DIGITAL GAMES IN CONTEXT: IDENTIFICATION, DIVERSITY, ETHICS & DECOLONISATION - 2027/8

Module Overview

Video games exist within the complex and shifting frames of society and culture, not just as objects in their own right, but as interactive media directly connected to those that play them. Players are complex and fully realised human beings with their own opinions, stories and experiences that they bring to games and gameplay. As games designers, you will need to factor your players into your designs, writing and planning for games. How do they see themselves? Why do they game? What about your game will engage them, and in what way? Will they identify with the characters in your game? Will they identify with the setting of your game? Is there an agenda (social, political, cultural) underpinning your game and its design that may attract or alienate players? Are your representations fair and positive, or something else? Who can the player be in your games and who and what will they encounter?

In this games studies module you will explore further the cultures surrounding games and the types of people that play games and how they identify. Key terms will be identification, diversity, decolonization, ethics and cultural contexts. You will explore critical thinking and responses to portrayals and representations of ethnicity, culture, gender, identity and the body within games as well as other emerging social, ethical and professional issues such as sustainability, environmentalism, artificial intelligence, social media radicalization, etc.

The cultural contexts and the impacts of these on the global business, and art form, of gaming are essential aspects that games designers will want to evaluate and study seriously in order to improve their games and to help situate them in the international games market. This module will also deepen your understanding of how games studies as a supra discipline made up of many other disciplines has a wider impact on games and gaming culture.

Digital Games in Context: Identification, Diversity, Ethics & Decolonisation, in its further, in detail, study and contextualisation of video games, will connect to the other games studies and games design modules locating and developing your understanding of games design in the context of 21st century games cultures and industries across your degree. As such, it helps students situate their learning and their learning journey in designing games in both a contemporary setting and, by highlighting and expanding understanding of ethical and other issues and challenges facing the games industries today, the future employment environment.

Module provider

Literature & Languages

Module Leader

MOONEY Stephen (Lit & Langs)

Number of Credits: 15

ECTS Credits: 7.5

Framework: FHEQ Level 6

Module cap (Maximum number of students): N/A

Module Availability

Semester 2

Prerequisites / Co-requisites

None

Module content

Indicative content includes:

• The complex player


• Ethics in games


• Identification in games


• Ethnicity and diversity


• Gender and diversity


• Characters and players with disabilities in games


• Cultural contexts


• Decolonisation


• Cultural sustainability


• Environmental sustainability


• AI: Do robots have identities too?


• Games and community


• Social media and online communities


• Games cultures and the games industries

Assessment pattern

Alternative Assessment

N/A

Assessment Strategy

The assessment strategy is designed to provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate achievement of the module learning outcomes.

Seminar discussion with ongoing tutor feedback is designed mainly to assess transferable skills in working as part of a group and practical/professional skills in expressing ideas and critical analysis in oral communication. It also assesses subject knowledge in the different forms of critical theory used in games studies and game design and cognitive/analytical skills in critical thinking and in using theory and critical approaches in the close analysis of games, game texts and critical materials.

The essay assesses advanced subject knowledge and application in the different approaches of critical theory in contemporary games studies and game design to question and address the complex themes of this module: identity, representation and other emerging social and industry concerns, together with the historical, social, cultural and intellectual contexts of these issues and materials, which include, sustainability, digital capability questions about the role and our treatment of AI and global and cultural capability. The essay also assesses cognitive/analytical skills in critical thinking, and transferable skills in communicating ideas in writing. It also assesses practical/professional skills in expressing ideas and critical analysis in written communication and transferable skills in working independently suitable for a final year module.

Thus, the summative assessment for this module consists of:

Essay (3000 words) (100%)

This summative assessment is an opportunity for students to explore one or more aspects of identity, representation and/or other emerging issues of their choice in games/games studies, to demonstrate their ability to examine and analyse theory and games in social, ethical and professional contexts

Formative Assessment & Feedback:

Verbal feedback and formative 'feed forward' is provided through tutor and peer feedback in seminar discussions, with draft ideas and potentially written plans presented as part of the confidence building safe space of the seminars.

Cognitive ability will be developed and refined in class discussions in relation to theory, critical approaches and games design modalities. Academic writing and critical analysis skills will be developed and honed which will feed forward to the summative assessment for this module and towards building the students' resilience and confidence in preparing work for examination.

There is the option of a range of other feedback mechanisms agreed between tutor and students in week 1 of the module, such as seminar contribution and writing exercises.

