Culture and Politics of Play

3 Credits · Level: Undergraduate

In an influential 2013 manifesto, Eric Zimmerman named the 21st century as the “ludic,” or playful, century. Many scholars and designers have since argued that games and play must become a primary analytic lens through which we understand and engage with contemporary culture. But though they may seem like complementary activities, games and play pull us in different directions. Proponents of gamification use game design to engage with complex systems that structure everyday life, seeking to “optimize” human behavior. On the other hand, theorists and philosophers of play have long argued that attitudes of playfulness preserve a resistant and utopian spirit of anti-utilitarianism within human activity: to play is to do something in the sheer pursuit of fun and enjoyment, a means to its own end and an antidote to the exploitative and alienated culture of contemporary work. It is precisely because games and play span this wide spectrum—from usefulness to uselessness, from work to fun, from design to art—that they hold a unique place at the nexus of cultural and political life. This course will give students a broad overview of critical approaches to games and play and provide them with a range of methodological tools for both studying and creating play activities. Readings will span from classic work on the theory of play—including Johan Huzinga, Bernard Suits, Brian Sutton-Smith, Gregory Bateson, Walter Benjamin, and Susan Stewart—more recent works of play and theory and game criticism from scholars such as Ian Bogost, Miguel Sicart, and Mary Flannagan. It will cover topics such as gamification and its discontents, narrative theory of games, critical play theory, material culture of games and toys, theories of rule design, and the rhetorical analysis of play. The course will of course also involve enacting and analyzing students’ own play experiences through games, playgrounds, toys, and other forms of playfulness. Students who enroll in this course must be willing to have fun—and to take play seriously.