Scott Fisher

Discussion leaders: Ian Dallas & Logan Olson
Location: USC's Robert Zemeckis Center for Digital Arts (RZC),
Room 201 Zemeckis Media Lab (ZML)

Discussion Title: "Serious Games: Reality Check"
Tonight's seminar will look at the current state of "serious games" with a more critical eye. Games with learning components, games arguing a specific perspective, and games attempting to evoke feelings beyond simple enjoyment. What have current video games tried to achieve in these arenas, and how effective have they been?

To ground our discussion we'll be focusing on three games. Please play these games before seminar. They're short, free, and available online:
1. Rohrer, Jason. Passage. 13 December 2007. http://hcsoftware.sourceforge.net/passage/
2. The ReDistricting Game. Los Angeles: USC Game Innovation Lab, 2007. http://www.redistrictinggame.org/
3. Ruiz, Susana. Darfur is Dying. mtvU: 2006. http://www.darfurisdying.com/

Readings for this discussion:
1. Lazarro, Nicole. Why We Play Games: Four Keys to More Emotion Without Story. Oakland: XEODesign, 8 March 2005. PDF available here: http://www.xeodesign.com/xeodesign_whyweplaygames.pdf
2. Rohrer, Jason. Interview with Travis Boisvenue. The Happy Medium. http://thehappymedium.tumblr.com/post/43808908/small-words-and-short-sentences. 28 July 2008.