues
    2/1/05
    (lab)    		 Observation Experiment    
    Thur
    2/3/04    		 Rules, Play, and Representation   Observation Experiment Report
    Tues
    2/8/05    		 Project 2 warmup    
    Tues
    2/8/05
    (lab)    		 Critique of Project 2 proposals    
    Thur
    2/10/04    		 Should we build games for women? (ppt), (pdf) Side scroller concepts
    Barbie Part II: interviews     		 
    Tues
    2/15/05    		 Project 2 Concept Selection Project 2 Design Document Side scroller concepts
    Tues
    2/15/05
    (lab)    		 Flash demo
    Ice World     		   
    Thur
    2/17/04    		 Barbie discussion   Barbie Part II: interviews
    Tues
    2/22/05    		 Barbie discussion cont.   Project 2 Design Document
    Tues
    2/22/05
    (lab)    		 Game tutorial I    
    Sat
    2/26/05    		 Game tutorial II    
    Tues
    3/1/05    		 Prototype demos    
    Thurs
    3/3/05    		 Game tutorial III    
    Tues
    3/8/05    		 Cultural Critique (ppt)    
    Thurs
    3/10/05    		 GDC    
    Tues
    3/15/05    		 Spring break
    Game tutorial IV    		    
    Thurs
    3/17/05    		 Spring break    
    Tues
    3/22/05    		 GDC Recap/Scheduling    
    Thurs
    3/24/05    		   Paper Project 2: Version 1 Game
    Tues
    3/29/05    		     Project 2: Version 2 Game
    Thurs
    3/31/05    		      
    Tues
    4/5/05    		     Project 2: Experiment
    Thurs
    4/7/05    		     Paper: Concept, Outline and Bibliography
    Tues
    4/12/05    		 Project 2 report
    Thesis discussion    		   Project 2: Report
    Thurs
    4/14/05    		 Individual work on papers    
    Tues
    4/19/05    		 Peer review of paper drafts   Paper: Draft for Peer Review
    Thurs
    4/21/05    		 Chris Crawford Final Project Paper: Final Version
    Tues
    4/26/05    		 Game Day    
    Thurs
    4/28/05    		 Concept Presentations    
    Mon
    5/2/05    		 Poster Presentation    
    Fri
    5/6/05    		     Final Game Design Document