Module aims

• develop an environment where students extend knowledge of the role and makeup of the 'player' in games and considerations that inform the players' engagement and immersion
• expand students' engagement with and understanding of a range of essential concepts, theories and approaches to emerging issues and challenges games designers and the gaming industries face in complex and dynamic global environments
• create and deliver an environment where students have the opportunity to explore critical approaches to identity, identification and representation in games and to encourage critical thinking in connecting these to games design techniques and practice
• encourage students to consider social, cultural, ethical, environmental and professional factors in games and games design and how these impact industry practices
• nurture students to critically engage with ethics and responsibility in games and also with how gaming cultures and communities interact with and engender these
• enhance students' grounding in games studies as a discipline (or collection of disciplines)
• develop and build greater confidence in students' critical and analytical skills

Learning outcomes

Methods of Teaching / Learning

The learning and teaching strategy is designed to:

• sharply hone and develop students' critical contexualisation and analysis skills (in a variety of forms) by developing an advanced awareness of the application of focussed games studies themes and approaches around identity, representation and ethics to their games design practice and processes through set reading, responding to in-class prompts, discussion and sharing of gameplay experience alongside study of critical and source materials


• assist students in astutely locating games and games design within and alongside theories, approaches and modes of representation and realisation in their own critical writing, and their own design work by identifying some of the key ideas and concerns in the study of games and their cultural context, such as digital AI, global cultural and sustainability questions, and the relationship between creative design practice and critical and theoretical approaches to such


• equip students with advanced research and writing skills they will need to produce critically informed and nuanced academic and critically analytical writing by developing further competency and confidence in writing in critical and academic modes through the safe space of the seminar setting where ideas, advice and responses are shared with other students


• equip students with a further grounding in resourcefulness and resilience as thinkers and critics by giving them the freedom to connect with, explore and experiment with ideas, modes, theories and approaches around specialised areas of study and application to the industry environments they will encounter through set reading and prompts, and by providing them with the supportive and encouraging safe space of the seminar space within which they can hone their skills in debating and receiving and giving constructive critical responses and feedback to critical ideas and approaches that they identify and refine in their own critical practice


• help students further develop and hone the sorts of academic and critical writing skills and credentials that modern employers look for in the games and related creative industries (and beyond) through the more developed editing and feedback experience engendered though the set reading, prompts in class and the assessment brief which foregrounds more applied analytical critical and academic writing skills


• further facilitate students' complex thinking about games from multiple cultural, social, environmental and professional perspectives which will benefit students going forward into the sorts of interdisciplinary environments that characterise many of the employment roles that games design students are likely to enter by exposing them to refined interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary thinking about identity, representation and ethics in games and games design in the set reading and the seminar discussions

The learning and teaching methods include:

A combination of learning materials, seminars, captured content, guided learning and independent learning, and includes a weekly seminar where students respond to advanced critical ideas in games studies and discuss with their tutor and their peers those aspects, challenges and approaches that appeal or do not appeal to them as future games designers and critics in a supportive, constructive and open manner.

Students will engage with preparatory reading, including, where relevant, critical arguments by other students, in advance of the seminar which will combine in-depth discussion of interrelated critical ideas and texts with in-class prompts each week. Designed to help students reflect on and apply their learning to games and to the study of games (and the advanced application of this to games design), the seminar environment acts as a safe space for developing and exchanging ideas, support, design, analysis and writing skills.

Varied learning materials such as lexical texts, visual materials, sculptural objects and other physical material prompts, video and sound objects, games and gamified texts are designed to increase student accessibility and will present them with a range of interpretive materials and approaches with which to work and develop their own thinking and creative responses.

Indicated Lecture Hours (which may also include seminars, tutorials, workshops and other contact time) are approximate and may include in-class tests where one or more of these are an assessment on the module. In-class tests are scheduled/organised separately to taught content and will be published on to student personal timetables, where they apply to taken modules, as soon as they are finalised by central administration. This will usually be after the initial publication of the teaching timetable for the relevant semester.

Reading list

https://readinglists.surrey.ac.uk
Upon accessing the reading list, please search for the module using the module code: ELI3074

Other information

The School of Arts, Humanities & Creative Industries is committed to developing graduates with strengths in Employability, Digital Capabilities, Global and Cultural Capabilities, Sustainability, and Resourcefulness and Resilience. This module is designed to allow students to develop knowledge, skills, and capabilities in the following areas:

Employability: this final year module explores game studies and the context of games design from a range of different perspectives focussed on specific concerns and challenges faced by games designers and the games industries in relation to players, communities, representation and emerging ethical and social issues. This is done with an industry facing approach to these challenges bringing together games studies and games design concepts and ideas, within the framework of the professional standards and business and industry environments that a career in contemporary games design and beyond require. In focussing on and honing and developing further key analytical, critical, contextualization and writing skills, in this module you will improve your existing professional abilities, facilitating your growth as a professional games design practitioner. The skills and aptitudes developed in this module will feed forward to the wider games studies, games design and games focused modules throughout your degree. Equally important for employability within these areas (and often overlooked) is the development of social knowledge around games design and personability, especially relevant for this module that focusses on ethics, identity, representation and other emerging social and cultural concerns.

