Name: J. Smith Game Played: Pacman Platform: Android Phone. No earbuds Date/Time: 2/14/17 from 4:30 to 4:55 Environment/Distractions: Crowded bus/Noisy
There is some basic information that you need to include when making your journal entries for this class. If you start off with the above heading each day, you can make sure you get the information down. If you play the same game again the next day, it is ok to leave out the items in the heading that have not changed. Your day 2 entry might look like this, if you are playing the same game on the same platform.
Date/Time: 2/15/17 from 1:30 to 1:55 Environment/Distractions: Library/Quiet
However, you should always include the date and time so I know how much you played, and the environment and distractions. Why is this stuff important? If you are playing Pacman at home, in an empty house on a big screen TV/Console set up, and I am playing on a crowded bus on my cell phone, we are not going to have the same experience. Along those lines, a topic for discussion in your journal might be your differing experiences when playing the same game on different platforms, or under different environmental conditions. Do you play better on the crowded bus? Why? Many of you used the readings to inform your discussion of the game play, and that is great and you need to continue that. For those of you that didn’t do that, you need to start.
If you are submitting a video log, you will also need to a 5 minute summary, not just a recording all of your game play. In that 5 minutes, you can discuss the game, your experience, how long you played, and relate it to the readings.
What does an “A” look like?
An “A” will be written in the narrative form. Remember, this is a journal, not notes, so lists, bullet points, and incomplete sentences will adversely affect your grade. An “A” will have all of the pertinent information in each day’s entry, and at least one, but preferably more of the entries per game will have an in-depth discussion of the readings or lectures from the class as they relate to the particular game you are playing. An “A” will explore how the game makes you feel when playing it, it’s strengths and shortcomings, and a thick description of the experience. (Make sure you look up “thick description” if you don’t know what it means.)
A “B” will have all of the pertinent information, will be in the narrative form, but will be lacking depth in one or two of the other required components of the “A”.
A “C” will be lacking pertinent information, not be in the narrative form, or will be lacking one or more of the required components.
A “D” will be lacking in multiple areas
An “F” will be lacking in most areas or not completed at all.
Remember, and questions you have bring to me during my office hours. Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10:30 to 11:30 (or by appointment) in COB2, room 295. You should all comment on this so that I know you have seen it. A simple “check” will be fine.
Video Games and/as Art 