Block 2

Week 7 (2 November): 

Amazing Economies

Resources

  • A PDF of the lecture can be found here.

Read

NB here and below, “read” means before next class. In addition, unless hyperlinked, the texts can be found on Brighstpace.

Play

NB Here and below, “Play” means spend at least half an hour with the referenced game. Yes, you have to play games!

Things to do

NB Here and below, “Fun” means it is an optional thing to do.

  • Fun: Re-watch the New Yorker’s Turking for a Living
  • Fun as well as a challenge: scroll all the way through Wealth, shown to scale (it’s especially hard on a smartphone). Also, if you feel like sharing anything on social media, I personally think this absolutely effective and stunning interactive visualization deserves to be seen more widely.

Week 8 (9 November): 

Digital Playgrounds

Resources

  • A PDF of the lecture can be found here. ♥ NB this lecture discusses an occurence of sexual harassment and violence in a virtual world ♥

Read

Play

  • Flappy Bird (most true to the original when played on a smartphone)

Week 9 (16 November): 

The Metaverse

Resources

  • A PDF of the lecture can be found here.

Read

Play

Things To Do

  • Fun: Learn how Ultima Online‘s Ecology was designed and destroyed in this video.

Week 10 (23 November):

We Are Cyborgs

Resources

  • A PDF of the lecture can be found here.

Read

Play

  • Either:
    • Zoe Quinn’s Depression Quest . ♥ NB this game deal directly with the topic of clinical depression, so take care if you choose to play it. ♥
  • Or:
    • Robert Yang’s Hard Lads.
    • Robert Yang’s artist statement and the video to which this refers. The video features performative physical violence (men hitting each other with a chair) and nude male torsos, which is probably why YouTube locked it behind a content warning.

Week 11 (30 November):

Are Computers smart having fun?

Resources

  • A PDF of the lecture is available here.

Read

  • Chapter 3 of Julian Togelius’ Playing Smart.

Play

Things To Do

Week 12 & 13 (7 and 14 December):

Digital Futurology

Your presentations predicting the future of a digital phenomenon! Make sure to hand your presentation in via Brightspace!