Digital Capabilities: this module, while not specifically utilising coding, software and digital technologies directly, is intimately concerned with developments in the context of these digital aspects of games and the digital communities that surround games. The module is concerned with the future of player interaction with games, game platforms and digital representations and how both technology and digital environments can respond to these. As part of the module seminar workshops, you will also be encouraged to communicate with one another and to work on some exercises using SurreyLearn, Microsoft Teams, and other digital and file and output sharing platforms, skills will be carried forward to other modules across your degree and beyond.

Global and Cultural Capabilities: Games studies as a broad field has a significant application to human experience, human interaction and immersion that crosses borders and boundaries reaching all parts of our global cultures, while acknowledging and foregrounding those aspects that make different cultures so valuable and vibrant. This module is especially relevant in its focus on ethics, identity and representation of character, environments and for players. As with other academic disciplines, games studies fosters the exchange of ideas and experiences in digital and analogue spaces and can help to foster creative and cultural empathy in players, viewers, readers and critics of all kinds across the globe. Games studies' interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary approaches are adept at exploring subjects from multiple different and varied standpoints and as such play a vital role in recording, preserving and emphasing the cultural specificities of different cultures and experiences, especially those that might otherwise be silenced or endangered. You will be asked to respond to theories, ideas, modes, approaches and challenges from more than one perspective and particularly in relation to different identities, cultures and times and how these are represented in games. You are encouraged to share and incorporate your experiences and knowledge in your critical responses to games and games design, and those from your own cultures and backgrounds, and to respect, understand and value differences in experience. The weekly seminar sessions give students the opportunity to present your own games analysis and approaches to the themes of the module and to experience and respond to those of others in a friendly, constructive and open forum. Games Design students will be exposed, throughout their degree, to a wide range of approaches, textuality and visuality from all over the world and students are encouraged to bring this knowledge into their design practice right from the beginning of their study of games and the role of design in these.

Resourcefulness and Resilience: Games studies as a multidisciplinary field exposes us to different, varied and diverse experiences from history as well as our contemporary world. These games and the critical material around them teach us many things about ourselves as people, individuals and communities. How and why we behave and think the ways we do, how we cope with the challenges that our lives (and our lives in university!) throw at us. This module with its emphasis on identity, environment and ethics is especially pertinent in that regard. The life of a game designer can often be a challenging one, moving from project to project and often from employment to employment. This module, in contextualizing the role of the player, identity and representation as well as addressing ethical issues in games encourages students to respond positively and creatively to the challenges that the cultural, technological and commercial spaces that surround video games will help equip students with for the real world setting of your current and future games design practice. Not only will you look at approaches of, and work produced by, other designers and think about their experiences of life in the field, you will also benefit from the critical thinking that others in the games studies field and in the related areas of study have provided. Of course, the shared experience of your peers (a really important group, as you will be the games designers and specialists of the future) is very important source of resourcefulness and resilience for students throughout their degree, and especially so when exploring ideas and applications of community in games. Your tutors, who all have expertise in games studies, will also be a great source of information about life, practice and ethics in games, as will the periodic guest speakers attached to the Games Design programme that you will encounter as you progress through your degree. This module provides students with a number of analytical and contextual challenges which reflect the current state of the art in the social, cultural, political and professional worlds. Students need to respond to these with inventiveness and flexibility, and are often required to research and develop their own solutions to given problems. This module also helps set the stage for further in-depth discussion and study in later games studies and games design modules on your degree about your practice as a designer, the practicalities of building a portfolio of work and a profile as a professional in the games industries and beyond, the realities of the designing and publishing for games and beyond to the creative industries and the importance of connecting to games/gaming and design communities that will be essential to your current and future emotional and practical wellbeing and success as a designer.

Sustainability: This module directly addresses sustainability question from both and environmental and cultural standpoint as areas of ethical and socially aware game design. Students on this module are made aware of sustainable challenges and practices that the games industries and practitioners within these and related industries engage with and the solutions that have been proposed in the context of contemporary and future games from both theoretical and practical standpoints. We also work closely with the University of Surrey's Institute for Sustainability to explore and promote the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals.

Programmes this module appears in

Please note that the information detailed within this record is accurate at the time of publishing and may be subject to change. This record contains information for the most up to date version of the programme / module for the 2027/8 academic year.